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March of the Penguins Tops Box Offices
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."
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
...for a second there, I thought it was linux related ;).
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
Start a happiness pandemic
I am fascinated that a nature documentary is garnering this much attention. I'm not sure if it is saying something about the audience, or if it is saying something about the quality of this season's Hollywood crop.
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?
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
"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... ritual"
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.
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
This film evokes emotions that are hard to put into words.
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.
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...)
Pretty good. It makes you forget your problems as the hardships facing penguins just trying to raise their chicks makes your problems seem completely insignificant.
;-)
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.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
>>>The Penguins are a miraculous species, capable of extreme heroism, self-sacrifice, sorrow and unshakable love.
More importantly, how do they taste? Fried, baked, or stewed? Anyone?
Oooh! There's a penguin on the television!
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
...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..."
I'm not sure "Bowling for Columbine" was simply "anti-gun". I seem to remember that it went a little deeper than that. If I remember correctly the movie asked why the per capita gun-related murders in the U.S. were higher than Canada even though the per-capita gun ownership was lower.
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.
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.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this or not (/me is lazy), but if you liked this film, you might wanna also check out Winged Migration, by Jacques Perrin. It's good on details, and incredibly beautiful. If you suffer a bit from add (/me again), you'll like it cause it's split into regions of the world, so you can take it bit by bit, if you don't think you can stand 2 hours straight of birds flying...
No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.
The footage in this movie is incredible, no doubt. However, I think one valid concern that has been raised about it is its tendency for anthropomorphization of the penguins. The narration often ascribes various human emotions and motivations to the footage that is shown, and realistically, this probably isn't accurate and probably leaves a lot of audiences with the wrong impression. It's certainly understandable why this was done (if nothing else, penguins especially are prone to anthropomorphization anyway), but when this does come out on DVD, I think it might be nice to be able to just watch the footage and turn off the narration.
Thirteen months of EXTREME CUTENESS!!! Oh my god! Mother of Hello Kitty in a hand basket! belly sliding, wing flapping, fuzzy little baby penguin extreme cuteness as far as the eye can see! And the waddling!! Oh! the waddling!!!
[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..
Because, despite appearence to the contrary, the /. editors *do* have a sense of humor.
I don't know about you, but I think that when I look back on my life many years later, I'll consider it much more important to have spent time watching something emotive and novel than consuming political propaganda. The films I've seen, the art and music I've enjoyed, and the places I've explored either in person or by proxy will be very much valued, when all is said and done. I can't say the same for Fahrenheit 9/11, for example. Perhaps it is important for the number of people it reached for whom its ideas were new, I'll grant that. But to the informed and interested viewer, it was little more than a rehash of world events through the prism of Moore's crazed psyche. I mean, seriously, the argument that seeing one man's inherently biased and un-countered rant rendered on film is prerequisite to making important choices is total bullshit, assuming you bother to read once in a while. Yes, I'm being a bit overzealous with the critique of Fahrenheit, but I can't see how anything like it can be considered truly enlightening and significant on a personly level.
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.)
You're right. Most documentaries document reality.
--Matthew
"If the lights of Broadway blind me, I won't mind..."
You obviously have never studied any film theory, for if you had, you would have realized that documentaries are not objective. Not one bit. Sure, some might have strive for balance, but at the end of the day, documentaries are arguments using both moving images and narration to back up their "truths". Some, like Moore's documentaries, are very obvious about it. Others, like this Penguin one, are subtle. But at the end of the day, both are making arguments.
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.
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.
nuke the moon