Disney Looking To Dump Apocalypto
Posted by John Campeaon 10. 08. 2006in News Chat
I remember back a few years ago when Disney dumped Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” film. They thought the controversial nature of the film was going to be too much of a financial risk, and that the $30 million it was going to take to make it wouldn’t be cost effective. So Mel Gibson had to finance the whole thing himself.
Well, the film went on to make over $370 million domestically and is at #11 for the all time domestic box office. World wide the film pulled in over $611 million. Someone at Disney got fired over this. Disney failed to recognize what potential there was in the project because of controversy… and they’re doing it again.
Word has it that Disney is now trying to shop out their distribution rights to Apocalypto, the new Mel Gibson flick. Once again they fear the controversy surrounding the infamous drunken Mel Tyraid is going to hurt the film, and then it isn’t going to be cost effective. And once again, this is going to bite them in the ass… HARD.
Other distributors are already lining up to take over the rights to the film, and they’ll be glad they did. And once again, someone at Disney is going to get fired over this for misreading how much “controversy” is going to effect the boxoffice performance of a film.
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This news doesnt suprise me at all. Welcome to the bandwagon Disney.
Jump on in!
Cripes, I am SO sick of this Mel bashing.
I think these execs have got to stop basing their decisions SOLEY on online polls and other outside sources. I here all this crap about Gibson and have met no one who has said “no mel gibson movies for me now” Except for online. And that is few. But those same people seem to hate ALOT of things that are mainstream.
I liked Jackie Mason’s comments (on Fox News) about the overblown controversy surrounding Mel. He says they’ll be wanting him circumcised next.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gct84oE5DEE
Actually one of the chicks on the View said that. NO JOKE!
I think this move sucks but I don’t think we’ll get the same thing as Passion again. Jesus movies tend to cause a shit storm. This Mel Gibson thing will have gone away by the time this is released at the end of the year. Also, a Jesus movie is gonna attract a hell of a lot more business than a “fall of the kingdom of Maya” movie. People who ordinarily avoid subtitles like the plague ended up seeing the Jesus film because of the controversy, the controversy which was ACTUALLY about the film.
I’m dying to see Apocalypto. Great poster. Great title. Great trailer. I’m just not sure how well it’s really gonna do at the box office and this retarded news story isn’t nearly big enough to give it a huge boost.
I dunno. Even without Mel “Sugartits” Gibson’s jew bashing escapade, this movie doesn’t look very marketable. Yeah, the cinematography is nice but the whole movie is in some ancient mayan dialect and there are no stars. The trailer didn’t do much to interst me.
This isn’t Jesus were talking about here. He has a large and devoted fanbase. This is more like “National Geographic: The Movie.” Then again, maybe all this controversy will make people curious. You never know in this business.
One interesting thing about the trailer. If you freeze it on the right frame, you can see a secret “easter egg” cameo by the director himself.
http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=7149
I wonder if any other trailers have done this?
Whatever happens, I hope this gets some decent distribution because I think it looks fantastic. My choice, though I KNOW this isn’t going to happen, is that it gets picked up by one of the smaller firms (Lions Gate comes to mind) who aren’t afraid to bend the rules. I like to see the little guy come out on top.
I have heard absolutely NOTHING about this film here in Scotland. The only snippets I’ve heard about have been from this website.
What is the premise of it? What makes it quite so appealing? Anyone have links to trailers please?
Tarmac Chris trailer here:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/apocalypto/
Personally it’s not floating my boat at all.
i don’t think apocolypto is goign to be nearly as big of a hit as the passion, but i can’t wait to see it.
From a critical standpoint, Mel Gibson is a pretty horrible directer. Especially the Passion. I think the only reason it made money was because it appealed to religious folks, not because of the controversy.
Apocalypto is not going to appeal to a mass audience, and I’m sure Mel’s film-making skills aren’t going to help. I really don’t care much for Disney, but I think they made the right decision here from a financial standpoint. Of course, there are more important things than money. If they actually beleive in the artistic integrity of the film, they should keep it. But I don’t think Disney cares.
This is a very stupid decision on Disney’s part and the person who made the decision should be fired immediately. Why? Because this film cost under 50 million to make. This film will make between 150- 200 mill domestically and worldwide I have no clue. But even with those box office projections the film will have recouped it’s 50 million dollar budget by week 2. This is the classic low risk high reward film that studios die for. I guarantee you head will roll at Disney’s shareholders conference when this film succeeds.
As for the last post by Cinesthete about Mel Gibson’s directing I ask you this, why did the Braveheart win all those awards if he’s suck a horrible director? I am not a religious man so I went into The Passion cautious expectation. I walked out shaken but I felt rewarded at the same time. Mel Gibson so effectively portrayed what Jesus (whether he was the true son of God or just a man) went through that with that one film alone he catapulted himself into a A-list director.
As there were a real success with Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” film I am sure artist’s next production will make a good impression for sure. So, it seems that Disney’s criticism is useful for Mel Gibson!
At least Gibson is man enough not to write a whiney little bitch book entitled “How I Risked My Career On That Fall Of The Kingdom Of Maya Movie That I Did”.
i dont really agree that it will come back and bite them in the ass. This film wont be anywhere near as successful as POTC.
“Apoc” always seemed interesting to me because it is different, there seems to be a bit of suspense in it (trailer suggests one Mayan warrior isn’t going along with the program) a bit of romance …and as far as I’m concerned, Disney should keep distribution. They don’t have to open it wide.
Yeah, I know. It isn’t “commercial”. That same thing was said about Passion before that was released. It made Mel money, it made Newmarket happy. And then “oh! He baited the Christians!” [who could have easily have turned the other way, like they did with Scorcese's 'Last Temptation', or, if the Christians were baited, so what? Is that suggesting that Hollywood in general shouldn't follow suit? They don't.]
