HOLLYWOOD GRIND: ATTACK THE HYPE1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWe’ve displayed an unabashed love for Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block since it debuted at SXSW in March, and I’m fully on board with calling it one of the most enjoyable films of the year.
It’s expanding into six more cities in the U.S. today, and will be opening in Finland next week, with Germany and Singapore theatrical engagements following in late August.
While Attack the Block has not blossomed into a big box office success — the returns so far total less than $5 million worldwide, against a reported production budget of $13 million — it’s destined to become a cult favorite on home video, where it’s likely to recoup its expenses and reap a modest profit. I say that with confidence because word of mouth has been almost uniformly positive.
The complaints generally fall into the categories of “Not as good as I’d hoped it would be,” and / or “You guys over-hyped it,” and there’s nothing to be done about raised expectations.
The flip side for those who are among the first to see a movie that they end up loving is to remain silent, or to express concise, restrained praise: “Oh, it’s alright if you like that sort of thing.” And then no one at all goes to see it, and then people discover it eventually on home video, and complain: “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this movie so I could have seen it on the big screen? What’s wrong with you guys?”
