Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Mynameisdean]

Finding Dory has set the opening animated weekend record, and Warcraft plummeted an estimated 73%.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

 

[Muppet Master]

In other news Central Intellegence opened really well, $34 million on a $50 million budget. Box Office Mojo says this is the eleventh time this year that Disney has been number one at the box office.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

this is the eleventh time this year that Disney has been number one at the box office.

Wow, and we're only halfway through the year.

 

[Drtooth]

In other news Central Intellegence opened really well, $34 million on a $50 million budget. Box Office Mojo says this is the eleventh time this year that Disney has been number one at the box office.

Star Wars (technically last year's release), Zootopia, Jungle Book, Civil War, and Finding Dory in the successful group, and just Alice through the Looking Glass in the unsuccessful pile. And frankly, Jungle Book was good, but I'm surprised it was that much of a hit when it could easily have been the first of their live action fairy tale remakes to do poorly. Alice? I'm guessing the girls that liked the first one grew out of shopping at Hot Topic (well... Hot Topic changed to general nerdy interest anyway).

Dory really makes up for the poor timing of Good Dinosaur as well as being a better film, more akin to Pixar's usual fair. While I'm not going to give a massive review, I'll add a couple small spoilers...

Spoiler

Considering their usual work, they somehow managed to give a higher emotional punch by not killing Dory's parents (though hinting their death could have been a possibility).

The only thing I wish is that they gave Hank the Octo- I mean "Septipus" a backstory other than just vaguely hinting at one. Guess there wasn't time.

And other than that there's a surprise at the end that the end credits voice cast spoils.

Easily my close second favorite animated movie of the year behind Zootopia. The short was one of the best I've seen in a while (and I loved Sanjay's Super Team) for being simple.

EDIT: That said, the only reason Warcraft is going to be considered successful is because China loves it. I'm not even going to be the spoilsport that says that Warcraft was far from a relevant game in 2016. But even the fans said it was tedious. That said..

Oh Boo FREAKING Hoo Warcraft fans. When they do THIS to a favorite video game franchise...

or THIS

THEN you can crying to me.

(and yes, Double Dragon, for all it's trying to be campy and ridiculous is worse than what they did to Mario)

 

[Drtooth]

Am I the only one that just can't get excited for Tarzan? Or BFG?

Something tells me BFG isn't going to do too well. I mean, sure, Tarzan has "Lone Ranger" written all over it, but BFG.... Disney's releasing it just 2 weeks after Finding Dory. And on one hand we have a book kids probably never read about cannibal giants, and the other hand a lovable, money making Ellen DeGeneres fish. Ditto Pete's Dragon due in August. That didn't even have a trailer play at the beginning of any movie so far. At least in my experience. Disney doesn't need to have a movie a month. And if they do, why not your old friends Muppets, maybe? Probably won't lose as much money as the bigger budget films.

Secret Life of Pets I'm pretty excited for, especially since Dory and Angry Birds are in the rear view for me. August's Suicide Squad, Kubo, and even Sausage Party are really grabbing me. But from here on out, Pets is the only thing I'm worked up enough to actually spend money to see. Maybe Ghostbusters if I can see it on a Bargain Tuesday, just to see what all the animosity is about.

 

[charlietheowl]

Am I the only one that just can't get excited for Tarzan? Or BFG?

Something tells me BFG isn't going to do too well. I mean, sure, Tarzan has "Lone Ranger" written all over it

Don't forget John Carter of Mars and Jack and the Beanstalk. I don't know why these PG-13 gritty remakes of stuff is still a trend, it seems like they all tank on a consistent basis. Do they succeed overseas and bad box here not mean a lot or did some succeed here that I'm forgetting?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Don't forget John Carter of Mars and Jack and the Beanstalk. I don't know why these PG-13 gritty remakes of stuff is still a trend, it seems like they all tank on a consistent basis. Do they succeed overseas and bad box here not mean a lot or did some succeed here that I'm forgetting?

