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Showing posts with label box office disaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label box office disaster. Show all posts
A female soldier with a stern look in her face makes up this sparse poster for Kirby Dick's The Invisible War
The American military has a colossal problem with rapes inside its institutions, which are not addressed appropriately.
The Invisible War is written and directed by great Arizonian filmmaker Kirby Dick(Men Who Are Men (1981)), with additional writing by Douglas Blush (The S Word (2017, documentary)) and Amy Ziering (The Hunting Ground (2015, documentary)).
Strongly focused on the many victims of rape in the US military, The Invisible War is a truly horrible experience. Strong subjects show how idealistic young women may suffer hard fates in the officer-dictated system of hush hush and male privilege. Male victims and the perpetrators are almost completely missing.
The Invisible War is an instructive, activist documentary, which managed to inspire a real legislative change for the benefit of millions of privates after it.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 450k $
Box office: 71k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.15 times its cost)
[The Invisible War premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. The film opened #55 to a 16k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it did not achieve a higher rank although it widened to 7 theaters, grossing 71k $. The film did not get general releases in other markets. It was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to Searching for Sugar Man. The film also won an Independent Spirit award and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. It inspired changes in the American defense in how it deals with rape charges. Dick returned with The Hunting Ground (2015, documentary). The Invisible War is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A girl wielding a huge weapon in front of a massive giant makes up this dramatic poster for Anders Walter's I Kill Giants
A small girl in a US coastal town rejects normal school life in favor of her hobby; hunting and killing in the forest along the ocean. - But does this curious interest cover over something else?
I Kill Giants is written by Joe Kelly (Monsuno (2011-12)), adapting his same-titled 2009 graphic novel co-created with Ken Nimura (Henshin (2015)), and directed by debuting Anders Walter (Helium (2013, short)).
A Monster Calls (2016) reminiscent story with an eternally supercilious, self-governing protagonist with a well-meaning, worried school councilor (Zoe Saldaña (Amsterdam (2022)) gives a dull sad-face performance), dumb brothers and a powerless bigger sister. An overly sweet new British schoolmate girl seems invented solely to get us closer to our little miss nonsense, who is given many a scene to elaborate her wacky nonsense universe. It is all gravely dull.
Humor, real suspense or dramatic development is missing in I Kill Giants. SPOILER The ending unsurprisingly shows that the fantastical elements are all self-invented in order for the girl to cope with her mother's cancer illness. She dies. The girl did not get to see her mother through her last time on earth due to her nonsense hunts in the wild. Nevertheless she thanks an imaginary giant in the film's last scene, wrapping up a story and film that is distant from actual reality and prone to hokum.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)
[I Kill Giants premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. 13 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from September 2016 - ? in Belgium, Ireland and New York. The film was released day-and-date (online and in a few theaters) in North America with the gross numbers remaining secret (but likely being tiny). The film's reported gross comes from 7 markets, which, along with Denmark, where it sold just under 2,000 tickets, comes to 369k $. The three biggest markets were Russia with 165k $ (44.1 %), the UAE with 85k $ (23 %) and Portugal with 40k $ (10.8 %). The-Numbers.com allege that the film additionally made more than 1.7 mil. $ on domestic home video sales. Walter returned with Når Befrielsen Kommer (2023). Madison Wolfe (Keanu (2016)) returned in Trafficked (2017); Saldaña in a voice performance, a short and a music video prior to her theatrical return in Avengers: Infinity War (2018); and Imogen Poots (The Father (2020) in Age Out (2018). I Kill Giants is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Lush pink and the adored stars are the selling points on this bright poster for Andrew Bergman's Isn't She Great
Jacqueline Susann has a humble dream of becoming rich and famous, and when she meets the agent Irving Mansfield they prove a magical match, since he believes just as much in her, - or more, in fact!, - than she does herself.
Isn't She Great is written by Paul Rudnick (Sister Act (1992)), based on the 1995 New Yorker profile Wasn't She Great of super-selling author Jacqueline Susann by Michael Korda (Another Life (1999)), and directed by Andrew Bergman (So Fine (1981)).
Bette Midler (Divine Madness (1980)) and Nathan Lane (Modern Family (2010-19)) are top stars and both quite funny here, - especially Lane, - although the story comes off as a bit implausible, including that Midler's sexually oriented Jacqueline here should marry the not exactly arousing Lane...
