Birth of a Nation | Fox Searchlight | Sundance Grand Jury Prize. ONLY DISCUSS THE MOVIE AND BOX OFFICE IN THIS THREAD.

[Dementeleus]

1 minute ago, The Futurist said:

 

Well, that s the thing with crimes, though, you can live the most perfect life, be a hard working stand up guy for 85 years, that doesn't substract that moment when you destroyed another life for one hour one evening.

 

 

I agree with you.

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

3 hours ago, jandrew said:

The colleges and churches tour didn't make sense with me to begin with. I know there's Christian themes, but typically when church groups get together they're going to a "feel good film." Judging by the last shot of the trailer alone, this is not that.

Passion of the Christ played well with church audiences...of course, that purported to be the story of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, kind of a cornerstone of the whole religion, so it's a very unusual case that can't be applied to just any R-rated movie with a faith element. 

 

I think it's going unsaid that the church tour will probably feature churches with largely African American congregations. They'd hope the story of a historic slave rebellion would resonate with that audience...black churches are big on black history. I don't think FSL was counting on the crowd who saw God's Not Dead because it had a Duck Dynasty cameo, to boost TBOAN's box office.

Edited August 18, 2016 by BoxOfficeChica

[Jandrew]

8 minutes ago, BoxOfficeChica said:

Passion of the Christ played well with church audiences...of course, that purported to be the story of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, kind of a cornerstone of the whole religion, so it's a very unusual case that can't be applied to just any R-rated movie with a faith element. 

 

I think it's going unsaid that the church tour will probably feature churches with largely African American congregations. They'd hope the story of a historic slave rebellion would resonate with that audience...black churches are big on black history. I don't think FSL was counting on the crowd who saw God's Not Dead because it had a Duck Dynasty cameo, to boost TBOAN's box office.

 

Passion was about Jesus, the reason people go to church, so that doesn't really count. Yeah sure everyone's big on history, but I don't see the "feel good" in the message, which is a reason why people worship.

 

War Room, HIFR, and maybe even Selma is what congregations want to get together and buy tickets for, imo. I see your point, I just don't see churches taking a bus of people to the theater to see something like this.

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

35 minutes ago, jandrew said:

 

Passion was about Jesus, the reason people go to church, so that doesn't really count. Yeah sure everyone's big on history, but I don't see the "feel good" in the message, which is a reason why people worship.

 

War Room, HIFR, and maybe even Selma is what congregations want to get together and buy tickets for, imo. I see your point, I just don't see churches taking a bus of people to the theater to see something like this.

I do think it's not the easiest sell but it wasn't the worst idea to try get a segment of the audience in their corner, in addition to Oscar watchers. Probably now they think church people will be big on forgiveness and second chances, when it comes to Nate Parker. The college campus tour tho...even if they stick to HBCUs, good luck with that.

[trifle]

3 minutes ago, BoxOfficeChica said:

I do think it's not the easiest sell but it wasn't the worst idea to try get a segment of the audience in their corner, in addition to Oscar watchers. Probably now they think church people will be big on forgiveness and second chances, when it comes to Nate Parker. The college campus tour tho...even if they stick to HBCUs, good luck with that.

 

 

The thing about church forgiveness and second chances, they come after repentance and confession.  Not feeling that it is awful this terrible thing you did has come up now to disturb your life.

 

[cannastop]

3 hours ago, Tele the Jet Baller said:

I know a guy who knows Parker (worked with him on another project). He said he was a good guy. It's a horrible situation with no real upside anywhere.

Did Fox Searchlight hack your account or something? Just for a minute there?

[Dementeleus]

Just now, cannastop said:

Did Fox Searchlight hack your account or something? Just for a minute there?

 

Nah, just trying to add a touch of perspective.

[cannastop]

3 minutes ago, Tele the Jet Baller said:

 

Nah, just trying to add a touch of perspective.

Oh man, this is a serious breach of security.

 

In seriousness, what you said struck me as PR spin. Weird, considering you have zero stake in this movie.

