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[Brigandier]

Monkey newssssssss is absolute gold

The Formula 1 Driver is probably the best one

 

[DKehoe]

Monkey newssssssss is absolute gold

The Formula 1 Driver is probably the best one

The bank robbery one has always been a favourite of mine.

 

[FatallyYours]

Monkey newssssssss is absolute gold

The Formula 1 Driver is probably the best one

The bank robbery one has always been a favourite of mine.

Construction worker or the Olympic tobogganist are the peak monkey news for me. Apart from the original Olly of course. Fucking banana machine in a Saturn V rocket

 

[Clear]

Well fuck. Trailer sold me.

I totally get why this would tank at the BO, but its such an endearingly loopy idea - It really feels like a throwback to the sort of thing you'd get in the 70's.

One to watch on streaming. Likely quite soon!

 

[Kenneth Haight]

So dumb

 

[FeralEcho]

The only reason I even remember this guy is because his name is so similar to the legendary Robin Williams.

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

Who gives a shit about this has been. He's not big enough and interesting enough to have a biopic anyway.

 

[WhamBamThankYouMaam]

I can’t even begin to imahine whomwould want to see that movie? Robbie Williams was big in Europe, sure. Europe has twice the amount of people of the US, alright.

But I fail to see the target demographic for this, and …a MONKEY?

 

[Sophist]

Robbie Williams is a good singer who had a huge come back in the 2000's after recovering from a drug addiction but he has gone under the radars for so many years now.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Why wouldn't it bomb?

The guy was never big in America.

In some ways, not knowing who he is could be a good thing. I reckon you should be able to convince people to go see a film if it's a good film. I don't have any interest in Bob Dylan, but I might go see the Timothee Chalamet movie that's about him. I watched the Anvil movie despite having no interest in their music, etc.

I think the film has been met with generally decent reviews, I don't personally care about seeing it because I actively don't really like Robbie Williams, but if I didn't know who he was, I might have been tempted to watch it.

I wonder if it might have done better if the movie didn't mention Williams at all, and they had just created a character to hang the story on, changing the names of everyone and just having plenty of people know exactly who's who, but have it go unsaid.

 

[Bert Big Balls]

Angels was pretty good. Probably his best song, I think most people in the UK would be able to sing along with that.

It's weird how some artists never really cross the Atlantic. Going the other way, I like a bit of country music and I know Garth Brooks is/was super famous in the States but I couldn't name a single one of his songs.

He also stole Angels from one of his friends who wrote it, so there's that.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Had to watch the trailer to see what this was. Seeing all of the big quotes praising the shit out of it, “Utterly Transformative”, “Five stars”, etc - and nobody gave a shit about it lol

 

[poppabk]

lol, I thought the same thing.
“Why is a cgi chimp playing Robin Williams in a biopic?”
“Oh, ROBBIE Williams……who the fuck is Robbie Williams?”

A chimp playing Robin Williams would make more sense - the guy was at least 50% chimp, definitely his forearms at a minimum.

 

[calistan]

He also stole Angels from one of his friends who wrote it, so there's that.

Of course he did, stands to reason that a song like that would have been written by some no-mark rather than by songwriters who went on to create other works of similar quality.

Kind of like how some random woman actually wrote the Matrix and the Terminator films.

 

[clarky]

Robbie Williams is a good singer who had a huge come back in the 2000's after recovering from a drug addiction but he has gone under the radars for so many years now.

Eh? Hes an average singer at best. "Overcome addiction" lol give me a break, most celebrities do that. Boo Hoo. It's part of the "Journey" normally involves a couple of weeks in rehab.

He's gone under the radar in the States and elsewhere because he's just not very good.

 

[clarky]

Of course he did, stands to reason that a song like that would have been written by some no-mark rather than by songwriters who went on to create other works of similar quality.

Kind of like how some random woman actually wrote the Matrix and the Terminator films.

Guy Chambers wrote most of his hits I believe, well "co wrote" lol. As soon as he got the boot, Williams faded back into the shadows crying.

I have never forgiven him for causing That That to split. If only he had some patience, just a little patience they could have ruled the world, shined on the greatest day and sung a million love songs together. Instead I hope I'm old before I die.

Never forget x.

 

[Bert Big Balls]

Of course he did, stands to reason that a song like that would have been written by some no-mark rather than by songwriters who went on to create other works of similar quality.

Kind of like how some random woman actually wrote the Matrix and the Terminator films.

I genuinely can't work out if you're agreeing or disagreeing lol.

 

[calistan]

I genuinely can't work out if you're agreeing or disagreeing lol.

Apologies, I was just being feebly sarcastic because I thought you were referring to the Irish dude who claimed to have written it and got paid some beer money to get lost.

