9/11 film makes number two in US

[busybeeburns]

United 93, the first Hollywood film to deal with the terrorist attacks of 11 September, was the second most popular movie in the US on its opening weekend. It generated ticket sales of $11.6m (£6.4m) across the country, having received its premiere last week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

 

The film dramatises events on a flight which crashed when passengers fought back against hijackers.

 

It was beaten to number one by Robin Williams' new comedy, RV.

 

Williams plays the beleaguered head of a family making a cross-country trip in a recreational vehicle which has plumbing problems.

 

RV earned $16.4m (£9m) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while the teen gymnastics drama Stick It made number three, with takings of $11.3m (£6.2m).

 

United 93's sensitive subject matter had made it difficult to forecast how it would fare in US cinemas.

 

Some audiences watching trailers for the film had expressed concern that it was too soon to release a drama about the events of 2001.

 

However, Nikki Rocco, the president of domestic theatrical distribution at Universal, said: "I think Americans have spoken loud and clear, that they were ready for a film like this."

 

She added the studio had not made any predictions about its box office performance because it "wasn't the first and foremost aspect of producing the film".

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4961848.stm

[berrywoman]

goes to show you... not all Americans are as hard up on the 'terror' as some of us may want the world to think... we'd rather laugh with Robin Williams than dwell on the border situation...

[GazeboflossUK]

The films version of the terrible events is disgusting, from what I have read.

 

Also, the official message board for the film have been deleting posts which mention the obvious white-wash that is Flight 93...

 

Have a read of this for more info Universal's Flight 93 'Hijacked' By Truth Seekers

[Egghead]

Only 11m. Wow

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Americans dont wanna see what happened on a movie. it was sad enough having to go through it a few years ago we dont wanna relive it.

[berrywoman]

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... but we need to be constantly reminded of the 'fear of terrorists' entering our country everyday... and reminded of how much 'the evil doers' are out to get us...

 

 

we're told to "never forget" all the time... how can you not?

[Matter-Eater Lad]

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... but we need to be constantly reminded of the 'fear of terrorists' entering our country everyday... and reminded of how much 'the evil doers' are out to get us...

 

 

we're told to "never forget" all the time... how can you not?

 

Well there are evil doer's out there to get us.....and the threat is real and we cannot go back to the pre-911 thought of mind ignoring the threat and pretending it does exist. its called being awar of danger. we need to remember there are enemies out there. because if we dont we'll just go back to the way things were and ignore it.

[wawie_shizuka]

what do Jonny think about it..??/hmm... i wonder...

he probably have the most famous birth date ever...hahaha

[berrywoman]

Well there are evil doer's out there to get us.....and the threat is real and we cannot go back to the pre-911 thought of mind ignoring the threat and pretending it does exist. its called being awar of danger. we need to remember there are enemies out there. because if we dont we'll just go back to the way things were and ignore it.

 

 

oh trust me.. I will never forget what happened.. remember I was here first hand... but this movie was made to do just that... instill fear for those who have since moved on and tried to live some sort of normalcy since then..

 

its all propaganda...

[clockpolitiks]

I saw it, and it was good. It actually wasnt as disturbing as I thought it was gonna be. I wasnt really "disgusted" at any point. The camera's used to film the more brutal scenes were so shaky, I could barely tell what was going on.

[GazeboflossUK]

oh trust me.. I will never forget what happened.. remember I was here first hand... but this movie was made to do just that... instill fear for those who have since moved on and tried to live some sort of normalcy since then..

 

its all propaganda...

 

 

Yep, your right.

 

And also a good spot on those people who said 'America doesn't want to see it in a film'. It's blatently made to make Americans want to see it and fall victim to the 'fable'.

BUSH and the whole death/war gang use the 9/11 story whenever need it.

[berrywoman]

I have to admit..

 

 

during the anniversaries of 9/11.. the week before, there are always specials and docu's on tv about 9/11.. or the WTC and how they were built.. etc.. and as much as I tell myself not to watch.. I continue to watch.. like I am almost drawn to it. Does it reinstill fear in my mind.. no. Not like back then... but it does make me sad and angry.. I guess in some small way their propaganda worked.. :(

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Their propaganda? it wasnt the goverments. but its sad when people try to remember the poor victims of the terrorsit attacks and you see it as propaganda. truly sad. it was not propaganda, it was remembering and honoring those who died. but i guess thats just propaganda, guess everything that has to do with 911 is propaganda.

 

Fall victin to the fable GazeboflossUK? like i said most americans do not by your fable about 911

[berrywoman]

I may have lost family on 9/11, or friends.. you dont now that.

 

 

As for it being propaganda.. it is too. Because someone is making millions off of this flim.. while the families only get 10%.. even they should exploited.

 

Its movies like this that instill fear in the minds of people who lived it first hand and for those who may have seen it on TV.. can you honestly tell me that when you see a picture of that airlner streamlining towards the WTC, that the hairs on the back of your neck don't stand on end???

 

No matter how many times I see those images... it does it to me everytime. Thats called propaganda.. images and stories made to make you feel a certain way to influence they way you think..... some people fall for it.. some people don't.

 

You have fallen prey to the propaganda of sealing off the borders because it will keep terrorists out.. how stupid is that?! We have terrorist living right inside... legally!!

 

You sound like a broken record.. I think you're Albie in disguise... :uhoh:

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Its not about fear its about honoring and remembering the victims.

 

Yeah how stupid is it for a goverment to control their damn borders and regulate the amount of immagrants come in....yeah very stupid. not to mention when we are in under threat still and we have lots of open borders for people walk in. but i guess in your mind there is no threat, no danger, we wont be attacked again?? people get mad a presidents for not doing enough to stop things like 911, yet people like you get mad when they try to prevent another one. its kinda sad and pathetic.

