WiHM, Box Office Retrospective: 2007
Feb. 11th, 2015 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreThis was a frustrating year to work with, because so many movies that I'd rather talk about fell outside the parameters I set for this project. Such as movies that grossed somewhere in the $20 million range (Grindhouse, The Reaping), movies that had either a very limited release or went straight to video (Trick 'r Treat, Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door), or were big overseas but never had a theatrical release in the US (Inside, [REC]).
Here's what did fall inside my parameters:
(Halloween - $63.3 million)
Resident Evil: Extinction - $50.6 million
(Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem - $41.8 million)
The Messengers - $35.4 million
So I'm slightly annoyed. But like I said in my introduction, these are what packed the theaters, and that's not always the mark of quality. For the record, the highest-grossing horror movie this year was I Am Legend, at $256.4 million. Now, it's not lost on me that, this being February, it's also Black History Month, and somehow I Am Legend is the first movie I've so much as mentioned with a black protagonist. The fact that it's Will Smith, who comes with his own box-office-friendly fanbase no matter what he stars in, isn't lost on me either. I'm stretching my own rules (grossed over $30 million domestically AND starring a woman) bringing him into the discussion at all. That bothers me. I'll come back to this in the Honorable Mention.
Halloween: This may not belong on this list, but again, I can't tell from the cast or trailer whether there's an expy for Jamie Lee Curtis in this remake. I was adamantly NOT a fan of the original Halloween--easily my least favorite of John Carpenter's old classics. (The best, of course, is The Thing.) I seem to be in the minority on this, but since this one features geek superstar and purveyor of timeless cool, Malcolm MacDowell, I'm still kinda interested. I'm gonna stop pointing this out, because it's getting tiresome, but this is merely one of many remakes and/or sequels claiming the top spots this year. The fact that this pattern persists is depressing.
Resident Evil: Extinction: Here's another of those franchise machines I mentioned. The first one came out in 2002, grossing over $40 million. As of this writing, there are five films in the series, with a sixth expected to start filming later this year. I've seen the first three. The most successful (Afterlife) topped out at $60 million. Not too shabby for a movie based on a videogame. When it comes to game adaptations, this one has basically no competition, especially when it comes to female protagonists. I mean, you have your Silent Hill's and your Tomb Raider's on occasion, but this one has kept up a steady momentum to match the pace of the game that inspired it. Personally, I always appreciated Resident Evil's consistency in never pretending to be anything other than what it is: a self-aware, brainless action series that happens to have zombies. Of the three I've seen, they also tend to have at least one other non-marginalized female character in addition to Milla Jovovich (meaning they have names and speaking roles and their actions contribute noticeably to the plot), and they tend to pass the Bechdel Test. I have no idea if the latter films keep that up, but I'm willing to find out.
The Messengers: Hey, remember when Kristen Stewart was not instantly associated with Bella Swan? I know it's hard to separate the actress from the franchise that took over her life, but this was the only one of her movies I saw before the Sparkalopalypse. It's . . . okay. Actually, it's rather pedestrian and predictable. Not that scary. Jumped on the J-horror copycat train just a hair too late, although I myself will always be a fan of creepy ghost children and evil wall stains. Also, crows being the harbingers of Very Bad Things has become something of a theme in one of my own novels, and it's probably because of this movie. If you're keeping score, this is the only original story in the running this year. I recommend watching it maybe once for curious parties, because you can see the potential Stewart had before her persona was chewed up by the media. Honestly, I don't have any strong opinions on her, either as a person or a performer--she's basically the female Keanu Reeves. I am, however, surprised that this movie landed so high at the box office.
Honorable Mention: 28 Weeks Later - $28.6 million
I have only seen the original 28 Days Later, which is EXCELLENT in every way, and not just because I get to play Multifandom BINGO with it. (Calypso, The Scarecrow and Mad-Eye Moody versus Rage-Zombies and the Ninth Doctor!) Naomie Harris should be in more things. More Naomie Harris, I say! So, going back to what I said in my introduction, this is Black History Month, and as I'm using box office numbers to quantify my findings, the glaring omission of Female Protagonists of Color gets all the more unsettling. Naomie Harris in 28 Days Later is part of a distressingly rare group, along with Rachel True in The Craft and Jessica Lucas in Cloverfield: minority women in horror movies who survive the ending. The thing is, the list isn't necessarily that short. It's just that it's hard to find movies that subvert the all-minorities-dying-first trope taking the top spots at the box office. If I had gone back a few years, say to 2002 when 28 Days Later came out, I may have had an opportunity to mention this sooner. Also, the sequel, as far as I know, doesn't have any of the same characters. Imogen Poots and Idris Elba are in the cast, but I have no idea how prominent their roles are or how long they last.
Here is one of the trickiest things about being a fan of horror movies: no matter how many awesome characters you get, you can never be sure until the credits roll whether they'll survive. The reason the Women In Horror project exists, and the reason Black History Month exists, are because representation and visibility are lacking for both of them. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but have the numbers actually gone down since the turn of the century? We like to think that as the years progress, we're automatically progressing in other ways too, but I don't believe that's true. We have to keep having these conversations, and really look at what the trends are doing from one year to the next, to see if anything's changing. Not to mention, even with the female characters I've managed to find so far, I still haven't found many female or POC screenwriters and directors. I might be able to draw a more solid conclusion when I get to the end of the month, but what do you guys think? How far have we come? Are we still moving forward, or have we taken several steps back? Also, going back to one of my previous questions, since this is a niche genre we're talking about, when you do find feature films that tell the stories of minorities and women, why is it so hard to find them in the top box office spots?
