The co-producer of the Iowa based movie "The Final Season" says he was hoping for a more successful opening weekend, but believes the film will keep gaining an audience. Tony Wilson says his movie about the 1991 Norway, Iowa baseball team finished 20th in the weekend box office draw nationwide.
"You always hope you can be in the top 10," Wilson says, "but we feel like our movie is building and will improve." Tyler Perry’s "Why Did I Get Married?" was the top weekday draw, collecting $21.5 million. That was followed by "The Game Plan" starring The Rock and "Michael Clayton" starring George Clooney.
"So, we’re dealing with movies on over 2,000 screens and much bigger marketing budgets," Wilson said of the competition. "The Final Season" opened on 1,011 screens and collected $665,000 in it’s opening weekend. Wilson says the film did well in Georgia and Los Angeles, and was the number movie in a couple of theater chains in Iowa, "if not the entire state."
Some movie critics were hard on "The Final Season" prior to it’s opening. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called it "one big strikeout," while Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel labeled it "as corny as Iowa and as predictable as an intentional walk."
Wilson says: "The reviews on any movie are mixed, as were ours. I think the people that like a good sports movie, like a family movie, and a movie with good values – rated our movie accordingly." Wilson, who is from Dallas Center, Iowa, worked for 15 years to get the movie made. " The Final Season " stars Sean Astin and Powers Boothe and was filmed in eastern Iowa last year.