comment #1

le corbeau says ...

I liked Precious better when it starred Faye Dunaway and was sort of meant to be funny.

comment #2

Eloi Manning says ...

It was absurd to release Carol so early. November 6th for a Christmas film? They should have at least waited until Thanksgiving. I think it'll be fine eventually as it'll have legs.

comment #3

btwnproductions says ...

FRED CLAUS, ELF and THE POLAR EXPRESS were released around the same date. I agree it'll have legs, but I think they'll be shorter than usual. Maybe the thrill is gone re: these "mop-cap" spectacles that require you to pay more money for the spectacles, or A CHRISTMAS CAROL itself, classic though it is, is sort of played-out as a movie for now.

comment #4

le corbeau says ...

Yeah, there are certainly more versions of Christmas Carol available than I can keep up with. Maybe if this had had a more wildly animated look... a Christmas Carol that looked like The Incredibles, or Samurai Jack, now that I could have gone for. Somehow I can't get excited about the videogame cut-scene look of this one though.

As for Precious... for once, my inner Jeffrey Wells is making me think unsuitable thoughts for the Age of Obama, I take one look at the actress playing the daughter, that enormous woman with the angry warthog expression, and I see every supermarket clerk who couldn't be bothered to say hello before she started ringing me up, who smashes peaches into a bag on top of the chips, who feeds her kids breadsticks at the Pizza Hut in Target and who waddles down the street unleashing a stream of "fucks" and "bitches" into her cell phone oblivious to who's around her. Am I wrong to have no interest in the inner life of such a person? Is it racist if you've spent years in the big city encountering people who look like that and never, ever felt that your life was enhanced as a result? I don't have an easy answer for that question (unlike Jeff in such situations), but it's how I feel.

comment #5

R. Hunt says ...

I think Eloi Manning got it right. It's just one week after Halloween and 70 degrees where I live. I'm probably not the only person who's not in much of a mood to sit in the middle of a 3-D snowstorm and contemplate the meaning of Christmas.

comment #6

Skullebrity says ...

Zemeckis needs to make that mo-cap zombie film he's been promising:

http://www.celebrityfreakshow.com/robert-zemekis-to-make-mo-cap-zombie-film/

comment #7

btwnproductions says ...

The early November release date didn't work against those other Christmas-themed films, though.

comment #8

moviemaniac2002 says ...

The "released too early" argument was lame to me....for some years now, corporate retailing starts Christmas one minute after Halloween (the same way Halloween now starts one minute after Labor Day)...I don't doubt DCC will pick up momentum as the weeks go on, no matter how kid-unfriendly and soul-less it is.
As for "The Box"...my heart goes out to Cameron Diaz, who is now negotiating the most hazerdous, trickiest portion of an actress's career...the move from hot-babe-dom to what the casting directors probably refer to as the 'mature' era.....it's a rough trail, filled with lousy scripts that send most actresses into career oblivion...pray for her.(As an example of what a minefield she's facing, try enduring, if you dare, Meg Ryan in "My Mom's New Boyfriend")

comment #9

btwnproductions says ...

At 37, Diaz is in pretty good shape, physically and career-wise, with THE GREEN HORNET, a Tom Cruise action-comedy, and a fourth SHREK all due, but I'd be looking for an edgy HBO show about now. She's not the best judge in scripts, and we're not in "starring Cameron Diaz and..." territory anymore, more "starring....and Cameron Diaz."

comment #10

HAL8999 says ...

There is nothing wrong with this release date. Polar Express, which opened to $23 Million and got to $160 Million, is the best comp here. Carol will hang in there all the way to Christmas and end up somewhere between $150-200 Million. Compare that to Where the Wild Things Are, which opened to a similar number, but is going to limp to $80 Million. With Christmas movies that open in November, think of it as a marathon, not a sprint.

comment #11

Rothchild says ...

They lose all the screens to AVATAR on the 19th of December so this was a must, bad date or not.

comment #12

DeeZee says ...

Jeff: I don't think kids were bothered by it, 'cus there were tons of families at that train exhibit/tie-in downtown a few months ago. My feeling is the fact that it's CG at all is what killed it, because there are too many of those flicks nowadays, and it didn't stand out better as a result. Plus, releasing an adaptation after TARP might be considered a case of "too soon".

comment #13

Rothchild says ...

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

comment #14

Gordon27 says ...

"Is it racist if you've spent years in the big city encountering people who look like that and never, ever felt that your life was enhanced as a result?"

Combined with a confirmation bias, yes, it is.

comment #15

Mark says ...

Precious played at a half sketchy theater here in Chicago and would have sold out if it had played on all 14 screens. I was forced into Law Abiding Citizen and the spillover had that screening full as well.

High demand, and not from the fandango crowd. More like the dinner-&-movie crowd, where dinner takes place at the concession stand.

comment #16

VictorLazlo says ...

Where's the guy who claimed black people wouldn't see PRECIOUS because it's too honest?

comment #17

le corbeau says ...

"Combined with a confirmation bias, yes, it is."

You're saying I forgot all the brilliant young 300-lb. Target cashiers and only remember the blank-eyed ones? Maybe. Or maybe not. I'm not proud of this Wellsian reaction, but it's not based on absolutely nothing, either.

comment #18

Gordon27 says ...

I don't think the point of the movie is that she's brilliant, I think the point is that she's a human being.

And, sure, it's possible that every single overweight black woman who works at Target is rude to you, but that could also have to do with you and where you're coming from. I don't really know all the details, obviously, that's why I said it sounds like a confirmation bias -- the overweight black girls who are helpful and don't curse don't register (I don't really agree with the idea that somebody has to be "brilliant", I'm not sure where you got that or what you're implying there, that a person has to be actually "brilliant" to disprove your stereotype, as opposed to just courteous).

comment #19

bitplayer says ...

McFirbank if it makes you feel any better plenty of white people who work lowly retail jobs are lousy employees too.