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Paramount Studios defends Jennifer Lawrence after flop

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Paramount is standing by its mother!

Darren Aronofsky’s trippy thriller bowed this weekend to an anemic $7.5 million at the box office and a rare F CinemaScore from audiences. Even with a marquee star like Jennifer Lawrence, that debut doesn’t suggest good news for the mother! box office prospects. Still, the film’s distributor, Paramount, is championing Aronofsky’s creative accomplishments.

“This movie is very audacious and brave,” Paramount worldwide president of marketing and distribution Megan Colligan told The Hollywood Reporter. “You are talking about a director at the top of his game, and an actress at the top her game. They made a movie that was intended to be bold. Everyone wants original filmmaking, and everyone celebrates Netflix when they tell a story no one else wants to tell. This is our version. We don’t want all movies to be safe. And it’s okay if some people don’t like it.”

Despite the dismal audience reaction, critics have been more split on mother!, which has earned a 69 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as the titular character, whose idyllic life with husband Javier Bardem is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious couple (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer). From there, well… things get a bit unhinged.

“Anytime you do something that aggressive there are going to be people who enjoy it, who want to be on that roller coaster ride, and then there are others who say, ‘Oh no, that was not for me,'” Aronofsky told EW last week. “It’s a strange one. You see Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer and people are conditioned for a certain type of movie. And… we didn’t do that type of movie.”

'mother!' Studio Defends Jennifer Lawrence Movie After Audience Revolt

why is she getting whole studios to come to her defense??
 

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I've heard the film is essentially "torture pδrn" and a misogynistic film masquerading as "feminist". I think I'll end up skipping this one after all.
 

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You can always tell how good or bad a movie is by how ridiculous Javie's hair is. Considering his haircut looks like a generic cut, this movie has to be atrocious.
 

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Saw the movie last night, loved it. I got the allegories and everything in the last 30 minutes of the film. The problem really was that the film is too highbrow for mainstream success imo
 

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Aw, those studio executives feelings are as fragile as wet tissue paper huh. I guess pretentious, hipster films aren't the bee knees after all, so sad..

worlds-smallest-violin-gif-20.gif


My friend wanted to see it and I accompanied her. I got the point and understood it perfectly. Sometimes it's not a case of the audience is too dumb to understand, sometimes a movie just isn't all that. It was a swing and a miss, take the "L" and move on Paramount.
 
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I still wanna see this tho. Requiem for a Dream remains one of my all time favorites and I heard that this film was definitely off-putting, but a lot of indie folks liked it. Idk, I'm planning on seeing it this weekend so...here's $10.75
 

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Paramount has the defend it. Their marketing strategy is what lead to the F score and the roll out and last minuet promo was stupid.

Shouldn't have presented it as a horror movie for the general audience.
 

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I've personally haven't seen it yet but, I definitely get Rosemary's Baby vibes from this film.
 

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I've heard the film is essentially "torture pδrn" and a misogynistic film masquerading as "feminist". I think I'll end up skipping this one after all.

I heard...

There's a scene where they are eating a baby??????
 

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Ain't nobody trying to see this sick weird ass ish. Hollywood needs to put out more films that have either old fashioned action, comedy, inspiration, or a family-kid flick. Its too much going on in the world to spend money watching dark movies like this mess. The creator of this movie could've kept this mess in his head.

Oh and Jennifer Lawrence is over-rated. Seeing her in a movie commercial does not increase my interest in a film. Why are studios obsessed with her?
 

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I heard...

There's a scene where they are eating a baby??????
Wow WHAT?? Thats sick! Maybe they were trying to be artistic and philosophical like Salò but just like that movie it flew over most peoples head. On a friday night im NOT looking for depth and allegories. I wanna have fun
 

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Y'all need to watch the film before passing judgement. I don't care for jlaw but this movie is a metaphorical representation of God, Mother Earth and humans. And yes that will have some people in their feelings about whether or not Hollywood can do that.

Yes they eat the baby but that is supposed to represent how people treat what Mother Earth gives us.

I walked away from that movie feeling some type of way. It had me in an existential crisis for hours lol
 

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I heard...

There's a scene where they are eating a baby??????

Yes, It was a metaphor. In Catholicism the parishioners eat the body and blood of Christ in wafer form.

The baby in mother! represented Jesus. Those who were eating him were God's (Bardem) zealous followers.

Jennifer Lawrence (mother) was trying to protect the baby from Bardem and his "congregation". There is a very tense stand off between the two.
 