 

Ha you're saying teh exact same thing over and over too....so i guess we both sound like albie......

[berrywoman]

:lol:

 

 

it doesn't matter how many fences or walls you put up... we are definitely going to be attacked again... perhaps even bigger than Sept. 11th... no one can ensure our safety.

 

Honoring victims? Bollocks... you wanna honor the victims.. let them rest in peace.. give them a proper memorial where the families can go visit and not have to worry about 'red tape'.. how is a movie honoring these victims?? The only thing its honoring is the pockets of Universal executives.....

[Matter-Eater Lad]

:lol:

 

 

it doesn't matter how many fences or walls you put up... we are definitely going to be attacked again... perhaps even bigger than Sept. 11th... no one can ensure our safety.

 

Honoring victims? Bollocks... you wanna honor the victims.. let them rest in peace.. give them a proper memorial where the families can go visit and not have to worry about 'red tape'.. how is a movie honoring these victims?? The only thing its honoring is the pockets of Universal executives.....

 

So we should just give up trying to stop the attacks then? yes we will be attacked again, but we can prevent some of them from happening. not to mention the illegal immagration isnt just about that, but its not wise or smart to have millions of illegals in a country. It is beyond stupid for our goverment not to stop illegals. our goverment has a right and a duty to control its borders.

[berrywoman]

illegal immigration needs to be regulated.. yes. But not to the extent of criminalization for those aiding these families back in their native countries... the bill is ridiculous.. but thats neither here nor there...

 

 

you still have yet to tell me how this film or the upcoming "World Trade Center" (with Nicolas Cage) honors victims........

[GazeboflossUK]

You (or me) are going to suffer again at the hands of the government...in some way or another.....

[an_cat]

I'd just like to write up the Rolling Stone review of the film. I was impressed by how well it articulated how I feel in regards to the film.

 

Doesn't seem to matter that United 93, written and directed with bruising brilliance and healing compassion by Paul Greengrass, is a monumental achievement that stands above any film this year. According to the polls, audiences intend to shun it. It's too soon, we're told, for a movie to take on 9/11. It's too speculative to watch a re-enactment of what might have happened that morning on United Airlines Flight 93 -- departing Newark for San Francisco -- when thirty-three passengers and seven crew members rose up against the four knife-wielding hijackers who killed the pilots and took control of the plane. It's too hard to watch brave people lose their lives as they force the plane to miss its presumed target in D.C. and crash into a Pennsylvania field. To which I ask: Are American audiences always to be coddled by fantasy? Is harsh reality forever out of bounds at the multiplex?

 

If so, we're in a sorry state, doomed to commercial choices -- is it Mi3 or Poseidon? -- and a world where ambition falls victim to a risk-adverse box office. None of that for Greengrass, a British director with a background in documentaries. His Bloody Sunday, in 2002, re-created and stayed true to the 1972 massacre involving British soldiers and Irish peace marchers in Northern Ireland. In 2004's The Bourne Supremacy, he built suspense in a mainstream action film without compromising political urgency. Greengrass refused to make United 93 without the support of the families of the passengers and crew. They could not have found a better champion.

 

There's not an ounce of Hollywood bull in this movie's 111 minutes. To achieve authenticity, Greengrass used little-known actors and recruited aviation and military personnel to play themselves, most notably Ben Sliney, who marked September 11th as his first day on the job as chief of air traffic control at the Federal Aviation Administration's command center in Virginia. Images that repetition has burned into our consciousness -- two planes crashing into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon -- flash by as they did on that day, leaving the world in shock and the government unprepared to act.

 

It's then that Greengrass takes us into the fourth hijacked plane, as passengers on cells or plane phones learn of the attacks. Using hand-held cameras and shooting in real time, he captures the staggering horror of that ninety-one-minute flight and how courage emerged from chaos. Some families were worried that the film would focus on the quartet of ex-athletes -- Todd Beamer (David Alan Basche), Mark Bingham (Cheyenne Jackson), Tom Burnett (Christian Clemenson) and Jeremy Glick (Peter Hermann) -- who made calls to loved ones and reported the plan to go down fighting. But Greengrass' gaze takes in everything. Beamer's famous "Let's roll" comment is delivered off-the-cuff, not like a battle cry in a bogus action flick. We will never know whether the passengers actually breached the cockpit. What matters to Greengrass is their collective intent. At the end, he imagines a sea of arms reaching into that cockpit in a way that redefines heroism. Far from being exploitive, the effect is inspiring: This is the best of us.

 

 

It happened. I think that 9/11 SHOULD be remembered. It is an absolute insult to those who died that day to "forget" about it because of our "pain". Don't think my use of quotation marks around those words are to be taken as flippant, as I'm trying not to be that way.

 

 

I plan on seeing the film. Only when I see it will I make a judgement on it. And honestly, I don't think we're in any position to say if this does justice to the victims, only their loved ones can speak towards that. Only they can tell us if it's the way they'd want themselves to be remembered. It may or may not be government propoganda, but really... who cares? I'm intelligent enough to see something and develope my OWN thoughts on it. Not what a govt. official is shoving down my throat. Aren't we all? I don't watch Fox News for that reason, because I have come to the conclusion after trusting it's coverage for so long that I'm not getting the truth that way. That's not to say I didn't give it a shot. If I go to see this film and I end up finding it in some way offensive to how I'D want to be remembered, then I'll probably pass it off as a cheap flick used to make money off of death.

 

 

In regards to that, what I think the only evil here might be is the fact that they are charging money to see this. I mean, ok ok, I understand that it's been made by a major film company and there's prices needed to be paid... But I'd have liked this to be a TV show, something free. It would have validated it more to me....