Dredd - Box Office

[Mabs]

I do not want to see any direct-to-DVD films of Dredd. I would rather have this one solid film over that possibilty.

Gotta say I don't think I'd be keen on direct to DVD editions, they don't have a history of being worth a bucket of warm shit. If we're going to talk about different options I'd rather see a TV series.

But for now one great movie is a good enough for me, and it's a great legacy.

I have to say Devs, that TV series sounds really good! Just looking at shows like Battlestar Galactica, and Game of Thrones - i'd love to see a Dredd series up there with them in terms of thrills and quality. It's a brilliant idea in my opinion. And like you say, much better than the direct- to-DVD route. But we'll just have to wait and see. I've got my fingers crossed!

[blackmocco]

Had a good chat with some good friends who I coerced into going to see Dredd on opening night. They all uniformly loved from top to bottom. Loved Dredd, loved Anderson, loved the violence, loved the whole thing. Some of them went to see it more than once. They were all utterly exhilarated after watching it.

But...

...they told me after that there was no way in hell they would have gone to see it had I not been the one raving about it. They said they felt the poster made it look like a bad, cheap superhero movie; putting "3D" at the end of a movie title put them off because it made it sound "gimmicky" and they knew nothing about it. The posters were everywhere (Seriously. They were. You couldn't drive down the street without having your eyes gouged by Dredd) but they knew nothing about Dredd and the movie just didn't interest them in any way, shape or form bar my incessant ranting about how great it was. These are Dredd's prime demographic, by the way: Creative, arty, nerdy, movie and comic fans. Once again, these people fucking loved it once they'd seen it but if I'd just not spoken about it, they never would have been attracted to see it. I can only assume that same malady hit the general public.

I had originally posted in here that it was a tad unfair Lionsgate were getting the blame for their marketing and I'm still in two minds as to what to think. Was the marketing underwhelming? Do people just not care enough about a Dredd movie? Is it too niche...? Is there no audience left for a hard R rated action movie? (Expendables 2 was a box office disappointment just a few weeks before...) Is it all of these factors combined?

I don't know. I'm terribly disappointed. Not just because it's Dredd but because it's a great movie on top of it all. If I had never read a Dredd comic in my life, I would have still loved it because it's right in that golden spot of movies I love. Pulpy, crackling, raw and inventive within a confined budget. Makes you fill in the blanks sometimes because they couldn't afford to spoonfeed it to you but it makes the movie better because of that! Love it when movies do that. Magnum Force, Mad Max, Road Warrior, Escape From New York, The Thing, 28 Days Later, Dredd.

[Frank]

A couple of weeks ago, the Guardian film blog noted that "UK distribution rights alone for Dredd are rumoured to have cost significantly more than The Sweeney's entire production budget." The Sweeney's budget was £3 million, so assuming that 'significantly more' might be £4 million (if it's more than that, the story gets worse) then, once you deduct the cinema chains' cut of that £4.3 million, and add on the UK marketing costs, then the UK distributor is possibly looking at a fairly hefty loss here.

Entertainment paid $7 million for the UK distribution rights, apparently (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredd#Development)

[blackmocco]

And just to add to what I wrote above, they all had the same problem convincing people they knew that Dredd was worth seeing. Such a fucking shame. Wouldn't even mind it tanked but it tanked hard and that part is so unfair. Deserves far better. There's only one showing in the local multiplex now. 11.15pm and that'll be gone from everywhere this Friday.

[Mark Taylor]

...they told me after that there was no way in hell they would have gone to see it had I not been the one raving about it. They said they felt the poster made it look like a bad, cheap superhero movie; putting "3D" at the end of a movie title put them off because it made it sound "gimmicky" and they knew nothing about it. The posters were everywhere (Seriously. They were. You couldn't drive down the street without having your eyes gouged by Dredd) but they knew nothing about Dredd and the movie just didn't interest them in any way, shape or form bar my incessant ranting about how great it was. These are Dredd's prime demographic, by the way: Creative, arty, nerdy, movie and comic fans. Once again, these people fucking loved it once they'd seen it but if I'd just not spoken about it, they never would have been attracted to see it. I can only assume that same malady hit the general public.

I had originally posted in here that it was a tad unfair Lionsgate were getting the blame for their marketing and I'm still in two minds as to what to think. Was the marketing underwhelming?

I think it's a fair enough comment to say that Dredd is something of a return (in a good way) to the sort of action movies we saw in the 80s, as various reviews have mentioned. However the marketing campaign (especially the trailer and 'rooftop' poster) also seemed to be a throwback to the 80s and well, that just isn't going to work in the present day marketplace. Certain 80s action movies still have much to recommend them, 80s marketing campaigns... really not so much.

[vzzbux]

Could someone lock this thread as it severely depresses me, but dagnabbit I can't stop reading it. It's like an itch that won't go away and you have to keep scratching it.





V

[Mark Taylor]

Could someone lock this thread as it severely depresses me, but dagnabbit I can't stop reading it. It's like an itch that won't go away and you have to keep scratching it.

We'd only start another one.

