Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Jem and the Holograms movie pulled after 2 weeks

By +Alexa Rankin

Anybody who has visited the movie theater in the last week may have noticed (but probably didn't notice) that the 80's reboot, Jem and the Holograms was no loner playing, after Universal and Blumhouse Productions decided to pull the plug. It would have happened sooner if the theater were not contractually obliged to present the movie for a minimum of 2 weeks.

Renamed Jem and the Hollowgrams
A clip from the Jem and the Holograms movie

According to sources, the movie cost $5 million to make and has grossed a total of $2.2 million worldwide and which makes it the fourth worst performing (mainstream) movie ever! The movie's preview night saw a total take of $34,000 which averages out to $36 (or about 5 patrons) per theater. This is hardly surprising when you consider it was going up against blockbuster movies like The Last Witch Hunter, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, and Rock the Kasbah. 


We managed to track down one of the people who was there for the opening night, Sandra Blaine, who took her two teen daughters, Jem and Shana to the premiere. "I have been a fan of Jem and the Holograms since I was 9 years old," she told us. "I watched the TV series and had all of the dolls. I even named my kids after Jem and Shana from the show. We were all so excited for this movie and we lined up all night for tickets to go on sale."

"I was so pumped up that I didn't realize that we had the whole theater to ourselves, and then the movie started. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was like the watching the story of a female Justin Bieber, finding fame on YouTube and struggling with the sudden media attention. In the words of the original Jem it was truly outrageous. Truly truly truly outrageous."

Ermahgerd - Germ and the Herlergrerms
Even the mememakers are mocking Germ
The movie media have already panned the movie. Rotten Tomatoes rated it 20% based on 55 reviews, Metacritic had a score of 42 based from 15 critics and the popular press have been calling it 'Blah and the Hollowgrams'. Deceased movie critic, Roger Ebert might have said, "Two thumbs severed at the first knuckle and thrust deeply into my eyes."

Having watched the animated series Jem and the Holograms as a very young child, my interest was piqued by the announcement of the movie, but I never dragged myself to the theater to watch it, and now I am going to have to wait and see if Netflix are going to bother with it before I can make my own judgement.

A spokesman for Hasbro, makers of the original Gem and the Hologram dolls, has confirmed that following on from the success of the movie reboot, they will not be relaunching their range of dolls for the 2015 holiday season, meaning that they may have been considering it had the movie done better. Instead they are planning to launch a range of dolls under the brand, 'Gem and the Homophones', a female pop/rock band whose image is a clash of Glam and The Go-Go's.

Gem and the Homophones
A quick rebranding to dissociate from Jem movie
Have you seen the Jem and the Holograms movie? Do you remember the original Jem TV Series? Did you have any Jem dolls? Are you a guy and still reading this? Share your opinion in the comments section below.

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