MovieChat Forums > Meet Joe Black (1998) Discussion > the reason why the movie bombed

the reason why the movie bombed

posted 12 years ago by amaster88
27 replies | jump to latest

It was a good movie I think,good ideas and all. But the reason why it bombed I think is because the music score was louder than the characters dialogue, you have to either turn up the tv or really listen closely to hear them talk. I think if this was the problem with the movie when in theaters, then I can see why it failed. The music overburdens the story, it distracts from any brilliance brought forth by direction or character/plot development. Your music can't outshine your movie unless the movie sucks, and this movie doesn't suck, so the music should have slightly lower key

[–] rudolphgur 11 years ago

Agreed completely. It's a horrible mix. And they really should have used more compression on the score as well.

[–] Qwaull 11 years ago

I sort of agree. The music was at its loudest in the longest silent scenes. It sort of negates the great acting and expressions.

[–] trammel53 11 years ago

Whether or not the music interfered with the dialogue is a matter of opinion, but to state that this movie "bombed" is absurd. It was made for 90 million dollars and grossed 143 million. And that was 15 years ago back in 1998. Since then thousands of VHS and DVDs of the movie have been sold which surely have contributed to its profit margin. Another fact I find to be of interest is that compared to most films this is a movie that has steadily gained in popularity over the years. On IMBD alone the user rating was 6.4 just 5 years ago and now stands at 7.0 with over 100,000 people voting. Now I'm not saying that it ranks with Shawshank Redemption in popularity or Avatar in its box office take, but it was definitely a success. And in my humble opinion I think that unlike most movies that inevitably become dated and/or forgotten, Meet Joe Black will be remembered and appreciated as a timeless classic for many years to come.

[–] wuhrer36d 11 years ago

Exactly. We've become so jaded. If a film doesn't make 150 million it's opening weekend, 500 in a month, it bombed.

Superman Returns made 3 times it's budget, not even counting foreign markets - but look at the board there, everyone says it bombed. Not every film makes 2 billion worldwide.

[–] Niv-1 11 years ago

the original sound mix is horrible and there are other reasons it wasn't a big US domestic grosser like brad pitt and forlani just not being that interesting together and pitt's performance didn't help. 3 hours was also probably too much with the ads being all about the romance and then you have the hostile takeover business story.

[–] Mad_Monkey 11 years ago

I had a REAL hard time hearing most of the dialogue because it was too soft. That irritated me.

[–] previn123 11 years ago

glad I wasn't the only one. I hated everytime they had to whisper a line. I had keep playing with my volume controls throughout the movie

[–] Darthfrodo58 11 years ago

I always turn on subtitles when watching this on DVD.

And now, my beloved disciples. The moment of truth... the needle of love

[–] LDHRELL2003 11 years ago

It was a three hour movie with no violence besides the "road kill" and even though it was of sci-fi/fantasy genre, we had to use our imagination for that.

[–] lantzn 8 years ago

And the roadkill was just black comedy. Though shocking and unexpected it looked like a pinball game.

[–] fugazzi49 10 years ago

The movie couldn't have bombed because of a loud score because that's an after the fact judgement. You would have to buy a ticket and see the movie in order to make that judgement. Except for musicals, the music in films is rarely mentioned in reviews or talked about by the public in general. The score of Meet Joe Black is generally held to be one of the finest scores of recent years. Sound and volume are very subjective and other people may have found it just right. The movie "bombed" because people were put off by the idea of a film about death around the Christmas holiday. It should have been released in October. It's a great film that deserves a critical reasesment.