Editorial: Does a film's gross really matter?

Editorial: Does a film's gross really matter?

Between film critics and box office grosses , a movie goer may or may not see a movie. Traditionally people accept these two indicators to varying degrees to help them decide whether a film is worth the ticket price.
Should they?

Editorial Opinion
By headlopper - Mar 14, 2012 12:03 PM EST
Filed Under: Other

The poster looked cool and the trailer seemed enticing , so you risk the ticket price and invest your time and effort to make a showing. But 20 minutes in , you realize that the movie sucks.
If only you had some indicator to help you determine whether the film is worth your while ...and money.

Well lo and behold-!, we gratefully have film critics!
Traditionally film critics were found in new papers and major magazines, but now they're everywhere on the world wide web.

Not only that , there are companies that tally the total of box office receipts daily, purportedly providing an indicator to the public of a film's worthiness of their hard earned buck.

The question is: How valid are these indicators?
If a local bakery sells delicious danishes , but didn't show a projected profit according to local financial analysis, do I think to myself: " Wow, the bakery didn't earn as much money as projected, I guess the danishes aren't delicious anymore".
What?!!!
Does this make any sense? The danishes haven't changed!

If a 'journalist' visits an art museum and critiques a new exhibit panning it's worth and merit, and if I'm a member- the admission is free- so I go anyhow to check it out myself. While there ,I hear people lauding the exhibit and praising it's creativity- including myself!

More often than not, 'film critics' have trashed or slighted movie's I've actually enjoyed.

It's nearly impossible to get a fair evaluation of a CBM, SCI-FI, fantasy or action/ adventure film from critics. These four genre's of film are very rarely given the respect and reward they often deserve.

If you look at the ALL-TIME box office winner's ,only ONE- yes ONE-! IS NOT a film of these genre's.

Yet the 'critics' in mass media seem too sophisticated and intellectual to lower themselves to give recognition to such plebeian entertainment.

They'll site the film grosses as proof their review is ligit, but they don't account for the film's potential 'staying power' for a period of weeks... or even months! Some of these movies become huge! 'Star Wars' anyone?!

We fanboy's like to cheer on our movies like an athlete competing in an Olympic event. The 'sport' is the box office grosses , and the completion are the other movies in theaters at the time!

They're the 'horse ' in the race, and we want them to win, week after week!
And that's cool- I do it myself, but I don't let the "number's" dissuade me from seeing a film I'm fairly confident will be worth the investment!

Look, my final analysis is this: I trust the people who are fanboy/geeks like my self! People who enjoy comics, sci-fi, action/adventure, fantasy, etc., and thankfully YOU are ALL RIGHT HERE!

If you average out the thread comments over the last few days you'll discover that over 90% are positive in favor of "John Carter" for example.

If I allowed myself to be influenced by 'reviewer's', critics or box office receipts ,I would have cheated myself out of experiencing a very good movie!

I have you guy's to thank for that!


Headlopper
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golden123
golden123 - 3/14/2012, 12:45 PM
I wasn't aware anybody actually did that.
golden123
golden123 - 3/14/2012, 12:46 PM
I mean, look at a movies gross and decide whether it's worth seeing.
headlopper
headlopper - 3/14/2012, 1:24 PM
@yossarian - Thanx. "15 bucks..." Funny!
@Gaston- 'Battleship' in the top ten? Clever sarcasm. I approve!
headlopper
headlopper - 3/14/2012, 2:11 PM
Dead Mans Shoes? I've never heard of it until now. I'm sure it's good , so I'll see if I can find it online.

SageMode
SageMode - 3/14/2012, 2:14 PM
Critical Reception and Fan Reception is more important IMO.
I'd rather make a movie that highly praised and does poorly at the BO than a poorly praised movie with big BO numbers. But that's just me if I had to choose.
headlopper
headlopper - 3/14/2012, 2:45 PM
Pretty intense. Thanx man.
jessepostal
jessepostal - 3/14/2012, 3:21 PM
some of the best movies are the ones not many people know about.
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 3/14/2012, 3:22 PM
Gross matters if you ever want to see a sequel. As for critical reviews. I use them if I do not know anything about the movie going into it. I generally will check out a movie even if it is bad, but if it is getting hammered by the press I probably won't waste my money at the theaters on it. There are movies I will go see regardless, like Immortals or Clash of the Titans, but like I said, if it is a movie I am on the fence about I will let the general consensus dictate when I see.

But if I have my mind set on seeing a movie, I will go see it anyway.
antonio
antonio - 3/14/2012, 3:50 PM
B.O. does matter. But critical and audience reaction(word of mouth) are even more important, IMO.
Alexandre
Alexandre - 3/14/2012, 5:36 PM
a great man once said, "we don't make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies."

so unfortunately the b.o. does matter
jessepostal
jessepostal - 3/14/2012, 5:57 PM
the boondock saints made 30k in theaters and today its one of fox's most popular titles.It also has a sequel.Look at all the animated marvel/dc movies that come out.They don't make top dollar
bgharcourt
bgharcourt - 3/14/2012, 10:22 PM
Great write up,bro. And also, thumbs up for the using plebeian in a sentence.
headlopper
headlopper - 3/15/2012, 10:44 AM
@bgharcourt - Thanx man. BTW,a very patrician compliment!
Supes17
Supes17 - 3/15/2012, 12:47 PM
I have absolutely NO idea why people on this site are estimating that TASM will make over $1billion
1. The highest grossing Spidey flick didn't make it to $900 million
2. Most people(general audience) are still pissed that Spider-Man is being rebooted
Supes17
Supes17 - 3/15/2012, 12:47 PM
TASM will make $800 MAX
The Avengers will easily make $900 million
headlopper
headlopper - 3/15/2012, 12:52 PM
@Supes17- Agreed, on both posts.


MovieMaster
MovieMaster - 3/15/2012, 1:27 PM
Hey, I'm a geek and I nearly fell asleep in John Carter!
AC1
AC1 - 3/15/2012, 3:58 PM
if i'm unsure about a film, i do tend to have a look at what critics are saying, but i only pass on films when they have really bad reviews.
I never pay attention to box-office numbers though. The remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo didn't make much money in cinemas, but I thought it was a brilliant film, and probably better (and more accurate to the book) than the original.
headlopper
headlopper - 3/15/2012, 4:34 PM
@ironman53-Thanx my friend!

@ACira & antonio - Word-of -mouth , especially here is the best indicator of how good a film is.

Critics have agenda's. One must always take what they say with a grain of salt.
Remember, it's just their opinions- we all have um' too!

Now if a doctor tells me my tibia is broken after the x-ray, that's NOT an opinion , it's a fact.

What 'critics' do is often state their opinion as 'fact'(in other words: "You're an idiot if you don't listen to me!") rather than an honest,FAIR overview of the film.

IMO ,every film critic should be REQUIRED to have a bachelor's degree in film history at minimum before being hired by some media entity to review film...at least that way they'll have some technical knowledge of the art form.
Supes17
Supes17 - 3/15/2012, 5:54 PM
Leonard Maltin is by FAR the worst movie critic out there
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