Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[jvcarroll]

Hey... what was that estimate of what the Lego movie would make over the three day weekend? Like 40 Mil? They made 50 mil on the two day. This film is exceeding expectations. They were right to plan a sequel before it was even released. I kinda just don't know how they'd do it given the..... well, if you saw it, you know.

It's almost at the $200M mark world wide. It's strange that they didn't play it in more theaters opening weekend, but that hasn't seemed to slow it down.

 

[charlietheowl]

Saw The Lego Movie today. I thought it was really good, if really bizarre, and I didn't see a lot of it coming. Loved the voice cast, they all did great jobs.

One thing I didn't like was the preview for Planes 2: Fire And Rescue. I have never seen an animated movie look so self-important than what they're trying to do with that one. At times, the preview resembled a commercial for the national guard. Awful.

 

[AlittleMayhem]

Didn't the first Planes come out, like, months ago? How is there a preview of the sequel already?!

 

[mr3urious]

Didn't the first Planes come out, like, months ago? How is there a preview of the sequel already?!

Disney desperately wants this to be a thing, seeing as how successful Cars was for them.

 

[charlietheowl]

"THEY FLY IN....WHEN OTHERS FLY OUT"

 

[Oscarfan]

Boo.

 

[AlittleMayhem]

"THEY FLY IN....WHEN OTHERS FLY OUT"

That must be the most unfitting music I have ever heard in a trailer ever.

And the idea is stupid.

 

[Twisted Tails]

Disney desperately wants this to be a thing, seeing as how successful Cars was for them.

LIES! ALL LIES! DON'T LISTEN to these corporate MONKEYS.

 

[Drtooth]

(Slams head on Desk)

Ugh... listen. I know Pixar's inner studio politics has pushed Good Dinosaur back a year, but really?! I thought they were going to dump this crap on home video for the 4 year olds who would actually get enjoyment out of them. I get that they have a film ready in Good Dinosaur's place, but Planes was a critical and commercial non-success (it barely made back it's budget... even Turbo made its money overseas). The toys aren't selling... I don't want to say this is a Ken Vesslman level of complete and utter obliviousness of the crappiness of a franchise, but...

All I'm saying is, say what you will about Cars, at least they were enjoyable, if juvenile. Planes is Jabberjaw to Cars's Scooby-Doo. And you do not see Jabberjaw getting a revival series every 3-5 years and 2 movies a year. Not only are they trying too hard to make this a thing, but they're pushing over things that ARE a thing to make more room for this non-thing.

I was going to say "at least the sequel can't get more cliche than the first one" but MAN, am I wrong.

 

[jvcarroll]

(Slams head on Desk)

Ugh... listen. I know Pixar's inner studio politics has pushed Good Dinosaur back a year, but really?! I thought they were going to dump this crap on home video for the 4 year olds who would actually get enjoyment out of them. I get that they have a film ready in Good Dinosaur's place, but Planes was a critical and commercial non-success (it barely made back it's budget... even Turbo made its money overseas). The toys aren't selling... I don't want to say this is a Ken Vesslman level of complete and utter obliviousness of the crappiness of a franchise, but...

All I'm saying is, say what you will about Cars, at least they were enjoyable, if juvenile. Planes is Jabberjaw to Cars's Scooby-Doo. And you do not see Jabberjaw getting a revival series every 3-5 years and 2 movies a year. Not only are they trying too hard to make this a thing, but they're pushing over things that ARE a thing to make more room for this non-thing.

I was going to say "at least the sequel can't get more cliche than the first one" but MAN, am I wrong.

Planes did okay and the movie promotion helped to fan home video sales. The sequel makes complete financial sense. However, I believe that it's being is a blight on the Disney legacy of quality animated films. I caught the first film while actually on a plane going from Houston to San Francisco. Here's my brief 1-star review: A charmless made-for-tots movie with an impressive animation budget.

I think Disney should have shelved this one for the sake of appearance after Frozen beat the pants off of all the offerings from Pixar and Dreamworks last year and even edged out the runaway train that was Despicable Me 2.

At least (in households without toddlers) Planes 2 will likely and easily be forgotten.

Right now I'm focusing on Disney's other films for 2014.

Muppets Most Wanted (it looks good and I hope it's a hit)
Captain America: Winter Soldier (strong brand, great preview)
Maleficent (I have hopes for this, but it could go either way)
Guardians of the Galaxy (this will likely be the film to beat)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (strong brand)
Into the Woods (people have anticipated this film for years)

and then there's these sort of sleeper films that tend to fare well enough at the box office:

Million Dollar Arm (a smaller film about youth athletics starring John Hamm)
McFarland (a smaller film about youth athletics starring Kevin Costner)