Catastrophic results for the first part of the new SEA-WOLF, just an average of approximately 800.000 viewers tuned in to see the new version of Jack London's classic. Ironically the 50th airing of the classic movie TITANIC had twice as much viewers than SEA-WOLF. The second part will not do better, it has to compete against Soccer Euro Championsleague and Desperate Housewives.
shareI found it to be the most boring Sea Wolf. The introduction of Death Larson added no substance to the story and all the love story was tiresome.
3,21 Million spectators in Germany but only 700,000 in the "target group"(15-49). People zapped away.
Well, I also like the Sea-Wolf with Charles Bronson and Christopher Reeves. This ZDF-version was much more like the original book by Jack London, which is very exciting and has quite a unique critical point of view for its time. This ZDF-adaptation looked for more eye-catching moments like some brutal stuff (skinning of real seals, brutal fights, lots of bleeding guys, etc.) still it did not get to the point. And it was totally unable to attract younger viewers although it was more brutal. Also the negative tabloid press reporting about the skinning scenes did not change that fact, on the contrary part two was sinking like a stone in water. That the overall figures were that bad did surprise me, they had lots of interviews with Sebastian Koch, a few with Neve Campbell and many reports about the productions etc. So press wise this "event movie" was covered like nothing before this autumn TV-season, still it did not make viewers tune in Sea-Wolf on ZDF. Sorry, but Germany alone has 81 Mio inhabitants, so 900.000 viewers for part one is not good. Part two? Well, the are different figures cruising now, I also do not understand why all these different airing figures are being circulated, the approved official figures are much lower than those of the network itself. --- Still I like the fact that for a sum of approximately 15 Mio Euros from Austria & Germany some German actors got to work in this two-part movie, but even that did change the oppinions to watch it, it seems it was not something the audience wanted to see or was waiting to see. For me it proved the audience in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg is not easily in a swing mood. Once they love one version, the continue for a long time. That might explain why all these reboots of old US 80ies and 70ies TV series do not work successfully too. It is sad that this has happened, all actors did a great job. If all were the perfect choice for the part they played, hm that is somebody else to judge.
shareIt needs to be said that there are already too many versions.
Last year we had:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182323
with similar ratings but with more younger people attracted.
Most popular:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066709
back then there was only public TV.
And it seems the Sea-Wolf DVD is as unpopular as the Sea-Wolf tv mini series, nobody is prepared to pay money for it. (Well it was on public tv without any breaks). So the original investment of EUR 15 Mio has to be a loss. Now the production company shoots MOBY DICK... Any idea how many versions of MOBY DICK do exist? I wonder who decides to this? Nobody is interested in a new version of MOBY DICK. Will you tune in ? What is new this time? White Pott whale survives? I am sorry for these talented actors, the sweat blood and tears to make this come true and that it goes down... Why is nobody shooting NEW stuff?
shareWhy is nobody shooting NEW stuff?Is there anything new that could be used? It seems that there are no new good adventurous stories any more. share
It just was plain onehundred percent bad. Have seen myself three better versions of that story, the early one with Edward G. Robinson (very best one still), the 70's version with Harmsdorff, and the Bronson version (pretty bad too). Also there recently was another TV version, which was largely ignored too. Absolutely no point in re-re-remaking this, except a for lack of imagination and courage.
I absolutely love Tim Roth as an actor, but here he was wasted, his character added nothing to the story at all, except dragging it even more. As did that unnecessary love story, as did all creative decisions, wich took this away from the book.
The reason German audiences don't like miniseries is that they are not sure if they will be invading someone by the time part two airs. Just kidding. This movie seems to be well done, but the story sucks. Also, calling this movie "Das Marinehund" was probably not a good idea.
share