 

[RCX]

> make biopic about singer who faded out of relevancy 15 years ago
> give them a 110 million dollar budget
> replace singer, literally the only reason people who care would watch the movie, with a CGI chimpanzee

What is this strategy called?

Money laundering. Its the only explanation.

 

[clarky]

Money laundering. Its the only explanation.

It really isn't. Everyone knows if you need to launder money of that size you just open a chain of sunbed shops or nail bars. No need to complicate matters with celebrities.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Is he the dude that had a music video where he became a skeleton?

 

[Bert Big Balls]

Apologies, I was just being feebly sarcastic because I thought you were referring to the Irish dude who claimed to have written it and got paid some beer money to get lost.

Yeah, I think that's who I was talking about. I saw some documentary or video on it a while ago. Williams comes across as the sort of twat who would have stolen it to be honest. Didn't really look into it much more though so not sure if it's bollocks or not!

 

[Alebrije]

Is he the dude that had a music video where he became a skeleton?

Yep

 

[RoadHazard]

I didn't know he's so unknown in America. He was huge here in Sweden for a while. Haven't heard of him in many years though, until this movie.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I first confused him with Robin Williams... I read it carefully and saw that it was the singer.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

It's not that he isn't known outside the UK as much as he is not good enough to be known outside of the UK.

I mean Sam smith even broke out to the US.

Who?

 

[SirKicksalot]

I didn't realise it's out in my country on Christmas week and by the time I checked, it was moved to smaller screens. I'd rather watch it on my TV. Shame.

 

[Bert Big Balls]

Construction worker or the Olympic tobogganist are the peak monkey news for me. Apart from the original Olly of course. Fucking banana machine in a Saturn V rocket

Just goes round from buildin' to buildin' just buildin'.

I've listened to the entirety of the RSK stuff probably 30+ times through and it remains to this day the best entertainment I've experienced in any form. Just pure genius.

 

[FatallyYours]

Just goes round from buildin' to buildin' just buildin'.

I've listened to the entirety of the RSK stuff probably 30+ times through and it remains to this day the best entertainment I've experienced in any form. Just pure genius.

"Chimp off the old block" - Karl Dilkington

 

[Trilobit]

So I skimmed this thread, but to my surprise I couldn't find his most popular song. And I think it's pretty good. But that's basically the only one I like.

 

[Dural]

Not a huge Robbie Williams fan, but definitely know a lot of his songs. I would have checked this out if not for the chimp, completely lost interest after seeing what they did. Did they think his biopic wouldn't get enough interest so they tacked that on to get people talking? WTF!?

 

[RCX]

It really isn't. Everyone knows if you need to launder money of that size you just open a chain of sunbed shops or nail bars. No need to complicate matters with celebrities.

Dont forget Turkish Barbers. My town has a shitload of them and, curiously, nobody ever seems to be in there getting a haircut. Yet "somehow" they all stay in business.

 

[dem]

He was sort of popular like... 25+ years ago in Canada...

Much Music pushed him on us, anyway.


Was he a thing in the States at all?

 

[12Goblins]

Construction worker or the Olympic tobogganist are the peak monkey news for me. Apart from the original Olly of course. Fucking banana machine in a Saturn V rocket

they really botched it with whatever terrible animation studio they used for their HBO show

these are so much better

 

[mitch1971]

MONKEY!!

 

[kruis]

Say what you want but Robbie Williams still got it.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

Believe it or not this guy is worth 300 million. Without selling a single record in the USA

 

[kruis]

Believe it or not this guy is worth 300 million. Without selling a single record in the USA

He's doing a stadium tour in Europe this year. He's in the same league as Rammstein, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and a handful of other bands/perrfomers.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

He's doing a stadium tour in Europe this year. He's in the same league as Rammstein, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and a handful of other bands/perrfomers.

Rammstein now that's a band I'd love to see before I die

 

[Walter Matthau]

I know who he is, but surprised they'd shell out $25m for this. They had to have known he doesn't really have a fanbase on this side of the Atlantic.

This might do ok on streaming. The quirky concept could help word spread and if enough people watch, his music could start to trend on Spotify and it starts to become a cyclical thing. Doubt it'll be able to recoup the full $25m.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Say what you want but Robbie Williams still got it.

Wait what does he got?

This is a psy-op right? Like Eurovision? Havin' a giggle at the Americans' expense innit?

 

[Clear]

I always find the sheer disbelief funny when Americans encounter artists that are only huge outside of the US. Its a big world guys, especially musically, and its entirely possible to have massive success globally whilst being considered one-hit-wonders in the states.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

He's doing a stadium tour in Europe this year. He's in the same league as Rammstein, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and a handful of other bands/perrfomers.

