What other war movie opened this weekend? Last weekend? Surely it must be a crowded market for war movies to delegate “Stop Loss” to #7 on the charts.

But really, it seems people want to go to movies based on events that never happen or never happened. Imaginary characters work well. Maybe they should make another movie about Jesus.

LevStrauss on March 29, 2008 at 4:13 PM

Interesting, since the last Hollywood movies about Christ were The Da Vinci Code and The Last Temptation of Christ, both of which abandoned the Jesus Christ known to Christians for some fictional creation all of their own imagination.

So your parallel holds true, even if that’s not what you really meant.

(No, The Passion of Christ doesn’t count as a Hollywood movie. Hollywood rejected that one as hard as they could, so you can’t really call it a Hollywood movie.)

Pretty much sums up the situation perfectly…

How does this trailer make everyone else feel when they see it? I’m active duty and it made me want to rip someone’s head off (my wife was seething through it too) and by the time it was over it had more or less ruined the movie I was about to watch. Is it like that for anyone else?
Make a really kickass movie about Operation Al Fajr (Phantom Fury was a cooler name) and I bet the people will flock to theaters.
blankminde on March 29, 2008 at 1:52 PM

You’re right blankminde… Problem is, that will not happen with the current crop of Liberals running Hollywood. These people truly do live in a bubble; will not even associate with people that are not like minded. The day will likely come, when the power changes hands once again in Hollywood. A day when Hollywood goes back to making movies that are focused on entertaining the audience with a twinge of “feel good” coming by way of tapping into one’s pride and honor of nation. One thing about the Mexican people that I admire and respect; these people are very proud to be Mexicans; very proud of their traditions; very proud of their history… Pride and honor of country is a very powerful set of emotions; a dynamic that has been missing from Hollywood for decades. As ticket sales steadily dropped in America, Hollywood film makers reached across the pond for sales. In doing so, they drifted into making more anti-America films simply because these films generated great profits with foreign markets. In essence, American film makers have helped to create an “anti-American” attitude that has taken shape throughout much of Europe and Africa.

Spielberg, Katz, and the rest of this crop of Liberal America haters will not get one dime of my money….

Color me surprised.

“Stop-loss is only in effect during times of war, and the President said the war was over.”

But I thought we were at war?

Couldn’t help it. Anyway, haven’t seen too many good things being said about RFBR either, despite it being Simon Pegg and all..

the cast gets paid and the people who wanted this made get their money. The only people who lose out are the shareholders, and we know how much everage the average shareholder has on the direction of a company.

I’ve only seen one movie in the last couple of months, partially because after seeing that trailer twice I just decided not to suggest movies to my friends until that one was gone. (The movie I did see was Persepolis–I enjoyed it. And it didn’t have the Stop Loss trailer in front of it.)

But the outlook seems grim for Paramount’s Iraq war drama “Stop-Loss,” opening at 1,291 amid expectations that moviegoers are not yet in the mood for bigscreen explorations of the painful issues raised by the five-year conflict. The outlook’s also downbeat for Picturehouse’s Brit romantic comedy “Run Fatboy Run” at 1,133.

. . .

By contrast, “Stop-Loss” is barely registering among potential moviegoers despite generally positive notices. Rival distribs believe Kimberly Peirce’s tale, centering on Iraq War vets forced to return to the battlefield after completing their tour of duty, won’t connect with much of the moviegoing public and is headed for a showing in the $3 million range.

The disappointing results for “Stop-Loss” won’t come as a huge surprise in the wake of modest results from similar fare such as “Rendition,” “In the Valley of Elah,” “Redacted” and “The Kingdom.”

It’s not that audiences don’t like war-themed movies in general, as the same article demonstrates:

But 2008 has yet to see the equivalent of “300,” which launched a year ago with a stunning $70.8 million opening weekend on its way to a $210 million domestic gross.

I saw Rendition and In the Valley of Elah last year. Rendition was technically well-made but the story was disappointingly simplistic and clichéd. The film systematically avoided looking at any of the interesting issues raised by its premise, and did nothing of interest. Elah was actually a pretty good film (as reflected in the Academy Award nomination received by Tommy Lee Jones), but it suffered from a terminally stupid title and total lack of studio support.

The studios do live in a giant bubble here. Paramount (the home of Stop-Loss) appears on the verge of another massive disruption as the DreamWorks people who joined in 2006 are heavily rumored to be getting ready to bail out in 2008. If Geffen leaves, as predicted, Spielberg is likely to follow, leaving the studio with very thin talent at the top. Its biggest hope is the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel.

It’s kind of a miracle that anything watchable makes it out of the system.

New anti-war movie tanks because America’s “not ready yet,” or whatever

Or maybe, and I know it’s a stretch, but maybe these type of movies just suck.

No matter what they put out there? Did I miss the uplifting and heroic Iraq War movie? I don’t remember Hollywood trying to discuss Iraq on those terms. The poster for this flick shows a burned American flag. That was all I needed to know to skip this one.

Spolitics on March 29, 2008 at 2:32 PM

ROFL!

Congratulations. Your attempt at screaming “SEE!!???? WE STILL MATTER!!!!” Fell on deaf ears.

You still look pathetic.

Time for “circus of the stars” to make a comeback.

How does this trailer make everyone else feel when they see it? Pretty effing pssd! I’m active duty and it made me want to rip someone’s head off I admire you and your wife for not doing it – you are better than I (my wife was seething through it too) and by the time it was over it had more or less ruined the movie I was about to watch. Is it like that for anyone else? Haven’t been to the movies since Team America.
Thank you for your service
Make a really kickass movie about Operation Al Fajr (Phantom Fury was a cooler name) and I bet the people will flock to theaters. Please do it and reap much goodness

blankminde on March 29, 2008 at 1:52 PM

The only things less popular than the war WaPo itself are dramatic films and television shows about the conflict steaming piles of crap being sold as films.

There, now I feel better.

The seventy year old hippie critics at Rolling Stone are calling it the greatest drama evah! Movie of the year!!

How could MTV have misunderstood what America wants for entertainment????

Heh. That’s pretty good. I suppose it was the result of a “Let’s do lunch”?

a capella on March 29, 2008 at 1:49 PM

Yup. Wasn’t my lunch either but it seemed pretty common.

/sarc

I’m sure they’ll get a Kos Kid/DU/Puffington Host/Jason Leopold Fan Club audience, but that’s about all.