Posted on 10/19/2008 5:08:32 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Movie-goers elected a "W," but it was Mark Wahlberg, not George W. Bush.
Wahlberg's action flick "Max Payne" debuted with $18 million to outdo Oliver Stone's film biography of George W. Bush, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Stone's "W." actually ran fourth, opening with $10.6 million to finish behind the family comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" (No. 2 with $11.2 million) and the chick flick "The Secret Life of Bees" (No. 3 with $11.1 million).
"For me, an Oliver Stone film about George Bush doesn't necessarily scream big box office," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "A film like this is very tough to gauge, but this is exactly what I thought it would do."
Lionsgate's "W.," starring Josh Brolin as Bush, came in well behind the $18.7 million debut of Stone's last movie, 2006's Sept. 11 saga "World Trade Center." That movie opened in nearly 3,000 theaters, about 900 more than "W.," however.
Playing in 2,030 cinemas, "W." averaged a solid but unremarkable $5,197 a theater, compared with a $6,334 average for "World Trade Center." "W." was shot on a modest budget of $25 million.
The film had been on political junkies' radar since Stone put "W." on the fast track less than a year ago so he could have it out before the November election. Stone started shooting in May, his five-month turnaround time remarkably short by Hollywood standards, where major movies can take a year or more.
If he needed more time, Stone contractually had the option of releasing the film around the time Bush leaves office in January.
But with two weeks until the election, this is prime time for a Bush biography, said Steve Rothenberg, Lionsgate head of distribution.
(Excerpt) Read more at movies.yahoo.com ...
With all the advertising and hype, you’d think that it would have done much better.
Why? Oliver Stone is noted for his flops.
I’d lost track of that.
This film has been advertised to death on every news network. I’m sure you’ve seen some of the ads.
Yeah, they even advartised on NPR!
No kidding. The Secret Life of Bees seemed to have advertised very little, and yet it beat W at the box office. Not sure when Hollywood is going to clue into the fact that the American public is not interested in anti-war/anti-U.S. or political movies. We see that stuff enough on the news every stinking night. We want to spend our hard-earned entertainment dollars on something uplifting, or at least on a good escape from reality. If we want to be depressed, we’ll just watch the MSM.
As an aside, if you go see “Max Payne”, it continues on after the final credits; stick around.
Sidenote: If you get a chance to go see Fireproof, Go! It was a great movie.
You know what I don’t get? How the “F” does a forth place movie even get an article written about it. Let alone get a front page spot on Yahoo news.
I guess the media elites that like deny their bias are not so busy yet again.
It may be an opportunity for us to gloat. Like we did when “Redacted” turned out to be a complete box office disaster.
10.6 million is not good but better than the usual anti-Iraq or anti-Bush agitprop film revenue wise
it might have been funnier down the road and if trimmed a bit.....
just like uberhead Brolin last nite, (why do they always have huge heads?), it’s about Bush’s intellect rather than his policies.
folks who make believe for a living standing in judgement of a man who went to Yale and Wharton.
Here’s a gem that won’t cost a nickle!
I remember seeing this film on tv when I was a kid.
http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi244973593/
ATTACK!
(Eddie Albert is a cowardly captain, Lee Marvin a crooked colonel, and Jack Palance a diligent lieutenant as a small platoon fights its way back from the front in director Robert Aldrich’s searing WWII drama.)
Another movie that slams President Bush’s policies and Presidency that will lose money. :-)
JoMa
I didn’t think so. No surprise people don’t want to see a movie ‘about’ Bush.
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