MovieChat Forums > Death Defying Acts (2008) Discussion > Damn Weinsteins

Damn Weinsteins

posted 16 years ago by DotTheEyes
4 replies | jump to latest

How pathetic is it this may not earn over $10,000 in the United States? The Weinstein Company is moronic and inept -- w/e so-called magic touch Harvey had during his Miramax tenure seems to have vanished and been replaced by a consistent tendency to fumble quality product.

I know, I know, reviews aren't exactly through-the-roof positive, but still...

Warner Bros. pushed Catherine Zeta-Jones' No Reservations (which, while a solid movie, isn't exactly the type people always race out to see at the theatre -- it was rather low-key) to $43 million, very strong. Yet this, which involves an individual as iconic and cool as Houdini and is similar in feel to a pair of 2006 movies audiences championed (The Illusionist, The Prestige), can't get to $10,000?

I swear, they should let us movie fans run these distributors. LOL! If you can't get a Houdini movie with a pair of well-known talents to at least $15 million, you shouldn't have a job. There's NO REASON this should go down as such a domestic box office flop.

[–] kok_warlock 16 years ago

That´s exactly the opposite, Harvey Weinstein is a man with vision, he believes in movies that other men don't and he can find gold where other people can't.

The thing is he unlike other movies moguls isn't just a business man, but also a movie man, about this movie he was rather clear in a disguised way, he personally thought the movie was crap, he didn't like it and he thought it would be a flop in the box-office so he decided to release in only two movies, and altough i thought the movie was alright, I have to agree, the movie isn't exactly a masterpiece and doesn't seem to have a focus.

Unlike other movie studios bosses you won't see him hacking masterpieces, like say Lost Boys 2 and S. Darko(sequel to Donnie Darko), but then again you won't see him giving much preference for movies he doesn't like, as a matter of fact he created a new label to release movie he didn't even want to be associated with, including Death Defying Acts.

Hollywood studio mogul Harvey Weinstein has admitted that he created a new distribution label to get rid of films he does not like.

The Weinstein Company's chief admitted that Third Rail Releasing only put Catherine Zeta-Jones's Death Defying Acts out in two US cinemas because he did not think it had any box office potential.

"We should have had Third Rail two years ago because it's a good way of differentiating between what we really believe in and what has been for ancillary value," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] carney_71 15 years ago

I have to agree with what Weinstein did. Its a really crappy movie. And don't compare it in the same league as The Prestige which is one of the best films in recent years. I liked Guy Pearce, didn't like zeta-jones and hated the voice over. Basically its just a really *beep* movie one of the biggest dissapointments i've had with a film becuase i was waiting to see it for so long and it was never going to be a success at the box office.

Why So Serious?

[–] 15 years ago

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