Brokeback Mountain is a western/love story set in 1961 Wyoming about two homosexual cowboys who fall in love. The movie spans 20 years and deals with the difficulties, including violence, that the lovers face. I have not seen this movie and I have no plans to. It might be a very good movie, well written and acted, but it just isn't my kind of flick. It is, in fact, a chick flick - only without a chick. This is why it will not be a commercial success.
Sure it opened well, making more money per screen at its debut than any other indie in history, but this is because it opened on only five screens three in New York City and one each in Los Angles and San Francisco (all three homosexual meccas - why didn't they also show it at the Fine Arts here in Asheville). It has now gone into wider release (69 screens) and some think it could make it into genuine hit status.
This aint going to happen. Think about it. The only parents who are going to take their kids to see this thing are Heather's two mommies. It will not be a date movie because guys only take their girlfriends/wives to chick flicks because they either get nagged into it or because they are hoping to get laid later that night. Guys are not going go to a movie about two other men who sleep together as a prelude to sex and women are not going to fight with their dates to see a love story that doesn't have a character that they can identify with. Guys will not go with other guys the way they do with action/adventure or porn and and girls wont go with other girls because, again, there's nobody that they can really identify with.
Also straight women are almost as turned off by the sight of two men making out as straight men are. It may be a well done movie, in fact is probably is, but it just doesn't have real appeal to anybody out of the homosexual community.
Wrong. On 69 screens this weekend, Brokeback Mountain was 8th at the weekend boxoffice with $2,359,000 (est). Its per screen average was an astonding $34,188 (est). In the last decade, it is unheard of for a movie playing on less than 100 screens to be in the top 10, especially in the blockbuster mid December period. Moreover, according to Moviefone, Brokeback is the 3rd most requested movie. And Yahoo's Buzz Index and Boxofficemojo, say it is the fourth msot searched movies on the entire internet, amazing for an indie movie playing on 69 theatres.
ReplyDeleteFinally, your use of the word "guys" is rather inaccurate or exclusionary, since some "guys" are indeed bisexual, homosexual, heteroflexible, or just plain "urban and hip." You seem to forget that there are a lot of "guys" who aren't heterosexual or rural. You suffer from the same type of myopia with your definition of "girls." It appears much of the country has evolved beyond your primitive mindset.
Frank Rich encapsulates the breakthrough status of Brokeback Mountain in today's New York Times thusly:
ReplyDeleteBy FRANK RICH Published: December 18, 2005
WHAT if they held a culture war and no one fired a shot? That's the compelling tale of "Brokeback Mountain." Here is a heavily promoted American movie depicting two men having sex - the precise sex act that was still a crime in some states until the Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws just two and a half years ago - but there is no controversy, no Fox News tar and feathering, no roar from the religious right. "Brokeback Mountain" has instead become the unlikely Oscar favorite, propelled by its bicoastal sweep of critics' awards, by its unexpected dominance of the far less highfalutin Golden Globes and, perhaps most of all, by the lure of a gold rush. Last weekend it opened to the highest per-screen average of any movie this year.
The culture is finding us," James Schamus, the "Brokeback Mountain" producer, told USA Today. "Grown-up movies have never had that kind of per-screen average. You only get those numbers when you're vacuuming up enormous interest from all walks of life." The truth is that the millions of moviegoers soon to swoon over the star-crossed gay cowboys of "Brokeback Mountain" can probably put up with the sight of "two guys going at it." It
Lets wait and see how it does compared to Narnia or Harry Potter, or even the disappointing (box office wise) King Kong.
ReplyDeleteBTY, is "heteroflexible" anything like handicapable?
Also, in an enviornment where Michael Moore can win an Oscar awards mean exactly nothing.
You also claim that straight women are turned off by men kissing each other. Wrong again. If you hang around young urban women, particulary college chics, you will know that seeing guys kiss is considered a big turnon today amongst many young women, and they are openly expressing it now. Do a google search about the topic, and you will countless girls talking about how much they like to see guys making out with each other. The popular youth site MYSPACE even has women's groups devoted to seeing guys kissing each other. The younger generation definitely has a more open mindset than previous generations, and young females are finally openly talking about their sexual turnons in a way that would have been unheard of just a decade ago. Also note that the majority of the audience for Showtime's Queer as Folk, which featured explicit male gay sex, was female, as have been DVD sales, according to Showtime. Women have likewise embraced explicit gay sex and romance on shows like Six Feet Under and the Wire recently, as have a healthy share of heterosexual male viewers who watched all of these shows. I am not saying that older women or rural women are openly clamoring to see men kiss each other, but amongst the sizeable young and cosmopolitan female population, there is a growing sentiment that seeing guys kiss is hot.
