Tag Archive for 'New Moon'

You know that whole conversation about how women don’t go to the movies and are not a film market?  You know that conversation that we hear over and over as the big reason why we are inundated with crappy boy films week in and week out.

Well thanks to the statistics that we released by the MPAA with barely a blip yesterday, (thanks David Poland for the heads up) the news is that not only do women go to movies, we go more than men.  Yes, folks — women go to the movies more than men do.

This news should rock each and every executive in Hollywood more than the Bigelow Oscar win.  Cause this is something they understand.  This is money and women are delivering the money.  Big time.

So I am officially holding a funeral for the term “women are not a film market.”  I never want to hear it uttered again.  I am going to keep these statistics next to my computer (or maybe make them my screensaver but that would mean removing my picture of Kathryn Bigelow holding two Oscars) because every time someone says that women don’t go to the movies I’m just going to throw the stats in their faces.

I know exactly why the 2009 numbers increased.  If you follow the business it’s not too hard to figure it out.  The reasons are New Moon and The Blind Side with a side of The Proposal (now Sandra Bullock’s Oscar makes even more sense.)  Maybe folks are going to try and say that it is a fluke because there were two female centric successes and we don’t have those frequently.  Friends, that is the whole fucking point.  It’s like that line from Field of Dreams – “if you build it they will come.”  It is only looked at as a fluke because of the shortsightedness of people who won’t believe that women will continue to go to the movies.  There is nothing in any of the data that I have looked at the gives me any indication that women won’t go to the movies in the future.  In fact, I would venture to say that if they continue to make movies that attract women we will continue to be there.

Another line that I want to bury for good is that young men go to the movies more than anyone else.  That’s just bullshit.  Younger men don’t go to the movies more than younger women.  Younger people in general go to the movies more, but based on the MPAA numbers of frequent moviegoers (ones who go more than once a month) in the coveted demographic of 18-24, women make up 3.4 million filmgoers while men make up 3.1 million.  Suck on that Hollywood!

Don’t believe me, check out the numbers from the MPAA:

See the yellow?  That’s the women.

Here are the other stats:

• In 2009 there were 217 million moviegoers.  The total admissions was 1.4 billion dollars.
• Women are 113 million of the moviegoers and bought 55% of the tickets.
• Men are 104 million of the moviegoers and 45% of the tickets.

Here’s the money quote from the MPAA:

“A higher percentage of women than men are moviegoers in all categories of frequency.”

In. All. Categories. of. Frequency.

Women make up 9 million more filmgoers than men.

Bottom line: The future is female.  The upside is great.  The market is there ready to be tapped.  The only issue is who will take advantage of it.

Numbers matter. So we here at Women & Hollywood are going to try and put out as many numbers as we can.  (Just keep in mind that none of these are scientific studies)

Women & Hollywood intern Eva Krainitzki (all the way from England- how cool is that?) took a look at the 2009 box office numbers and also put forward a definition of what is a womencentric film.

Overview

2 of the top 10 grossing films are women centric;

9 of the top 50 grossing films (two of them are animated – The Princess and the Frog, Coraline);

18 of the top 100 grossing films;

26 of the top 150 grossing films

The Films, Their Rank and Total Gross

4 The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($293,897,327)

8 The Blind Side ($238,430,210)

—————————————————————————————————————-

16 The Proposal ($163,958,031)

31 It’s Complicated ($104,782,080)

32 The Princess and the Frog* ($100,352,358)

34 Julie & Julia ($94,125,426)

37 The Ugly Truth ($88,915,214)

39 Hannah Montana The Movie ($79,576,189)

42 Coraline* ($75,286,229)

—————————————————————————————————————-

56 Bride Wars ($58,715,510)

63 My Sister’s Keeper ($49,200,230)

66 Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire ($45,506,888)

67 Confessions of a Shopaholic ($44,277,350)

69 The Unborn (2009)** ($42,670,410)

70 Drag Me to Hell** ($42,100,625)

71 Orphan** ($41,596,251)

74 The Lovely Bones($38,647,080)

94 The Uninvited** ($28,596,818)

—————————————————————————————————————-

115 New in Town ($16,734,283)

116 Jennifer’s Body** ($16,204,793)

126 Amelia ($14,245,415)

129 Whip It ($13,043,363)

132 Sunshine Cleaning ($12,062,558)

144 An Education ($8,795,228)

146 My Life in Ruins ($8,665,206)

150 The Young Victoria ($7,673,21)

[1] Based on Box Office Mojo, domestic grosses for 2009.  As of February the 4th 2010.