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Wow WHAT?? Thats sick! Maybe they were trying to be artistic and philosophical like Salò but just like that movie it flew over most peoples head. On a friday night im NOT looking for depth and allegories. I wanna have fun

From what I understand

Every character in this movie represents a religious figure.
From ONTD

"JLaw is Mother nature, Javier is Him, as in God, Woman (Michelle) and Man (Ed) are Adam and Eve, Domhall and Logan playing Cain and Abel. Then you realize all the people coming in destroying the house (nature) she created with love are humankind, and it all makes sense from there...
JLaw actually told everyone what the movie is about with that climate change comment.
The marketing is deliberately trying to sell the movie as a horror flick when it's really not, its more of a psychological thriller heavy on symbolism"

"The allegory is also meant to work on the level of artist and muse... I don't know how to spoiler tag on ontd so I'm afraid of going into too much specificity re the ending but basically javier is a "successful" poet with writers block... he marries a young woman, asks her to renovate his old house, but otherwise treats her like sh!t and complains he's not being inspired (by her). and as the film progresses and bad things start happening around and to her, his writers block magically disappears and he finds her inspiring again. As his muse he doesn't treat her like a partner or even a person but as a thing, something that exists to help him with inspiration, and when she can't do that anymore..."

"I think they wanna show how man's treatment of nature and our planet mirrors how men treat women in patriarchal societies. I think it's a really interesting concept lol but different strokes"
 

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Y'all need to watch the film before passing judgement. I don't care for jlaw but this movie is a metaphorical representation of God, Mother Earth and humans. And yes that will have some people in their feelings about whether or not Hollywood can do that.

Yes they eat the baby but that is supposed to represent how people treat what Mother Earth gives us.

I walked away from that movie feeling some type of way. It had me in an existential crisis for hours lol

I thought the

Eating of the baby meant communion.
 

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Everyone wants original filmmaking, and everyone celebrates Netflix when they tell a story no one else wants to tell.
200.gif


*Boo-hoo! How come Netflix can do it but we can't*
 

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I smelled flop when I saw Javier and Michelle P. No offense, but when was the last time they had a BO hit?
 

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I'd like to see this, but not by myself lol. Jenn Lawrence is not fazed by the reaction, heard her saying in an interview on the red carpet that she knows the film is not for everyone and you either love it or hate it.
 

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From the stuff y'all saying in this thread, it does sound like rip off of Rosemary's Baby...and that is lazy. I also read it's supposed to be an allegory on climate change.

I'll wait till this shows up on Netflix, cause it will despite what the Paramount president thinks. Netflix has nothing but bad, try-hard b-movie horror films to choose from.
 
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Paramount is standing by its mother!

Darren Aronofsky’s trippy thriller bowed this weekend to an anemic $7.5 million at the box office and a rare F CinemaScore from audiences. Even with a marquee star like Jennifer Lawrence, that debut doesn’t suggest good news for the mother! box office prospects. Still, the film’s distributor, Paramount, is championing Aronofsky’s creative accomplishments.

“This movie is very audacious and brave,” Paramount worldwide president of marketing and distribution Megan Colligan told The Hollywood Reporter. “You are talking about a director at the top of his game, and an actress at the top her game. They made a movie that was intended to be bold. Everyone wants original filmmaking, and everyone celebrates Netflix when they tell a story no one else wants to tell. This is our version. We don’t want all movies to be safe. And it’s okay if some people don’t like it.”

Despite the dismal audience reaction, critics have been more split on mother!, which has earned a 69 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as the titular character, whose idyllic life with husband Javier Bardem is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious couple (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer). From there, well… things get a bit unhinged.

“Anytime you do something that aggressive there are going to be people who enjoy it, who want to be on that roller coaster ride, and then there are others who say, ‘Oh no, that was not for me,'” Aronofsky told EW last week. “It’s a strange one. You see Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer and people are conditioned for a certain type of movie. And… we didn’t do that type of movie.”

'mother!' Studio Defends Jennifer Lawrence Movie After Audience Revolt

why is she getting whole studios to come to her defense??
SPOILER ALERT

I read a spoiler on it and apparently it's suppose to be an allegory for the Bible (ie. Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, the Devil) and Jennifer's character is suppose to be Mother Nature. The movie shows how people desecrate mother nature and destroy the things she creates...I.e. people in the movie eating a baby. She is also super anal about people messing with her belongs. To get the 'nature' aspect across, anytime people in the film would remove or break things in her house, should would react as if they broke her too. IDK - sounds interesting. I will probably check it out. I think in this case, it is better for people to read about it prior to going into the theater.
 

