Will "Miracle" obscure or help "Game of their lives"

The thought has definitely crossed my mind. How long has "miracle" been in production? Can we soccer fans at least console ourselves with thinking that we started first?

 

Don't fret. The hockey movie's been produced and distributed by Disney. It's going to be watered down- especially Herb Brooks' speech prior to the game against Russia.

If you saw the HBO documentary, you know the speech was an inspirational classic:

"If you guys lose this match, you'll take it to your *#*#*#*#*#*#in' graves!"

Let's see the Mouse put that one through.

 

The word from someone who has already seen Miracle is that the cursing has been removed, but that is good. I have been a hockey player all my life and the 1980 olympics inspired me as a child. This version should bring it to a whole new generation of kids. I loved Brooks comment, but if you think about it that wouldn't work today, with the attitudes of kids today such negativity would piss someone off. As a coach it sucks that you have to stay on your toes with motivation, I even had a parent complain because I asked the team to use one word to descibe how we played and one said "sh!t" I didn't say it but they were mad because I let a kid say it! Anyway "Game" hopefully will come out during the late summer right before HS and college seasons start and before the MLS playoffs, thus generating excitement and hopefully inspiring a new generation of soccer players! I am looking forward to both, I took the day off work to see "Miracle" at the first showing next friday and I have a friend who is in "Game!"

 

I am looking foward to Miracle, as a devout NYR and USA hockey supporter. I am pissed that any language has been altered, but I am grateful that a movie about hockey is being made. Disney has been good to hockey in their movies. So I will just add my own commentary in the theater.

Can't wait for The Game of Their Lives !!!!!

USMNT hockey and soccer !!!!

 

Well, no matter how you look at it, "Miracle" was always going to be bigger than "1-0".

1980, you have the Iran hostage crisis, Afghanistan and deepening rift between USA and USSR - this game was much, much, much bigger than just sports.
1950, US is entering a golden age of sorts, and I assume any animosity between USA and England stemming from the War of 1812 was gone by then so it's not like the people were counting on Team USA to get a result.
And you're talking about the Olympics, even if it's the winter variety, versus the World Cup, which in 1950 was still a two-bit tournament that England finally decided to bother with.

That said, I hope to see both movies. Should be fun.

 

That was the speech before the Finland game, which they needed to win to get the gold. It was the one after the CCCP game

It seems that there is a good five/six months in between movies. Crossover shouldn't be that bad.

 

One of the cool things I heard about "Miracle" is that they do a great job setting up the way things were in the US and the world at that time so that people who were either to young or not born yet can understand all of the emotions of it.

 

Does it really matter that much to you?

My God.

 

Re: Re: Will "Miracle" obscure or help "Game of their lives"

I look at "Game" along the lines of "Hoosiers" (same directors, of course) in that it was an ocurrance that some people know about, but is unkown to the masses. Now, most sports fans know the backstory of Hoosiers (Milan High beating Crispus Attucks and Muncie Central) because of that movie.

Most sports folks know about the Olympic hockey thing, much like that Babe Ruth movie, or Eight Men Out, but "Game" is a movie that, I think, will have a little more realism, and little less Disney revision (see Pearl Harbor's lack of cigarette smoking, ethnic slurs towards the Japanese, etc. Oddly, premarital sex was a "go").

 

Re: Re: Re: Will "Miracle" obscure or help "Game of their lives"

Everything about that movie sucked except the special effects. Pure Disney.

 

Miracle is going to make somewhere's in the neighborhood of $65 million dollars, because of star-power and media. It is a big release for Buena Vista (Disney) this winter and will be on 3000+ screens. It also has sneak previews this weekend (1/31).

Game will make less than $10 million for the (lack of the) same reasons. Miracle will have ZERO impact on Game, in the media and in the theatres.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Jay, you should be a studio exec. Or perhaps not because you might not enjoy the fact that the average tenure of a creative regime is 18 months - heads rolls precisely because there is no certainty about the movie business (think PLUTO NASH, HAUNTED MANSION).

IMHO, MIRACLE will have some impact upon GAME, albeit probably modest: The most critical component of rolling out a movie nowadays is getting the consumer's attention in an increasingly 'noisy' entertainment marketplace. To the degree that MIRACLE's ad campaign and presumed success at the box office will build upon an already strong tradition of mainstream Hollywood movies about underdog athletic team achievements (e.g., HOOSIERS), then it is quite possible that MIRACLE will help 'raise awareness' and plow some ground among consumers for GAME. Let's face it: There is a proven audience out there, especially in the U.S., who enjoy and attend feel-good sports-oriented movies. If people make an association between MIRACLE and GAME, then that could make it more likely that John and Jane Six Pack will actually slide off their barcoloungers, drive to the multiplex, and actually plunk down $8.50 for tix to what, by all appearances, looks like a Disney movie, even if it is a soccer story.

As to your prediction re GAMES potential B.O., you could be right, more likely you will be wrong. How do I know that? Two reasons: (1) Since Crusader Entertainment (Anschutz) is producing GAMES, and AEG happens to own the most theater screens in the U.S., you can bet that the Anschutz folks will do everything they can to allow the movie to find its legs (through word of mouth), rather than pull it after the first weekend, if it doesn't bust out with big numbers. (2) Instead of trusting your 'wisdom,' I'd rather rely on someone who obviously knows Hollywood a bit better than you, the dean of screenwriters, William Goldman (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, MISERY to name but a few), who is famously quoted as saying about the moviemaking business and Hollywood, "Nobody knows anything."

In the future, any comments you make about Hollywood should probably include a "maybe, might, possibly" and, most importantly, "who knows."

