WWE Films Discussion

[Mr. Nerfect]

Apparently The Condemned has only taken in an additional $360,000 to its pitiful opening. Now many are expecting it won't even break even when DVD sales and international release are taken into account.

Bad news for Steve Austin, bad news for WWE Films, and bad news for WWE.

I find it highly enlightening that The Condemned was apparently Vince's favourite WWE-produced film. It's also the first one which has failed. Vince can claim that he knows what people want, but let's face it: He doesn't.

Here is an "action movie." Everyone like those, right? It also has a "message." Surely it must be smart? Vince probably thought this was going to be a mainstream success, but the thing is, it was so poorly made that people going in expecting a brainless action fare could still find faults with it.

The movie even had Vinnie Jones in it. I'm not his biggest fan, or anything, but after Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells and X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and even smaller/forgotten shit like Eurotrip and She's The Man, he's probably got himself a pretty nice following. That's not even counting his soccer career. That Vinnie Jones could be in an action movie, and it fails miserably, baffles me.

Which brings me to the question I want to ask: Do you think WWE Films is hurt by the "WWE" in its title? Most people are embarrassed enough to flick the channel and see the "WWE" logo in the corner of the screen. A big one flashing onscreen would make me duck into the seat.

Do you think it's about time Vince realised his product isn't "cool" anymore? That, you know, empire and all, he's an idiot? His "tastes" are not the same as the normal, socially functioning consumer? Slap a "WWE" logo on something, and you end up destroying its productivity. Vince could make the best alcoholic beverage in the world, put a WWE logo on its bottle, and no one would buy it.

So yeah, this is part rant, I guess. I think I'm just annoyed by the parallels between World Wrestling Entertainment's wrestling product, and its film productions. I can understand that the WWE would not want to just go "Yeah, I guess Batista is pretty cool compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, he's not as great as them, though," but honestly, that they think they have their "finger on the button" of what is "cool" and "mainstream" disgusts me, and just comes off as arrogant.