No matter how bad a film looks, I never hope for financial failure for it (except maybe on he principle that if bad movies make huge money, studios will continue to pump out bad movies… but that’s another discussion). But “The Spirit” was another issue.
As some of you remember, a few days ago Itook real exception as a film fan for the way the Studio was deceptively marketing the movie and treating us fans like idiots. It bothered me so much I decided that I was not going to bother seeing the movie. Well… looks like a lot of other people decided to not bother seeing The Spirit either.
The Spirit just finished it’s opening weekend and made a miserable $6 million dollars and came in 7th place.
I have no idea if The Spirit is a good or bad movie since I haven’t seen it. All I know is that it looked like total shit from day one and that right now it has a glorious 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. But like I said… I’m only happy it failed because of they way they treated us like morons with their deceptive marketing.
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i’ve never been interested in watching ‘the spirit’. don’t get me wrong, i love the occasional campy film. but for some reason, the previews for this movie always rubbed me the wrong way. either way, i work in a movie theater so even if i do watch this movie, i won’t have to pay. hell, i might just get drunk and watch it.
I find it really funny that everyone is insanely up in arms about this god damn movie, when we are about to head into what may be the worst single season for film of the year. I’m sure 99.9% of movies that are making their way into your theatre (at least wide release) in the next two months are going to be far worse than this, and more deserving of your flaming. Get off of the spirits mediocre ass, and hilariously obnoxious marketing, as EVERYONE knows about it, and go destroy Dance Flick or whatever the fuck it’s called.
I will say that this should destroy all posibility of Miller helming the Buck Rogers adaptation. I think this proves that campy is not what the mass population is looking for. Take the utter FAILURE of Grindhouse in ’07 and now this. Sure, Sin City did well, at least critically, but I don’t remember the box office gross it had, so I don’t think it was to huge. B Movie style will be big, at least I think, just not at this point in time. It will be interesting to see how Crank 2 fairs…
OK – Who kept Eisner locked in the closet while they made this piece of trash? I want my 2 hours and $8 back.
John, I wish I could copy and paste the review for the spirit from the miami herald for you, really funny. 3/4 stars? Are you kidding me!?!
it’s all the same, it’s still a MARKETING TOOL, whether you have a real critic or not. the point is to get people to watch the movie.
look, there’s a million recipes for chocolate chip cookies but in the end it’s still a chocolate chip cookie.
Hey Wolfpack,
It’s not even close. That Spirit trailer you gave a link to isn’t the commercial I have a problem with at all.
The Road Trip commercial you put up doesn’t suggest those quotes are from critics.
The Spirit ones does… at least the one I’m talking about. not the one you gave a link to
Are you serious? The College Road Trip spot makes it seem like those are quotes from critics. This is as deceptive as “The Spirit” is. How is that not even remotely similar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-cOlBoMlaQ
So you’re saying this spot for the Spirit is in no way like the one for College Road Trip?
They are exactly the same!
Hey Wolfpack.
Are you serious? Dude that commercial never once mentioned critics or did anything at all to make it look like those were coming from critics. There is nothing wrong with that trailer at all.
The Spirit’s commercial first made a claim about “Critics are raving about The Spirt” and then giving direct critic quotes… just from one guy… and THEN put up their own words in the same font as the critic quotes to give the impression they were also critic quotes.
Sorry man… these are two completely different things entirely. They’re not ever remotely similar at all in any way.
Ok, John. Here’s a link to a tv spot for College Road Trip, a Disney movie.
http://www.splendad.com/ads/show/2033-College-Road-Trip-Here-It-Goes-Again
It says its one fun ride, hilarious, heartwarming, and the first must see comedy of 2008, yet no where in the ad is any critic or even real person attributed to those quotes. At least, “The Spirit” attributed it to a real person, albeit one who’s not a real critic.
And here is some more praise for Disney films listed by people who have no business getting their quotes listed on films.
http://criticwatch.net/?tag=chicago-film-critics-association
john
i am NOT trying to be a dick man, and i know i sound like a douche sometimes, because i am one
but
right now im honestly saying that you may be missing out, i share your opinion about the spirit being shit BUT so many times i have hated something everyone loved (BLADERUNNER!) and loved something everyone hated (SPIDERMAN 3) and thats just one example…im just saying….dont not watch a movie because of the advertising man, or someone elses opinion, you may be surprised =]
“Mark my words… this will never achieve any sort of status at all.”
