Montana Smith said:
Maybe a lot of people tuned in to see whether all the hype was true.
Since the plot elements can't be changed you have to go along with it, or miss out on a quarter of the Indy big screen experience. For those that intentionally avoided KOTCS at cinema and on DVD/blu-ray, the lure of a television airing could have been tempting (like secretly sampling forbidden fruit!)
kongisking said:
But, then again, big numbers aren't entirely indicative of quality. Remember the huge box office Transformers 2 did, and how great a movie that was?
While these could be valid interpretations, I'm not buying it.
4.7 million people tuned in to watch it just to finally give in? And wether or not the film was a masterpiece in the eyes of die-hard fans like us, those numbers seem to prove that there was a fairly large (read: majority) of cable viewers that chose to watch Crystal Skull over all the other programs offered across the cable networks at that time.
This just goes to further exemplify that despite the "conventional wisdom" that KOTCS was pure crap, it was a box-office smash hit, and continues to be popular over 2 years later.
What would be interesting data would be how many people actually stayed glued to their sets, and how many viewers dvr'd it, and how those numbers figure into the stats published in the article. Though it's just kind of splitting hairs at that point, and doesn't really change much of anything, if you think about it. The interest is there, and Indy remains a perennial favorite to even casual fans and simply people who like to watch movies in general.
This bodes well for all of us here, even fans that hate KOTCS with a passion. this sort of interest is the kind of thing that inspires companies like Lucasarts, Sideshow Collectibles, Lego, etc, etc, to continue to expand their lines. It proves beyond a doubt that there is an interest in the Indiana Jones franchise that goes beyond the
relatively few members of The Raven forums.
Now Montana, I know you're just airing out a theory, but I would like to respond to it a little more directly by saying that there were plenty of crap movies that have made it to the cable networks in the last two years that did not make these kind of numbers
One last thought on this is that the USA showing of KOTCS was the most watched film on cable since 2008, after it was one of the most watched films at the theater....in 2008. Not sure if there is any direct relation to that timeline, just something to consider.
All that said, this is coming from a fan (me) that has plenty of problems with the film, but can still see the good in it.