Ok, here’s a little skill testing question. What 3 thing did The Condemned, The Marine and See No Evil have in common? Think about it for a second. Ready? Well, if you said:
1) They’re all WWE Films movies
2) They’re all rated “R”
3) They all sucked beyond the ability of all suckage rating devices ability to measure
then you’d be correct! Well done! 3 beautiful hot bikini models with low moral values are on their way over to your house as you read this.
Now, I’ll be there first person to tell you that there is certainly a place in the world of film for low brow, yet fun, brainless action flicks. They have their place. That’s why I was moderately looking forward to Stone Cold Steve Austin’s “The Condemned”. I mean come on… you can’t possibly screw up an island prison fight to the death movie! Oh wait… apparently you CAN screw it up.
So does the WWE acknowledge that they’ve been making horrible movies and that’s why the box office hasn’t been doing so well for them? NOPE! According to the WWE, the fault lies with the “R” rating. The folks at Variety give us this:
WWE says the problem was that it focused on making movies that went after a hard R rating — violent horror or action pics that would appeal to the males that make up much of the company’s fanbase.
But then Stamford, Conn. execs started paying attention to the types of people who fill arenas to watch its events or tune in to its shows like USA’s “Monday Night Raw” and “Smackdown” (which recently moved from the CW to MyNetworkTV) — kids, women and families. Its target may be 18- to 24- year-old males, but the core aud is actually a broader 12-24 age range, with the rest made up of families. Women make up 30% of its viewership. Because of that, WWE will now focus on a slate of PG-13 pics that could include broad comedies.
I’m sorry… did they just say they’re also going to make COMEDIES?!?! I think I just threw up a little.
Look, the WWE is positioned to make decent brainless action movies. They have a built in audience, they havea roster filled with brainless action stars already working for them (great acting ability isn’t exactly a requirement for films like the ones they make)… they just need to stick to the basics, make it simple, make it stupid fun, and don’t bother trying to be more clever than you actually are. If they did that, they could make a decent little business model. But to do that they’ve got to bring in people who know what they’re doing, make better films, and realize no one saw their crappy little movies because they sucked, not because they were rated “R”
