Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Muppet Master]

WOW... Sony has moved Spider-Man 3 to 2018. Just WOW. I know the reaction for the last one was bad, but really... 4 years for the next one. And there was talk of abandoning it all together.

What's stranger is that they also left spiderman 4 for the same year, what the heck!

 

[Drtooth]

There's clearly not going to be a 4. Sony's clearly just making these films at this point because otherwise, they'd revert to Disney. I bet Sony desperately wants to do a re-reboot, but frankly, I think it's ridiculous to give up because the second of this series was a disappointment. Look at Iron Man. The second one of those was somehow bad for some reason, and the third one got a very good reception... well, unless you count the 40 year old comic book purist fanboys who were angry The Mandarin wasn't a racist Chinese caricature.

 

[Mynameisdean]

I don't know... Spiderman 3 would probably suck, and people wouldn't see it because the 2nd one was bad. Plus, it will probably be toyetic. It isn't my problem though, I am not a superhero fan. I'm just giving my take on it.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think that movie goers would avoid the third movie because of the second in droves. Didn't IM3 make more than IM2, anyway? There is that fear that some will avoid the film as a result, but we're talking about the company that was going to make a Spider-Man 4 after the horrible reception of Spider-Man 3. Raimi was the only reason it wasn't made, and a reboot seemed logical. Spidey 3 did make money, and so didn't Amazing Spidey 2 (which pretty much made back its budget before it premiered in the US).

This puts them in an awkward spot. Delay the third film to get a better script and put some more time and care into it, reboot the franchise again, or give up the cash cow franchise to Disney. If 4 years equals a stronger script, so be it. But 4 years is quite a wait for a sequel these days.

 

[Mynameisdean]

I say just give it to Disney. So what, Sony? Can't you just make a new Blockbuster Franchise? They could do that, just instead of Spider-Man or another Franchise that already exists, make a fresh and exciting new one! It will make money and do good in the Box Office. But, they could fail...

 

[jvcarroll]

WOW... Sony has moved Spider-Man 3 to 2018. Just WOW. I know the reaction for the last one was bad, but really... 4 years for the next one. And there was talk of abandoning it all together.

That was a good film (but not great as evidenced by the far superior Captain America sequel that came out a month prior). Amazing Spidey 2 was overstuffed and unfocused. They also did a lot of things right. The chemistry of the lead actors and the resolution in the end were both pitch-perfect.

It made less than its predecessor but it did recoup its budget at the domestic box office. It reached over 200M here and over 700M worldwide. That's a hit by any standard. It's just not quite what they predicted. The one real drawback was the absence of one compelling villain. They were all flatly drawn characters. Adding more of them didn't help.

I think pushing the third installment behind the Sinister Six movie is a good movie that says less about Spidey and more about a desire to explore the world beyond Aunt May and Mary Jane. That's something to get excited about (and, let's face it, it sells more toys). The complainers of the reboot have less to complain about now. Raimi's Spider-man was compelling, but he did a great disservice to the villains. An all-villain movie is just what the franchise needs. And then, of course, we'll get the Venom movie that Sony's been wanting to do for years.

 

[jvcarroll]

I say just give it to Disney. So what, Sony? Can't you just make a new Blockbuster Franchise? They could do that, just instead of Spider-Man or another Franchise that already exists, make a fresh and exciting new one! It will make money and do good in the Box Office. But, they could fail...

Why would Sony want to give up a cinematic property that grosses between $706 million to $890 million worldwide? It's a license to print money! While I'd prefer Disney own the movie rights, I can't blame Sony for keeping a death-grip on Spidey.

 

[Mynameisdean]

Why would Sony want to give up a cinematic property that grosses between $706 million to $890 million worldwide? It's a license to print money! While I'd prefer Disney own the movie rights, I can't blame Sony for keeping a death-grip on Spidey.

That's the thing. I know they never will, I just hope they do.

 

[Drtooth]

That was a good film (but not great as evidenced by the far superior Captain America sequel that came out a month prior). Amazing Spidey 2 was overstuffed and unfocused. They also did a lot of things right. The chemistry of the lead actors and the resolution in the end were both pitch-perfect.

Which was exactly my problem with the movie. They tried to do too many things in one film, because their Amazing Spider-Man plans are pretty ambitious. They wanted to make this more than just a franchise of Spider-Man films, trying to work with the characters they have ownership of. So they had to shove the origins of too many villains into one movie. If they focused on Baxter Stockman...errr... Electro and didn't shove focus to Green Goblin and tack on that Rhino bit at the end, the film would have been a bit more streamlined. Goblin should have been saved for the third film. I liked how they introduced the character, I like how his origin was completely in a different direction than the Raimi films, but it just seems that a whole film focusing on that would have worked better than squeezing him in near the end.

And seriously... That Rhino thing was pointless. And cartoonish.

Of course, my other problem with the movie was the inconsistent tone. It's like the writers took the small amount of criticism about the last film being too dark and brooding to heart, and lightened it up in the wrong places. Like the cartoonish German scientist. They really had that in there.

 

[jvcarroll]

Which was exactly my problem with the movie. They tried to do too many things in one film, because their Amazing Spider-Man plans are pretty ambitious. They wanted to make this more than just a franchise of Spider-Man films, trying to work with the characters they have ownership of. So they had to shove the origins of too many villains into one movie. If they focused on Baxter Stockman...errr... Electro and didn't shove focus to Green Goblin and tack on that Rhino bit at the end, the film would have been a bit more streamlined. Goblin should have been saved for the third film. I liked how they introduced the character, I like how his origin was completely in a different direction than the Raimi films, but it just seems that a whole film focusing on that would have worked better than squeezing him in near the end.

And seriously... That Rhino thing was pointless. And cartoonish.

Of course, my other problem with the movie was the inconsistent tone. It's like the writers took the small amount of criticism about the last film being too dark and brooding to heart, and lightened it up in the wrong places. Like the cartoonish German scientist. They really had that in there.

Rhino was done right, I think. It was nice to see a character that was already in the world yet didn't have much to do with the story. It's Goblin that was tacked on. They should have kept Harry, but nixed the transformation. I agree with that.