March of the Penguins Tops Box Offices 562
Zinside writes "Yahoo News is running a story stating that March of the Penguins may become the No. 2 documentary of all time at U.S. box offices." From the article: "The film, which follows a pack of Emperor Penguins during an arduous mating season, had grossed $18.4 million by Wednesday and was poised to surpass the $21.6 million for Michael Moore's anti-gun documentary Bowling For Columbine. For 13 months, Jacquet and his crew braved Antarctic temperatures as low as 70 degrees below zero - and winds up to 150 mph - to capture astonishing images of thousands of emperor penguins engaging in a mating and child-rearing ritual that is nothing short of astonishing. The Penguins are a miraculous species, capable of extreme heroism, self-sacrifice, sorrow and unshakable love."
And the best part... (Score:4, Funny)
- Greg
Re:And the best part... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And the best part... (Score:2)
Re:And the best part... (Score:4, Insightful)
They're also capable of extreme homosexuality. [ananova.com]
There's a difference between (Score:3, Informative)
I can take no issue with the fact that many animals tend to display homosexual behaviors. The facts are the facts. That it appears in animal communities makes it as 'natural' as anything else in nature. For what it's worth, while examples do exist, it is quite far from the norm in animal communities.
With respect to "It's not what God intended" I'd have to say that is exactly right.
Let me be clear. What passes for socially acceptable behavior in the huma
Re:There's a difference between (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And the best part... (Score:5, Funny)
I think my mom threw out my instruction book when I was born, could you please send me your copy so I can finally know exactly what I am _supposed_ to do with my life?
Thanks.
Ever have a pet? (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Animals seem to love
2) Animals seem to miss
3) Animals play, animals cry, animals laugh [bbc.co.uk]
4) Animals have saved humans on countless occasions without being "ordered" to
5) Animals pair-bond, or what we refer to as "marry" [stanfordalumni.org]. 90% of all
Re:And the best part... (Score:5, Insightful)
Even this is debatable. It's entirely possible that a modest rate of homosexuality actually helps a (highly socialized) species survive, in that it decreases the the possibility of overpopulation, decreases the amount of (potentially disruptive) competition for females, and frees up some extra individuals from the burdens of child rearing so that they can devote their efforts to other things that are useful to the species as a whole (e.g. defending the group from invaders/predators).
My feeling is that evolution doesn't make too many "mistakes", and so if homosexuality is something that appears in many species, then it's likely there is a good (albeit non-obvious) reason for it.
Re:And the best part... (Score:3, Informative)
Idiot.
It was an "in joke" for fans of a comic strip [ucomics.com], not a spoiler.
I doubt that stating a comic strip penguin finally finds his mother (anyone remember when he raided a Mary Kay testing lab in search of her?) ruined the end of the movie.
It may not have been a funny joke, and you may have found that idiotic. That, I accept. But if you think I spoiled the end of the movie, any cred you may have as a "trivia geek" could be in jeopardy.
- Greg
Re:And the best part... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:And the best part... (Score:3, Funny)
I guess I'd mod that "smartass", but would that be a +1 or -1 mod? :-)
- Greg
Oooh... (Score:5, Funny)
What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a meme in certain circles that G-rated films gross higher than R-rated films. Could this kind of flocking (hehe) to see a documentary about penguins be indicative of a trend towards a silent audience demand for wholesome, informative movies rather than violent and crass fare?
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:5, Funny)
I think it's actually due to a very loud audience of prepubescent children who, after being saturated with advertisements during Yi-Gi-Oh, continually pester their parents to the point of either getting to go see the movie or being tied in a bag and thrown off the nearest bridge.
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:2, Interesting)
I can't prove but I strongly believe 20-40 aged people bought most of the tickets.
- yeah, i know, my englisk sucks
- my english also
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:5, Informative)
In the meantime, the R-rated "The Wedding Crashers" is a summer sleeper as well, running at #2 for it's first two weekends, then up to #1 in its third weekend, then back to #2 this weekend, putting it's tally for less than 4 full weeks at over $144 million. And while "March..." did really well this weekend, it's because it nearly tripled its screen count. Yet vs. "The Wedding Crashers" it had a lower per-screen gross ($3709 vs. $5312) on fewer screens (1867 vs. 3106).
We'll have to watch it longer term to see if it's legs keep up.
