Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Muppet fan 123]

Well, just our luck, I'd assume that Alexander and the Unremarkable, Overwrought, Cliche-ridden Raucous Family Comedy made a bundle over the weekend, and five sequels will be planned while Disney sits on the Muppets for failing to make a 100 million dollars opening second.

I can't find anywhere online that states that they're making a sequel of this garbage. Where does this info come from?

 

[Drtooth]

I can't find anywhere online that states that they're making a sequel of this garbage. Where does this info come from?

Understand sarcasm much? That's where the word "assume" comes in.

There's no plans for a sequel, thankfully. But Disney would stand to make more crappy throwaway family comedies that make no money anyway because that's what they do.

 

[jvcarroll]

That seems to be a one day, and this is a three day weekend. But hopefully it will make even less money in its first week than MMW. I'm not saying that's good enough proof for Disney to make another film right away, but just enough for A) the family box office overall has been terrible after Lego this year and B) for them to realize these sleeper family comedies aren't hugely profitable either, and they might as well use familiar characters who a movie can be made out of. They're not just going to release Frozen and Marvel movies, they have these throw away family comedies that only make money when the DVD's hit low price range. Maybe consider Muppet projects to fill that gap instead of buying the rights to a book to not actually use.

Optimistic, sure... but really, these kinds of movies are disposable.

While it's not my taste and I probably won't be seeing it, we should actually be rooting for Alexander seeing as it was produced by the Jim Henson Company. It's good to see them have this win as they were the ones who shepherded this film to fruition. It made over $19 million domestically this weekend on a budget of $28 million. That seems successful to me.

 

[Drtooth]

Ugh. It made half its budget back so far? It was that cheap to make? Well, that makes sense. I'd absolutely love to agree that JHC is behind this and we should root for it, but JHC can do better than a generic family comedy tossed off in October. If it's a Tusk situation, and they're only behind it to mine money out of it for better projects, I say go for it. If it builds up street cred for them to gain a business partner so they can actually make one of their hundreds of projects that have been "in development" forever, sure. But otherwise, this film is a bad fit for them, and they've been involved since Fox was going to release it. While Steve looks like he's legitimately funny in this film (and some critics find that the only bright spot), it just looks like the same frazzled family going through cartoony, idiotic obstacles to get closer that's been seen hundreds of times already (and frankly, is most of Disney's programming line up).

 

[jvcarroll]

Ugh. It made half its budget back so far? It was that cheap to make? Well, that makes sense. I'd absolutely love to agree that JHC is behind this and we should root for it, but JHC can do better than a generic family comedy tossed off in October. If it's a Tusk situation, and they're only behind it to mine money out of it for better projects, I say go for it. If it builds up street cred for them to gain a business partner so they can actually make one of their hundreds of projects that have been "in development" forever, sure. But otherwise, this film is a bad fit for them, and they've been involved since Fox was going to release it. While Steve looks like he's legitimately funny in this film (and some critics find that the only bright spot), it just looks like the same frazzled family going through cartoony, idiotic obstacles to get closer that's been seen hundreds of times already (and frankly, is most of Disney's programming line up).

Reportedly, Alexander (and the Perfectly Respectable Box Office) had been in development for a long time. I don't think a 66% fresh rating and a consensus of it being "affably pleasant" is anything to criticize. It's one of those films that serves a purpose. I wish Henson could get Fraggles, Power of the Dark Crystal or the Happy Time Murders into production, but it seems this is all they're allowed for the moment. While it's not ideal, it is a step forward. I think it's important to consider that their last film was released nine years ago and that was the massively disappointing MirrorMask. That makes this less of a step forward and more of a springy sort of jump forward. I still have no interest in seeing it, but it offers families something other than the usual young adult novels-turned-films and I guess that's a good thing.

 

[Drtooth]

I have a problem with kid's picture book movies. They made Shrek, and then that was the only enjoyable one. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was meh. It had some laughs to it (I rather like the part where Flynn is trying to get his father to work the computer properly, actually), but I don't think they improved the story by rationalizing it instead of the sweet little Grandfather tall tale of the original book.

