My initial plan for Arthouse Cowboy is to do a somewhat shorter, reactive piece early in the week (Monday or Tuesday) coming hot off the past weekend, with a more substantive, multifaceted column later int he week (Thursday of Friday). After seeing Wedding Crashers last week, I also had an idea for a recurring feature...
Talking At the Movies
It doesn't even bug me that much, sometimes, because the above can actually enhance the experience for me. TatM will feature actual conversation I overhear week-to-week at the cinema.
At War of the Worlds:
Guy Next to Me Who Checks His Cell Phone for Texts and Receives Calls: "Dude, why don't the cars work?"
His Fellow Text-Checker: "Bro [prounced "braaahh"], they said nothing electric works 'cause of the big lightning thing."
Guy (as he checks for a text message, and emphatically): "But Bro, it's got a battery."
His Pal: "Dude, they'll explain it, just wait."
At Wedding Crashers:
Dr. Quinn, Barechested Woman bares her femininity to Owen, Butterscotch Stallion
Owen says something along the lines of "what should I do?"
Thugged Out Seventeen Year Old: (pointing his finger at the screen) "Get up in that old bitch's rug!"
For reference, the involved pillars of society were white as rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm.
The Indie Hustle
Hustle & Flow had a terrible first trailer. The rhythm of the newer TV spots syncs up better with the thick beats present in Craig Brewer's piece about attaining one's goals in spite of hardship and pessimism.
At first, I thought the MTV acquisition was going to make this film open wide, right alongside Bad News Bears and the incredibly shrinking The Island. I was surprised to see it booked on 1013 screens, more than 700 less than even The Devil's Rejects, and 1/3 of the 3000 enjoyed by the aforementioned wide openers.
The receipts told the tale on Monday, when H&F pulled a per-screen average of $7,914, bested (in 1000+ screen bookers) solely by Wedding Crashers. Hustle & Flow didn't just do well, it kicked the rest of the weekend movies' collective asses. How did MTV first bungle the marketing and then the booking on a movie everyone knew was going to be a big deal after its huge Sundance showing? This whole debacle (or so it seemed at the time) verged on pissing me off to grand effect.
H&F a savagely loud and at once quietly dignified movie so good at nailing human nature, had been put down by the very company that wanted to make money off it. It was infuriating. Only the Regal theatres in town are showing it, so the vast majority of Tallahasseans missed even having it as a choice if they went to the mall cinema. Damn it, it deserves to be shown, I said, and I couldn't get why it got so stupidly underbooked.
The Slow Burn
Leave it to a major multinational media empire to confuse me. They're playing The Slow Burn.
The Slow Burn is what I call a subtle (or not so subtle) marketing trend associated with the huge popularity of "indie" movies as a commodity rather than an aspect of a film's production (the source of the budget).
There are a few "big movies" left for the summer, but none, I think, that can fend off H&F expanding its screen count hot off of great word of mouth. The movie is still just as cool and non-studio as its roots prove, but MTV wants this thing to be on everyone's lips during award season as "the indie sensation that won America's hearts and pocketbooks" around award season time.
These guys are brilliant. They're devils, but they're brilliant.
Opening the movie wide against the (now) failures of last weekend's "blockbusters" wouldn't have worked, as there weren't that many screens to get. With those flicks dropping screens like B or C-list actors dropping sequel rumors at a premiere, as well as the disappearance of early summer hits to the depths of second-run, H&F will be able to pick up screens left, right, and upside down.
The thing that still sticks in my craw is that if the studio had full confidence in this flick on its merits, they would have found a wide release weekend for it and booked it big. The Slow Burn is the immediate indicator of a studio playing it safe with an indie just in case it does tank, or doesn't "find and audience," or whatever marketing/p.r. malarky they're chucking onto press releases this minute.
Studios will keep cranking out the mediocre because that's "what's done," and it's the programming equivalent of "I was just following orders," but instead, it's "Herbie: Fully Loaded is what America wants."
If MTV/Paramount/CBS/Viacom did effectively hustle the American public, I gotta say, "play on playa."