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Sounds like they're defending themselves for having a major hand at mother!'s failure. They shouldn't have released it the way that they did and they should've let it "cook" at festivals instead of just pushing for a wide release. I fµcked with the initial marketing (Wonder Woman and mother! were the only films I've eagerly anticipated this year), but my anticipation quickly dissipated with some of Lawrence's interviews and Aronofsky passing out a letter to critics before a few screenings about what the movie was about (because he thought they wouldn't ~understand~). Just rubbed me the wrong way.

I was actually MORE interested when I learned about the allegories, but I didn't care for the execution.

I have to say, I actually respect Paramount for taking a huge risk on a movie like this...but it's clear they didn't know what to do with it.
 

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Sounds like they're defending themselves for having a major hand at mother!'s failure. They shouldn't have released it the way that they did and they should've let it "cook" at festivals instead of just pushing for a wide release. I fµcked with the initial marketing (Wonder Woman and mother! were the only films I've eagerly anticipated this year), but my anticipation quickly dissipated with some of Lawrence's interviews and Aronofsky passing out a letter to critics before a few screenings about what the movie was about (because he thought they wouldn't ~understand~). Just rubbed me the wrong way.

I was actually MORE interested when I learned about the allegories, but I didn't care for the execution.

I have to say, I actually respect Paramount for taking a huge risk on a movie like this...but it's clear they didn't know what to do with it.

Yep paramount is the reason the movie failed. It should have made the art house circuit at all the different festivals Cannes, Sundance.. Then it should have had a small release which would have gradually gotten bigger with more interest. It was never meant to open like an actual horror movie (because it wasn't)
 

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Had they not spent 25 million on the budget and moved the release date out a few weeks, the film would have been fine.
I think that's the main problem right there.

I mean, soooo many use such a HUGE budget to make a film these days, to the point where if the movie isn't a "blockbuster", they feel like the movie is a "flop" or isn't successful anymore. Smh...

Whatever happened to just making a movie just because? Just because of the creative aspect? Why does EVERY movie coming out have to be at the "top" opening weekend?? :confused:

Whatever happened to films just being about the ART and not about the money and how much money it's going to make?

Here's an idea...STOP using an exorbitant amount of money to make a movie, stop paying some of these actors exorbitant salaries, and just make a GOOD film, and then if the movie makes bank...GREAT! But if it doesn't, you don't have to feel like you're in the hole, or that you have to defend your film. :eek: Some of the best movies made to date are ones that did not have a big budget at all. Look even at the Blair Witch Project film that was done on a shoe-string budget by film students and made bank at the box office! Just shows that if a film is well done, it doesn't matter how much money you used to make it. Audience members will enjoy it.

GOSH I miss the days of "old Hollywood" (even though I wasn't alive back then lol) when films were just made to tell GOOD stories, and weren't so fixated on making bank at the box office. I mean goodness...they already charge us like $12+ dollars at the movie theater for a freakin' ticket these days... Geez...how much more money do they need??
 

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Saw the movie last night, loved it. I got the allegories and everything in the last 30 minutes of the film. The problem really was that the film is too highbrow for mainstream success imo

Major eye roll...honestly, there's a smart way to work in metaphors and allegories and this movie did NOT do that. No shade at you, but all of the critics who love it keep spouting this elitist, "well, smart people understand it" crap when in reality, it is just a garbage movie. You CAN have a movies that alludes to the Bible AND has a solid plot - this movie has more holes than a piece of moldy swiss cheese, and stinks just as bad.

Paramount has the defend it. Their marketing strategy is what lead to the F score and the roll out and last minuet promo was stupid.

Shouldn't have presented it as a horror movie for the general audience.

I mean WHY try and market it as a horror movie, then when it flops, try and pull that artsty bauhaus sh!t? They didn't know what the hell to do with that movie...it was marketed all wrong and they spent way too much on filming.

Only reason why I'm willing to see it.

Don't see it. Look up some pictures of him on the internets.
 

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Saw the movie last night, loved it. I got the allegories and everything in the last 30 minutes of the film. The problem really was that the film is too highbrow for mainstream success imo

I loved the movie too. I can see why it went over most people's heads though. Most people are not intelligent nor aware of their surroundings so they cannot make sense of what's happening in a movie that requires you to think and make comparisons.

