Box Office Receipts show a Hollywood in trouble

BizzyBlog has done the hard work and created an interesting table and graph outlining the yearly box office receipts, adjusted for post-2002 inflation, and their varying degrees of decline as well as declining yearly ticket sales. The overall picture is not a pretty one for Hollywood:

The latest round of war-movie failures, explained and discussed in more detail by Mark at Weapons of Mass Discussion this past Saturday, is just another episode in a five-year horror story at the box office for the movie business. Despite the growth of DVD sales and during most of that time and the potential for gold in downloads, the ongoing dismal results at the box office have to be causing headaches in the executive suites in Hollywood.

Head on over to BizzyBlog for the full details and to see the table and graph which clearly illustrate Hollywood's growing problem. The release of yet another anti-military / Iraq War themed movie, Stop Loss, which debuted at number 8 at the weekend box office with a paltry $4.55 million earned can't be helping things. Don't these guys learn from past mistakes?

Speaking of past mistakes, I forgot to mention 2 other anti-military / Iraq War box office flops in my review of Hollywood failures:

Home of the Brave: $51,708 total domestic gross in limited release. Widest release reached was 44 theaters. It's best per theater average was opening night when it brought in a ridiculously weak $680 per theater.

Grace is Gone: $50,899 total domestic gross in limited release. Widest release? 7 theaters.

If Hollywood created a movie where the U.S. military were the good guys and radical Iraqi terrorists the bad guys it'd probably be a hit. Better yet, hire guys like Michael Totten, Michael Yon, Bill Roggio, and JD Johannes as consultants and from their experiences pull together a heroic, dramatic, true-life story from the war in Iraq. I think it would also be very cool to make a "this is a true story" film from the Iraqi perspective as well - I'm sure there are plenty of stories of dramatic heroism on the side of the Iraqi Military / Police and how much neater it would be to film it entirely in their native language and screen it throughout Iraq as well as the U.S.? But it will never happen because the only bad guys Hollywood is really concerned about are 1940's era Nazis, our own government, "evil" corporations, and ourselves.

Continued woes of Anti-War / Anti-Iraq films

Everyone's been talking about the dismal box office returns of this season's crop of anti-war / anti-Iraq films. Hollywood claims the movies simply aren't "entertaining enough" but the cold hard fact is that Americans don't like being lectured or preached to through the silver screen. I did some quick and dirty analysis over at box office mojo, here's some numbers for you:

1. Lions for Lambs:
Debuted at no. 4 in it's opening weekend at $6.7 million (the movie at no. 3, Fred Claus, did $18.5 million the same weekend - that's roughly $12 million better). Dropped 56.8% its second weekend to no. 8 with $2.8 million, $11.6 total. This weekend's estimates are in and it's completely out of the top 10, estimated drop of 60.1% to $1.16 million, $13.8 total. Worldwide it's done better with $20 million total, but that's pennies compared to the standard Hollywood blockbuster. No idea on the budget, but with Redford, Cruise, and Streep, it's gotta be steep.
Received an "F" rating by 57.6% of BoxOfficeMojo users.

2. Redacted
This one is laughable. Debuted last weekend in limited release (only 15 theaters, presumably NY and LA) to the tune of $25,628 dollars for no. 50 in the box office results. Yes, you read that correctly, only twenty five thousand six hundred and twenty eight dollars. That's a per theater average of only $1,708. To put this into context, Dan In Real Life, which had been out for 4 weeks already and was at no. 6 in the box office for the same weekend averaged $2,284 per theater. Internationally it's only done $71,968. Currently I don't believe it's box office results are even being tracked anymore.
Received an "F" rating by 84.5% of BoxOfficeMojo users.

3. Rendition
Despite an all-star cast including Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, and Peter Sarsgaard, this one tanked quickly, although it received more favorable ratings at BoxOfficeMojo than the previous 2 entries (41.6% rated it a D or an F while 49.2% rated it an A or B). Rendition debuted at no. 9 in the box office back on October 19 with a weekend gross of only $4 million. It quickly dropped to no. 11 the following weekend, then no. 20, then no. 33 before it stopped being tracked. Total domestic AND international gross? A whopping $14.9 million.