If Disney dumps distribution, so be it. It’ll be picked up by another studio so fast…Disney should look at the film. Is it good? Is it great? Is there some spark of buzz about the film?
No, they want to listen to the conspiracy theorists at TMZ, the media feeding frenzy, political correctness, all that jazz.
Fine. Let someone else pick it up, make them look good.
And you know something else? Disney/ABC has already canned that Holocaust miniseries Icon was going to produce (supposedly) due to Mel’s drunken state a few weeks ago. This would seem to be in line with that action. However, if it were me, I’d let Icon do the miniseries. I would refuse to believe that other networks, even those on cable, would pass simply because of Mel’s incident. I think they should EMBRACE it. What better penance/apology could there possibly be on Mel’s part?
Also, some celebs are taking note of Mel’s problems and check themselves into rehabs and/or AA. Robin Williams just did this…
this film is never going to be as successful as passion.
even before this latest controversy the film was a hard sell…..
big difference between selling this to middle america and selling them a religious guiltfest….
this film won’t even crack a hundred mill….mark my words….
passion was a one time thing……people are not going to flock to another film in a foreign language they was they did with passion…christ has a quite a big following in america…
disney will lose no sleep over dumping this film….
oh and I see the video of mels antics have been buried……money can buy anything…..the same thing happened with russell crowe and the telephone incident…..
according to rumours (this could be crap but we never did see the security footage)….the security footage fom the hotel makes crowe look like a complete idiot….apparently he struck all these karate poses and looked like a fucking knob end so the studio behind cinderella man paid the hotel off to not relase them as they were in major damage control for the film…..
and now the police are refusing to release the video footage of mels antics…damnnit I really wanted to see it
The funny thing alfie… is that’s exactly what they basically said about the Passion too.
I agree that this won’t make anywhere near as much as Passion did. No doubt. But it will make money. $100 million easy… especially if the reviews are positive… but we’ll have to wait and see for that.
Cheers.
I don’t think this movie will be very popular when it hits the theaters. Most people will see the trailer and shrug, but personally, I can’t wait to see this movie.
Creepy poster. Intriguing premise. I’m really looking forward to seeing this film.
Disney can dump it- others see it’s value and will do it justice.
john I feel as confident that this film won’t make 100 million domestic as you do that transformers will have the biggest opening ever….braveheart didn’t even make 100 mill domestic
Personally I never thought passion would tank….once he decided to add subtitles anyway…when he was going to release without them I thought it wouldn’t do very well but once he decided he would add them I knew it would be huge……the church groups of america are not going to be dragging there congregations along to this one…
i personally thought passion was a load of garbage…..2 hours of guilt…terrible film…jesus christ superstar covers the same time in jesus life better..at least you get song and dance!!
the thing about that is at the time you had church leaders trying to get children in to see it and they fought to lower the rating…had a woman have exposed a breast in it they would have been trying ot get it banned!!
I have said it before and i will say it again letting a young child see that demented load of catholic guilt ridden crap is almost child abuse…the film was fucking horrific and pointless..what do you learn about thge teachings of jesus or jesus in general??
that he was horrifcally tortured. thats it.
did we really need 2 hours of torture to know that…..
anyway
wayyyy off topic….
the film will tank and mel hates jews ;-)
Alfie the 10 commandments say Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor. If you do that you are just as guilty as Mel. I can’t help but believe that you are enjoying the misery that this man is going through. The guy apologized and will be apologizing for the rest of his life. What else do you want from him? I give you this passage from the book of Mark.
Mark 2:7-11 “Why does this man use such words?” they said; “He is blaspheming. Who can pardon sins but One–that is, God?”… Jesus asked them, “Which is easier?–to say to this paralytic, ‘Your sins are pardoned,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your mat, and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins”–He turned to the paralytic, and said, “To you I say, ‘Rise, take up your mat and go home.’”
You might be Jewish so you might not believe in the prophet Mark but I hope you believe in forgiveness.
oh i am fucking loving it…..he showed his true colors and i hope it destroys him….alcoholic right wing prick……fuck em.
No YOU just showed your true colors.
i have not been hiding them…never have…..I say what I mean and what I feel.
I do not like mel gibsons politics at all.
His views on homosexuality are well known and now he has proven himself in my eyes to be a class A racist drunk driving wanker.
As I said before it isn’t just the jew hating….anyone who drinks and drives to me are scum.
He is an absolute idiot who should have known better and I hope he pays dearly for it…..
you know who else ranted about jews causing all the worlds problems don’t ya??
Leave Geoffrey From Rainbow outta this.
Looks like Disney is going to distrubute the movie!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4786533.stm
maybe some surprise.
For those of you who think that there are seriously people out there who don’t want to see this movie, you’re wrong. The Mayas have been very popular. There are quite literally people out there who are more interested in the language and the people then the actual stars of movies. No offense but I would rather see normal ordinary people in movies than the same old movie star. It doesn’t feel as personal, and wouldn’t be nearly as effective to have a regular known actor play any part. We associate normal people with ourselves, not actors.
The day I see this movie will probably be one of the most exciting times in my life. I have dreamed for so long for a movie just like this. I don’t care who did it, I don’t care who gets the profit. All I care is I am going. And I know so many who are excited to go as well. So, don’t think it won’t be popular. Maybe not as popular as a Jesus, but still VERY VERY popular.
MEL ROCKS! GREAT MOVIE! LONG LIVE AVERAGE FOLKS WHO HAVE NO ADVANTAGE OVER EVERYONE ELSE!