The Fountain(2006): Budget $35 millions , Cross Revenue only $15.8 millions ?

'The Fountain'(2006), directed by Darren Aronofsky, was rebroadcast on Starmovie(South Asia region) last weekend. It's no surprise that it has impressed me so much. The soundtracks is harmonious, the plot is quite interesting and thoughtful, the visual effect is awesome, not to mention superb casting. The ending and Hugh Jackman's acting sastified me so much that I decided to take a deeper look into the film. And here come the surprise part, I found out that the movie's income is nearly half its budget o_O. How can people turn away from such a good movie ? I even saw a guy yielding on imdb about how sucks the movie is. Serious, what's wrong with people these day ? I would rather watch ten times 'The Fountain' than watch 1 times any silly blockbuster full of shooting, explosive, sex related scenes.

Here is the wikipedia page where I read about 'The Fountain' 's gross revenue

Originally Posted by Sumonious

I would rather watch ten times 'The Fountain' than watch 1 times any silly blockbuster full of shooting, explosive, sex related scenes.

I'm so tired of that, that somehow Hollywood is split right down the middle between "shooting, explosive, sex scenes" and quiet, refined, artsy but underrated and unappreciated movies, and of course most of us are too shallow to appreciate the latter. Please.

I blame it's poor earnings on bad promotion. I had barely heard about TF. No commercials or anything.

edit: At least it wasn't as bad as Delgo. 40 million to produce, 500K earnings, so that's perhaps 3 viewers per theatre on opening weekend. Biggest bomb of all time.

Maybe most people just don't like it? Maybe they have a different opinion than you?

General Kamos, have you tried it ? I strongly recommend 'The Fountain' to you. IMO after you finish watching the film, you will agree that it's a waste to not be able to enjoy this kind of art.

Btw does anyone know how much money Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox have collected from 'The Fountain' DVD ? I hope that it might be enough to balance with the budget.

it's a beautiful movie
about love and the fear of death
and of ppl coming to grips with grief
hugh jackman was amazing
i literally cried, which is quite rare so i'm told

A lot people felt it was pretentious and silly, with the two past-and-future "spiritual journeys" interlacing with the main storyline about the quest for immortality. Too determined to be high-brow.

Personally, I'm with you. I love that kind of symbolistic stuff and thought The Fountain rocked. It freaked me out in a psychedelic manner.

Originally Posted by Cluny the Scourge

A lot people felt it was pretentious and silly, with the two past-and-future "spiritual journeys" interlacing with the main storyline about the quest for immortality. Too determined to be high-brow.

Personally, I'm with you. I love that kind of symbolistic stuff and thought The Fountain rocked. It freaked me out in a psychedelic manner.

I believe ppl are mistaking when they try to comprehend it literally. The three narratives, the tree of life, the link between Queen Isabel and Izzi should be understood figuratively. I think 3 character in 3 narratives should be left separated. There is noway the conquistador is the scientist's past or the astronaut is his future. The only link between them are their wish to conquer death. And they both fail just as they reach the goal. That's how the story proceeds and leads the characters to accept their death as through death, they archive eternal life.

The conquistador shattered into thousand of flower. This links to the what the Mayan guild had told Izzy and then she told Tommy

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Izzi: [embraces Tom] No, no. Listen, listen. He said that if they dug his father's body up, it would be gone. They planted a seed over his grave. The seed became a tree. Moses said his father became a part of that tree. He grew into the wood, into the bloom. And when a sparrow ate the tree's fruit, his father flew with the birds. He said... death was his father's road to awe. That's what he called it. The road to awe. Now, I've been trying to write the last chapter and I haven't been able to get that out of my head!

So he does live forever but in an symbolic way. His quest for immortality can be considered complete.

The astronaut's death are similar. By sacrificing him self to revive the tree, he is merged with the tree of life, which is an immortal. So he does live forever at Xibalba. The direct comparison between the tree of life and Izzy does not mean she is the tree, but actually present the link in 3 Tommy's goal: his most precious object. The astronaut Tommy want to avoid his personal death by living with the tree of life in Xibalba. So the tree is his most concern. That's why he keep telling the tree"we'll live forever".

The scientist tries to find a cure for the 'disease'. But in the end, he somehow accepts the death of his wife. But planting a seed into his wife's tomb, he accepts his wife's opinion: Death is the road to awe.

That's the true meaning of the film: journey of mans who want to conquer death but ends up realizing the nature of life, conquering their fear of dieing, and eventually, becoming one with nature.

Note: I took the script from imdb

yeah was really good symbolism, well intertwined, I thought the battle with the gaurdian of the fountain was pure art especially the phrase

"Death is the Road to Awe" -- great art.

I liked it to, but I can imagine it not doing so well because of Rachel Weisz(Kiljian).

Seriously, I was captured by the visual and audio of that movie. Story etc 50/50.