Another thing to wonder about in Isn't She Great is the couple's economy together, which seems enormous right from the get-go: In New York, no less, although both of them are rarely working and professionally failed at the outset. Isn't She Great is a film for fans of its two stars most of all.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.07 times its cost)
[Isn't She Great was released 28 January (USA) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place from January - April 1999 in Quebec and New York. The film opened #17 to a 1.3 mil. $ first weekend in 750 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 2.9 mil. $ (96.7 % of the total gross). It was released in 6 other markets but has only registered an unspecified 40k $ foreign gross at Box Office Mojo. Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Bergman was never hired as director again but did return with a couple of more credits as a writer. Midler returned with a cameo in What Women Want (2000), in Bette (2000-01) and in an actual role in The Stepford Wives (2004); Lane in Love's Labour's Lost (2000). Isn't She Great is rotten at 24 % with a 4.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Steamy 'amour' in a pitch black and stylized space are teased on this poster for Thomas Vinterberg's It's All About Love
In the year 2021, John lands in New York, where people perish of poor hearts on a daily basis and are simply left in the streets. He goes there to finish his divorce from his celebrated, rich figure skating wife. The two still seem to love each other.
It's All About Love is written and directed by Danish master filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (Sneblind (1990)), whose 4th film it is. Mogens Rukov (The Inheritance/Arven (2003)) contributed to the script.
More elements of the plot in It's All About Love: The figure skater has been cloned. Both her and her husband come from Poland. In Kenya people float. And Sean Penn (Hurlyburly (1998)) flies around (in airplanes) and philosophizes about life. There is a theme of snails and laboriously photographed scenes with many actors, who speak but say nothing. The close relationship at the heart of the film is suddenly disturbed by some Bergmanesque shouting arguments - and violence.
Everything rings false and seems static, fatally boring and utterly, horribly self-indulgent and pretentious, as if this was the grand, uncontrolled epic creation of a 17 year-old art cinema student. Joaquin Phoenix (Ladder 49 (2004)) and Claire Danes (The Flock (2007)) turn in jolting efforts, but they cannot change the fact that this if one of the most disastrous follow-ups to a global breakout success (Vinterberg's Dogme masterpiece sensation The Celebration/Festen (1998)) by a newly minted, celebrated filmmaker. Outrageously overrated locally (in Denmark's infamously self-congratulatory and nepotistic film and media industry), It's All About Love is a pure blood catastrophe.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.1 times its cost)
[It's All About Love was released 10 January (Denmark) and runs 106 minutes. Vinterberg reportedly spent 2½ years writing the script. A stunning 23 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in Italy, Paris, France, Kenya, Sweden, Vancouver, British Columbia, New York, Copenhagen, Denmark, England and in Oslo, Norway. The film opened #110 to a 2k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, its peak there where it grossed just 6k $ (0.006 % of the total gross). The film's biggest markets were its home market Denmark, where it sold 50k tickets, grossing 530k $ (53 %), Greece with 149k $ (14.9 %) and France with 123k $ (12.3 %). The film won 3 Robert awards, Denmark's Oscar. Vinterberg returned with Dear Wendy (2005). Phoenix returned with a voice performance in Brother Bear (2003) and a physical performance in The Village (2004); Danes in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). It's All About Love is rotten at 19 % with a 3.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Clad in an almost foot-long, shiny, black leather coat, star Steven Seagal swaggers away from a fiery inferno on this poster for mink's Into the Sun
Travis Hunter is a former CIA agent with intimate knowledge of Japan, who gets busy when Tokyo's governor is murdered in muddled waters between the Japanese yakuza and Chinese triad gangsters.
Into the Sun is written by Joe Halpin (Dark Blue (2010, TV-series)), Trevor Miller (Riot on Redchurch Street (2012)) and co-writer/co-producer/star Steven Seagal (Absolution (2015)) and directed by mink (Full Clip (2004)).
Among the worst of Seagal's features, Into the Sun is involuntarily funny in its best moments but more often insufferably dumb and boring. Despite a not inconsiderable budget, the film is poorly produced and looks like an ugly TV movie.