 

I wish. But I do work for a movie theatre. One owned by Anschutz.

I beg to differ. Crusader/Anschutz hasn't done this with any of their other movies (Walden Media, his other company, has a "first look deal" with Disney, and that's how Holes got released big, not because of Anschutz). Crusader is in turmoil at the top, replacing the Chairman-CEO and an Exec-VP. "Game" still doesn't have a distribution partner or a release date at this point. I'm betting limited release with a quick turn to video. If anything, it will be a 3 week quickie in August/September, if at all this year.

Maybe I do know a little bit more about the business than the average BS poster. I might even be a little to critical on the prospects of this film. Possibly I could just be a jerk troll trying to lay some bait for some unsuspecting tool to rise to. Who knows? It could have been you.


Thx,

Jay!

 

This thread seems to be morphing in to
"commercial potential" for TGOTL, so I'll
throw in my two cents....

Sir Stanley Matthews is the only English
player for whom I've seen an actor credit
in all the TGOTL pre-release interviews/
articles/materiels/etc.etc.

Everyone knows that SSM was in Rio
being "rested" on 29 June 1950 and
didn't even play in "The Game".

If Crusader has purposely distorted
this historical fact because they only
wanted to have one "English" name/character
featured in the film, they have botched
the opportunity to make a mint in a
market of 30M footballing fanatics,
not to mention the fact that the Fleet Street
press will trash the film if Crusader didn't
feature Finney, Mortensen, or Wright, who
are the 3 other players from England's 1950
team to make the All-Time Top 200.

The commercial potential for this film
could have been doubled or trebled if
Crusader had worked in the "English"
side of this story. Doing so would not
have damaged the USian side at all.
And would have insured marketability
and commercial potential throughout
the Dominions.

And it would have made good Variety press
to say "we wanted to give a little back to
the English and Empire because through the
years, Hollywood has 'added' USians, a la
Steve McQueen in Great Escape, for purposes
of USian market viability; this story is of far
greater in importance to the future of the
United States in the Community of Nations,
and it is an "American" story, but we recognize
the unique relationship between England,
Britain, and the United States, courses through
this story, and we wanted viewers throughout
the English speaking world to appreciate what
this game meant for both sides."

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe Crusader took the
correct tack. I'll love the film regardless.
But it could be a wasted opportunity to bring
the English and USian Footballing worlds closer
together. Featuring the "English" side of the
story would have gotten the Fleet press on the
side of the film, which would have led to calls
for the Revenge Match and built karma towards
the invetiable meeting in Germany in '06, or at
least towards the Friendly we on the US side
have been clamoring for for the last 6-7 years.

-bs

 

I want to agree with you, but I keep putting myself in their shoes. Imagine the trailer:

"This summer, Miramax presents the story of a team battaling against all odds. A team that no one gave a chance against the dominant power in the world at their own game. This summer rel-ive the dream that was the 1972 USSR Olympic basketball team as it slew the goliath that was the USA."

I'm guessing that this film would get a luke warm reception here

I know our relationship with England has traditionally been better, but it would be asking a lot for millions of them to drop 8-9 pounds on a movie where their team loses.

 

The film should get more attention then normal because it has the selling power of "Made by the makers of Hoosiers and Rudy", to films that mass American deemed 'great'. That's the 'foot in the door'.


"Game" will probably take a little heat for being another against-all-odds sport movie that came out later than "Miracle". If it's a quality movie, then it shouldn't matter to reviewers. Piss-ant sports talk show hosts who hate soccer will definitly talk this kind of crap on it though, but the vast, vast majority of Americans don't listen to sports talk radio.


The budget for the film is also supposed to be $50million pre-marketing. That's not chump change. It's also a since that we're going to see a lot of commercials, et al. for it because they're going to want to make that 50 Mil back and a quick decline into video isn't it.(https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91804&perpage=15&pagenumber=3)

 

It won't be the first time movies are realized similar to others. Think of the vampire and buddy-cop movies to name a couple.

However, just like the building of stadiums, one can never be too sure how much money is 'lost'.

The linked article refers to various tax credits paid for by states, etc.

http://www.forbes.com/nosection/forbes/2004/0202/050.html

 

wow just saw the trailer for "game"...looks awesome, cant wait for it to come out!

 

i skipped a couple of posts in the thread, but what if our boys win the olympics this summer. . .wouldn't that bode well for the movie's success?

 

The Olympics start on August 13th. While there's no release date yet for the movie, it's supposed to be a summer film, so June or July is more likely.

If the movie gets an August release, that's not a good sign. August is the month when studios bury their duds in a cinematic graveyard.

 

This movie has NO DISTRIBUTION DEAL as of now. This means it is not set to be released in theatres at all as of today. This is not a good sign. I object to a supposed $50 Million budget, and there is no way this film makes any $$ at the box office. Unless the Lord Jesus Christ Himself comes down and anoints the script with His Holy Word.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Nice to someone corrected him, I thought I was gonna go into a violent Tommy Vercetti style rage for a sec there. One of the greatest quotes of all time tho. "He took two steps turned and said 'your f***ing graves!'."

 

Actually, that would be this movie:

www.thepassionofchrist.com which is released to theaters on Feb. 25, 2004.

 

You mean like the way Hoosiers flopped because of how they fictionalized a real story?

If soccer fans turn into a bunch of Tolkein geeks and stomp their feet because the movie isn't perfectly married to the book and scream about how no one takes them seriously, the sport deserves to flounder at the bottom of the American sports landscape.

And who really cares what the British press says about the accuracy of the movie?