straggler

Passengers > BR? Seriously I think it will do Prometheus numbers in the end. Hopefully.

Cinemascore is a survey of 400 people on opening night at 4 ot 5 theaters. But it is another useless metric that the press treats seriously, sort of making it mean something.

I just don't think there was that much demand for the movie in general. Every year or so an awards style film breaks out, but most do pretty modestly at the box office and the breakouts are typically helped by tons of awards chatter. That is how SLP broke out. This one probably won't get that.

Gee. Could you qualify that some more? . Mother! is not the normal mainstream film, but all in all it became one of the most controversial, divisive and talked about films in years. And her performance was brilliant. That pays dividends in the end.

There is something called numerical bias. The basic idea is that when we see a number or grade our minds immediately assume it is valid. But Cinemascore is really meaningless. It is a survey of about 400 people at only 4 or 5 theaters on opening night. That is too small and limited a sample to validly convey anything. All it indicates is that 400 casual moviegoers went to see that new horror/home invasion film starring Jennifer Lawrence and got mother! instead. Yet the media treats Cinemascore as if it trumps all reviews or the reactions of audiences that actually had a clue what they were going to watch. I get that it is a divisive and insane film, but I think it is brilliant and I could not care less what 400 unsuspsecting moviegoers had to say on opening night about what they thought they were going to watch. Cinemascore is a tool, but it should not be overstated and I don't think it is helpful regarding less conventional movies. It measures expectations. But I guess moving forward studios need to be smart about how they manage all these different shorthand measures.

An author can talk all they want about their intentions. How I interprete something is my own view. Death to the author. That said, I don't like things being overexplained.

H'm. Passengers made $100 milion despite being an original sci fi with a 30 something RT rating. Joy made $54 million despite midling reviews and a lot of DOR fatigue and all that buyer's regret about American Hustle. Mother! is an arthouse movie. A really crazy arthouse film. If Red Sparow gets the reviews/wom it should do fine. That's the trick after all.

I was watching the trailer and the second Harrison Ford showed up I kept thinking of The Force Awakens. It is a method of reassuring the audience that this will honor the original. Now hopefull they don't just remake the original.

Man. Cannot believe mother! is not a huge box office hit after The Foutain and Requiem For A Dream were such box office titans. So The Fountain had a budget of $35 million. All the sudden the $30 million number for mother! makes more sense. I think Paramount saw this as a long term investment, as a means of widening their brand. Interesting.

Still gave an Oscar caliber performance. Paramount bringing this to the unsuspecting multiplex is interesting however.

Has all the hallmarks of it. Passionate supporters saying it is a masterpiece. Passionate haters calling it the worst movie ever. The mass WTF reaction. The oddity of the movie. Cannot wait for the Criterion version.

Just speculating. Honestly don't think it means anything.

Maybe they were trying to reduce the troll factor from the Breibart crowd.

So after a thousand interviews, major magazione spreads, multiple premieres, two late night TV spots, she is distancing herself because the poster changed on RT? OK.

Cinemascore is a survey of 400 people in 4-5 theaters. Small sampling aside, this type of film opening wide is going to get a score like that from all the basic bitches. It is a badge of honor. Either this film is horrible or a classic.

Opening it wide was a bad business decision. But this will make money in the end. I think this will have a very long shelf life in secondary markets. Although they may need to do an edit for a TV version.

Well maybe 20 years from now when Mother! is being studied in film school (and maybe business school as well).

This is by far my favorite film story of the year. I thought it was a brilliant film, just a strange, intense, insane allegory with some great performances. But the idea that a major studio (a) made this and then (b) released it wide on an unsuspecting public with no platforming at all is incredible. Even understanding the type of film it is, the film is designed to make the audience uncomfortable, which it accomplishes very effectively. It verges on trolling.

Yes. But if and when a film like this hits it is due to that talent.

The should have released it like Black Swan.

Star power? I'd say the definition of of it is Jlaw pulling off an Oscar caliber performance in a film with an F Cinemascore. Even Grace Randolf thinks so.

And all from polling like 200 people at 2 or 3 theaters.

There is certainly that element of the film being backed by a major studio. But Aronofsky has made movies that are not the type of films that mainstream audiences generally embrace. Requiem. The Fountain. Black Swan was imo much more conventional movie than those others or especially this one, and it still had a platformed release, not reaching 2K screens until its 7th week to give it time to find an audience. Maybe this is comparable to Malick's Tree of Life. Even the budget is on point. And that was not a commercial film. Let's just say that some movies are more commercially palatable than others without necessarily being bad movies. Some movies are art movies. I think Paramount backed this because it was Aronofsky and Jennifer and Bardem and gave Aronofsky a lot of freedom. I think this will liikely pay off in the long run but it is not for everyone.

That is only if you make CinemaScore synonymous with mainstream audiences. I see a lot of divided reactions on social media as among critics. Been that way since it premiered. Also see very divided reactions on RTs. So how many people did Cinemascore poll again? So that is the end all be all of whether something is a divisive film. Bullshit is the word. So there is no such thing as a non-commercial, non-mainstream movie? OK. All films are equally commercial regardless of everything else. Awesome.

I didn't think so. Maybe it starts off that way but then it really goes to town.