The Northman

[MagnarTheGreat]

Just saw some low box office projections for this film. Any reason why? I was hoping it would do well as I want more films like this to get made.

-R rated & adult skewing
-super dark and violent
-setting & time period (set over a thousand years ago)
-'original' / no brand recognition / obscure IP (well the tale of Amleth is pretty obscure in the U.S. anyway)

All things going against it.

Movie theaters are increasingly just amusement parks that parents bring their kids to to make them shut up for a couple of hours. Kids and teens dominate what is a shrinking slice of the pie, even more so two years into COVID19.

 

[Boom]

Hopefully it finds a niche audience once it lands on a streaming service.

 

[Iceman]

A) It's a super dark, super violent film. And while I've heard it's Eggers' most accessible film yet, I suspect it'll still maintain just enough weirdness to put casual audiences off.
B) People complain about a lack of originality in Hollywood and then don't show up for original films. Go figure that one.

Thanks for that. Somehow knowledge of this film passed me by until very recently. And yes I have had this discussion with friends who complain about lack of originality all the time and then don’t support new films. They see I watch a lot of sequels and franchises like CBMs but I still see more original stuff than them lol.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Seeing this today! So damn excited.

 

[Deck Rickard]

How original is this ? This is basically The Lion King but dressed as a Viking movie. Brother betrays brother & kills the King & takes his place. Prince runs away grows up & at the end of the movie goes home & avengges dad

Seriously! Disney should sue Eggers and then Shakespeare for ripping them off.

 

[Iceman]

It is a bit strange that there isn’t more buzz around this movie. I mean, I would think Norse mythology is pretty profitable right now, with shows like Vikings and The Last Kingdom and video games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Skyrim being so popular. And the reviews of this have been great. But I guess people only like to consume Viking-inspired material at home on TV, lol? I’m not sure why more people aren’t excited for this. The first trailer was clearly designed to have mainstream appeal and eschewed most of the weirdness of Eggers’ other works.

There does seem to be something strange as this is my kind of thing and there’s absolutely no way I’d even have heard of it without the Hype.

 

[Iceman]

-R rated & adult skewing
-super dark and violent
-setting & time period (set over a thousand years ago)
-'original' / no brand recognition / obscure IP (well the tale of Amleth is pretty obscure in the U.S. anyway)

All things going against it.

Movie theaters are increasingly just amusement parks that parents bring their kids to to make them shut up for a couple of hours. Kids and teens dominate what is a shrinking slice of the pie, even more so two years into COVID19.

Appreciate all the good answers.

 

[TheVileOne]

How original is this ? This is basically The Lion King but dressed as a Viking movie. Brother betrays brother & kills the King & takes his place. Prince runs away grows up & at the end of the movie goes home & avengges dad

This is somewhat based on the Norse Legend that inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet. So it's kind of like a Norse, Viking Hamlet more than Lion King.

 

[Deck Rickard]

There does seem to be something strange as this is my kind of thing and there’s absolutely no way I’d even have heard of it without the Hype.

Yeah. I guess A24 just hasn’t done a good job of promoting it? Which is strange because if there was ever a movie of theirs that might have mainstream appeal (I think; I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen it yet), it’s this one. The story is obviously the basis for several classics. And violence doesn’t turn people off the way it used to.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah. I guess A24 just hasn’t done a good job of promoting it? Which is strange because if there was ever a movie of theirs that might have mainstream appeal (I think; I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen it yet), it’s this one. The story is obviously the basis for several classics. And violence doesn’t turn people off the way it used to.

I think this one is Focus Features, right?

It's a tough marketplace right now for R-rated, adult fare in theaters.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think this one is Focus Features, right?

It's a tough marketplace right now for R-rated, adult fare in theaters.

Oh whoops, you’re right. I guess I just assumed it was A24 because Eggers’ last film was with them.

 

[Boom]

How original is this ? This is basically The Lion King but dressed as a Viking movie. Brother betrays brother & kills the King & takes his place. Prince runs away grows up & at the end of the movie goes home & avengges dad

The Lion King > Hamlet > Amleth (which is what this movie is based on).