* Animated Film

** Horror Film

The awards are starting to dominate the conversations but not lose sight of the fact that women are still ruling the box office.

The Princess and the Frog, the first Disney film with an African American princess lead (I’m going to let the whole princess thing go here) won the weekend box office with a little of $24 million. 

The Blind Side was number 2 and is still strong having earned almost $150 million in 4 weeks.  Astounding.

New Moon is still going having now earned $267 million in 4 weeks and by the way was still the top film overseas making its total worldwide gross over $627 million.

Just as I was reading the story about how Roman Polanski’s attorney are arguing that his rape case should be thrown out because of a “a remarkable, astonishing record of misconduct” by the judge, I got an email alert to a story reporting that his film Ghost Writer had gotten a US distributor.

Not just any distributor, but Summit who is released New Moon and Twilight and is now loaded thanks to all the money that women and girls have spent on the film over the last couple of weeks.

Do you see my problem?  It’s not like Roman Polanski’s movie are money makers.  His highest grossing movie was Rosemary’s Baby in 1968 with $33 million which New Moon made in less than one day (more like ten minutes.)  His Oscar winning movie The Pianist grossed only $32 million.  So unless Summit believes this is a huge money making venture (which is contrary to his track record) it is unclear what they get by getting into bed with a rapist.

These folks at Summit have at least two more films in the making based on the Twilight saga, and I for one am pissed that a man who is now under house arrest in his Swiss chalet for RAPE can now be seen as benefiting from a movie that had primarily a female audience.

It may be a brilliant movie, but still, what message does it send?

So here’s a crazy thing that happened this weekend, The Blind Side beat New Moon to become the number one movie in its third weekend of release.  A movie that did not open in the number one slot rarely then climbs to number one.  Just doesn’t happen.

But it happened with The Blind Side, an undermarketed and underappreciated movie before its release.  It became a success in spite of minimal studio support because people are really liking it and lots of them are women and those women tell their friends and that my friends is how word of mouth works.  This is a perfect example of the power of women at the box office.  It might take us a little longer, but if it is good and people recommend it to us, we will make see it.

The Blind Side has now grossed $129 million domestically and looks to continue to play through the holidays.  Just a little perspective, 2012 the Roland Emmerich world is ending calamity movie cost $200 million to make and is in its 4th week of release.  It has grossed almost $149 million.  The Blind Side cost somewhere between $29 and $35 million to make and it will probably beat the domestic gross of 2012.  So tell me, what’s the better investment?

Slowly, quietly, Sandra Bullock has turned out to be the most successful box office star this year.  She has two films in the top 20 and both will wind up grossing over $150 million each.

Also, New Moon is on its way to being one of the top five grossing films for the year, and worldwide it has now grossed over $570 million.

New Moon and The Blind Side helped make this past holiday weekend a record breaking one for Hollywood.  It seems that this weekend, grosses were upwards of $275 million breaking the mark set in 2000 by 12%.  The interesting thing is that none of the films that actually opened for the holiday made any dent in the box office.

What does that mean?  It means that the women ruled the box office for the second weekend in a row.

New Moon suffered a massive 70% decline in ticket sales, but since it started off so well there was no place to go but down.  The precipitous drop does really show that the film does not appeal to guys and all the people who want to see the film will have seen it pretty soon.  But even though it had a huge drop is still made over $42 million over the weekend and in two weeks has grossed over $200 million domestically (and an additional $243 million overseas) and will end up with over a half a billion worldwide gross.  All on a budget of $50 million.

