Feature: What to do with a $90,000,000 tattoo?

You have to give it to Sony, they have some balls. Some may call it audacious, others just misguided confidence. But you can’t deny it takes some self certainty to adapt source material read and loved by thirty million people, already released as one of the most successful foreign language films of recent years, give it an estimated $90,000,000 budget and expect to see that, and then some, come back in.

Don’t get me wrong I applaud their typical American audacity and love what they have done with the film. David Finchers re-imagining of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) for me, was the perfect post-Christmas tonic to the joy and goodwill of the festive season. Despite a bum numbing run time the story focuses on the more interesting parts of Steig Larsson’s novel to create a compelling and brutal ‘who dunnit?’.  

Nevertheless it’s no secret that Dragon Tattoo has struggled to gain traction at the domestic and international box offices. At a current worldwide haul of $108,000,000 after 3 weeks of release it will need to go some to recoup it’s outgoings when distribution and marketing costs are factored in. There are fears now that plans to follow up with The Girl Who Played with Fire may be on the shelf and it’s lackluster performance will certainly make studios think twice about allocating such budgets to R rated material in the future.

It’s funny because on paper you would expect Dragon Tattoo to have kicked off a lucrative trilogy with Sony continuing to develop US re-imaginings of the Millennium Series. Let’s be frank, best-selling novels with franchise prospects have set the box office alight in recent times, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are two obvious examples, with The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, perhaps more comparable in terms of target audience, also grossing well in excess of a $1 Billion between them.

So where have things gone wrong, it’s certainly not due to the quality of the film, so what else has affected it’s performance? It’s proximity to the original Swedish version won’t have helped, there’s a loyal fan base for that film who won’t have had much time for this version and Hollywoods continuous ignorance and disregard towards foreign language cinema. 

A huge market of disposable cash hoarding teens will have also been denied access should they have had any penchant for watching a movie featuring chrome dildos and incest. Most of all though, and perhaps where the studio had the biggest balls off all was in the scheduling. A Christmas movie this was not.

Any chance Dragon Tattoo had of being a commercial success was pole-axed by poor placement in the middle of the festive period. Despite the presence of snow this film has nothing in common with Santa Claus. 

The 2011 holiday season was also unfortunate for Sony as they saw Dragon Tattoo going head to head with some stiff competition; Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (which somehow continues to rake it in as annoying children convince their parents to take them to watch even more annoying chipmunks).   

What do the three afore mentioned films all have in common, other than being established franchise fare with pre-existing fan bases perfectly positioned for all the family to enjoy? Well not a lot else, but you get my point...Dragon Tattoo did’t stand a chance.

I would love to know if Sony were in a position to release over Halloween. I would be pretty confident that if they had done they may be feeling slightly more positive about the situation. I would hazard a guess the execs are probably thinking the same thing.

So where do Daniel Craig’s Blomkvist and Rooney Maras Salander go from here. After completion of its theatrical run and when DVD and Blu-Ray sales are taken into account the film should make a slight profit. Which is commendable for such expenditure on a movie with such a limited market. This, according to Entertainment Weekly, appears to be enough to convince Sony to go ahead with the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Whether Fincher will be behind the camera is still open for discussion however. If he has things his way they will shoot both sequels back to back. Somehow though he doesn’t strike me as a trilogy man and although he would be my preferred choice to continue with series I am not certain he will. 

What will be more interesting is whether Sony learn from their mistakes and pick a better weekend to open the next movie on. My guess as to when we’ll see Lisbeth Salander back on the big screen: Halloween 2013. Let’s hope it’s in all the R rated glory of Dragon Tattoo.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 4.5/5 

Review: The Social Network

The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)

I’ve been bleating on about starting a film blog for a good number of years now but never got around to it. It got to the point where I had seen so many films since I first decided I wanted to write them (or about them in this case) that I just didn’t know where to start. Then last week I saw The Social Network. What better film to review for the opening of a blog then a movie that’s story is unequivocally linked to the phenomena of online interaction?! On top of that the story of a young man’s propelled journey from ambiguity to the kind of success most of us can only dream about is hugely inspiring.

Fincher, whose previous credits include a triple threat with Brad Pitt (Se7en, Fight Club, Benjamin Button) takes on the task of turning Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to fame, fortune and failed friendships into the sort of edge of the seat thriller you expect from such a director.  When you consider the source material on paper it may not seem like a recipe for success. However, the expertly crafted screenplay, generous flexibility with the truth and completely convincing performances from all the cast (including Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the brains behind Napster) all come together to provide a fast paced and highly entertaining two hours at the movies.

Meaningful relationships and the difficulty that comes with finding them is where the heart of The Social Network lies. Whether it be the socially awkward Zuckerberg, the paranoid Parker or the psychotic girlfriend of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin it’s obvious these kids have some serious issues.

Told predominately in flashback as the rise of Facebook is recounted through two separate law suits, the film takes time to develop all the characters involved ensuring it becomes a study of human nature over business ethics.  The underlying message is no matter how many friends you appear to have, how much success you have gained, true happiness comes from really being accepted by others. As the story moves from University campuses to the heart of Los Angeles Zuckerberg and co. are working hard and partying harder as they expand Facebook from their bachelor pad. Yet as one scene; in which Zuckerberg takes a phone call outside whilst watching his friends party through the patio doors, so skilfully displays - he is still left on the outside looking in, despite his vast achievements.

The legal issues that aid the exposition and drive of the film eventually subside as the main focus shifts to Zuckerberg and his troubled relationships. Ultimately The Social Network isn’t interested in the courtroom catfights and boardroom battles but the wars that turn best friends into enemies. We may not all become the world’s youngest billionaire, but we can all relate to that.

4.5/5

The Girlfriends View:

"Really, really good. Interesting and different, not same old, same old. Main character was really well acted...almost autistic. Every young person can relate to it as it's about Facebook and it is interesting to find out about it from the 'other side'."