This Week I'll discuss the BOX-OFFICE in relation to cost against return, Disposable income.. The GORE Globes and segway to next week..
| Title | US takings. | Prod Budget | Profit / loss | Return per $ (including dollar spent) |
Company |
| 1. Halloween H20: Twenty years later.. or in Australia :Blood is Thicker Than Water. | 55 mill | 17mill | 38mill | 3.23529 |   |
| 2. Urban Legend | 38mill | 14mill | 24mill | 2.7142 |  pheonix/columbia/tristar |
| 3. The Faculty | 31.9mill | 15mill | 16.9mill | 2.1266 | |
| 4. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. | 39.3mill | 24mill | 15.3mill | 1.6375 | Columbia/tristar |
| 5. Blade | 70.1 mill | 45mill | 25.1mill | 1.55777 |  |
| 6. Bride of Chucky | 32.4mill | 25mill | 7.4mill | 1.296 |  |
| 7. The X Files- Fight the Future | 83.9 mill | 66mill | 17.9mill | 1.27121 |  |
| 8. Disturbing Behavior | 17.5mill | 15mill | 2.5mill | 1.1666 |  |
| 9. Godzilla | 136.3 million | 125 mill | 11.3 mill | 1.0904 | Tristar / Centropolis |
| 10. Psycho | 21.1mill | 20mill | 1.1mill | 1.055 | |
| 11. Vampires | 20.mill | 20mill | 0mill | 1.000 | |
| 12. Gods and Monsters | 2.2mill | 3.5mill | -1.3mill | 0.6285 |  |
| 13. Apt Pupil | 8.8mill | 14mill | -5.2mill | 0.6285 |  |
| 14. Dark City | 14.3mill | 27mill | -12.7mill | 0.5296 | |
| #. Fallen | 25.5mill | N/A | N/A | N/A |  |
| #. Species II | 19.2mill | N/A | N/A | N/A |  |
| #. Deep Rising | 11.1mill | N/A | N/A | N/A |  |
| #. Phantoms | 5.7mill | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| #. T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous | 3.3mill | N/A | N/A | N/A |  |
| #. Nightwatch | 1.2mill | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
What a big difference the budget comparison makes.. The best film in a studio's mind is "H20" this year.. For every dollar you gave to the making of this film you got back 3 dollars and 23 cents (includiung the dollar you spent..) so you make a profit of $2.23 on every dollar you invest.. To the brothers Weinstein this means that the genre based wing of "miranmax" is trully a worth wing.. But still in comparison with the first Halloween film the return is not so great.. Last time I checked all up Halloween had grossed 64million.. And was made for $300,000.. Which means for every dollar that you put in you get back roughly (inlcuding that dollar).. $213.33 which is phenomenal... But it cost a lot more to pay actors with big-heads these days so the budget blow out past the 15million mark quite a bit.. As an Australian seeing a film made down here with a 15million budget (US) would of course stretch it out over 3 times what it would buy you in Hollywood.. But still 15mill is rarely layed out down here for such productions..
What does this mean.. We will see sequels!!!!! To Halloween.. which of course was the top along with a maybe sequel to Urban Legend (Directed by Aussie Jamie Blanks) .. Is it still disturbing that Slasher films are rounding out the top... Would you have preferred to see Godzilla at #1 instead of #r9..
Which production company WON??? I dare say it is a tie between "Dimension films" and "Sony pictures"..... Unfortunately some films for Dimension have not had budgets given out so it is hard to compare... Take into account that outside the budget there is also a marketing budget that is not to often revealed.. But I have heard reports that "The Faculty" had a marketing budget of 20-30million.. Then they did something stupid... See next paragraph..
This week SONY will fight DIMENSION?MIRAMAX at the Aussie box-office.. "Urnban Legend" with radio and TV interview promtion to the effect that it is Directed by an AUSTRALIAN.. Now during "AUSTRALIA DAY WEEK" this is the best promtion you could wish for.. A Local director making a go of it in Hollywood.. An Aussie public not always patriotic except at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and other sportsfield will stand behind this film because of this promotion.. THE FACULTY on the otherhand with its "from the creator of scream" and "schools out!" promotion may fall on Deaf ears as half the youngen scoff at "Dawson Crock" 'from the creator of scream' also... The Schools out theme could work against and with the promoters in a case of Irony.. Officially this is BACK TO SCHOOL week in Australia for High Schoolers.. I'll Tell you who wins this competition next week.. I PROMISE.. I'm interested to see it.. I'm putting my Money on "Urban Legend".. Because the terror the trailer sends out... There is more Social capital in seeing a scary film versus seeing a sci-fi-horror-with-wit... But the result will be close.. I think a bunch of people will see both..
DISPOSABLE INCOME
Okay so this is what we spend on entertainment.. Hollywood is quaking because of the huge change spending.. It seems the ROCK audience is buying less music and seeing less film with the ROCK soundtrack style.. The Rock audience is supposedly buying Copmuter Games according to MTV.. This is purely in The USA.. Records sales are huge in RnB and HIP-HOP.. Will this mean that there will be a switch in the styling of film.. If so it will happen in US first.. As at the moment ROCK is not DEAD in Australia.. Most US rock bands are finding Australia and Germany to be consitent buyers.. But how much longer will ROCK be used in promoting films.. Will the "School's Out" riff and "Save Yourself" riff or the "More Human, Than Human" riff be put out to pasture.. Who knows.. Maybe this Computer games is just a quick phase.. No I don't think so.. Why would Imdb be listing, "DOOM" the film and "Tomb Raider" the movie.. Hollywood has cottoned on.. More than Just Mortal Kombat or Double Dragon.. How long before Resident Evil the movie.. Or Interstate 76 the TV series.. Computers and HIP-HOP will be rubbing off on the industry in a big way in the next few years.. STAY TUNED and NO FLIPPING.. Because it will be interesting to see what Hollywood makes to get our money..
