Mickey Kaus can be quite annoying when he hops up on a soapbox and stays up there so long you want to push him off. For some reason, the pro-Brokeback Mountain crowd annoyed him, so he’s been sniping at the movie for weeks. TMFTML points out that Kaus said the film would never do $50 million domestic, a total that was reached this past weekend.
Never fear. Mickey has redefined success:
[You're still at it aren't you? This film is going to do $65M in domestic business, easy--ed. $65 million is not a "runaway phenomenon" (Frank Rich's words)! It's Barbershop 2. $100 million would be a phenomenon. The English Patient, another doomed-romance film, did $110 million, adjusted for inflation. Fahrenheit 9/11 did $119 million, unadjusted, without having any discernible effect on the red states. I'm moving the goalposts!]
As you can see here, Barbershop 2: Back In Business had a production budget of $30 million and took $65 in domestic box office (with nada business overseas). Brokeback Mountain‘s production budget was $14 million; its worldwide grosses are $61.5 million, even before any presumable Academy Award nominations. Sure, that’s profitability, not popularity, but I think he picked an odd movie for comparison’s sake. If you want to define impact, let’s look at demographics, okay? I’d be curious to know who’s showing up at the theaters. Let’s face it, it’s an art movie, even without the homosexuality — a slow, moody meditation on doomed love.
I wouldn’t call it a “runaway hit” either, but it’s doing pretty goddamn well for a “gay cowboy” movie at a time when gay marriage is being outlawed left and right. It’s not unthinkable that business could pick up slightly when the nominations are announced, as it’s extremely likely that it will do very well in the key categories. You know how some people complain how they’ve never even heard of most of the movies nominated? Well, everyone will have heard of this one.
And, not that it matters, but despite the hype, it’s a really good movie.
(Don’t worry. If it hits $100 million, Mickey will move the goalposts again…)
One Response
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The Pop View Says:
Domestic gross: $83,043,761
Worldwide gross: $178,043,761
Bob Wright poked at Mickey about the movie here. Helpfully, in the comments below the video, Kaus lists other romantic (but not comedic) films that did more than $50 million.
As I tried to say, both sides exaggerated. It’s an art house movie, so it made a ton of money. But it was not a runaway hit that demonstrated anything about tolerance in America.