After a month in very limited release, Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" this past weekend cracked the $1 million mark in ticket sales. The total box office take of more than $1.2 million is only a fraction of its $9.6 million production budget, but a closer look at the movie's performance shows that it is a hit.
"The Lost City," Garcia's love letter to Cuba, was the No. 23 movie of the four-day holiday weekend, earning $277,443. By comparison, the No. 1 movie, "X-Men: The Last Stand," earned more than $122.8 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
However, "The Lost City" was shown only at 51 theaters nationwide, meaning it earned an average of $5,440 per screen.
The only movies among the Top 10 with higher per-screen averages were No. 1 "X-Men" ($33,295), which premiered Friday; No. 2 "The Da Vinci Code" ($11,304); and No. 3 "Over the Hedge" ($8,629).
"The Lost City" will premiere this week at theaters in Honolulu; New Haven, Conn.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Sarasota, Fla. (The latter meaning I get to see it again sooner than I expected and if I missed anything in my earlier review.)
For a complete list of theater locations and a future release schedule, go here.
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At an earlier post, a reader who just saw the movie had some comments and questions that I wanted to make sure everyone saw and had a chance to respond to.
I saw the movie in very liberal San Francisco last week. I drove a hundred miles from Sacramento to see it. From what I can determine, it isn't being shown anywhere else in northern Califotnia. There were no protestors, but not many people at the theatre. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The movie was listed in the theatre guide, but I never saw any ads.
I have heard on various blogs that the Hollywood leftists have sabotaged the movie. My question is, "by what mechanism?" Newspapers and TV stations will sell advertising to just about anything, as long as the checks don't bounce.
Could it be something as simple as Andy Garcia spent all his money making the movie, and had no funds left for advertising?
I'm not an expert on movie marketing, but it seems to me, that the movie COULD have done well. Any movie with three well-known stars (especially Hoffman)in it, that also has romance, violence, and great music, that was advertised properly, should have done well.
I just can't imagine Steven Spielberg calling every TV and radio station and "suggesting" that they shouldn't advertise the movie.
So what's up? Except for Miami, why is the movie only being shown in a handful of theatres with no advertising.
By the way, I have several Cuban American friends. I have pretty much adopted their point of view, which is that Castro is a terrorist, the sooner he's gone, the better. The travel ban and trade embargo have helped him stay in power, and he is more entrenched now than he was 2 years ago, thanks to the help of the Chinese and Venezuelans. According to my friends, these are pretty much the majority views of Cuban Americans under forty. Tell me again why Cuban Americans can't go every year and visit their elderly relatives and take them medications? Tell me again why I, as a conservative American, can't go there and see for myself?
I would appreciate your comments, especially about my questions about the movie.
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I don't know too much about how Hollywood sells movies, although it seems that the movies with the bigger production budgets, get the bigger marketing and distribution budgets to ensure a return on investment.
Despite its big-budget feel and look, "The Lost City" is an independent, low-budget film, so it is being marketed and distributed as such. I'm sure Garcia's, and the movie's, politics didn't help, but if Hollywood thought it could make money on this film, some big-time producer and/or studio would have been all over it.
Of course, as the numbers above show, "big-time" Hollywood guessed wrong about "The Lost City."
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The embargo has not helped Castro stay in power.
If there is any international economic activity that has propped up his dictatorship it is the trade and other business he does with Europeans, Canadians, etc. — activity that only benefits the regime, and not the Cuban people. They are still poor, and they are still suffering from some of the worst human rights conditions on the planet.
Before the U.S. lifts its sanction, Havana — preferably, without Castro at the helm — must release its political prisoners and take other steps to loosen its hold on the nation's people.
For a blueprint of what needs to happen, go here. (Be sure to add your name to the plan.)
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Blogger Silvio Canto Jr. saw "The Lost City" in Dallas this past weekend, and liked it, too.
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