Recently was the JJJ polling of best song for 98.. Surprise-surpise.... It was a pop-rock-punkfest.. being an aussie countdown.. NOTE "pretty fly for a white guy" was #1 ... IDLE HANDS is the film that this song will be in.. The film SONY beat DIMENSION too.. The first big Horror spoof to be released at the cinema in a long time.. "look at me I'm Leatherface.."...
| 5. Korn | Got the Life (rock-rap-skat-hip-hop) |
| 4. Hole | Celebrity Skin (Rock) |
| 3. Custard | Girls like That (Brisbane band incategorisable) |
| 2. Ben Lee | Cigarettes Will Kill You (Alternate-pop) |
| 1. The Offspring | Pretty Fly for a White Guy (pop-punk) |
Ed Harris- The Stand, Needfull Things and Creepshow..
Lynn Redgrave- The Bad Seed / Gods and Monsters (horror maker bio-pic)
Jenna Elfman- well she was in and episode of Murder One.. not really
horror.. But there was a murder.
Michael J Fox- Tales from the Crypt (episode), The Frighteners and Mars
Attacks.
Angelina Jolie- Cyborg 2, soon to be in The Bone Collector (Directed
by
Aussie Phil Noyce)
Stanley Tucci- Monkey Shines: an Experiment in Fear.. (btw check out
Big
Night he directed that film not horror but great.. I love the final shot
in
the kitchen..) SPOLIER COMING He was also the killer in Jury Duty
Faye Dunaway- The Towering Inferno and Supergirl (that film was SCARY)..
Camryn Manheim- Black Sheep of the group.. Must know someone in the
industry.. Just kidding she has a masters in Drama from NYU and is hanging
around with Gregory Hines.. But I did not see Gregory at the GORE GLOBES..
Don Cheadle- "Rosewood" was a horror IMHO.. It showed the Darkside
of human
nature more than a lot of horror films could care too..
Gregory Peck- The Omen, Cape Fear (91 and 62) and Mirage.
WRITERS Mac Norman- hmmm The killer Elite.. But this is a stretch.. nearly
a
black sheep..
TomStoppard- Brazil (if you had to study this in first
year you would know it as horror)
Keri Russell- The Lottery
Dylan McDermott- Hardware (depending on the edit you saw)
MUSIC
Burkon von Dallwitz- who wrote an eerie score for Zone39 a futuristic
Australian battlefield to rival anything I've seen in my life highly
underrated film.. Because of the story its to smart for the audience I
guess.
Phillip Glass- The writer of the CANDYMAN score.. not signed for #3 but
has
done 1 and 2. Also Demons 3./ "La Chiesa"..
BEST SONG
David Foster-
Carol Bayer Sager- Both of these are black sheep.. but then again.. they
aren't Rob Zombie..or Alice Cooper.. So why would they write a song for
a
horror film??
Gywneth Paltrow- Se7en and a slap on the wrist for appearing in a Hitchcock
remake..
Michael Caine- Jekyll and hide, Jaws: The Revenge, The Hand also The Island
Jack Nicholson- Wolf, little shop of horrors, the terror, the raven,
the
shining, the witches of eastwick.
Stephen Spielberg (producer/woriter Director)- Coming soon "What
Lies
Beneath", Cape Fear, Gremlins 2, gremlins, Night Gallery, duel, Jaws,
Poltergeist, The Haunting of Hill House, Chambre 666 (acting)
David E Kelley- Lake Placid (coming 99)
Harvey Weinstein (miramax/dimension)- Him and BOB started MIRAMAX all
those
years ago with Bob's first written film "THE BURNING"... In the
90s they
continue to bring in NEWBIE GORE fans and piss of old fans with their brand
of DISNEY horror (miramax = Disney:)... others include The Dust Devil,
Scream1-3, The Faculty, H20, Crow 2 and 3 (the salvation), Nightwatch,
Phantoms, Halloween 6 etc.. BOB had an excellent quote last year "If
one film
does well, we make six more of them."... Well I guess they'll be around
forever..
Okay Central Station directorWalter Salles has not made any horror to
my
knowledge... I think we have to check the reading of the envelope..
Cate Blanchett- Hmm she's an Aussie so she gets one.. for the fact that
Richard Roxburgh freaks me out, and she was in "Thank god he met lizzie"
with him... Which in a ha ha way contradicts another of her films.. She
must
be sick of playing girls named Liz by now..
Jim Carrey- Once Bitten, The Cable Guy character was very obsessed in
that
"play misty for me" kind of way..
BEST FILM GOES TO BY DEFAULT
GODS AND MONSTERS.. directed by Bill Condon (Candyman 2- Farewell to
the
flesh..and sister, sister)
, 1998-1999.