Audience Interest In ‘War On Terror’ Related Movies
Over the past while there has been (and more are coming) films facing the subject of the war on terror. Films like Lions for Lambs and Rendition heavily go into the politics and depicting what goes on behind all those things we hear about on the news all the time. I decided to do a little investigation into the box office results for films like this to see if they did well or if the public just didn’t get out to see them. Here is what I found:
Budget - $27,500,000
US Box Office - $9,664,316
International Box Office - $1,200,000
Total Gross - $10,864,316
Budget - $35,000,000
US Box Office - $7,913,999
International Box Office - $10,300,000
Total Gross - $18,213,999
Budget - $15,000,000
US Box Office - $9,176,787
International Box Office - $6,800,000
Total Gross - $15,976,787
Budget - $72,500,000
US Box Office - $47,205,930
International Box Office - $29,000,000
Total Gross - $76,205,930
So my little examination of the box office results show that just not that many people got out to theatres to see these films. Most of them (and most notably A Mighty Heart) just about made their budget back if not lost money. And the only one which made a lot of money is the one that has the most action, popcorn-movie feel to it (The Kingdom- which btw I loved). So why is it that people aren’t going to see these movies? They have big names, hard-hitting issues, lots of advertising (from what I’ve seen) and the trailers are always exciting enough - so why is it no one goes to see them? Is it because people see enough of this sort of subject on the news all day and they don’t want to have to pay to see it again in theatres? That’s my best guess anyway. And the shame is most, if not all, of these movies are more than worth seeing. And with films like Redacted, among others, coming our way soon does this mean they are doomed to not making much money? Time will surely tell.
John said
November 15 2007 @ 10:23 am
I really think most people are tired of the war political drama right now. Give it a few years once the US is out of Afghanistan and Iraq (which will not be for a long time) and then these movies will find more acceptance.