Elvis

[Frank Cox]

Elvis has never really been my thing but he sure does have a fan base.

I haven't yet had anyone under about 40 years old come to see it and 90% of the audience is old ladies in their 60's and 70's.

So far I've played it for two nights (Fri and Sat) and have it up to next Thursday. One older couple who usually comes to a movie here maybe once in two or three years has come to see it both nights so far and on the way out tonight he said, "See you again tomorrow night, and probably for the rest of the week too. It keeps getting better and better."

There is one black lady in the movie who sings Hound Dog (and a couple of other things) and boy, can she ever sing with energy and drive! Again, not my style of music but I can certainly appreciate what she does and her numbers really overshadow the rest of the music as far as I'm concerned.

The Elvis movie is made for the fans and the fans are coming to see it. Nobody other than the fans are interested, but there are enough fans to make it worthwhile.

[Leo Enticknap]

Interesting. The manager of an 11-plex I service told me just before Top Gun was released that he was apprehensive, because he regarded it as a movie for the over 40 crowd (i.e. those who were likely to be aware of the original), and didn't know if they were still going to stay away from the theaters out of covid worries. In the event, he needn't have worried: it did very well at that venue. From what you're telling me, Elvis seems to have no appeal to anyone who doesn't have a living memory of him. I am 50, and only just do. More out of my interest in the popular culture of the 1950s and '60s than any attraction to his music, I likely will make the effort to see the movie; added to which, Luhrmann has found an interesting biographical angle in focusing on his sleazy manager. But if we've now got to the point at which movie theaters have to rely on "over 40" movies to get a decent, profit making audience, that's a problem.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Over here, I'd say Elvis is pulling in almost as big of a crowd as Top Gun. Yeah, there are lots of "older folks" in the room, but still plenty of younger people too. I've never been a big Elvis fan, but I deeply respect the influence his music has had over what we nowadays consider to be modern music. Also, his music does have a kind of energy that's hard to describe, but was certainly something new and progressive for his time. While I have heard most of his greatest hits many times over the years, hearing his old songs polished and spiced up with modern accents and being played over a modern sound systems gives it a special vibe and quality, that I didn't yet recognize in his music up until now.

I've stayed at the former International, later Hilton and now Westgate hotel several times, because of the easy access to the expo, but never visited the Elvis expo on-site, also because I'm still a bit grumpy about the fact that they removed the Star Trek Experience from there, but next time I might just give it a shot...

[Frank Cox]

Having played Top Gun for 7 days and Elvis for 7 days, they both sold exactly the same number of tickets. Who'da thunk?

The older couple who said they would be coming for the rest of the week ultimately came to see it five times. (They missed Sunday and Tuesday.)

One-third or more of the crowd was people that I've never seen before. (And probably will never see again.)

One of the guys-that-I've-never-seen-before came out after the show and said, "The movie was great, but these colours look like a Chinese restaurant."

I've had many people tell me over they years that they love the colour scheme in my lobby; this is the first time I've had anyone say that it looks like a Chinese restaurant.

Maybe he was just grumpy because he was one of the two people tonight that I had to tell to turn off their cell phone when I went into the auditorium after starting the show.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Maybe you can post some pictures of your lobby and we can vote between Korean and Chinese Restaurant.

It's about the same around here, people showing up for Elvis are pretty much in sync with Top Gun... Maybe targeting this "over 40 crowd" isn't such a bad idea after all... most of them grew up with cinema and may appreciate it more than the cellphone generation. In most Western countries, the population is aging anyway, so why not try to cater more to the generation that still has some money left in their pockets?

[Terry Monohan]

We liked the editing of old news and fan footage into the new Elvis movie. The stereo sound and color was great and to think they filmed most of the movie over in Australia.

Loved the waterfall curtains on the casino stage that was to be the hotel in Las Vegas.

They never introduced Little Richard but he sang his famous TF song. Seems the Elvis actor looked mostly the same during the whole movie. He never aged much till the leather number.

Glad they used real Elvis footage at the end in one of his last concerts.

Comes out on Blu Ray in Sept if some of the old timers missed it on the big screen. I think many young people know who Elvis was and many are going to see the new movie at least in the Santa Cruz CA tourist and college town area.

Big let down on the Elvis credits like so many movies they did not show clips or photos of Elvis or even his music to keep the audience a little longer, some rap junk was played., probably some Warner Bros artists they want to promote.