Uma Thurman's new film seen by just one person on opening day

[Mise]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...m-seen-by-just-one-person-on-opening-day.html

Uma Thurman's new film seen by just one person on opening day

Uma Thurman’s latest film is set to be one of the biggest box office flops ever after just one ticket was sold for the movie on its opening day.



By Roya Nikkhah
Published: 8:44AM GMT 27 Mar 2010

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Uma Thurman starring in film Motherhood Photo: REX

Uma Thurman's new film Motherhood took just £88 at the British box office Photo: GETTY IMAGES


Over its opening weekend at the beginning of March, only around a dozen people went to see Motherhood, a semi-autobiographical account of parenting in New York written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann.
The film took just £88 at the British box office on its opening weekend.


On its debut Sunday, takings at the box office were just £9 - the price of a ticket for one person.
Only one British cinema was given permission to launch the film earlier this month, with the film’s producers hoping that exclusivity would generate a buzz and lead to box office success by word of mouth.
Instead, cinema goers stayed away from the Apollo West End in record numbers in a move that will be embarrassing for Thurman, the star of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill who divides her time between London and New York.
Motherhood, which also stars Jodie Foster and Minnie Driver, is thought to have made only £40,000 when it opened in America last year, despite costing around £3.4 million to make.
The spectacular failure of the film to find an audience has resulted in a row between producers and Metrodome, the company responsible for marketing the film in the UK.
When Jana Edelbaum, one of the producers, was told how badly it had fared at the British box office, she said: “You’re kidding? We must have broken a new record for grosses.”
But she defended the film, insisting that Metrodome was to blame and that she would demand a full explanation.
She said: “Think how much crap succeeds at the cinema. Motherhood is not bad. I’ve seen movies that are not half as good.”
Barry Norman, the film critic, said: “I have never heard of anything like this before. This is not some small, independent movie.
"It’s astonishing that only about 11 people could be bothered to go and see Uma Thurman.
“The reviews were very poor indeed, but that alone isn’t enough to explain this. It’s a reasonable assumption that there was a marketing and advertising catastrophe, and people didn’t know it was showing.
“But Apollo cinemas aren’t in tucked-away places. They’re all prominently located.”
The Apollo chain has put on further screenings for the film in Burnley, Fareham, Redditch, Stroud and Altrincham.
A spokesman for Metrodome, said: “Over the course of the week leading up to Mother’s Day we also released the film on DVD, video on demand and pay per view so customers could choose how to watch the film.
“Inevitably some films will work better on some platforms than others. In this case, the DVD was stronger than the theatrical result.”

Is it really that crap?

Also, that one person must have felt pretty stupid going to see a movie by themselves, let alone being the only person in the whole country to go see it!

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm, well i once was the only one apart from three other people who went to see "I still know what you did last summer". It was rather pleasant having the whole theatre to myself

 

[Yeekim]

£3.4 million budget?
£88 opening weekend?

indeed

 

[Tani Coyote]

....Ouch. Daaaaamn.

You could ask her if it hurt when she fell from HollywoodHeaven, and it wouldn't be a pickup line...

 

[Yared]

Love the part where she says there are movies half as bad

 

[Cutlass]

That's painful. But a lot of movies get made that shouldn't.

 

[Tani Coyote]

That's painful. But a lot of movies get made that shouldn't.

See: The countless videogame adaptions.

And more recently, G.I. Joe, Dragon Ball Z, and Ben 10.

And people WONDER why I demand a Sonic movie.

...Just to see how bad it would be. I want to see Hollywood do its worst!

Though I would love if it rocked, too. That way I can use it to rub a bunch of thumb tacks and salt on all people who criticise the Second Coming's series of chapters in the Third Testament.

 

[warpus]

On its debut Sunday, takings at the box office were just £9 - the price of a ticket for one person.

So, who was that person? Was it Uma Thurman? Nobody else who worked on the movie went to see it?

Must be a pretty bad movie if not even the people involved go see it on opening day.

 

[Plotinus]

So, who was that person? Was it Uma Thurman? Nobody else who worked on the movie went to see it?

Must be a pretty bad movie if not even the people involved go see it on opening day.

I doubt that most of those people live in the UK, though.

If it could be guaranteed that no-one else was going to see a given film, I'd happily go and be the one person to see it, no matter how bad it was. That would be a small price to pay for not having to put up with the anti-social behaviour of cinema-goers these days.

Barry Norman is right, though, that this couldn't have been caused by the fact that the film was bad. Bad films don't have tiny opening weekends, at least not because of their badness; because how would anyone know it was bad until it had been out for a little while and word had spread? It was obviously because they completely failed to market it. I've never heard of this film, at least.

