Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[jvcarroll]

Okay... wow. Again... global.



It probably was the most profitable of all the Jay Ward based movies, that's for sure. It was also the best written. Of course, that group includes Boris and Natasha and Dudley Do-Right, so the bar wasn't raised very high to begin with.

Dudley Do-Right sucked as a movie is what I'm saying.



I give them lots of credit for making their own MCU with only one license and using every character they can for it. They should make a third Spider-Man movie about the rise of Venom before they give him his own film, but whatever. Spidey 2 made money, but they're actually concerned about the bad reviews it got. Or at least Robert Orci was too temperamental to have to deal with very negative criticism. I remember he went on an angry rant when Trekkies complained about Into Darkness. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why he just left the third film. No reason for Sony to scramble about the Spider-man movies. Iron Man 2 got bad reviews and word of mouth... the third one turned it around. And third super hero movies are usually the worst (except with Superman... 4th's supposedly even worse).

On another note... Megan Fox has choice words about detractors of the new TMNT movie...



...yeah... remind me why the public at large hates you again? This really wasn't the film for Michael Bay to forgive her (still think Jane Levy would have made a better April). While I agree that everyone hates the Transformers movies yet goes to see them anyway, this is far from the more encouraging words from Kevin Eastman who keeps saying how fans are going to love it, and with gusto. Telling the skeptics to &^%$ off? Yeah. That's going to get them to like you.

The third Iron Man film was mostly funded and catered to the Chinese. The fact that the recent Transformers film chose to premiere in China and skip the US altogether is a harbinger of things to come.American movies tailored for overseas markets. International auds still go to the movies so I can't blame the studios for doing this. Just get ready to read some subtitles in the blockbuster films to come.

 

[Drtooth]

The third Iron Man film was mostly funded and catered to the Chinese.

Wasn't exactly the point I was making, but frankly I haven't seen Iron Man 2. Somehow it ticked people off because it was somehow bad (again, didn't see it, can't confirm it), and the only film goers who vehemently hated Iron Man 3 were those who were obnoxious purists that were upset by the Mandarin. Chinese pandering or not, the original Yellow Scare Mandarin wouldn't work in a movie without heavy alterations. They managed to just make him work in Armored Adventures, but I think the film did better by using the character as an allegory of terrorism (and the farce thereof).

Plus there's also the "first movie after the Avengers" aspect. But the point is, IM 3 managed to pull the reputation of the movie series out of the fire after IM2. I'm sure they can do that with Amazing Spider-Man 3. Hopefully the 4 year wait will be good for the franchise.

As for Transformers, might as well pander to the Chinese since they make the darn things over there. Surprised they don't also pander to Japan (where the toys originally came from, the original series was animated for the most part, and that had more TF cartoons than the US)... but then again, that film would be chock full of combining robots and whiny child sidekicks that never stop crying.

Seriously... Headmasters...Daniel Witwicky... talk about an overly emotional brat.

 

[jvcarroll]

Wasn't exactly the point I was making, but frankly I haven't seen Iron Man 2. Somehow it ticked people off because it was somehow bad (again, didn't see it, can't confirm it), and the only film goers who vehemently hated Iron Man 3 were those who were obnoxious purists that were upset by the Mandarin. Chinese pandering or not, the original Yellow Scare Mandarin wouldn't work in a movie without heavy alterations. They managed to just make him work in Armored Adventures, but I think the film did better by using the character as an allegory of terrorism (and the farce thereof).

Plus there's also the "first movie after the Avengers" aspect. But the point is, IM 3 managed to pull the reputation of the movie series out of the fire after IM2. I'm sure they can do that with Amazing Spider-Man 3. Hopefully the 4 year wait will be good for the franchise.

As for Transformers, might as well pander to the Chinese since they make the darn things over there. Surprised they don't also pander to Japan (where the toys originally came from, the original series was animated for the most part, and that had more TF cartoons than the US)... but then again, that film would be chock full of combining robots and whiny child sidekicks that never stop crying.

Seriously... Headmasters...Daniel Witwicky... talk about an overly emotional brat.

