Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

Agreed. But the suck would be more that Dumb and Dumber to had a slightly draw this weekend, but the big picture is that it's opening was only slightly better than the second week of the animated film and a good 20 million off its opening. I'm sure Mocking Jay part 1 will trample Dumb and Dumber while Hero 6 manages to stay relatively well doing. It's the Penguin movie that would be its true competition. And I'm mixed. I would love Hero to still smash the competition, but Dreamworks hasn't had much luck lately, despite the fact HTTYD2 was an international darling, and it's still one of their big 4 franchises. Plus, I love those darn penguins. But Hero does look to hold its own anyway. Seems that every Target I go to the toys have disappeared from shelves.

Still, you wonder who would bother with D&D 2 at this point. It's gotten bad reviews from people who genuinely liked the first. While I'm sure a good portion of the film is devoted to lampshade hanging how they're too old for this kind of wacky comedy, they're too old for this kind of wacky comedy. I'm sure the Farrley Brothers twisted the heck out of Jim Carrey's arm to break his no sequel rule, but the appeal of this film is for those who grew up with it and love it. Even then, while it doesn't look a desperate cash-in, it just looks too offputting compared to the original. Plus, they TOTALLY ruined the best joke in the film by making it a trailer. Not to mention that it really seems out of the classic 3 Jim movies, Dumb and Dumber just was its own self contained thing. Out of the cartoon series, it was the one that performed the worst and was the most forgotten.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

Dumber and Dumber To stealing the #1 spot is the reason why Hollywood continues to make stupid movies. Because they make money. I wish the US would be smarter with what they pay to see.

 

[Drtooth]

Dumber and Dumber To stealing the #1 spot is the reason why Hollywood continues to make stupid movies. Because they make money. I wish the US would be smarter with what they pay to see.

Ehhhh... not really because it only made a paltry 38 mil, and that spot was only "stolen" by 2 mil. Sure, it's made more money than some comedies so far this year, but no where near 22 Jump Street's opening. And frankly, that movie was hilarious. Kinda wish I saw the first one when it opened up.

That said, there were at least 3 or 4 other movies that opened up that week that were under the radar as they were more indy. Rosewater and Birdman at least. Birdman looks a million times funnier than D&D 2, but it's the stupid people who see the stupid movies why stupid movies are made. And I'm sure once Mockingjay part 1 opens up, D&D will fall greater than Hero will.

 

[Drtooth]

HAH

While as expected, the Hunger Games sequel opened big, Hero has a very distant no 2 spot, but Dumb and Dumber to sank to fourth place.

Hope Hero manages to stay around for winter vacation and make some more money there. Wonder if it at least made its budget back yet. Penguins will no doubt take a bite out of it's fourth week. I'm glad it's mildly successful, but it's a darn shame it's not kicking Frozen's butt. Then again, Frozen had no other competition last November since Peabody and Sherman was scooted off to March.

 

[Drtooth]

I hate having to triple post, but I think this conversation really needs a pick up.

The Dumb and Dumber sequel fell off the map fast. Amazing.
Big Hero and Interstellar are still in the top five over a month after they premiered and I hope Hero manages to keep making money during the Holiday break because... come on... we NEED more Big Hero one way or another. It's got to be at least at $175M by now. Hopefully not too much more will be enough to qualify it as a success.

But I'm disappointed that penguins isn't reaching an audience. Maybe because it came almost out of nowhere and it seems it would have made more closer to the last film. It was quite good, and what you'd expect from the franchise. Seems they found a happy middle between the movie versions of the characters and the television show versions. They recast Rico, but I hardly noticed. They managed to keep him babbling instead of being completely silent. The big surprise is John Malkovich's hamming it up as Dave the Octopus. It was by all means an enjoyable film, just not Big Hero levels.

 

[mr3urious]

I'm just glad Mockingjay Part 1 was able to beat out D&D2. For better or worse, the odds are forever in its favor.

It's got to be at least at $175M by now. Hopefully not too much more will be enough to qualify it as a success.

It's starting to turn a profit domestically, which is great.

 

[Drtooth]

It's starting to turn a profit domestically, which is great.

I really hope this thing is successful enough for a sequel or cartoon series or something. It really should be making Marvel money since it is technically a Marvel film. And it's managed to hang on pretty long. I don't want Disney thinking this needs to make Frozen money. It's doing great for a slow month, and it opened higher than Ralph did. It's a great film and it needs all the viewership it deserves. I'd hate to think that Disney only wants to make Frozen type movies since that was their biggest non-Pixar success to date. Especially since Disney's own films are becoming better than Pixar as of late. And hopefully this will blow up on the international market as well. Besides, other than Mocking Jay, all these November movies are doing only so so. Big Hero's like the second most domestically profitable one after that film.

By that token, it's a shame that Dreamworks just can't catch a break. Penguins was pretty fun. There really isn't much of a market presence except for a Kid Cuisine tie in contest where the mascot got kidnapped (and shockingly, I didn't put one and one together until well after I saw the movie) and a Happy Meal that recycles the exact same toys from 4 years ago when penguins was a TV show. never saw them do that before. Of course, there are also a line of Pop Vynals, but those won't come out until after the movie.

And yeah... Dumb and Dumber was never my favorite of the three Jim Carrey classic films. Especially in cartoon form. Mask and Ace Ventura all the way for me. But the sequel seemed unnecessary, even from a nostalgia point of view. They say the only thing good about the movie is Jim and Jeff's chemistry, and that the jokes are flat and mean spirited. Frankly, I never liked the Farley Bros either, minus Osmosis Jones, and even then, just for the animated segments (to be fair Chris Elliot and Bill Murray did what they could with the script and were genuinely funny).

 

[WalterLinz]

I'm so glad Big Hero is still on the top charts at the box office.

 

[Drtooth]

Considering it made a decent amount of money and manages to keep in the top 5 even a month after its release, I really hope that's enough to keep the BH6 machine going. The last thing any Disney fan wants to see is that taking a back seat to a lesser film franchise like Planes. I just wish the merchandise was a little better. Baymax and Groot were the surprise Marvel Heroes of this film year. There's bound to be a LOT of fan art with the two together.

Aside from that, I take back the "no Penguins of Madagascar merchandise" comment. They had (and I mean had) plush toys at TRU, but all that was left were a couple (spoilers if you care)... Mutated Ricos, and they looked a bit creepier in person. Then again, they completely spoiled the movie with said merchandise! Have they learned nothing from Shrek 3?

On another note, here's the Pop Vynals of the characters if you scroll down about Mid-way. They're adorable, especially Skipper with his Cheez Dibbles. I'd say I hope this leads to more Madagascar Pop figures in the future, but other than the Penguins, the only others I want to see are Julien and Mort.

 

[jvcarroll]

Remember when The Muppets was released in 2011 and Disney delayed its international launch for months into 2012? The studio beancounters thought that the movie cycle in the UK and other places would be more favorable to the film if structured differently and that turned out poorly for the international box office.

Well, it seems that those same beancounters have repeated the mistake with Big Hero 6. While it's been quite successful here, it's only in a few small markets overseas! It still has an impressive haul for the places they've chosen to release it, but my guess is that this terrible strategy will once again cripple the film's success as. Many overseas fans will illegal ways to view it online, buy the US Blu-ray through Ebay or hold some sort of grudge and wait to see it. Disney is one of the best studios at marketing, yet they keep repeating this stupid mistake. I just don't understand why. Any thoughts?