The Iron Claw: Zac Efron and director Sean Durkin to film a movie about the Von Erichs

[Ricky Jackson]

Saw it this afternoon. Really liked it. The performances are great.  Flair wasn't as bad as I thought he would be, but definitely off. The guy playing Race was pretty good. Definitely up there with the Wrestler (Aronofsky version) but let's see if it reaches the heights (I assume) of I Like to Hurt People, which I'm watching for the first time on Sat with Johnny and the boys for Mystery Titans 

[flyonthewall2983]

This is the Hollywood version of the story. I don’t mean it as some sort of backhanded compliment, I think sticking as closely to the emotional beats as Kevin and the family experienced them, gives it a bit more license to embellish or in this case obviously eliminate.

More to the point I was surprised at how little I was taken out of this despite what I know, more because of what I didn’t know that would of course be revealed as throughout as private family moments. And just as someone who watches movies about families, the great ones always speak to some truth you only alone thought possible. 

This is a very good movie. Nolan’s gonna clean house awards season so I don’t think this has much chance except to give Efron a shot at more mature material in the future. I’d really like to see Tierney and McCallany (anyone remember the FX show he did as a boxer, Lights Out?) get some heat from this.

[WrestlingPower]

@kev72 and I went to see this a few days ago.  Amazing casting and it was very good but depressing as expected.  I was kinda amazed at the eye for detail on some stuff which made the Flair thing a bit more glaring but since I was expecting that I didn’t think it was too egregious.  I liked the easter egg type details in there that only someone that truly knew the story would know what they were seeing such as Kevin passing a car on the road, I instantly knew that was David Manning going to tell Fritz about David though none of that was spelled out.  The only thing I thought might be total fiction was them laying Kerry’s body out on the table.

I think my favorite part was how much they humanized Mike as I don’t think many people really knew much about him.  I think seeing it all play out kinda drove home just how young these guys were succumbing to all this pressure.  I can’t even imagine what a non-wrestling fan that just happened to want to see a Zac Efron movie thought of it all.  Talk about grim.

[Ricky Jackson]

Box office up to $18.2 million as of Monday, so holding up quite well. The Wrestler grossed nearly $45 million (about $4 million more than Fighting with my Family), and Iron Claw hasn't had an international release yet, so solid chance it takes the wrestling flick BO record when all is said and done

[KawadaSmile]

Yeah, it'll take around a month before it airs over here in Brazil. I take it "international release" also includes Canada?

[DMJ]

I'm not 100% sure it will catch The Wrestler, though, it's possible if the international market is big and if they continue to make 2-3 million every weekend for the next several weeks. The domestic gross for The Wrestler was $26m according to Box Office Mojo, so they're still about $8 million shy of that in the states. 

The Wrestler also existed in a world where movies weren't available for streaming within a few months of their theatrical release. Per A24's deal with HBO Max, Iron Claw already has a streaming home but no date yet, though it could be as soon as 5-6 weeks from now.

While not an A24 production, The Holdovers, a movie with even more Oscar buzz and, for cinephiles, the pull of being an Alexander Payne movie starring Paul Giamatti, is already streaming on Peacock. That movie saw wide release in early November, meaning that it was only really in theaters for 7-8 weeks, and topped out at $20m.

Though Iron Claw could hang around in theaters longer, if it is on a similar timetable, it will be streaming by mid-February and the closer we get to that date, the more the remaining marketing for the film will skew towards advertising it as an HBO MAX "watch from home" exclusive. I know, personally, the window for me to see it in theaters was during winter break and I didn't find a time to do it. As an HBO MAX subscriber, though, I'm excited to watch it around my approaching 40th birthday.

[Robert S]

Just checked, the official distributor of The Iron Claw for Austria does not even list a release date (interesting because it is already out in Germany). IMDB lists mid-February or early March for a bunch of European countries. I would assume if the movie does not get some kind of Oscar push, it will get a very limited-only releases in most markets (e.g. I checked if there any German cinemas relatively close to me that would show it and no luck, the closest one I could find is in Munich, something like a 2h drive away; it's also not dubbed which limits the scope of the release further).

