This blog post originally appears in The American Thinker
Will they ever learn?
Another anti-war movie is tanking at the box office. Overnights for Friday show the film “Stop Loss” garnering an anemic $1.4 million for a projected $4 million opening weekend. This despite a huge build up and massive ad campaign with great reviews from movie/war critics.Not one Iraq war movie has been anything close to a financial success. In fact, it is fair to say that every single anti-war film to date has lost its shirt:
In the Valley of Elah (2007) – $6.8 million.
Redacted (2007) – $.06 million.
The Kingdom (2007) – $47.4 million.
Rendition (2007) – $9.7 million.
Lions for Lambs (2007) – $15 million.
Home of the Brave (2006) – $.04 million.
(HT: Cinematical)“The Kingdom” – a drama about the FBI investigating a terrorist attacks on Americans in Saudi Arabia - ended up getting about half its $80+ million budget back in receipts. It’s actually an exciting film and doesn’t even mention Iraq (although the last scene shows a moral equivalence between terrorism and our efforts to stop it).
But the blockbuster “Lions for Lambs” ($15 million gross) which starred Hollywood heavies Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford (who all agreed to forgo their usual huge salaries for a percentage of profits from the film) earned back far less than half its $35 million production costs.
And director Brian De Palma’s hysterical anti-war, anti-military depiction of the rape of an Iraqi girl and the murder of her family depicted in “Redacted” was so bad it never even made it into general release. And that from an “A-1” Hollywood director.
So why are anti-war films tanking? Here’s one take from an industry analyst:
“It’s not looking good,” a studio source told me before the weekend. “No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It’s a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that’s unresolved yet. It’s a shame because it’s a good movie that’s just ahead of its time.”
“Ahead of its time?” Moviegoers “not ready” to see Iraq War movies? Allahpundit scoffs at that notion:
They keep making ‘em even though we keep not watching ‘em, which shows you how committed they are to the message and/or fearful of testing that “America’s not ready yet” hypothesis with a pro-war flick. Check out the trailer for this abortion if you missed it last year. One shopworn anti-war contrivance after another, right down to the cringeworthy graphic of a tattered flag. No wonder even the left doesn’t want to sit through this crap.
Allah is off base suggesting that Hollywood places more importance on the anti-war message than on the idea that the film will make any money. If there is one place in the United States where money is worshipped more than in Hollywood, I can’t think of it. When a production company spends $80 million on a film and loses nearly $40 million, the chances of them getting backing from a major studio to make another film is severely reduced. This alone is motivation to make a film they are pretty certain will make money.That $40 million in losses is real money. Even losing half that is a catastrophe. The exception to this was probably De Palma’s “Redacted” (Cost: $5 million of DePalma’s own money) where the director admitted he wanted to instruct the American people on how to feel about the war and ended up making an incoherent mess of a movie that even anti-war critics panned.
What’s the problem then? Insularity is one explanation. The liberals in Hollywood believe everyone thinks the way they do about the war because their friends and associates all believe the same things. They think their wildly leftist worldview is mainstream.
Another reason most of Hollywood believes making anti-war films will rake in gobs of money is the success of such films in the past. “Platoon,” “Coming Home,” “Born on the Fourth of July” – all grossed very well at the box office. (If they had noticed that John Wayne’s “Green Berets” did pretty well also, they may have had second thoughts.) In Hollywood, nothing succeeds like success.
Finally, as Allah points out, Hollywood refuses to make any movie that could be construed as “pro-war” or “pro troops.” I am not as convinced as some are that such a movie would do boffo business at the box office. I think Americans just wish the war would go away at this point and want nothing to with either a pro or anti war movie. I may be wrong but war weariness seems to be the dominant feeling about Iraq among the American people and spending $7-10 bucks to watch something they wish would just disappear – even if they are supportive of our efforts in Iraq – just doesn’t seem logical to me.
There are many explanations for why Iraq War films are doing badly as this article in the Washington Post demonstrates:
Film historian Jonathan Kuntz of UCLA points out that most memorable war films appear many years after a conflict ends, when the nation has had time to reflect on the experience and a historical consensus emerges about the war’s successes and failures.The classic films about Vietnam—starting with “The Deer Hunter,” “Coming Home” and “Apocalypse Now” in 1978 and 1979 and ending with “Born on the Fourth of July” in 1989—came out years after the last U.S. serviceman had left the battlefield. “M*A*S*H,” which was essentially an anti-Vietnam film but set in the Korean War, was released nearly 20 years after the Korean armistice. But the outcome in Iraq remains an open question, with America’s military commitment to the country under constant debate.
There may be something to that. We all may be too close to the political arguments and the emotional investment in defending or opposing the war to be able to see the war as a diversion or as entertainment.
