NOW’s latest issue is all about the year that was, including my picks for the top ten movies of 2009.
Providing contrast to the celebration of quality cinema is my latest MSN Movies gallery, which looks at the year’s least successful films.
Feast! And then purge, I guess. Some of those flops won’t sit right.
Regarding box-office take: I think the most bothersome thing about it all is that, now, thanks to piracy and whatever else – like, maybe, years of tides of awful movies being foisted on us pre-download – opening weekend and video sales are inextricably linked. Which means something like Bandslam hits the sand for good.
And that’s too bad. No, it’s not great, but it’s fine of its kind. Jason was there the same morning we saw this thing, and we were of the same mind. And we’re both old enough to have lived through the horrors of Satisfaction. Remember that one? With Justine Bateman? And Liam Neeson? And lame attempts at cred, like doing ‘Mystery Dance’ while not understanding it?
Yep. Times have been worse. ‘Way worse.
Writing against a deadline sucks. Had you waited a few weeks, high-profile films like “Nine” and especially “The Lovely Bones” might have made the list. “The Lovely Bones” may even end up outfloppng “Land of the Lost”.
@ Sean — I think it’s more that people have learned to wait for video on titles like “Bandslam” (and that remake of “Fame”, too). It’s not necessarily a comment on the quality of the films themselves; remember, “Josie and the Pussycats” was ignored during its theatrical run, too.
@ atyl — I fear “Nine” will make money, in the end; people fell for “Chicago”, after all, and the Weinsteins have perfected their marketing strategy for middlebrow all-star Oscar bait. (Consider “The Reader”.)
“The Lovely Bones”, though, that’s another story … with a reported budget of $100 million, I can’t see it ever breaking even, given the subject matter and the critical response thus far. Still, who knows? If the Tolkien fanboys really are willing to follow Peter Jackson anywhere, it’ll certainly have a big weekend when it goes wide next month.