ReplyDeleteLemuel, are you seriously comparing a $16 million dollar indie movie with movies with $200 million budgets? The Genres aren't even comparable. Academy Award, Golden Globe, and NY Film Critics-calibre movies by definition tend not to be uberblockbusters. Did Hotel Rwanda, Osama, make more than $60 million? Brokeback, and other critically acclaimed films, tend to skew toward a well-educated, big city audience, not the teenage audience that makes superblockbusters. Note that Memoirs of a Geisha has made less than Brokeback, yet has received stellar reviews. Serious adult movies tend not to make over $50 million dollars. The point is that Brokeback has already broken records for limited releases, and like most movies that get elite awards and nominations, will perform best if it gets Academy Award nominations. Still,it is not only selling out everywhere it is playing, but according to Focus Films, is attracting a diverse male and female demographic. Variety, THE publication for the entertainment industry, sums it up thusly tonight:
'Mountain' scales new heights
Oater rides kudo buzz
By BEN FRITZ
Proving a potent mix of strong reviews, good buzz and kudos noms are trumping any cultural resistance, "Brokeback Mountain" continued to set records in its second frame.
Focus' gay cowboy love story roped the No. 8 spot with $2.4 million despite playing in just 69 theaters.
"You can't do what we're doing with just one demographic," Focus distributer Jack Foley said. "The notion that this is a gay film is proving to be mistaken."
Expanding from five theaters last weekend, per-play average for "Brokeback" was $34,194. That's the best ever for a non-Imax film on more than 50 playdates.
The Ang Lee-helmed short story adaptation is the first film since 1995 to break into the top 10 while in fewer than 100 locations. Cume is $3.3 million.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117934870&categoryID=13&cs=1
Oh, and "heteroflexible" is a popular term used by high school, college, and 20-somethings. Says Wordspy:
ReplyDeleteHeteroflexible (het.ur.oh.FLEKS.uh.bul) n. A heterosexual person who is open to relationships with people of the same sex. —adj. Also: hetero-flexible, heteroflex.
—heteroflexibility n.
http://www.wordspy.com/words/heteroflexible.asp
Wikipedia:
Heteroflexible is used to describe people who are primarily heterosexual but may engage in a same-sex relationship(s). This is an identity label that people can claim permanently when they understand that there are one or two people they could have a gay or lesbian relationship with. Or it can be claimed temporarily when they are in a same-sex relationship.
See also
* lesbian until graduation
* homoflexible
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteroflexible
"Lemuel, are you seriously comparing a $16 million dollar indie movie with movies with $200 million budgets? The Genres aren't even comparable. Academy Award, Golden Globe, and NY Film Critics-calibre movies by definition tend not to be uberblockbusters. Did Hotel Rwanda, Osama, make more than $60 million?"
ReplyDeleteYes I am comparing them. Critical acclaim and awards mean absolutely nothing. Movies are a business and the bottom line is all that matters. Brokeback is going to make money for its investors and this is a good thing, but it will have little appeal outside of the niche market that it is designed for.
FROM VARIETY
ReplyDeletePosted: Mon., Dec. 19, 2005, 4:50pm PT
Cowboys to roam wide
Focus going for broke in expansion
By IAN MOHR
After its gay cowboy love story "Brokeback Mountain" rode roughshod over more mainstream competish in Texas, Arizona and Florida, Universal specialty film arm Focus Features is accelerating expansion plans.
Focus brass said Monday that it will roll out "Brokeback" on between 300 and 400 screens by Jan. 6, altering its original agenda of putting the film on 250 screens by Jan. 13.
That decision, by Focus co-heads James Schamus and David Linde, came after the Ang Lee-helmed pic -- starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as cowboys who spark a taboo romance while ranching together the early '60s -- lassoed the No. 8 spot in the top 10 over the weekend from a scant 69 theaters.
Total cume is just under $3.5 million to date, and "Brokeback's" final gross for its second frame was $2.5 million, with a per screen average of $36,455. That's even higher than Sunday morning estimates that not only impressed industryites, but drew national attention.
Move to broaden the pic's presence comes as "Brokeback" is riding a wave of crix honors and media attention without its distributor having paid a single dollar in TV advertising for the $14 million budgeted pic.
Beyond any urban strongholds for gay auds, Focus is currently zeroing in on the very states where the pic takes place, Texas and Wyoming, as well as other turf where pundits might assume a gay-themed project would have a bumpy ride. But Schamus said that the pic is playing to both male and female auds, proving it has branched out beyond purely gay demos in the fly-over states.
"The key for us is very specific," he said. "We know that once we get beyond the stereotype with this movie, there's an explosion of interest in the emotional experience because you've witnessed a great American love story."
He added that the decision to expand more quickly was based on audience reaction setting the pace, and not the studio's desire to simply capture lightning in a bottle. "We are going very delicately and subtly," he said. "So many people get out ahead of themselves because they get excited and worry about leaving money on the table. But the expansion is a response to the avidity of the audience. We are taking a completely organic approach that's fundamentally likened to the emotional (experience) of the movie. We will never sell a phenomenon, or sell a piece of the zeitgeist."
