DIAMOND DOGS (Shimon Dotan & Dolph Lundgren, 2007)

[Moltisanti]

I would have thought it would hit the top 50 but maybe coming out the same day as HERO WANTED, which has 2 bigger stars than Lundgren, took a big bite out of DIAMOND DOGS' numbers.

Another factor could be that Lundgren did no publicity or interviews to hype up DIAMOND DOGS (with good reason) as opposed to MISSIONARY MAN which he hyped up as much as possible.

It'll be interesting to see if he does more publicity for DIRECT CONTACT. On paper it seems like something that will be of better quality than DIAMOND DOGS but since Lundgren didn't direct it he may not feel as compelled to do a lot of press for the film.

[Nathan]

Yeah well I expected the cover to sell. Perhaps it will scrape a place next week

[Jox]

from http://www.videobusiness.com/index.asp? ... calRenters

RANK TITLE (LABEL/DISTRIBUTOR) INDEX
1 HERO WANTED (SONY) 100.0
2 DIAMOND DOGS (SONY) 33.5
3 SNOW BUDDIES (DIS) 24.2
4 CHAOS (LG) 22.7
5 THE BACKWOODS (LG) 22.0
6 KNOCK KNOCK (LG) 17.4
7 SEANCE (LG) 14.5
8 CHRISTIE'S REVENGE (LG) 14.4
9 DR. DOLITTLE: TAIL TO THE CHIEF (FOX) 13.7
10 TOTALLY BAKED (VIVENDI) 12.2
Source: Rentrak's Home Video Essentials.
Rental charts are based on preliminary data provided through an exclusive arrangement with Rentrak Corp.�s Home Video Essentials. Point-of-sale transactions are collected weekly from 3,300 to 5,000 stores and online services and projected nationally. Titles are ranked by index, with the top title at 100 and all others listed as a percentage of the top title's rental revenue.

if this chart is accurate and, as they say "Titles are ranked by index, with the top title at 100 and all others listed as a percentage of the top title's rental revenue.",

and DD made 33,5% (1/3) of HW's revenue, then doesn't it mean DD still made more than $1,2 millions? maybe the data had not been collected for the Top50 chart... so it would be at #36

[Tom]

I do think the less people who see DD, the better really. I'm sure Dolph will do more Promo for DC and CP, and most likely they will be far better.

If anything what little Promo Sony did, ie the clips and trailer, for DD, probably had a negative effect. People might have watched them and avoided renting it.

Still it's strange that only one new DTV film made it into the charts this week.

[Nathan]

Jox, thanks for the information, whatever information about DD's success you can find out, please let us know as it really interests me, Thank You.

[Mosquito]

I do think the less people who see DD, the better really. I'm sure Dolph will do more Promo for DC and CP, and most likely they will be far better.

I'll see if I can get that final version and compare it to the kind of unfinished German version. Even that one had it's moments so maybe the other version is at least ok. Nothing can be as bad as The Last Warrior.

[Jox]

The German version is unfortunately the FINISHED one (same as the released US one), as the ulterior and new Dolph cut will not be released for some lame reason...

[Mosquito]

Uh... oh... ok. Too bad.

I've just finished reading the Gabriel Hershman article. It is indeed excellent. And he mentiones you, too! Plus, I've learned a few new words. It seems I'm not very erudite because I had never seen that word before.

[ironb667]

I am a huge Dolph fan, I own all of his movies. So of course I was counting down the days till Diamond Dogs was released. I am stoked that Missionary Man and Diamond Dogs and even the Russian Specialist were for sale at Best Buy, and Walmart. So I didn't need to order em online, like almost all of my other Dolph films. But, I must say Diamond Dogs dissapointed me almost as much as Agent Red and Detention. Whats so bad about the film is the ending. It showed such promise from the beginning. I liked the energy of the film although way up to the the audition that Chambers puts him through. It had some interesting moments, after that but the film lost whatever energy it had.
But what really cheeses me, was the crappy end finale. No energy and it was flat. Right when it picks up some momentum it kills it, with the worlds worst and unnessary stunt doubling. I mean the guy had red hair, Dolph was bald, how important was the guy that he couldn't shave his head. Plus the stunts were straight up rudimentary, I mean you learn those moves first week of any martial arts class. First day really. I hope what happened was Dolph just got fed up and did the days promised in his contract and refused to shot one day longer. Because I know dolph is old, but as I said, the physicality of what needed to be done, was simple. It reeks of Steven Seagal and I hope his new movies will never have this bad of doubling again.

