This was a surprisingly difficult question to research. Very few movies seem to fit the criteria for this week’s puzzle; I thought for sure there would be many more. But I found a few. Here is a representative sample of recent movies, one from each of the last six years:
The Simpsons Movie (2007). Religulous (2008). He’s Just Not That Into You (2009). The Kids Are Alright (2010). You May Not Kiss The Bride (2011). American Reunion (2012).
There are more, but that’s a fair start. As you might imagine, my subjective assessment of the quality of the movie is not a factor.
Clues will be additional movie titles.
Do any older or classic films fit your criteria? Inquiring geezers want to know.
Yes. One such title will be tomorrow’s hint.
How about movies that led at least one week with gross per theater but never led with total gross receipts?
Movies that were #2 with two different #1s?
No… I’d be surprised if Religulous even saw the top 10…
Note that the previous two (top-level) comments confirm my observation about the death of film reviewing.
Because of the Simpsons (and American Reunion), I was going to go with “movies that take place in an indeterminate location”, but that doesn’t seem to work.
The Simpsons doesn’t take place in an indeterminate location. It takes place in Springfield. Duh.
The Simpsons doesn’t take place in an indeterminate location. It takes place in Springfield.
Duh.D’oh!FIFY.
Movies whose full release date in the US was after the full release date in at least one other country?
Oh! How about, movies that were filmed under a different name then they were released under?
(I know the Simpsons was Yellow Harvest, and Religulous was A Spiritual Journey.)
Per imdb American Reunion’s working title was American Pie 4
I think I might have it. He’s Just Not was filmed as “Boy Trouble.”
If I’m right, I bet tomorrow’s clue was going to be Return of the Jedi.
You May Not Kiss the Bride was Wedlocked
This is what trivia question authors like me would call a “cruelly false positive” — an answer that appears at first glance to be validated by the facts, but in fact is not the answer being sought by the question. (And by “trivia question authors like me” I mean pretty much just me.)
What was the working title of The Kids Are Alright?
My Generation. Or was it Happy Jack?
Thing is, lots of movies have working titles. Only a very few movies have what it takes to make it into this category. I was very surprised to find there weren’t more.
Tuesday hint: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Movies with released soundtrack albums.
I don’t think it’s relevant, but the Simpsons movie had a Snow White homage in it, when the woodland creatures sang to Marge.
Wednesday hint: Chocolat.
Movies whose titles contain questionable spelling and/or grammar.
Movies with more females named/featured on the movie poster/given top billing? All seem to slant female in terms of the makeup of the primary cast…
Damnit… Religulous ruins that.
Considering that it was hard to find movies that fit the bill yet you have one for each of the last six years (and the two additional clue-films are from 2000 and 1939), would it be safe to assume that the answer concerns a relatively recent phenomenon?
No. The phenomenon in question is timeless.
Movies with an atheist character or presence.
Thursday Hint: Super Size Me.
The content of the movie is only peripherally relevant. Think marketing.
More money was spent on marketing than on production?
Movies whose official premiere was not in Hollywood?
I think that’s still a lot of them, though.
Marketing, eh? All the mentioned films have food on their lobby posters.
Yaay Karl! That’s exactly the answer the judges were looking for!
Simpsons: donut
Religulous: toast
He’s just not that into you: valentine candy
Kids: wine
Bride: wedding cake
American Reunion: pie
Snow White: apple
Chocolat: chocolate
Super size me: french fries
Burt-
What made this tricky is that many movieshave multiple posters. IMDB has two for Religulous and neither is the toast one. Which just goes to show that IMDB ain’t the end-all, be-all!
I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson here today.
Also, would you believe me if I said that after an hour of poking around images of movie posters on the internet, these nine were the only ones I found that had an illustration of anything edible?
…Not counting things outside Western cultural norms, that is. The poster for, for instance, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover contained an illustration hinting at something proffered to eat in the movie that would violate those norms but could be called “food.” Similarly, I didn’t consider the sorts of food that, say, zombies or aliens or other movie monsters might enjoy eating.
But seriously, I was out of clues after Super Size Me. People spend a lot of time eating and lots of important moments in peoples’ lives happen in conjunction with meals. But most movie posters either illustrate some kind of graphic logo for the movie or the costumed, made-up stars in dramatic and/or humorous poses. You’d think no one ever eats in the movies!
Can I just say that I thought my answer about filmed under a different name was better than the food one. Basically because I lost to karl.
So now I have to ask – how DID you research this?
Brute force, mainly. I combed sites selling movie memorabilia. One of them sorted by year. I went through hundreds of movie posters looking for something to eat.
(I’m going to pause and consider the surreality of that last sentence for a moment; I suggest you do the same.)
And Kazzy is right, as there are many alternative versions of different movie posters. I thought it was good that not all the posters I found were on IMDB, where I cross-checked my hits. For instance, I mentioned The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover just now and the more popular poster was Helen Mirren in a dramatic pose wearing some amazingly strappy and revealing dress hinting strongly of S&M. Some versions of this poster show just her, others show her next to a stand of what look like apples. I already had my apple from Snow White.
One of the posters for Sideways shows the four main characters having a picnic with wine. It’s not the most famous one, though, which shows the two male leads inside an empty wine bottle.
There’s also Beerfest.
In other news, I am surprisingly well-educated in the field of “movie posters with alcohol on them”.
Come to think of it, Strange Brew had a half-full mug of beer on it too, eh?
Did you look at Eat Drink Man Woman?
I do not believe any movie had made me hungrier than Eat Drink Man Woman.
No, I just plain blanked out on that. I should have remembered it.
Would that have been the hint that gave it away for you guys?
That or Tampopo might have done it for me. Might.
I wasn’t even close. Maybe five or six more with food-related titles would have done it. Maybe.
Oddly, chocolat made me go there briefly, because the donut on the Simpson’s was so ubiquitous. But my memory of Religulous is a shot of Bill Maher as a cloud, so I tossed it.
Ratatouille?
Because who doesn’t love delicious, delicious rat?
Don’t know it ’til ya tried it.
And, I do believe that is cheese he is holding…
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/RatatouillePoster2.jpg/220px-RatatouillePoster2.jpg
I was hoping that this would be a thread about Willard.
Willard just sent me out laughing,
I thought Ben looked a little bit ratty,
But they’re not half as bad as the worst scare I’ve had –
The Cockroach that ate Cincinnati!
“Eat, Pray, Love” would be another. Not that I saw it or anything…
Will‘s got next.
Burt — totally off topic: Have you ever read Faulkner’s Mountain Victory? It’s a brilliant story set just after the Civil War, in East Tennessee.
No. I’ll add it to my reading queue on your suggestion.