Please, may I have another?

Another anti-war movie is tanking.

I’m told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4+M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn’t expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. “It’s not looking good,” a studio source told me before the weekend. “No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It’s a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that’s unresolved yet.

I’m thinking it’s a function of people not wanting to pay to be subjected to propaganda. Movie goers want to be entertained or inspired, not indoctrinated.

Posted on March 29th, 2008 by pwyll
Filed under: General

4 Responses to “Please, may I have another?”

  1. hanmeng, on March 29th, 2008 at 6:37 pm Said:

    “Movie goers want to be entertained or inspired, not indoctrinated.” Really? What about Gore’s movie, or Micheal Moore’s various rants?

  2. pwyll, on March 29th, 2008 at 8:10 pm Said:

    I stand corrected; some people will pay to be indoctrinated.

    I don’t know the box office figures, but I suspect neither Gore’s nor Moore’s movies made a great deal of money, by Hollywood standards. On the other hand, they probably did not cost much to make.

    I still think selling propaganda is an uphill battle. Let me amend my statement: Most movie goers want to be entertained or inspired, not indoctrinated.

  3. Paco Malo, on March 30th, 2008 at 9:49 am Said:

    One relatively reliable indicator, for me, regarding new films is how much commercial TV time a film distributor buys to promote the film. Lots of promotion = not a great film.

    Maybe “Stop Loss” is just a bad movie?

  4. pwyll, on March 30th, 2008 at 10:16 am Said:

    I haven’t seen it, nor will I, but I imagine it may well be a bad movie. It is pretty damn hard to make a good movie, judging by how many bad ones are made. It becomes ever harder when the movie itself becomes subservient to a political cause.

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