Dr. DVD

Harry Potter would have been a success without regardless IMO, but I don't know if it would have made as much. LOTR:FOTR may have benefitted from the fantasy build up of Harry Potter, but I don't know if it would have made as much as it did or garnered as much attention.

I read an article in a recent Time magazine that focused upon the craving audiences now have for fantasy flicks and escapism in general. One of the major reasons given aside from burnout on sci-fi and action was people craved a more idealistic form of escapism. What are your thoughts?

PixyJunket

Thoughts? To me it sounds rediculous but I wouldn't put anything past the mass populous. Although.. I'm not sure anybody really ahd the mindset of "Man.. that 9/11 attack sucked, let's go watch Harry Potter!".. and if they did, I'd be even more frightened..

Perhaps I'm being cynical but I don't see how it would have much of an effect.. espically since more than a year later, the second movie is making just as much.

LBPound

I don't think that 9/11 effected either film's performance in significant ways.

To me, it's drawing conclusions that fit the results, but don't express causality. It'd be like me saying that the reason Columbia had 3 successful releases last summer was because that people looked towards the torch-bearing Columbia logo lady as a beacon of hope in these times.

Or it could just be that people wanted to see Spider-man, Mr. Deeds, and Men in Black II.

I don't think 9/11 escapism is an issue at all.

Seeker

Nope, not an effect - except for some people being worried about a 50 year old title like "The Two Towers"...

Jepthah

Harry Potter was going to be a huge success even if the film were completely bad.

LOTR had huge interest anyway, but I did predict and sentiment seemed to bear out that the "9/11 thing" would give the story an extra layer of resonance. I especially remember the thrill that only a great movie can provoke--my more politically minded friends and I especially felt in our gut the scene where Elrond remarks on how "there is no strength left in the world of men" and how our "race is failing."

New Line also made a very classy and beautiful series of ads and posters based around Gandalf and Frodo's famous Moria conversation:

http://shop.newline.com/catalog/prod...d1=2472;pcid2=

Feels apt, especially after a calamitous event in real life.

fumanstan

I don't believe that 9/11 had an effect on any films at all. All the films that were delayed because of the trajedy probably wouldn't have done any better/worse, except for maybe Big Trouble, which had decent advertising before and just seemed to be forgotten when it was actually released.

mytzplyx

Because I thought we all agreed that its a poor re-enactment of what happened that day. Damn, couldn't they have some sympathy and wait a couple years before releasing a movie based on 9/11.

Jackskeleton

How the hell does 9/11 have any connection to these two movies that it would effect it in any way??

And as for the "two towers" Yes, because J.R.R. had foreseen that his books would be turned into a film just as the event happened

Troy Stiffler

Man, 9/11 sucked. I'm going to go eat a taco.

William Wallace

yeah seriously. I don't see any any major connection at all.

Giantrobo

Ahah!

This is very interesting. I have long said ACE VENTURA did well only because of the NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE happening around the same time it was released.

tanman

I read that article and thought it was well written but a classic case of cause and affect. they assume that the affect of these fantasy movies doing well is because of 9/11. I think that logic is flawed. I doubt it if those movies have been affected at all. and I don't think that the country is on a fantasy binge because of 9/11, it is on the binge because there are massive appealing popular fantasy products such as harry potter and LOtR.

The article also quoted the players of Magic and Everquest but I don't think that is related either. I think that they are just quality products that people want to use.

Pants

It sure had an effect on Zoolander. The sacrificial lamb. The reviews for this film would make a great book...w/ ebert's as chapter 1 page 1

tanman

elaborate please

jim_cook87

Well, since the Harry Potter sitting atop the book charts pre-dated 9/11 by several years, I'm going to say the "fantasy craze" started well before 9/11 and 9/11 was not a significant factor in the movies success.

Same for LOTR only add 40+ years of fan momentum...

funkyryno

Courtesy of the Chicago Sun Times


BY ROGER EBERT
September 28, 2001

There have been articles lately asking why the United States is so hated in some parts of the world. As this week's Exhibit A from Hollywood, I offer "Zoolander," a comedy about a plot to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia because of his opposition to child labor. You might want to read that sentence twice. The logic: Child labor is necessary to the economic health of the fashion industry, and so its opponents must be eliminated. Ben Stiller stars as Derek Zoolander, a moronic male model who is brainwashed to perform the murder.

