Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

The controversial "Ender's Game" bowed this weekend with an estimated box office take of $28M. It's insane how many entertainment news sources are citing that as a "solid opening" because that's the same figure the much panned "After Earth" took in on its opening weekend. They both were budgeted about the same and both contained beloved moviestars. Ender will probably fall short of breaking even until video sales and that's not likely enough to spawn a sequel.

It's just disturbing to me to see usually critical movie sites rally to promote and defend this particular film. I hear it has wonderful themes of empathy that contradict the author/producer's political activism against LGBT civil rights and his racist rants about Muslims. I doubt the entertainment sources are supporting that. We all know how effects studios and their workers get hosed and this film received a lot of its funding from Digital Domain. It seems this yellow journalism is an attempt to soften the blow for them.

To break it down:

After Earth + Will Smith + bad director + $130M budget + $28M opening = FLOP
Ender's Game + Harrison Ford + bad director + $110M budget + $28M opening = SOLID

Also, foreign sales were much more solid for After Earth. The hypocrisy is kind of worrisome. I know. We should expect this sort of thing. Just pointing it out. I'm just glad that more money won't go into the pocket of this deeply troubled book author.

Free Birds finished 4th with $16.2 mil. Looks like we shouldn't have to worry about it being a success for now.

To take it all in...

Ender's Game was written well before OSC turned into a babbling psychopathic far far far far far far far far far far far far right wing tract writer. Those themes come in later, and supposedly they start to creep into sequels of this book. Now all he writes is essentially conspiracy theory fan fiction. That said, the only controversy about that toxic kook resides on the internet. I'm sure the general public who actually bothered to see this film was blissfully unaware. And even then, those who do know mostly ignore the racist Obama stories, Hamlet is gay and an awful person, and real life unpatriotic overthrow of the government bile. Supposedly, it's a big important novel in the sci-fi community. I just hope it isn't a Chick-Fil-A situation where religious "victims" passive aggressively support it because America has taken away their right to hate based on misconception.

But the 28 Mil... it's a matter of scale. After Earth flopped with the same box office take because it was a summer movie. This is a slow week for film. The transition between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Usually there would at least be a moderate kid's movie hit (I'll get to it), but Disney and Dreamworks didn't have one. EG opened on weak numbers, but Free Birds and Last Vegas opened on weaker numbers. I doubt EG's going to make back its budget... I'm a tiny bit worried about Thor, but it's already made 109 Mil overseas. Hopefully EG opened weakly because film goers are saving up for the big film out next week. After all, we found out how Iron Man fared after The Avengers, I'm sure the fans of these films will want to tune into Thor's aftermath. And Let's not forget Loki. He was a huge meme/fangirl obsession that year.

As for Free Birds... it looked weak. I think film goers are wising up to these fifth party studios. Either that, or the kids were still in a huge sugar coma over this weekend and couldn't be bothered to see the film. I'd almost expect it to get a small bump in between now and the time Frozen gets released, but the Disney movie seems a safer bit due to the brand. I don't think it will make that much because, as I've said in this thread over and over, the Thanksgiving film release period is less stable than it used to be. And yet, we've seen 4 movies released in a weak box office weekend. No wonder Dreamworks moved Peabody and Sherman to March.

I'd also like to add... yeah, Ender's Game is written by a bigot... but really?!?! Bad Grampa?!? The theatrical equivalent of Trolling?! You can take solace in the fact that the film of the works of a nutjob only made a little more this weekend than a collection of fart, poop, and trolling jokes.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I just hope it isn't a Chick-Fil-A situation where religious "victims" passive aggressively support it because America has taken away their right to hate based on misconception.

Actually my atheist friend really enjoyed Ender's Game (though he liked the book more as a Sci Fi fan). He doesn't care who the author is, he just likes the story. Heck, Salinger wasn't exactly stable but I still read Catcher in the Rye, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

Actually my atheist friend really enjoyed Ender's Game (though he liked the book more as a Sci Fi fan). He doesn't care about who the author is, he just likes the story. Heck Salinger wasn't exactly stable but I still read Catcher in the Rye.

There's a difference between "not exactly stable" and wanting to overthrow the government. There are writers that have political/religious quirks. Spider-Man's co-creator has an obsessive crush on Ayn Rand, Lovecraft was a racist... but what really gets lost in translation is that OSC is a proud member of a very vocal "not at all hateful" hate group that wants to ban gay marriage. The same thing that happened with Chick-Fil-A. It's not so much the founder is an overly religious nut as he donated profits to anti-gay groups. In the noise of the news media, that fact was swept under the rug.

