Thoughts On Why The Admirable Rob Reiner's Film "LBJ" Didn't Do Well At The Box Office?

[Joe Bauer]

The opening weekend of a major new film is almost always it's highest ticket sales time.

Just checked "LBJ" 's ticket sales for this weekend ( it's opening ) through Mojo.  They list this at 1.1 million dollars.

The production budget of the film was $35 million. "LBJ" will be lucky to pass $5 million in it's total distribution run.

Guess impersonating LBJ is not something Woody Harrelson fans really care to see.

Well, at least the film surpassed the opening weekend ticket sales of Tom Hanks "Parkland" which was one of the greatest American cinema bombs in the last 40 years ( seriously, it was )  and which was pulled from theaters less than two weeks after opening.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Joe Bauer

[Pat Speer]

People under 30 don't give a rat's butt about the sixties, and history in general...unless it's an entertaining romp directed by Tarantino. The film on Thurgood Marshall also bombed, if I'm not mistaken.

[Terry Adams]

Pat, you are absolutely right on the money.  People under 30 look at JFK as they do Abraham Lincoln.  He was one of our past presidents who was also assassinated!  End of discussion.

[Ron Ecker]

Woody Harrelson plays LBJ?

 

 

[Joe Bauer]

Young people today look at JFK times as we did Lincoln's?  Ancient history?

Yes, in general this is probably true.

Yet, the 2016 film "Jackie" ( who was also a part of that ancient history ) with Natalie Portman as Jackie, actually made 25 million with a production budget of 12 million.

Of course, Jackie's story combined with her incredible physical beauty and almost royalty icon life made for a much more compelling movie story and draw, especially from a woman's point of view.

What younger than 30 person would want to pop $10 (and more for pop corn and soda ) to see a sentimentalized and somewhat sanitized two hour story of a hound dog faced, Texas drawl good ole boy who liked to humiliate others with sadistic minded jokes?

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[James DiEugenio]

Neither of the films were about JFK.

Kennedy still has a pull over the public, as we saw from that blitz from about October 20 to the 26th.  There must have been about 30 video segments on the case and the documents.

There are still newspaper stories and in fact it was on the cover of the National Enquirer last week.

That was an important story, not for the story itself, which was based on the alleged McCone/Rowley document--which I think is a fake--but because the editor of the rag is a good friend of Trump's.  And he actually gave Trump credit for that declassification.   This should tell us something. Namely that either Trump, or his close friends, think they can use the JFK case to win favor with the public.

If that is true, then we have a shoehorn with which we can work with.  And we should do so.  I am going to be doing Coast to Coast in a couple of weeks, so I am going to ask the listeners to fax and email and phone the White House and tell Trump we want the documents with no deletions, no missing pages, no illegible pages and no pages completed whited out.  Which is what is happening in defiance of the law.  And the jerk off MSM is not reporting on this.  And I do not believe they are not aware of it.

Contrary to the idiot box, and contrary to what some people are saying within the community, there is some really interesting stuff in these documents.  The fact that they are covered up eliminates the possibility that we can know what else is there.  And that is the ultimate triumph of the bad guys.

Edited November 6, 2017 by James DiEugenio

[Joe Bauer]

Just curious.

How many members here have seen the Rob Reiner LBJ film?

How many plan to?

How many don't plan to see it?

Any commentary by those who have seen the film would be appreciated.

Questions to those who see the film.

Do you think the film is worthy in a true and honest historical perspective way?

Especially in the context of informing younger generations about the most important aspects of LBJ and his political life accomplishments?

Did the film deal with 11,22,1963 in anyway more than as just a starting point?

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Joe Bauer

[Roger DeLaria]

7 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

Just curious.

How many members here have seen the Rob Reiner LBJ film?

How many plan to?

How many don't plan to see it?

Any commentary by those who have seen the film would be appreciated.

Questions to those who see the film.

Do you think the film is worthy in a true and honest historical perspective way?

