OK, so like many of you I was pretty disappointed when I saw that LAND OF THE DEAD opened in fifth place with $10 mil. I mean it’s a fantastic return to form for one of the genre’s most beloved directors and that’s all the love it gets? But let’s keep some perspective.
First, that number amounts to 2/3 of the $15 million production budget recouped in one weekend – not too shabby.
Second, Romero has always had modest success in terms of box office, but his movies have amazing longevity and you can be sure the DVD release will make tons of money.
Third, this is a serious genre effort (social satire and R-rating instead of a bubblegummy, PG-13, WB produced effort) which means it’s going to have a more limited audience. That’s why the production budget was moderate.
Fourth, LOTD got dropped between the premieres of two of the summers biggest movies in BATMAN BEGINS and WAR OF THE WORLDS. Often times moviegoers are only going to see so many films in the theater in a particular time span.
So my basic point is, yeah it sucks this couldn’t have taken down BEWITCHED, and shown that the whole world gets what genre fans have known about Romero for years. Namely that he f*cking rocks!
But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the movie opened in the most competitive season for movies against some major heavy-hitters, and is still going to easily make its nut and then some from the theatrical run.
Not exactly a disappointing bow!
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