New Moon is already number 6 on the list of the top grossing films of 2009, and it will probably beat Star Trek to enter into the top 5 for 2009.

BUT the bigger story of the weekend is the INCREASE in box office of The Blind Side.  That movie went up 18%.  That’s virtually unheard of.  Most films decline in their second weekend when there is additional competition, but The Blind Side has great word of mouth and will play for weeks.  It will be one of the those films that when other things are sold out through the holiday season people will go to because they heard from someone that it was good.  The Blind Side almost beat New Moon for the top spot grossing approx $40 million.  The movie has already past the $100 million mark.  All on a budget of $35 million.  That’s two hundred million dollar movies this year for Sandra Bullock.  I really hope she got some serious backend dollars for this flick.

How did this happen?  How did this movie that everyone was dismissing a couple of weeks ago as a “lite Sandy Bullock film” become a hit?  First, it’s a good movie.  It does exactly what it is supposed to do.  It makes you feel good.  You smile at the end of it.  Yes, it’s sappy, but it’s supposed to be.  Second, it’s a family movie.  Kids and parents (and men and women) can see this together and all enjoy it.   Third, underestimate Sandra Bullock at your own peril.  She is really helping to redefine what roles women can play in their 40s.  This year she played the evil boss, and crazy stalker and a fierce mom.

Also, Precious which is playing in over 600 theatres declined 34%, and personally I think that the success of The Blind Side will make a dent in Precious’ numbers for now.  Once the year end nominations start coming in people will want to see Precious because they will want to be in the know.  While I am not saying that the films are alike, one could look at the ads for the two movies and want to see a more upbeat film that deals with hard issues in a more upbeat way like The Blind Side does instead of Precious which everyone knows is brutal and intense.

New Moon Tops Box Office Again (Hollywood Reporter)

Thanksgiving box office record blown away despite absence of new hits (LA Times)

On Friday morning Hollywood woke up to the realization that fangirls can be as rabid as fanboys.  By Saturday morning they realized that two BIG records had been broken, including the highest midnight screening opening and the best opening date in history.  On Sunday morning, they woke up realizing that New Moon had not only shattered all even optimistic expectations, it had coattails helping to fuel a big and unexpectedly good weekend at the box office  Entertainment Weekly wrote that: “this one of the most lopsidedly female-driven weekends in Hollywood history.”

Here are the numbers:

• New Moon made $140 (Updated: 142.8 million) dollars this weekend.

• It made more on Friday than Twilight did it’s first weekend.  That means the franchse is growing in strength.

• New Moon has the THIRD biggest opening weekend numbers.

• Women accounted for 80% of the tickets buyers; and were divided evenly between women under and over 21.

• The film also kicked butt overseas bringing in over $118 $124.1 (Updated) million overseas.

• The film scored a high A- in exit polling done when people left the theatre.

TOTAL WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: $258 $266.9 (updated) million for the weekend.

And while everybody expected New Moon to be big (but not this big) what is more astounding to me is how well Sandra Bullock’s movie did opening opposite the juggernaut.  The film actually performed way better than industry estimates which were at best $20 million and it cements Bullock back as a powerhouse.  The Blind Side topped her great opening this summer with The Proposal bringing in $33.6 million.

The film, more than New Moon, showed the power of women, even the much maligned older woman.  The film’s success was built on 59% female ticket buyers with 75% of them being over 25.   If you really think about it, it is older women who made this weekend a huge success because 50% of the audience for New Moon were over 21, and 75% of The Blind Side’s audience were over 25.

AND let’s not forget Precious.  The film widened to over 600 screens and took in $11 million and is still raking in high per screen averages.  It will roll out wider this holiday weekend.

So what does this mean?

