The overall comments I’m seeing is that The Rover has failed in the US wider release.  I personally think that just because the movie hasn’t made big bucks doesn’t mean it’s a failure.  It certainly has been a turning point for Rob’s career.  The reviews of the film certainly haven’t failed in bringing more credibility to Rob and his acting ability, nor are they damning for Guy or David. So I guess it depends on what you term a success.
In the US, Animal Kingdom was released in August 2010.  It ran for 31 weeks.  Admittedly it didn’t have wide release, but it did obviously have slow burn.  It’s final box office was USD1,044,039 – is that also a failure? Because last time I checked it’s lauded as a success is it not?  It garnered an Academy Award nomination for Jackie Weaver so I’d say yes to my previous question. The people who appreciate this type of arthouse film will go and see it.  I think it’s a little too early to call it a “failure”.
According to IndieWire:
“”The Rover.” A24 wasn’t so lucky with David Michod’s “The Rover.” After a decent debut on 5 screens last weekend, the film was aggressively pushed to 599 screens, and failed to do much business. It grossed just $500,000 for a weak $835 average, not exactly promising in terms of pushing it much past its current $590,453 total.
“David Michod made an excellent film that received very strong reviews for its unique filmmaking and wonderful performances from Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson,” A24 said. “Unfortunately we were unable to find a broader audience this weekend, but have no doubt that the film will gain fans as we continue to push it out in the weeks and months ahead.”
From Box Office Mojo:
In Australia, it looks like it’s steady. It’s current box office is $344,260 that’s up $80,000+ since last Thursday. Again, I was at the cinema yesterday and it was 3/4 full in a cinema that held just over 100. Considering people’s comments I was surprised to see that many to be honest and I can vouch that other than me there didn’t appear to be a fangirl to be seen in that crowd at all.
Hardly surprising results given that it would have been rated R (for the language, not ironically, the violence) and its starkly ‘blasphemous’ references wouldn’t sit well in a ‘god-fearing’ country. The Rover certainly isn’t your usual bland main-stream, feel-good movie. And it’s Australian. It’d be good to pull up some past stats from locally successful Aus films (Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to name a few),and see if they were considered ‘successful’ on the American market when they were first released. I understand that cinema today is all about the bucks – it’s a huge money-making machine, and the stakes are definitely higher than they were even 20 years ago. I’m amazed indie films are even being made these days. Most will cost more money that they’ll earn, but enough people want them made regardless,thank goodness. Unfortunately, in this day and age, success is synonymous with wealth. Sad.
@Trish amen to that, agree with you 100% and yet those “actors” who seem to be in the circle of actors who make dud after dud big budget flops, one comes to mind Adam Sandler who seems to be one of the circle I can’t remember his last box office hit. but that’s Hollywood for you.
I saw The Rover twice in the states this weekend. On Friday afternoon, there was me and one young man in the theater. On Sunday afternoon, there was me, two women (who were probably Rob fans), two guys in their 20’s, and one older man.
There was competition from a huge music festival that sucked up young people from up and down the east coast, but I don’t know if these people are the target audience for this movie or not. I was glad to see it wasn’t just Twilight Moms in the theater, but very disappointed at the low turnout.
I don’t know how to describe the movie to my friends to get them to go see it.
The main characters have flies crawiing over their faces. They wear the same clothes, and don’t brush their teeth or bathe for days. They sleep on the ground and everything is covered in dust and dirt. The photography captures the misery and the beauty of the desert.
Guy Pearce can “say” so much with a facial expression, or simply by the way he walks. He is a man who has given his last fuck and is just completely done. When you start to think he is evil, his shield slips a little bit and you can see that there is something inside of him that wants to hang on. Then, when he is taken in by the authorities, you can tell that he is really losing it. His performance is extraordinary.
Rob’s portrayal of the character Rey is so far from anything we’ve ever seen from Rob before – he is unrecognizeable. He fucking nailed the southern accent. He perfectly plays the lovable, pain-in-the ass, dipshit that we all put up with (because we just don’t have the heart to hurt his feelings.) (If you ever lived in the south, you know someone exactly like Rey.) Rob would not have come to mind if I was looking for someone to play a character like this, but he really mastered it. It was obvious that he owned the character completely.
And every other character in the movie was like an individual mini freak show! There was violence that surprised you -bam! And the story quickly moved on. I didn’t think there was any part of the film that was slow, even though there wasn’t a lot of dialogue. It felt right to me.
As the story progresses, you know something really horrible is going to happen when they finally catch up with Henry, but which way is it going to go down? And then, the final scene plays and Oh Shit! What do you do with that? It was very moving. And frankly, I’m really pissed off that I don’t have anyone I can discuss it with!
I just don’t know how to sum it up. (It isn’t a dystopian post-apocalyptic Mad Max Western.) If Cosmopolis was a movie about a guy trying to get across town to get a haircut, then The Rover is about a guy trying to get his stolen car back. But it’s so much more. And it’s fuckin’ awesome. It definitely isn’t going to be for everyone (no flowers and singing), but if you enjoy a movie that makes you think, you will like this.
Fantastic point @Barbara
Hey @rugbymom glad you enjoyed the film and you’ve summed it up perfectly.
I think you should entice your friends to it by saying – come and see a movie made by an amazingly talented young Aussie director – it’s not like any film you’ve seen before. You might not like it or you’ll love it but you won’t know until you’ve seen it. It’s about how he believes society is heading or he did at the time he wrote the script.
Maybe you should just show them what you’ve written here because it makes me want to go see it for a fourth time!
I decided to email Hoyts just to let them know that a one only 10.30 daily session of The Rover makes it impossible for people to support this amazing Australia movie by an amazing Australian director that has Australian talented artists. (Didn’t want to mention Rob at this stage). I mentioned that I was disappointed that we can’t do much to support our Australian film industry when we have such limited availability. I know it’s all about the money, I just felt I needed to say something. I got a reply from Hotys explaining that there are so many movies that have to be covered in such limited space. In other words, they have to support big money making movies. Village Cinemas is next on my agenda. Just because I was annoyed with Hoyts I went to see The Rover again tonight after work at my local cinema and loved it again.
Good on you silvie, that’s exactly what they need – someone to tell them. Such a terible shame these cinemas (my local one included) won’t support such a fantastic Aussie film, really wrong. I know there are so many people here where I am who would love to go see it, they’ve told me so. When I rang my cinema a couple of weeks ago to see if they were screening The Rover the response I got was “what’s it called, The Raver?” *shakes head* seriously I wanted to hang up after that, but not before I corrected them in a disgusted tone – idiots.
Well done Silvie!
@ TheRugbymom – Loved your review. I feel your pain re not being able discuss this movie. I am still waking up with new revelations I have had. The Rover is a masterpeice
Thanks Michelle and Carmel, what really gets me is that the support isn’t there then there’s the cheek to say that BO wise it hasn’t done well. Michelle, for that person to even question the title, honestly, why are such people in their jobs????? Honestly, I’m so pissed off with this attitude. Considering the very little support from people who should be supporting “The Rover” is doing OK
@Silvie. Lucky you .At least you received a reply. I contacted Birch Carroll and Coyle here in Coffs Harbour and asked why is it they do not support indie movies and especially Australian made and Directed. I am still waiting for a reply, we have one cinema in Coffs Harbour and as much as I love living here, I do miss Sydney for that reason.We are limited here in Coffs so we have to wait until the DVD is released.
@Barbara – Coffs is a wonderful place. I have a real affection for it. I feel your pain about not getting to The Rover though – and I live in Sydney. The time slots are killing me. So I will be desperately waiting for the DVD with you