Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

While some Bronies may not appreciate that version of the characters, at least they can take comfort the closest Michael Bay ever came to the franchise was the scientist screwing around with "transformium" and making a model of Rainbow Dash out of it that morphed into a gun.

 

[mr3urious]

I'm now being assaulted with ads and previews for Alexander during ABC's Wednesday night line-up, and they aren't making it look any better. Just as Drtooth is offended by a childhood book he loves being slaughtered on the silver screen, so am I.

 

[Drtooth]

Actually, didn't like the book. So I really shouldn't be defending it via attacking the movie. I'm just more annoyed by the fact that they spent money and bought the rights to a book when they just made "raucous family comedy # 6734." The fact the entire family is inflicted with a bad day via Birthday wish like Liar Liar made me hate the film even more. And the worst part, is it wants to look like an independent film (or the independent-esque ones released by major studios), but it's just a loose collection of everything everyone's ever seen in this kind of movie before. The bit with Steve Carell getting punched in the face by a kangaroo is far too cartoony.

And for the record, not every time they throw the book out the window results in a terrible film. Roger Rabbit and Jungle Book for example. Disney has a long tradition of ignoring the story and making something up. Then those versions become the most referenced and parodied. But in those cases, they managed to create something fun and different. Now, I'll give Steve credit. he looks like he's having a ball in this film that's beneath him. But the overall product just looks tedious. I hope this isn't the film that bucks the trend of low performing family movies this year.

And above all, I HATE the philosophy that you need the bad days to appreciate the good ones. I don't need to be kicked in the crotch to appreciate not getting kicked in the crotch.

 

[Drtooth]

Hey look! It's the teaser to Inside Out!. Seems that everything but the main concept is ambiguous, and they basically use clips of Pixar's other films for half the trailer.

Somehow, Joy reminds me of Pearl the Crystal Gem and fear looks very similar to a certain blue/purple nosed weirdo who's rather fearless. But I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

[mimitchi33]

Hey look! It's the teaser to Inside Out!. Seems that everything but the main concept is ambiguous, and they basically use clips of Pixar's other films for half the trailer.

Somehow, Joy reminds me of Pearl the Crystal Gem and fear looks very similar to a certain blue/purple nosed weirdo who's rather fearless. But I'm really looking forward to this one.

I know who you're talking about-Gonzo!
I really liked the teaser trailer. And we finally get to see Fear for the first time and he's rather funny!

 

[mr3urious]

Joy and Anger are looking to be my favorites. There's a lot of potential for entertaining animosity between those two.

 

[Drtooth]

It would have been funny if they had Yeardley Smith play some character in the film. Sort of a nod to the similar, yet dissimilar Herman's Head.

I'm looking forward more to that film than The Good Dinosaur, actually. I'm loving the potential and character designs so far.

 

[Drtooth]

The bad overreaction to Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues in a bizarre way...

There are rumored talks about Sony letting Disney/Marvel use Spider-Man.

As it happens, they pulled all plans for the Venom movie, and Sony's usage of Spider-Man will hinge on whether Sinister Six is successful. If Marvel even gets the license due to Sony just dumping it, it won't be at least until 2020 before we see that reboot.

Now, I'll admit, yeah... I get why ASM2 was a disappointment, though I still think the fanboys that whined about the first film being too dark, gritty, and teen drama-y (for Spider-man?!) were the reason they made the film campy. But the studio is overreacting to the negative reception and 60 Mil dropoff. Sure, something could be said for bad word of mouth, but something can also be said for the fact that no action film released in May outright flopped, and the strong competition from Godzilla, Maleficent, and X-Men all ate into each others profits. Not to mention how down a year it was until August's GOTG (which shattered expectations for an August released movie). Besides, Iron Man 2 is supposedly a bad film (never saw it) and it salvaged the franchise on the fourth movie.

While I'd love to see Spidey revert to Marvel, I don't see why they can't give this franchise a second chance. A strong script can save the Spidey franchise. I don't think Sinister Six is going to be a real winner anyway.

 

[jvcarroll]

The bad overreaction to Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues in a bizarre way...

There are rumored talks about Sony letting Disney/Marvel use Spider-Man.