It seems to me that while Hollywood felt comfortable dismissing Sex and the City, Mamma Mia (because the audiences for those were primarily over 25), and even Twilight (as a one time wonder), there is no way that these numbers could be dismissed as a fluke.  THEY ARE JUST TOO BIG.  Women and girls are looking for material that they connect with just as much as guys and boys are, but they thing that blows me away about the success of New Moon and even The Blind Side is that the theatres were just packed with women not caring if the guys came with them.  This was a weekend where the gals went in bunches and left the guys home cause they wanted to see this movie more than they wanted to see whatever their boyfriends or guyfriends wanted to see.

As I’ve harped on FOREVER there is an audience out there hungry to see films that appeal to them.  I’m not trying to say that all women’s films will be as successful as New Moon because that’s silly.  These kinds of movies come along rarely cause Hollywood hardly makes them.  But this weekend’s number indicate that they should make more of them.

I think we need to keep New Moon in perspective.  Like I stated above, these films come along rarely and Hollywood has a tendency to try and replicate successes very quickly.  Lots of times those replications don’t work.  I think the actual film New Moon suffered because it was rushed to the screen.  But that didn’t matter one iota to the fans.  They loved it.

I think this is an opportunity for Hollywood to be smart and creative and to think about how to build on the women’s market because it is clearly out there.

But don’t think that New Moon’s huge success doesn’t give me pause.  The misogyny which I have been told about (and refuse to read) that has made it’s way onto the web calling girls stupid and screaming idiots and worse (so typical) for enjoying the film makes me angry.  Because we have had so few films that has a woman at its center do as well as New Moon it is being held to an absurd standard.  Yes, I wish the film would have been better.  I thought it was cheesy and the last third was just useless (a total waste of Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen’s talents.)

I love how people are complaining about the objectification of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson.  Now you’re upset about the fact that movies taunt and flaunt? The only thing that makes this different is that Megan Fox had to keep her short shorts on in Transformers, and Taylor Lautner spent most of New Moon with his shirt off.  If you’re going to complain about these guys being sexualized, you will have a hard time getting anyone to take you seriously.  Women are sexually objectified in basically every Hollywood film.

But at the end of the day the success of New Moon (there are many other people having better conversations about the content of New Moon and whether it sets back women and if it is anti-feminist), is a HUGE triumph, and has the potential to be a game changing moment in the film business.  The fact that a film fueled by woman power and starring a woman has called such waves in Hollywood is unprecedented.  The business must figure out ways to build on it.  If they don’t they are squandering a huge opportunity and all their shareholders should have them fired.

New Moon Shines at Box Office (Variety)

New Moon Tops Foreign Box Office (Hollywood Reporter)

Here are two pieces about New Moon where Women & Hollywood was featured last week.

From CNN.com – Hey Hollywood, the Fangirls are Calling:

But successful female-centric films often are dismissed as flukes instead of viewed as trends, says Melissa Silverstein, a media consultant who also runs the Women & Hollywood blog.

Even though women are an important audience, they still are largely overlooked by studios, which want “the biggest bang for their buck,” says Silverstein.

She thinks “New Moon” has the potential to set records for a female franchise and could possibly unseat “Transformers” as the year’s biggest opening weekend.

But will it be a wake-up call for Hollywood?

“I can only wish,” she told CNN. Instead of dismissing it as a “Twilight” phenomenon, studios should look to it to build the next female-driven franchise, she says.

And on Salon- Could New Moon be a Feminist Triumph:

“New Moon finally give us an apple to apples comparison with other types of fan-driven films,” she told me in an e-mail. “The biggest films in Hollywood are the ones that come out of comic books, toys and books. Starting last year with ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Mamma Mia’ (and both those can be dismissed because the targeted audience was older), but now with the two ‘Twilight’ films, it shows that female filmgoers can be as rabid in their fandom as male.” The question is, will the powers that be recognize young women as a robust market that’s been largely ignored and condescended to, or will they write it off as a limited phenomenon? “Studios should look at this as a golden opportunity and not a fluke!” writes Silverstein. But tapping into the passions of young female audiences means “working to try and uncover things that are bubbling in fandom and even trying to come up with exciting ideas to engage the audience,” not just waiting around for the next runaway bestseller.

