Identity thief is a crime comedy movie directed by Seth Gordon and officially released in 2013 (McCarthy, 2013). The movie essentially focuses on a man whose identity was stolen by a woman. Upon stealing the identity of the man, the woman takes advantage of the man’s financial access to fund her sprees and extravagant lifestyle. Later in the movie, the man goes on the hunt for the woman who stole his identity that had cost him his reputation and financial stance of his family. This movie has since received both positive comments and negative criticisms, furthermore; the movie has realized way lots of sales apparent from the revenue streams, and it’s positioning and marketing in the marketplace. Compared to the movie entitled Horrible Bosses, which is also a comic movie, it is ostensible that the movie was successful in many apparent ways, though the production budget of both the Horrible Bosses and Identity Thief movie were $30 million, the domestic gross of Horrible Bosses movie stood at $117,538,559 while that of Identity Thief stood at $134,506,920. Additionally, the movie’s content is both comic and educative in a sense that it warns people about identity theft that may befall them anytime. Another factor that makes this movie a successful one is the notion that it led in February with an excellent performance of $97.7 million, it nearly beat A Good Day to Die Hard a movie that performed well upon its release (Box Office Mojo)
Despite the fact that this movie received negative reviews subsequent to its release, it is important to acknowledge the fact that the movie has realized quite a satisfactory amount of revenue streams compared to other films. To ascertain the fact that the movie experienced huge sales upon its release, the movie realized a total of $34.5 million of sales within the first week of its release (Movie Insider). This according to analysts was quite an incredible sale considering that it was released on a major winter storm where most of the moviegoers were locked inside their homes. In the second week of its release, the estimated comprehensive revenue streams of the movie was about $27.5 million a figure that was estimated to be a 20.5% drop of the revenues retrieved in the first week of its release (Movie Insider). After the movie was released, it remained at number one at the box office for quite a long time, this postulates that many people aspired to watch the movie because of one or two reasons. Arguably, the movie received quite a substantial amount of revenue arguably because it was released on a season that is not favourable for the moviegoers and that the aggregate sale response was quite impressive. In other significant financial reports on revenue streams of this movie, the movie realized a total of $134,506,920 at the domestic post office, $41,762,801 at the international box office, and $176,269,721 at the worldwide box office (McCarthy, 2013).
Prior to the release of this movie, the producer had a target audience in mind. In the movie Identity Thief, Diana, who is the thief, steals Sandy Patterson identity as well as his credit card information, which she uses in withdrawing cash from his bank accounts and squander it. Diana simply tricks Sandy Patterson, who happens to know nothing about the consequence of availing his vital information to strangers or untrustworthy people. This is to alert people that identity theft is an up-growing trend as well as crime, which is becoming more varied and popular currently. The movie aims at warning everyone, who may be at the verge of giving his or her personal data or information to strangers, who in return uses it to steal something from him or her. This movie aims at enlightening every person across the globe since each person has some personal or confidential data or information that could be used to steal identity and money among other benefits. The movie also targets consumers since they need to be aware of scammers, who usually seek to retrieve more vital information from them. The movie aims at making people aware of people who can pose as bank agents and other financial agencies in order to acquire critical information. Therefore, the movie’s main target audience is simply every person especially those people, who are working. The identity thief may also target things such as people’s email addresses, phone numbers, bank information, social security number, Facebook account password and other crucial information. For instance, Diana called Sandy Patterson posing as an agent; hence he ended up giving all the critical information to an identity thief.
Consequently this movie received both negative and positive reactions form the movie lovers and analysts. From a wide-ranging view point, this movie received negative reviews from many people. The reception was due to the negative reviews that resulted from the critics. It usually holds 19% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes, which was mainly based on about 160 reviews. Here, the site’s consensus primarily is that the identity thief manages to stir some laughter, which are attributable to Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. These two characters labour greatly in order to create a framework of the entire movie’s undisciplined plotline. However, despite this effort, the movie has only managed to score a 35% rating, which indicates unfavourable reviews (Metacritic). For instance, Rex Reed was among those people who gave a negative review made the remarks in reference to Melissa McCarthy’s weight. Reed referred to Melissa McCarthy as a tractor-sized, humongous, hippo and obese. Moreover, the film critic Richard Roeper indicated that the movie is just smacks of the mean-spirited name-calling especially in the lieu of the genuine criticism. Another review on twitter by Paul Fieg, who actually participated in directing McCarthy in the film Bridesmaids and The Heat, wrote that He cordially invites Mr. Rex Reed to go and screw himself for his insulting remarks towards McCarthy. Many people appeared to be irritated by Reeds remarks as they saw them as very insulting and discriminating as well as despising. Despite this reviews, the movie managed to earn about $34.5 million in its first week, which appears to be a remarkable start (Metacritic). This only implied that the reception of the movie was above average by the first week of its release. The movie continued to receive positive reviews from various people as time went by.
