Americans don't support anti-war films

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by BeBro
Anti war movies get bombed in the US now?

[LordShiva]

I'm not sure if Gladiator was pro- or anti-war, but it pwnd teh box office.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by GePap
Think of "The Kingdom", in which brave FBI agents go hunting down terrorist after a huge attack in KSA.
It was a huge spectacle, unlike all the movies you mentioned save Lion for Lambs, with big names, and in the US it made less than $50 million, which for a movie on it's scale, is poor.

Good example

I'm just interested in seeing how Dan will try to weasel that one into not a pro-war film .

[GePap]

No one is dumb enought to make a blatantly "pro-war" film, which belies DanS's implication that those movies failed for being Anti-war.

There are a lot of dramas out there doing poorly, like "Things we lost in the fire." I don't think this will be qa very happy movie season for the studios.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Compare the take of an average motion picture and compare the take for F 9/11.

More useful would be to compare the cost to profit ratio. If a film only makes $20 million but costs $25k to make then it is extremely successful a la the original Blair Witch Project. While if a film costs $100 million to make and only nets $90 million it is a flop even though it grossed five times the successful film.

[Elok]

Why has nobody mentioned that Lions for Lambs features Tom Cruise? There might still be some residual flop factor attached to his name after all the couch-jumping and Scientology-promoting.

[Dinner]

Yeah, Tom Cruise has been lampooned as a nutjob for several years now. He just doesn't have the drawing power he used to have.

That said I loved the Southpark episode where everyone is trying to get Tom Cruise to come out of the closet.

[DinoDoc]

Is it possible that the reson the movies listed are failing is that they just suck and in the case of at least some of the trailers seem kinda preachy?

[snoopy369]

I'm not sure the Kingdom is really pro-war, per se, as opposed to just ... war. It certainly has a lot of 'war is hell' focus ...

I see it as more "anti-insurgent" than "pro-war", though it certainly could be seen either way.

I think the more appropriate thing to be taken from this discussion:

Americans like action films, not political dramas.

[LordShiva]

Nor is Rendition really anti-war, as opposed to just ... anti-sending innocent people overseas to be tortured by oppressive regimes.

Surely teh fact that it bombed doesn't mean that "middle America" approves of this practice?

[DirtyMartini]

Is there such a thing as a pro-war movie? Every good/memorable war movie I can think of is at least neutral if not anti-war. What most of them are is pro-soldier -- they glorify the self-sacrifice and nobility of the men, not the war itself.

Private Ryan -- repeatedly addresses the futility/unjustness of war. Plus, the knife scene pretty much seals the deal. But it glorifes most of the American soldiers.

Every Vietnam movie I can think of has the as one of the core themes the evil/injustice/futility of war.

Blackhawk Down turns my stomach, don't think that could be considered pro-war.

Even Gladiator has as it's hero a farmer who is willing to fight, but who would rather war would just end so he could go back to his fields.

Of course, all of that being said -- all of these movies have the graphic violence required to keep an audience's attention (self included). I guess that makes them pro-violence on some level.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by DirtyMartini
Even Gladiator has as it's hero a farmer who is willing to fight, but who would rather war would just end so he could go back to his fields.

"Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with teh sun on your face, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium, and you are already dead! Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity"

:goosebumps:rgasm:

[DaShi]

What about that crappy Mel Gibson Vietnam movie?

[DirtyMartini]

We Were Soldiers?

Never saw it.

[Dinner]

I did. It sucked.