Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2007 December 19

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December 19

New futurama movie.

Is there a site where I can watch the new futurama dvd movie without downlouding anything? (Superawesomgoat (talk) 01:48, 19 December 2007 (UTC))

If there was, you wouldn't see a link to it here - Wikipedia has rules prohibiting links to illegal copies of copyrighted materiel. Astronaut (talk) 03:51, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

It isn't a website - but you will be able to watch it without downloading anything on Cartoon Network next year. For your viewing convenience, it will be broken into bite-size chunks instead of one big movie. -- kainaw™ 04:52, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

You can get it at your nearest video rental store, with no downloading necessary. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 11:57, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Slight correction, the episodes refered to by Kianaw above will air on Comedy Central in 2008, not on Cartoon Network. Bender's Big Score, as well as the other three as-yet-unreleased movies, will be cut into four episodes each to create a 16 episode season. Bleeding Blue 21:33, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Films

Which actor said the line "Life is tough" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.1.184.254 (talk) 11:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Quite a few. Do you have any more details? Also check here. Lanfear's Bane | t 12:09, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

It may be Brad Pitt's quote from a long time ago. As I remember, it was "Acting is easy. Life is tough." I seriously doubt it is an original quote. His original quotes are usually along the lines of, "We are like all out on that thing like you know, man." -- kainaw™ 18:01, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Hardly original. The opening sentence of The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck is "Life is difficult". But surely people realised this a very long time ago. Even Adam and Eve had cause to reflect on the toughness of life, after they were evicted from the garden of Eden. Surely someone first said it so long ago that it's not recorded in history. -- JackofOz (talk) 00:52, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Dammit! I had been hoping to get through life without reading a single word of M. Scott Peck's! DuncanHill (talk) 00:54, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, things don't always work out, Duncan. Life is sometimes even ... difficult. But you already knew that, so I've not given anything earth-shattering away. Anyway, the title is part of the book, so you've read at least that many of his words. Not that they were his, of course, but Robert Frost's. To be accurate then, you've read four words that Peck included in his book, and in the context of the book itself, or a reference to the book itself, as distinct from the context in which they were originally created. I must admit I never got past Peck's first sentence (and I'm having trouble with my last one).  :) JackofOz (talk) 01:18, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Robert Frost I've got no problems with at all! DuncanHill (talk) 01:20, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

By "original", I meant with the "Acting is easy." part before the "Life is tough." part. It was a response to a question about how difficult being an actor is in an interview from a very long time ago. -- kainaw™ 01:09, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

am bummed

hey wikipedia?there is this school competion(not homework).the entertainment club in our school usually sets a question and hands out clues every two weeks and the first person to get it wins a prize.we are allowed to research on the net.the clues keep on getting easier until someone finaly gets it.its about famous celebrities who are reknowned. i had posted it earlier but got a wrong answer.here it is again and hope the answer will be better or even shading some light in the right direction. 1.he is a black american 2.he comes from a family of celebrities 3.his brother is very famous 4.the guy has two sons 5.the guy is divorced 6.research is based only on wikipedia coz thats our main source of information.and the guyz article is there and so is his families. on my earlier research i landed on the jacksons,jermaine or jackie jackson but my answers were wrong.av tried putting the boolean operators to narrow down my search but nuthin doin,help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.22.166.182 (talk) 13:48, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The Wayans Brothers are a famous family of entertainers . . . --LarryMac | Talk 14:39, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The question is poorly worded. (Who is to say who is a "celebrity"? Who is to say who is "famous" or "very famous"?) And most "celebrities" are divorced. There is likely to be more than one "correct" answer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shantavira (talk • contribs) 17:49, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Be that as it may, and despite my link going to a TV show which isn't what I really wanted, it is a short hop from there to "XXXX married L### T#####. They divorced in 2000. He is the father of BoyName1, BoyName2, GirlName1, and GirlName2." Black American? Check. Family of celebs? Check. Famous brother? Check. Two sons. Check check. Divorced? Check. I'm not getting a share of the prize, so I don't want to give the whole thing away! --LarryMac | Talk 17:05, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

"Christmas" movies

I noticed a huge number of movies are slated to be released Dec 25 in the US. This is a Tuesday, not the typical Friday release date, and none of them are about the holidays. Most aren't even family movies, including such titles as Sweeny Todd and AVPR. There are only two family movies in the group I know of, Alvin and the Chipmunks (film) and The Water Horse. Is this a new strategy, releasing movies XMAS day in hopes that people will take others to a movie as a present ? I don't recall this from previous years. StuRat (talk) 17:24, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