4. In The Valley of Elah
This one, at least by BoxOfficeMojo users, rated the best of these films, with only 26.2% of users rating it an "F" (still, that's roughly a quarter of the audience) while over 50% of users rated it an A or B. Unfortunately the combined star power of Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, and Charlize Theron was unable to generate sufficient buzz or box office mojo, despite adding theaters to its initial limited release. It debuted strongly at no. 35 in a limited release of only 9 theaters with $133,557 total gross, that averages out to $14,839 per theater, which is pretty darn good. Unfortunately, it quickly tailed off and continued to lose ground, even as they added more theaters. It's second weekend the film was boosted to a total theater count of 317 which saw its weekend gross rise to $1.2 million, with a decent per theater average of $3,996. The third weekend saw its theater count rise to 762, more than double the previous weekend, but its weekend box office rose a paltry $300,000 to $1.5 million and its per theater average plummeted to $1,984. That was the last decent weekend for Elah, with its fourth weekend box office take down, despite a +200 theater count increase. Theaters quickly dumped the movie and it is no longer being tracked.
Total domestic + international gross? Merely $10.1 million.

I've read that there's a number of new movies along the same lines as these four clunkers. Perhaps after they've bled enough red ink Hollywood will finally learn that Americans like heroic stories where the bad guys are the Islamic terrorists / fascists and not the American Military, FBI, CIA, or the Defense Department.

Violent protests in Bangkok against the military coup

Bangkok Pundit has all sorts of good stuff on the protests and the aftermath. Just keep scrolling. As Bangkok Pundit notes, Freedom House has downgraded Thailand's political rights and civil liberties to a level shared by such stalwarts as Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Burma. (Correction: Only their political rights were downgraded to this level, not Civil Liberties - thanks to Bangkok Pundit for the correction, our mistake)

Regentisland.com also has plenty on the protests, and is openly calling them Thai Rak Thai Riots as it has been alleged that Thaksin, the former prime minister, and his political party were behind the violent protests, a view that Regentisland seems to share. Plenty of interesting info and commentary, just keep scrolling.

The military government, very popular at the time of the coup, has been steadily losing popularity and credibility as peoples patience wears thin. From what little I know, it seems they are making the same mistakes as previous governments in Thailand.

California Republican Party are idiots

In a moderate, centrist state, where independents are the fastest growing segment of voters, the California Republican Party has been lurching rightward over the past few years. In an idiotic move that will only strengthen Democrats, the executive board voted narrowly to exclude independent voters from the February Presidential Primary:

The motion, by two hyperpartisan bloggers now playing high elected roles in the state party, Jon Fleischman and Tom Del Beccaro, carried narrowly on an 11-9 vote. Among those in favor were the Republican leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, Dick Ackerman and Mike Villines. Among those opposed were Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, represented by a proxy, and former state Republican chairman Duf Sundheim. Democrats, of course, allow independents, by far the fastest growing voter group in the state, to participate in their primary.

Way to go idiots. Keep moving rightward in an overly moderate state where independents make up a sizable chunk of the electorate and you will continue to lose elections and cede control to the Democrats.

Anti-Universal Coverage Club

You can count me in:

Here are the guiding principles of the Anti-Universal Coverage Club:

1. Health policy should focus on making health care of ever-increasing quality available to an ever-increasing number of people.
2. To achieve “universal coverage” would require either having the government provide health insurance to everyone or forcing everyone to buy it. Government provision is undesirable, because government does a poor job of improving quality or efficiency. Forcing people to get insurance would lead to a worse health-care system for everyone, because it would necessitate so much more government intervention.
3. In a free country, people should have the right to refuse health insurance.
4. If governments must subsidize those who cannot afford medical care, they should be free to experiment with different types of subsidies (cash, vouchers, insurance, public clinics & hospitals, uncompensated care payments, etc.) and tax exemptions, rather than be forced by a policy of “universal coverage” to subsidize people via “insurance.”

If you are interested, head on over to Cato-at-Liberty and post something on your blog or e-mail Michael Cannon.