What's neat to observe is that Warner Bros. is rolling in the dough this weekend with the gamut of ratings.
This Weekend's Top Grossers
#1: Dukes of Hazzard (Warner Brothers) - PG-13
#2: The Wedding Crashers (Newline - owned by WB) - R
#3: Charlie and the chocolate Factory (Warner Brothers) - PG
#5: Must Love Dogs (Warner Brothers) - PG-13
#6: March of the Penguins (Warner Independent) - G
- Greg
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:3, Interesting)
Inquiring minds want to know!
The narrator is apparently very popular (Score:5, Insightful)
As a piece of trivia, March of the Penguins grossed more per screen shown on than the Fantastic Four did, in the Fantastic Four's first week. (Although MotP didn't make a whole lot of cash, it was only shown on 64 screens, whereas FF was shown on a something like 3,500. Those of you who also visit K5 may remember my diary entry on it at the time.)
Ultimately, it is the selling value of the narrator that probably made the big difference. HOWEVER, Hollywood pays attention to box office figures, and the fact that a wildlife documentary could hit the number 6 spot may cause them to seriously think about how they make movies for kids. (They're going to assume that kids are the main audience, whether that is true or not.)
If wildlife sells, then expect it to be merchandised to death. Having said that, it would be one hell of an improvement if kids get SOME natural history in their diet, as opposed to the turgid carp they get at the moment.
Re:The narrator is apparently very popular (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:2)
You *can* do violence and crassness well, of course. I just can't think of that many examples at the moment that don't have to do with South Park....
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:5, Funny)
You made a typo in that last word.
Re:What does it say about the mainstream audience? (Score:2)
A mix of science, humor and destruction would do it better I think. I am thinking of "Myth Busters" combined with "Junk Yard Wars". A sure watch for both the science interested audience and for people who just want to see destruction and explosions.
BTW: Hasn't this penquin been followed several times by now? So to be honest, it must be a good documentary t
Doco's are made for TV (Score:3, Interesting)
I find the biggest problem with doco's is that interesting subjects often get treat
Penguintastica (Score:4, Funny)
And they write great software too!!!
Re:Penguintastica (Score:2)
Do not missunderstand me, my rant is just against the editor that put this under the "Linux" section...
Re:Penguintastica (Score:2)
Cut! Cut! (Score:2)
An astonishing and moving film. Evokes emotions... (Score:5, Interesting)
Simply put, it is truly astonishing and moving -- and leaves you with a feeling that stays with you long after you leave the theater. I guess that feeling is: life.
Re:An astonishing and moving film. Evokes emotions (Score:5, Insightful)
[1] It is G rated. I guess some people are sick of car chases, boobies and scary monsters - go figure! The "naughtiest" part is penguins doing "it" to make more penguins. I actually saw a parent take their child out of the theatre for this one. Felt sorry for the poor kid...
[2] Penguins are somewhat similar to humans in the way they walk and behave. They walk upright but wobble and thus they look like "cute", "fat", "fuzzy" people. You couldn't pull this one off with snakes or, tigers. They are social creatures. In the movie ( I hope I don't spoil it for anyone ;) a mother penguin who lost her egg, tries to steal the chick from another penguin. The other females in the group would not "approve" of such behavior and came to protect the chick and the mother from the "thief".
Also penguins are monogamous (emperor penguins are monogamous at least for duration of one year) - which often is not the case with many humans nowadays - not that there is anything wrong with it... So that also anthropomorphosizes them even more.
[3] The bravery and determination of the people who shot the movie is impressive. Very cold weather, very dangerous, all just to film the cute little birds. And, of course, as some post mentioned, some like Morgan Freeman.
[4] It spread mostly by word of mouth. This is similar to the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". A small movie that made big $ because everyone told their friends to go see and how great it was. I heard about the movie from my parents then after I saw it, I recommended it to all my friends and they saw it. If everyone who see it does it - it is quite a few people..
Re:An astonishing and moving film. Evokes emotions (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, I was monogamous for a year. However, my wife of seven years doesn't think that one year constitutes 'real monogamy', sheesh.
Guess it wasn't their kid. (Virgin birth?) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:An astonishing and moving film. Evokes emotions (Score:4, Funny)
You sure? Even the ones having homosexual sex?
