Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Drtooth]

Even though I personally liked the Mario movie, I've often thought a Zelda movie may have been a better route to go, considering the game itself had a more comprehensible plot anyway. Now, I know one of the reasons the Mario movie got flack was the seemingly odd casting choices, especially a Brit and a Latino playing two Italian plumbers (though, to be fair, Latinos and Italians, to me, seem to share a lot of ethnic similarities, so I think that could be forgiven) . . . but really, whose idea was it in this new YouTube-exclusive Zelda movie to make Link look like Justin Bieber cosplaying as Link?

I'd tend to think the Mario movie would at least been ehhhhh if you remove it from the franchise and called it something else. It still comes off as one of those odd 80's early 90's films that looks just like it. Something you'd see Cinema Snob drudge up, rather than Nostalgia Critic. It's...fine I guess if you can see it that way. Like Inspector Gadget, I actually liked it the first time, but upon second viewings I had a much more negative opinion. But credit where it's due, it wasn't a poorly acted movie. Hoskins may have hated being in the film, but he certainly wasn't a poor sport about it, doing it for a paycheck (unlike Jason Lee in the Chipmunks films). Dennis Hopper was actually doing a fun job as Koopa. And for some reason, I still love that elevator scene where the "Goombas" are gentled swayed by Mario and Luigi.

And while I still object to clean shaven Luigi, considering the Mario in this movie was pushing fifty, pairing him up with a 20 year old Princess would have been...off. Not that it hasn't been done before. So, yeah...having Mario already have a stereotyped Italian-New York girlfriend and giving Daisy to Luigi worked for the film.

Still, the fact that some of us die hard Mario fans hated seeing the characters misused and having this sited as the reason Nintendo no longer licenses out the character for Western media are a sore point. A Zelda movie would have been a disaster. I could just see Krull or worse, He-Man with Zelda characters' names slapped on. And considering Zelda fans haaaaate the cartoon series (which frankly wasn't bad, especially for an 80's cartoon), I doubt that would have gone over well.

Though, I'm confident that since we're in an age where movie makers actually played video games and grew up knowing what they were, we'd probably have a great Mario or Zelda film. But that's all up to Nintendo. Ratchet and Clank is one of the best video game movies partially for being developed by the creators, but partially because the bar is so low. I'd say the Resident Evil films get good reception from fans, and Tomb Raider was seen to have made 2 probably well liked chapters. Been so long Lara Croft has been relevant, so I can't get a good handle on the reception.

 

[Mynameisdean]

The Weekend estimates are here. Civil War did great, the highest non-Avengers MCU opening, and that Mothers Day movie actually increased.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

 

[Drtooth]

I really wish I could have had the chance to see Civil War, but was busy with FCBD on Saturday. But it looks like even taking away the North American Box Office, the film already surpassed that other Super Hero movie in just 2 weeks internationally vs DC's overall take. This was to be expected.

Too bad I have to wait until next week for it, especially since Shield is going to directly tie into it. Yeah. No one week amnesty period. Even when Thor Dark World and Winter Soldier came out, they waited to have the direct effects on the series.

 

[C to the J]

Seems to me that Marvel is the new Touchstone in terms of cinema. It's rather odd that the PG-13 rating box sometimes neglects language even though some movies with the rating clearly have instances of words worse than H3ll and D4mn. I often check Dove.org's reviews so I know what's included. When I do, I'm like, "I thought so." Superhero movies today are quite predictable that way.

Among the PG-13 movies I don't mind watching are The Giver and Star Wars VII.

 

[Drtooth]

PG movies used to have some pretty huge cuss words back in their day. Spaceballs surprised me in terms of how many precision S and F strikes being in a PG film. Even today, they didn't change the rating for that film's home release. AS I've said quite a few times before, the last time I saw a PG film that was a solid PG rating was Rango. Kid's films all look like they should be a G rating, but they have that one rude joke so they can get the PG rating. Unless you're Pixar, a G rating is suicide for some reason. G is for Babies (apparently) and PG means the film has an extreme 'tude Dudes!

Super Hero based action movies are pretty much going to be PG-13 anyway so they can actually have a level of violence to them. And I feel there's a certain level to that which is bunk as well. The Disney released Marvel movies I've seen deserve a PG-13 rating with the decent level of violence they have to them. As I said before, Deadpool's first R rated super hero film to be successful lead to the decision for Fox to make Wolverine 3 R rated. And thank freaking goodness for that. While I really enjoyed the second good Wolverine solo movie, I was highly insulted that, to get that PG-13 sweet spot, they had to turn any instance of Wolverine slashing someone into one of those unbearable discretion cut shots. Meanwhile, you see worse acts of violence on television with an equivalent to a PG 13 rating and no one says a word. And on the other hand, the original TMNT movie was PG and had a respectable level of marital arts violence to it. Fast forward to 2007 with the Imagi movie, and the violence was actually toned down to the fact even the then current TMNT cartoon got away with slightly more (before the censor changed...that's another rant for another time).

 

[mr3urious]

Five Nights at Freddy's is getting made into a movie.

http://kotaku.com/five-things-you-should-know-about-the-five-nights-at-fr-1721103921

First time hearing this, I thought, "Meh". That is, until I found out that Freddy and his gang will be Creature Shop animatronics. Even if this thing might wind up as a 90-minute bottle episode filled with jump scares, at least we can guarantee that the creature effects will be awesome.

 

[Drtooth]

You know what? If horror films are going to descend into cheap jump scares, might as well make one based on the king of jump scares with a huge cult then mainstream following. I heard this was considered a while back. I never played the games, nor does it look like something in game form that I'd actually enjoy. But I do indeed enjoy the story and characters and the whole haunted "Rockafire Explosion" concept. And I have to admit, I'd get some of the merchandise. Probably would see the movie if it was well made enough. I could see it as a found footage type film, if it has to be. And it would frankly work better than all the other ones of those. Yet, outside of the fandom, would that really make it special enough to see as a film? Sucks that a bunch of cheap, crappy horror films that came before it would probably hurt the film's chances.

 

[D'Snowth]

PG movies used to have some pretty huge cuss words back in their day. Spaceballs surprised me in terms of how many precision S and F strikes being in a PG film. Even today, they didn't change the rating for that film's home release.

Just about all of Mel Brooks's PG movies were like that, but then again, I don't believe they actually had a PG-13 rating back then - just G, PG, and R. But you brought it up before too, not only does YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN have those words as well, but look at all the wacky sexcapades that were in that movie, and again, it was PG. Kids even watched the movie back then; on one of the DVD featurettes, one of the people who originally worked on the movie talked about how his kids had it on VHS and wore it out playing it over and over again.

 

[Mynameisdean]

Yesterday I drove by a set for Patriots Day, the Movie about the Boston Marathon Bombing, which will be released late December, and have a wide January release it seems. I wanted to take a picture and show you guys, but I didn't. Also, this was the same area where the new Ghostbusters everybody hates already was filmed.

 

[Luke kun]

Am I the only one who WANTS to see the new Ghostbusters? R63, everybody. It's life. Maybe they're the daughters of the originals?