LMI Is a Box Office Flop

[TΛPETRVE]

I have the unresearched impression that prison terms for sex crimes tend to be much longer than for murder.

Here in Germany it's the exact opposite. While murder gets you nicked for quite a while, a child rapist might be on the loose again before Santa Clause could even ask "nice or naughty". Not much better, if you ask me.

[danielma]

Depends on whom you ask. Americans, like most other folk, are a variegated lot, and run the full spectrum from "Can't get enough of it" to "Can't get far enough away from it".

I, an American, am often confused and angered by the very attitude you mention because it seems to imply that human life has diminished value: it's OK to see people being slaughtered on the Big Screen in their singles, dozens and sometimes millions, and most of us don't think much about it, but the sight of a single exposed breast is enough to cause some civic-minded citizen to launch a campaign. I have the unresearched impression that prison terms for sex crimes tend to be much longer than for murder.

I know...oh god I know Sauvin. I've never gotten it...why is something natural and beautiful in human life frowned upon whilst something really vile and disgusting in humanity seems to be the less of two evils? (probably could be worded better)

I look at the MPAA and it just boggles me...they will let stuff like Saw pass with an R rating...yet any depiction of Sex and the movie gets an NC-17...perfect example being Wayne Kramer's The Cooler, there was one brief shot of pubic hair in the sex scene between Maria Bello and William H Macy and yet it got an NC-17. Now lets compare to David Zucker's Baseketball where Matt Stone pulls a Pubic Hair from his teeth for comedic effect and yet that get's an R rating. (bad choice but it was the only movie I could think of to make the pubic hair comparison)

Hypocrisy or what? I've never gotten it, and I know not all American's are like this so I know not to broadly stereotype everyone into that label...but it seems that its really backwards for most American. They frown upon something that is very natural in life and yet the most vile disgusting scenes of blood shed get by with an R rating...Violence = A-Ok, Sex = frowned upon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for violence in a movie (I am a gore hound after all)...but I just, it boggles my mind the attiude that is given about Sex and Violence by most (not all) Americans

[N.R. Gasan]

Well...I can't speak for other forums, but here at "We, The Infected" I can't say we didn't see this coming. I wasn't hoping for box office failure; in fact, I would have been happy to see LMI succeed, if only so JAL and his tale could finally get some props from American audiences. But, as predicted, Reeves went too mainstream; his movie has no real b@lls. He should have pushed the envelope, kept the original title with its original characters, kept Eli as a castrated boy, made a horrific flashback to explain how Elias became Eli (thereby encouraging sympathy for Eli, as well as giving a good shock to the audience), given a backstory to The Helper (as well as a name, thank you), etc., etc.

This isn't being an armchair quarterback; all of these were put forth at one time or another on this forum long before LMI was even cast. In retrospect, I guess Reeves would have had nothing to lose if he'd gone any of these routes.

[danielma]

Well...I can't speak for other forums, but here at "We, The Infected" I can't say we didn't see this coming. I wasn't hoping for box office failure; in fact, I would have been happy to see LMI succeed.

I thought it would have done 20-30 mil tops on opening weekend...boy how wrong I was, I think we had a prediction thread didn't we? I'm sure I remember posting box office and Rotten Tomatoes predictions in a thread here.

But this raises a good question...is the internet as powerful a marketing tool as we all like to think it is?

LMI got some pretty big buzz online. Every website I went to in the last month, I saw at least one advertisement for LMI. Yet here in Australia (don't know how its been in the States) I have yet to see one single poster/tv spot nor trailer played for this film.

When you look at past films that have had massive Internet buzz (Scott Pilgrim, Kick Ass, Watchmen, and so on) it seems they never quite cross over to the mainstream audience. I remember everyone saying Scott Pilgrim would rake in 30 mil easily on opening weekend, and look at how that turned out. Did not cross over to the Mainstream audience at all.

Makes me sometimes think, Is the internet really as strong of a factor in advertising as we all like to think it is? Because it seems any film heavily buzzed online never seems to cross over to that Mainstream market.

[TΛPETRVE]

Maybe some sort of common anti-sense has kicked in. Maybe the Twilight phenomenon has somehow brought up a "don't listen to the hype" mentality in people.

On the other hand... If that was the case, Apple wouldn't sell a single iPad.

[withinfocus]

I realize it's a bit of a hate party here since a lot of serious fans of the previous film and book wanted something more, deeper, or different but keep in mind that almost no Americans had heard of this book or the Swedish film beforehand. The first film wasn't marketed in a way to reach a worldwide audience in the first place and I think every intent was for it to be a film entirely for the Swedish. It got out in different ways but "Let Me In" is square one for almost everyone seeing it.