Nevertheless, Silverstein is optimistic about “New Moon’s” potential to improve women’s lot in Hollywood across the board — as long as executives recognize its tremendous appeal as more than a fluke. “Hopefully, this success will infiltrate the minds of Hollywood number crunchers and seek out products for the female audience,” she says. “If people start thinking and making more movies that star women and are women driven, it can only help women at all levels of the business.”

New Moon has recorded the BEST OPENING DATE IN HISTORY!

The film grossed $72.7 million (that more than the whole opening weekend for Twilight) on 4024 screens.

The previous record was held by The Dark Knight which made 67.2 million on 4,366 in July of 2008.

So I guess we can say that the fan girls kicked the fan boys asses!

New Moon Takes Opening Day Record (Variety)

In midnights screenings of New Moon in over 3500 theatres, the film made over $26 million which topples the record held by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Price at a little over $22 million.

And remember Harry Potter opened in the summer when school was out and oh yeah, starred a boy.

And in a press release from the Fandango folks, the film is selling more than 10 tickets per second on the site.

Go girls!

New Moon Breaks Midnight Screening Record (Hollywood Reporter)

As New Moon descends on the world today I asked a couple of colleagues who write and think about film from different cities to answer some questions about the global phenomenon.

The questions I posed are followed by the answers by the different women.  Some of the participants requested anonymity.  The participants are: Jen Yamato, Cinematical/FEARnet Contributor; Candice Frederick, Reel Talk; Erin Donovan, Steady Diet of Film; Shannon Ridler, The Movie Moxie; Karen Gilmore, Reel Artsy; Jessica Barnes, Cinematical; Sasha Stone, managing editor, Awards Daily; MaryAnn Johanson, FlickFilosopher.com and Jenni Miller, Cinematical.

You should add them all to your regular reading.

1- The studio is trying to hold down box office expectations but based on many indicators New Moon could make $100 million dollars this weekend and it has the potential to even break the record for highest weekend gross of the year (the record is now held by Transformers at $109).  Do you think the movie business is taking this film seriously as a potential game changer or is it looked at as a fluke?

JEN YAMATO: I think the power of female ticket buyers has been noticed by Hollywood, thanks to Twilight, but its perceived success still comes from pre-determined factors: namely, the huge worldwide following of Stephenie Meyer’s source novels. And so to replicate the success of the Twilight films, a studio may still think a pre-sold audience is necessary. But if anything, New Moon seems to prove the potency of female audiences’ appetite for romantic stories and hunky male bodies – especially when its actors have tabloid-worthy private lives to devour off-screen. The Twilight phenomenon is not simply a film movement, but a multi-headed entity with tentacles in merchandising, books, music, the currency of celebrity, live events, and beyond. In that regards, it is unusual.

CANDICE FREDERICK: I think it is probably viewed for what it is, a cult phenomenon, like others have been in the past. They’ll harp on this until the next one comes around.

ERIN DONOVAN: Everything is a fluke until someone figures out how to reliably monetize it.

SHANNON RIDLER: I think the movie business did not take Twilight seriously and it’s too soon to say with New Moon as just being released today.  I think it is a potential game changer which proves that women and girls will go to the theatre if there is something they really want to see.  It also has proven that this particular audience can, will and plans to see what they like numerous times in the theatre – which is not something we see often.  I don’t think it’s fair to call it a fluke considering it was a 4 book series and at least a 3 film series, I think it’s fairer to call it a perfect storm of timing to get this content to its audience.  Very likely it will be imitated but I can’t imagine any results being anywhere near as strong as we’ve already seen.

KAREN GILMORE: Summit is taking this film seriously, that’s for sure! And right now don’t you think that every studio is secretly wishing that they had New Moon on their roster? Twilight is a juggernaut whether people chose to embrace it or poke fun at it. Team Edward apparel has taken over Hot Topic and several other stores. If you walk into Target’s entertainment section Twilight merchandise is front and center. Hollywood wants movies that go beyond the movie and the Twilight Saga does that. It’s already a game changer, look at how many vampire (and werewolf) related stories are popping up in film and TV.  Do you think The CW would have been so eager to push Vampire Diaries if not for Twilight’s success? No way!