It’s going to become a cult classic and there’s nothing you can do about it, John.
Seriously, over-the-top badness + box office failure + Frank Miller * Samuel L. Jackson in a Nazi costume = people ironically loving it for its ‘awesomeness’
First of all how is this the same as Lionsgate when Sony actually put a fake reviewers name under the quote and lionsgate just put quotes. Not even the same, if you’re dumb enough to fall for it..well you fell for it but they didn’t cheat.
Second, Disney has been doing this for several years but they one up the deception but “juicing” their trailers. They put scenes that were literally shot for the trailer in the film that are never going in the movie. In Annapolis trailer they have a carrier being attacked by fighter jets. That was not even the same film. You might as well call Disney the new Corman studios.
And old Roger Corman is the king of deception in movie trailes…love that guy.
Hey Wolfpack,
First of all – Point out ONE SINGLE disney movie that advertised itself to deceptivly make it look like multiple critics were raving about a film to only have it end up being one obscure critic no one has heard of and THEN mix in their own words to make it look like even more critics were raving about it. Go ahead… name it. You can’t.
Also… for the 50th bloody time… I did not call for a boycott.
Be sure to boycott all Disney movies too since they have been doing it on every film for the past two years.
No good. Fell asleep halfway through the movie. Hope Frank Miller comes up with something better next time like the Sin City or 300.
Hey Hazmat,
Nope. Never will. I wanted to… but with the stunt they pulled with the deceptive ads, I won’t be giving a dime of my money to that movie.
so john
have you seen the spirit?
I agree that Teh Spirit’s marketing was clearly trying to tell the audience that this is a Sin City worthy film. Frank Miller as several other comments have mentioned is one of the greatest graphic novel writers ever hands down. His creativity and visions will be translated in many films in teh future. This also does not mean that he will become the greatest film director right out the gate as well. Robert Rodriguez had his name attached with the success of the Sin City film and brought Miller’s vision to the screen almost flawlessly. This is also Frank Miller’s first stab at directing a film by himself, so lets not be too hard on him. Every director does lays eggs out there look at Steven Spielberg with A.I, Martin Scorsese with Bringing out the Dead or George Lucas with Indy 4. Before we start crucifying Frank Miller for the Spirit, lets all be reminded that making films is a business and the marketing team latched on to past success to market a new product even if it wasn’t warranted and this was Frank Miller’s solo directorial debut. I can’t wait for Sin City 2 with Miller and Robert Rodriguez reunited! Check out more on Sin City and Frank Miller at my crime movie website http://www.contractflicks.com
“Vertical Limit”
Yeah…and the odd thing is that that film wasn’t that bad-not in terms of being in the same breath as Animal or Knights Tale-. I actually liked Vertical Limit a lot when it first came out. I still do.
although the misleading critic quotes are despicable, that seems to be common place. the real crime here is not letting people know that The Spirit is an intentional comedy. not a crime drama. no one says Adam West’s Batman sucks compared to Dark Knight because they both had different goals. the trailers say dark knight, when it is acutally adam west.
It looks like direct to dvd material, not worth watching
Hey Alfie,
That’s total bullshit dude. To say I “had it out” for this movie is total crap. Before the trailers came out I was cautiously optimistic about the movie. After seeing the trailers I said it looked like shit… but I never “had it out” for the movie. Not until the deceptive commercials. THEN I had it out for the movie.
Hey Wolfpack,
Yes, Sony did do that… and I ranted A LOT about it. So to with The Spirit.
This is the worst case since that Sony situation, and thus I condemn it too. I’m being totally consistent and fair.
This situation totally calls for a response from fans. This is not unfair in the least. I never once said the movie was bad. I can’t say that because I never saw it. But what is fair is for me to say I was totally offended by how The Spirit tried to decive film fans into seeing it.
John,
Sony created a fake critic, David Manning, in order to sell movie tickets to movies such as “A Knight’s Tale, Vertical Limit, and The Animal.” I”m not saying those are good either, but that’s way more deceptive than “The Spirit’s” campaign. Does that mean you shouldn’t see any of Sony’s pictures?