[judge devs]

I do not want to see any direct-to-DVD films of Dredd. I would rather have this one solid film over that possibilty.

Gotta say I don't think I'd be keen on direct to DVD editions, they don't have a history of being worth a bucket of warm shit. If we're going to talk about different options I'd rather see a TV series.

But for now one great movie is a good enough for me, and it's a great legacy.

I have to say Devs, that TV series sounds really good! Just looking at shows like Battlestar Galactica, and Game of Thrones - i'd love to see a Dredd series up there with them in terms of thrills and quality. It's a brilliant idea in my opinion. And like you say, much better than the direct- to-DVD route. But we'll just have to wait and see. I've got my fingers crossed!

TV show has been discussed a number of times on this thread and others, partly because Alex Garland mentioned it as a logical progression, but there are issues. GoT has a huge budget, $6M per episode allegedly, and Galactica's was a more modest $1.5M-$2M per episode. Assuming you could raise the funds to make one, securing good slots that will not only attract viewers and more importantly adertisers is hellishly hard in the States. Given the 'success' of Dredd in the states selling it to US TV channels would be hard work to say the least. There are plenty of good shows that suffered in bad schedule slots, Firefly being the obvious one.

But it would be a really nice idea if it could be pulled off, because youo get into some really serious story arc's.

[judge devs]

And just to add to what I wrote above, they all had the same problem convincing people they knew that Dredd was worth seeing. Such a fucking shame. Wouldn't even mind it tanked but it tanked hard and that part is so unfair. Deserves far better. There's only one showing in the local multiplex now. 11.15pm and that'll be gone from everywhere this Friday.

I have to admit, everyone I took to see it were lapsed 2000ad readers or comic/sci-fi heads anyway and were an easy sell. I have spent months selling this to non 2000ad/comic mates and really had a hard time getting them interested.

I'm gonna win a fuck off Euromillions roll over and a movie for us and fuck the money 

[Gonk]

If I won the lottery I'd still blow it all on women and having a good time, I'm afraid. Happily, there is more chance of a Dredd sequel happening than there is of that.

[The Sherman Kid]

And just to add to what I wrote above, they all had the same problem convincing people they knew that Dredd was worth seeing. Such a fucking shame. Wouldn't even mind it tanked but it tanked hard and that part is so unfair. Deserves far better. There's only one showing in the local multiplex now. 11.15pm and that'll be gone from everywhere this Friday.

Seen Dredd lots of times, dragged a number of folk along who ALL really enjoyed it (no bullshit), but it was ,like you experienced,very hard to convince others to go and see it.The 95 mess really put them off and a few mentioned the 3D too,so most said they'll just see it on DVD.I've looked at other US releases and they usually hang around for a while, albeit in a diminishing number of theatres so I doubt Dredd will vanish quite as soon as this Friday as far as the whole of the US goes.

So frustrating (I'm with you Judge Devs on the Euromillions  ), just wonder if Dredd really had any chance. The 3D, the 18 cert, the violence (all these I thought were totally right for this film by the way), the 95 'movie', the lack of awareness or 2D prints,, the trailers that didn't have impact or really convey what Dredd was about, all worked against it.

Well, what would have helped?A big Premier both here and in the US might have been a good idea and getting some big names to endorse it eg an advance screening with figures such as Josh Wheldon , Zak Snyder, Stan Lee et al.It would have to come out of a limited marketing budget of course ,and the second part may have been difficult to arrange (if not these names suggested some celebrity endorsement would have been welcome),but it could have been worth it.The two month blitz of publicity before release worked well in terms of coverage (if not content)with lots of positve reviews thrown in, but it takes time for something 'new' to perculate down to joe public, which is why I thought teasers should have been shown a lot further in advance, despite the competition from TDKR and Prometheus ,making it clear Dredd was coming after. Dredd needed to be slowly built up so it became a curiosity ,something different ,that needed to be checked out eg like Cloverfield.Just throwing out some ideas, then again Bladerunner, a fantastic film flopped at the box office, maybe it just couldn't be done.

[MR. ELIMINATOR]

Ha, just reading about how difficult to get people to go reminded me of when I was drunk one time, it actually got to the point where I had someone in a head lock trying to get them to check out Dredd and they were just down right refusing to give it a chance.

I think the advertising did get better towards release, the trailer with the cool rock music kicked ass. But I suppose most people would have decided after watching the La Roux one. Which had all those text bits in-between clips like "and now he has to durp de durp de drurp de durr" which is just really generic and boring.

I think in the end it was down to Lionsgate, as the product itself was solid.

[Michaelvk]

Out of a room full of so-called movie fanatics, I only managed to drag 2 to go see Dredd.. One even went so see Looper, Taken 2, but refused outright to see Dredd.. The others I had to remind that it in fact has left the theatres..

Last time I make a movie for those people..

[The Sherman Kid]

the trailer with the cool rock music kicked ass. the La Roux one.

I thought that was a good trailer too.The other US trailers though were perhaps too generic.

[Stan]

It's being dropped from Odeon Liverpool One today as well. Only two other places keep hold of it for another week, which means I'd have to visit Manchester if I wanted to see it again.

URGH..