Mar
2
Why Do Fanboys Bellyache About Box Office?
Filed Under Blockbusters, Culture, Movies
For months now, there’s been all this hand-wringing among fanboys over what the box office take for “Watchmen” might be. Who cares? The only people that should be concerned with the film’s opening weekend numbers are the bean counters at the various and sundry movie studios — Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox — that have a financial stake in the movie. It’ll be interesting to see how the film resonates with non-fans, but if it tanks, so what? It still got made, didn’t it? If the film’s financiers lose their asses on the picture, well, better luck next time.
I blame sports for this nonsense. A movie’s box office haul is like its score. And fans want their favorite movie, like their favorite sports team, to score bigger than everyone else. That gives them bragging rights, I suppose. I think it’s insipid.
If a movie doesn’t perform at the box office, it’s called a “bomb” or a “flop,” and people who haven’t seen it assume it’s ungood. Never mind that lots of crap movies have made a pile of money. A film’s box office take is a lousy way to measure its quality. Look at “Blade Runner.” It died at the B.O. and was poorly reviewed but has since gone on to become the most influential science fiction film of the last quarter century. The movie found its audience on home video, like so many underperformers in the late 20th century. Box office is sometimes meaningless in determining a film’s cultural impact.
That said, it’s amazing that average movie-goers still obsess over weekend grosses. I even find myself checking them on Sunday, but I don’t despair if a movie I like was trounced by something like “Madea vs. Predator.” I know that most people who go to the movies are dumbasses. I heard audiences applaud during the trailer for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” last summer for Chrissakes. That those same morons might avoid “Watchmen” this weekend doesn’t bother me. I don’t gauge my opinion of something based on the general consensus. Groupthink isn’t my style.
If “Watchmen” bombs, the studio won’t make another one. Funnily enough, “Watchmen” is self-contained, and a sequel or prequel wouldn’t make sense anyway. What’s important is that the film got made and that it looks great. If it doesn’t resonate immediately (or ever) with mainstream audiences, I don’t think it’s worth losing sleep over. “Watchmen” is a $100 million cult movie at the end of the day. The film might bomb, it might break even and it might even go into the black. At any rate, it’s not my money. It’s not yours either. The only thing you should worry about is getting your ten dollars’ worth.
-Brad Lohan
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