I thought the cool secret advertisement that was done in the New York City coffee shop did a great job showcasing the movie.. I have seen endless ads for the film.. the word of mouth has been decent, and actually I even saw a review in CHRISTIANITY TODAY that portrayed the movie in a much more favorable light than what would be expected from a religious publican.
So why did it fail?
First off, it’s up against what may possibly be the movie of the year: GRAVITY, which is now experiencing its third week as the number one film at the box office–and that is pretty impressive this year, as many movies did not have much staying power once released.
But it’s almost Halloween.. scares are in the air. So why did a horror movie fail?
Interestingly enough, it seems that scary flicks do better in the middle of the summer than the autumn–maybe kids are out of school and parents are more apt to get them into a an R rated film than they would be when school’s in session? I recall when my mom took me to see FRIDAY THE 13TH JASON TAKES MANHATTAN and my music teacher caught her in the act..
There is a certain aspect of CARRIE that doomed it from the beginning: The fact that MGM actually remade it to begin with. It was not really, well.. needed. The original film is still a classic, and people happily watch that version when they have the chance.. Nikki Finke made a good point, too: CARRIE did not satisfy the people who wanted SAW-like gore, and didn’t make people happy who wanted the creepy factor like in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.
So here we have CARRIE, a film that may have been better never existing–at least the current incarnation..
But one other thing is for sure: THE FIFTH ESTATE, Wikileaks movie, flopped big time. It is only in about 1700 or so theaters. Next week, it will be lucky to be in 17..
