Stephen,
In your message suggesting we may be looking at further erosion of the stock price, you said, "But a brief read of the plot does not instill great confidence. My assumption is that it gives new meaning to the term "B" grade movie. Perhaps it is "B" grade with downward aspirations." I am in agreement with Zookeeper on this one. In the CNNfn interview, Golan said that "Speedway Junky" was a teenage film. If you don't care for the plot, that's probably a good sign. The relevant question is, does your 16-year-old neighbor like it?
What does the plot offer? Coming of age, love, Las Vegas, and auto racing. "Speedway" has something for male and female, and I suspect will appeal to the international audience. I do believe that Golan and Globus have their fingers on the pulse of the public. Las Vegas has played a part in many flicks recently, and I don't know where you are from, but NASCAR is huge in the south. On Monday, everybody discusses who won the race on Sunday.
I can give no other documentation for the following except to say I heard it on the radio. "Seinfeld"-the TV show about nothing--gets very little play in Europe even though it's been huge in the U.S. for years. Why? Europeans don't get the jokes about nothing. So what is the most popular American TV show in Germany? (This is gonna kill you!) "Hogan's Heroes". Seriously.
Cannon Pictures (Golan and Globus' previous company) at one time owned the largest chain of cinemas in Europe. I believe they have a sense of what kind of American movies have international appeal. And obviously, they are focusing on the international market.
Will "Speedway" have a huge theatrical run? Possibly not in the U.S., but who knows? I can see that it may be very strong on video. Renting videos has become one of the low, low cost forms of entertainment. I would guess that there is a very large video-renting audience out there for an auto racing movie.
My opinions (mostly). Regards, Suzanne
|
