Ryan McNeil
As The Olympics unfold on the other side of the world, I can’t help but think back to happier times…and by “happier times” I mean back when Canada had more to look forward to than just top ten finishes. Take for instance 1996, when Donovan Bailey set a new world record and won the gold medal in the Men’s 100M.
Unbeknownst to some of my American friends, the American media actually started to get on our nerves up here. You see, it was at these same games that Michael Johnson won gold for the Men’s 200M…and many in the American media started calling him “The World’s Fastest Man”. The logic was, take Johnson’s time, divide it in half, it was faster than Bailey’s.
Um…no…that’s not how it works. Don’t change the rules mid-game and try to tell a new story.
I noticed a similar scenario with yesterday’s AP report about THE DARK KNIGHT finishing on top of the box office for another week. AP thought it poignant to note that while TDK is on track to take the second highest box office in North American history, it’s getting a big old boost from inflation. The story then goes on to point out that to really catch the two movies it’s in league with – TITANIC and STAR WARS ep. IV – it would have to do about another billion dollars.
Thanks for the info AP, but TITANIC and STAR WARS have never been The World’s Fastest Man…don’t start referring to them as such now.
For starters, movie success for some stupid reason, has always been measured by the money the movie takes, not butts in the seats. If you want to start measuring success that way, do so, but don’t use the lack thereof to fuel the backlash. And second – if you are going to drop a point like that into your story, get your facts straight. When you adjust for inflation, TITANIC isn’t even the all-time box office champ…GONE WITH THE WIND is, and by a healthy margin.
Shoddy reporting like this actually makes Access Hollywood look like hard news.