Hollywood loves a sure thing – like copying a movie which made plenty of dough at the box office.
“Spider-Man” scored big in 2002 and the floodgates opened on superhero movies. “Twilight” made a mint, and suddenly “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” comes our way along with a gaggle of teen vampire projects on the small screen.
Consider “The Blind Side” ripe for reproduction.
The new movie, starring Sandra Bullock as a good Christian woman who takes in a homeless teenager, is threatening to overtake “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” at the box office any day now. The tracking service CinemaScore says audiences gave the movie an A+ according to Time.com.
So it’s a cinch that some studio will examine why this film clicked with audiences – it’s tame for a PG:13 film, features a compelling turn by an actress known more for her comedies and shows old fashioned values without mockery – and greenlight a clone or two. Maybe three.
But here’s betting producers won’t be angling to copy this particular formula.
Hollywood has yet to duplicate “The Passion of the Christ,” another out of left field smash which appealed to a segment of the movie-going crowd – the spiritually aware – who infrequently find movies to match their tastes.
Last year’s micro-indie smash “Fireproof” followed on that theme, earning significant coin despite no bankable stars and little in the way of traditional marketing muscle.
We’ve yet to see a film directly appealing to the audiences for those films. “Evan Almighty” was more go-for-broke comedy than anything substantial, and the “Chronicles of Narnia” films seemed like “Lord of the Rings” lite than a religiously astute production.
“The Blind Side’s” faith isn’t worn on its sleeve, though, and that’s why it should be easier to replicate.
Some movie hits defy instant Xeroxing. “Paranormal Activity” is one example, since the whole single-cam format is incredibly difficult to pull off well once, let alone two or three times.
But movies which treat swathes of Middle America with respect should be easy to assemble. That doesn’t mean it will happen, though.
UPDATE: The LA Times crunches the numbers and finds Middle America embracing ‘The Blind Side.”
(Photo: Sandra Bullock, right, stars as a Christian woman who helps a homeless teen (Quinton Aaron, left) turn his life around in “The Blind Side”)
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
My dentist insisted that I see this today. People know I’m a critic, but unless they’re cinephiles, they usually give strong recommendations to stuff that few critics would ever consider must-see material (I’m certain that you’re very well versed in this).
Yeah, reg’lar folks are really digging this movie. Stuffy types like me found pretty big flaws in it, but I love it when a film connects with an audience. I wanna feel that every time I plunk myself down in a theater seat.
Well, speaking as a reg’lar folk, I did enjoy it – but did notice the flaws as well. One thing that people are connecting with is that it is a nice story (and a true story), where family values and faith are not derided (you already mentioned that) and that the whole family can attend. I saw more seniors at this movie than any I have ever attended and will be taking our pre-teen daughter as well. When we (my mother, sister and I – it hardly ever happens that we all can agree since my tastes are edgier than theirs – laughable, really, since I am pretty vanilla) attended, one man said he had come three times to see it and hadn’t gotten in yet. It is not THAT good, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Great points, Tink. It’s no accident when a film stirs a chord in the public.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like it when Hollywood makes Xerox copies of the latest hit movie. More often than not, they’re just pale imitations of the superior original.
I agree, Paula … it rarely produces a superior product. But it’s also odd when Hollywood collectively decides not to copy a particular film or theme despite its success.
There’s some very good Christian fiction out there (mystery/suspense, romance, historical) that would make fine films. The faith thread is very subtle, and the writing is at least as good as what Hollywood screenwriters crank out today. When I read, I “see” the story, and I just finished a mystery thriller that would be great on the big screen.
I loved the film but am concerned of Hollywood Christian films. They’re version… Christian-lite or Multicultural Christian. Or rather, that Christians must accept everyone else, but everyone else doesn’t have to accept the teachings of Christianity. Where Gays can be hedonist & children can be sexualized & Muslims are open minded & Atheists aren’t out to brainwash & Divorce is okay & Single Motherhood is the answer… In other words, Hollywood making Christian movies that aren’t really Christian. I’m not an evangelical, but I love Christianity for what it is, not for what even some Hollywood Churches are trying to change it to. Christianity is hard. Any goal worth obtaining is. Hollywood will probably attempt to make it seem easy.
Christian, are you nuts? BoxOfficeMojo has Blind side at around $104 Million, and Twilight at around $235. Last time I looked, 235 > 104.
Moreover, as you know, Twilight had a far greater ENTHUSIASM, with a strong opening Weekend, boding well for extracting Special Edition, Limited Special Edition, and Director’s Cuts DVD sales. Blind Side by contrast did a little less the first weekend than the Grudge. The two pics (Grudge, Blind Side) will probably do about the same.
Twilight was a tremendous success, but has a down-side: no guys will ever go see it or buy the DVDs, so it will be “capped.” Blind Side like Grudge is a modest, cheap movie with a limited appeal.
A true hit would be “Up” or Spider-Man or Iron Man (the latter doing around 400 million plus and 300 million plus respectively). Acceptable and popular to a broad spectrum of the audience.
Moreover, Hollywood is simply INCAPABLE because of the vast social and moral and cultural and economic and political and personal difference from their audience from making a broadly popular movie that is not based on a Comic Book (story already written by someone able to connect with the audience) or done by Pixar.
Folks who live in Malibu mansions, with every need attended to, making vast amounts of money, worshiped like a god, with completely alien views on society, culture, religion, marriage, family, fidelity, sex, love, politics, and America cannot by their very nature make films that appeal to broad American audiences any more than a stone-age tribesman from New Guinea could. The cultural and social distance is too vast. [Pixar being the one exception, due to it's strong in-house culture of average person connectedness.]
No thanks. I get enough White-guilt/White-hatred from MSM and that is free.
You’re quite wrong, Whiskey. Blind Side’s 2nd weekend is nearly unprecedented, going UP in box office 18%. The Grudge went way down its second weekend. Blind Side will no doubt end up over $200 million, and maybe, like with what happened with Greek Wedding, could go high for a very long time.
DallasJenkins,
If that is the whiskey I know, then he is probably upset that the film pokes a hole in his “all women are callous, spiteful, and selfish” belief.