So the fear is, whatever Orson's stake in this movie is, he's probably going to donate profits to some big anti-gay "charity." His views on the stuff is draconian and starts to creep in his other works until his oeuvre turns into a crayon scribbled manifesto. And the worst part is the actors that got roped into doing this, and being Lionsgate's little lackeys, sweeping any controversy under the rug.

On the plus side, we also don't hear any stories of "victims" who can no longer be safe hating something based on something I can only call "biblical telephone." There is nothing more annoying than a loud, vocal minority of people who want to deny rights hypocritically saying their rights are infringed upon when the truth is their worst views are becoming more and more irrelevant with a younger generation that... well, isn't so much tolerant as doesn't give a crap.

 

[CensoredAlso]

There's a difference between "not exactly stable" and wanting to overthrow the government.

The point is, ultimately for a lot of people art is more important than the artist.

 

[mr3urious]

Looks like that Free Birds movie is getting a lot of negative reviews, mostly from cultural insensitivity.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

Looks like that Free Birds movie is getting a lot of negative reviews, mostly from cultural insensitivity.

I now know why bad movies are called "Turkeys"

 

[Drtooth]

Looks like that Free Birds movie is getting a lot of negative reviews, mostly from cultural insensitivity.

Free Birds looks like it plays right into the lame 2nd Grade history myths of Thanksgiving. Especially since it's been revealed the first Thanksgiving didn't even feature turkey. And somehow, it seems to be stealing the plotline of an Underdog cartoon ("Simon Says No More Thanksgiving" where Simon traveled back in time to make the Indians and Pilgrims hate each other so there would be no Macy's Parade so he could cross the street to carry out some plan of his). I'm sure there's some cultural insensitivity in the native American portrayals, but overall the movie just looks unremarkable, rather than terrible. I'd see it over Planes (it looks more fun than Planes does) and Cloudy (I've said enough about that one). It seems like something that will find an audience when the home video goes into the clearance bin.

But I give them credit for trying to make a movie that doesn't take place on Christmas (which has become a liability somehow) or Halloween. Then again, I give Hop credit for trying to be an Easter movie... but does anyone care about non-Halloween or Christmas based movies?

 

[jvcarroll]

Actually my atheist friend really enjoyed Ender's Game (though he liked the book more as a Sci Fi fan). He doesn't care who the author is, he just likes the story. Heck, Salinger wasn't exactly stable but I still read Catcher in the Rye, lol.

There's been a major misconception about the book author and the film so I'll just state it in this reply.

Even though this controversy has made national news, the public hasn't read beyond the headlines to understand what's going on and some mistakenly think the film has anti-gay themes. On the contrary, it does not. It’s almost like something written by a different, more tolerant person.

I usually separate art from artist in the cases of people like Mel Gibson or Roman Polanski. Card’s beliefs and hateful rhetoric fall into this category too. Such offenses, while horrible, reflect personal indiscretions. Everybody is guilty of imperfection. Probably not on that scale, but what the hey. It is Card’s deeds that I find objectionable with a wider scale of malignancy.

Here’s the real deal:
(I’ve highlighted the portions that cross the line from personal expression to political oppression):

• Card has a long history of writing the most offensive things about LGBT people imaginable. Some of them have crept into his books in very strange ways that almost reveal latent gay tendencies within him. No surprise there.
• Ender's Game has no anti-gay or anti-anything themes beyond an admirable one of being anti-war.
• Card has recently written bizarre, racist, fictional accounts of Obama's plans to appoint himself emperor in order to take over the world with black street gangs and the Muslim brotherhood.
• Card was a staunch supporter of Prop 8, California's anti-gay marriage initiative.
• Card was a proud board member of the anti-gay political action group NOM until conveniently stepping down right before the film’s advertising campaign.
• Card encourages Americans to disobey Marriage Equality laws and to riot if they are ever passed on a national level.
• Card also supported keeping sodomy laws on the books to be selectively enforced against LGBT people in order to keep us in our place. He went so far as to write a scathing reply once they were struck down.
• Card already received payment for the Ender's Game book rights years ago.
• Card has a producer credit. That makes him, at least in name, a part of this film and not just the source material.
• Card reportedly has no profit participation of the film beyond the increase in book sales.
• Card has many more books in this series that haven't been negotiated and Lionsgate would love to create a franchise.That would mean more money for Card!

The Lionsgate public relations team has been working overtime to distance itself from Card so that this film will be a success. However, if it is a success, Card will negotiate a lucrative franchise deal and that's what people like me are trying to avoid. That's the part of the story that gets hidden. I doubt many people would want to support Ender if it had been written and produced by an active member of the modern KKK. That is precisely what organizations like NOM are to LGBT people. After all, both organizations claim that allowing "impurity" into their society will cause some sort of moral collapse.