Iron Man 2 had every sign of being rushed into production. It was quippy with some flavor of the month actors but hollow at the story's core. Without such a charismatic lead, it would have had a hard time at the box office.

 

[Drtooth]

Disney is still trying to push Planes 2 as some huge success with a weaselly "number 1 animated movie 3 weeks in a row." ONLY animated movie. ONLY. Heck, it's the only kid's movie out period.

 

[Muppet Master]

Well, it looks like no live-action (somewhat family film) can get a good RT rating than the muppet movies! TMNT got a weak 17% on RT.

 

[Drtooth]

Haven't seen the film so I can't judge, but frankly a TMNT movie couldn't get good reviews even if it was good. In the 90's, they were seen as a flavor of the month fad. Last film, they were seen as a weak reboot of a fad that didn't hold up to the last fad. I doubt that even if someone made a great TMNT film it would get any respect because the 80's cartoon tainted the name of the series as much as it made it a name to begin with. It's such a shame that the comics get overshadowed by the 80's cartoon. I can get that every animated adaption has to measure up (frankly, Nick's series made me forget about 2k3, and I'd venture to say I like it as much as the original, if not slightly more), but I wish more than comic book fans would give TMNT the indie comic street cred it deserves.

Though, it did get a fair comic book fan bad review somewhere. Didn't read any of it for spoilers sake. Looks like this could have been a better movie in the right hands. Plus, GOTG did off beat comic book adaptions right.

 

[mimitchi33]

Clifford The Big Red DogUniversal4/8/16New

Seriously, first another power rangers film, and now another clifford film, what is up with studios these days making movies thinking nostalgic factor will save it!

A lot of things children of the 90's and 2000's remember are being revived recently. A Postman Pat movie came out recently, there's going to be a Shaun the Sheep movie (he's existed since the 90's), and Britt Allcroft's making a Magic Adventures of Mumfie revival (which I hope isn't in CGI!). What's next, a live-action Animaniacs movie?

 

[Drtooth]

I don't think WB would bother with Animaniacs anything more than a T-shirt. Clifford sounds like an obvious choice for a kid's film, and I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner (minus the barely released in theaters cartoon based one). It'll probably devolve into a talking dog film with butt sniffing jokes though. I don't see it being successful, just yet another thing that feels like it has to be made. At least it won't be 90 minutes of a book that takes 5 minutes to read anyway, so lets throw out the plot like a certain very bad day movie. Seriously. STOP making movies based on picture books. You got lucky with Shrek, and you've pretty much failed with every other one.

All that other stuff sounds like little DTV releases.

But I'll believe a Clifford movie when it's in pre-production. Still waiting for that Berenstain Bears film they threatened to make like 6 or 7 years ago.

 

[mimitchi33]

I don't think WB would bother with Animaniacs anything more than a T-shirt. Clifford sounds like an obvious choice for a kid's film, and I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner (minus the barely released in theaters cartoon based one). It'll probably devolve into a talking dog film with butt sniffing jokes though. I don't see it being successful, just yet another thing that feels like it has to be made. At least it won't be 90 minutes of a book that takes 5 minutes to read anyway, so lets throw out the plot like a certain very bad day movie. Seriously. STOP making movies based on picture books. You got lucky with Shrek, and you've pretty much failed with every other one.

All that other stuff sounds like little DTV releases.

But I'll believe a Clifford movie when it's in pre-production. Still waiting for that Berenstain Bears film they threatened to make like 6 or 7 years ago.

Oh no, they aren't going to ruin my childhood with THAT as well, are they?
I visited the outlets today and there was a line of people out the door who wanted to see the new Ninja Turtles movie, even longer than the lines I saw at the SpongeBob movie (I didn't care for it and saw The Incredibles that day). It's seeming to beat out SpongeBob in popularity, because I see kids who like the show, buy merchandise and wear the shirts everywhere. There were quite a few kids pointing out the SpongeBob poster that was there and laughing at how ridiculous it was.

 

[charlietheowl]

I saw Woody Allen's new flick Magic In The Moonlight today. If your idea of a good time is seeing a 53-year-old man romance a 25-year-old woman, then this is the movie for you.