Disaster warning towers to resume construction in Thailand

....after having been put on hold after last year's military coup:

Work was suspended because the military-led government was worried it would swing opinion in favour of the deposed Thaksin administration.

Chairman Smith Dharmasarojana said the centre intended to install about 200 warning towers in the North, Northeast and Central regions and along the Thai Gulf. It had already installed 99 towers in six provinces. The towers are equipped with sirens which can be heard up to 1.5km away and will give warning of any natural disaster, not just a tsunami.

Via Bangkok Pundit, who notes:

Yeah, because avoiding a repeat of a disaster where thousands of people
died must always be secondary to the government's goal of making Thaksin look bad.

Sad to see that we're not the only ones where political considerations by those in power take precedent over what might be good for the public.

Uninsured in America : new film by Stuart Browning

Uninsured in America is a short film by Stuart Browning profiling some of the people who make up the so-called uninsured in America. You can watch the film here. I highly recommend it. A couple of excerpts from the transcript:

According to the US Census Bureau, 17 million of those without health insurance live in households having over $50,000 in annual income. That's 38% of the uninsured in America.(2)

In fact, 9 million - 20% of the uninsured - reside in households pulling down more than $75K a year. (3)

Hat tip to Dr.Helen.

All those uninsured better be careful what they wish for - if some politicians have their way this is what the future could look like.

"The military has run out of excuses as to why it cannot protect civilians and restore peace in the deep South "

Thailand's The Nation rightly criticizes the military for their failure in combating the Islamic terrorism in the South:

Insurgents have succeeded in everything that they have set out to do, while the military has failed to achieve any of what the public expects of it. The armed forces have not only failed to contain the worsening situation in the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat, which have descended into lawlessness, but they have also allowed insurgents to expand their sphere of influence to parts of Songkhla, if not Bangkok, which was rocked by coordinated bombings on New Year's Eve.

The number of people killed since January 4, 2004 has gone well past 2,200, most of them civilians, and it keeps rising. Not a single day has gone by without policemen, troops and civilians being blown up and ambushed, schools being torched, teachers being murdered or other innocent civilians being killed.

Insurgents have been able to challenge the authority of the Thai state, destabilise the southernmost region and wreak havoc on local economies with impunity and little cost to them. Only a handful of suspected insurgents have been arrested and have court proceedings pending in connection with about 20 incidents. Insurgents get away with their crimes 99 per cent of the time.

The military has been so humiliated in this regard that its credibility as an effective fighting force has been cast into doubt, which explains why the armed forces never have good intelligence: local people are too afraid to identify with authorities. This is why government troops who are armed to the teeth dare not venture into areas infiltrated by insurgents.

Troops brave enough to put their lives on the line to do their jobs are left largely to their own devices if targeted by roadside bombs or ambushes - there is little hope of reinforcements arriving promptly. In the absence of clear strategy and workable tactics, the majority of troops stay in their heavily fortified units whiling away their six-month tours of duty.

Big hat tip to BangkokPundit who comments:

So it seems that even The Nation does not believe Thaksin behind the New Year's Eve bombings.

I think at this point the only people who still believe Thaksin are behind the New Year's Eve bombings are those that perpetrated the myth in the first place - the military government who has failed so miserably to do anything constructive in the South. I remember when it happened and all the U.S. news outlets dutifully reported the official military government line that the bombings were the work of "political elements".

For those of you who don't know what is going on in Thailand, here's a great primer to get you started. Also lots more from Dr. Zachary Abuza over at the Counterterrorism Blog here, here, here, and here.

Generous grants for the privileged

Walter M. Kimbrough, over at Inside Higher Ed, criticizes the practice of the wealthy giving grants to prestigious private universities following the recent announcement that John Kluge has pledged $400 million to Columbia University.

So the colleges with the greatest wealth and the best of everything that money can buy (from faculty to facilities), not only are underrepresented with poor students, but also restrict minority students from accessing these resources. If public universities can be called “gated communities of higher education,” private universities like Columbia are easily the country clubs.

