Taylor wrote:
> Only the 'Oceans' franchise, which has a star-studded cast, is the
> exception.
>
> ----------
>
> Clooney's latest fumbles at box office
>
> Wed, April 9, 2008
>
> The period football offering Leatherheads didn't draw the fans.
>
> By MICHAEL RECHSTAFFEN
>
>
> HOLLYWOOD -- After this past weekend's box office receipts were
> tallied, George Clooney remains a movie star minus the accompanying
> marquee value.
>
> Back in October, we examined the conundrum that is Clooney -- a smart,
> affable guy with ridiculously good looks and equal amounts of talent
> on both sides of the camera, which somehow never have translated into
> any kind of clout at the box office.
>
> At one point, Michael Clayton looked to be the movie that would change
> those fortunes, but even with an Oscar win (for Tilda Swinton) and a
> nomination for Clooney, the legal thriller failed to pass the $50-
> million mark over the course of its initial run and subsequent re-
> release.
>
> Observers were then looking at Leatherheads, a period football movie
> teaming Clooney, Renee Zellweger and The Office's John Krasinski to do
> the trick, but the throwback screwball comedy, also directed by
> Clooney, fumbled in its first weekend.
>
> Not only did it fail to unseat reigning champ 21, but when the figures
> were announced Monday, the $58-million production's $12.7-million
> opening-weekend take was even less than that of Nim's Island, a family
> fantasy starring Jodie Foster and Little Miss Sun****ne's Abigail
> Breslin.
>
> Next up for George is a pair of Coen brothers pictures.
>
> In the can is Burn After Reading, also starring Swinton, Brad Pitt and
> John Malkovich, while Clooney is still planning to mark his fourth
> time calling the shots with the Joel and Ethan Coen-penned Suburbicon,
> about which little is known other than it's another dark comedy.
>
> Maybe Clooney should be open to an Ocean's Fourteen.
It's a stupid article. The types of movies Clooney stars in aren't the
types of movies that have huge openings. They're story-driven movies,
not action-fests with explosions. They perform as expected, and will
make money later on, the months and years to come. These articles that
suggest by their very existence that the writer understands what studio
heads think are misleading. Movies are like real estate. They're
assets to this huge cor****ation, and they'll sell the film later o DVD
(a considerable market now, and has to be considered in counting
profits) and then to premium channels and then to cable. He makes good
movies that will endure the test of time. I saw LEATHERHEADS, and it
was a very good movie. Clooney has excellent comic timing, and he seems
like a genuinely nice guy, to boot. He's popular, and he'll be popular
for a few more years.
--
_________________
Alric Knebel
http://www.ironeyefortress.com/C-SPAN_loon.html
http://www.ironeyefortress.com
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