JESSICA BARNES: I think Hollywood has been taking the teens pretty seriously for some time now, and while there are adult fans of the series, teens are the bread and butter of the franchise. The film reminded studios that women of all ages are still a viable market for box-office returns.

SASHA STONE: I think they have to play it close to the vest or else risk losing the fan base.  If Twilight became as big as Harry Potter in conceptual advertising, it would lose its fake edge.  Since it appeals to goths and outsiders (or wanna be goths and outsiders) it has to hold on to its cred.  It can’t ever to have appeared to have sold out.  All of this is smoke and mirrors as they ride this thing out to its conclusion.  The stories are ultimately vacuous — it’s all about the romance and that is what makes it irresistable but also temporary.

MARYANN JOHANSON: If it does really well, it’ll be considered a fluke. If it flops — which seems unlikely — it will be seen as evidence that movies aimed at girls and women don’t succeed. We cannot win here.

JENNI MILLER: I don’t know much about box office stuff, but I do think that it is both a fluke (after all, MTV passed on the book rights) and a wake-up call for Hollywood that teens and women of all ages can and will blow your BO out of the water. Of course, the cult surrounding it is what makes that possible. Without the books, the hype, the constant press and touring and gossip, this movie wouldn’t have been that big.

2- Do you think the franchise gets enough respect in the Hollywood establishment or the film blogosphere?  If not, why do you think that’s the case?

JEN YAMATO: There is no doubt that the Twilight franchise is dominated by female fans. It doesn’t get a fair shake in the film blogosphere because, simply put, the blogosphere is itself dominated by male voices. To say the appreciation is divided by gender seems reductive, but it’s true; men and non-fans (i.e. those who have not read and loved the books) just don’t connect to the stuff that Twilight fans, mostly female, find potent.  The difference in attitudes in the film blogosphere is one of respect vs. attention; the majority of online writers can’t ignore that Twilight is a phenomenon, one which most importantly, drives traffic from a heretofore untapped online demographic. But respect for Twilight – the books, the films, their fans, and the reasons why fans like Twilight to begin with — is something that is severely lacking at the moment.

That’s partially why it’s so impressive to me that the Twilight phenomenon has borne an entirely new segment of bloggers: Twilight fan sites, created and run by fans themselves. The fan site community has become its own self-contained space, and they’re doing just fine for themselves.

CANDICE FREDERICK: I’m not sure if respect is the right word, but I do think the vampire phenomenon has folks taking notice and have even jumped on the bandwagon with other vampire spinoffs like the show “Vampire Diaries.” People will most likely hop on anything that is selling money for the moment until the next biggest thing comes around.

ERIN DONOVAN: Teenage girls aren’t really the film blogosphere demographic, so it’s not surprising that films catered to them will not be respected by bloggers.

SHANNON RIDLER: I don’t think the franchise gets enough respect in the Hollywood establishment or the film blogosphere. The Hollywood establishment overall seems to report on it as they do most things that are very popular, talk about it while it’s hear and then on to the next thing when it’s gone.  The film blogosphere is a different story there seems to be two streams: The TwiHards who talk about anything and everything to do with the Twilight and other film sites that talk about it just because it’s big news even though they don’t care about the series at all.  I’ve noticed this specifically with horror film websites where Twilight be something their audience is in yet they report on it all the same.  I think when Twilight is reported on but the writers obviously don’t care they just do it to hits on their site.

KAREN GILMORE: Twilight is one of those subjects that quickly became polarized in the blogosphere. Either people love it or hate it and there isn’t much middle ground. Why? Because that’s probably what draws the most hits to a website. Fandoms and over critical gossip/trash sites seem to be beacons on the Internet. They entertain people with their avid devotion or snark.

