Wednesday, February 02, 2011

You Get What You Pay For

It's hard to recall, even during this time of year when Oscar bait movies are playing out, seeing so many films in the top ten that are (allegedly) a cut above. Look at what we have right now between The Green Hornet and Yogi Bear:

People are calling True Grit a commercial project, but I don't recall anyone being so certain when it was announced.  Very few Westerns have made over $100 million and the Coens had never made a film that grossed anywhere near that.  But True Grit is now at $150 million and will probably soon pass Jeff Bridges' other film--the one designed to be a blockbuster--Tron Legacy.

Then there's Black Swan, a film I didn't particularly go for, but which seems to have struck a chord.  On a budget of $13 million, it's already made $90 million and should go well beyond $100 million.

Also, there's The Fighter (which I also didn't love as much as others) that's grossed almost $80 million and has a shot at $100 million.

Finally, there's The King's Speech, budgeted at $15 million.  It's made $72 million and should easily surpass $100 million.

Hollywood is about blockbusters.  They're what pay for everything.  So it's nice to see relatively low-budget films doing well just to show you can't be sure.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw the original True Grit years ago and hope to see the new one soon. Based on the hoopla, I decided to read the original Charles Portis' novel. Its certainly understandable why it was filmed. Its set in the west (well, Arkansas and Oklahoma with hints of Texas) and contains many typical Western tropes but in many ways it is not really a traditional western in that its told from the point of view of a headstrong unintentionally hilarious 14 year old girl (well unintentional for the character, I'm sure the humor was very intentional from the author). John Wayne in the original insured that this film would be viewed through the "Western" lens (probably made sense commercially at the time).

4:03 AM, February 02, 2011  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My biggest impression was how similar the two movies are, not how different. It's a nice little story.

Regardless, my favorite business decision out of Hollywood in recent times is the decision to run Deathly Hallows twice. Utterly simple, utterly brilliant. It's taken the third-highest grossing film in the series (which is essentially tied with the two above it) and doubling it. Nicely done.

5:34 AM, February 02, 2011  
Blogger Unknown said...

There was no film I was more excited to see in 2010 than the Coen Brothers‘ adaptation of the Charles Portis‘ novel, True Grit. Anyone that knows me knows that I love the Coen Brothers and they gave us another classic as they reunited with Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin.
It was very interesting to see the Coens make a true western rather than their normal quirky type of film. This link you'll find useful,if you want to download this movie:http://www.torrentoff.com

6:10 AM, February 02, 2011  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is interesting what we consider a western and what we don't. This story is set many years ago, has a small town with drinking going on, and features gunplay and a lot of guys on horses. That's a western.

9:44 AM, February 02, 2011  

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