The Call: Looks Like WWE Films MIGHT Have Its First Hit

[Jack-Hammer]

If I had to name my biggest complaint in WWE right now, it's how they're using precious airtime during Raw & SmackDown! during WrestleMania season to hock Dead Man Down & The Call. I understand why WWE is doing it, I do. But it doesn't make it any less irritating that the films have gotten more hype during WrestleMania season than WWE's mid-card championships.

While I haven't seen Dead Man Down, the WWE has spent so much time hyping it despite the fact that Wade Barrett doesn't even have a speaking role. It just seems like such a wasted amount of time & energy trying to make it seem that Barrett is the star of the film. Although, he probably couldn't be any worse of a top draw than Colin Farrell since most of his movies are utter flops financially.

David Otunga has a role in The Call, the latest flick from WWE films, but it hasn't gotten any mention. It's been more tolerable, at least to me, as WWE hasn't tried to work the movie into any sort of angles or matches. All the hype has been focused on Halle Berry, all around sex goddess and Academy Award winner.

Unfortunately, but hopefully not, we might see WWE focusing a lot more attention on The Call as it's exceeding box office expectations. The movie opened yesterday with $6.2 million and analysts predict a first weekend total of somewhere between $13 and $16 million, possibly more given its opening day results. So, no matter what, it looks as though WWE Films has gotten its first solidified box office hit. The movie isn't going to break any records but if it ultimately grosses at least double its budget, it'll be considered a huge success.

While I can't say that I'm overly interested in WWE making movies, at least they've finally made one that hasn't been completely panned by critics and is going to turn a profit.

 

[MrHashasheen]

WWE Films just needs to follow the Dead Man Down/The Call formula of buying up scripts and producing the movies/buying the movies ready-made and just distributing them. Least amount of risk and time spent for them, and most returns possible. I'm pretty sure The Call was something they picked up from a Canadian film festival.

 

[scomvp316]

Before people go and give WWE alot of credit here are the facts:
-WWE didn't produce this film
-WWE was just a consultant in a minor capacity
-Reasoning of the WWE logo in the trailers of this film is because WWE will be handling most of the distribution end for DVD/Blu-Ray

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Meh. It's not as bad as WWE's other efforts into the mainstream or straight-to-video market, but at the same time, I don't think it's anything to really brag about. It's still March, and I guess Halle Berry's name helped draw some more crowds, because they really pushed the former Oscar winner tagline in the promos. And whether I like it or not (not a big fan of Berry's overall career), Berry still has some name value left.

But yeah, WWE did have some weak competition this week. According to Box Office Mojo, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone bombed. I mean, it bombed really bad. I'm not too surprised, because the trailers weren't that convincing, and I watched the movie yesterday during a matinee showing. It was pretty fucking terrible. Spring Breakers and Upside Down don't count, because I'm 99% sure both films received a very limited release. IF WWE gave Oz The Great & Powerful a run for its money, then I would be more impressed. Or the Evil Dead remake in a few weeks. THAT'S something to brag about.

But knowing WWE, they won't shut the fuck about The Call's "success" on Raw, Smackdown, WWE.com, and other shows.

 

[justinsayne]

The problem with the way WWE pushes these films is that by the time the movie finally comes out you're either sick to death of hearing about the fucking thing or they have shoved so much of the movie down your throat that you feel like you've already seen every significant thing that takes place in the movie, leaving you with little reason or desire to actually go out & pay to see it.

Despite the fact that The Call may have made back what it cost to make I doubt it actually turned a profit, you have to take into consideration that all those TV spots & trailers you've seen for this movie over the past month or however long they've been running cost money, I'm willing to bet WWE spent $13 mil. alone just in advertisements & TV spots.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

Despite the fact that The Call may have made back what it cost to make I doubt it actually turned a profit, you have to take into consideration that all those TV spots & trailers you've seen for this movie over the past month or however long they've been running cost money, I'm willing to bet WWE spent $13 mil. alone just in advertisements & TV spots.

The common belief is that a movie has to make back 2.5 times its budget to be considered profitable. Like you said, advertising costs money (and is usually equal to the production budget), so a movie isn't profitable just because it made its budget back. But if you made your budget back in your first weekend, it's likely that the movie will be profitable at some point (at worst, when it hits the home video market).

 

[johnmountain]

I estimate 17 million for the weekend. This is huge. I totally thought WWE Studios would be another failed venture like the XFL. Guess it will be around for a lot longer.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought "The Scorpion King" was the most successful film that WWE had done. It made money and launched the Rock's film career (something WWE may regret now).

 

[closet_fan]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought "The Scorpion King" was the most successful film that WWE had done. It made money and launched the Rock's film career (something WWE may regret now).

It did make $165,333,180 worldwide on a $60 million budget, so it was definitely the most profitable.

These "Featuring" promos are rather annoying considering the wrestler has such a minute role, it's not even worth the fan's time to go if they want to see that wrestler.

They continually pumped That's What I Am as if Randy Orton was the featured star. But his role was so small, it wasn't worth an Orton fan wasting a ticket. Same with Dead Man Down.

I see why the WWE does it, but it's more or less false advertising.

 

[JJ15776]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought "The Scorpion King" was the most successful film that WWE had done. It made money and launched the Rock's film career (something WWE may regret now).

This is correct. The Run Down and Walking Tall were also much more successful than The Call has any hope of being, so it'd be more accurate to saying it might be their first hit that doesn't star The Rock.

These "Featuring" promos are rather annoying considering the wrestler has such a minute role, it's not even worth the fan's time to go if they want to see that wrestler.

They continually pumped That's What I Am as if Randy Orton was the featured star. But his role was so small, it wasn't worth an Orton fan wasting a ticket. Same with Dead Man Down.

I see why the WWE does it, but it's more or less false advertising.

Not at all. While it's true that they made it seem like Randy Orton was a star of That's What I Am(I had no idea until now that he wasn't), it's been the exact opposide with Dead Man Down. Wade Barrett keeps talking as if he's the star, but if you've noticed, that's just so faces (such as Sheamus) can make fun of him for his small role.

Either way, that's a pretty common advertising tactic. Happens all the time in movies and television.

 

[Miz_Mark]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought "The Scorpion King" was the most successful film that WWE had done. It made money and launched the Rock's film career (something WWE may regret now).

WWE was the co-producer for the Scorpion King, The Call is going to easily be the most successful film thus far with WWE as full producer.

 

[akathelaw]

From Box Office Mojo:

The Call took second place with an estimated $17.1 million. That's way above 2007 Halle Berry thriller Perfect Stranger ($11.2 million), and also higher than similar titles Untraceable ($11.4 million) and Lakeview Terrace ($15 million). It was a bit off from Berry's 2003 thriller Gothika ($19.3 million), though that had a more intense marketing effort and came at the peak of Berry's popularity.

To me, they did a lot of things right. The advertising conveyed the story in about 5 seconds, so people can already decide if it's a cool story or not. Halle Berry is a really big star that people like, and does a really good job promoting movies on the late night circuit. To regular people, this was a new Halle Berry movie with an exciting thriller plot. It's not all that hard to make an appealing movie when you play to an actor's strengths and what their audience expects of them. It's a lot like pushing a wrestler in a way.

 

[enviousdominous]

Dead Man Down was one of the most unintentionally hilarious movies I've ever seen. I laughed my ass off during almost every scene, it's what would happen if The Kids in The Hall produced a parody of The Usual Suspects.

I expect a lot of The Call considering the *cough* acting ability of Halle Berry. I will see it and I will try not to laugh, no guarantee though.


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