{"id":96509,"date":"2022-10-14T03:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T03:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/an-autopsy-of-dead-on-arrival-amsterdam-reveals-worries-for-other-grownup-fall-releases-deadline\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T03:21:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T03:21:00","slug":"an-autopsy-of-dead-on-arrival-amsterdam-reveals-worries-for-other-grownup-fall-releases-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/an-autopsy-of-dead-on-arrival-amsterdam-reveals-worries-for-other-grownup-fall-releases-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"An Autopsy Of Dead-On-Arrival &#8216;Amsterdam&#8217; Reveals Worries For Other Grownup Fall Releases \u2013 Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\t\u201cEvery movie needs a rabbi,\u201d the great and grumpy Robert Altman once warned fellow filmmakers.  \u201cYou need at least one important critic to champion your cause.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"151\" height=\"151\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg?resize=151%2C151&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1202787620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg 151w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg?resize=93,93 93w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg?resize=62,62 62w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg?resize=60,60 60w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/peter-bart-column-badge.jpg?resize=110,110 110w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 151px) 100vw, 151px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tAltman found Pauline Kael as his advocate for <em>Nashville<\/em>but his warning seems relevant this week given the disastrous opening of <em>Amsterdam<\/em>, an $80 million-plus project that failed to find either a champion or an audience ($6.5 million opening weekend).  Having worked with Altman from time to time, I personally witnessed his quarrels with studio management over budgets, schedules and inept marketing strategies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tWith a gifted cast and an accomplished director, <em>Amsterdam<\/em> is a darkly entertaining movie \u2014 its opening scene is a disturbingly meticulous autopsy.  Its dead-on-arrival box office total, however, has prompted deep concerns for other films aimed at post-Marvel ticket buyers \u2014 even <em>The Fabelmans<\/em> from Steven Spielberg.  Thus, an autopsy of the movie itself and its release might be in order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tIts protagonist (Christian Bale) is a sort of ravaged doctor-from-hell whose glass eye pops out at inopportune times, much as the film&#8217;s narrative leaps across decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tThe movie&#8217;s other stars, Margot Robbie, John David Washington and Robert DeNiro, are buttressed by quirky performers like Chris Rock, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek and Mike Myers who pop up in key moments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<em>Amsterdam<\/em> is not as easy to assimilate as David O. Russell&#8217;s earlier hits like <em>American Hustle<\/em> or even <em>Three Kings<\/em>.  Its style and pace represent the polar opposite of streaming films now in vogue.  It&#8217;s a convoluted who-done-it in which no one turns out to be who he or she (or they) represent themselves to be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tOne character collects shrapnel from the bodies of wounded soldiers and displays the pieces as a distinct art form.  She inevitably connects with Bale&#8217;s physician of last resort who tends to the hideously injured.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tIn terms of marketing and distribution, <em>Amsterdam<\/em> itself is arguably an injured patient.  The project was financed by New Regency \u2014 that&#8217;s run by Arnon Milchan and his son Yariv, both combat veterans of the movie business, whose deal was originally with Twentieth Century Fox before its sale to Disney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tHence distribution was dispatched to an entity called Twentieth Century, which decided on 3,000 theaters \u2013 not the sort of platform designed for \u201cserious\u201d cinema.  Further, marketing was now managed by Disney, which, of course, had owned Fox.  \u201c<em>Amsterdam<\/em>shall we say, is not exactly a Disney movie,\u201d commented one Disney executive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tThe conventional wisdom on films like <em>Amsterdam<\/em> would mandate a festival opening plus successive screenings aimed at celebrities and influencers leading to a careful platform release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tNo one seems ready to explain why none of this happened with <em>Amsterdam<\/em>.  Nor has anyone stepped forward to pin <em>Amsterdam&#8217;s<\/em> limp performance to its marketing strategy, or lack thereof.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tThe silence is intriguing given Arnon Milchan&#8217;s contentious but superbly successful history in the business \u2013 films ranging from <em>The Revenant<\/em> to <em>Pretty Woman<\/em> to <em>LA Confidential<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tRobert Altman&#8217;s reaction to all this would have been high decibel.  Altman&#8217;s 1975 classic, <em>Nashville<\/em>, had a busy plot that focused on a populist outsider who ran for president.  He likely would have relative <em>Amsterdam<\/em> and its basic theme \u2013 a plot to take over the American government through a secret coup by Trump-like<strong> <\/strong>power players.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\tMy suspicions is that Altman, who died in 2006, would be distressed by the state of cinema today \u2014 and how it is (or is not) effectively distributed and marketed \u2014 identifying <em>Amsterdam<\/em> as a symbol of its disarray.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n<p>\t\u201cAs a filmmaker, I conducted myself with the conviction that the money people are always wrong,\u201d he once intoned.  I suspect David O. Russell would endorse<strong> <\/strong>his point of view.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n! function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n    if (f.fbq) return;\n    n = f.fbq = function() {\n        n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n    }\n    ;\n    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n    n.push = n;\n    n.loaded = !0;\n    n.version = '2.0';\n    n.queue = [];\n    t = b.createElement(e);\n    t.async = !0;\n    t.src = v;\n    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n}(window, document, 'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '422369225140645');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEvery movie needs a rabbi,\u201d the great and grumpy Robert Altman once warned fellow filmmakers. \u201cYou need at least one important critic to champion your cause.\u201d Altman found Pauline Kael as his advocate for Nashvillebut his warning seems relevant this week given the disastrous opening of Amsterdam, an $80 million-plus project that failed to find &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/an-autopsy-of-dead-on-arrival-amsterdam-reveals-worries-for-other-grownup-fall-releases-deadline\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">An Autopsy Of Dead-On-Arrival &#8216;Amsterdam&#8217; Reveals Worries For Other Grownup Fall Releases \u2013 Deadline<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Amsterdam-1.jpg?w=1024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96509"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}