'Hansel & Gretel:Witch Hunters" was pretty successful, not really a massive hit but it still did all right.

 

[Drtooth]

Don't forget John Carter of Mars and Jack and the Beanstalk. I don't know why these PG-13 gritty remakes of stuff is still a trend, it seems like they all tank on a consistent basis. Do they succeed overseas and bad box here not mean a lot or did some succeed here that I'm forgetting?

Yeah, John Carter too, but definitely not anything related to the horrible edgy fairy tale fad. Not to be confused with Disney's live action remakes, which are still very Disney-ish. I'd say this is closer to one of those and still a family movie. They got freaking Spielberg to direct this thing. It doesn't look like it's bad at all, just not something audiences will fall into. Actually, I'd say it has an air of Hugo to it, without the up its own butt-ness of being an inside reference to film school geeks.

Now, BFG is a Roald Dahl book I should have read, but didn't. Nor did I see the animated film. There was an animated film, right? I don't have a reference point for what they adapted properly or not. As for the other adaptions, screw both versions of Chocolate factory. The original looks like H.R. Puffenstuff blew up all over the set, and the Tim Burton one is Tim Burtony before all else. Do a GOOD one and we'll talk. Fantastic Mr. Fox deviated into a Wes Anderson movie for the most part, but I really can't complain about that since it was my favorite of his books of mine and I loved the film all over for being stop motion and having a great cast (the alcohol producing brother's 3 minute rampage through his office was the height of the movie for me). This film I'll admit has a good look to it, but it's really not my thing. And I'm sure most kids haven't heard of BFG as much as they've heard of Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One gets constantly referenced (though exclusively through the 70's movie), the other falls into obscurity unless you were an 80's, early 90's kid.

 

[mr3urious]

Now, BFG is a Roald Dahl book I should have read, but didn't. Nor did I see the animated film. There was an animated film, right?

The BFG had an animated film produced by Cosgrove Hall back in 1989, and I'd say it was the most faithful of all the Roald Dahl productions.

As for the other adaptions, screw both versions of Chocolate factory. The original looks like H.R. Puffenstuff blew up all over the set, and the Tim Burton one is Tim Burtony before all else. Do a GOOD one and we'll talk. Fantastic Mr. Fox deviated into a Wes Anderson movie for the most part, but I really can't complain about that since it was my favorite of his books of mine and I loved the film all over for being stop motion and having a great cast (the alcohol producing brother's 3 minute rampage through his office was the height of the movie for me).

The Witches had some great Creature Shop effects and casting (particularly Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch), but the overly happy ending as opposed to the bittersweet one in the book that Dahl really hated really derailed it for me. That book deserves another go-around, and reportedly Guillermo del Toro wanted to adapt it. As long as he gets Huston and the Cretature Shop back, I'm all for it.

 

[Drtooth]

Ah yes. Cosgrove Hall. That's the one. Never seen it, but have heard of it. Think I've seen it in video advertisements somewhere. Surprised they never made us read BFG in school, come to think about it. The other kids knew about it, and being the early 90's always called it "The Big Friendly Gay" because haw haw....

Anyway, I have no idea why Disney would release this so close to Finding Dory. This really seems like they'd put it in November had it not been for Doctor Strange and Moana, or December had it not been for Star Wars. Dory's a much bigger draw with kids, and Pixar has a built in young fanbase. Then Secret Life of Pets comes out week after, and that also looks like something kids would pile into. BFG, even with big names and a big budget, doesn't seem like something kids could get excited for. Maybe the older kids, but no doubt younger kids would be frightened the heck away. It's a shame since, I'd say if this movie was released in just the right month, it would be at least a sleeper hit.

Of course, I have even less faith in Pete's Dragon. Especially since there hasn't been a trailer for it, and it's due out in a couple months. Don't see why they'd even bother with that one. All the other remakes seem to be of successful Disney films, if not right away, then certainly after years of home video. Then again, I didn't think Jungle Book would be that big and it was. Disney's only major loss this year has been Alice, for obvious reasons.