Eventually, we may reconcile our feelings about the war and place it into the context of our national narrative. Until then, it appears that the American people just want to be left alone.
2:57 pm
“I am not as convinced as some are that such a [pro-U.S.] movie would do boffo business at the box office. ”
How would we know? It hasn’t been done and there is a ton of support for our troups.
The market hasn’t been tested, which is ultimately all that matters.
I personally feel this genre is awaiting it’s “Passion of the Christ” moment. Referring, of course, to a movie that the vast majority of Hollywood refused to make which broke box office records.
4:13 pm
Look, I’m a lefty but these movies look incredibly cliche and lame. The 80s had plenty of pro-war, alpha-male movies that everyone loved, the Schwarzenegger/Stallone movies that refought and then won Vietnam. There was plenty of implicit criticism in those movies of the US gov’t, too. Uncommon Valor, PLatoon, etc. I liked them all, really, but I didn’t support the Vietnam war. They were engaging popular entertainment that contradicted my own political beliefs, so what? I’m not that sensitive. Are you?
I can’t believe that conservatives are such cartoons that they really think that a movie tanks only because of its politics, but of course I’ve already read, off of Memeorandum, plenty of conservative sites are trying to laugh off Stop-loss as an example of how Hollywood is out of touch.
I love a good patriotic movie, I think most lefties do. I love Independence Day’s rallying American-centric militarism, just as I love Apocalypse Now’s dreamy self-doubt.
My lefty friends love America’s ideals – they just despise the despicable ignorance and transparent deception of Bush and his enablers. I guess that’s one difference between the right and left – mostly conservatives seem to have trouble realizing that we yearn for an opportunity to be proud of the US.
The biggest problem with the flops listed above is that they were dull! Christ, Robert Redford keeps auditioning for the Spirit of America – The Natural, The Candidate, The Electric Horseman, Jeremiah Johnson, All the President’s Men – we get it, we get it, Bob. And Cruise, nuff said.
Who can take Ryan Phillipe seriously, with his pouty-face?
The Kingdom was about 2/3 a good action flick and then its weird moral equivalence popped up at the end, that WAS weird, I grant you. That movie tried to get artsy and intellectual at the end. But the characterization was weak and it was a wasted opportunity of a novel setting. Ah well.
I would say overall the reason for the flops is that we, I, are just totally exhausted with Iraq. No one really knows what to do. We can’t leave and we can’t stay. At $2 billion/week, it’s just a mess. It’s not entertaining because the stakes are too high. It’s not informative to see a movie because no movie can match the information saturation that the web and cable news brings us info junkies. So what can a movie do? It can’t educate like the net, and it can’t entertain because there’s too much at stake. Like the Nam films, there’s got to be a moratorium. Wait til the war’s over.
Sadly, that means decades until we’re out of there.
I don’t think the conservatives will ever really come to terms with the magnitude of how deeply wrong they were on this one. Some sites have. But Bush has been a catastrophic failure. I just want him gone. And please, God, no Hillary either.
4:21 pm
[...] talks about the train wreck of the Democratic Primaries. Right Wing Nut House on the latest anti-war movie flop. A Blog for All and Jammie Wearin Fool talk about the silly Earth Hour. Prarie Pundit and Doug Ross [...]
6:02 pm
You summed up the answer in this sentence.
“What’s the problem then? Insularity is one explanation. The liberals in Hollywood believe everyone thinks the way they do about the war because their friends and associates all believe the same things. They think their wildly leftist worldview is mainstream.”
These people need to get out of their Gulfstream ghettos and actually learn what America is and who Americans are.
As to this statement of yours, Finally, as Allah points out, Hollywood refuses to make any movie that could be construed as “pro-war” or “pro troops.” I am not as convinced as some are that such a movie would do boffo business at the box office.”
Why don’t they actually try to find out? Never happen, anyone who would make any TV show or movie of that nature would be tarred and feathered and run out of the Gulfstream ghetto never to “work in this town again”.
6:09 pm
Memo to tor:
What a steaming pantload!
And what a predictable display of arrogant ignorance out of one of your ilk.
You did provide a good display of the mindset prevalent in the MSM and Hollywood, however.
To quote Yoda; “That is why you fail.”
7:03 pm
From the OC Register March 27th interview with the director:
“Peirce said she included four real soldiers in the boot camp so that her actors could ask questions and listen to their stories. She also encouraged the actors to watch videos made my soldiers in Iraq, and to speak with soldiers whenever they could.
One of the actors, Victor Rasuk, met a disabled veteran who suffered the same injuries as his character. The actor said he was stunned by the absence of bitterness.
“I was nervous about meeting him because I thought he would be angry and bitter, but he was totally optimistic,” Rasuk recalled. “The only thing he was angry about was that he had left his friends behind and desperately wanted to rejoin them. Man, that gave me a whole new perspective on life.”