Clearly “The Spirit’s” campaign didn’t work because people saw through the bullshit and didn’t go see the movie. I agree that just because other movies did it doesn’t make it right for this one to do it, but to attack this one movie for it so viciously and not judge it by the film itself is a little wrong in my opinion.
And my opinion still says this movie sucks.
your only happy it failed because of the marketing scam? haha
give us a break campea. you have had it in for the film for a long long time.
fair enough too. its fucking awful
but we all know how much you hate musicians getting acting jobs and you hate inexperienced directors getting directing jobs etc etc
I saw The Spirit. I feel empty inside.
@ Kevin
i have heard that from SOOOOO many people
I saw the spirit. I actually thought it looked good from the trailers, but I was wrong, One of the worst movies ive seen in a long time. Me and my friends were laughing at it the whole time.
The Spirit’s failure is well deserved.
6 Mill in 7th place on opening weekend-OUCH!
and i have as much interest in buck rodgers now as i had in the spirit when miller was initially attached to it.
I haven’t seen the film yet. I may (or may not) get around to it a few months from now when I visit my local Wal-Mart and look deep into that bottomless discount pit…
I recall, not long ago, that at one point this film was being considered for release in early 2009 instead of the end of December. What on earth made the studio think that moving it up to Christmas would improve its chances-at least on the appearance of ‘looking’ more successful? Add to the fact that the film opened against at least two films that audiences were more buzzed about (Valkyie and Ben Button) and, while I think it was a surprise, the Jennifer Aniston film. Marley And Me (*Quick, John…did that film open at #1 because of fmr friend Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, or..an audience wanted to see a dog die at the end? Tough to call…hahaha) …
I’m still convinced that the reason for the move is that a)either they (Lionsgate) put too much stock into Frank Miller’s fanbase/thinking it’s another Sin City or b) they want to put more ad money into the upcoming My Bloody Valentine 3-D which opens next month and actually looks mildy good for a horror film (remake).
But here’s the thing.
Some folks can argue all they want about “well the over the top camp is intentional” granted, in some films it does work, but only if there’s something else going for it *and* in the way it is presented. There is a less tolerance for being ‘intentionally bad’ (an arguement I never fully buy into of itself- does anyone with an established name and/or studio ‘intentionally’ made a bad picture that goes theatrical? Not including those few horror genre pics where folks expect blood, shock and terror) – even Punisher Warzone failed… and while that has some supporters too who say the exact same thing in regards to ‘it’s intended to be stupid, thus, give it a pass’ …
It’s a clear message being sent. Audiences are getting tired of it already.
i agree with the dude, who cares? outside of fanboys and movie buffs, nobody cares how it’s marketed. i haven’t seen the movie except for the trailers, it probably bombed even more so because of the time of the release… hello who’s going to watch a movie that weekend? and with the economy so bad… this movie probably would have done better than 6 million if it opened on a different weekend.
Normally I agree with John, but I have to step back here and be honest. I really don’t care how a studio markets a movie, I can guess at the quality of most films based on the trailers. And this one always looked incredibly bad. Whether the camp or crappy dialogue was intentional or not, that doesn’t change anything if the other essential elements of a good film are missing.
I’m staying far away from this one for one reason only, because it looks bad.
Hey Wolfpack,
Point out to me one… just one… just one solitary movie marketing commercial that does what the Spirit’s commercial did.
Yes, many movies use underhanded techniques… but I’ve never seen one does this badly. Besides, just because “someone else did it” is an invalid excuse for what The Spirit did.
I have NEVER had “it out” for this movie at all. It looked terrible, but so have many other movies.
ey Ret.Ro.Bot
Intent is useless unless it’s executed well.
Everyone hates this film. Mark my words… this will never achieve any sort of status at all. As far as “word of mouth” goes… it won’t help the second weekend at all since the word of mouth is that the movie sucks.
I’m glad you liked it and got your money’s worth out of it. We all like what we like.
Apparently, those comments are attributed to Scott Hoffman who runs a website called moviepicturefilm.com. Not a terribly exciting website, but he seems to love this movie.
I don’t really agree with this column because then, John, you would have to pretty much boycott every studio movie since they all do the same practice this one does. I’m in no way defending this film because it really does suck. (Sorry, Frank. You are my idol, but this is crap.)
