Are US film distributers stupid?

[ReaperFett]

NOTE: No, I haven't seen it yet :)




Dog Soldiers (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0280609)

This film has become something of a sucess over here. Critics love it, people who see it love it, and so on. Look at the IMDB rating, 7.7 is a great score. It hasn't made a huge amount of money, but that can be attributed to a bad publicity campaign. Now, to me, this film sounds PERFECT for the US market. It is compared so much to Evil Dead, you'd get a large portion of the people there. It's a film what could make BIG money.




But no, it wont. While most countries snapped this up and will be showing it on the silver screen, the US..................wont. Apparently, it is going the way of Boondock Saints, and becoming a Blockbuster exclusive. The apparent reason? "It's too British".




Now, I ask you, since when has THAT affected anything? Snatch, Lock, Stock, Billy Elliot, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.......... all very British films. And last I checked, they all did very well.


I mean, for Pete's sake, it is a Horror film with comedy! Films like that can make good followings!


It's hardly what you'd call a risk either. The film was made on next to nothing. Two-three weeks, and the money you spent getting it released could be recouped!

[JonathanLB]

To answer your question, YES. lol. I love the United States, I have a lot of pride in the country, but jesus people here are stupid sometimes. I hold very little hope out for U.S. audiences in general understanding anything that is halfway intelligent, and that coming from someone who hates elitist critics. I just hate it when critics are like, "The masses won't understand this," but honestly the majority of people are pretty dang dumb and probably won't get most of the best films.

Any film that does well in another country should be out here, at least so that we can judge it ourselves and have the opportunity to see it. Darnit.

[JMK]

There's hundreds of millions of people in the States, there's bound to be some stupid people, and they're always cast into the spotlight more than the "intelligent" people.

[JonathanLB]

Yeah that is true. There are plenty of us intelligent people, of course, but let's face it, besides some people being really stupid, there are others who simply choose not to think at their movies. They just don't really want to think at the movies, and there is nothing wrong with that as such because perhaps they work at a very demanding job during the day and when they get off work, they just want to be entertained, they want to relax, and they want some good comedy or action, with only minimal plot.

I happen to appreciate the really thoughtful films and the entertaining ones because I like film for all of its various effects, not just entertainment, but also to provoke thought and incite change and new ideas and whatnot. Still, many people see a film like Memento and would just be too confused and therefore think it wasn't good. Even though almost everyone who saw the film loved it, it did after all make only about $17 million, which means that a relatively small number of people actually saw it in theaters. Mainstream audiences clearly would not understand it well enough to make it a $200 million film.

[CMJ]

Actually didn't "Memento" gross like 26M?? Still a fairly modest sum, but it was a financial success since it was produced for like 5M or so.

[Sejah Haversh]

For crying out lout, we hyped up "Insomnia" like mad here in the states, and it SUCKED! No thrills, no chills, no suspense. It just drags on, and then ends. Don't go see it, rent it if you must. Suck suck, suck...

But, yes, sometimes distribotors don't want to take a chance on something that can't be backed with mega-hype.

[CMJ]

Sejah, I will make up my own mind thank you very much.