Not wishing to be damning, because he is undoubtedly massively successful, but he's not in the same league as those acts. I just looked at Robbie Williams' tour dates and it looks like most of his shows are arenas in Europe, not stadiums. A stadium is something like 2-10x as many people as you'll get in an arena. In the UK, Williams' most successful market, he is a big draw and can do multiple big shows on a tour, but the acts your mention will play stadiums everywhere, not just on home turf.

Not intending to put him down, because as I said he's massively successful to a level that barely any artists manage, but he's not at the elite level you're pitching him at. He's merely more successful than just about any British solo artist that emerged in the 1990s (a time that itself wasn't hugely receptive to solo artists, let alone ones who had left a boyband to go solo) and basically the only one I can think of that's still playing. He's massively successful and hugely popular. But he's never going to challenge Bruce Springsteen, practically an actual living legend.

 

[Toons]

I can't imagine they expected this to do hotcakes in the states. Im not sure I've ever even heard of this guy.

 

[Alcibiades]

Damn this was an incredible movie and experience. Watched it in Dolby Cinema.

Early in the movie I couldn't help but think how cool it was to see a movie take chances and do crazy weird shit but also have a great story and production values. Totally the opposite feeling of Wicked, which had great production values but was too sanitized and safe.

The movie is a bit of a therapy session and by the end I was crying cause maybe some of the themes hit a bit too close to home.

Sad to see it do so badly. I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea and we've all been conditioned on generic crap.

I never even actively listened to Robbie Williams and can't name a single song of his. I'm sure I've heard his stuff on the radio or TV, but this movie really moved me.

I also saw Nosferatu in Dolby Cinema right before this, which was great and all but this one had a bigger impact.

 

[HAYA8U5A]

I like Robbie Williams + Take That and I'm Canadian but like somebody else said Much used to have him in heavy rotation so maybe he was a bit more known here. Take That put on some fun live shows. Progress Live is one of my favorite concert Blu-ray when he reunited with them for a bit.



But even then I can't understand who thought there was a lot of demand for a Robbie Williams biopic with a monkey so not surprised it bombed at all. I'll watch it at some point though for sure.

 

[clarky]

He's doing a stadium tour in Europe this year. He's in the same league as Rammstein, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and a handful of other bands/perrfomers.

Same league and the Stones? Come on now.

Just about scrapes into the top 100 at 93. Done well for himself for sure but nowhere near in the same league as anyone in the top 20.

Top artists (daily update) - ChartMasters

The CSPC list is quite simply the most accurate, up to date list of best selling artists of all time available online. Click and enjoy!

chartmasters.org

 

[calistan]

I just looked at Robbie Williams' tour dates and it looks like most of his shows are arenas in Europe, not stadiums. A stadium is something like 2-10x as many people as you'll get in an arena. In the UK, Williams' most successful market, he is a big draw and can do multiple big shows on a tour, but the acts your mention will play stadiums everywhere, not just on home turf.

I'm going to start sounding like a Robbie Williams fanboy, when I've never bought a single one of his records, but I've looked at that tour schedule and maybe I just don't know what qualifies as a stadium in your eyes.

Some of them have 'arena' in the name, but it's almost entirely football stadiums and outdoor venues. Even when it is an actual indoor arena, it's not a small one (the photo below is the O2 arena in Prague, apparently Ricky Martin on stage).

And as for only doing multiple big shows in the UK, Germany seems to have one at the Munich Olympic stadium (77,000 capacity for concerts), one at Schalke 04's stadium (62,000 for football), one at Eintracht Frankfurt's stadium (58,000), and a couple of outdoor ones. Wikipedia out.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

I'm going to start sounding like a Robbie Williams fanboy, when I've never bought a single one of his records, but I've looked at that tour schedule

I was really tempted to say something about being in his fanclub, etc, but I wasn't confident it'd come across as light-hearted as I would have intended

Hands up, I guess I was wrong! I was honestly surprised when I looked the first time to see that he'd be big enough to play venues across Europe to 10k people, let alone, as it turns out, significantly bigger ones. Had I been asked, I would have guessed that he would be playing 5000 capacity venues!

I wonder if there's a narrative to be challenged about success in America being the benchmark. It's pretty crazy that despite him heading out on a tour that'll see him play to actual millions of people, I'd have no idea of that, but I definitely know that America isn't interested, having heard it repeatedly through the years.

 

[Clear]

I wonder if there's a narrative to be challenged about success in America being the benchmark. It's pretty crazy that despite him heading out on a tour that'll see him play to actual millions of people, I'd have no idea of that, but I definitely know that America isn't interested, having heard it repeatedly through the years.

A-Ha are a similar story, 100m records sold, have the record for the largest concert audience ever (198,000 at Maracana in Brazil in'91). Still going after 40 years. and pretty much thought of as the "Take On Me" one-hit-wonder in the US.