America’s so-called philanthropists ignore these facts, and we continue to laud their generosity to the privileged. At the same time, people of color continue to fall further and further behind, and unless we begin to help those who actually need help, America’s economy will suffer.

Hat tip to Minding The Campus.

Immigration bill roundup

I haven't been following the immigration bill fiasco because so many others are doing a much better job than me. Michelle Malkin is all over it. Just keep scrolling.

Good news from Diyala

Via Bill Roggio, the 1920 Revolution Brigades have attacked Al-Qaeda in Diyala:

The Buhriz group turned on al Qaeda in April, after the group terrorized the local population. "[Al Qaeda] ruled Buhirz with tyranny, they really harmed our town," a member of the Sunni insurgent group told CNN. "We had to stop them, and they left, no return."

"Before, when al Qaeda was here, it was all killing and stealing," another insurgent said. "We would hide in our house this time of day [during daylight]. It was all kidnapping, killing and stealing."

Al Qaeda followed the same pattern of behavior in Anbar province, which led to the formation of the Anbar Salvation Council, the grouping of tribes and insurgents which battle al Qaeda. The 1920 Revolution Brigades makes up a significant portion of the leadership of the Anbar Salvation Council. Recently, the Anbar Salvation Council has sent expeditionary units into Salahadin, Diyala, Babil and Baghdad provinces to organize local Awakening movements and fight al Qaeda.

I'm done with Quiznos - Subway it is.

I was once a die-hard Quiznos fan, at one point eating lunch there at least once per week. I would alternate between my 3 favorite sandwiches: Cabo Chicken, Turkey Bacon Guacamole, and everyone's favorite, the Mesquite Chicken. Both my wife and I signed up for their e-mail distribution and looked forward to getting regular coupons for a buck or two off their sandwiches.

However, something has gone wrong with Quiznos rapid franchise expansion, at least in the neighborhoods I frequent. I first had problems with my orders, particularly orders "to-go" where I would come home and find that a key ingredient was missing - for example, the bacon might be missing from my Turkey Bacon Guacamole, or the guacamole missing from my Cabo Chicken, etc. I finally lost my cool one day when I "dined-in" at my nearest Quiznos and dealt with an indifferent employee who had clearly made my sandwich wrong and then refused to fix it. Luckily his manager intervened and provided me with a free sandwich, ensuring I got the correct one, but the event still left a sour taste in my mouth.

The next problem that began to occur was with coupons. I used to frequent 4 different Quiznos, 2 within 3 miles of my home and 2 more located near my parents home. Quiznos ain't exactly cheap, so even a $1 off coupon is useful. We used to have no problem using coupons from the local paper or coupon mag from the mail. Then Quiznos began to differentiate between the coupons - saying the coupon we presented was not good at their location, only at the other location. Of course, they tell you this after already making the sandwich and as you are trying to pay. This happened at ALL 4 LOCATIONS. And when we complained, the staff were polite but basically told us tough luck.

As if that weren't bad enough, we noticed that our local Quiznos decided to raise prices. Then they stopped accepting the official Quiznos coupons that came via e-mail every month from the Quiznos e-mail distribution list, claiming that people were copying and abusing the e-mail coupon offers. Listen, if you start dealing in internet coupons, people are going to figure out a way to get more than one and of course people are going to use them. While we don't participate in such activity, it's not really our problem that others do - that's the company's problem. And the quickest way to piss off your customers is to start telling them they can't use their coupons, particularly when the coupon comes direct from your company. And that was the last straw.

So despite how good their sandwiches taste, I am done with Quiznos. I have had it. They have so thoroughly alienated myself and my family that there is nothing they could do to bring us back. Subway sandwiches lack the meatiness and flavor of Quiznos, but they are healthier, accept coupons, and at least you get to decide how your sandwich is made - zero risk of getting your order wrong since you are the one who told them how to make it. Equally important, the staff at my 2 local Subways are friendly and outgoing, often greeting me by name and asking if I want "my usual". Not so with Quiznos.

"Ugliest Olympic logo ever...."

And that's putting it mildly. Check out London's official logo for the 2012 Olympics over at Hot Air who comments:

It looks like an Air Supply concert T-shirt logo circa 1982. It’s that bad.

