← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Ragnar
Thread ID: 12583 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2004-02-29
2004-02-29 22:01 | User Profile
Quick and clever take from Jewish Tribal Review. Whether the long-term fallout happens or not is hard to say. But good of them to bring it up!
[B]A Catastrophic Blunder The Jewish Establishment's "Passion" Misplay[/B]
[url]http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/constable.htm[/url]
by John Constable
The orchestrated attempt by the Jewish Establishment represented by the ADL, and the New York Times, Newsweek, and others, to suppress the release of "Passion", to block its distribuition, to smear Mel Gibson as an "anti-semite" and his father as a "Holocaust denier" and at the very least ruin Mel Gibson professionally forever- has failed spectacularly. In the over-reaching the way they did, they made a very big mistake. And, it will cost them dearly. It already has in the way of public credibility and respect.
Essentially, the America people have said a big "**** you" to organized Jewry, to all the Jewish media nannies out there (and their shabbas goys) who'd been warning them not to see this movie for over a year.
Three days since its Ash Wednesday opening, "Passion" is a bonafide blockbuster. Its earnings thru this weekend will top 100 million. It's now genuine cultural phenomenon. It will likely draw repeat fans. Internationally, it'll be a monster. It may, ultimately exceed over one billion dollars gross. That's "Star Wars" mega-profits territory. By the end of its run (if it has a run) "Passion" could conceivably be the world's #1 favorite movie.
So, at this point, the smear campaign may go on, Jews may endlessly lay heavy hands on Mel Gibson, may hound his dad 'till the ends of time, but it'll all be for naught. A dull, vain, miniscule exercise full of cacophony and pissant blues, but signifying nada.
There's a lesson to be learned here. Don't push people too far. Don't meddle in their religions. Don't think that the only thing that matters is if it's "good for the Jews." Or that Gentiles should heed that for their own damn good. Because, they're sick of it. They're hungry for something more spiritually uplifting than "Seinfeld". If a show "about nothing" (Jerry & friends) were being pitched today- the networks would pass.
[B]American audiences are sick to death of soulless Jewish materialism, of mildly wry, Jewish banalities. And, most catastrophically, the net result of all this is that it may cause Americans to re-think their support for Israel. The thought that perhaps those poor Palestinians are being crucified may very well have already crossed many people's minds.[/B]
Posted February 29, 2004
2004-03-01 08:34 | User Profile
[QUOTE]Quick and clever take from Jewish Tribal Review. Whether the long-term fallout happens or not is hard to say. But good of them to bring it up![/QUOTE]
Not only that, it appears that they've made Mel Gibson an even wealthier and more influential move maker.
"Passion" is setting records.
I can't believe how they let Mel manipulate them into underwriting his promotional budget. They just handed him FREE ACCESS to their media for the sort of promotional blitzkreig not even the biggest advertising budget could buy.
And this from the people who invented the entire concept, and who understand better than any other that "their ain't no such thing as bad publicity."
They stepped all over themselves on this one, I'm afraid.
Maybe there is hope after all?
This appeared on [URL=http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/weekendboxofficea.html]Yahoo![/URL]
Walter
['Passion' Hauls in $117.5M in Five Days Sunday February 29 2:56 PM ET
Mel Gibson's gamble on "The Passion of the Christ" paid off enormously, riding a storm of religious debate to a $117.5 million haul in its first five days, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"The Passion," which debuted on Ash Wednesday, rocketed to the No. 1 box-office slot for the weekend with $76.2 million from Friday to Sunday. It was the seventh-best three-day opening ever, behind "Spider-Man" at $114.8 million and such Hollywood franchises as "The Matrix Reloaded" and the first two "Harry Potter" movies.
"The Passion" put up the second-best five-day figures for a movie opening on Wednesday, behind last year's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" at $124.1 million and ahead of "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" at $105.6 million.
