Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

As for the movie, I still see no interest in it. I could be wrong though, but I'm usually right for the Dreamworks movies.

Dreamworks has been doing good so far. There was a sharp quality increase with Over the Hedge and they've been doing pretty good ever since. Shark Tale was their lowest, and that was clearly some passive aggressive stab at Disney's Finding Nemo (remember the Black Friday Toy Story reel, and everything makes perfect sense). Turbo seems to be an unfortunate return to that, and it's clearly designed to be a little kid franchise that anyone over that age will completely avoid. It really seems like a very plastic "you can be anything" moral with colorful action figure/vehicles to collect. There is at least a shred of artistry in Croods, if anything for the lush backgrounds and colorful animals. It promises to be at least a good looking film.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm very disappointed Burt Wonderstone didn't open second. It wasn't quite the movie I expected it to be, and it was all the better a film for it. On the surface it does seem like a 00's Will Ferrel vehicle with Steve Carrel in it, but Steve brought a lot of sweetness to the role that Will wouldn't. Plus, I'm calling Wolverine publicity on Jim Carrey. He was there, he had a presence, he was important to the plot... just not to the extent the trailers made him out to be. Chances are, if you've seen the trailer, you've seen at least half of his movie performance. It really was much more a character piece on the part of Burt, his downfall (caused mainly due to his falling out with his old friend, Anton [played by Steve Buschemi]} Though Jim's biting parody of Chris Angel does have a significant roll in it. And the trailers really downplay Steve and Alan Arkin's part in the movie, not to mention Nichole Olivia Wilde. There was a lot of sweetness there that they just didn't make apparent.

Still, this movie should have done better with the college Spring Break crowd. it had a very low budget, though. It's at least destined to make it back.

 

[jvcarroll]

The Hollywood stars we grew up with, the ones that commanded insane salaries, are no longer box office leaders. Bruce Willis, Jim Carrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others used to deliver on their hype, but box office trends are now created by Twi-hards than Die Hards. Just an observation.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah, but that movie wasn't going to play to them. Jim is on the downswing of his career and all, but I don't think that was why this movie didn't open in second. It's more likely that no one expected The Call to be a hit. In fact, the Burt Wonderstone movie made 10 mil, which is actually just shy of 5 mil of what they expected... at most. I'd say the problem was that the movie looked like something Will Ferrel would have done 5 years ago due to the marketing was more likely a culprit. Esepecially since the humor was...well... only kinda like that. But then again, the budget was insanely low. This movie will make everything back in the US just existing. If not, it will find an audience on DVD.

 

[jvcarroll]

Yeah, but that movie wasn't going to play to them. Jim is on the downswing of his career and all, but I don't think that was why this movie didn't open in second. It's more likely that no one expected The Call to be a hit. In fact, the Burt Wonderstone movie made 10 mil, which is actually just shy of 5 mil of what they expected... at most. I'd say the problem was that the movie looked like something Will Ferrel would have done 5 years ago due to the marketing was more likely a culprit. Esepecially since the humor was...well... only kinda like that. But then again, the budget was insanely low. This movie will make everything back in the US just existing. If not, it will find an audience on DVD.

I don't think the Call has anything to do with Wondersone's weekend box office fizzle. That's comparing apples and oranges. It's clear that the public didn't want to see Burt Wonderstone.

I agree that a bad movie can be marketed to have a great opening weekend and a great movie can suffer from a poorly-cut trailer, but by the second week it's about how much of the audiences they've maintained. This second strong weekend for Oz proves that, for better or for worse, audiences are enjoying it. It's not a very good film. Audience tastes and trends that have changed. I stand by that statement. It's an uphill battle for the stars I grew up watching. I hope that changes.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think the Call has anything to do with Wondersone's weekend box office fizzle. That's comparing apples and oranges. It's clear that the public didn't want to see Burt Wonderstone.