[Jox]

FYI (you can read stuff about it in this very same topic), the shoot was a total nightmare and nothing you see is what it was supposed to be...

Dolph's (quick doubling) has nothing to do with age, and btw he's older but not old (unless you count in middle ages life hopes), and he still has the physical shape that a 35 year old would be lucky to have. And the double was one of the actors so he couldn't be shaved... and because of the situation the fights were blocked just before they were shot...

And he mentiones you, too! Plus, I've learned a few new words. It seems I'm not very erudite because I had never seen that word before. Wink

Haha yeah...
I guess the word "erudite" is more commonly used by us "frogs"...

[ironb667]

FYI (And the double was one of the actors so he couldn't be shaved... and because of the situation the fights were blocked just before they were shot...

I knew the movie had troubles but what movie doesn't. I myself have shot ten short films and have worked on about twenty more. I used to want to be a filmmaker now its just an expensive hobby.
But, I digress, the point that I was trying to make was that the director and filmmakers were completely inept. I knew the guy was a actor in the movie, but I could swear one scene he wore a hat. So get a cheap red wig and put the hat on over it. Shave his damn head. Or better yet, use a angle were you can't tell the difference. Get decent coverage and fix it in post. I myself have choreographed many fight scenes and edited them as well. You can fix most of your problems in post production. It was just lazy incompetent film making.

[Jox]

I think confuse two different guys [one has a hat, the other doesn't]... The "fix it post" thing is totally overrated, especially when you no time or budget, and the most you get in the camera the better... Anyway, I think this was the last of issues on their minds when they did it, so it wasn't a matter of "let's do it right"`but "let's do it and get out"...

[Nathan]

I just got my copy of Diamond Dogs yesterday and have since watched it twice. My dvd was a nice one with a shiny holographic slip case, beautiful, beautiful..now onto the film..not so beautiful.

Actually the film isn't bad at all - sure its not one of his best and lets his recent standards in quality drop but I think its an interesting little action movie.

It has a good opening with Dolph fighting and is sufficiently violent. When I watched the trailers etc and clips it seemed Dolph and indeed Chambers were both really unlikable characters but Dolph shows in this first scene that he's actually a good guy who is up for a laugh.

I even liked the character of Chambers whose accent was slightly annoying but comical at times and I admit I was a little sad when he died.

The camera movements were not as annoying as I expected, because when I heard it was documentary-style film-making I admit I was a little unhappy to hear that but it was pretty good and the fights were well directed.

On the note of Dolph's stunt-double, yes it was one of the other guys in the film, in fact it was the guy who gets killed driving the truck and it falls off the cliff and explodes. First time viewing I never noticed a single stunt double for Dolph but upon second closer viewing I could see Dolph was sometimes doubled slightly uneccessarily. My eyes are quite skilled in picking out doubles so either I was drunk upon first viewing or actually they did a good job of hiding it.

I didn't expect any footage in the urban environment but what was there seemed to upgrade the film and it looked pretty..well..not as cheap as people made out. Overall a nice little movie, not his best, not his worst but I enjoyed it all together... couple of questions now..


How much was Dolph payed for the movie and if this was added to the budget how much was spent overall?

Why wasn't Dolph's cut used?

How long in days did they have to shoot this movie?

[Jox]

I didn't expect any footage in the urban environment but what was there seemed to upgrade the film and it looked pretty..well..not as cheap as people made out.

I'm not sure I get your reasoning: you can shoot any city with your own digital still or video camera, does it make your home movie less cheap?

How much was Dolph payed for the movie and if this was added to the budget how much was spent overall?

Have no idea.

Why wasn't Dolph's cut used?

I was told it's because some people didn't want to pay for the additional editor, but it doesn't make total sense to me, or something else is missing... there might be political reasons behind this, but what's for sure is Dolph isn't happy at all... but the new cut was only meant to save the day, wouldn't have made the film it was on paper...

How long in days did they have to shoot this movie?

About 4 weeks, 18 hours a day, with fewest days off possible because the Chinese work like mad men and prefer to work until it's done rather having days off or breaks... The conditions for cast and crew were very bad, and not only because of the long hours...

[Nathan]

Don't ask me why I think that Jox, I can't really explain it, but just the busy crowds etc I think make it look more expensive as if they were extras, I know they aren't but I was just surprised because I thought this would be a very cheap film in the desert with no life or people or anything. But it wasn't..get me now?