Distribution is smaller than many other American films by the way, and it isn't being dropped at theaters like blockbusters usually are with heavy advertising. $5 million in week one will most likely translate into nearly that same amount for week two (I'm seeing already $9 million total predicted by today) and of course it will gradually diminish but combined with DVD sales this film will have no problem making up its budget (remember there isn't even an international release yet besides the UK) and not one piece of news I've read about it tells of the production group expecting to make a big return on investment with it. A young and relatively new director paired with a relatively new cast (the lead children having one or two big money films to their name) sent through a niche production agency isn't expected to make big bucks. I will guarantee it makes more money than the Swedish film does though. Be serious, it's not a blockbuster but it's no flop. I think everyone would be a little bit happy here to see the book exposed in a new way, despite any flaws they see in the movie. This would only make the book community larger and you know people are going to want to see the Swedish film now. I don't see any negatives!

[danielma]

Be serious, it's not a blockbuster but it's no flop.

I'm sorry but it really is a flop as it stands right now...this has nothing to do with disliking the movie or what not...my stance is still clear I think LMI is the inferior version and LTROI is the better film to me. LMI is solid though, but this is a post for elsewhere

Back to the point. It is a flop...the production budget was 20 million dollars (last I heard), add to that an advertising budget (I would imagine at least 5 or 6 million dumped into advertising for the States alone, don't hold me to that, that's just a guess)

This thing made back 9 million dollars in its 2 weeks that its been out...that is a flop, no matter which way you try to cut it, its a flop. Granted it will probably end up recouping it losses in Worldwide market and DVD release...but as it stands now...that is indeed a flop.

On a bit of warmer note, it once again kind of make me look at the mainstream and think what the hell is wrong with people? When something as shitty as Vampires Suck can debut at number 1 (or was it 2?) in its opening weekend and end up making at least 20 mil on its opening weekend. Meanwhile this film bombs at the market, despite the fact that I think its inferior to LTROI, it still was a solid film that was better than half the crap that comes out week after week. So yeah, when you look at the wider picture it does make you wonder "what the hell is wrong with these people?"

I'm sure it will recoup its money in the long run...but as we stand in US domestic box office as of this day...the movie is truly a flop.

[withinfocus]

I guess I'll just disagree with you then, because in the movie business a flop is defined as one that loses money. There is absolutely no chance that this film will lose money. And if you were referring to "flop" in a more figurative sense, again this movie was produced to be a relatively small release and expectations weren't that different from the results. Compare this movie's advertising to a big American film such as "The Social Network". They are worlds apart. There are a lot of things Overture could have done to sell the film more but they chose not to. Nothing is floppy here.

[danielma]

I guess I'll just disagree with you then, because in the movie business a flop is defined as one that loses money. There is absolutely no chance that this film will lose money. And if you were referring to "flop" in a more figurative sense, again this movie was produced to be a relatively small release and expectations weren't that different from the results. Compare this movie's advertising to a big American film such as "The Social Network". They are worlds apart. There are a lot of things Overture could have done to sell the film more but they chose not to. Nothing is floppy here.

to quote Kevin Smith, "Jersey Girl was a disapointment, wasn't a flop it was a disapointment"

So can we settle on the words "disapointment" cause otherwise and no offence intended I don't see what we're disagreeing about, I did say in the long run it will recoup its losses...box office wise though it has bombed.


I agree, it will recoup its money in the long run (in both worldwide and DVD), and that's what I said in my post. It will recoup its money in the long run...but as we stand right now it has not done that. So technically as we stand right now it has lost money for the studio...granted it will make that money back once released on DVD and Worldwide, but as of now its a flop as it has yet to recover its losses is what I meant to say. So far Box Office wise it has flopped, it has lost the studio money...but that's not to say it is a complete flop sir/madam. As I said it will in the long run recoup its money elsewhere. If you want to get technical, no movie will ever theoretically outright "flop" (unless its like Mike Judge's Idiocracy where the studio just flat out refuses to release it)

Mallrats being a perfect example...it bombed at the box office yet it did gang busters (and still does) in DVD and Home Video sales. Same thing will probably be said about LMI, it bombed at the box office and will probably end up doing better for itself in both DVD and Worldwide sales.

[wolfshadow]

On a bit of warmer note, it once again kind of make me look at the mainstream and think what the hell is wrong with people? When something as shitty as Vampires Suck can debut at number 1 (or was it 2?) in its opening weekend and end up making at least 20 mil on its opening weekend. Meanwhile this film bombs at the market, despite the fact that I think its inferior to LTROI, it still was a solid film that was better than half the crap that comes out week after week. So yeah, when you look at the wider picture it does make you wonder "what the hell is wrong with these people?"

I find myself asking that a lot these days. LMI was probably one of the better American remakes I have seen, though that may just be my bias speaking because of the novel. I wasn't expecting it to outdo Avatar, but certainly didn't expect it to make less than Case 39 either. Guess this answers an earlier forum question someone posted about there being a sequel.