Most will give up fast, when it comes to making any sense of the demonstratively insipid material, - one preposterous line has Seagal's Hunter threatening to kill a bully again, if he dies! - And in the obligatory romantic side story Seagal proposes to his Japanese girlfriend in a cherry tree garden, with the young woman weepingly accepting! This scene, by the way, marks the film's romantic highlight, - a romance in which he speaks English, while she speaks Japanese. (...) Later swords and blood splattering is introduced.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 16 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 175k $ (2/4 markets)
= Box office disaster (projected return of 0.01 times its cost)
[Into the Sun was released 20 May (South Korea) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place from March - May 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand and Tokyo, Japan. The film's North American release was canceled and the film was instead released straight-to-DVD in all markets except for 4: South Korea, Italy, Japan and Egypt. It made 164k $ in Japan and 10k $ in Egypt. A projected total gross of 290k $ would rank the film a box office disaster. mink returned only with a video and a TV-series credit, never again directing a feature. Seagal returned in 9 video titles prior to his theatrical return in the role of 'Cock Puncher' in The Onion Movie (2008). 8.2k+ IMDb users have given Into the Sun a 4.3/10 average rating.]
A bright and simple poster focused on its subject for Clare Lewins' I Am Ali
Documents the childhood experience of Cassius Clay, which opened him to the world of boxing, covering his charismatic, wild, braggadocio media style, the boldness of his beliefs of protest held against the Vietnam War, which locked him out of the boxing world, his loving, expanding family life, as well as his impact and enthralling light of life.
I Am Ali is written, co-produced and directed by debuting great English filmmaker Clare Lewins (Perspectives (2013, TV-series)).
It is a deeply moving and fascinating documentary with fantastic sound recordings of Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali's own making from back in the 1970s as well as interviews with a wealth of richly vivid intimate sources from high and low in society. Ali's warm humanism and grand persona, - one of the greatest of US history and the 20th century, - make this a film not to miss. Outstanding.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: In excess of 7k $
= Uncertain (projected return of 0.1 times its cost)
[I Am Ali was released 10 October (Germany, USA) and runs 111 minutes. Shooting took place in England, including in London, England, New York, Kentucky, Washington, Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois and in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film only grossed 7k $ in 11 theaters in North America over the course of 2 weeks. Its grosses in its other theatrical release markets Germany, the UK and Ireland are unreported online. If a larger amount in grosses is presumed there with a final gross of 50k $, the film would rank as a box office disaster if made at a small cost of 0.5 mil. $. The-numbers.com estimates that the film additionally made at least 279k $ on the North-American home video market. Lewins has since only returned with a TV movie and a video. I Am Ali is fresh at 65 % with a 6.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The Danish and American flags melt together on this tension-establishing poster for Christina Rosendahl's The Idealist
A radio journalist in Eastern Jutland, Denmark in 1988 latches himself onto a story, which will henceforth define his career: The crash of a US B52 airplane carrying four thermonuclear bombs in Greenland back in 1968, - at a time in which the enormous Northern territory was supposed to be free of nuclear weapons, and the secret aftermath of the affair, in which a large groups of Danes cleaned up the mess and got seriously ill.
The Idealist is written by Lars Kristian Andersen (Flame & Citron/Flammen & Citronen (2008)), Simon Pasternak (Sex, Drugs & Taxation/Spies & Glistrup (2013)), Birgitte Stærmose (Camino (2023)) and great Danish filmmaker, co-writer/director Christina Rosendahl (Supervoksen (2006)). It is based on the actual Thule base scandal.
Rosendahl and Co. have weaved together a surprisingly good and very debate-opening Cold War film here, a journalistic drama with grand political and principal perspectives more so than a thriller perhaps, but it is terrifically thrilling nevertheless, especially for Danes and Greenlanders. But really the conflict here with a giant allied super power in a bind in relation to basically a lilliput nation has much wider relevance, and the lies and weapons race during the Cold War has frightening perspectives and consequences the world over.
