# steven seagal movie-why no publicity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720 "2002-12-01T02:27:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/1 "2002-12-01T02:27:17Z")
i saw the steven seagal movie, something half dead or something like that…i thot it was great entertainment, if you like him! mindless, and full of triteness, but it was more fun for an adventure movie than i have experienced in a long time. if i hadn’t gone to theater looking for something else i would never have known that he had one out. what’s the deal? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/2 "2002-12-01T02:31:45Z")
Low budget? Or no money left in the budget for advertising. There was a couple of commercials. When I first saw it, I thought it was Jim Belushi. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/3 "2002-12-01T02:36:01Z")
that’s pretty funny! (the belushi thing, that is) ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/4 "2002-12-01T02:43:47Z")
I dunno, I’ve seen plenty of commercials for it, and there are ads for it all over the place (buses, trains, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/5 "2002-12-01T02:52:35Z")
Um, because the movie sucked? No, seriously, because it sucked. Also Seagals days as a “_movie star_” are far behind him. That being said I did see MTV flogging it semi-unmercifully, but that is because Ja Rule is a co-star in the flick. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/6 "2002-12-01T02:56:05Z")
well, yeh, i thot that ja rule would buy it SOME bona fides. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/7 "2002-12-01T02:56:46Z")
It was all over the place here. But this is San Fran, and they made some of it here. ---
**Author:** ![deathawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@deathawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deathawk)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/8 "2002-12-01T03:20:38Z")
It seems to have followed the pattern of mid budget flicks that don’t open well & then dive at the box office. There was a decent amount of advertising leading up to the release, but it grossed less than $10 mill on the first weekend, and pretty much took a header after that. As this is not “hit movie” money, the studio pretty much will wait for video to spend anything more on it. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/9 "2002-12-01T07:43:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Low budget? Or no money left in the budget for advertising. There was a couple of commercials. When I first saw it, I thought it was Jim Belushi. In the mediocre Tim Allen movie _Joe Somebody_, Jim Belushi plays a washed-up martial-arts movie star that is an obvious parody of Stephen Segal. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/10 "2002-12-01T11:02:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WSLer \* > \*\*… Seagals days as a “_movie star_” are far behind him. > \*\* Segal was a movie star? Wow, there’s an tenuous statement if ever I heard one. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/11 "2002-12-01T11:13:34Z")
I saw the Ebert - Roeper review of this movie and it is a sad day indeed when **Roger Ebert** makes fun of somebody (hint, he’s in this movie) for being too fat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/12 "2002-12-01T11:47:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cheesesteak \* > \*\*I saw the Ebert - Roeper review of this movie and it is a sad day indeed when **Roger Ebert** makes fun of somebody (hint, he’s in this movie) for being too fat. 😃 \*\* Excerpt from his print review: \*Seagal’s great contribution to the movie is to look very serious, even menacing, in closeups carefully framed to hide his double chin. I do not object to the fact that he’s put on weight. Look who’s talking. I object to the fact that he thinks he can conceal it from us with knee-length coats and tricky camera angles. I would rather see a movie about a pudgy karate fighter than a movie about a guy you never get a good look at. \* Heh 🙂 For the rest go [here.](http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-half15f.html) ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/13 "2002-12-01T13:48:32Z")
You have to remember that movie ads are carefully demographically-targeted: if they’ve decidedthat a movie is mostly oging to appeal to left-handed girls between the ages of 12-14, they are going to advertise the hell out of it during TV shows (and other venues) that are supposed to appeal to left handed girls between the ages of 12-14, and not anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/14 "2002-12-01T17:06:48Z")
I think the perhaps Seagal’s legal problems with his alledgedly threatening reporters, witnesses and the like and his financial ties to the mob may have put the studio off a touch and they decided to not give it as much air play as they might normally. But that being said, when I was visiting a friend who has a teenaged son, who was watching television while we were visiting, I heard a couple of ads for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Fnoonf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Fnoonf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fnoonf)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/15 "2002-12-01T17:25:13Z")
It’s a Steven Seagal movie. If you were a Steven Seagal movie, would you _want_ publicity? Would you crave attention from the world at large, sporting a star that, for all of Hollywood’s valiant attempts to handsomize him, still looks like a walking fist with a ponytail? Would you besmirch the face of creation by injecting another worthless two hours of stupid, mass-produced entertainment into the cultural zeitgeist? Would you really, honestly _want_ to do that? So there’s your answer. The movie wanted out. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/16 "2002-12-01T20:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ninevah \* > \*\*Segal was a movie star? Wow, there’s an tenuous statement if ever I heard one. \*\* It’s not all that tenuous. He’s been the lead actor in quite a few movies; he’s even received above-the-title billing. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/17 "2002-12-01T21:39:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*It’s not all that tenuous. He’s been the lead actor in quite a few movies; he’s even received above-the-title billing. \*\* Yeah, but they were Steven Seagal movies 😛 They’ve been advertising the hell out of this movie around here. I’ve got Ja Rule saying “thass what I’m talkin bout” permanently imprinted on my eardrums from that goddam ad. I miss the days when a “Seagal” was a Seattle Seahawks cheerleader. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/18 "2002-12-01T21:52:13Z")
😃 Thing is, he’s going the way of Van Damme anyway - he’ll be doing direct-to-video releases sooner rather than later. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/19 "2002-12-02T19:25:08Z")
Sounds like Seagal needs to take lessons from [Sammo Hung](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hung+Kam-Bo,+Sammo). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720/20 "2002-12-02T20:05:09Z")
Actually Seagal has been condemned to direct to video for some time now. I was rather surprised when this thing (I’m hesitant to call it a movie) made its way to theaters. And yes, at one time Seagal was a “movie star”, but one of those who show up, are “hot” for a few years after their initial few successes, and then burn out in a pool of mediocrity. If you watched action movies in the early nineties you might remember how he was for a short period the Next Big Thing along with Jean Claude van Damme. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-seagal-movie-why-no-publicity/139720.md?page=2)