The movie did feature a parody of a celebrity that's no longer in the public eye. That might have done the damage there. Still, I hate the fact they're calling it a flop for (A) Opening 3rd and (B) only underperforming 2-5 million. It's destined to make its low budget back. Some of these big budget films aren't going to make their budget back nationally even if they have strong Box Office openings. Maybe March isn't a strong a month as they think it is. March and November are really starting to fizzle out. They're trying too hard to shove too many movies into these once powerful off months, and nothing's reaching its potential.

I agree that a bad movie can be marketed to have a great opening weekend and a great movie can suffer from a poorly-cut trailer, but by the second week it's about how much of the audiences they've maintained. This second strong weekend for Oz proves that, for better or for worse, audiences are enjoying it. It's not a very good film. Audience tastes and trends that have changed. I stand by that statement. It's an uphill battle for the stars I grew up watching. I hope that changes.

I absolutely hate how trailers are slapped together nowadays. They take the most immature jokes and amplify them. I'm sure that drove a lot of people away from Burt, as they made it look like a wannabe Will Ferrel comedy. Yeah. it looked like just another one of those movies, and it was avoided. Oz is destined to make a lot of money overseas, as special effects are easier to translate (which is why Transformers always does well).

 

[jvcarroll]

The movie did feature a parody of a celebrity that's no longer in the public eye. That might have done the damage there. Still, I hate the fact they're calling it a flop for (A) Opening 3rd and (B) only underperforming 2-5 million. It's destined to make its low budget back. Some of these big budget films aren't going to make their budget back nationally even if they have strong Box Office openings. Maybe March isn't a strong a month as they think it is. March and November are really starting to fizzle out. They're trying too hard to shove too many movies into these once powerful off months, and nothing's reaching its potential.



I absolutely hate how trailers are slapped together nowadays. They take the most immature jokes and amplify them. I'm sure that drove a lot of people away from Burt, as they made it look like a wannabe Will Ferrel comedy. Yeah. it looked like just another one of those movies, and it was avoided. Oz is destined to make a lot of money overseas, as special effects are easier to translate (which is why Transformers always does well).

Movie trailers have joined the ranks of their Photoshopped poster counterparts. They're cheap and boring and they don't convey the energy they once did.

I don't think there's a singular factor for the failure. It could be the stars. Jim Carrey seems to have joined the ranks of Mike Myers in that his voice artistry remains popular while his physicality has grown tiresome. Except for "Horton Hears a Who," his last blockbuster commercial success was ten years ago in "Bruce Almighty." Steve Carell is very funny, but he's not a proven headliner for films.

It could also be the that the concept didn't seem to gel. Maybe the ads were bad. We'll see what word of mouth does for the movie next week. It just seems that the big paychecks are now going to young, forgettable stars while the once popular anchors (both good and bad) of ten or twenty years ago are getting left behind.

This explains why Meryl Streep will jump at weak scripts just to play interesting characters. That Margaret Thatcher biopic would have even been terrible as a tv movie. But I'm glad to have seen her in that iconic role.

Hollywood has changed. Even the cheap portions seem to have been cheapened even more. We only really have the moviegoing public to blame. That includes us. I remember people clamoring for a theatrical Muppet film for years only to wait for dollar cinemas and home video. Election day is every Friday and we vote with our debit cards!

 

[Drtooth]

Jim's done a lot of crummy films as of late. And that's from a Jim fan. If he's the reason the film flopped, the disproportionate Wolverine Publicity in the trailers is their own fault. Though I really think looking like a Will Ferrel movie without Will Ferrel may have been the reason.

I just wonder about Oz's budget. Seems like it could either do well enough to make up what it cost, or just somehow fall short. And the funny thing is, despite 2 weeks on top, an 80 and a 40 something, if it doesn't make its budget back it will be a bigger flop than a 30 million dollar movie that only made back half its budget. I honestly don't think Wonderstone was destined to make that much money anyway. But I look at something like Green Lantern, that made a decent amount of money at the Box Office (relatively), but it's budget was so bloated that it was a flop. So sadly, low budget disposable movies like Burt are better than a big fat blockbuster that just never gets to be as big as it wants to.