John, You should base this more on how terrible the movie is rather than the way they market it. Pretty much every company does deceptive marketing in order to sell their product, but you just really seem to have it out for this movie.
The Spirit was a very fun and amazingly enjoyable film to watch. I don’t get why people feel the need to bash it at all. I loved every second of it and I will see it again this week to make sure to see it before it leaves theatres. I hope word of mouth gives it a more solid second weekend and I think the reason it didn’t to so well is simply because of the other movies that openned the same day/weekend… Miller is not a bad director. The direction on the Spirit is very intentional and so is the “bad” dialogue and acting. It is an Over-Stylised jaunt into the fantastical mind of a brilliant Graphic Artist/Writer. Nothing is more true than that. I am sad and let down that people can’t see the intent. It’s very much there.
But people will always find the time to waste on bashing things that they don’t understand. So be it. This will gain a major cult following on DVD… mark my words!
As bad as I’m sure the film was, I do hope that people lay off the Miller bashing now. I’ve been pretty shocked by how people are ready to rip the guy a new one for making a bad film yet the man is responsible for writing some of the best and most influencial material is comic book history. Show the man some respect.
indy 4 is what happens when people fuck around with things that did not need to be fucked with. It is one of the worst films of the year and every bit as disappointing and shit as the fucking prequels. People seem to go easier on it because of the love they have for indiana jones as a character. he is (was) one of the coolest of all time but the film sucked from shitty beginning to jaw droppingly awful end. go and watch any of the original three and then put on kingdom of the shit skull and tell me it is anywhere, ANYWHERE close to being in the same ball park as those films. in fact I think it is worse then the prequels. lets face it star wars always had a slight nerdy stigma attached to it by the nature of its genre sci fi so the prequels making stars wars something only a fucking stargate atlantic watching nerd nerd could like was not to surprising. disappointing? fucking a. but not that surprising however indy 4 diod what I thought was impossible. it made indiana jones totally uncool. totally unhip. sad sad sad.
For the love of all that is righteous and decent in this world, I’m relief the general public has got enough sense to avoid The Spirit so that we would be spare of anymore pain and suffering in a possible continuation. Otherwise, if it was able to attain blockbuster success, my faith in humanity is completely lost.
Frank Miller is a visionary writer and artist, but his directing feels a bit forced. He may get better with experience, and he may need to stick to writing, but he surely needs a chance.
Oliver Stone’s W. is a fantastic film that was made far too early for political reasons. Waiting for him to leave office to write this film would have been the obvious choice but also would have sacrificed the election influence. nothing is wrong with the film other than there is no ending, and we will now never see Brolin ducking a shoe.
Indy 4 is what happens when two men have two very different ideas and instead of picking one and backing it all the way…they would battle from scene to scene, each man winning every other exchange.
They should have gone all the way with Luca’s vision, or left it alone. (look at the special features on the dvd to see a few snippets of what Lucas actually wanted).
and the Happening was not…..Happening. M. Night is the opposite of Miller. Great director, lackluster writer.
If we’ve only 2008 entries in the hat, Frank Miller was clearly on par if not better than Oliver Stone and M. Night. And if you average in fanboy backlash, he might to some have fared better than Spielberg… But I loved Indy 4, hated Happening but do think W. and Spirit are very comparable in quality. Something could have been better about them. It’s not 2 hours I want back, but I wouldn’t drive you to the theater and buy you a ticket for it. Two people when I saw it, got up and left.
I just hope Frank Miller is given another chance.
I completely agree with Uberbarrett…it’s not the worst movie ever, it’s not good, it’s just bad. Uberbarrett said it better, so I’m just going to nod in agreement…
I was craving some matinee worthy stylized action and I did see Spirit. And no, its not good, but its also not awful. The trailers for the film are its downfall. They seemed to want everyone to think that this was Sin City 2. When in fact the film more often resembles the Adam West Batman series, it contains quite a bit of intentionally overly campy moments which may have been mistaken as unintentional. Another aspect of its failure may have been that fans of the Spirit comics (the obvious target market for the trailers), will find nothing similar. Which for me was a fair deal because I never liked the comics. I enjoyed the film the same way I might enjoy a bad cheeseburger when i’m really hungry. This is the same feeling I had about Punisher: War Zone and Plan 9 from Outer Space.