The first movie released in 2004 to cross the $100 million mark, "The Passion" easily passed the weekend's No. 2 flick, "50 First Dates" at $88.7 million, as the year's top-grossing film.
Once considered a niche film that would appeal mainly to conservative Christians, the bloody chronicle of Christ's crucifixion swelled to blockbuster proportions as Gibson rallied church groups to support it and accusations of anti-Semitism brought mainstream attention.
"It's an event movie," said Bruce Davey, Gibson's partner in his film company Icon Productions. "It all began with the grass-roots campaign we started, but the controversy has obviously helped in creating awareness."
Some Jewish and Christian leaders have said they fear "The Passion" will revive the notion that Jews collectively were responsible for Christ's death.
Gibson has denied such accusations, and key cast members including Jim Caviezel, who plays Christ, and Maia Morgenstern, a Jewish actress who plays Mary said Gibson approached the film with great respect for Judaic traditions.
Gibson put up the movie's $25 million budget and will reap most of the returns. Hollywood studios passed on the movie, so Gibson put it in theaters through independent distributor Newmarket Films, which will get a cut of Gibson's profits.
"The Passion" provided a box-office jolt for theaters, whose ticket sales were running 7 percent behind last year's. After four straight weekends of declining revenue, the top 12 movies took in $132.1 million, up 53 percent from the same weekend a year ago.
"The Passion" took in more money than the rest of the top 12 combined, with other new movies making barely a ripple.
The Ashley Judd crime thriller "Twisted" debuted at No. 3 with $9.1 million from Friday to Sunday. "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," a prequel to the 1980s hit, opened in fifth place with $5.9 million. The horror spoof "Broken Lizard's Club Dread" premiered at No. 10 with $3 million.
Playing in 3,043 theaters, "The Passion" averaged a whopping $25,041, compared to $3,367 in 2,703 cinemas for "Twisted."
The success of "The Passion" is more remarkable considering it was shot in two dead languages, Aramaic and Latin, and plays with English subtitles. The movie's violence, including a savage depiction of Christ's scourging and crucifixion, also did not deter movie-goers, who lifted "The Passion" to the second-best R-rated opening ever behind "The Matrix Reloaded" at $91.8 million for its first weekend.
"'The Passion' is the most unlikely blockbuster I've ever seen. I don't have enough adjectives in my repertoire to describe it," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Even nonbelievers probably felt the need to see this film because it's undeniably about one of the most important events in history, and everybody is talking about it."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
2004-03-01 09:12 | User Profile
The next few weeks will tell the tale. The way movies work nowadays, the first 3-5 days determine a hit or a flop...therefore it's safe to say THE PASSION is already a hit. But what makes a hit into a bonafide blockbuster is its 'legs' - its ability to keep earning big grosses over the next four to six weekends. Usually this is accomplished by Bernaysian saturation-ad campaigns literally [I]telling you [/I] it's the #1 movie in the country (the first week or two, the ads stress the purported quality or entertainment value of a film, but after [I]that[/I], it's Pavlov time.)
Gibson may have a built-in audience of a billion people or so, but what will complicate things for him is he probably won't have the now-standard repeat-attendance of the kid audience: PASSION crowds have skewed older in general, and the movie is intense enough that many of those adult fans might not relish seeing it four or five times in its initial run, the way the kid audience pushed the STAR WARS/LOTR franchises over the top.
However, there can be little doubt that Gibson's film will post what will likely be the strongest ancillary-market numbers in history. Given the aforementioned, add in that [I]many [/I] potential patrons for THE PASSION are elderly and too infirm to attend multiplex showings, and you can look for Gibson's overseas/DVD/VHS/PPV numbers to be through the roof.
Best of all, if he restores the cut material for the 'director's cut' DVD, I doubt very much you'll see Hymie roll out the big guns once [I]again [/I] to scare the goyim shitless. The first assault put plenty shekels in their enemy's purse; they won't make the same mistake again, no matter [I]whose [/I] children "His blood be on".