Everyone's doing it

In reading various articles about the movie "Brokeback Mountain" I started to get the feeling that everyone had seen this movie. Adjectives such as "phenomenon," "blockbuster," and "critically acclaimed" fill many of the the articles. One article stated, "The 'Brokeback Mountain' phenomenon has become as unavoidable as a military recruiter at a continuation school."

This prompted me to check out the facts. The Box Office Figures show that 'Brokeback' has earned about $60 million to date. The production costs were probably low, so the project is probably in the black, but by normal standards this would be considered a modest success at best and a failure at worst. In contrast, "Finding Nemo," "Passion of the Christ," and each of the Lord of the Rings movies all grossed over $300 million.

Of course, box office results are not the only indicator of a good movie, but at the very least, it shows that the number of people who have seen "Brokeback Mountain" is relatively small compared to other blockbusters. 'Brokeback' may win many Academy Awards, but the hype is a tad overblown. I wonder if it has anything to do with the content of the movie...