Malaysia is a mostly Muslim country with a flag that looks a lot like ours: It has the red and white stripes of the American flag, and a blue field in the upper left corner, which instead of stars displays Islamic symbols, the star and crescent. Malaysia is home to the Petronas Towers of Kuala Lumpur, the world's tallest buildings. But you get the point. If the Malaysians made a comedy about the assassination of the president of the United States because of his opposition to slavery, it would seem approximately as funny to us as "Zoolander" would seem to them. I realize I am getting all serious on you. Obviously, in times like these, we need a little escapism. "Hagrid," the usually sane critic at Ain't It Cool News, went to see "Zoolander" feeling "a comedy is just what I needed, and, what I feel, everybody needs at this time." His verdict? "It's a perfect film to help people forget everything for a few hours, and it's gonna be huge."

Well, you know, I wanted to forget, but the movie kept making me remember. I felt particularly uncomfortable during the scenes involving the prime minister, shown as an elderly Asian man who is brought to New York to attend a fashion show where he is targeted for assassination. I would give you his name, since he has a lot of screen time, but the movie's Website ignores him, and the entry on the Internet Movie database, which has room to list 26 actors, neglects to provide it. Those old Asian actors are just place-holders, I guess, and anyone could play the prime minister.

For that matter, any country could play Malaysia. In years past, movies invented fictional countries to make fun of. Groucho Marx once played Rufus T. Firefly, the dictator of Fredonia, and "The Mouse That Roared" was about the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Didn't it strike anybody connected with this movie that it was in bad taste to name a real country with a real prime minister? A serious political drama would be one thing, but why take such an offensive shot in a silly comedy?

To some degree, "Zoolander" is a victim of bad timing, although I suspect I would have found the assassination angle equally tasteless before Sept. 11. The movie is a satirical jab at the fashion industry, and there are points scored, and some good stuff involving Stiller and Owen Wilson, who play the world's two top male models--funny in itself. The best moments involve the extreme stupidity of the Stiller character. Shown a model of a literary center to be built in his honor, he sweeps it to the floor, exclaiming: "This is a center for ants! How can we teach children to read if they can't even fit inside the building?" Funny, yes, and I like the hand model whose hand is sealed inside a hyperbarbic chamber to protect it. I also admire the ruthlessness with which "Zoolander" points out that the fashion industry does indeed depend on child labor. The back-to-school clothes of American kids are largely made by Third World kids who don't go to school. In fact, the more you put yourself into the shoes (if he had any) of a Muslim 12-year-old in a sport-shirt factory, the more you might understand why he resents rich Americans, and might be offended by a movie about the assasination of his prime minister (if he had the money to go to a movie). Kids like that don't grow up to think of America as fondly as the people who designed his flag.

Responding quickly to the tragedy of Sept. 11, the makers of "Zoolander" did some last-minute editing. No, they didn't dub over the word "Malaysia" or edit around the assassination of the prime minister. What they did was digitally erase the World Trade Center from the New York skyline, so that audiences would not be reminded of the tragedy, as if we have forgotten. It's a good thing no scenes were shot in Kuala Lumpur, or they probably would have erased the Petronas Towers, to keep us from getting depressed or jealous or anything.

Groucho

That's one of Ebert's worst reviews. He spends all his time harping on the Malaysia sub-plot and barely talks about the movie itself. I give that review half of a star.

Pants

And he laments the fact that the plot was directed at an assasination to protect child sweatshops. This was the VILLAIN'S plan. The hero foils the villain's plan and saves the day. This would be like giving a Bond movie a bad review because it's about an evil terrorist group. Yeah it's about an evil terrorist group...getting their buts kicked!

Anyway the review is indicative of the state of mind of people following 9/11. While Colatoral Damage and Big Trouble did poorly at the box office months later, they would have been f***ing crucified if they had come out in Sept. or Oct. Poor Zoolander got ripped to shreads because it had the audacity to be the first one out of the gate.

Josh H

I see no connection.

If anything I'd think it would of had a negative affect, as some people stayed in more, spent more time with the family at home, and what not in the months after. But even that seems pretty damn remote and insignifcant considering the amount of money they both made.

BizRodian

Well, I'd suggest people read the artical, as it's an interesting opinon.

However, I don't think there's any large connection.