GuessWho

I'm kinda glad they didn't kill off Alec Baldwin and have him come back as an angel.

astrochimp

Couldnt have said it better myself.

I had already seen the musical(which I loved) so I was a bit worried the movie was going to erase all good memories of it but I ended up having that same feeling afterwards. It was fun and for a dude like me that was rocking out in the 80's to that music, it was very nostalgic.

Giles

wow, this must have died a quick theatrical death - was gone for a week on vacation, didn't really have the time when I got back, and by this weekend - AMC has dropped this like a lead penny.

EdTheRipper

It's just about gone at my theater too. It's down to two showings. One first thing in the morning and the other at the end of the night. Not looking good for me getting to see it now.

Matthew Chmiel

You're right. It's currently entering its fourth week of release and its down to 701 locations from an initial count of 3,470. In its defense, Warner had terrible timing.

It opened a week after Prometheus.

It opened a week before Brave (and two other flops: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World).

It opened two weeks before Magic Mike and Ted.

It was guaranteed to be lost in the shuffle. Any specific audience Warner was targeting (which is none based upon the awful advertising campaign) was already claimed by other films during the month of June. This is a film that should've been released in August, not in the dead middle of June.

If anything, its quick demise will get us a quick Blu-ray release.

joliom

I agree. Musicals are a risky bet in the middle of the summer. Honestly, Warner should have released in November. Even though I don't think it has enough going for it to be a blockbuster, I can almost guarantee it would have done better box office released later in the year.

Giles

so I FINALLY saw it today (found a theater) and I have to say, as a fan of the stage version, I thought it was 'meh' It's hard to be subjective of the changes and all, when the stage version is just goofy, campy and fun... here though it felt like the director and all involved where going through the motions. Very average in my book.

EdTheRipper

Saw this today. I absolutely loved it. I grew up on all of the music and still really enjoy it to this day. The cast was good and really handled it all well.

Supermallet

Wow, that was awful. Just obscenely stupid. Even if you love the songs, they've been neutered and sterilized and musical-ized into oblivion. The plot, dumb, the characters, even dumber.

And anything that uses the least rock and roll song of all time, "We Built This City," cannot call itself rock.

Tom Cruise did a good job, though.

JumpCutz

While I hate to categorically agree with everything in a specific post, especially by a mod, the mallet supreme nailed this thing to the wall.

Throwing Copper

I agree and enjoyed Cruise a lot in this. But if it weren't for him, there would have been no reason to see the film at all.

What an overall disaster.

Hokeyboy

I loved the stage musical to death, but didn't let that interfere with my judgment of the movie. It was filmed locally, I had friends involved with the production, the Bourbon Room scenes were filmed at my favorite hangout, and I even got to tour the sets and exteriors. I was 16 in 1987 so the music was part of my most formulative years. I was primed to love this movie.

Total fucking abortion. Worst movie I've seen all year, by far. Nothing else even comes close. A colossal misfire in almost every conceivable way. Julianne Hough is insanely hot though. Nice dumper.

Dr. DVD

For those that saw both the movie and stage versions, what exactly was changed?

Giles

a shit lot

- jokes about being a 'stage' musical - are obviousily dropped because it wouldn't work in the film. Audience members who use their cel phones and what happens to them. A wink wink nudge nudge 'script' is given to Drew by Lonny in one scene.
- Lonny (Russell Brand) was practically the central character - he served as the narrator
- the ending of the stage version wasn't as happy and contrived as the film version - Stacie Jaxx winds up ... oh wiki it. And one character
- the Catherine Zeta Jones character was actually two characters in the stage version: Franz and his father who want to tear down the club - Franz is a scream and it was a shame that he isn't in the film version - one minor song is jettisoned because it's sung by the father.
- Paul Giamatti's character was so ancilary in the stage version
- there's no monkey
- the 'boy band' song is not played in the club

- songs were dropped - interestingly the Def Leppard song in the movie isn't in the stage version, because there's a joke in the stage version saying that they weren't given permission (i.e, 'legal')

the problem was/is that the stage version wouldn't work as a film, the jokes and overall tone thrives on audience live reaction and participation (the recent Wolf Trap performance had the latter - since the audience in one instance finished a song that doesn't end in the stage version), but as a result, Adam Shankman who worked so brillantly converting the stage version of 'Hairspray' to film, just really did not do a good job for this film - in fact he basically eviscerated it. It seems that recent musicals have been really bad, ever so close to nailing the genre into it's coffin - this and that walking abortion of a film 'Nine'

Supermallet

It's good to know the original musical is significantly different. I also saw in the special features that the Drew part was originally played by Constantine from American Idol, and that sounds way better than this guy they got (who is described in the features as the "Mexican Justin Beiber," and there's nothing more rock and roll than Justin Beiber).

OldBoy

i was looking forward to buying this next week...now, not so much. still may.

Giles

yes that's who I saw when 'Rock of Ages' played at the National Theater here in DC - he was fantastic!

Hokeyboy

The stage musical is so different it's practically an entirely different story. And a much better one. Sherrie isn't a singer, for starters. She and Drew don't even hook up until the very end. She sleeps with Stacie Jaxx, who is ANYTHING but a "good guy", and has a hilariously awesome comeuppance. And they scrapped the awesome I Hate Myself For Loving You / Heat of the Moment lapdance scene.

This movie was an abortion!

Hokeyboy

Oh and while the show was very tongue in cheek, fourth wall breaKing, and silly, it at least had some teeth. People fight, fuck, screw over each other, end up in gutters, even DIE!

Compared to that toothless fucking movie, it's practically Requiem for a Dream!

Giles

and the aptly inserted song 'The Search is Over' .... again dropped for the film version ... [goes in a corner and cries]

Hokeyboy

No "Beaver Hunt" either...

Supermallet

And yet "We Built This City" somehow managed to make it in to the film.

Now you guys are making me want to see the stage show.

Dr. DVD

Dang. Didn't realize how much they had changed. FWIW, the movie version of Grease made quite a few changes from the original musical. Rizzo was more or less the main character with Sandy and Danny as a subplot.

Giles

well and the fact that the car doesn't fly off into the sunset either. I didn't realize that the title song wasn't even in the stage version but was added to the movie version.

Dr. DVD

Yep. It was actually written by the Bee Gees (I guess to keep the SNF connection to Travolta going) but sung by Frankie Valli (again, I guess to link it to the 1950s time period). The famous song done by Travolta and Newton-John was also concocted for the movie. Oh, and Sandy wasn't Australian either.