• For a movie to qualify for an Academy Award, it has to run for at least seven consecutive days. Hence, December 25 is the last date that a film can open and be considered for that year's Oscars. That's my theory. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 17:57, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

• Interesting theory. However, some, like AVPR, can't possibly be considered Academy Award material, unless there's a new category "best commercial alien exploitation film sequel opening on a holiday". Also, your logic explains why they might not open later, but why not open earlier to capitalize on the entire XMAS vacation period ? Also, why so many more movies opening XMAS day this year than previous years ? StuRat (talk) 18:15, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

AVPR could be nominated for special effects or makeup or sound editing or something like that. Best Invisible Warrior in a Supporting Role? Adam Bishop (talk) 20:55, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Academy Award eligibility only relates to openings in the Los Angeles area, not anywhere else. --Anonymous, 04:34 UTC, December 20/07.

And New York. Corvus cornix_talk 23:46, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, wrong. And hey, also note the next section: a movie can open in Los Angeles as late as December 31 and be eligible; it just has to run 7 days from the opening date. --Anon, 00:57, December 21.

Hey, those people who keeping saying that they must open in LA and NY are wrong. Myself included. And thanks for being so snarky, Anon. Corvus cornix_talk 03:04, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

The Chipmunks film opened last Friday. --LarryMac | Talk 18:06, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

I see. Then the sole family-oriented movie, The Water Horse, ought to rake it in XMAS day, I'd bet. StuRat (talk) 18:15, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

(Disclaimer: I have been out of the movie theater business for about 10 years. I doubt anything much has changed since then.) The absolute busiest movie day of the year is Christmas. The second is Thanksgiving. If you don't have your movie playing on Christmas, you are losing money. So, they have the option on opening the Friday before Christmas (normal opening day) or on Christmas. The advantage of opening before Friday is that all profits are marked as "opening weekend" which heavily inflates the box office report. If they opened this Friday, they would only get Fri-Sun for opening box office profits (and the weekend before Christmas is a bad time for theaters). All in all, it is just a numbers game. Notice how all those movies will open with huge box office sales and then plummet the following week. -- kainaw™ 18:10, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

I see. Am I correct in saying that far more movies are opening Dec 25 this year ? StuRat (talk) 18:23, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The number of movies opening at Christmas-time is always high - just to get the sales. However, they don't always open on Christmas. It all depends on what day of the week Christmas falls on. If it Thursday or Friday - then you can be certain that the movies will open on Christmas. If it is Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, it is far more likely that they will open the Friday before. If it is Tuesday or Wednesday, then it is a bit iffy. The rules for opening weekend boxoffice reports are always being bent. It used to be that you couldn't count anything before 12:01am on Thursday. I assume you can now. As for counting movies opening, BoxOfficeMojo lists box office statistics for many past years. The 'new' movies are highlighted and have a - for the number of screens the previous week. Looking there, 11 movies opened Christmas weekend in 2006, 11 opened in 2005, 8 opened in 2004, 9 opened in 2003. I don't know how many will open this year. -- kainaw™ 23:36, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm, I take it that site doesn't give the actual opening day then ? That's what I need to see to know if more movies are opening on XMAS day than in previous years. StuRat (talk) 02:46, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

MoviePhone.com seems to give me the day-by-day breakdown this year:

Friday before XMAS (12-21): 5 movies.

XMAS day (12-25): 5 movies.

Day after XMAS (12-26): 1 movie.

Friday after XMAS (12-28): 2 movies.

So, they certainly seem to be packed in both the Friday before and on XMAS day, and drop off rapidly after that. I don't have a day-by-day breakdown of previous years to compare against, however. StuRat (talk) 02:57, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

It is extremely rare for movies to open on anything except Friday. For a very long time, Friday was the absolute only opening day. Then, some movies opened on Thursday if Christmas or Thanksgiving was on Thursday. Then, some movies opened on Thursday just to pad their numbers (note: when a movie opens on Thursday, you can bet on the fact that the studio thinks it will tank and they need to pad the box office numbers). So, if it isn't specified, the movie opened on Friday. That said, if Christmas is on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, you can be certain that no movies opened on Christmas. They would have opened the Friday before. If Christmas is on a Friday, all movies will open on Christmas. If Christmas is on Thursday, most movies will open on Christmas. If Christmas is on Tuesday or Wednesday, some movies will open on Christmas. Now, the movie opening on Wednesday after Christmas - that is weird. Who knows that the studio was thinking. Regardless, this all comes down to the box office being a "weekend" and "week" number, not a "day" number. So, you need to consider how many movies open on "Christmas Weekend" or "Christmas Week", not "Christmas Day". In the movie theater industry, it is all about box office. -- kainaw™ 03:26, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

