Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[mr3urious]

Disney's Moana has opened at number 1 this Thanksgiving weekend, no surprise there. Much bigger than Frozen, though not as high as Zootopia.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2016&wknd=48&p=.htm

However, that Bad Santa sequel that I don't think anyone asked for opened at a pathetic 8th place, and is getting poor reviews across the board even by those who liked the 1st one. Jeez, not even Zoolander 2 did that poorly.

 

[D'Snowth]

Sequelitis today is bad enough, but it's even worse when it affects movies that came out ten or more years ago. Heck, I can actually remember when the first one came out, and it was like the SAUSAGE PARTY affect: people assumed it would be a fun little family movie, then to see the actual trailers for it and come to find out it was a raunchy and vulgar R-rated comedy. This was back in the days when the whole family would see a movie the day after Thanksgiving, and my folks had planned on making that the movie of the year, but then they had to decide on something else, lol.

 

[mr3urious]

Sequelitis today is bad enough, but it's even worse when it affects movies that came out ten or more years ago.

Pixar is pretty much the only exception to that rule. Say what you will about them, they at least take their time with sequels, unlike other animation companies.

 

[D'Snowth]

True, and for what it's worth, FINDING DORY was surprisingly pretty good - I expected to be disappointed, but I really wasn't.

Now . . . somebody remind me again why we need a new Shrek movie in 2019?

 

[mr3urious]

Now . . . somebody remind me again why we need a new Shrek movie in 2019?

That's really something that NBCUniversal, Dreamworks' new owner, has been pushing in a well-intentioned move to save the studio using the franchise that put them on the map. Which I highly doubt will succeed if Ice Age 5's underperformance is anything to go by.

And that's another thing about Pixar I forgot to mention: even though they are owned by Disney, they have a lot of creative control over what they want to make, including sequels.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, apparently Ice Age 5 did well enough that they're considering a sixth movie to wrap-up the series (but then again, that's what they said about number five).

The thing about Shrek is the last one was specifically meant to finally draw the series to a conclusion, it was even called SHREK FOREVER AFTER: THE FINAL CHAPTER. What more can they possible do? A spin-off movie with the orge triplets and the dronkeys all grown up and going on their own adventures? This is clearly an unnecessary corporate decision.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

That's really something that NBCUniversal, Dreamworks' new owner, has been pushing in a well-intentioned move to save the studio using the franchise that put them on the map. Which I highly doubt will succeed if Ice Age 5's underperformance is anything to go by.

Well, I think the difference is the Ice Age sequels are ones that basically everyone stopped caring about after the second one because they kept getting released every few years and kept declining in quality. The Shrek movies on the other hand have the advantage of not only being better movies, but also it was a far bigger franchise and by the time the fifth one comes out there will be enough people nostalgic about the previous films to actually want to see it.

But, if the next one is about Shrek's kids being adults and getting married like that terrible last Ice Age movie, than i'm definitely not watching.

A spin-off movie with the orge triplets and the dronkeys all grown up and going on their own adventures? This is clearly an unnecessary corporate decision.

Exactly the point. It was a corporate decision, and as a business decision, if they want to keep going, it's a smart one. They're a business more than anything else, they have to make money. But hopefully things can eventually get back on track and they can start making the kinds of creative movies that made them a household name.

 

[D'Snowth]

While MOANA seems to be doing well enough in terms of Box Office, it otherwise seems to be getting lukewarm reviews from moviegoers who find it to be another formulaic Disney entry that utilizes the same tropes and cliches are pretty much all previous Disney Princess movies.

 

[mr3urious]

While MOANA seems to be doing well enough in terms of Box Office, it otherwise seems to be getting lukewarm reviews from moviegoers who find it to be another formulaic Disney entry that utilizes the same tropes and cliches are pretty much all previous Disney Princess movies.

Really? Most critics seem to love it. And to be fair, I feel that Disney has been trying to subvert a lot of those tropes in recent years, like with Frozen. I haven't seen Moana yet, so I can't judge for myself.

 

[D'Snowth]

From one review I read, MOANA is essentially "FROZEN with nicer weather."