Silver Lining
Those stories about Motherhood‘s $131 gross in London are almost a good thing, press-wise. Now there’s a slight curiosity factor, at least, whereas before no one cared. This day-in-the-life drama, directed by Katherine Dieckmann and starring Uma Thurman, has found historical distinction. To paraphrase former Secretary of State Edwin Stanton, “Now it belongs to the ages.”
Motherhood opened stateside on 10.23, and had made $92,900 by 11.15. The DVD/Bluray came out on 2.23.10.
I’m a little confused about why this story broke today when the IMDB says it opened in London on March 5th — three weeks ago! — but we’ll let that go. Here’s another IMDB link that seems to indicate it opened on 3.7, but maybe not. The N.Y. Post story says Motherhood opened in London “last Sunday,” or 3.21. What?
Let’s keep in mind, at least, that Motherhood got thumbs-up reviews from the Hollywood Reporter‘s Stephen Farber, Entertainment Weekly;s Owen Gleiberman and the N.Y. Observer‘s Rex Reed.
If the London wipe-out story hadn’t appeared, I probably never would have seen Motherhood. Now I’m thinking I will.
Perhaps it should have been in 3D.
Yeah, but Thurman most likely made money from that cameo in Percy, so execs will somehow think she’s still bankable.
Really surprised Hot Tub opened so low against Alice, though. Payback for 2012, maybe? Though by MGM standards, I guess it’d be a big hit.
I’ve seen posters for this still up in several local theaters. Nobody knows it came out in the first place.
DeeZee it continues to be amazing how much you connect things of no relevance based on a foundation of truly not understanding how things work.
DeeZee is an HE Teabagger.
It made for a very entertaining thread last August:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/08/deep_impact.php
The stories generally barely mention the fact that “Motherhood” was released on DVD the monday after the cinema release in the UK, and due to gifting opportunities connected with Mothers Day, thats where all of the promotional activity was focused.
Ask anybody interested in that film about it, and I guarantee they would have thought it was a DTV release. Nobody knew it was in any cinemas.
The people who paid to see the movie should probably ask for their money back. It’s worse than most of the bad studio fare released these days… cause it’s an indie filmmaker trying to do something that might appeal to the mainstream… and failing.
I haven’t seen this film – and it is probably as bad as they say it is – but I’m so tired of seeing filmmakers (and stars) take the hit for shitty to zero box office when the studios and distributors of these films are clearly not doing their jobs and not promoting and spending enough to get any kind of visibility. They’re also not throwing them out in enough theaters to make a financial difference. Directors are going to movie jail constantly for very good films that were never distributed or marketed properly and it all comes down on their shoulders – more so today than almost ever before in the business. It’s like fucking Russian Roulette for the filmmaker when some distributor announces their film and then fucks them by changing the release date multiple times or loses confidence in the box office potential because X film failed the week before. The fall out from shit like this has consequences for real lives and it goes beyond just a cute story.
For the record, Motherhood is actually on my top ten list for 2009. I know people who hated it, and I can understand their reasoning, but I think it’s a remarkable film. Katherine Dieckmann manages to convey, with heart and wit, the exact texture of one day in one person’s life; a person not unlike many people I know, and not unlike me. It has very little of the stuff you see in most movies, and a lot of the stuff you never see in movies. That’s why the people who hate it hated it — but that’s why I loved it.
To paraphrase the manager from Spinal Tap: “It’s not that Uma’s audiences are waning, it’s just that her appeal is becoming more select…”
It probably didn’t help that they dressed her like Sarah Palin.
Jack – the reason you don’t see the daily lives of people you know in movies is that they’re fucking BORING. I’ve seen the movie too, and while it’s competent and well acted and all that, spending the afternoon with a frazzled new york mother trying to organize a birthday party sounds like a little slice of hell to me, and that’s more or less what the movie played like. Skip it, Jeff.
Almost any situation —good or bad— is affected by the cheap prada shoes attitude we bring to.
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Motherhood is awesome, loved it.
sean