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Loading ...Ang Lee says he’s baffled by ‘Woodstock’ results
09.30.2009 5:42pm EDT
(Hong Kong) Ang Lee says he’s baffled by the poor box office results of “Taking Woodstock” – the Oscar-winning director’s worst-performing English-language movie in the U.S. in 10 years.
The Focus Features comedy, which chronicles the buildup to the 1969 rock ‘n’ roll gathering that drew half a million fans, had earned $7.4 million in the U.S. as of Monday, according to the box office tracking Web site Box Office Mojo. It’s Lee’s worst outing at the box office for an English film since “Ride with the Devil,” which made $635,096. The 1999 western had a limited release of 60 theaters compared to 1,395 for “Taking Woodstock.”Lee’s last English film, the 2005 gay romance “Brokeback Mountain,” made $83 million and earned him a best director Oscar.
Attending the Hong Kong premiere for “Taking Woodstock” late Wednesday, the Taiwanese director said he’s not sure why the film tanked.
“I’m not sure why. I think the movie is quite good. I’m very proud of it. Maybe people wanted to see the actual Woodstock festival, or maybe Woodstock isn’t attractive to youngsters,” Lee told reporters.
Asked if the film would have trouble breaking even, he said, “I had such a fun time making this movie. I don’t want to know.” Lee said he decided to make the movie partly for a change of mood after shooting the dark Chinese-language spy thriller “Lust, Caution.”
Focus Features Chief Executive James Schamus said at the Cannes Film Festival in May that “Taking Woodstock” would only need to turn in a “very modest” performance in North America to turn a profit because it had already recovered most of its investment from foreign sales.
Lee said his next project will be an adaptation of Canadian writer Yann Martel’s best-selling novel “Life of Pi.” The fable about a boy and a tiger who survive a shipwreck won Britain’s most prestigious literary award, the Booker Prize, in 2002. Lee said he is still working on the script.
What’s so hard to figure out.
The people who were actually at Woodstock either don’t go to the movies or don’t want to
relive it. And the people who don’t remember Woodstock don’t care.
Not that complex at all!
I did not attend the movie so I cannot speak as to it’s pluses or negatives. However, having grown up in that era, I was embarassed when it happened and have no desire at all to see it.
Simple, this is stuff theater goers PARENTS did. How embare-assing. Also NONE of the original Woodstock attendees were overweight..all the ones I saw in the clips were….UGGGGH
I saw the movie, and then bought the book. Ang Lee was so true to the story of Brokeback, and so I was really surprised at how “de-gayed” Woodstock was when I read the book (which was a great read). The movie itself was fun, but made a few jumps that were confusing for some. The main actor also seems a little nervous about being in a gay-themed film… Many of the characters were so far off to the ones in the book… I suggest that all this combines to a lackluster box office performance.
Ohhh, maybe he should have watched the movie. It was not really of the standard that we expect from such a fine director. In fact, we would not expect this from even a bad director.