 

[Till]

Looks like one party completely misunderstood how viral marketing works. The trick is to generate enough hype to get people interested, and then facilitate the word of mouth recommendation spread. You don't just put news of it on the internets and call it a day...

 

[Yeekim]

Yeah, I wonder how much these marketing people were paid.
And whether this stellar job will make it into their references...

 

[Mad Man]

So it was released in America last year? I can't say I remember it.

EDIT: Someone should add Fail #1 to the tags

 

[Lord Baal]

I doubt that most of those people live in the UK, though.

If it could be guaranteed that no-one else was going to see a given film, I'd happily go and be the one person to see it, no matter how bad it was. That would be a small price to pay for not having to put up with the anti-social behaviour of cinema-goers these days.

Barry Norman is right, though, that this couldn't have been caused by the fact that the film was bad. Bad films don't have tiny opening weekends, at least not because of their badness; because how would anyone know it was bad until it had been out for a little while and word had spread? It was obviously because they completely failed to market it. I've never heard of this film, at least.

I tried posting this about 2 hours ago but started getting database errors.

I recall seeing one trailer for this, but it left so little impression that I completely forgot about it until I saw this thread. I remember nothing whatsoever about it except that it had the three women mentioned in the OP in it and they all had babies. I seem to recall them pushing prams in a park. Not exactly enough to make me want to see a film. So obviously someone has massively botched the marketing on this.

I've been to see movies where I was either the only person in the theatre or I and a friend were the only two people in the theatre on several occasions. When I saw The Land of the Lost I was there by myself and an elderly couple was also there. It's obviously more fun if you have a friend with you to talk to, but seeing a film with the theatre all to yourself is a perfectly reasonable experience.

Speaking of bad behaviour on the part of cinema-goers, when my girlfriend and I watched Green Zone last Tuesday I had to female-dog-slap some tool who put his feet up on her chair. I also punched his friend in the face. All I did was tell them to be quiet and take their feet off the chair; they decided to make it physical, and soon regretted the decision. It was not a crowded cinema; there were literally hundreds of spare seats available. They just wanted to be tools, probably trying to impress the skanks they were with. I hope those skanks are impressed by their guys bleeding from the nose, because otherwise they struck out big time.

 

[Camikaze]

Well hey, the fact that it has made it on the news without any actual marketing seems to be a pretty cost effective way of selling the movie.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Well hey, the fact that it has made it on the news without any actual marketing seems to be a pretty cost effective way of selling the movie.

Almost makes you wonder if that was intentional! Manipulate the media to create a story by making sure practically nobody will see it!

We have evil genii in our midst!

...Now hopefully this won't backfire with many assuming it sucks and thus avoiding it. Then again, making money is a gamble. You have to lose it before you make it! ...Or just lose it.

 

[Perfection]

looks like she has interest now!

 

[Disgustipated]

does she get nekkid in it?

I'm guessing not.

I can understand no guys going to see a movie about motherhood, but no women saw it. Shame on you women. What ever happened to the feminist movement?

The fact is most women prefer movies with male stars (better looking ones the better).

What ever happened to the feminist movement, however? It seems like the 90's killed feminism. I kinda feel bad for women. It has to be hard these days. If you aren't dancing in some video half naked no one cares. It's tough for Uma to compete with the younger sluts these days.

 

[Lord Baal]

does she get nekkid in it?

I'm guessing not.

I can understand no guys going to see a movie about motherhood, but no women saw it. Shame on you women. What ever happened to the feminist movement?

The fact is most women prefer movies with male stars (better looking ones the better).

What ever happened to the feminist movement, however? It seems like the 90's killed feminism. I kinda feel bad for women. It has to be hard these days. If you aren't dancing in some video half naked no one cares. It's tough for Uma to compete with the younger sluts these days.

If she really wants to "compete with the younger sluts," she could always marry Ashton Kutcher. Or star on Cougartown, which my girlfriend loves for some reason.

Considering I'm pretty sure the film I saw a trailer for Motherhood in was an action film of some sort - I can't recall which one though - women may not have seen it for the same reason that most men didn't; simple flawed marketing.

And I, for one, do NOT want to see Uma Thurman nekkid. Not even in her Pulp Fiction days, which were far superior to now.

 

[Takhisis]

It was obviously because they completely failed to market it. I've never heard of this film, at least.

Pretty much this. I didn't even know Uma Thurman was doing a new film.

 

[classical_hero]

This is clearly an epic fail in marketing.