Especially in the context of informing younger generations about the most important aspects of LBJ and his life accomplishments?

Did the film deal with 11,22,1963 in anyway more than as just a starting point?

 

I haven't seen the film yet, but want to. I'll wait until it hits blu-ray and will get it from the library. I don't really go to the theatre anymore. I recently got All The Way from the library. Bryan Cranston did a good LBJ, I think.

[Douglas Caddy]

Joe: I don't have plans to see the "LBJ" film. I missed seeing "Mark Felt" because of lack of time. Hopefully it will show up soon at Redbox. I met Felt one time at an event arranged by Ed Miller who was convicted with him in the FBI 'black bag" break-in criminal cases and am mentioned in his autobiography. President Reagon pardoned both Felt and Miller.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Douglas Caddy

[David Andrews]

I'll see it in a year, when it's out on DVD and the public library buys it.  I'd rather see Woody do something less effortful, like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.  He's always best when he throws in something great where you don't expect anybody to.  I think that's why people like his work.

Edited November 8, 2017 by David Andrews

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Joe: I don't have plans to see the "LBJ" film. I missed seeing "Mark Felt" because of lack of time. Hopefully it will show up soon at Redbox. I met Felt one time at an event arranged by Ed Miller who was convicted with him in the FBI 'black bag" break-in criminal cases and am mentioned in his autobiography. President Reason pardoned both Felt and Miller.

Forgot about Felt's conviction and Reagan's pardon of him. What good are expensive and serious abuse of power crime convictions when you have Republican presidents in office?

I watched "All The President's Men" again a few months ago on TV. This showing had an odd and curious edit at the end.

In the original film, there is a scene in the ending where Carl Bernstein unexpectedly bangs on Bob Woodward's residence door. Woodward opens the door and we see a very upset Bernstein...and he ( Bernstein ) simply shouts in an outraged tone 11 words......

"The Son-Of-A-Bitch pardoned the Son-Of-A-Bitch! "

Referring to President Ford's pardon of Nixon.

The TV showing of "All The President's Men" edited out this scene. Why? It was a telling and compelling end wrap and only took up a few seconds in the original film.  

My wife and I will be viewing the "Mark Felt" film this weekend at our local independent theater.

She saw "Marshall" this last weekend. Gave it 3 and 1/2 stars.

No plans to see LBJ.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Joe Bauer

[James DiEugenio]

Maybe because the book came out before Ford pardoned Nixon.

[Vince Palamara]

I must say, interest is very much alive and well regarding the Kennedys, in general, and the JFK assassination, in particular. This is no hyperbole: not a day goes by that I do not receive enthusiastic e-mails, Facebook messages, Twitter direct messages and You Tube comments regarding the case from total strangers. The interest in the files has been red hot and has been translating to NON-RESEARCHER/ "regular folks", similar to what happened with the "JFK" movie back in 1991/1992 (as an aside, to this very day, I have never experienced the enthusiasm for the Stone film in any other film I have seen, and this is from an avid movie goer since the mid-1970's! The audiences the three times I saw the film were extremely fascinated and every seat was filled. People even brought books in and took notes in some instances!)

I am starting to think a co-worker's comment may hold true: the only thing that might make interest wane in the JFK case is if, God forbid, another president was assassinated (not an attempt- the real thing). I remember people thinking things would never be the same after the Stone film, back when every television talk show had a program on it and every bookstore had JFK assassination sections...wrong! I remember when people thought the case would be dead after Posner and Mailer in 1993/1994...wrong! When the ARRB formally wrapped up in 1998, many thought that was it...wrong! The start of the 21rst century was supposed to make the case ancient history and not a matter of interest...wrong! I ESPECIALLY remember feeling after 9/11 that the case will REALLY recede now...dead wrong! The 40th anniversary was red-hot, as was the 50th anniversary...look at it this way: if the "Lincoln" movie was red-hot (which it was), as well as books on Lincoln, 100 years before JFK, interest in the case will never die...although one does wonder if that scenario above could put a dent in it?