Perhaps if people in Hollywood would actually read some milblogs for a change or talk with veterans of Iraq they all would gain some much needed perspective BEFORE they undertake their “artistic vision”.
I am always amazed by how little Hollywood knows or cares about the real world of the military. The idea of stop-loss isn’t new, but it conveniently fits the liberal view of the Bush administration being “liars”. Ask WWII vets who were recalled to duty in Korea or specialists (doctors, nurses, etc.) who have been activated numerous times since the 1950’s. Aren’t former Marines always suseptible to being recalled to active duty (hence the once a Marine, always a Marine)? Etc. Well, at least this movie had a retired Marine sergeant as an advisor to keep the actors from saluting with the wrong hand…
7:22 pm
I think Rick has it right and this is not really a very political phenomenon. I think it’s just too early. There was a time when I was ready to watch Platoon, and a time before that when I was not. There will come a time for Iraq movies, but this isn’t it.
I doubt Hollywood “keeps making” these movies. Rather I suspect they were all greenlit before the first audience reactions could be gauged. There’s quite a lag time between greenlight and release. They got out ahead of the audience.
8:14 pm
Nahanni,
I know you are but what am I.
8:21 pm
“I guess that’s one difference between the right and left – mostly conservatives seem to have trouble realizing that we yearn for an opportunity to be proud of the U.S.”
What a pathetic little man you are if seeing New York firefighters standing on top of a still burning pile of rubble that once was the World Trade Center and was the twisted grave of almost 3,000 Americans just to hoist an American flag didn’t make you proud. Or the thousands of Americans who left their homes all over the nation to volunteer (as I did for over a year) to help fellow Americans after Katrina and Rita. How sad you are not to be proud of the thousands of Americans that give of their time and money every day to make the lives of others better. I have to wonder about someone who was not proud of his nation when Americans dug in their pockets to give billions of dollars to help those affected by the horrible tsumani that took thousands of lives on another continent.
You have to wonder just exactly it would take to make someone like that proud.
9:05 pm
I’ve been reading right wing blogs for a long time and I think I’ve been to over 50 different ones over the last several years…this is the lamest, most limp-dicked, mindless, uninteresting, pedantic sh**house ever. Bbbblllleeccchhhhhhh…whats that smell?
You haven’t even scratched the surface of right wing blogs if you think this one is bad. Compared to most others, this one is a font of reason and an oasis of prudence and probity.
And please no obscenities. Next time, I’ll simply delete the offending comment.
ed.
9:25 pm
[...] I’ll tell you what’s left to say — box office bust. [...]
2:04 am
jeez this site has fallen. Retire and nahanni – are you under 15 years old? Is this Rick Moran’s site? Rick’s a smart right wing blogger. These two, on the other hand, are pathetic. Wrapping yourself in the flag, you’re a joke, Retire. Nahanni, well, he or she is so advanced he resorts to potty insults. Wow. What an embarrassment. Next time, use more exclamation points. That’ll REALLY learn me but good! oh man.
6:07 am
Rick, its been awhile since I,ve have been to your site. I have been in major funk but am better now. The site is still great.
Now, to the point. All these anti-war flicks are pathetic. The latest is the marine, I think marine, who got out after being injured and they have made an anti-war flick so he and they claim the many more can have a platform to speak, like they already don’t have the FREEDOM to speak, but this one was put together by the nutcase phil donahoot so what can I say. I am so tired of blame America first and the complacency of the left. Not one worry do they have of terrorism, they just concentrate of what they call our BAD ECONOMY , which by the way does not effect me as I don’t have a house and would not be stupid enough to make a bad loan.
Back to the point, I guarantee if you talked to the majority of our brave soldiers you’d get positive comments.
Welcome back, dear friend. Look forward to your comments, as usual.
ed.
6:32 am
Thank you ed.
6:50 am
If we’re rating “right wing” sites, I’ll put a vote in for Rick. He’s one of the smarter, less partisan, more analytical bloggers around on any side. Wrong on so many things, sadly, but no one’s fool and no one’s unthinking water carrier.
8:08 am
I do not think it is too early for pro-American Iraq war movies.
Nor for pro-American anti-Jihad-terrorist movies.
We were making popular WWII movies soon after Dec 7 1941. In these movies, Japan and Germany were clear villians. There was no quibbling, no moral equivalency between “them an us”.
It hasn’t been tried yet. Isn’t that very strange? It should have been tried, even with a relatively small budget for limited war-themed FX. Get a fantastic script that really has us rooting for the good guys, and hissing the bad guys, get the movie out there, and see how it does.
We’d be surprised, I think.
9:23 am
The irony about the entire Hollywood industry(not just its’ self-defeating anti-war narrative) is that without Oil Hollywood would be unable to make its’ celluloid nightmares.
