What? Another one?
Add comment June 30th, 2009
Best movie question of the day comes courtesy of critic Marshall Fine…
Who is it that keeps making Nia Vardalos movies? Or is it a sign of impending apocalypse that two such terrible ones have been released in one month? Really, isn’t it cheaper just to keep them on the shelf?
OK, that’s three questions, but they’re good ones.
He’s referring to I HATE VALENTINES DAY, which opens Friday, and MY LIFE IN RUINS, which opens a few weeks ago (and closed immediately afterwards). Admittedly, I’m not the target audience for these movies, but after MY LIFE IN RUINS earned a dismal $7 million at the box office (compared with a cost of about $17 million), I wonder if anyone is in the target audience?
Vardalos’ MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING was a genuine word-of-mouth blockbuster, earning more than $240 million on a budget of a mere $5 million, but that was back in 2002. The studios must think (or pray) another big rom-com paycheck lurks around the corner.
One more question: Why release a movie called I HATE VALENTINE’S DAY … on July 4th weekend? It would be like releasing INDEPENDENCE DAY at Christmas.
Oh, wait. INDEPENDENCE DAY made money.
* By the way, if I’m completely wrong and I HATE VALENTINES DAY is a big fat hit, I’ll happily admit I was wrong. But I still won’t see the movie.
