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$225 Million “Valerian” Crashes With $17Mil Weekend, Biggest Loss for Most Expensive Indie Film

posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 24 2017, @04:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the ouch dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

BOOM! That's the sound of Luc Besson's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets." US Weekend total is $17 million, not even a multiple of Friday's $6 million. Costing at least $225 million, "Valerian" is a domestic dud.

The only hope for STX Films on the most expensive indie film ever made is people in non English speaking countries not caring about the story or dialogue. This often the case, and dud films– see "The Mummy" — can find audiences who just want the visual flash.

"Valerian" will have to count on China, Russia, South Korea, and other out of the way locales to bail them out.

The previews looked visually amazing. Was the movie really that bad?

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  • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday July 24 2017, @08:28PM (6 children)

    by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Monday July 24 2017, @08:28PM (#543868) Homepage Journal

    In August, I'm probably going to see The Dark Tower, which also has shit marketing.

    As a huge fan of the series (the novels are outstanding!), I'm not expecting very much from the film. Given that it compresses a story told in 3-4000 pages into an hour and thirty-five minutes, I'm sure that a great deal of the story and *any* nuance will be lost.

    By all means, see the film. Once you do that, read the novels (or at least start out reading The Gunslinger [wikipedia.org]). You're in for a real treat.

    As for good movies, how about stuff like:
    Breaker Morant [wikipedia.org]
    Mediterraneo [wikipedia.org]
    The Brother From Another Planet [wikipedia.org]
    Three Days of The Condor [wikipedia.org]
    D.O.A. (1950) [wikipedia.org] (not the crap 1988 remake)
    Bad Lieutenant [wikipedia.org]
    King oif New York [wikipedia.org]

    No, they're not in theaters. But who wouldn't prefer to watch their movies naked and away from the great unwashed masses anyway!

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @10:16PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @10:16PM (#543906)

    Wow that is a poor selection. Bad lieutenant belongs on nobody's list.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @03:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @03:43AM (#543990)

    Well, technically this is a sequel to the book series. I finished the book series except The Wind through the Keyhole a while back (before that 8th one came out). But that one takes place right before Wizard and Glass, right?

    Zomg, a legitimate use of the <spoiler /> tag below!


    “This time around” Roland supposedly has the Horn of Eld. From the trailer I gathered that Jake remembered the last time around. A friend who's a bigger King fan than I suggested that Jake may have the shining based on experiencing the split reality of being dead in Mid-World and alive in New York and various scenes from the trailer.

    The trailer didn't show any combat sequences with the manifestation in the Dutch Street Mansion, so I'm thinking that the manifestation remembers the beat-down Roland gave it the last time. I could be wrong there, because, after all, it's just a trailer. However, it seems clear that Roland doesn't fight Shardik this time around. Guesses I've read are that the North Central Positronics guardian he fights is the rat. (If that was Shardik in the trailer, then yeesh.)

    “Last time around” was the Beam [wikia.com] of the Bear, Way [wikia.com] of the Turtle. This time around may be the Beam of the Rat, Way of the ???.

    I haven't read any of the comics, though. I guess the only way to know for sure is for me to wait a few more weeks and then go and find out.

    Oh yeah, and the number one reason to suspect the movie will flop is that there's been no inexplicable uproar about casting a black man as Roland. Maybe Idris Elba is just that damned epic, but it's almost as though these identity politics crises with movie casting decision are manufactured forced memes. But that's my tinfoil speaking. (I do whatever the voices from my tinfoil say! j/k)