Identity Thief is an R- rated movie, in the market, which has a strong moral character. The movie is rated at a maximum of our stars (Comingsoon.net). This is because it has a lead character who is the hardworking husband, who aims to do the right thing amidst a lot of difficulties. He is also a family man who is a nemesis to a criminal and agrees to face crime with a prison term. It is R-rated because of the foul language used in the movie, although it is sparingly used compared to other adult movies. It is also R-rated because of the outrageous sex scenes which are displayed; they are rather imaginative and not exploitative. The sex scenes are depicted with graphic positions, nudity and ridiculous facial expressions. The characters are also not shot in a bloody mess, but they are shot in the toes, shoulders and calf.
Identity Thief can be considered as being well positioned in the box office success. It has a relatable premise which is unique and humorously, clearly articulated, through the marketing campaign and universal pictures. Identity Thief virtually has no comedy competition. Additionally, McCarthy’s wild identity and the interaction of Jason Bateman, who is a businessman is a mismatch which is broadly appealing combination to most audiences. This makes the movie a great choice for a date anytime. McCarthy was also an Oscar nominee in 2011, in the Bridesmaids, hence has established a fan base. Therefore, the fan-base always turns up to see how well she fares in her different roles.
Also, the director, Seth Gordon, who directed Horrible Bosses and Four Christmases, has shown improvement from his previous works (The Hollywood Reporter). He has staged action comedy scenes with hilarious characters. The secret weapon to the success of the movie can be seen in the script written by Graig Mazin, who provides touching lessons through redemption, and provides a tightly wound creating with perfect surprises.
Side effects movie and Identity thief the trailer came out the same day; however they took different turns, in terms of how they were advertised. Identity Thief flooded the market with promotions and a lot of TV spots. The film received a lot of reviews with negativity form different critics. Based on 160 reviews it holds 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie is rated to have a 35% score, which is not quite good, general, review.
For the movie to get to the customers, it had to be distributed by employing effective logistics. On the March of 2012 the movie was given a release date to be 2013, may 10th. In June 2012, the release date was changed to the 8th of February 2013 (Comingsoon.net). It was released in June 4th as a home release movie, by Stuber Productions, crime and comedy as the major themes and English as the language used in the movie. The film is distributed by Universal pictures and despite the negative reviews, Identity Thief, opened with $34.5 in the first weekend, and held the second spot in the second weekend, then resumed back to the first spot in the third weekend. Analysts considered this as remarkable due to a major winter storm which forces theatre closings in the Northeast, hence have a negative impact on film attendance. The overall earnings both in Canada, and the United states were down last year due to the re-issue of the phantom, menace of star wars 3D, which had big openings.
In conclusion, it is apparent that the movie had good reception though some perceived the movie in a negative way. Ensuing the huge amounts of revenue streams within the few weeks of its release, it is important to acknowledge that the moviegoers on an aggregate scale loved the movie. The movie’s main target audience are those who are working. The identity thief may also target things such as people’s email addresses, phone numbers, bank information, social security number, Facebook account password and other crucial information. Ensuing the great performance of the movie Identity Thief subsequent to its release, producers are likely to produce more of such movies fundamentally because the combination of crime comedy came out exemplary (The Hollywood Reporter). Additionally, the characters in the film were best suited for their roles.
Works Cited
Box Office Mojo. Identity Thief. 2013. Web. 17 March 2014. Accessed from
http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3641&p=.htm
Comingsoon.net. Identity thief. 2013. Web. 17 March 2014. Accessed from
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=81067
McCarthy, T. Identity Thief: Film Review. 2013. Web. 17 March 2014. Accessed
Movie Insider. Identity Thief. 2013. Web. 17 March 2014. Accessed from
http://www.movieinsider.com/m7076/id-theft/
Metacritic. Identity thief. 2013. Web. 17 March 2014. Accessed from
http://www.metacritic.com/movie/identity-thief
The Hollywood Reporter. Identity Thief: Film Review. 2013. 17 March 2014. Accessed