Re:An astonishing and moving film. Evokes emotions (Score:3, Informative)
The quality of the video is stunning - it's almost as if you have a window into the undersea.
Re:An astonishing and moving film. Evokes emotions (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, it was moving and wonderful an all, but I was pretty disappointed about the lack of useful factual information. I thought that the movie excessively anthropomorphized the penguins and that it didn't present the information in scientific terms.
For example, in the movie they show the consequences of the penguins dropping their eggs and losing track of chicks, but nowhere in the film do they state what the survival rate of the chicks is. They show an albatross catching and killing a penguin chick while adult penguins stand around and do nothing, and fail to explain the lack of a response. They also say nothing about the ongoing environmental changes in the antarctic and how these may affect the penguins.
I went in to the documentary hoping to see some science, but it turned out to be mostly pretty pictures and emotionally loaded nonsense.
Now you know.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Now you know why the Penguin is Linux's mascot. It is reliable, unshakable, self-sacrificing (think of all those selfless developers working night and day around the world), extreme heroism (ok, that might be taking it a little too far...)
Re:Now you know.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now you know.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Now you know why the Penguin is Linux's mascot. It is reliable, unshakable, self-sacrificing (think of all those selfless developers working night and day around the world), extreme heroism (ok, that might be taking it a little too far...)
and doomed to exist only in isolation on an island, where only a few heart souls seek it out?
Bill Gates isn't playing this in Redmond (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.ecliptic.ch/Stock/Detail/RE0908_Linux_
http://forum.osnn.net/photopost/data/508/medium/4
Isn't that the title of the nightmares Mr. Gates has had whenever he wakes up in a cold sweat.........
Tag line from film (Score:3, Funny)
Just saw it tonight (Score:5, Interesting)
So, strangely enough, I would not qualify this movie as a nature documentary. For me it is genuine bona fida "escapist entertainment": 90 minutes to gawk at something so alien to your existence that it puts everything else in perspective when you emerge blinking from the theater.
And that is exactly what movies and entertainment are supposed to do. And that explains this movies success.
Bonus item: this movie teaches us that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution in the harshest terrestrial environment on earth has left the penguin with large rolls of belly fat as a major and important adaptation for survival (to protect the chick/ egg from the harsh cold). So eat your popcorn and drink your soda guilt free.
Re:Just saw it tonight (Score:2, Funny)
If you plan on spending hundreds of thousands of years in the Antarctic. .
KFG
Re:Just saw it tonight (Score:4, Insightful)
A good fantasy or sci-fi, or any story about alien places and creatures is successful (=appeals to the audience) only if they emobody human ideals in them like justice, honesty, self-sacrifice, love, beauty, overcoming adversity and other such things. In other words if you had a movie about worms that live at the bottom of the ocean, or even some alien bacteria (or just mattrasses that sit around ) from Mars or say Titan, you couldn't entice the audience as much.
Re:Just saw it tonight (Score:5, Insightful)
1. The penguins also get EXERCISE.
2. They don't eat absolutely unheathy crap like you do.
hmmm...
i wonder what the survival value of a sense of humor is?
Re:Just saw it tonight (Score:4, Insightful)
The survival value of a sense of humor is 'not much', but the good news is that such unfunny people are unlikely to ever mate. If it is true that women want someone who will make them laugh, then Natural Selection should make our species more funny over the coming generations. Eventually even PHBs and marketing-types will grasp Dilbert (and boy will they be pissed when they do!)
A more important question... (Score:5, Funny)
More importantly, how do they taste? Fried, baked, or stewed? Anyone?
Ban this sinful film... (Score:2)
SWEET JESUS! Penguin orgy pr0n! Won't anyone think of the children?
When it's on DVD I'll say... (Score:4, Funny)
Begging for trolls... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Begging for trolls... (Score:5, Funny)
incorrect statement (Score:3, Informative)
Obviously whoever wrote that never watched "Bowling For Columbine" or is trying to distort what it's about. Say what you want about the documentary but any honest person can tell you it's not anti-gun.
It you watch it, weather you agree with it or not, it's final premis is that the culture of fear and violence perpetrated by our foreign policy and the mass-media that supports it, that seems to cause the staggering amount of gun deaths in the US...not guns. In fact there are arguments made that it's not the guns (I remember the comparison to canada). Michael Moore himself is a member of the NRA.
