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View Full Version : "Alamo" bomb pressures Disney's Eisner - Reuters, 4/12/04



Darkbeer
04-12-2004, 01:58 PM
http://www.forbes.com/technology/networks/newswire/2004/04/12/rtr1329216.html

QuikQuote:

The Alamo lasted 13 days before Mexican troops overwhelmed it, but a dismal three-day debut was enough for many observers to label Walt Disney Co.'s $100 million "The Alamo" film a bomb and wonder if embattled CEO Michael Eisner would share the Texas mission's fate.
Some analysts said the box office defeat of "Alamo," which depicts the battle at the San Antonio outpost in 1836, might pave the way for high-level management changes and maybe even for Comcast Corp. to take over Disney.

sediment
04-12-2004, 02:23 PM
Should have used CG animation instead of live-action.

It's product like this that will ruin DIS. Not a shareholder revolt. Not a too-low Comcast bid.

The Jazzman
04-12-2004, 03:10 PM
Could it be that Alamo posted low numbers because it was Easter weekend and most people were either with family or watching The Passion? Apparently Passion shot right back up to number one while everything else dropped (Hellboy did well again though. Go figure. :fez: )

Maybe it'll pick up now that the holiday has passed and people resume "normal viewing habits."

Hamradio
04-12-2004, 03:25 PM
You might say that Disney movie tickets are selling like "cold cakes!"

JeffG
04-12-2004, 05:34 PM
This whole article seems like a bit of an overreaction to the failure of one movie, even a fairly expensive one...

-Jeff

wendybeth
04-12-2004, 05:48 PM
This whole article seems like a bit of an overreaction to the failure of one movie, even a fairly expensive one...

-Jeff
Actually, this is failure number three. In a row. In a town where you are "only as good as your last movie", even if you are a studio. Too bad, because I like Billy Bob and Viggo.....

sediment
04-13-2004, 08:44 AM
In the LA times today, it notes that the DIS and COmcast stock prices are edging closer together. Two reasons:
1. Crappy DIS films losing money.
2. An analyst upgraded Comcast on the expectation that the DIS bid would fall through.

#2 is a bit ironic or contradictory, or something. Basically, as long as the bid is still out there with a reasonable chance of success, the stock prices will stay far enough apart to make the bid unreasonable. If the bid is expected not to succeed, then the stock prices will converge, making the bid more reasonable.

Alex S.
04-13-2004, 12:43 PM
It's too bad, too. The Alamo isn't a bad movie. Even if you don't think it is good, the response wasn't that it was terrible, just "meh". Personally, I liked it quite a bit.

Hidalgo was a bad movie.

I don't know that anything could have made this a successful movie, but the decision on release date was a terrible one. They should have opened it in February when there would have been little competition and the summer blockbuster action movies didn't seem so close.

Kill Bill might help some (but I think the split in two decision was also terrible), but otherwise it is going to be a while before they get a chance to revise perception (Raising Helen at the end of may, and Around the World in 80 Days in June).

There is always the chance that Alamo will have some legs, but with Kill Bill and The Punisher out this weekend, it seems unlikely.

But then maybe parents will compromise with some non-gorey violence (unlikely).

sediment, using CGI for the battles would have been a big mistake. About the only common acclaim the movie is getting is that the two battles are well done. Frankly, I'm tired of watching pixels die bloody deaths.

Mark Goldhaber
04-13-2004, 02:26 PM
sediment, using CGI for the battles would have been a big mistake. About the only common acclaim the movie is getting is that the two battles are well done. Frankly, I'm tired of watching pixels die bloody deaths.

I think that his comment was a poke at the traditional-vs-CG-animation fiasco.

sediment
04-13-2004, 03:16 PM
Mark is correct. He knows me well.
I believe this marks the end of traditional Disney live-action films as we know it.

EandCDad
04-13-2004, 08:50 PM
Could it be that Alamo posted low numbers because it was Easter weekend and most people were either with family or watching The Passion?

I think it was more that a lot of people were like me, waiting to see what the word of mouth/critical reaction was. Since it was sorta "blah" they decided to skip it.


This whole article seems like a bit of an overreaction to the failure of one movie, even a fairly expensive one...

Yes and no. The lead paragraph is a bit of hyperbole, but Eisner has tied a lot to improved performance, and anything that results in a heavy loss (which this looks like) is going to be bad for him in the short term. I don't see it impacting the Comcast deal, though.

wwithers
04-14-2004, 12:59 PM
I have a theory as to why this movie bombed (and admittedly, I have not seen the movie)...I'm from Texas, and I didn't care about a movie depicting the battle of the Alamo.

I believe that as important of a history lesson as this may be, insofar as entertainment, the story of the Alamo lends itself much more to the telling of the stories of the legends of the Alamo, such as Davy Crockett then it does to a pretty much historical telling of the battle.

I mean, did Disney even do any market research to see if this was something people were interested in?

CarolKoster
04-22-2004, 04:58 PM
I followed news of this movie and it's premiere with a lot of interest. I even joined a fan site of the movie for awhile. Basically I think a lot of separate things combined to sink "The Alamo", despite the fact it is a good movie (Alex, I liked it too).

The public perception that Disney may not be doing very well, from the proxy and public relations battles surrounding the March 3rd Shareholder's meeting.

