Conference bookie::movies

367.0. "Robocop movies" by 24728::WOOD (Taz hate recession......) Tue Nov 02 1993 14:40

    
    
        Please use this note to discuss the Robocop movies.
        But why would we want to, you ask :*)
    
    
    
    
	
	LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- ``Robocop 3,'' a science-fiction sequel that has
been gathering dust for the past two years, could be the surprise hit of
the fall season.
	It also could be the last taste of glory for Orion Pictures, the
mini-major studio that set Hollywood on its ear repeatedly during the
1980s.
	``Robocop 3,'' due on Nov. 5 in about 1,600 theaters, was originally
slated for a summer release but was pulled by the struggling distributor
in hopes it would stand a better chance in a market not dominated by
must-see fare such as Universal's ``Jurassic Park'' and Warner Bros.' 
``The Fugitive.''
	``Robocop 3,'' starring Robert Burke, Nancy Allen and Rip Torn, has
been receiving by far the biggest push of any film released by Orion
since it emerged from bankruptcy over a year ago. Its other films -- 
``Love Field,'' ``Married to It,'' ``The Dark Half,'' ``Boxing Helena''
-- have flopped.
	Orion has been running a well-received trailer showing Robocop
getting out of a car asking, ``You called for back-up?'' It has also
taken the unusual step of making ``Robocop 3'' the first movie to use
the entire outer skin of buses in Los Angeles and New York to advertise
a film.
	It has also been staging appearances of Robocop at sporting and civic
events, including Seattle Mariners baseball, Los Angeles Kings hockey
and Boys and Girls Clubs, with a ``just say no'' anti-drug message.
	The studio also released the film in Japan before ``Jurassic Park''
and reported strong results in that market.
	``Robocop 3'' will be seeking a core audience of teenage boys and
young adult men with a taste for slam-bang action and a few humorous
touches here and there. That approach worked well for Warner's sci-fi
actioner, ``Demolition Man,'' which grossed $40 million in less than
three weeks and probably will wind up with about $60 million.
	At this point, many of the major new releases coming into market will
be adult-oriented fare, such as Paramount's ``Flesh and Bone;''
Columbia's ``Remains of the Day,'' starring Emma Thompson and Anthony
Hopkins; Warner's drama ``A Perfect World'' with Kevin Costner; and
Columbia's ``My Life,'' starring Michael Keaton and Nicole Kidman.
	The original ``Robocop'' in 1987 was a surprise success for Orion,
mixing impressive animation, humor, action and a strong story line about
an ultra-sophisticated cyborg.
	The sequel, released in 1989, was shunned by critics as ultra-
violent, but it still topped $40 million in domestic grosses. The
problem was Orion, expecting it to be a much bigger success, spent an
estimated $47 million on the movie -- a huge figure at the time.
	``We think we'll get a big audience beyond teenagers and young men
because the audiences that liked the first two movies are older now,''
said Susan Blodgett, an Orion marketing executive.
	The latest film is replete with special effects, such as the shape-
changing ``morphing'' that was popularized in TriStar's ``Terminator 2,''
and includes work by Phil Tippett, credited with some of the impressive
animated sequences in ``Jurassic Park.''
	The film has been ready for more than two years. Orion's financial
problems were so severe between 1989 and 1991 that it was unable to
avoid a move into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection despite releasing
major hits in ``Dances With Wolves'' and ``The Silence of Lambs,'' which
were back-to-back winners of the Academy Award for best picture.
	Orion announced in May it would push back the release date of 
``Robocop 3'' from July to November. ``We took a look at the summer
schedule and the tremendous potential of 'Robocop 3' and felt there was
a better opportunity later in the year,'' a spokeswoman said at the
time.
	Executives with Orion, which emerged last November from Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection with 10 films ready for release, had earlier said
the third installment of ``Robocop'' was a better film than the two
previous versions.
	``Robocop'' and ``Robocop 2'' grossed more than $350 million
worldwide, with the lion's share coming from the original. Earlier this
year, Orion licensed ``Robocop'' to Toronto-based Skyvision
Entertainment for a first-run syndicated television series.
	The company, which no longer produces movies, has a variety of other
properties still in the can: ``Clifford,'' a comedy starring Martin
Short and Charles Grodin, that was tentatively scheduled for August
before being pulled; and ``Car 54, Where Are You?,'' which was set for a
Labor Day release before it was also delayed.
	Orion was formed in 1982 by a group of United Artists executives and
was highly regarded within the industry for its willingness to give
directors a free hand. It released such hits as ``Platoon,'' ``Amadeus,''
``Bull Durham,'' ``Throw Mama From the Train'' and a number of Woody
Allen movies, including ``Hannah and Her Sisters,'' ``Crimes and
Misdemeanors'' and ``Radio Days.''
	But it could not survive a huge debt and a series of flops at the box
office, highlighted by ``She-Devil,'' ``Great Balls of Fire'' and 
``Valmont'' and filed for Chapter 11 in December 1991. Three months
later, ``The Silence of the Lambs'' swept the five major Academy Awards.
	The original management team is gone. The company's majority
shareholder remains billionaire John Kluge, whose net worth is estimated
at more than $5 billion. To pull it out of Chapter 11, he agreed to give
Orion a $15 million cash infusion and forgive $30 million he was owed
for bankrolling the film ``Mermaids.''
	Orion recently posted a loss of $30.2 million for its second quarter
ended Aug. 31, noting it had no movies out.
	``While Orion did not have any domestic theatrical releases in the
second quarter of fiscal 1994, we look forward to the domestic
theatrical release of 'Robocop 3,''' said Leonard White, president and
chief execitive officer.
    