They also link to a BBC website where readers have submitted their own versions of logos. I'm with Bryan - I like versions number 3 and 11.

"Al-Qaeda in Lebanon"

Michael Totten reports that Al-Qaeda is in Lebanon and notes:

Lebanon is a weak and divided country. It is also, by far, and despite Hezbollah’s presence, the most liberal and democratic of all Arab countries. More than two thirds of the people who live there (Christians, Shias, and Druze) are considered infidels fit for slaughter by the salafist groups. A large percentage of Sunnis, in Beirut especially, are irreligious and bourgeois and modern. I, for one, am surprised it took Al Qaeda so long to move on them.

So far, the Lebanese Army and government are taking a hard line against the terrorists:

The Lebanese Army is clearing the “camp” of terrorists, booby-traps, car bombs, and even domestic animals rigged with explosives. The government says there will be no negotiated truce with the enemy, that their crimes will be punished with the death penalty either in combat or later in prison. It has been years, decades really, since the government and army of Lebanon have shown this kind of resolve.

They had better keep up the resolve. This crisis may be nearing its end, but it could just as easily be merely the opening shots. Jund al-Sham (The Greater Syrian Army) has gone on full alert in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon’s largest, outside the Sunni city of Saida south of Beirut. And Al Qaeda has published a most sinister threat to Lebanon on its Web site.

"Death or Glory": Michael Yon continues his dispatch

....from his embed with British soldiers. Excerpt:

The Queen’s Royal Lancers have been living out in the desert for about six months, like nomads moving from place to place, sleeping under the stars, getting much of their resupply of food and water by nighttime parachute drop as they patrol the Iran-Iraq border. They were living out there, as some officers had told me, in true Lawrence of Arabia style, wearing shamals, sometimes taking camel rides when Bedouins would wonder through their camps with great herds of camels. Some soldiers would go for weeks without bathing, while others would wash-down with a bottle or two of water. Water is strictly rationed.

LTC Nickersl-Ecershall would say that their job was to melt away into the desert, providing the eyes and ears that monitor the border. They’d apparently done their job well. I had been on many patrols with American forces along the Iranian border, but had no idea that Brits were out on desert safari. Although there had been some fighting, the Queen’s Royal Lancers had not lost a single soldier to combat during this tour.

Read the whole thing.

U.S. destroys Iran-supplied rocket teams in Sadr City

Good news on those Mahdi Army "rocket teams" that have been terrorizing the Green Zone with Iran-supplied rockets, from Bill Roggio:

Apache Longbow attack helicopters from the 1st “Attack” Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division killed 4 Mahdi fighters and destroyed 10 rockets and 1 truck. The air attack was followed up by a ground raid by soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Six Mahdi fighters were captured in “a residence inside Sadr City.” Reuters reported the engagement occurred in the neighborhood of Habibibya, which U.S. forces cordoned.

The Multinational Forces Iraq press release was clear the Mahdi cell was firing rockets, and not smaller mortars. The word “rocket” was used 7 times in the press release. U.S. forces found 107mm rockets in a field north of Sadr City on Friday. “[The cache] was found in an area known to locals as the ‘Jaish Al Mahdi Forbidden Zone,’ where some rocket attacks on Baghdad’s International Zone have originated,” Multinational Forces Iraq reported. “The cache contained 20 107mm rocket warheads, three fully assembled 107mm rockets, one 60mm mortar and a sandbag full of blasting devices.”

The Washington Post noted on Saturday that Iran has been supplying Shia insurgents with 240mm rockets, with a range of 30 miles, known as the Fajr-3. “Three of the rockets have targeted U.S. facilities in Baghdad's Green Zone, and one came very close to hitting the U.S. Embassy in the Iraqi capital, according to the U.S. officials.” These are the same rockets Hezbollah fired into northern Israel from Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006.