I want to know how this film was torture pδrn and misogynistic disguising itself as feminist? I can tell the person or people who made such a claim did not see the movie. (Yes, I know which one minute these people are referring to out of the 200 minute film) :disdain. Once again, those were people who could not make a relation between the film and our world--Art imitating life.
 
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So American Assassin did better at the BO than Mother! eh?

And AA reported sucked except for Michael Keaton and my favorite Canadian in the film.
 

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I've been looking at reviews and it sounds extremely tasteless. Sounds like they tried too hard to be edgy and failed miserably
 

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Major eye roll...honestly, there's a smart way to work in metaphors and allegories and this movie did NOT do that. No shade at you, but all of the critics who love it keep spouting this elitist, "well, smart people understand it" crap when in reality, it is just a garbage movie. You CAN have a movies that alludes to the Bible AND has a solid plot - this movie has more holes than a piece of moldy swiss cheese, and stinks just as bad.

Major eye roll right back at you. It did do that. My friend and I got it around the last 30 minutes. If you honestly didn't get it in that time period then you just can't think. And that conclusion has nothing to do with my class. Im middle class, yes, but but friend is working class, no degrees and not even well read and he got it. How do you not see Christianity? It's one the top 3 religions in the world, the most known religion in the western world, and the story of Jesus is the most well known story in the entire world.

I didn't like the movie becuase of the plot, how can that be? The Bible is not a novel. It has no plot. So like the movie (based off the Bible) likewise has no plot. It's the creative way they tell the age old stories of the Bible with characters, pace, metaphors/symbolism, dialogue, scenery, lifting and other devices that make a film what it is.

You have your opinion and I have mine.
 

ThePRGirl

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Major eye roll right back at you. It did do that. My friend and I got it around the last 30 minutes. If you honestly didn't get it in that time period then you just can't think. And that conclusion has nothing to do with my class. Im middle class, yes, but but friend is working class, no degrees and not even well read and he got it. How do you not see Christianity? It's one the top 3 religions in the world, the most known religion in the western world, and the story of Jesus is the most well known story in the entire world.

I didn't like the movie becuase of the plot, how can that be? The Bible is not a novel. It has no plot. So like the movie (based off the Bible) likewise has no plot. It's the creative way they tell the age old stories of the Bible with characters, pace, metaphors/symbolism, dialogue, scenery, lifting and other devices that make a film what it is.

You have your opinion and I have mine.

The Bible doesn't need a plot....a multi-million dollar movie DOES. And you didn't find it weird that you only got the gist in the last 30 minutes of the movie...? Of course I saw Christianity, and mother nature and human frailty and greed and idol worship...what I did NOT see is a coherent plot or direction.

And what does "highbrow" mean exactly, if not alluding to class...?

Yes, we have differing opinions, clearly.
 

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The Bible doesn't need a plot....a multi-million dollar movie DOES. And you didn't find it weird that you only got the gist in the last 30 minutes of the movie...? Of course I saw Christianity, and mother nature and human frailty and greed and idol worship...what I did NOT see is a coherent plot or direction.

And what does "highbrow" mean exactly, if not alluding to class...?

Yes, we have differing opinions, clearly.

Movie don't needs plot. Says who? That's just your conditioning.

No, I didn't find it weird that it took me the last 30 minutes because many times the creator wanted it that way. In fact I loved how I got it at the end. It was like solving a puzzle.

High brow means that you have to actually think. It's not something that is feed to you. You have to really listen and watch and think as the information is coming to you in real time. Nothing to do with class. Nothing. It's thinking on a higher plane. It's means intellectual.

Just becuase you don't like the story telling doesn't mean it was a bad story. It was just different and too highbrow for your taste.

That's all.
 

ThePRGirl

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Movie don't needs plot. Says who? That's just your conditioning.

No, I didn't find it weird that it took me the last 30 minutes because many times the creator wanted it that way. In fact I loved how I got it at the end. It was like solving a puzzle.

High brow means that you have to actually think. It's not something that is feed to you. You have to really listen and watch and think as the information is coming to you in real time. Nothing to do with class. Nothing. It's thinking on a higher plane. It's means intellectual.

Just becuase you don't like the story telling doesn't mean it was a bad story. It was just different and too highbrow for your taste.

That's all.

"Too highbrow for my taste?" Ok sis, you and a handful of critics are the only folks who cared about this movie. It's a massive flop and half the staff at Paramount are confused as to the marketing behind this.

I'll let you be great, though.
 

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