The public perception since Ron Howard and Russell Crowe bowed out of the project early on, and high profile, that the project was doomed to be in the hands of a relatively inexperienced producer and director team.

The public perception the delay in premiere from Christmas to Easter means the movie was troubled.

A sneak preview was covered by Ain't It Cool News in October, with a bad review that went all over the Internet. However, another Ain't It Cool News member saw another sneak preview of it in January 2004 that person liked it. But the better review didn't receive as much circulation.

I'm no expert, but according to the buzz online Dennis Quaid's acting career has seen better days, Billy Bob Thornton is better known for "Bad Santa" and the other actors aren't as well known. John Lee Hooker is only known for directing "The Rookie" and as a lesser known director of a work of such large scale, audiences may not have been convinced enough star power was with this film to attract them to go see it.

The idea of examining various points of view of the battle (Americans, Tejanos, Mexican army soldiers, etc.) might have been too controversial or complex for movie-goers preferring instead to simply see an action Western.

The idea of historic controversy over the death of Davy Crockett may have been something those raised with the John Wayne "The Alamo" or the Fess Parker/Disney Davy Crockett character preferred not to see.

The idea of a history movie about the Old West may not be broadly appealing when most movie goers are towards the younger demographics or may not be up, or interested, in American history.

People wanted a more action-oriented movie with only enough historic detail to make it interesting.

It's a niche boutique history movie at a mega-blockbuster movie production costs price.

Some movies people say "I'll pass now and wait 'til it comes to home video to see it."

The idea of a movie about Texas history may have limited appeal.

Regarding patriotism, the characters inside the Alamo came from very different places and backgrounds, yet were pulled together to defend the location. There could be parallels to 9/11 here. But on an Easter weekend drawing a patriotic parallel to anything in contemporary times would be the last thing on people's minds.

"The Passion of the Christ" huge success took everyone by surprise since February 25. If "The Passion" hadn't been playing many other movies so far in 2004 might have been a bit more successful, not just "The Alamo".

Trailers for "The Alamo" were running from late summer-autumn of 2003 in theatres. Special feature articles ran in Texas magazines, I remember one in Parade magazine about Dennis Quaid in December 2003 and some History Channel shows aired in December about "The Alamo" and the historic event. However, with the movie yanked from the schedule starting in late-October, the articles and shows and even the trailers played anyway. There was TV advertising starting with the Super Bowl February 1, then eventually some outdoor billboards in certain cities, then several TV and cable TV ads. But the trailers never came back to the movie theatres to promote the movie there in 2004. Then feature articles focused as much on the perceptions of troubled past of the movie (Ron Howard, being pulled from premiere to get more post-production) as they did on the actors, the historical research and shooting the movie in Texas. The premiere in San Antonio went very well. Even the curator of the real Alamo historic site and the movie critic of the San Antonio newspaper both liked the movie. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas saw the movie and was moved by it to write her own eloquent endorsement of it in a newspaper somwhere. The press had their own showing in San Antonio and liked it. But altogether the marketing wasn't in sync with the new release date of the movie at Easter. The trailers never came back as previews at the theatres. Lobby displays came, yes, but not the trailers.

Opening a movie such as "The Alamo" on Easter weekend is perhaps not a good idea, but maybe it was the only date available and no one anticipated the public attention to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" that same weekend.

The movie relies too much on assuming the audience already knows the history of the Alamo. I'd read articles and seen all the History Channel shows and preview specials about it, so when I saw "The Alamo" I was fairly up to speed. Even being fairly up to speed, a lot of what happened in the movie was never explained, I guess due to the need to cut a 3-hour movie down to 2.25-hours, something has to end up on the cutting room floor. A movie shouldn't be that much work to go and see. People just want to buy popcorn, a soft drink, some candy and nachos and have a good time at the flicks, they don't want to, or won't remember to, do "homework" first in order to appreciate the finer elements of the plot, characters, or history.

With all that said, it's got great moments to it. Billy Bob Thornton does a great job of portraying Crockett, particularly as a celebrity who got in where he hadn't anticipated getting into; as the fiddler answering Santa Anna's "Deguello" music ("no quarter", means Santa Anna intended to kill everyone inside if they didn't surrender, that piece of music communicates that); and at the death scene. Don't let Rotten Tomatoes' reviews or Box Office Mojo's statistics or Speakeasy Discussion Forum dissuade you from seeing it. I enjoyed it.

CarolKoster
04-24-2004, 05:01 PM
I just visited over at Box Office Mojo.com. For their Friday April 23 movies tracked including new wide-releases, out of 15 none were "The Alamo". This movie is in some serious need of calvary to come help it! I noticed I think on UltimateDisney.com tht "Miracle" which was recently in theatres January-February of this year is already slated to come on home video in May 2004. If that's the case it might be safe to assume "The Alamo" will be similarly speeded to home video to get the title out of the way and out of future fiscal home video quarters where Disney is hoping for lots of profits. It might or might not be released as a Christmas buying season DVD/VHS (September or later 2004) . See this thing while you can in multiplexes or very soon in the dollar cinemas near you if you want the theatrical experience of it. Else it may just be coming to home video sooner than you'd think it would! It's a good movie, actually.