Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

Disney needs to come up with more original ideas, or at least a fairy tale retelling that doesn't change it up to be "modern". I would really like them to make 2D animated films like they used to, but that era is probably gone for good because of the CGI takeover.

Fairy Tales they changed up to be modern was something they've done since the beginning. Only Princess and the Frog really took it to a more contemporary setting.

The 2-D film era is "over" because they put too much stock into Princess and the Frog (which was released opposite The Chipmunks 2 and Avatar, but made a decent amount over the budget) and Winnie the Pooh (which they released the last Harry Potter film at the end of July, and they tarnished the franchise with preschool programming, scaring anyone over the age of 6 out of bothering), and they didn't make the huge amount of money they wanted them to make. Then again, they took a HUGE dive before with Home on the Range (their first last 2-D film to be made), and considered doing only CGI films until Chicken Little (the one that was supposed to launch that initiative) failed to do well with critics and audiences. Then Eisner was fired, Iger took the job, and they bought Pixar.

Planes was supposed to be nothing more than a DTV project, like the Tinkerbell movies. Somehow they wanted to see how it would do theatrically, but dumped it in the worst month. And I have to admit... the Turbo stuff was selling before the movie came out. I don't see any Planes stuff moving.

 

[KremlingWhatnot]

Looks like Disney's finally teaming up with Weinstein again, OH JOY! FINALLY! YES!
http://www.avclub.com/articles/disney-making-film-version-of-artemis-fowl,100930/

 

[Drtooth]

GROAN! Why can't those fat idiots go bankrupt already?

 

[Drtooth]

This article is pretty much how I feel about these *&^% jerks that say something is a "bomb" for not pooping out gold bricks

How can The Wolverine be such a "disappointment" when it's made far more money than any other of the "Disappointments" this year, and actually has a respectable amount for a late summer film. I swear, if this were March, they'd call it a super mega hit. Late July is now a Dump Month. It's official.

Not to mention the article also brings a fascinating point I mentioned before. How come it's only the domestic that matters? It already made back a little over its budget overseas.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

I think after the recent superhero opening amounts, any less amount is 'a flop'.

I don't know why the world cares so much about movies and the amount of money they make. It seems like all the emphasis on movies is the amount of money they make.
Why do we care? The Marvel shareholders definetley care, but for the rest of the world, why do we care so much about the money, and not the fact that if it's a good movie or not?
It seems that a lot of people won't see a movie becuase of it being a 'box office flop'.

Besides that, I think The Wolverine was opened at a terrible time, although that was probably one of the only available time that was far away from the other super hero films this year. (Iron Man 3, Man of Steel)
July 26th is practically August, and no movies are successful in August. Next years' Guardians of the Galaxy is dumped in August as well.

 

[Drtooth]

I think after the recent superhero opening amounts, any less amount is 'a flop'.

I don't know why the world cares so much about movies and the amount of money they make. It seems like all the emphasis on movies is the amount of money they make.
Why do we care? The Marvel shareholders definetley care, but for the rest of the world, why do we care so much about the money, and not the fact that if it's a good movie or not?
It seems that a lot of people won't see a movie becuase of it being a 'box office flop'.

Anything less is ALL you get this late in the year. And half its budget, plus over its budget world wide isn't terrible. Lest everyone forgets, it's summer, and a lot of film goers go during the middle of the week as well. Probably even opened at number 1, and it's still considered a disappointment because it's not pulling in Avengers' May money.

I agree exactly. The movie came out far too late for anyone to really give it the push it needed. It's a no brainer they didn't want it to compete with Iron Man 3 and MOS... but had they released it just after those films, it would have had a slightly better opening. Yet, if this were another non-Summer month, it would be considered a strong showing. Then again, the last Wolverine movie sucked, so I can see why there's hesitation.

But the point is, the film made its budget (though over seas). A flop loses money. Green Lantern had a bloated 300+ dollar budget and made back over half of it. THAT is losing money, that is a flop. I swear, these box office watchers are as bad as stock traders. Wolverine is going to have a decent enough weekend (anything else it makes back is gravy anyway), I'm sure Smurfs might have a strong weekend too as the first one was a huge surprise hit (which I'm fine with, as long as the retro merchandise keeps comin'). If Wolverine opened at 3rd place at 30 bucks or less, THAT would be a real flop.

 

[jvcarroll]

The Wolverine is faring okay and I think this was a pretty good time for it. It's not trying to be Iron Man, Dark Knight, Man of Steel or the Avengers with some city demolishing finale. It's a simpler story and a very well told one. I hope it picks up more money because I'd like to see more superhero films handled this way. Not every film has to directly tie-into or set up a future film. I will admit that The Wolverine does set up the next X-Men film, but they wait until after the credits have rolled (so stay in your seats).

On another note. Hank Azaria popped into the Daily Show last night and seemed rather dismissive of the new Smurfs film. This looks to be kid-only fare like the last one. Mer.

 

[Drtooth]

Hank Azaria is basically the only reason to even see these things. I hate how so many kid's movies feature actors there to cash a check and going through cruise control the entire film. Jason Lee sucked as Dave Seville, whoever played Jon Arbuckle sucked, and the guy who played Ranger Smith really really really sucked. If there's one thing I give the first movie credit for, it's that Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria actually emoted instead of trying very hard not to groan through the whole thing.

Wouldn't you know it? It's like the one time they have these human focus adaptions and the humans are better than the CGI creatures? Even Transformers doesn't have that.

I'm basically seeing it because... eh, I might as well. I've got nothing better to do. And it's still a better sight than the Smurfs singing Barbie Girl.

yep. They TOTALLY did that. Decades before the film. Far, FAR worse.

 

[robodog]

Smurfs singing Barbie girl? That's just.....I Don't even.....Why would they... Crap, I think my brain just imploded.

 

[Drtooth]

Smurfs singing Barbie girl? That's just.....I Don't even.....Why would they... Crap, I think my brain just imploded.

I remember back when the first Smurf movie came out, I was cussing and cursing its existence and thinking Belgium would be at war with us. Yes... reportedly the live action Asterix movies are crap. I've only seen the animated ones, so I don't know. The last live action Asterix won the European version of a Razzie. But they'd probably look better compared to an American Made Smurf movie.

Then I found that. THAT thing. Now, here in the US, the Smurfs were some dumb thing that came out of the 80's. In Europe, the Smurfs have always been around somehow. And that's not the only crap cover CD they released. My memory blanked out of how many there were.

Also, I read that the Hanna Barbera Smurf cartoon was to be...well, terrible. The Smurfs were to have been all different colors, look different, and all be tired pop culture caricatures (Jokey was supposed to be Harpo Marx, and not the Jokey we all know and love). Peyo put his foot down about it, thankfully.

My discovery of those two things (and the suck suck suckiness of Yogi Bear's dull cliche storm) made me very comfortable with the Smurf movie. I'm still disappointed that Paramount didn't make their better version of the movie... but those things just proved things can always be worse.