Michael Yon's Memorial Day Message

I was away from home and internet yesterday for the holiday, but Michael Yon was there with a must-read Memorial Day message:

Q has already made it to Germany and is about to be flown home. CSM Pippin is on his way to Germany. Along the way, excellent groups like Soldiers’ Angels will welcome them home, I expect. My readers will find out here where to send messages once that news is released.
Both men often lamented to me how frustrating it was to be back home and realize that the average American is not aware of practically any of the progress that’s been made in Iraq. Both men darken with something closer to anger when they consider the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers and the fact that while the media most likely counted the deaths in all instances, they also most likely failed to mention any of the good things their fellow soldiers had accomplished while in Iraq.

I plan to stay in Iraq for the rest of 2007, doing my part to tell of these and other accomplishments, and both of these men would not have it any other way. But when I do finally get home, I want to see these heroes, and be reminded what Memorial Day is all about.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross reports from Baghdad

...in an exclusive over at The Fourth Rail. It's a long, but necessary read, however I'll leave you with this excerpt:

Right now our country is embroiled in a critical debate about setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Unfortunately, this is one of the most intellectually impoverished political debates that I have ever witnessed, with both sides often resorting to sloganeering and demagoguery rather than substantive argumentation. One thing that my time in Iraq underscored to me is that, in looking at the country, many people see what they want to see. I would often think about the stories that journalists might write if they went where I went and saw what I saw. For example, after my first night on patrol—when the civilians we saw were clearly happy to see U.S. troops and felt comfortable around them—a conservative journalist might write a piece countering the stories about Iraqis hating us and wanting us to leave. Fine—but what about polls indicating that a shockingly high percentage of Iraqis think it’s okay to kill American troops? What about neighborhoods where U.S. troops would encounter a very different reception? On the other hand, a liberal journalist could write a very funny piece about the Iraqi army’s sloth and trigger-happy approach to the world, and conclude that we need to leave immediately because the Iraqi security forces are hopeless and at least a withdrawal will put some fire in their belly. Fine—but what about Iraqi soldiers’ improvements? What about the likelihood that pulling out would guarantee the Iraqi army’s failure?

Thailand: Rumors of a second coup?

Perhaps one wasn't enough. The always invaluable Bangkok Pundit links to a report that soldiers have been dispatched to TV stations to "protect" them from other parties who might use them for their own purposes. Bangkok Pundit wonders:

Who would be behind the second coup? Will it be (1) Thaksin whose army allies have been decimated, (2) Gen. Saprang who has recently been sidelined and his allies, or (3) Gen. Sonthi to consolidate his position even further?

Meanwhile Islamic radicals continue to terrorize and bomb Southern Thailand in their efforts to carve an Islamic state out of the region. As usual, the military idiots in charge of Thailand continue to speculate that the bombings are works of political elements, much like they tried to explain away the Bangkok bombings, when in fact it is painfully aware to everyone but those in charge who is responsible.

Iraq: Exploiting a single narrative

Austin Bay participated in a Q&A with Dr. David Kilcullen, senior counter-insurgency advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq. Austin Bay points us to an article the good Dr. wrote in 2006 explaining that a good counter-insurgency involves "exploiting a single narrative" to counter the enemy's "narrative". Austin asks the pertinent question:

I asked Kilcullen: “What is the single narrative (or alternative narrative) in Iraq? And this is a two-part question. Could you gives us an example of a narrative in a Baghdad neighborhood?”

Kilcullen responded:

That’s been one of the weaknesses in this business over time. I think it is something that is improving now. We have to make certain the story, the message people are getting from Iraqi government institutions is same as message from the US (sources). One of our problems we found is how difficult it is for Americans to generate a message Iraqis find convincing. (That’s why) we need to work with Iraqis, and we are in the supporting role.

(At the moment) the Iraqi government is putting out this message to the people: that you don’t need militias to protect you against terrorists. The government can do that. Gain trust in the government to protect you and move from a dependency on militias.

-------------------------------------------------

The single narrative the US has pursued is that as they (Iraqis) stand up, we stand down. That message is not particularly comforting to Iraqis. The single big message (the Iraqi government and coalition are sending) now is that we are protecting the population and trying to achieve sustainable stability. We are improving security and doing it to create a sustainable space so Iraqis can do it themselves.

Emphasis mine.