Let’s see if we can do this for you without a coloring book?

What part of your earlier comments in this thread and elsewhere on this blog don’t strike you as a near-greedy willingness to find fault with American policy, Americans, the current Administration, the Congressional majorities in both Chambers… etc, etc, etc. Oh, I know, for you it’s all about taking political advantage of events to demean those in power with belittling, snide, bogus “opinions”. You, Erik, raised the notion that because U93 wasn’t screamingly subscribed in the opening day of the weekend, it meant the movie was rebuked by Americans… sort of a “take that” all you patriotic conservative WOT-supporting people. In fact, to underscore that point, you made the bogus (meaning false and without merit) point that a gay cowboy movie appeared to be more successful than a film about everyday heroes fighting evil. “Politicized”, eh? Yeah, by the radical BlameAmericaFirst left.

What you leave out, Erik, is the film finished #2 over the weekend in the box office and that’s with unrestricted/discounted ticket sales. Money and box office aren’t the points, here Erik. So go figure… maybe Americans are willing to learn the story behind these brave heroes and your bogus attempt to cheapen that message fails on its face. I don’t think the financial story behind the film says anything meaningful about the story –except to that BAF Left who is trying to diminish the film’s message at nearly every turn.

Unless you’ve been living under rock, Erik, this movie tells the story of the first successful COUNTER-attack in the WOT against evil terrorists. “Evil” Erik; not grey… it’s black and white now. I guess we will need a coloring book for you. Let me know where to send the book and you have to be responsible for getting the crayons; just leave the grey crayon in the box.

Todd Beamer’s Dad said this “May the taste of freedom for people of the Middle East hasten victory. The enemy we face does not have the word “surrender” in their dictionary. We must not have the word “retreat” in ours. We surely want our troops home as soon as possible. That said, they cannot come home in retreat. They must come home victoriously. Pray for them.”

The Wedding Crashers (16.2%)
The 40 Year Old Virgin (19.7%)

So, if that’s bogus, then reality is bogus. But as much as you maligned me for doing it, you can reliably predict the likely ceiling for a film’s total box-office gross based on its opening weekend numbers. Even if ‘United 93′ has the staying power roughly equivalent to 2 of the most durable films from 2005, it still wouldn’t put it much above the 40-50 million dollar range I said.

Does mentioning that diminish the film? Then you obviously must think those numbers are disappointing.

Box office performance says nothing about a film’s quality. Remember that “Citizen Kane” flopped in its initial release.

He wrote above “I simply don’t want to see it… due to the politicization of 9/11.” Move over TeddyK, NancyP, WeScreamDean, generals WesleyClark and Zinnie… there’s a new BlameAmericaFirster in your ranks and it’s Erik. I wonder why Erik is so intent on diminshing the film by raising an entirely bogus argument about it’s 1st weekend gross? Hmmmm.

But still, I don’t doubt it’s a moving film. I simply don’t want to see it. Not because I think it is too soon, but mostly due to the politicization of 9/11.

So Calarato, no bets? Cause I feel completely confident in my predicition. I could even drop it 25-35 million and I’d still be right. For a film that goes straight to wide release it’s first weekend, particularly a film like this one that got so much publicity before it opened, it’s opening box-office weekend will usually account for around 25% of its total domestic box-office gross. So you can look for United 93’s final tally to be in the 40-50 million dollar range.

I’ve heard more than a few liberal friends here in Ann Arbor intone that they areN’T going to see it because it’s “too early”, “too violent”, “racist on muslims and arabs”, and –hard as this is to believe– “anti-PLO”.

The new mantra of the Left will be “let’s forget this film and its message as quick as possible”. If some GayLeft Hollywood mogul had a special “Easy Button”, they’d hit it and re-release Michael Moore’s trash.

Sometimes, “less is more”. The maker followed a brilliantly simple strategy of removing his own “vision” from the film - letting the story tell itself completely. It’s neither drama nor documentary. No voiceovers (except a few informational text frames at the very end). No narration, or narrative devices. No cloying efforts to get you (the audience) to identify with Shelley Winters or some character. No name actors. No big “performances” (and yet, each performance is perfect). No cute lines to explain to you the workings of air traffic control or laser swords or whatever. No explanations (until the small bit at the end). Nothing but a blur of people acting out the events, without editorial comment.

Everyone should see it once - and, I predict, will eventually.

Erik, I am going to make an exception for you. You should not see this film. The concerns you wrote about earlier now seem even more trivial than I thought before. If I were in your place, I should feel embarassed, after seeing this film. Believe me or not (as you would like), I would like to spare you that, so don’t see it.

Did someone bring up “Passion of the Christ”? United 93 is not much like it. For one thing, it’s only 105 minutes. More important, “Flight 93″ (as the people around me in line preferred to call it) isn’t torture-for-the-sake-of-torture, or pain-for-the-sake-of-pain; it’s useful information about life. That’s the only way I can put it. If you see it, hopefully you’ll know what I mean then.

“Let’s put it behind Brokeback, based on 1 day of figures” - Makes a lot of sense. (Not.)

Most important point: Who has said it’s about sales figures? Isn’t it about the movie? Or the fact of 9-11? And the fact of Islamo-fascist evil and their war against us? - “Oh, but Calarato, let’s try NOT to see that or take that in!”

But, if I were to move to your mundane concerns for 1 minute… If United did ultimately exceed Brokeback’s paltry (for a movie that Hollywood wanted to push so awfully badly) $83M - what would you do then?

You know, kind of like the question I asked you here that you didn’t answer.

You would appear to want to gloat over things where either (1) gloating is not the point, and/or, (2) it is way, WAY too early. I wonder how that pattern works out for you?

So, if ‘United 93′ was going to make a big splash, it had to be this weekend and to pull that off, it’s Saturday and Sunday numbers are going to have to be significantly better than its Friday night numbers. We’ll know tomorrow.

I hope these posts have been informative.

Before it opened, my prediciton was that ‘United 93′ would probabaly struggle to find a real broad audience. Alas, with a production budget of just $15 million, it is assured of turning a profit. Though based on its opening night numbers, at this point, i’d say a modest one.

By comparison, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ was made with a similar $14 million production budget and ended with a domestic gross of $83 million. While it still might be too early to call, based on its opening night numbers, I don’t think ‘United 93′ will match that.

Who would have thought a movie about gay cowboys would out perform a film about 9/11?

While it will not equal “The Passion” in terms of cultural impact, I can state with absolute certainty that it will viscerally move each and every person that sees it.

Except, of course, for that sorry-ass sonofabitch at a protest last year in SanFran who carried a sign that read…

I LOVE NEW YORK - ESPECIALLY WITHOUT THE WTC

Enough said.

Eric in Hollywood

I just pray that no other American has to watch as that green, grassy field approaches before everything goes dark. This is not just a reminder, folks….it’s a warning. It’s not a matter of “if” anymore…. but of “when.”…