Just some food for thought. Share your opinions with me in the comments, and I'll be back with 2008 next time!
Here's what did fall inside my parameters:
(Halloween - $63.3 million)
Resident Evil: Extinction - $50.6 million
(Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem - $41.8 million)
The Messengers - $35.4 million
So I'm slightly annoyed. But like I said in my introduction, these are what packed the theaters, and that's not always the mark of quality. For the record, the highest-grossing horror movie this year was I Am Legend, at $256.4 million. Now, it's not lost on me that, this being February, it's also Black History Month, and somehow I Am Legend is the first movie I've so much as mentioned with a black protagonist. The fact that it's Will Smith, who comes with his own box-office-friendly fanbase no matter what he stars in, isn't lost on me either. I'm stretching my own rules (grossed over $30 million domestically AND starring a woman) bringing him into the discussion at all. That bothers me. I'll come back to this in the Honorable Mention.
Halloween: This may not belong on this list, but again, I can't tell from the cast or trailer whether there's an expy for Jamie Lee Curtis in this remake. I was adamantly NOT a fan of the original Halloween--easily my least favorite of John Carpenter's old classics. (The best, of course, is The Thing.) I seem to be in the minority on this, but since this one features geek superstar and purveyor of timeless cool, Malcolm MacDowell, I'm still kinda interested. I'm gonna stop pointing this out, because it's getting tiresome, but this is merely one of many remakes and/or sequels claiming the top spots this year. The fact that this pattern persists is depressing.
Resident Evil: Extinction: Here's another of those franchise machines I mentioned. The first one came out in 2002, grossing over $40 million. As of this writing, there are five films in the series, with a sixth expected to start filming later this year. I've seen the first three. The most successful (Afterlife) topped out at $60 million. Not too shabby for a movie based on a videogame. When it comes to game adaptations, this one has basically no competition, especially when it comes to female protagonists. I mean, you have your Silent Hill's and your Tomb Raider's on occasion, but this one has kept up a steady momentum to match the pace of the game that inspired it. Personally, I always appreciated Resident Evil's consistency in never pretending to be anything other than what it is: a self-aware, brainless action series that happens to have zombies. Of the three I've seen, they also tend to have at least one other non-marginalized female character in addition to Milla Jovovich (meaning they have names and speaking roles and their actions contribute noticeably to the plot), and they tend to pass the Bechdel Test. I have no idea if the latter films keep that up, but I'm willing to find out.
The Messengers: Hey, remember when Kristen Stewart was not instantly associated with Bella Swan? I know it's hard to separate the actress from the franchise that took over her life, but this was the only one of her movies I saw before the Sparkalopalypse. It's . . . okay. Actually, it's rather pedestrian and predictable. Not that scary. Jumped on the J-horror copycat train just a hair too late, although I myself will always be a fan of creepy ghost children and evil wall stains. Also, crows being the harbingers of Very Bad Things has become something of a theme in one of my own novels, and it's probably because of this movie. If you're keeping score, this is the only original story in the running this year. I recommend watching it maybe once for curious parties, because you can see the potential Stewart had before her persona was chewed up by the media. Honestly, I don't have any strong opinions on her, either as a person or a performer--she's basically the female Keanu Reeves. I am, however, surprised that this movie landed so high at the box office.
Honorable Mention: 28 Weeks Later - $28.6 million
I have only seen the original 28 Days Later, which is EXCELLENT in every way, and not just because I get to play Multifandom BINGO with it. (Calypso, The Scarecrow and Mad-Eye Moody versus Rage-Zombies and the Ninth Doctor!) Naomie Harris should be in more things. More Naomie Harris, I say! So, going back to what I said in my introduction, this is Black History Month, and as I'm using box office numbers to quantify my findings, the glaring omission of Female Protagonists of Color gets all the more unsettling. Naomie Harris in 28 Days Later is part of a distressingly rare group, along with Rachel True in The Craft and Jessica Lucas in Cloverfield: minority women in horror movies who survive the ending. The thing is, the list isn't necessarily that short. It's just that it's hard to find movies that subvert the all-minorities-dying-first trope taking the top spots at the box office. If I had gone back a few years, say to 2002 when 28 Days Later came out, I may have had an opportunity to mention this sooner. Also, the sequel, as far as I know, doesn't have any of the same characters. Imogen Poots and Idris Elba are in the cast, but I have no idea how prominent their roles are or how long they last.
Here is one of the trickiest things about being a fan of horror movies: no matter how many awesome characters you get, you can never be sure until the credits roll whether they'll survive. The reason the Women In Horror project exists, and the reason Black History Month exists, are because representation and visibility are lacking for both of them. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but have the numbers actually gone down since the turn of the century? We like to think that as the years progress, we're automatically progressing in other ways too, but I don't believe that's true. We have to keep having these conversations, and really look at what the trends are doing from one year to the next, to see if anything's changing. Not to mention, even with the female characters I've managed to find so far, I still haven't found many female or POC screenwriters and directors. I might be able to draw a more solid conclusion when I get to the end of the month, but what do you guys think? How far have we come? Are we still moving forward, or have we taken several steps back? Also, going back to one of my previous questions, since this is a niche genre we're talking about, when you do find feature films that tell the stories of minorities and women, why is it so hard to find them in the top box office spots?
Just some food for thought. Share your opinions with me in the comments, and I'll be back with 2008 next time!