As far as I'm aware it is the first film adaptation of the original Amleth story. So while it shares similar story beats as those movies cited, it is technically an original film. Well, "original" in the sense that it is not being made from an existing IP. But I suppose technically it is an adaptation given it's based on pre-existing source text.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah. I guess A24 just hasn’t done a good job of promoting it? Which is strange because if there was ever a movie of theirs that might have mainstream appeal (I think; I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen it yet), it’s this one. The story is obviously the basis for several classics. And violence doesn’t turn people off the way it used to.

A24 are the studio that made this? (hadn't heard of them) Shame if it didn't get enough of a marketing budget, but as @Boom mentioned above, hopefully it performs well on streaming. I think it will with many not having already seen it, and it will look good in snippets compared to much of what we get on the average streaming service. I would expect most of my non-geek friends in their 40s to not watch something like this in cinema (they pretty much only go to the cinema for social reasons) but be quite up for it on a Netflix or Amazon Prime.

 

[Boom]

A24 doesn't have anything to do with this movie.

 

[Deck Rickard]

A24 are the studio that made this? (hadn't heard of them) Shame if it didn't get enough of a marketing budget, but as @Boom mentioned above, hopefully it performs well on streaming. I think it will with many not having already seen it, and it will look good in snippets compared to much of what we get on the average streaming service. I would expect most of my non-geek friends in their 40s to not watch something like this in cinema (they pretty much only go to the cinema for social reasons) but be quite up for it on a Netflix or Amazon Prime.

No, I was wrong. It was Focus Features.

 

[Kane52630]

And Focus Features doesn't really do big blockbusters.

 

[moviedoors]

A) It's a super dark, super violent film. And while I've heard it's Eggers' most accessible film yet, I suspect it'll still maintain just enough weirdness to put casual audiences off.

It's not as weird as THE LIGHTHOUSE, but this is still a weird movie with full-of hallucinations and literalized myths. And in addition to being super dark and super violent, it doesn't sugar coat the Vikings in any way. Our protagonist is established early on as a brutal, savage person and Eggers present him as such without excuses. He doesn't have a hidden heart of gold. It's also nearly as humorless as THE WITCH.

I don't think it's going to be super accessible.

 

[moviedoors]

How original is this ? This is basically The Lion King but dressed as a Viking movie. Brother betrays brother & kills the King & takes his place. Prince runs away grows up & at the end of the movie goes home & avengges dad

This is the basic plot of essentially all revenge movies (insert slain father/mother/lover/brother/son/daughter/etcetcetc), but these are very broad strokes you're judging this movie by. There are whole worlds of genres and tones within those basic story beats to fuel decades and decades worth of distinct, personal, original films.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

There were a few joke/amusement scenes

Spoiler

such as the court jester and the guy with sword that was stuck

but yeah the protagonist might turn some people off. I was able to disconnect from him and still enjoy the movie but if you can only tolerate or handle a pure and virtuous hero you'll probably have a problem there. I think to a certain extent with all period-based entertainment (even moreso with adult than children's) you can't just transplant all the values of your society (or your idealized society that doesn't exist yet) in 2022 with into whatever it is you're making or viewing so a level of disconnection - and being okay with that - is necessary.

 

[Kane52630]

Yeah I heard from Double Toasted that it's a Viking movie that doesn't sugar coat any characters even the main character. He's a straight up Viking that do things that Vikings do.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

 

[Black Narcissus]

Film of the year for me.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Eggers is three for three now as far as I'm concerned because boy did, he knock this one out of the park but seeing his previous films it's really not all that surprising.

It's easily his most mainstream film yet and I honestly don't see why general audiences would hate it considering unlike The Green Knight its very straight forward and moves at a great pace.

I guess if people go in expecting the next Gladiator or Braveheart, they'll be disappointed, but I never found it boring or slow and there's actually more action in it than I was expecting as well.

Skarsgard is an absolute feral, beast here and his performance and physicality in this completely made up for his blandness in that 2016 Tarzan movie which I kind of hated.

 

[Boom]

Film of the year for me.