Now getting back to the subject... I'm going to laugh at how G.I. Joe and Olympus has Fallen are in direct competition. Both films look terrible (G.I. Joe looks fun terrible, though... a popcorn flick that's probably so bad it's good), and they both look to sink pretty fast (I can see the G.I. Joe toys on on again off again clearance at Marshall's... just like last time). Seriously, this March has too darn many films in it.

 

[jvcarroll]

Jim's done a lot of crummy films as of late. And that's from a Jim fan. If he's the reason the film flopped, the disproportionate Wolverine Publicity in the trailers is their own fault. Though I really think looking like a Will Ferrel movie without Will Ferrel may have been the reason.

I just wonder about Oz's budget. Seems like it could either do well enough to make up what it cost, or just somehow fall short. And the funny thing is, despite 2 weeks on top, an 80 and a 40 something, if it doesn't make its budget back it will be a bigger flop than a 30 million dollar movie that only made back half its budget. I honestly don't think Wonderstone was destined to make that much money anyway. But I look at something like Green Lantern, that made a decent amount of money at the Box Office (relatively), but it's budget was so bloated that it was a flop. So sadly, low budget disposable movies like Burt are better than a big fat blockbuster that just never gets to be as big as it wants to.

Now getting back to the subject... I'm going to laugh at how G.I. Joe and Olympus has Fallen are in direct competition. Both films look terrible (G.I. Joe looks fun terrible, though... a popcorn flick that's probably so bad it's good), and they both look to sink pretty fast (I can see the G.I. Joe toys on on again off again clearance at Marshall's... just like last time). Seriously, this March has too darn many films in it.

Oz has taken in $280M worldwide in it's first 10 days and shows no signs of slowing down. Don't worry. They've just about made back the $200M budget + $100M in marketing. They're already talking sequel. Green Lantern underperformed from the beginning and dropped off sharply. There's no comparison here. You're right that lower budgeted fare has an easier time making back its investment particularly when it hits the payperview market.

I'm not aware of this overflow of March movies you're talking about. It seems like a steady pace of releases to me. Jack the Giant Slayer was the big budgeted movie for week one, accompanied by two shoe-string budgeted films Last Exorcism and 21 & Up. Oz came out in week two with not much other competition. Burt Wonderstone came out last week along with the Call and low budget indy Spring Breakers. This week will bring us Olympus Has Fallen, the Croods and sleeper Admission. Next week is GI JOE and The Host. This all seems relatively normal for March movies.

 

[Drtooth]

You know, sometimes it's that movie you're kinda unsure that you'd like that you really enjoy. Croods was quite a pleasant surprise, and it really had a nice shot of heart near the ending. Belt did walk a thin line between absolutely hilarious and pretty annoying, and he came out charming. They did the "impending danger" leitmotif joke enough times that it went from lame to actually kinda funny (as running gags are designed to do). And Nick Cage is actually good at comedy. There's a lot of great Looney Tunes type gags in the film. And I never thought they'd play the "Complainer is always Wrong" bit without being cloying. Not to mention the amazing scenery and crazy One Piece-esque mix and match animals giving some great visual effects. it's like a much better Ice Age. Better in every way.

But the thing that really made it worth it? When Grug (the father) decides to be an idea man, and puts on the dumbest act possible. You're treated to Nick Cage doing an over the top, absolutely gut busting beatnik voice, with a straight face, all the while making a complete fool out of himself, injuring himself every step of the way. If he was able to do an entire movie like that, I'd watch. If they made a National Treasure 3 or Ghost Rider 3 where he did that voice non-stop, I'd watch. I want this DVD for that scene alone.

That is, after I was assaulted by the terrible Turbo trailer. The movie looks even worse than it sounds. And I had to be there with a full audience of families laughing at every completely obvious and not at all funny joke. UGH! To put it this way... I genuinely wanted to see Sharktale when it came out. It's WORSE than Sharktale.