Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite being

[Good Will Riker]

...box-office poison?

or will the other shoe drop in a number of years and will he go the way of Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Christian Slater, and Colin Farrell?

Besides the Oceans Eleven franchise and The Perfect Storm, he's barely (if ever!) hit it out of the ballpark since he launched his feature film career back in 1996.

Even John Travolta got away with it for awhile (back in the late 70's/early 80's and late 90's/early 00's), but even he is being put out to pasture as we speak...

Why not give this chance to Ben Affleck, who is pulling in similar numbers? If Will Smith, Tom Cruise, and Matt Damon pulled in numbers like Clooney, they would have been so out of there a long time ago...

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

I don't think he cares. He makes the films he wants to make. It's general when he goes for mainstream appeal that he fails. When he does the films he wants to do, like Michael Clayton, Syriana or Good Night and Good Luck, and those films make money like they all did then the studios don't care either.

Unbelievably, we have an A-Lister who actually likes to act first and worry about the box office later.

 

[TGTheodore]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

Clooney (and his famous family) connect to a lot more generations than does Affleck or similar "newcomers" (Big Band days to now. Rosemary Clooney, Nick Clooney, etc). While George Clooney doesn't set the box office on fire, apparently, it's good enough for him to keep getting gigs and produce his own movies.

And many are just plain "comfortable" with George Clooney (rare in today's performers). Again, it doesn't set box office records, but that James Garner/Jack Lemmon likeability goes a long way.

--Ted

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

I don't think he cares. He makes the films he wants to make. It's general when he goes for mainstream appeal that he fails. When he does the films he wants to do, like Michael Clayton, Syriana or Good Night and Good Luck, and those films make money like they all did then the studios don't care either.

Unbelievably, we have an A-Lister who actually likes to act first and worry about the box office later.

Quoted for the truth.

 

[benny]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

I don't think he cares. He makes the films he wants to make. It's general when he goes for mainstream appeal that he fails. When he does the films he wants to do, like Michael Clayton, Syriana or Good Night and Good Luck, and those films make money like they all did then the studios don't care either.

Unbelievably, we have an A-Lister who actually likes to act first and worry about the box office later.

Bingo.

Box office does not (as in never has and never will) dictate quality. Some of the best movies in history made next to nothing at the BO while some of the worst make hundreds of millions of dollars.

Nominated for both Michael Clayton (acting) and Good Night, and Good Luck (directing, writing), won for Syriana (acting) among a slew of other awards, I've never gotten the impression Clooney cares about the money. <I>EVER</i>. Look at the names he's gotten to work with: Soderburgh, Oscar winner Renee Zellwegger, Tom Wilkinson, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton, Oscar winner Sydney Pollack, Pitt, Oscar winner Matt Damon, Pacino, Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Tobey Maguire, Oscar winner Clate Blanchett...the list goes on.

Evidently they-and the people financing the films-don't really care if the movie is BO gold. Why should we? As long as he keeps making good films, again, who cares?

 

[pookha]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

are his movies flops..
one thing to keep in mind not only are some of the movies quality movies they are were pretty cheap to make.

production budget michael clayton.. 22 mil
49 mil gross in us
30 mil else where
add on another almost 20 mil from dvd's..

Syriana
production budget 50 mil
50 mil us gross
43 mil world wide

good luck and good night which also had a very small production budget made more then its production budget with just the american movie take.

so considering that i dont see how clooney could be called poison.
he is able to open movies that normally wouldnt get much of an audience.
get nominations and attention for the film and they seem to make more then they cost.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

I couldn't care if his films aren't success stories at the box office. I remember him saying how likes working with interesting directors like the Coens and Soderburgh, who make good films.

 

[1001001]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

Yeah, I call "Faulty Premise" on this one.

Clooney has matured into a fine actor who actually makes films, not just movies.

Check out his performance in Solaris, Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck. The man's got some chops, and he makes generally good decisions about what he does.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

It's just that why is it that when someone like Patrick Swayze who made 1 or 2 bombs (which were City of Joy and Fatherhood) after box-office successes like Ghost and Point Break lose his A-list status and becomes a supporting player, while guys like Colin Farrell, John Travolta, and George Clooney retain their A-list status after bomb, after bomb, after bomb at the box-office?

