LMI Is a Box Office Flop

[danielma]

Yeeesh, I at least thought it would do better in the UK given that the original did surprisingly well there in its release...I thought that LMI might have stood a better chance in the UK/Europe markets...guess I was wrong

Although it really does make me wonder, is this story as a whole really Mainstream friendly??? Even the original book and film, I just have to wonder if the story was ever really mainstream friendly.

I look at LTROI (book, film, remake) and really think to myself that maybe the story just never was deemed to be a mainstream hit....It will always have that audience that love and adore it, but crossing over to the mainstream??? Maybe it was just never destined to be.

Kind of makes LMI even more ironic considering it was supposed to introduce the story to a wider audience.

[abner_mohl]

One critic made a good observation that by making LMI a shot for shot remake of LTROI, Matt Reeves accidentally made an art house film, and in doing so defeated the purpose of the remake being more "accessible" to a wider audience.
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[crazychristina]

I think Kodi and Chloe have huge futures ahead of them. Chloe is currently doing a film with Martin Scorsese. Fans will be coming back to their earlier work (including LMI) for years to come. It's a shame Kare and Lina haven't followed up on LTROI with further roles. Lina has actually said she wants to continue with acting, but Kare said he didn't actually want to be an actor in the first place, just sort of fell into the role. In an interview he said a casting crew rocked up to his school, they all went down to the assembly hall and read some lines. He got the job. Anyway, lets hope Lina gets back into it fairly soon.

In terms of acting I actually think Kodi and Chloe were better. Kare and Lina were excellent, but from reading interviews they never saw a script, and each day Tomas Alfredson would coach them on what they had to say and do. The did this brilliantly, but still the director was very heavily involved. In LMI the roles were actually more difficult because of the POV Reeves decided to take - more personal and more emotional. Kodi and Chloe had a harder job to pull this off. They are both serious method actors, creating lives for their characters beyond the film (Chloe used to keep Abby's diary, for example) and investing more of themselves in their performances.

[gary13136]

Yeeesh, I at least thought it would do better in the UK given that the original did surprisingly well there in its release...I thought that LMI might have stood a better chance in the UK/Europe markets...guess I was wrong

Although it really does make me wonder, is this story as a whole really Mainstream friendly??? Even the original book and film, I just have to wonder if the story was ever really mainstream friendly.

I look at LTROI (book, film, remake) and really think to myself that maybe the story just never was deemed to be a mainstream hit....It will always have that audience that love and adore it, but crossing over to the mainstream??? Maybe it was just never destined to be.

Kind of makes LMI even more ironic considering it was supposed to introduce the story to a wider audience.

I have felt for a long time that the original only appeals to certain individuals, and the remake tends to prove that. Neither movie has made a lot of money. I'm not really sure if it's possible to say what "type" of individuals would be attracted to either of these movies, but I'm fairly certain that they would appeal to those who tend to be "non-conformist". By non-conformist I don't mean totally weird; rather someone who is, shall we say, courageous enough to be outside the mainstream. Someone who could say that they liked either (or both) of these movies, and would be able to take criticism for liking them. It takes a certain amount of courage to be different; to have different tastes and like different things. A total conformist, I think, would live in fear of not fitting in. You won't hear many people say that they like subtitled movies. I believe Matt Reeves really felt that a remake in English would make a lot more money. It didn't. So it wasn't totally subtitles. The original movie is just too "different" for mainstream tastes. And even the publisher first refused to publish the book until JAL had re-written some of it. It must have REALLY been way outside the mainstream.

[abner_mohl]

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=let ... nein09.htm

Total box office as of Nov. 18, 2010:
Domestic: $12,092,538 71.4%
+ Foreign: $4,835,757 28.6%
= Worldwide: $16,928,295

[gary13136]

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=let ... nein09.htm

Total box office as of Nov. 18, 2010:
Domestic: $12,092,538 71.4%
+ Foreign: $4,835,757 28.6%
= Worldwide: $16,928,295

I wonder if it might do better outside the USA? It seems though that it will exceed the break-even point.

[abner_mohl]

LMI ranked 11 on the UK charts last weekend
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/article ... ember-2010

total UK box office gross:
£1,095,076 = $1,758,913

[abner_mohl]

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=let ... nein09.htm

Total Lifetime Grosses as of 11/24/2010:
Domestic: $12,121,000 64.4%
+ Foreign: $6,701,505 35.6%
= Worldwide: $18,822,505

Now it is within striking distance of breaking even with production costs. Don't know what the promotional costs were, which quite often are much higher than the production costs.

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/article ... ember-2010

UK Box Office:
ranked 15
Box Office Gross:
Nov. 19-21: £69,505 = $108,351.34
UK Total: £1,352,772 = $2,108,836.27


Finally earned back production costs, but doesn't include promotional costs which could be equal or more than the production budget:

Domestic Total as of Nov. 30, 2010: $12,130,542

Domestic: $12,130,542 60.6%
+ Foreign: $7,898,033 39.4%
= Worldwide: $20,028,575

[ColBlair]

I know some LtROI fans didn't like it, but as I've said... I saw LMI first, and it led me here, and to LtROI, and I love every version of the story now, but if it weren't for LMI, I'd never have heard of LtROI. LMI could have brought so many new fans to LtROI, if they'd given it a chance. I makes me mad it's done so poorly in the box office. It had great reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, and even the new Amazon DVD pre-pre-order page has 4 stars. What is it with Americans, anyway? If the vampires don't sparkle and act like spoiled teeny-brats, they don't like it?

That's how I heard about Let the Right One In was thru Let Me IN. It made me upset that it did poorly at the box office, when critics raved how great it was. I didn't care much for the Twilight movies at all. I, to this day, don't see the hype at all with the Twilight films. I understand the hype more with the Harry Potter films and books.

[abner_mohl]

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id ... nein09.htm

December 9, 2010
In Release: 70 days / 10 weeks
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $12,134,935
+ Foreign: $8,948,367
= Worldwide: $21,083,302