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Are Bond films heavily biased to cater for U.S. audiences?
Apologies in advance if there is a thread up and running for this subject already (although I couldn't find anything related to it)
It's pretty obvious that the U.S. counts for the biggest market share of any territory when it comes to box office takings/audience numbers, so I can perfectly understand when a studio gives priority on a film being tailored to suit an American audience.
This has also been the case with Bond films;
- The use of Americanisms in the script such as "cell phone", "time for a station break", "...identified by Melina, Sir Havelocks' daughter", to name but a few.
- The original title of Bond 16 being changed from Licence Revoked because a poll in the USA revealed many people attributed the title to having their driving licence suspended.
- The poor return of LTK at the U.S. box office was a major factor in all future Bond films being released later in the year to avoid the summer competition.
- The theme tune is pretty much always sung by someone who is big in the U.S.
Now most films of course will rely heavily on the U.S. market to turn a profit, but given the enormous success of the recent Bond films at the International box office (SF made over $800 million alone), is it right for EON/Sony to still give bias towards the American market?
After all, Bond still remains more popular in the UK than it does in the U.S. and on a personal note, I still find it quite patronising when a British film gives less thought to it's British audience than it does to it's American counterparts.
Anybody else have any thoughts on this?
It's pretty obvious that the U.S. counts for the biggest market share of any territory when it comes to box office takings/audience numbers, so I can perfectly understand when a studio gives priority on a film being tailored to suit an American audience.
This has also been the case with Bond films;
- The use of Americanisms in the script such as "cell phone", "time for a station break", "...identified by Melina, Sir Havelocks' daughter", to name but a few.
- The original title of Bond 16 being changed from Licence Revoked because a poll in the USA revealed many people attributed the title to having their driving licence suspended.
- The poor return of LTK at the U.S. box office was a major factor in all future Bond films being released later in the year to avoid the summer competition.
- The theme tune is pretty much always sung by someone who is big in the U.S.
Now most films of course will rely heavily on the U.S. market to turn a profit, but given the enormous success of the recent Bond films at the International box office (SF made over $800 million alone), is it right for EON/Sony to still give bias towards the American market?
After all, Bond still remains more popular in the UK than it does in the U.S. and on a personal note, I still find it quite patronising when a British film gives less thought to it's British audience than it does to it's American counterparts.
Anybody else have any thoughts on this?
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Comments
They couldn't really be better than #1 or #2 outside the USA, so they tried to be better at USA, a place where they were ony #5 or #10. This "dollar adjusted worldwide" list people keep refering to is wiping out of many's memories the fact Bond was a worldwide phenomenom from the beginning and for decades - 80s included, not a "weak" point at all - , except for the USA where it was just a great success at best (Goldfinger and Thunderball added together only had a single #1 top week in the USA, and that's the height of the Bondmania...)
In my opinion, the longstanding obligation to slake the biggest market in the world's requirement for non stop, shoot them up, brainless action has been a key factor in EON's decision making process.
Not really the point I'm trying to make. There are a number of factors as to why LTK failed in the U.S. and they are currently being discussed here:
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/1242/licence-to-kill-is-it-really-that-underrated/p5#Item_130
However American box office dominance seems to be on the wane - particularly with Bond. I'm sure Suivez will correct me but didn't TDKR take something like 50% of its money domestically whereas with SF it was only in the upper 30's. The idea that they would tailor a Bond film specifically for the US in order to maximise the box office a la LTK is becoming less I feel.
It's China we have to worry about these days with practically every big film having scenes set there and in some cases scripts being doctored to remove anything that might cause offence.
The day Bond says 'time for some adverts (that's a station break for any Americans reading)' in Cantonese is probably not that far away and coincidentally will be the same day I go and petrol bomb EONs office and then hang myself.
I hadn't considered the Chinese market till you just mentioned it. Any room for me on the end of that rope? ;-)
Having said that, given the Chinese' reluctance to show many mainstream Hollywood movies to the detriment of their own, The Lone Ranger being the most notable and recent example, we could be a very long way from seeing Bond pander to the Chinese box office. (Unless of course the main location for Bond 24 is announced as China!).
Ironic, since LTK is so much like an American action movie.
There were no adverts following Bond's action, but he definitely 'broke' something, hence the Americanism to wind up with a more clever double meaning.
Yes, because audiences outside of the US are sooooo much more sophisticated than the American audience.
8-|
However "Americanisms" in the dialogue were most common from 1989 to 2002.
Btw is "watch the birdie" an American expression? I've never heard an English person use it.
Pal, any time you wish to cross swords with this Yank intellectually, just let me know.
I'm sure it used to be the case...
Why? And why no longer?
Please lets stick to the topic in hand and not turn this into a bout of UK vs US bashing.
Yes, quite horrible when Blofeld says "or perhaps I should say elevator".
I'm surprised he didn't look directly at camera and hold up a diagram at the same time
We said. Let's hope you are proven right.
But even when it comes to who will sing the theme song, it's still the U.S. market which is considered the number one priority.
I know I'm not 'down with the kids' but I was only 30 when CR was released. Who outside the U.S. had even heard of Chris Cornell? Even when I was told he was in Audioslave, I still had to look them up! Although to be fair my basic knowledge of music is pretty shocking by anyone's standards so maybe not the best example ;-)
Even Adele was chosen for SF because of her popularity in the U.S. She would have never gotten the gig if she was an unknown over there.
BTW, I'd never heard of either Cornell or Adele before.
Seconded. And I hope Wiz's obsessive use of the term "yank" is just a figure of speech.
I figured that one out when I was 10.
Oh, looks like Ice is in trouble...
How dare you associate an "Americanism" with Ice!
He'll be keeling over in his treacle sponge and custard :P
Indeed. Ice was a member of Lord North's Cabinet, you know. Explains his bitterness. :))
Is anyone left to feel patronised by the fact that the studio treats their audience with contempt by showing the sort of bias I mentioned in my original post?
Or am I making a fuss about nothing? :-)
Well, we have all the best actors you know ;-)
A pity you persist in being so businesslike...
Seriously, I have no problem whether the script is Brit tailored or not. I understand a lot of those expressions and if I don't, I can always look it up. Not a deal breaker for me in enjoying a film or other form of media and I do think you are fussing about nothing. No sense in being a xenophobe.
America is the largest English speaking country and populace in the world so it makes sense for a little script tailoring to be done. It's all about the "cha-ching" :)