This may be taken as flamebait or trolling or whatever but that statement made there about "Bowling for Columbine" is simply not correct.
Re:incorrect statement (Score:2)
Don't believe your own hype. The only reason Moore joined the NRA was because he wanted to run for the NRA presidency and force it to support gun control.
Re:incorrect statement (Score:3, Insightful)
Documentaries exist for uncovering the preexisting conditions of a particular subject in a way that the creator's own perspective is not present. BFC's producer deliberatly and intentionally created on-camera environments that would result in an expected outcome.
We have a responsability to preserve the legitamacy of what a documenatry is all about. If all of
Re:incorrect statement (Score:5, Insightful)
As a viewer, you are being shown a very small piece of "reality". You don't know what happened before or after the event. You don't what a subject said before or after the presented clip. Think about it - the mere acting of editing a conversation shows that the documentary filmmaker is being subjective. What makes him use the first part of the clip, instead of the middle part. Or even the last part? He's using it to back his argument.
By saying you wish to preserve the "legitimacy" of the documentary is saying you want to put critical thinking aside. There is no legitimacy. Whether it appears to be subjective or not, liberal or conservative, about animals on the Savannah or men on the moon, documentaries are all arguments proporting a certain world view.
Re:incorrect statement (Score:3, Insightful)
You have a point in that every attempt at human communicatons can be viewed as an argument... an assertion of truthhood. Critical theories aside, most people use the label "objective" to characterize the manner in which the particular argument under consideration was built and presented.
I could go on, but it would be more meaningful for this "film theory" to develop standards fo
Re:incorrect statement (Score:3, Insightful)
Well in a way the parent was correct because Moore does a terrible job making a coherent point in the movie.
Re:incorrect statement (Score:3, Interesting)
While it's clear the movie was more of a comment on the nature of violence in America, anyone who watched it (and paid attention) could easily see that Moore used a pretty skewed approach, replete with sinsationalism, deception and lies to make his point.
I saw it, I even agree with him. But it's not an objective documentary, and shouldn't really be taken seriously as a tool to understand
Grand Movie for a Grand Movie Theater (Score:3, Informative)
It's got an enormous screen, bazillions of seats (including a balcony!) and a Dolby surround-sound system that became the prototype for the one found in most theaters today. It was one of the only places film conservators could show acetate-based films before restoration, because the projection booth still had all its steel fire-shutters from the '20s operational. (An equipment change in the late '90s, and the growing trend to preserve, duplicate and restore before screening, ended the practice.) They sometimes still show cartoon shorts before the movie, on reels they've had since the '60s.
The Pickens also ran Farenheight 9/11, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Chicago and The Nightmare Before Christmas when none of the chain multi-plexes would take the chance.
Support your local movie house!
In other news... (Score:4, Funny)
...President George W. Bush vows to fight anti-freedom around the world.
"Who do these penguins think they are? Calling themselves 'Emperors'? We, in America, do not tolerate such anti-democratic policies. Let the penguins have their rights. These penguins are part of the axis of evil..."
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Anti-gun? (Score:5, Interesting)
Something like that. While it was a gun related documentary I don't think it was imply "anti-gun".
Anyway, no such controversy with the penguin movie - it's pro penguin alright.
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:2)
If it's anti-anything, it's anti-NRA, a group that likes to identify itself as closely with guns as possible. And it's anti- U.S. media fueled culture of hysteria. (And at the end, it's anti-Charlton Heston. I won't defend that segment, but the rest of the movie overcomes it.)
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:2)
that's too bad. imagine the fun we could have had watching penquins acting all mean and invading some poor country and kicking some poor sods in the balls.
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:2)
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:3, Insightful)
He pisses off conservitives because he uses lies and deception to support a point they don't agree with.
He pisses me off (and I'm pretty liberal) because he uses lies and deception to support a point I do agree with.
If Moore trie
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:3, Insightful)
In a time when the rich and powerful have insulated themselves from criticism or comment, he has had some success in forcing powerful individuals and corporations to pay attention to the smaller people, and embarrassed them in front of a large audience.
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, he would be just another documentary film-maker that no one has ever heard of and no one will ever see any of his films. Just like thousands of other documentarians with more "journalistic integrity."