JESSICA BARNES: No, I don’t think it is all that respected. Partly, because just as a film there were some major problems with the first installment of the franchise, and in spite of Hardwicke’s efforts most of the film was pretty stilted – it was almost as if the plot didn’t show up until half way through. But mainly I think most of the derision comes from my belief that women’s taste isn’t all that respected in pop culture discussions. So-called chick flicks are considered to be low-brow and sentimental at best and at worst, just crappy films. I was stunned to see how Twilight fans were treated at ComiCon with accusations of how they ‘ruining everything’, as if somehow those fans weren’t legitimate followers of a fantasy franchise, they were just boy crazy.

SASHA STONE: I think it is probably snickered about because it is aimed at tweener girls, the least respected group, no doubt.  But money talks so they’ll eventually have to bow down.    No one really giggles when young boys are shelling out their allowance to watch Megan Fox bend over a car because, on some level, Hollywood and the blogosphere is run by and dominated by young men and boys — even older men who run things are secretly young boys underneath it all.

Girls are a whole different animal.  Because less money is spent on entertainment aimed at them, and because they aren’t as reliable in terms of box office, it remains a mystery as to what really draws girls in droves.

MARYANN JOHANSON: Well, it’s absurd, and ridiculous, and offers a terrible role model in Bella, who is passive and whiny and extra super annoying. As movies, these are awful, and don’t deserve any more respect than, say, the oeuvre of Michael Bay. However, if adolescent male sexuality — for boys of all ages! — can be catered to on a regular basis by Hollywood, it must be seen as a measure of progress, if of a depressing sort, that adolescent female sexuality is being catered to, if only in this one franchise.

I would be marginally happier if Hollywood actually acted the way everyone says it acts — it’s a business! it’s all about the money! — if that held true when it came to movies aimed at women, even if they’re awful. *Twilight* made a crapload of money; *New Moon* will make even more. Will that result in more movies like these? I’m guessing not, because “everyone knows” that women don’t go to the movies, and movies aimed at women don’t make money. Even though they clearly do.

JENNI MILLER: It gets no respect in the blogosphere except as a traffic-driver — in the past, I’ve been just as guilty as courting that audience for numbers, even going so far as to email the people who run fansites.  Because they are rabid for info on Twilight, and it WORKS! The movie — I haven’t seen the second — isn’t actually THAT bad, but I think everything around it is what pisses online journos off. It’s for fanGIRLS (of all ages), as someone awesome at Cinematical pointed out — the comic book people (like myself) are just as nerdy and screaming but on the inside! I literally squealed going into the Tim Burton Q&A yesterday. I stayed to shake his hand. People like him are my Twilight. So that is why I think Twilight is easy to make fun of; I’m guilty of it myself. So the people who do pander to that audience to get traffic get no respect, even though it’s for THEIR audience, and they get no respect, no matter what. Which is unfair, because you do have to give your audience what they want.

Continue reading ‘Women Writers Talk New Moon’

Women are going to seriously dominate the box office this weekend with the opening of the juggernaut New Moon as well as the Sandra Bullock starrer, The Blind Side.

New Moon is the 2nd chapter of the Twilight saga the love story between the mortal Bella Swan and the vampire Edward Cullen.  The good thing about this film is that no matter what any critics say this film will be a hit, especially among younger women.

What can I say about the film?  It’s totally cheesy and at times pretty bad that you kind of have to cringe.  But it’s critic proof just like Transformers 2 was. (BTW – Transformers 2 had only 19% on rotten tomatoes compared to New Moon’s still low 28% as of 7am today.)

Even though the movie has so many problems (I know that Summit wanted to rush out the sequel and didn’t want to give Catherine Hardwicke the time she wanted to make this film better but honestly they should have waited and listened to her) the boring script being the big one, I am excited to watch this movie roll out because I can’t remember the last time a movie with a woman at the center was essentially critic proof.  It would be better for all of us if the movie was stronger, but this is a movie that women want to see and they will not be kept away.