I've also heard that boycotting hurts the wrong people. That's not true. Everybody's been paid except for the profit participants and investors and it is those people who should be aware that Card is a financial risk. Boycotting is not like picketing or anything like that. It's merely voting with one's wallet. There's nothing more American than that. There are also people who believe that boycotts don't work. That is also false. LGBT-friendly geeks everywhere got Card tossed off writing for a Superman title this summer. Not even the illustrator wanted to be a part of it. I think movie studios will think twice before green-lighting anything by Card in the future. It's just too much trouble.

Anyway, I have no judgment for those who will go to Ender. I'm just waiting for it to hit HBO.

 

[Drtooth]

Anyway, I have no judgment for those who will go to Ender. I'm just waiting for it to hit HBO.

I was gonna suggest to those who are curious about the film but don't want to support whatever Card's stake is in this picture. Bootlegs and Torrents. Normally, I'd almost bow to the whole "you wouldn't steal a car" schtick, but paying for movies is supporting them. I've almost considered buying bootlegs of Cat in the Hat and Gnomeo and Juliet when they both came out to spite everyone involved. This would be the perfect method of protest. Seeing the movie without supporting it. Of course, I doubt anyone would want the huge fines and prison time they usually force on one guy to make an example of them.

Other than Card's hateful flumgummery, this movie has no appeal and looks like a Twilight/Hunger Games/Mortal Instruments type crapfest set in space. I'm sure the book was a brilliant piece of Sci-Fi before the author started writing crazier and crazier conspiracy theories and believing them. But as a movie, Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley (who already played a much more interesting character on film this year anyway) are totally wasted in something that looks like a big budget DTV project for Nickelodeon. I'm sure more movie goers are amping up for Thor. After all, they're trying to make a nice extortion case for you seeing every MCU movie as they all sync up. They're already warning those who watch S.H.E.I.L.D. that you have to watch the movie before an episode 2 weeks from the next one as it deals with the aftermath.... not to mention the fact they've supposedly put a second after credits scene for an upcoming MCU movie.

Now... that's settled. Anyone else wanna hear me give Bad Grampa the business?

{edit: Further reading }

 

[jvcarroll]

I was gonna suggest to those who are curious about the film but don't want to support whatever Card's stake is in this picture. Bootlegs and Torrents. Normally, I'd almost bow to the whole "you wouldn't steal a car" schtick, but paying for movies is supporting them. I've almost considered buying bootlegs of Cat in the Hat and Gnomeo and Juliet when they both came out to spite everyone involved. This would be the perfect method of protest. Seeing the movie without supporting it. Of course, I doubt anyone would want the huge fines and prison time they usually force on one guy to make an example of them.

Other than Card's hateful flumgummery, this movie has no appeal and looks like a Twilight/Hunger Games/Mortal Instruments type crapfest set in space. I'm sure the book was a brilliant piece of Sci-Fi before the author started writing crazier and crazier conspiracy theories and believing them. But as a movie, Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley (who already played a much more interesting character on film this year anyway) are totally wasted in something that looks like a big budget DTV project for Nickelodeon. I'm sure more movie goers are amping up for Thor. After all, they're trying to make a nice extortion case for you seeing every MCU movie as they all sync up. They're already warning those who watch S.H.E.I.L.D. that you have to watch the movie before an episode 2 weeks from the next one as it deals with the aftermath.... not to mention the fact they've supposedly put a second after credits scene for an upcoming MCU movie.

Now... that's settled. Anyone else wanna hear me give Bad Grampa the business?

There's really no need for illegal downloads. I think we can all wait another 8 months for Ender to hit cable and Netflix. I hear the film is kind of dull. The one thing I didn't realize until recently is how much effects studio Digital Domain invested in the film. That's the only reason why part of me hopes the film doesn't outright bomb.

I saw Bad Grampa with a stoner friend. Surprisingly, it has a narrative and the performances by Knoxville and the kid are solid. The rest is what you think it is. Either you like that thing or you don't. I laughed. I just have no need to ever see it again.

Thor looks solid. I'm not sure any denouement will help Agents of SHIELD. I'm a supporter of the program and I liked the pilot. Everyone aside from Agent Coulson is bland and forgettable. Bad casting and they're taking too long to develop the story. They need to get things moving. Tomorrow People on the CW is the superhero show to watch while SHIELD feels more like a duty. It's got some time to get better and a full season order to do it. My advice would be to kill off a couple of characters during sweeps and replace them with better ones.