29 July 2008 10:16 AM, PDT
The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan has told reporters in Tokyo that he has no idea why his Batman movie is breaking box-office records. "I would not be able to point to exactly what it is," he said. "If I knew that all my films would have been successful." Final weekend figures confirmed Monday that the movie has broken yet another record -- best second-week performance of any film. The movie earned $75.2 million, which brought its 10-day total to more than $300 million, according to box-office trackers Media by Numbers. (The results somewhat diminished the achievement of Sony's Hancock, starring Will Smith, which crossed the $200-million mark after four weeks.) The film is now taking aim at Titanic's record of $600.8 million in ticket sales -- by far the top money maker of all time.
My question is, i s Christopher Nolan being polite, discrete, or is he a moron?
It's simple enough math: If you make a live-action Batman movie, at least twenty million people will buy tickets to see it. That's a guarantee, and the reason they keep making Batman movies. (The only exception to this rule is Batman and Robin which was not, by any definition of the term, a real film)
Take that number, and multiply it by 150 percent because of the curiosity and social relevance caused by the star of the film dying before its release. (Known as the 'Brandon Lee Factor')
Now multiply that resulting number by another 150 percent because the dead actor in question was already a critical favorite before his death, ensuring that no legitimate critic will give the film a bad review, for fear of being ostracized by the critical community at large. (Heretofore known as the 'Heath Ledger Factor')
Assuming an average ticket price of 10 dollars, that brings my guestimated total up to 450 million dollars in domestic box office, or thereabouts.
So, to precis: Take a movie that everyone wanted to see anyway, have someone die creating countless millions of dollars in free publicity, and then make death so tragic that not a single critic will dare to speak out against the film.
Yes, its rampant profitability is a real shocker. Just imagine how much money it would have made if it had been a sane length.
Christopher Nolan is confused about this? Maybe he is an idiot.
Or perhaps he was just being polite, and I'm the jerk.
Actually, come to think of it, that's much more likely.
No comments:
Post a Comment