Film, tape, dvds are all products of petroleum and if Al Goracle’s Global war against oil continues, Hollywood’s luxury item will eventually die a slow death.
If a person has to choose between eating or watching George Clooney, Clooney will lose to hunger everytime.
The entertainment industry is a luxury item which eventually will be unaffordable, Oil is expensive especially after Hollywood spent billions demonizing this capitalist engine.
Death of Hollywood is by its’ own creation.
9:48 am
“I think Americans just wish the war would go away at this point and want nothing to with either a pro or anti war movie. I may be wrong but war weariness seems to be the dominant feeling about Iraq among the American people”
Since a part of the American population (with the exception of those directly doing the heavy work ie those serving in the military and their family/friends/loved as well as the military supporters) haven’t really been doing much but complaing about the war, I think they’re tired of hearing themselves complain about the war rather than being tired of the war itself.
In any case, no matter what happens in Iraq the fact is, fatwas do not have a timetable; the enemy want to destroy the West and they have all the time in the world.
9:50 am
Lastly,
Geert Wilders reminds me of Winston Churchill in the early 1930’s
10:43 am
[...] of our friends from the Right leaning side of the sphere, such as the excellent Republican blogger Rick Moran, it’s simply a case of America rejecting the leftist Hollywood liberal elite anti-war (or even [...]
11:33 am
#12,
tor, is that your rationale that if someone questions what it would take to make you proud of your nation, a nation that has done more to help people all around the globe than any other nation on that globe, we are under 15?
My guess is that nothing we could do, besides pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving those nations to the same fate as Vietname when we listened to those on the left who said it would be fine if we did, would make you proud.
Are you not proud that you have the right to go where you want, live where you want, vote in open and free elections, work at your chosen profession, have as many children as you chose or none at all? Or do you really think that there is any social system that is superior to ours?
You are a typical leftie. When you have no argument against your own statements, insult the person that questions you.
Seems you and the radical Islamists have a lot in common; win through intimidation.
3:08 pm
What am I missing?
Anti-war movies have made money in the past. Pro-war movies have made money in the past. Now only anti-war movies are being made. The reason for this is economic: anti-war movies have made money in the past.
Too clever by half, I think, you are.
4:46 pm
If we had listened to those on the left we wouldn’t be caught in this war now would we?
Other countries around the world have all the freedoms we do and more believe me.
I moved to England from the US years ago it’s a much much freer country.
Canada is too.
Please wake up wingnuts.
btw
the reason the movies flop is because they suck, not because people agree with you.
sheesh
6:17 pm
butter, had you asked, I would have contributed to your plane fare. Canada is freer that the U.S.? Think so? Ask Mark Steyn just how free Canada is when it comes to speech that the Human Rights Commission doesn’t agree with. Say something that a committee of non-elected people don’t agree with and you will wind up in court.
So glad you now live in England. Now the next step is to give up your American citizenship. Go all the way. Make a statement.
8:00 am
“I moved to England from the US years ago it’s a much much freer country.”
All those cameras spying on you must make you feel like a movie star.
11:52 am
Rick,
I think you are mostly right. I think it is simply too early for Iraq War movies. If Hollywood thought that they good make a modern day version of Green Berets and make money they would do so.
I went to see Stop Loss over the weekend, mostly because there was nothing else to see. I thought the movie was generally good but certainly flawed. It did make some good points and, I thought, portrayed soldiers in a very realistic sort of way. But the storyline was plodding at times.
1:45 pm
So, it bombed at the box office. I did a personal Stop Loss when I stopped spending to see anything produced in Hollywood which produces only one or two worthwhile films a year. This only means that it will be made available sooner on cable, and like Inconvenient Truth I can choose not to watch it there too, also for free.
10:19 am
I live in Canada and it IS freer than the US
It’s a great country, a lot better than the US where I was born and raised.
7:19 pm
I’ve said this before, but my son and I went to see “Behind Enemy Lines” right after 9/11. People cheered at the end, because they wanted to see the American military kicking the shit out of the bad guys.
A great many American people still want to see that. I know I do. The difference between me and our current crop of filmmakers is that I can identify the bad guys. Hint: it ain’t us.
11:32 am
The box office has spoken: Don’t make virulently anti-American, anti-military, anti-soldier or anti-war movies while our soldiers are still fighting for their lives. I would think that would be a no-brainer but that list of box office duds proves otherwise.
I did see The Kingdom since it seemed to be the least venom-filled of the lot. I thought it was excellent; action-packed, thrilling, scary and realistic, with great performances and cinematograpy throughout. The melodramatic scene at the end left me a bit cold though.
Someone, please, give Mel Gibson a ton of money to make a movie about the war.