If you want to experience a cultural phenomenon go and see it this weekend (if you can get in.)  Just be prepared, there will be lots of screaming fans with you in the theatre.

The Blind Side

Here’s my confession.  I’m a big Sandra Bullock fan.  Don’t know exactly why, but I’m just always rooting for her.  Maybe it’s because she knows exactly the type of movies she will be good in (All About Steve notwithstanding) and lays it all out there.

In The Blind Side, Bullock takes on the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy based on the true story of a wealthy white Memphis family who takes in and virtually adopts a young black man.   They work hard to help this boy, including hiring tutors to help put him on the road to success.  And by success I mean finishing high school, getting a college scholarship, and now having a successful NFL career.

I’m a sucker for a feel good sports movie, but this is not about football the same way that the TV show Friday Night Lights is also not about football.  This film is about family and Bullock is great.  She kicks butt as the gun toting NRA member who astounds herself and her family by taking in and loving a 350 pound black young man.

It’s hard not to think about Precious when writing about this film.  This boy has potential and options that Precious never had.  Sports.  Sports are still a way out for boys that girls just don’t have.  I’m not trying to gloss anything over and say this boy had it easy, he didn’t.  He lived on the streets and was lucky to be alive.  But when you look at a big boy you can see the potential for his life and his future, and when you look at a girl of the same size you see all the limitations she has.  That’s just the reality.

But nonetheless, this is a heartwarming and moving story that’s fun and is a film that both men and women can enjoy.

I spend a lot (too much) time in the twittersphere and the blogopshere and from the people I follow and read (lots of movie, TV and pop culture people and feminists) you’d never think that New Moon is opening next week.  Granted all the movie folks have turned attention to all things awards and Oscar, but just looming on the horizon, a little over a week away, is a huge juggernaut New Moon. This is a franchise like Transformers and Harry Potter yet it does not get the proper respect in movieland.  I’m not talking about the content of the film, I’m talking pure numbers.  Why is New Moon not as respected? Maybe it’s not respected because it is targeted at girls and women?  I’m not surprised at the disdain for all things Twilight.  Think about how Mamma Mia was treated.  The movie has grossed over 600 million worldwide, yet that movie gets no respect.

Let’s think about the potential of New Moon.  According to Paul Dergarabedian who tracks the box office at Hollywood.com, the opening weekend of New Moon will hands down beat the Twilight numbers of $69 million.  What we also might witness is the biggest opening weekend of the year.  According to Dergerabedian, this movie has the potential to beat the Transformers sequel opening weekend numbers.  That movie made $108 million.  That movie also opened when school was out of session in most places at the end of June, and on a Wednesday, and this movie is opening the weekend of the 20th of November when school is still in session and yet it still might beat it out.  Degarabedian says the opening weekend will be “girls kicking the crap out of the boys.”  He says that this is the “holy grail” and that this is to the female audience was “Star Wars was to the guys.”

Let’s just think about that. A franchise fueled by girls and women has the potential of beating the machines for the box office record.   This movie could potentially be “guy proof” meaning they won’t need guys to see it for it to kick some box office butt.  Whereas the other franchises NEED women to make their numbers.

Here are just some other facts that are helping to propel the film to huge heights:

• According to movietickets.com (h/t Thompson on Hollywood) tickets to New Moon are selling at 4 times the rate than Twilight.  There will be several thousand screenings at midnight around the country on November 19.  Many will be sold out.
• According to Fandango.com New Moon has already sold more advance tickets than Twilight and it is the company’s 4th biggest seller, and is tracking to be the #1 best seller ever.
• The trailer for New Moon broke records for viewing and was watched over 18 million times the week ending November 5.  The two previous weeks had 25 million and 21 million.
• 18 million fans voted Twilight into one of the top movie slots (and also Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson for best actress and actor) for the People’s Choice Awards.
• The New Moon soundtrack debuted at number 1 and has been a top 10 seller for 4 weeks.

So folks, the question is are you going to see New Moon and do you love all things Twilight?