7 replies to this topic

[luciusgore]

As we all know, Casino Royale director Martin Campbell made Legend of Zorro, which just flopped at the box office, with terrible reviews. Even with the terrible reviews, the $5.5 million opening night seems unusually low. What happened?

My take is that Sony really does not have its act together right now at all. they really failed to market LOZ effectively. Grated, reviews were bad. But $5.5 million? Van helsing fared better, and that was another terribly reviewed film.

This does not bode well for Casino Royale. It's being distributed by a company with a solid track of failures behind it. They couldn't even beat "Saw II" with a family friendly action film, after ad movies like "Sahara" cleand up at the box office.

If, CR fails at the box office, it may not just be a failure on the part of Campbell/Craig/Eon. I suspect they are going to have a tough time marketing it, because Sony markets WRONG. Part of the reason LTK flopped in the U.S. is that MGM at the time didn't have its marketing act together.

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

You know...I don't watch a lot of tv...but even with the bit I do...I can't remember seeing a single mention of Legend of Zorro outside of the thread about how much it sucked.

Hopefully, they'll learn from that mistake for CR.

[MattofSteel]

I have to disagree on some counts, and agree on others.

First of all, Sony is not terrible at marketing. They are Sony. Did Spider-Man 2 not win some award (or a bunch, I can't remember) for its marketing campaign, which I remember as being amazing? And plus Sony is smart enough to realize that now, with Bond as a potential new film flagship for them, not to mess it up.

As for LOZ, I agree it was a little under promoted but for good reason. Not directly blaming Campbell here, but all the general reviews have a negative consensus to him (crime fighting super parents.....ugh) but then again I won't judge....I'm seeing it later today myself....

I'll give Sony a chance, just like I'll give Craig a chance. It's only fair.

[TheBritishEnd]

They couldn't even beat "Saw II" with a family friendly action film, after ad movies like "Sahara" cleand up at the box office.

Well...it is Halloween weekend! Naturally, I would expect a sequel to a popular horror film to perform better than an old-fashioned, family adventure film.

You also have to remember that both Van Helsing and Sahara were released at far more appropriate times. Sahara had a nice cozy weekend early in April, a time when most 'would be' summer blockbusters do well without fierce competition.

And Van Helsing had a prime release date during the first weekend in May- a weekend that, in recent years, has supplanted Memorial Day as the 'official' start of the summer movie season.

LOZ may not have been marketed very well, but its biggest problem was being dumped into such an unfortunate release date. It should have been a summer release, and no later than early August.

[Gobi-1]

It's the release date that cause Zorro to take in a disappointing 16.5 million for the weekend. October just isn't a good time to open a big summer blockbuster type film. Despite that we're heading into the holiday movie season so Zorro may have strong legs.

I wounldn't say Sahara cleaned up at the box office. It opened in April which like October isn't really a good time to open blockbuster films. It grossed 18 million over it's first weekend and made $68,671,925 domesticlly which isn't that great when compared to the film's 130 million dollar budget.

Zorro could follow a similar path and make just under 70 million but if it gets a boost from the holiday crowds it could reach 90 or a possibly 100 million.

[SeanValen00V]

I have to disagree on some counts, and agree on others.

First of all, Sony is not terrible at marketing.  They are Sony.  Did Spider-Man 2 not win some award (or a bunch, I can't remember) for its marketing campaign, which I remember as being amazing?  And plus Sony is smart enough to realize that now, with Bond as a potential new film flagship for them, not to mess it up.

As for LOZ, I agree it was a little under promoted but for good reason.  Not directly blaming Campbell here, but all the general reviews have a  negative consensus to him (crime fighting super parents.....ugh) but then again I won't judge....I'm seeing it later today myself....

I'll give Sony a chance, just like I'll give Craig a chance.  It's only fair.

Spiderman 2 is a exception though, that is a big time super hero film, a character with as much history as Bond, but with cartoons, and it's appeal to all ages, that's a gem to market.

A harder edge Bond film maybe after shafting a popular Bond actor Brosnan, being the 21st film of the series, and splitting the casual movie goer on what they want with bond, it could be a tough one.

Bring back Brosnan, and it'll be all good, but he's not coming back, and that already makes it another tough reason to market casino.

Why haven't we heard about the supporting cast for Casino? the supporting cast may actually be bigger names then Daniel Craig himself, the key will be Vesper, hire a famous actress or not? Market the film on Angelina Jolie for example, some desperate Sony exec, give us a name, come on, you got your way with Bond, give us someone for the US to know, this could happen........the halle berry curse.

[dinovelvet]

As we all know, Casino Royale director Martin Campbell made Legend of Zorro, which just flopped at the box office, with terrible reviews. Even with the terrible reviews, the $5.5 million opening night seems unusually low. What happened?

My take is that Sony really does not have its act together right now at all. they really failed to market LOZ effectively. Grated, reviews were bad. But $5.5 million? Van helsing fared better, and that was another terribly reviewed film.

Van Helsing was the first summer movie out of the gate, you can pretty much release anything in the first weekend in May and get a $50 mil opening weekend. And as I recall it had the whole weekend to itself, Zorro was competing with three other new releases. In retrospect, it was a bit bizarre releasing it on Halloween weekend. But then again pretty much every weekend from now till January has a bunch of big name films, so maybe this was the only weekend they could get.
Most of Campbell's movies have flopped anyway : Beyond borders, Vertical Limit, No Escape. But we are speculating idly - the last thing Bond is is a director-driven franchise. CR will be an Event Movie, the first Bond flick in four years and the New 007, and it will no doubt have all the usual big-name product tieins. Marketing it won't be a problem...

[Alessandra]

Sahara did over 120 million dollars of box office receipts worldwide ONLY.
It has been released here in DVD at the weekend (and I've bought it), and as far as only box office receipts are concerned, it did very well, since being only 10 millions down from budget with box office receipts means you'll definitely have a good profit after DVD sales. This is not a franchise, it's a single movie.
Besides: Sahara is a very good, entertaining movie. The actors are good, the dialogues are entertaining and for once someone talks about Africa evils rather than Russia, mideast terrorism or South America. Action scenes are entertaining without being exaggeratedly full of special effects. And the best thing of it is that they make fun of themselves. They don't take themselves seriously in their job, they know they have ridiculous ways of getting out of the situations sometimes, and they know they sound ridiculous when they give certain answers.
Now. The second part of the legend of zorro has some entertaining humour (which is what makes it good for kids), but lacks ALL the rest.
Action scenes in the first part are plain ridiculous, with Zorro turned into Superman instead of himself. Historical references are totally wrong in many parts of the movie (something which only required a little bit more of studying), and Zorro takes himself so seriously that he even becomes an alcoholic?!??!?! Please.
it's not a only a marketing problem, it's a problem of having a bad movie to sell.
The points made on better periods for films to release (Van Helsing, Sahara) don't at all make Zorro or Sony look better, but worse.
The first thing in marketing and strategy for selling a film, is choosing the most appropriate time for the film to be released.
this as far as Zorro is concerned.
on Casino Royale, I am hoping things will be handled in a different way. It's a different kind of movie, for a different public etc.. So hopefully they'll know how to take care of it. Well.. they better do so!!