Hostel Rolodex Reorganizing

A funny idea occurred to me vis-a-vis my earlier post regarding the weekend box office results, including the disappointing numbers for HOSTEL PART II.

Last year, in the wake of the success of HOSTEL, it seemed as if writer-director Eli Roth was the go-to guy at the top of every reporter’s rolodex when it came to finding a juicy quote about the horror genre. In particular, Roth seemed willing to offer optimistic prophecies about how the test of time was going to prove the worth of box office duds like SLITHER, as in this article in Hollywood Reporter:

…if history is any indication, “Slither” could rise from the dead to find an afterlife in home video and ancillary markets. “In 15 years, nobody is going to be watching ‘Ice Age: The Meltdown.’ Everybody is going to be watching DVDs of ‘Slither,’ ” Roth said.

Now, perhaps this is just my own mis-perception; I could be recalling a few isolated incidents and extrapolating them into a trend that does not really exist.

However, I cannot help wondering: Now that HOSTEL PART II was unable to crack the Top Five during its first weekend in U.S. theatres (where it earned only $8.7-million – less than half the original’s $19.5-million debut in January 2006), to whom will reporters go for a quote predicting that the film will have a spectacular afterlife on home video? Are reporters even now busily re-organizing their rolodexes and/or changing their speed dial numbers to find some new voice to indulge in genre boosterism? Who will be the next cheerleader, offering words of encouragement in the reality of a poor performance? Who will step up to the plate and proclaim that, fifteen years from now, no one will be watching OCEAN’S THIRTEEN, but everybody will be watching HOSTEL PART II?

Maybe the guys who made ICE AGE?