On Sunday, the New York Times ran a piece in its Styles section on real-life gay cowboys in Wyoming, mentioning that no exhibs are showing the pic in that state. But any insinuation that was because the pic has been shunned by exhibs is wrong -- Focus hadn't gotten the pic wide enough to include Wyoming yet, but always planned to. The pic has played well so far in unexpected places -- like Plano, Texas, where it's showing on two screens, Phoenix, Ariz., and Voorhees, Penn., outside of Philadelphia -- without any resistance from exhibs.
"It's too soon for us, but we are following it closely," said Michael Patrick, CEO of Georgia-based regional exhib chain Carmike, of the "Brokeback" phenomenon so far. "If it continues to gross anywhere near what it has, it will play with us."
A Fandango exec said that the ticket-ordering Web site is getting a significant amount of emails from fans wondering why the pic isn't playing in their town, a phenomenon he said rarely happens.
In order to break into markets with populations under 50,000, the typical profile for Carmike's theaters, "Brokeback" would have to hit around 2,000 playdates. That's a heady goal for an indie pic, not to mention that screens can become scarce come this time of year.
With its early Jan. expansion, Focus will aim to penetrate suburban markets surrounding Seattle, San Diego, Dallas and Portland, before moving into more remote places like Nashville and Columbus, Ohio, by Jan. 30.
Focus has so far been testing the waters carefully with the film, not knowing what the climate might be like for such a project at the moment and is realizing the timing is right.
By comparison, it sent out another awards contender -- arty version of a John le Carre thriller "The Constant Gardener" -- on nearly 1,350 screens in early September. Its lit adaptation "Pride and Prejudice" went out on 215 screens Nov. 11 and has expanded to over 1,140 to date.
The pic will begin its international rollout with a U.K. bow, through Entertainment, Dec. 30 and then will hit Italy, Germany, Spain and France, among other territories. It remains to be seen if "Brokeback" can rustle up global auds the way it has so far at home.
(Ben Fritz contributed to this report.)
You're still looking at a few hundred screens. When Serenity dropped to 500 screens in its forth or fifth week it was a sign that it was dying.
ReplyDeleteWhat would Brokeback's per screen total be if it were rolled out on 3000 screens like Kong? Do you really think it would even have a $25M weekend (half of Kong's disappointing $50M)? It is a niche picture that is expanding its niche due to very good production values.
If you think the movie is about "two homosexual cowboys" then you really know nothing at all about it and should not have posted a review.
ReplyDeleteI've SEEN the movie. I'm a straight guy. It's not about two gay cowboys. It's about two cowboys who have sex with each other while they're away from their wives. One of them might actually be gay, but the other is definitely not.
If this movie is about "gay cowboys" then all these religious nuts and right-wing fanatic guys in office who jerked a friend off in college or let some "fag" suck their cock at some point are gay homosexuals too - they just happen to be "in the closet" and "married". Ya know?
I didn't post a review. I posted an estimate of how well I thought it would do in general release based on its subject matter.
ReplyDeleteAlso straight women are almost as turned off by the sight of two men making out as straight men are.
ReplyDeleteWow, dude, you are *severely* out of the loop if you don't know that most women are turned ON by two guys together! Seriously, like where did you do this research, the local elementary school?
I got news for ya, dude: ya know how *guys* like the idea of two hot *chicks* together? Well, most *women* secretly like the idea of two hot *guys* together: stubbly, strong chins rasping together as they kiss each other; pressing flat, muscled pecs together; placing their hard cocks side-by-side and stroking them together; just, *guhhhhh! Excuse me, brb...Ok, I'm back, sticky-fingered and all. :D j/k, I'm saving myself for later tonite when the bf gets home.
Anywho, my point is, there are puh-lenty of women out there just achin' to see this movie, and more like it. And if you don't believe me, just do a few web searches for things like "slash fiction" and "yaoi" - you'll be amazed at the number of sites devoted to this idea, and absolutely flabbergasted at the number of women populating them!
Also, the movie's set in 1963, dumbass, get it right before you start trashing something you obviously have absolutely NO clue about.
BTY (sic), is "heteroflexible" anything like handicapable?
ReplyDeleteWow, you're *really* funny!
Not.
"Het-flex" means that your primary orientation is straight, but that you occasionally find people of your own gender attractive. In other words, you mostly fuck chicks (or at least *try* to, although I suspect in your case, the frequency is faaar lower than you proclaim) but sometimes a hot guy just pushes your buttons! Or, in my case, I've only ever dated guys, but there's been one or two beautiful women I've dropped to my knees for, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!
Human sexual identity encompasses a wide variety of responses. Learn to think outside the box, dude. (no pun intended)
If most women are turned on by two guys kissing or having sex then where are the man on man porn videos and magazines that are marketed to women? The market doesn't care what "society" thinks of anything. If there is money to be made someone will provide a product. If "most" women wanted to see gay men together we would have already seen a ton of erotic films featuring that very thing.
ReplyDelete