michael bay says....
http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-et-island26jul26,0,4909304.story?
July 26, 2005
BOX OFFICE
Bay's 'Island' no paradise this time
The action director tries to figure out how the opening of his latest
megabudget blockbuster became "a debacle."
By Chris Lee, Special to The Times
Anticipating that the heat would be on in Hollywood this weekend, "The
Island" director Michael Bay slipped away — to sweltering Arizona.
"I didn't hear the numbers all weekend," he said. "I relaxed, called my
agent Sunday and said, 'Give me the bad news.' "
When he did, this much was clear: "It's a debacle. It's my worst opening
weekend ever," Bay said.
This summer, box office doldrums have claimed any number of victims:
"Rebound," "The Honeymooners," "The Lords of Dogtown" and, on a bigger-
budget scale, "Cinderella Man" and "Kingdom of Heaven." But last weekend,
moviegoers crowned the biggest big-budget dud yet: Bay's "Island."
According to Paul Degarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co.,
its opening comes as a major disappointment for DreamWorks, the studio
that released the film.
"There's a lot riding on a tent pole movie like that," he said. "Everyone
expected this movie to come in at No. 1 or 2."
Bay said "The Island" suffered from low awareness among potential moviegoers.
In a phone interview, he said he felt the movie, which stars Ewan McGregor
and Scarlett Johannson as clones who go on the run after discovering they
have been raised for harvested body parts, had fallen victim to a number of
factors.
"It could be the subject matter, the lack of stars," he said. "I'm not
blaming the whole thing on the marketers."
A spokesman for DreamWorks said the studio mounted the biggest print,
online and broadcast marketing campaign in its history for "The Island,"
an effort that included five theatrical movie trailers, a word-of-mouth
screening campaign, three websites and numerous Internet ads.
In the weeks leading up to "The Island's" opening, though, marketing
executives at other studios said they thought the campaign was confusing
and unfocused. Bay himself, in an earlier interview with The Times,
worried about the marketing campaign and complained that "The Island's"
poster made Johansson look like "a porn star."
In its first three days of release, the $124-million sci-fi epic took in
just $12.4 million, opening in fourth place behind the previous weekend's
top draws, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Wedding Crashers" and
"Fantastic Four."
That means "The Island" grossed just 10% of its production budget, placing
it ahead of "Cinderella Man" and "Kingdom of Heaven" as the most expensive
dud of the summer so far.
Its lackluster performance is another indication of a continuing moviegoing
slump in which overall admissions are down about 10% for the year.
The director's previous five films opened at No. 1 and have combined to
gross $1.7 billion worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com. He said he
felt reassured by the knowledge that other successful directors had also
experienced commercial missteps.
"Everyone from Spielberg to Zemeckis to Kubrick — they've all had big
flops," he said. "I was five for five. You know it's going to happen."
"It hurts," Bay added. "It's always the director's fault."
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