    
    What happened to Peter Weller?  I know he was in the first Robocop
    movie and I guess the second (I haven't seen it).  Has the Robocop
    "character" become more important than the actor inside the armor?

    
    He probably got sick of it.  Robocop 2 was essentially a bomb, and you
    don't catch actors doing sequels to bombs, usually.
    
    DFW

    It has been known publicly that Weller wasn't going to be in the third
    movie for quite a while, I remember reading why but I can't seem to
    recall....
    
    Michael

    
    	As long as Nancy Allen is going to be in it, I'm happy.
    
    	8^)
    
    							GTI
    

    Robocop is one of my all-time favourites. For me it excels in every
    department: special effects, editing (the raid on the drug factory is
    one of the best shoot-outs ever filmed), details of the future, acting and 
    storytelling (the jump from Murphy's death to the switching on of Robocop's
    brain covers probably 6 to 12 months story time in 1 second). 
    
    But one thing's always puzzled me: the number of women I know who like
    this movie, who in the normal course of events find action movies a
    complete yawn and can't understand why the boys keep going. Maybe it's
    because so much emphasis is placed on what Murphy has lost: a family, a
    life. And he knows it and can't do anything about it, which you can
    always see in Peter Weller's eyes once the helmet comes off. 
    
    And unlike Arnie or Stallone, or Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood in the 
    70s, there's always the feeling that Robocop would just as soon put the gun
    away as go out shooting. With the others, you never feel that: they step 
    onto the screen ready to start blasting. They don't doubt it and
    neither does the audience. The body count is guaranteed. Watching
    Robocop, I always think that maybe 'this' time, he won't have to turn
    into a machine and lose everything. 
    
    Nick 

    
    
    There's a nasty rumour going around that Robocop 3 could go straight to
    video as far as the UK is concerned, and totally miss a cinematic
    release.  This would imply that the film stinks.  Has anyone seen it? 
    Does it?  Say it ain't so...
    
    
    

    It rather came and went, didn't it?
    
    kim
    

    
    
    It's BEEN!?!  It's GONE!?!  I MISSED IT?!??
    
    bummer
    

    
    I saw it.  I shoulda missed it...
      

    I saw it, had some good points, not enough for me to recommend it
    strongly, may end up buying the video when it comes out just because I
    have the other 2.....
    
    Michael
    

    
    
    Anyone have a UK release date for this?  Video or otherwise?
    
    

I just saw Robocop I the original on tv (with lots of "frigging" this and than
-- why do they bother?). I thought it was pretty good. 

The core premise that there's an irreducible spark of humanity in everyone (even
in moderately dim American men) is an appealing one. (It's also there in The
Manchurian Candidatem where Frank Sinatra has it...) 

And the idea that you need a human element in all policing is right as well as
right on. I also liked the fully cybernetic "cop"'s inability to get down
stairs..

The satire on corporate ethics was done with a very broad brush, but for me it
hit the spot. Especially the man who doesn't care if it works, he's sold it to
the defense department. The only bit that rang false was the CEO being both
basically honest and on the ball enough to fire the bad guy so Robocop could
waste him. (The gents' toilets scene is nicked in a UK commercial for
...er...something or other, by the way.)

As for why women like it, the family angle may have something to do with it, but
women seem to like Nancy Allen. Does she get Robocopped in Robocop II? She was
pretty ready for whole-body prosthesis at the end of Robocop I.

Helen

    
    The part that bothers me is this: how the hell did they expect the ED
    209 to be a multi-role super cop if the damn thing couldn't get down
    the stairs or through a normal door?
    
    Oh, Lewis is still human for the second movie.....
    
    
    
    Ian

re: -1: how unlike the products usually developed by multinational
corporations.....;-)