MovieChat Forums > The Awakening (1980) Discussion > If this was such a bomb, why did it play...

If this was such a bomb, why did it play for two weeks instead of one?

posted 19 years ago by jong19822004
8 replies | jump to latest

There was someone who posted they were "one of the few dummies who actually saw this" and asked if we knew anyone who actually heard of this. Well, i got news for you. I grew up in a small town named New Braunfels,Texas. They had two theaters in town and both of them only had two screens. They usually only played films for one week, unless it was a hit. For example, the film "Popeye" played for four weeks, but some people still call it a flop. This movie actually played for two weeks! I remember the cool poster with the mummy and asking my dad to stop so i could see it upclose. I saw the movie when it premiered on Showtime and was dissapointed when there was no moving mummy. It was about reincarnation! I know some people that liked this film becouse they like anything having to do with egypt. The town has grown and the theaters are now multiplexes. I know Roger Ebert hated this, but does anyone know if Gene Siskel felt the same way?

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] preppy-3 17 years ago

This is a little late in response to your question but here goes...I'm the one who was "the dummy who actually saw this". It played two weeks in Boston too but not because it was selling out the theatre. The theatre committed to playing it for two weeks no matter what. In fact the studio had paid for a full two weeks advertising. So...they were stuck with it. I saw it alone in a theatre with three other people...and this was on a Saturday night! It's still this way for some films.

[–] filmbuff1974 15 years ago

I recall "The Awakening" having a very large promotional campaign. I don't recall if it lasted long or not. Time has not been too kind to this film, but I found it engagingly entertaining enough, after seeing it again after so many years.

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[–] stagebandman 15 years ago

I worked at a theater in Marshalltown, Iowa, when this came out, a little smaller than your hometown, but similar, at 27,000. It played at the theater for one week. I remember being pretty disappointed in the movie. Had pretty much forgotten about it until Prince Of Persia listed it as a similar movie.

Oh, and I played a concert in Braunfels, Germany, and this cab driver kept talking about their "sister city" in Texas, and that he wanted to visit there.

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[–] libby2130 12 years ago

I saw this movie in the theater with a friend many years ago...

[–] tali1 12 years ago

Saw it 0ver 20yrs ago - v disappointed then .
Watched it now -still the same - never gets out of first gear
A movie that is best left forgotten

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[–] PeterBlues 9 years ago

i ordered this from usa, which has a much greater looking dvd cover than the pal (uk) release, as it starts off this feels like about the creepiest mummy flick, and actors not use to see in roles like this adds to it, but not much goes on from there and it seemed pretty pointless by the end.

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[–] merh 8 years ago

I saw it in a theater also.
It was horrible.

When people bitch about CGI in movies, this movie comes to mind as one of many with horrendously bad special effects that make me appreciate the CGI in films nowadays

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