DVD - Surviving Christmas (2004) Discussion

[–] cool guy69 20 years ago

Just a day under 2 months! Yikes that fast! That's gotta be a record. Maybe that was thier logic in releasing a Christmas movie in October, so they can get the DVD out before Christmas. Not a bad movie, great first 30 minutes, got a little mushy towards the end, but was great all round. It deserves better than this. Still, when I just read about the DVD date at The Digital Bits a minute ago, it made me chickle at how fast it's coming to DVD.

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[–] santsa70 20 years ago

BINGO, coolguy69! There is logic in that theory and its true as well. I work at a Blockbuster Video stroe, and learned early on that the reason its going to dvd so soon is so it can be out before Christimas. Before then, I was really confused as to why they would have a christmas movie come out in october (seemed like it would be bad for the box office sales--as it was then proved to be so unfortunately) but now it makes much more sense.

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[–] inred 20 years ago

Blockbuster sucks, i work there. boo to the both of us for doing *beep* work for even *beep* pay

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[–] mijowriter 20 years ago

I don't even think Blair Witch went to DVD that fast. I've seen movies go to DVD 3 months after their initial theater release, but never 2. This was rumored to go straight to video anyway. It basically is.

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[–] [email protected] 20 years ago

I'm going to buy it. I never saw it but I like Ben Affleck and I kind of think its funny because my friend has vomit attacks anytime I talk about this movie. I'm sure its not nearly as bad as everyone says.

-drew-

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[–] jpzebrahead 20 years ago

none of my sources for DVD release info tell me Dec. 21st. may i ask where you got this information from?

To any one who didn't see this film. it IS one of those movies that probably should go straight to video, but the really good kind. Affleck's insane and brilliant and Gandolfini is excellent.

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[–] themaskedfalcon 20 years ago

take a look at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/surviving_christmas/dvd.php?select=1#features

i only found out it was coming out this quick last night

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[–] mijowriter 20 years ago

Also, check out comingsoon.net.

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[–] C Blake 20 years ago

I saw it and liked it.

The supporting cast is hysterical!!! My friend plays the "Lonely Lady" at the begining of the movie. She told me that the original script was MUCH darker and that she commits suicide in the original version. In fact, four people kill themselves in the beginning of the film, in the original script, because they hate Christmas. But, I guess Dreamworks thought it was a bit much for a Christmas movie. Too bad! I think we need more Christmas, black comedies like Bad Santa.

The DVD will make a great Christmas present for Ben Affleck fans.

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[–] mchl_dao 20 years ago

I saw this movie and honestly, it's not as bad as everyone claimed it to be. There are a lot of people out there said this movie is bad and all that crap, but most of them haven't seen the movie yet. The only reason they did it because Ben's in this movie and I don't think that's fair, you hate the actor but at least give the movie a chance (I personally think Ben and James were great). It's just my opinion, feel free to reply...

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[–] C Blake 20 years ago

I agree!

It's pretty good and funny too. It's about as good as your average Christmas family comedy. I think we are just so spoiled with all of the BIG epic holiday movies and special effects.

I think we should start a campaign to get everyone we know to buy the DVD. We could save Ben Affleck's career. He's pretty funny! I wish the critics would LAY OFF! When the public opinion starts to dog a celebrity, it's almost impossible to stop it. It's just like these high profile legal cases. Once the media decides someone is guilty, forget it. There is NO justice.

Another reason I think Dreamworks released the movie early is because of "Christmas With the Kranks." I'm sorry, I'd MUCH rather see Ben than Tim Allen. Also, I'd much rather see Catherine O'Hara and James Gandolfini than Jamie Lee Curtis. She irks me!

Oh, and my friend who plays the Lonely Lady is Joan Blair. She was also in Daddy Daycare, Donnie Darko, Tomcats and several other films and TV shows.

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[–] spyder7 20 years ago

I know, just like in the case of Ron Artest! He's just being blackballed as the bad guy. Hehe, just kidding...

I haven't seen it yet, but I definitely will. I love Christmas movies and Ben really isn't bad if you pick the right movies. I'm not sure about joining the campaign to buy the DVD without even seeing it, but after renting it, maybe I will. One of my all time favorite Christmas movies is National Lampoon's. I watched it again recently and it's really really silly, but it's still fun after you've seen it about 10 times.

Oh yeah, I'm 100% with you on Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. Tim's humor is just kinda' dumb. Jamie Lee is annoying too, haha.

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[–] genesisclimber7 20 years ago

I bought the DVD yesterday, I enjoyed the film.

This isn't the fastest DVD release, however. I believe From Justin To Kelly and New York Minute both went to DVD within 6 weeks, this was more like 8.

---

"I'll handle them."

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[–] ecarle 20 years ago

I suppose what we'll never know is: what if Dreamworks had had the guts to release this movie to theaters AT Christmas? "Christmas with the Kranks" which doesn't look much better than this, made some bread at Xmas.

It looks to me like Dreamworks decided this was a dud, but didn't want to go straight to video with an Affleck/Gandolfini/Applegate/O'Hara movie. So they run an October release with fingers crossed, nothing happens,and "almost straight to video" is the result.

I saw about half of it on DVD at a gathering. Not half bad. Gandolfini brings some Tony Soprano menace to his part, but different. Affleck was alright. Catherine O'Hara, great as usual. Christina Applegate, easy on the eyes. Certainly a more appealing cast than Tim Allen, Dan Ackroyd et all in fright wigs (though Jamie Lee's OK by me.)

This movie was ready to go LAST Christmas (2003) by the way. But "Gigli" had bombed and Affleck had "Paycheck" at bat for Xmas. So they saved "Surviving Christmas" for almost a year, October theatrical release, December DVD.

This has to be one of the weirdest movie/DVD release decisions ever. I can only guess that the studio got cold feet with Affleck's "Gigli" reputation, and proceeded to try to throw this movie away.

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[–] nickisowned 20 years ago

oh yeah, another reason they must have released it this early was: it tanked at the B.O. and it was critically gangraped.

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[–] 20 years ago

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