[RichWS]

1 minute ago, cannastop said:

In seriousness, what you said struck me as PR spin. Weird, considering you have zero stake in this movie.

1

 

He's an awful person who does awful things to everybody every day of the week. Happy?

[cannastop]

6 minutes ago, RichWS said:

 

He's an awful person who does awful things to everybody every day of the week. Happy?

No, I'm not. But no one is in this situation.

[RichWS]

2 minutes ago, cannastop said:

No, I'm not. But no one is in this situation.

 

Clearly. 

[The Futurist]

2 minutes ago, RichWS said:

 

Clearly. 

 

Hitler loved his dog very much, real footage proves this.

 

 

[The Panda]

7 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Oh man, this is a serious breach of security.

 

In seriousness, what you said struck me as PR spin. Weird, considering you have zero stake in this movie.

 

I think Tele's fine to offer an alternative point of view.  Whenever the Internet gets mad at somebody it can become like an echo chamber of hatred torwards them that they may or may not deserve.

 

Whether or not I agree with the alternative point of view doesn't change the fact that it should be brought up and listened to so you can have a clearer picture of what happened.

 

Maybe Nate Parker is actually innocent?  I'm definitely not saying that I think he is (because I don't think he is), but it's worth trying to hear another point of view because there's always a possibility that yours is wrong.

 

Regardless, I really don't like how Nate or Fox has handled the controversy.  It's definitely putting me off.  Maybe this Birth of a Nation will parallel the other in that they'll both be well-crafted films but regarded with disdain for reasons (Rascism and being a KKK recruitment tool on the old ones part, and this controversy for the new one).

[The Futurist]

I think that most rapists truly think of themselves as innocent.

 

[angeldelmito]

Just now, The Futurist said:

I think that most rapists truly think of themselves as innocent.

 

and its disgusting as fuck

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

1 hour ago, trifle said:

 

 

The thing about church forgiveness and second chances, they come after repentance and confession.  Not feeling that it is awful this terrible thing you did has come up now to disturb your life.

 

If Parker comes to believe the movie's prospects (and his own) hinge on showing contrition about the case, or FSL believes it's the movie's only hope, NP will suddenly go around saying he's very, very sorry (without admitting guilt, but conceding to recklessness/irresponsibility/immaturity on his part), whether he genuinely means it or not.

 

In these big film festival movie deals, is all the money up front or is it paid out in stages, like an advance for a manuscript? It was already a finished movie when FSL acquired it, so it's a slightly different thing.

[Nova]

So I asked my buddy who works in the industry about this film and if he can give me an update about whats going on and apparently this film hasn't been doing well with test screenings...at all. I don't know what that means going forward, and obviously test screenings have little bearing on how critics perceive the film/or whether it becomes an Oscar contending film, but I thought I'd share some information with you all about how this film has been getting received thus far. 

 

Although I cant imagine an Oscar contending film having a bad reception from the GA....

 

 

 

 

 

[Jandrew]

2 minutes ago, Nova said:

So I asked my buddy who works in the industry about this film and if he can give me an update about whats going on and apparently this film hasn't been doing well with test screenings...at all. I don't know what that means going forward, and obviously test screenings have little bearing on how critics perceive the film/or whether it becomes an Oscar contending film, but I thought I'd share some information with you all about how this film has been getting received thus far.

 

 

Ask your buddy to ask Universal when they're putting F&F in space.

[Nova]

1 minute ago, jandrew said:

 

Ask your buddy to ask Universal when they're putting F&F in space.

He said the next film is going to surprise you all and they're actually racing the cars towards space. Thats why the Rock and Vin got into. They were arguing over who should be the first man to drive a car into space. 

[Jandrew]

2 minutes ago, Nova said:

He said the next film is going to surprise you all and they're actually racing the cars towards space. Thats why the Rock and Vin got into. They were arguing over who should be the first man to drive a car into space. 

 

Hmm... 2/10 would not bang.