[Ricky Jackson]

2 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Yeah, it'll take around a month before it airs over here in Brazil. I take it "international release" also includes Canada?

Canada counts as part of US box office #s

[flyonthewall2983]

https://shop.a24films.com/products/the-von-erichs-zine

[Blehschmidt]

Kevin and his boys are now hitting the online autograph signing circuit.

75 bucks a pop for Kevin, and 60 for a duel signed Ross & Marshall.

[El-P]

22 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

75 bucks a pop for Kevin, and 60 for a duel signed Ross & Marshall.

Now that's some old-school carny shit. 

[Robert S]

On 1/9/2024 at 12:44 PM, Blehschmidt said:

Kevin and his boys are now hitting the online autograph signing circuit.

75 bucks a pop for Kevin, and 60 for a duel signed Ross & Marshall.

They should try to sell autographed pictures of Fritz, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris (like Fritz did after David's death).

[flyonthewall2983]

No Oscar nominations

[Ricky Jackson]

And it seems the box office has likely slowed too much for it to challenge The Wrestler's record. I'm not sure how wide its international release has been so far though

[Makai Club #1]

It's about to come into cinemas in the UK. And it seems like it's got the most advertising from my local cinema. So it should do well. 

 

As for Oscar noms, it's a very strong year. It was gonna struggle, especially without the big name director behind it.

[KawadaSmile]

No excuses for fucking Maestro getting a nod, tho.

[JRH]

And here's an endorsement that may at least help give the film some more attention:

 

https://people.com/adele-says-the-iron-claw-was-her-favorite-movie-of-2023-blown-away-by-zac-efron-8546957

[NotJayTabb]

Saw this last night as it's finally hit UK cinemas, and thought it was excellent. The in ring scenes are really well done, and I thought Holt McCallany did an incredible impression of Fritz's in-ring movements. One thing I think the film did really well was get across Mike's story, and how his arc was probably the most tragic of the brothers (bar Jack Jr). The scene at his gig, with the brothers all happy and Mike taking the spotlight on stage, is really tragic when you know what is coming up.

[C.S.]

"The Iron Claw" just became available to purchase for $19.99 on digital platforms such as iTunes and VUDU, and probably Amazon and others.

The price will inevitably go down eventually, but if you want to see it now, it's there.

[NintendoLogic]

5 hours ago, C.S. said:

"The Iron Claw" just became available to purchase for $19.99 on digital platforms such as iTunes and VUDU, and probably Amazon and others.

The price will inevitably go down eventually, but if you want to see it now, it's there.

Cool, thanks for the heads-up. I checked, and it is indeed available on Prime Video for that price. I got a $25 Amazon gift card for secret Santa at work, so I might as well use it on this.

[Dooley]

I really enjoyed this. Obviously, they messed around with the chronology a bit, that's to be expected for pacing.

Kudos to the casting director for finding a really good Harley Race and a comically bad Ric Flair.

All the main characters did well in their roles and it was nice to see Maura Tierney again, who I hadn't seen for a while.

I think the brothers' reunion scene was meant to be Kevin's fantasy as he was looking down at Kerry's body. In Kevin's mind, Kerry was rowing up the river Styx (you even saw him laying out the tip) and was crossing over to be with the rest of the brothers.

Agreed on Mike being given more depth than the pro wrestling story usually gives him. That was a nice addition. 

All in all, a really well done film.

[Outsider]

I just skimmed through the movie.... I just just couldn't take it seriously. Zac Efron did a great job.  But he should have played Kerry. Kerry was the mega star of the family. They still could have told Kevin's story. J.A. White who played Kerry looked like a total weirdo. Horrible actor. I know Hollywood is giving him a "big push" but wrong dude to play Kerry. Kerry handsome with chiseled features. Not a short weirdo. Maybe they had budget issues but still they could have cast better. The dude who played Harley Race looked great. 

[donsem43]

If you live in Canada, this is now available to stream for Amazon Prime Video subscribers. A Google search says that it is now available in the U.S. on Max.