My books sell every week and many titles have done very well between 2013 to the present.

Having said all that, I'll catch "LBJ" on DVD LOL.

Vince

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by Vince Palamara

[Cory Santos]

I have not seen the film yet. 

One of my clients, Dan Hewitt Owens, plays Abe Fortas.

As such, I plan on watching it.  It was a small release and, at some level, an attempt to get Woody Harrelson some Oscar contention.

Reviews seem mixed but overall, good.

What matters more is whether it is released nationally to more theaters this week and gets any traction.

I think historical pieces like this are going to be harder to present because they are very expensive to create and the younger generation seems to not watch them. 

I think this interview is a good read and will give you insight into the film.

http://collider.com/rob-reiner-interview-lbj/

[Kirk Gallaway]

I would never go to a theater  to see the "Rob Reiner" LBJ and sort of resent it's called "LBJ", as if  that's going to be the definitive LBJ film.  At the time I also resented Stone for entitling his movie as "JFK " because it was really about the JFK assassination but given that was really the issue concerning JFK at the time, it really hit the spot for memorability.

The irony with the emerging world demographics is that movies are for kids and now some TV. Netflix Amazon etc. are for adults. I might sound snobby, but Rob Reiner has had some good stuff, mostly early, but there's something so predictable about his choices, he seldom really hits the mark with me.

In general as Pat said, I don't see the millennials caring much about the Kennedy's or history in general. If  I see a trend it's an increased interest in the Kennedy assassination  among an older sect (aprox. 35-50) of the "Deep State" Trumpian" largely right.leaning people with not a lot of formal education who feel disenfranchised and  seeing that same old conspiracy behind everything now as an answer for their feelings of powerlessness in  their present reality. I know, I can't resist playing amateur psychologist!

 But as far as positively using the film medium, as a means to generate interest in the Kennedy Assassination and the issues of that time, (which the public has proven over and over again, it does have a appetite for) there is an idea I've thought about many times. It would be a 5-7 year series, mirroring  "The 60's". To me Stone directing it would be a natural, but it seems unlikely he'd want to undertake it, since he claims that "JFK" made his life so difficult he'd never want to undertake such a thing again. But he did combine to do an excellent documentary series on Showtime "The Untold History of America" which I would recommend to anyone here.

I'd segment the first 2 years  like this

Year 1- 1960-62 starting withe 1960 election the rise of Castro in Cuba, BOP Kennedy, Khrushev  and end the first season ends.with  the Cuban missile crisis.

Year 2-  1962-64 Resolution of Missile crisis. The maneuverings leading up to and culminating  with the Kennedy Assassination.

I wouldn't spare many characters in the Kennedy assassination and I think Stone's take  of a government /MICC conspiracy which a lot of us share is also the most intriguing direction for huge ratings.You can take your time and weave a hell of a plot in a continuing series, where a criticism of "JFK" is that while Stone is to be applauded for undertaking a Herculean task it goes into so many details, it can lose it's thread at times to the more casual viewer.

Obviously the meat of the drama would be later,  MLK civil rights movement  the Viet Nam War, Anti War Movement,  sex ,  drugs, R&R, counter culture, race riots  domestic strife, RFK emerging at the peak, their deaths.I might extend it for 7 years to end it with the Nixon resignation.(Or at that 1968 point you could misdirect,such as  Bobby survives an assassination attempt, gets elected and the series then projects a hopeful direction of the end of the Cold War and the punishment of those who obstructed that ends being brought to trial including Bobby and his brothers assassins and attempted assassins.----nah! it's the 60's you have to "tell it like it is!") 

Similar things have been attempted before. There are a lot of questions of direction, such as do you include the journey of a typical family through the 60's and their inevitable pulling apart, etc.?  Nothing short of a major break in the JFK case, could keep these  assassinations in the public mind as a well done film project like this.