Peter Plaugborg (Ditte & Louise (2015-16)) is excellent as Brink, the energetic, idealistic and naive journalist protagonist; and so is Søren Malling (The Promised Land/Bastarden (2023)) as the leader of the clean-up workers, who collaborates with him. Smaller parts are also handled with the foremost professionalism by both Danes and Americans. The story is very large, and it goes around the Greenlanders' position in the matter. In the same way, it remains unclear how Brink in the first case gets onto the scandalous story. The Idealist is still impressively made and exceedingly well edited.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.12 times its cost)
[The Idealist premiered 19 March (Nuuk, Greenland) and runs 114 minutes. The film disappointed at the Danish box office, selling only 39,661 tickets, coming to 372k $. The film was also released in Norway, Brazil and Argentina, likely with tiny results, as these are not reported at Box Office Mojo, where the Danish result figures. The film won 1/10 Robert award nominations, (Denmark's Oscar). Rosendahl returned with Vold i Kærlighedens Navn (2017, documentary) and theatrically with Vores Mand i Amerika (2020). Plaugborg and Malling both returned in The Shamer's Daughter/Skammerens Datter (2015). 1.6k+ IMDb users have given The Idealist a 6.9/10 average rating.]
Two boys in an urban landscape with looming, oversized adults hovering around them make up this poster for George Tillman Jr.'s The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
Mister has to take the 8th grade again, but he gets a larger problem this summer, when his mother, who is a heroin-addicted prostitute, is removed from his life, and he does his best to survive, along with his friend from the hood, Pete.
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete is written by Michael Starrbury (When They See Us (2019, miniseries)) and co-produced and directed by Wisconsinite master filmmaker George Tillman Jr. (Scenes for the Soul (1995)), whose 6th feature it is.
The film is a kind of modern day US version of Oliver Twist, though without a Fagin (the classic Dickens' novel's iconic villain.) Instead the fault for the childhood misery laid out here, - which seems at least as grueling as in that 19th century, London-set novel, - is shared by many characters and a surrounding society at large, which - despite incredible wealth - allows itself to let children be abandoned in dire circumstances. Another obvious comparison would be to Lee Daniels' Precious (2009), but unlike that great drama, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete has no escapist insert montages but rather remains at all times in the present predicament of its two boy protagonists. When they meet hunger, addiction and rows of disappointments, it could have made the film unbearable, - and it is completely engulfing to be sure, - but the charisma and drive of the Mister character, and the way he manages so bravely keep himself above water ultimately makes the journey bearable and ultimately deeply moving. Skylan Brooks (Empire (2018-20)) is tremendous in the role, while the precocious Ethan Dizon (Avengers: Infinity War (2018)) as Pete gives one of those kinds of child performances, which is in no way faultless or seamless but is nevertheless priceless, because Dizon puts all of his wonderful being so forcefully into the work. The two are supported by Jennifer Hudson (Sing (2016)), outstanding as Mister's mother, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Wetlands (2017)) as the tough cop, who shares the film's golden nugget lines in a teary scene, and The Wire's Julito McCullum (Will You Marry Me (2024)) as a mean kid from the block.
This is an angry film about the failures of the projects, - both internally and as they relate to the American urban centers and the country. The score (by Mark Isham (Blacklight (2022)) and Alicia Keys (The Secret Life of Bees (2008, actress))) is engaged and well-made, and the direction is a role-model expedition in social realism. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete is a humbling film in the best possible ways.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.16 times its cost)
[The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place from July - August 2012 in New York. The film opened #24 to a 254k $ first weekend in 147 theaters in North America, its peak in the market, where it grossed 496k $ (98 % of the total gross). Its only other recorded market was South Africa. The-Numbers.com estimates that the film also made 330k $ on the domestic home video market. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit award. Tillman Jr. returned with The Longest Ride (2015). Brooks returned in Oliver, Stoned. (2014); Dizon in Sullivan & Son (2013, TV-series) and theatrically in Bad Words (2013). The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete is fresh at 84 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete?
The two stars, in traditional western getup, look about ready to shoot each other to death on this poster for Ti West's In a Valley of Violence
A soldier who has possibly deserted from the army, is on his way to Mexico and makes a stop in the small town Denton, where the local Marshall's braindead son bothers him to such a degree that he ends up staying there.
In a Valley of Violence is written, directed and edited by Ti West (The Roost (2005)).
West attempts a western in the beloved Sergio Leone style here, but the result is more of a dull-brained pastiche than a staggering homage. Ethan Hawke (Training Day (2001)) is miscast as the protagonist, who loses his dog and murders freely as revenge, not unlike the contemporary Keanu Reeves in the popular present day-set John Wick (2014). But where Reeves in that film seems a cool and justified avenger, Hawke at times here is risible, and generally a hard-to-justify postulate. Furthermore it is hard to grasp what makes the charming Taissa Farmiga (The Mule (2018)) fall for him here.