As it happens, they pulled all plans for the Venom movie, and Sony's usage of Spider-Man will hinge on whether Sinister Six is successful. If Marvel even gets the license due to Sony just dumping it, it won't be at least until 2020 before we see that reboot.

Now, I'll admit, yeah... I get why ASM2 was a disappointment, though I still think the fanboys that whined about the first film being too dark, gritty, and teen drama-y (for Spider-man?!) were the reason they made the film campy. But the studio is overreacting to the negative reception and 60 Mil dropoff. Sure, something could be said for bad word of mouth, but something can also be said for the fact that no action film released in May outright flopped, and the strong competition from Godzilla, Maleficent, and X-Men all ate into each others profits. Not to mention how down a year it was until August's GOTG (which shattered expectations for an August released movie). Besides, Iron Man 2 is supposedly a bad film (never saw it) and it salvaged the franchise on the fourth movie.

While I'd love to see Spidey revert to Marvel, I don't see why they can't give this franchise a second chance. A strong script can save the Spidey franchise. I don't think Sinister Six is going to be a real winner anyway.

In millions, Sony's Spider-Man movies have grossed worldwide totals from $708 to $821. They're not going to give the cinematic franchise to Dinsey/Marvel until it's clear they've suffered massive losses. That's a long friggin way away. I'm not convinced that many of these reporters who write or comment on this property know what they're talking about.

Venom aside, things are still chugging along with Sony's Spider universe. The Sinister Six will undoubtedly predict what happens to the future of their franchise. Worst case scenario, that film fizzles and they put some sort of final punctuation on the current Spider-Man incarnation before striking a mutually beneficial deal with Disney/Marvel to fold a new version of Sony-owned Spider-Man into the wider universe. That has a real possibility of happening. Disney/Marvel has a long term plan with its properties. There will be shakeups with a lot of their cast and world in the next couple of years. There's time to figure all of this out.

Idiotic people keep making claims that the last Spidey had "too many villains" or other silly things like that. It's really not that simple. There was nothing wrong with Rhino's rampages bookending the film or that there were two other baddies. The real issue was that Jamie Foxx made a lame Electro and that received too much screentime. The Goblin was much more interesting yet wedged into film in order to insert a climactic scene. Electro should have been scrapped or relegated to the backround with Rhino. The interesting story was between Harry and Peter, not Peter and Max.

But for anyone stating that Sony's going to give a $700+ million cashcow away is nuts!!! The last film was very successful on track with the rest of them. They just wanted it to be a runaway train. It was not. Few films are.

 

[Drtooth]

Idiotic people keep making claims that the last Spidey had "too many villains" or other silly things like that. It's really not that simple. There was nothing wrong with Rhino's rampages bookending the film or that there were two other baddies. The real issue was that Jamie Foxx made a lame Electro and that received too much screentime. The Goblin was much more interesting yet wedged into film in order to insert a climactic scene. Electro should have been scrapped or relegated to the backround with Rhino. The interesting story was between Harry and Peter, not Peter and Max.

My issue with the Rhino is that he came at the wrong time for the movie. That should have been the stinger instead of the X-Men trailer. Rhino was a little over the top, I'll admit, but for me it wasn't so much the character as the timing. It gave the film some ending fatigue when the film really ended a scene or two ago. I know the set up for the Sinister Six was supposed to be the stinger and shoved into the film because of the X-Men trailer.

But I do agree completely with Electro. There should have been more of Goblin and less of Electro. Goblin should have risen before Electro turned into Electro, probably even edging him into becoming that or double teaming earlier on in the movie. Seems they wanted to Goblin up as the big bad of the next film, and that's why he was dealt with near the end of the film. But his story was more interesting than obsessive awkward nerd being awkward.

That said, rumor or not, Sony did push the next film to 2017 at the earliest, and there are internal problems, the writer got angry at the fan reaction and left. While I don't fully believe Sony will relinquish the franchise completely, they are overreacting to the 60 Million dollar difference between this film and the first one. The entire box office was down, yet movies that have barely broke even stateside (because that's the only time it counts unless it doesn't) have been considered good enough and are getting no question sequels. It really seems either way, and it all hinges on Sinister Six. No wonder why the next Spider-Man film is delayed.