Box Office

[Luke_in_SG]

Oh no! I want an event in one city organised by the Dave Cullen Forum with Brokaholics coming from all over the world!
Wouldn't that be something!

 

[Poohbunn]

Oh no! I want an event in one city organised by the Dave Cullen Forum with Brokaholics coming from all over the world!
Wouldn't that be something!

 

It would be, and it would be great to see it on the news too.  More good press for Brokeback.  I still hope there will be something in more places, because some of us can't travel. 

Debi (the only travelling I've done is around the coffee pot looking for a handle)

[Marge_Innavera]

On the other hand, I feel it is also sobering that a considerable proportion of the takings are due to repeated viewings by Brokaholics like us, many of whom watch this more than twice (I did - 7 times). This means that there really wasn't as many people who went to see it as we would have liked to believe.
Sad but true.

Here's something encouraging:

Thursday evening I went to see a special screening at Central Missouri State University. The student union people said they'd set up about 300 chairs in the auditorium and it wasn't a totally full house but very close to it - just a few single seats scattered here and there; probably about 280 or so attending.  A handful of people over 40, including some college employees and a lady who said that the town she lived in screened the movie for such a short time she'd missed it. But the vast majority of people who came to see it were age 19-25, and a very good mixture of men, women, straight, gay.  The movie hadn't played in this college town and a good percentage of the college students were seeing it for the first time. They were a great audience.

Guess we don't have any way of knowing who is seeing the film on DVD for the first time.  I did notice on a visit to a Blockbuster in suburban Kansas City that there were 64 slots (sorry, don't know the appropriate term!) for BBM and all but about 20 were checked out. Don't know how many copies they put in each slot but that's a pretty impressive rental; BBM was the #2 most popular DVD rental in Kansas City this week, beat for #1 by Narnia.    *rash had five slots; looked like a half dozen checked out.   

[Marge_Innavera]

Variety has an article about the Wal-Mart flap over the DVD this week.  It opens with the phrase  "Freedom of expression suddenly has an unlikely champion: Wal-Mart."  Unfortuantely, it's a paid-subscription site but don't miss it if you do have access.

[sfericsf]

Pride Month is in June.  In time, maybe two or three visionary theatre owners will schedule midnight showings of our lil darlin' and start a new tradition.  Anyone at the Castro in SF or the Waverly in NYC listening?  Or at the ____ theatre in your town?  Maybe I'm naive but I don't think the ticket-selling power of BBM on the big screen is not over.  Seeing it on a tv screen is a very different experience than seeing it on the silver screen.  Besides, the last time I saw it, I' doubt I was the only Brokea-luver who was reciting lines under my breath.   

Here Here!

Every year on Jan. 01 the Castro shows Moulin Rouge, and this year it was almost sold out!!!

[Zuraffo]

We definitely need to organize it on Oscar night. 

[nakymaton]

According to BOM, BBM passed $83 million this weekend.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=15&p=.htm

Do you think Rocky Horror or Star Wars would have had such a long theater life if they had been released in the 00's instead of in the 70's? Home video keeps improving... though the social aspects of Rocky Horror showings couldn't be replicated by home video.

[NWWaguy]

Yuppers!  BOMOJO:  http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=15&p=.htm

46 Brokeback Mountain Focus $29,000 -41.0% 65 -39 $446 $83,025,000 $14 19

Somewhere I had overseas cume at about $91mil ... that would then be total of about $172.025 or better by now ...

I'm going on vacation for a few days today, so I might disappear until at least Thursday or Friday ... keep posting, OK?

[NWWaguy]

Slight movement on Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/new-for-you/top-sellers/-/dvd/all/002-3683964-6548826

Wide:  BBM #1 / *rash up 2 to #10

Full:  BBM up one to #16 .... no other *rash ...

[britmax1]

Poohbunn, I agree with you that for Brokeback to have made 83M based on repeated viewings from a relatively small number of people, who some like to say actually went to see the movie, would mean viewings of 500, 600 or even a 1000 times. And to say the 1.4M sold it's first day is from multiple copies brought by a small number of people again would mean hundreds of copies would have to by brought by individual persons. This is pure idiocy from those who cannot fathom the success of this movie. They just cannot deal with the fact that the movie reached, and is continuing to reach millions and millions of people who love it and are now owing it on DVD. Even if Brokeback Mountain had brought in 200M, there would still be those who try to rationalize away those grosses. They just want Brokeback to come off as a failure and it's eating them away that it's the complete opposite, embraced by the public at large. Just look at those DVD rental figures. The empty Brokeback Mountain rental space does not lie.

[Luke_in_SG]

Now, now, let's not get worked up over this. I was only saying that a portion of the takings were due to repeated viewing by people like us. I have no idea how much that takes up in terms of percentage of takings, but it still means that the overall amounts does not realistically represent the number of people who watched it.

Sure I'm happy it took so much, and this despite the fact that it's banned in many countries (can you imagine if China allowed it? Think of the millions!). But I would be happier if even more people went to see it. No doubt Star Wars also had tons of obsessed fans who go for multiple viewings, but it earn a huge amount more, so it still meant that more people got to see it. I can only wish that BBM approaches that sort of success.

[joe-broke]

ps. Anyone knows how much cult movies like "Rocky Horror Picture Show" made in its long history?

I don't' care how many times people went to see it more than once.  Box office totals won't ever reflect that, and I don't think there are enough of us on this forum to have made that great a difference. I got into an argument with one of my bosses about this. He said the reason why it sold 1.4 million DVD's in a day was because we bought more than one copy.  Could we really have bought a million copies between everyone on this list?

Speaking of Rocky Horror Picture Show, Brokeback Mountain is playing at midnight in the same theater that showed RHPS for decades.  Maybe this is a sign that a similar thing will happen with Brokeback.

Pooh

I can only hope that there will be a continuous cult following for Brokeback. Like Rocky Horror, I think it's a film that's definitely best appreciated on the big screen, but to me, most movies are. Then again, if people are getting up on stage dressed like characters from Brokeback while the movie is actually playing, that would just be sacrilege!

[Luke_in_SG]

Wouldn't that be funny! Actually a friend of mine went to see Brokeback in Seattle, and the guy he went to the theatre with insisted on wearing a cowboy hat!

[joe-broke]

See something simple like that is just fine, I can actually see myself doing something like that. I'm just don't want to see a drag queen up on stage, standing in front of the movie screen, doing her best impression of "Dancing Cassie"! 

[WLAGuy]

Now, now, let's not get worked up over this. I was only saying that a portion of the takings were due to repeated viewing by people like us. I have no idea how much that takes up in terms of percentage of takings, but it still means that the overall amounts does not realistically represent the number of people who watched it.

Sure I'm happy it took so much, and this despite the fact that it's banned in many countries (can you imagine if China allowed it? Think of the millions!). But I would be happier if even more people went to see it. No doubt Star Wars also had tons of obsessed fans who go for multiple viewings, but it earn a huge amount more, so it still meant that more people got to see it. I can only wish that BBM approaches that sort of success.

Luke, it wasn't so much that we wanted a huge number of people to see it (I personally have no doubt that will turn out to be the case when the dust settles), but that we wanted it to make a substantial profit so the movie industry would be encouraged to make more like this.  I'm sure BBM was not the only "unmakeable" screenplay with a gay theme floating around Hollywood for the past eight years (The Front Runner immediately comes to mind).  If you really want to see where our heads were at back in December, check out the original board.  We were all praying very hard it would make back the $14 million it cost to make it, and there was substantial uncertainty that would happen.  We originally thought the box office would be more along the lines of what Transamerica did.  That it has hit $83 million in this country completely blows me away.