West adds brutality and blood, but that doesn't elevate the level for this poor western, which does have John Travolta's (Lucky Numbers (2000)) Marshall going for it. Best here is the score (by Jeff Grace (The Artist's Wife (2019))), Ennio Morricone inspired (of course) but with modern edges.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.006 times its cost)
[In a Valley of Violence premiered 12 March (South by Southwest Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place on film from June - July 2014 in New Mexico. The film opened #58 to a 29k $ first weekend in 33 theaters in North America, where it only played one more weekend, grossing 61k $. The film's only other release market (despite festival screenings) was Mexico, where the gross result went unreported. The-numbers.com asserts that the film additionally made 1.5 mil. $ on the domestic home video market. West returned with 8 TV-series prior to his theatrical return with X (2022). Hawke returned in The Phenom (2016); Travolta in American Crime Story (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in I Am Wrath (2016). In a Valley of Violence is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A destitute, ominous poster for Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman's If a Tree Falls
The film focuses especially on one young man's entrance into the activist organization the Earth Liberation Front, as the group's actions move from environmental activism to environmental terrorism, - depending on the viewer's own determination.
If a Tree Falls is written by co-writer/co-editor Matthew Hamachek (Gideon's Army (2013)) and co-writer/co-producer/co-director/co-editor Marshall Curry (Street Fight (2005, documentary)), who directed it with co-producer/co-director/cinematographer Sam Cullman (Beyond the Spin (2003, video)).
It is a distinction of the film that it doesn't draw conclusions on behalf of its audience, although just to get to know something about these activists of course for most people will mean increasing one's sympathy for them, despite the fact that their actions don't improve the environment to any considerable degree.
The film takes a bit long in the investigation of the activists' radicalization. The most exciting part of the documentary is the final part concerning the trial.
Watch a clip from the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 61k $
= Uncertain but likely a box office disaster (projected return of 0.20 times its cost)
[If a Tree Falls premiered January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 85 minutes. 10 companies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in Oregon. The film opened #78 to a 5k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it did not achieve a higher position and grossed 61k $. The film was screened at several festivals as well, without recorded gross numbers. If made on a scant 300k $ budget, the film would rank as a box office disaster. The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to Undefeated. Curry returned with Point and Shoot (2014, documentary); Cullman with Black Cherokee (2012, documentary short) and theatrically with Art and Craft (2014, documentary). If a Tree Falls is fresh at 88 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A sensual sculptural reproduction of a woman's face makes up this star-studded poster for Gregor Jordan's The Informers
We follow a wealth of Los Angeles characters in the 1980s: A young group of friends following the death of one from their circle in a traffic accident. And issues of abuse, sex, infidelity, lies and superficiality.
The Informers is written by Nicholas Jarecki (The Outsider (2005)) and Bret Easton Ellis (The Arrangement (2019, short)), adapting Ellis' same-titled 1994 short story collection, and directed by Gregor Jordan (Two Hands (1999)).
We are in what is, - for the initiated, - familiar Ellis territory here, though what unifies these characters remains hazy. SPOILER The final beach-set, AIDS-themed scene doesn't really register according to plan, because the characters remain somewhat anonymous and one-sided.
The performances are good, with Chris Isaak (A Dirty Shame (2004)) and Kim Basinger (Cool World (1992)) worth highlighting. Ellis' panache and affection for the 80s also help make The Informers enjoyable.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 17-18 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 384k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)
[The Informers premiered in October (Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Jarecki was set to direct, but the producers replaced him and had extreme violence and vampire elements taken out of the script. Shooting took place from October - December 2007 in California, including in Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Argentina and in Uruguay. 25 year-old co-star Brad Renfro (The Jacket (2005)) died of an overdose before the film's release. The film opened #21 to a 300k $ (78.1 % of the total gross) first and only weekend in North America in 482 theaters. It was pulled after just 3 days and only saw tiny releases in 3 other markets, each netting just shy of 30k $: Portugal, the UK and Russia. Senator's US distribution company went bankrupt as a result of the film's failure. Ellis distanced himself from the film, saying that it didn't work but that it was not his fault. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Jordan returned with Unthinkable (2010). Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo (2014-17)) returned in The Smell of Success (2009); Basinger in Charlie St. Cloud (2010). The Informers is rotten at 12 % with a 3.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
