Journal

Pirates and Money

17 Comments

I hear that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is setting records for “biggest opening weekend.”

I read a scathing review in which the reviewer essentially said that by making this film a set-up for a sequel, Disney was just in it for the gold.

Well… DUH. Of course filmmakers want to make money. And if they can make more by providing us with a thoroughly enjoyable film that has a sequel coming, I say “more power to them.” It’s not as if the filmmakers want to make money without having to go to the trouble of making a good movie. The characteristics of “quality” and “profitability” are not mutually exclusive.

Bruckheimer said that he was shooting for around $70 million for an opening weekend — up about 75% from the first film’s $43 million. The $140 million it is estimated to have made this weekend exceeds his expectations, and the expectations of the industry watchers who were predicting around $110 million, IIRC.

What does all that mean? Well, if you’ve got a stake in Disney’s “Pirate’s” franchise, it means “drink up, me hearties, yo-ho!”

And I’m fine with that.

17 thoughts on “Pirates and Money”

  1. It’s not as if the filmmakers want to make money without having to go to the trouble of making a good movie.

    One would hope this is true, but the evidence indicates otherwise. Unfortunately the articles themselves seem taken online (this was news in 2003), but many blogs still mention the movie companies sadness over losing their “release crap – make money” strategy due to movie goer tech savvy.

    http://www.wessalmon.com/2003/08/20/new-sms-message-that-movie-sucked/

    1. Studios want to maximize their return on investment, yes. And yes, bloggers like me who post reviews during opening weekend have a hand in the fact that the opening weekend fall-off is steeper than it used to be.

      But my point about filmmakers (not studios – filmmakers) stands. They got into the business to make good movies. It’s what they love.

      1. Ah yes, that is so. The problem was the ambiguity of language; to me, a filmmaker is an organization behind the making of a film – a production company and studio, and their front the MPAA. The actual cameramen, actors and directors would be in it for the love of what they do – otherwise, there is little chance of them getting as far as actually making movies.

      2. They got into the business to make good movies. It’s what they love.

        Ah, but this isn’t always true, now is it? Consider HaleStorm Entertainment, makers of Singles Ward, The RM, The Home Teachers, and Churchball. The company is basically a party of three: director Kurt Hale, producer Dave Somethingorother, and “writer” John Moyer. They were clearly in it for the money. “Let’s explore the LDS-comedy niche and mine it for all its worth.” That should probably be the company motto.

        And I wrote novelizations of two of their crap films! Did I WANT to put their cinematic feces on paper and attach my name to it? No! But I was unemployed, and I needed MONEY.

        For what its worth, I went after the first writing job before having read the script, so I did have some hopes of creating a decent novelization from a decent screenplay. I do like writing, and I want to write good novels. But that’s not why I finished the first novel, nor why I pursued the SECOND one. (I did nix further job offers, though, but only because I had, by then, found steady employment, and no longer needed to whore my prose.)

  2. I enjoyed it. If they’re in it to make money, that makes sense since film making is a business. I really don’t mind as long as I get more Pirates. 🙂

      1. All I heard was “filmed at the same time” and that it was supposed to come out next year.

        You’ve heard more than me if you have a date.

  4. Do these same idiot critics say that about LOTR or Harry Potter?! I enjoyed the feel of the film and I love that feeling of the “cliffhanger” to make me look forward to the next film. 🙂 So many films do the stupid little hint that the story could go on, but I love that this actually feels like a series.

    1. Totally agree with you. People need to understand that it doesn’t hurt them to have a little patience. Build up of excitement over something to come, as opposed to stress over something that could come, is healthy and often times quite enjoyable.

    2. Except this particular cliffhanger didn’t actually make much sense, and they could’ve ended the film without it and had a classic tragedy.

      1. Of course it makes sense. It leaves us wondering how Barbosa is still alive and makes us want to see the next movie. When we find out, this is probably how they’re going to get Jack back.
        Without this ending, we wouldn’t have much of a cliffhanger. This is how the old serials did it and it’s fun and refreshing to see it being used again. 🙂

        1. cliffangers

          That’s not the part that doesn’t make sense. Barbossa’s fine, I’m sure they’ll explain his return in the next film. In fact, his return really wasn’t part of the second film at all, it was more of a preview of things to come.

          The part that doesn’t make sense was that ANY of them would want to find cap’n jack. There was only one person in the entire room who he hadn’t tried personally to doublecross.

  5. I thought he had said he was shooting for around $70 million on opening day. For the life of me though I can’t remember where I had heard this.

    Saw the movie last night and while I wish there had been slightly less of a “Now you HAVE to come see 3” ending (and that I hadn’t gone through the 20 minutes of credits to get that) I’m glad I went to see it and begrudge the filmmakers nothing because they’ve done their jobs – I’m entertained.

    I think one of the best reviews I’ve seem from a non-review site was here, by . I agree completely with what he says in his spoiler-free review.

  6. I saw it. It wasn’t nearly as good as the first one. But it was definately better than the second or third matrix movies.

    I prefer movies that stand alone myself, and this one didn’t.

    It did, however, have a lot of fun scenes in it. I just wish they’d made it shorter (it was too long) by removing some of the redundant imagry.

Comments are closed.