And yes. Throwing away the book's storyline did give us great films like The Jungle Book and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But they're exceptions to the rule. I don't think Alexander inflicting the family with a bad day because of a Liar Liar style birthday wish is a major improvement over the original book. Not that I like the thing. It's basically about a kid feeling rotten and whining about it. But even that served a purpose for other young kids having a crappy day.

Yeah, if this is successful, maybe Henson will get some footing. On the other hand, Disney looks to make another low budget, throwaway family movie, we'll see more overwrought spastic families running around making dated references and less Muppets doing something far more entertaining. I know it's a stretch to connect the two, but they're both considered sleeper family comedies. I don't see what the point of dumping the franchise completely when they make crap like "College Road Trip" and "Prom" that doesn't make that much anyway.

 

[WalterLinz]

Eh. To me Alexander and the Terrible looked sort of funny in the commercials, but I think I'd rather rent it or something when it's released on home video if I feel like watching it.

 

[jvcarroll]

I have a problem with kid's picture book movies. They made Shrek, and then that was the only enjoyable one. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was meh. It had some laughs to it (I rather like the part where Flynn is trying to get his father to work the computer properly, actually), but I don't think they improved the story by rationalizing it instead of the sweet little Grandfather tall tale of the original book.

And yes. Throwing away the book's storyline did give us great films like The Jungle Book and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But they're exceptions to the rule. I don't think Alexander inflicting the family with a bad day because of a Liar Liar style birthday wish is a major improvement over the original book. Not that I like the thing. It's basically about a kid feeling rotten and whining about it. But even that served a purpose for other young kids having a crappy day.

Yeah, if this is successful, maybe Henson will get some footing. On the other hand, Disney looks to make another low budget, throwaway family movie, we'll see more overwrought spastic families running around making dated references and less Muppets doing something far more entertaining. I know it's a stretch to connect the two, but they're both considered sleeper family comedies. I don't see what the point of dumping the franchise completely when they make crap like "College Road Trip" and "Prom" that doesn't make that much anyway.

It is a stretch to connect the two. Disney did everything they could do to market the last Muppet film, but both of these films were released off season had similar openings, yet Alexander cost half the price and a much slimmer adverting campaign. This is not an issue of Disney. The blame lies with audiences. I wish it weren't the case.

I understand why fans of the book wouldn't like the movie. I have no desire to see it myself. But I can't fault a moderately well reviewed and nicely performing film with solid production values.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah. I honestly can't fathom why the Muppets weren't hip anymore, but Steve Carrel getting kicked in the crotch by a CGI kangaroo is endlessly hilarious. The audience sucks, sure. But Disney's going to see this as a huge success, and we'll no doubt see more of these awful family comedies. A lot more.

Seriously. This thing feels like one of those bad family movies Steve would have done at the start of his career. Similar to Will Ferrel's thing about soccer that could have starred anyone. Steve deserves better. His little indie projects are actually quite good.

Anyway, the Ouijia movie trailers started popping up on television. They couldn't be any less ironic if they tried. This movie could have been a nice little tongue in cheek thing, but it turns into a generic, teen friendly PG-13 (meaning the violence is toned way down) shlock horror film. I'd say something akin to an even worse Final Destination without the fun of a hard R's worth of violence. Now, I do like Hasbro and all. Transformers, no matter how bad the movies are make a fortune. G.I. Joe also did well too (though I hear they're better films, and the fanbase actually really likes the second one). But those are franchises that have a storyline built in. Battleship may have made money overseas, but only because foreign countries don't actually have the boardgame. The ones that do have a different title. Not to mention action's easier to translate.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Eh, I'm done with box offices numbers at this point, lol. If you guys enjoyed MMW, then you enjoyed it. End of story. I saw The Judge the other day, my entire theater really got into it. They could care less how it ranks. Box office is like when kids in school say, "Don't talk to her! Nobody likes her!" Not only unlikely, but just shallow. (Not saying that's anyone here. You guys put actual thought into your posts ).