Films like Solaris and The Good German weren't cheap to make. Out of Sight lost money at the box-office. And, people are saying Soderbergh is going down as a filmmaker after those box-office losses, yet Clooney is spared the blame? Just look at the numbers for One Fine Day, Batman & Robin, The Peacemaker, and Out of Sight in quick succession? All in the red. Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverston, and Arnold Schwarzenegger were pulling in similar numbers at the box-office after Batman & Robin and look where their careers went when they couldn't put enough seats at the movie theatres? But, Clooney is spared and he's still considered an "A-list superstar" when the bottomline here is that his primary job as a star is to bring in a lot of butts into seats in theatres based on his appeal, but he is not doing that. No one went to watch Intolerable Cruelty and Leatherheads, and as good as O Brother Where Art Thou? was it was not a moneymaker, and I remember Clooney himself disappointed that so few people were watching his Michael Clayton. Why is that?

There is the Hollywood hype machine, and then there are guys like Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Will Smith, and Matt Damon who are expected to deliver. And if they don't, then they are out of there. If I were a producer, outside of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, I would be extremely wary of betting on a George Clooney film being able to recoup one's money back at the box-office.

Evidence - http://dev.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/wolcott-vs-finke-im-dissed-for-dissing-george-clooney/

 

[DarthPipes]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

Agreed. He might be a good actor but Clooney can't carry a movie to box office success. He's proven it time and time again. The Perfect Storm was a big special effect summer movie and you could have put anyone in it. The Ocean's films featured an all-star cast that just happened to have him in the lead role.

I'm sorry but I found Three Kings and especially Out of Sight to be overrated movies.

Though in fairness to Clooney (whom I can't stand) you could probably make the same case for Martin Scorsese. He's a great director whose made some great films but they've seldom been box office hits. Gangs of New York cost $90 million to make and grossed about $80 million. He finally cracked the $100 million mark with The Aviator and The Departed and both of those films had big budgets too.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

One Fine Day, Batman & Robin, The Peacemaker, and Out of Sight in quick succession?

These movies are all from the 1990's. He's made a lot more sense then.

He's not interested in BIG box office success. The movies that he chooses to make now are MUCH smaller budgets are aimed at a MUCH different audience that Batman and Robin. Why are you comparing?

He has placed himself in a much different position than he was in the 1990s. He makes smaller budgeted, more adult fair now that not only critical successes, but for what they are, box office successes.

Honestly, if it's not a Box Office Bonanza, people think a movie has bombed.

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

^Plus there was nothing wrong with Out of Sight. A semi-romantic movie with Jennifer Lopez that I actually enjoyed ? The world must have nearly come to an end the night I watched that. (It was free with my first DVD player, so I gave it a chance)

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

If Clooney is "box office poison," it's because he makes movies that are interesting and offer good roles rather than worrying about their proportion of chase scenes per minute.

He ain't poison to me!

If I were a producer, outside of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, I would be extremely wary of betting on a George Clooney film being able to recoup one's money back at the box-office.

You probably wouldn't ever be producing a movie that would interest Clooney anyway. Maybe you should give Nicholas Cage a call instad.

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

If Clooney is "box office poison," it's because he makes movies that are interesting and offer good roles rather than worrying about their proportion of chase scenes per minute.

He ain't poison to me!

You're worse than my mum when she's watching football.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

If Clooney is "box office poison," it's because he makes movies that are interesting and offer good roles rather than worrying about their proportion of chase scenes per minute.

He ain't poison to me!

You're worse than my mum when she's watching football.

Is that real football or that dumb thing where people kick around the ball?

Okay, add George Clooney to the list of sexxxxy actors Hermy is insanely jealous of...

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

Is that real football or that dumb thing where people kick around the ball?

It's the sport where you actually use your feet instead of running in to each other wearing body armour, yes.

Okay, add George Clooney to the list of sexxxxy actors Hermy is insanely jealous of...

I'm not jealous of Clooney, I'm comfortable with my sexuality thank you very much.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

I'm not jealous of Clooney, I'm comfortable with my sexuality thank you very much.

Who said anything about your "sexuality"? Interesting little Freudian slip there.

 

[Hermiod]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

^Nuh huh!

Clooney is one of my favourite actors. I'm more inclined to watch a film because he's in it.

That's different to saying "Clooney! " like you, but I'm not the one who only sits through a TV show I don't like because I think one of the stars is hot.

 

[Othello]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

If I were a producer, outside of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, I would be extremely wary of betting on a George Clooney film being able to recoup one's money back at the box-office.

Evidence - http://dev.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/wolcott-vs-finke-im-dissed-for-dissing-george-clooney/

Then you would almost certainly be leaving millions on the table.....

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=michaelclayton.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=syriana.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=goodnightandgoodluck.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intolerablecruelty.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=leatherheads.htm

Other than Leatherheads he's done pretty damn well for the studios in recent years.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Re: Does Clooney's good rep in Hollywood keep him up there, despite be

Clooney is one of my favourite actors. I'm more inclined to watch a film because he's in it.

Agreed. I just watched the trailer for his next film ... and I want to see it now.