There is a reason F9/11 was the largest grossing documentary of all time -- he made it entertaining, he worked the system to get as much play as he could. I
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:3, Funny)
Incidentally, those particular people now lock their doors
Re:Anti-gun? (Score:5, Interesting)
Which penguins? (Score:2, Interesting)
You might also like.. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:You might also like.. (Score:3, Informative)
Anthropomorphization (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Anthropomorphization (Score:3, Funny)
Jacquet and his crew also braved (Score:5, Funny)
"unshakable love" (Score:2)
70 degrees below zero - and winds up to 150 mph (Score:2, Interesting)
Take THAT BSD fanboys! (Score:2)
Won't it be surreal? (Score:2, Funny)
Good Review Quotes Too (Score:2)
I just saw it yesterday (Score:2)
braved Antarctic temperatures as low as 70 degrees below zero - and winds up to 150 mph
How about the penguins? They did this while naked.
Oh really? (Score:3, Insightful)
Or at least, that was the end goal of the camerawork and the filtering of the hundreds or thousands of hours of penguin footage in the editing room.
Call me cynical, but with enough footage you could probably make a pile of beercans express anthropomorphic emotions.
Re:You know... (Score:5, Insightful)
The interesting thing (or "news for nerds") is that a scientific documentary has become the second-highest grossing non-IMAX documentary in history... as opposed to another one where Michael Moore makes fun of people he disagrees with.
- Greg
Re:You know... (Score:2)
Quote the summary: "to capture astonishing images of thousands of emperor penguins engaging in a mating (...) ritual"
Sex sells. Even when wrapped in science. What's the news here again? You and me both know it's only on slashdot because 90%+ would read the headline and think it's a linux documentary. Quite possibly the editor too
Kjella
Re:You know... (Score:3, Interesting)
Bowling for Columbine is not an "anti-gun" movie!
I know it is popular to bash his movies as hippie/commie crap but at least watch the friggin movie first. He specifically mentions that Canada has similar per-capita gun ownership and less strict gun control laws yet mysteriously does not suffer from the same gun-crime rates the US does.
Re:Not #2 yet, and no chance for #1 (Score:2)
Re:Not #2 yet, and no chance for #1 (Score:4, Interesting)
So I guess what I'm saying is that I think you may have your priorities severely confused. Yes, there are important and momentous events and conflicts happening in the world. There always are. They oblige us to become involved and to form our own opinions and to seek truth, but more obsession does not mean more effect. The truly important things are the things that happen in the midst of constant turmoil that make life worth bothering with. Nobody and no philosophy is going to force us to seek these things out and partake in them, and it's up to us to make sure they don't pass us by. That's the uglier truth.
I don't know whether this documentary is really any good or not, or whether it warrants this sleep-deprived, starry-eyed rant at all. But to rank works like this to be *by definition* of lesser importance than political discourse reveals a very narrow point of view.
(And please stop with the mouth-frothing. It's very unsanitary.)
Re:Not #2 yet, and no chance for #1 (Score:5, Funny)
You're right. Most documentaries document reality.
Re:Not #2 yet, and no chance for #1 (Score:3, Insightful)
Where's the "cute" in slogging across Antartica, starving yourself for countless weeks, and then having to leave your offspring to die because your mate got eaten by a seal?
And the very definition of "safe", by the way, is sitting through a political spiel that you already agree with.
Mr Cranky review (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/marchofthepenguins
/. relevancy (Score:5, Funny)
1) A lot of server rooms may as well be -70 degrees, so any sysad could empathize with the conditions (sans sunlight, of course).
2) Any Slashdotter has at least one interest that the "normal population" would give a hearty 'WTF?' to.
3) A demonstration of the amazing lengths some folks will go through for their penguin porn.
Re:/. relevancy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You know... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You know... (Score:2)
Oh, and before you leave, take your towel.
Re:And this is relevant because... (Score:4, Funny)
Because Natural History is a Science (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Degrees.. ? (Score:2)
The reporter, however, is American, and I expect the temperature to be in Fahrenheit. It's anyway damn cold (about -55 Celsius).
Re:bowling for columbine was anti-gun? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:bowling for columbine was anti-gun? (Score:3, Funny)
Australia.
"....so that I may stay far away."
Tell your mates not to come either, dickhead!
Re:bowling for columbine was anti-gun? (Score:3, Interesting)
As a numbed member of the US who has relatives from sane countries, I hope to visit your country someday. Cheers.