Tracking numbers are soft for `Borat’
“How can something really be dead if it hasn’t even happened?”
— The Mekons, “Funeral”
Poor “Borat.”
It was riding so high before it came crashing to the ground.
Wait, you say it hasn’t opened yet? Funny, because some Hollywood types think it’s already over.
“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” is the movie that blew out of September’s Toronto International Film Festival with the most raves despite the presence of many Oscar wannabes.
Sasha Baron Cohen’s largely improvised comedy about a clueless Kazakhstani TV journalist touring the U.S. was lauded for its innovation (inflicting the cheerfully bigoted character on actual people) and fall-on-the-floor hilarity. It landed on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and received a spread in the Oct. 16 issue of Newsweek.
It doesn’t open till Friday, though, and during the lull between the hype and the release, reports started circulating about its “soft” tracking numbers — which is to say that more of America knew about “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” than “Borat.” The tracking for “The Break-Up” also was widely reported to be weak — and then the Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn comedy opened a strong No. 1.
Still, 20th Century Fox announced last week that “Borat” will open on a mere 800 screens nationwide — a couple of thousand fewer than your typical wide release — and the studio posted the movie’s first four minutes on YouTube.
Signs of desperation, the naysayers say. “Snakes on a Plane” all over again — a movie where the deafening buzz never translates into box office.
Of course, the problem with “Snakes on a Plane” was that people thought the movie stunk. Details, details. …
Cohen has taken some flak for refusing to do interviews out of character, but he probably just doesn’t want viewers to be thinking about the man behind the mask.
Now he must hope they’re not thinking about the tracking numbers.
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He’s hot, he’s sexy, he’s dead and he sells
Forbes’ annual list of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities is out, and look who vaulted over Elvis Presley to take the No. 1 spot: Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana singer-songwriter who killed himself in 1994.
His leap is due to widow Courtney Love’s having sold 25 percent of Nirvana’s song catalog to the New York music publishing company Primary Wave for a reported $50 million. Now Primary Wave is cutting licensing deals for Nirvana songs, such as the four set to be used in a November episode of “CSI: Miami.”
Primary Wave’s Chief Exec Lawrence Mestel said advertising also is a possibility as long as it’s for “products that Kurt would have liked to have his music represented by.”
OK, folks, which products do you think Cobain would have wanted his intensely personal songs to help sell?
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Will `Flags’ fly?
Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood’s mostly well-reviewed “Flags of Our Fathers” has some proclaiming it a disappointment based solely on its below-projections $10.2 million opening weekend.
Never mind that last weekend was especially competitive for adult-minded filmgoers; “Flags” opened against Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige” and the continued run of Martin Scorsese’s juggernaut, “The Departed.”
“Flags” ultimately will live or die based on its word-of-mouth and box office “legs,” not the effectiveness of its initial marketing — unless that failure is allowed to define the film.
Then again, Eastwood didn’t help his case by refusing to do press with publications unless the writer previously committed to having “loved” his movie.
You’ll notice there was no Tribune interview.
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The Pop (Machine) Quiz
1. What did the Weinstein Co. just announce that it will be adding to its DVDs, starting with “Clerks II”?
a. Personal introductions from Harvey Weinstein
b. Anti-smoking public-service announcements
c. Non-movie advertisements that cannot be skipped
d. Two differently formatted hi-def versions of each film
2. Which Taylor announced his split from Duran Duran just before the band’s Chicago-area show on Thursday?
a. Andy
b. John
c. Roger
d. Mick
3. Twyla Tharp’s new Bob Dylan musical “The Times They Are A-Changin'” opened Thursday on Broadway. Which of the following was not an element of the “Like a Rolling Stone” production number, as performed on “The View”?
a. A well-scrubbed singer hyperactively whipping around a fake guitar
b. Acrobatic dancers made up like mimes and dogs
c. Large exercise balls on which the dancers bounce in unison
d. A miniature replica of Stonehenge lowered slowly onto the stage
ANSWERS 1. b; 2. a; 3. d.