I see. One thing I don't quite get, though, is why the take on "opening weekend", however that is defined, is of any importance to anyone when compared with the total profitability of the movie over it's entire run. Wouldn't anybody with a lick of sense know that the total is what really matters ? StuRat (talk) 21:15, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

You'd think so, but sometime try looking at some video game fanboy websites and/or a site like http://www.vgchartz.com . People there do the same thing with opening week vs. total run. (e.g. Halo 2 gets like 2-3 million in its first week and everyone goes nuts, but no one cares when Gran Turismo 4 or Mario Party 7 sell a total of 5-7 million vs. 4-5 million for Halo 2). I know that may not be the same as what people do with movies, but its pretty close. In summary, welcome to the 21st century: where nobody looks more than a week into the future... Thingg (talk) 03:07, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Movies also open on Wednesday of 4th of July week on occasion. Corvus cornix_talk 23:47, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

To understand the whole box office mentality, you need to understand the movie theater industry from the production side. Before a movie is released, you advertise that it is coming. You force the stars to do the talk-show rounds. You get McDonalds to put toys in their Happy Meals. Everything is easy because you have time. Then, it opens (usually on Friday). On Sunday night, the theaters report their weekend sales. On Monday morning, you grab Variety and check the box office sales for the weekend. From there, you decide on a strategy for the following weekend. Do you run the "It is the #1 family comedy in America" commercial or the "Movie everyone is talking about" commercial? Whatever you choose, you had to do it fast because the commercial has to be wrapped up, signed off, and delivered to the television studios that day so it can air by the 8:00EST time block that night. Then, the following weekend, you hope your commercial attack works and you limit the inevitable drop in sales. Movie theaters report the second week box office scores on Sunday night. On Monday morning, you grab Variety and start over again. It is a never-ending sales attack that you have almost no control over since it is your job to sell a movie that you didn't write, direct, or act in. That is why I don't do anything remotely related to that industry anymore. -- kainaw™ 13:36, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

I see. So they want the opening weekend numbers to be as high as possible so they can claim they are the number one movie and lure in as many unsuspecting customers as possible. StuRat (talk) 19:08, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Exactly. And you can be certain that starting Wednesday night there will be "#1 Christmas Movie", "#1 Christmas Family Movie", and "#1 Christmas Comedy Movie" commercials running. I find it surprising that so many people figure they'll wait and see if a movie is #1. If so, they go see it. It repeats when the Academy Awards come out. Movies are often re-released because so many people figure that they want to see it once it wins some awards. In my opinion, you go see movies that you want to see, not movies someone else went to see. Perhaps I'm just a little different since I still pay attention to who is writing, producing, directing, and starring in movies - so I tend to know well ahead of time if I don't like the movies from the people involved. -- kainaw™ 19:30, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't care if it's number 1 (is that the same system children use to rate their reason for using the bathroom ?) or if "people are talking" ("that was 2 hours I'll never get back" is talk, after all). I also don't pay much attention to critics, as many of them are bought off and others seem to like different things than I do. What I do watch is the few clips provided in the ads. If none of them are the least bit funny or touching or exciting, then I skip that comedy, drama, or action film. The only flaw in that system is that I occasionally see a movie that has only 30 seconds of good stuff, all of which was packed into the TV ad. Syrianna was one such movie. StuRat (talk) 05:19, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Also, there doesn't even appear to be one film with a Christmas theme this Christmas, isn't that unusual ? StuRat (talk) 05:19, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Christmas themed movies come out earlier than Christmas. For example, Elf, original release date 7 November 2003, The Santa Clause - 11 November 1994. (Data from IMDB) --21:00, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

True, but were there any Christmas themed movies at all this year ? StuRat (talk) 02:15, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Well, there was Fred Claus if you count Vince Vaughan movies, which I'd prefer not to. --LarryMac | Talk 04:49, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Wow, that was released way back on November 9th. Is it even in theatres still ? StuRat (talk) 03:09, 25 December 2007 (UTC)