Pacific Rim Beaten by Adam Sandler at Box Office

[hermes]

Honestly, I am not surprised. Adam Sandler has made "Jack & Jill", "Anger Management", "Eight Crazy Nights" and "Don't Mess with the Zohan"... he is not only one of the most unfunny comedic actors alive; he is so toxic, he has spoiled the careers of superb actors like Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates and Al Pacino; his name and his face is synonym of lowbrow, frat humor to the point even his dramatic work can't be taken seriously. However, his movies make money. Grown Ups 1, a movie many people consider one of the worst movies of that, or any, year made 3 times its budget (and you can bet most of it went to pay for the handful of overpaid actors in that thing).

I am tired of trying to make sense of some of the things that happen in the box office. My only consolation is that Pacific Rim will, most likely, become a Blu-Ray and online phenomenon and that, overseas, the movie is doing great, while this other turd will pass without making as much as a blip... If they are smart, executives will take notice of these facts.

 

[Callate]

People who don't read books are less capable than those who do

They really aren't, all of that information, all of that intrigue, that message can shown in another medium or at the very least condensed and shown in footnotes, I mean 1984 may have social commentary out of the ass but I don't have to read that to get the message, all I'm losing by reading a summary is the tension and buildup.

Some historians believe that the bombing of Nagasaki during World War II arose from Eisenhower interpreting a term intended to mean "choose not to respond" as "deliberately ignore".

You can lose a lot without nuance, and the condensation of a larger work will inevitably be slanted- possibly even misinterpreted- by whoever you choose to allow to create the summation. Even if only in what they chose to identify as worth passing on and what they chose to remove as filler.

 

[Mark D. Stroyer]

So, I just would like to throw a slightly different perspective into the ring.

I have a younger sister, and she's tangentially related to geekery through my efforts in saying "this is awesome!" and sharing something awesome. (Scott Pilgrim movie into graphics was a high point.) She'll usually end up seeing most of the action movies either with me or her boyfriend, and while I tend to be disappointed at them for their lack of quality writing or, you know, a script, usually she's a level further down on the Unimpressed scale.

So, in drumming up interest in Pacific Rim, she...really wasn't interested. It comes down to perception. To her, a general action movie involves people of various levels of supernatural skill interacting with other people, frequently utilizing fists. There's still a personal aspect. When she sees the trailer to Pacific Rim, she just sees slabs of machinery going after giant lizard faces, and that lacks the human element she's looking for. Arbitrary or not, it's still seen that way.

 

[ShipofFools]

Grown Ups 2 is a dumb film for dumb people who care more about stuffing their fat fucking faces with processed bullshit then whatever is happening on the big screen behind their family sized tub of popcorn.

That was my impression, anyway.

 

[Easton Dark]

"Eight Crazy Nights"

Hey hey hey, I may not like those other movies, but Eight Crazy Nights is amazing. I think it's the only movie I have a DVD of.

OT:

I don't know how good Grown Ups 2 was, but Pacific Rim was...


So good job Sandler.

 

[darksakul]

Snip.

As I said there some good stuff there with movies based off of books and such. We can go back and forth for an hour naming off noteworthy titles.

My Point is if Hollywood does not learn to embrace new ideas they are going to go into a slump.

You need new IP to keep the industry from going stagnant.

I bet you are the special kind of jerk that went to see Grown Up 2 any ways. The same douche-bro that bought into everything Microsoft had said over the Xbox One. You are what is wrong with America.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

damn...so much butthurt in here, a cheesy niche movie was beat out by a social comedy movie involving an overall big hit cast, regardless of quality it's hard to deny that.

I've had friends see both movies, surprisingly the "nerdier" friends couldn't have given a shit for pacific rim while some of my less nerdier friends enjoyed GU2

 

[scorptatious]

"Eight Crazy Nights"

Hey hey hey, I may not like those other movies, but Eight Crazy Nights is amazing. I think it's the only movie I have a DVD of.

OT:

I don't know how good Grown Ups 2 was, but Pacific Rim was...


So good job Sandler.

Glad to see someone else who enjoyed Eight Crazy Nights.

And yes, Pacific Rim was amazing.

 

[DugMachine]

I'm not shocked. Pacific Rim is pretty much aimed at nerd culture. As much as we want to believe that nerd culture is the norm now, it's really not. Adam Sandler movies will always beat niche films like Pacific Rim because it targets a wider audience and people like safety in what they're going to watch. A 2 hour mediocre comedy film with a well known comedy actor (even if he's not very good anymore).

Besides that, while I enjoyed Pacific Rim, it definitely had it's flaws. I'd watch it again and hopefully in IMAX to get the full effect but I know plenty of people who don't want to watch the movie because they know it doesn't interest them. Not many people get excited over robots punching monsters in the face.

 

[FilmDude89]

I've already done my civic duty and plopped down the money for a ticket to see Pacific Rim. I thought it was a very entertaining movie.. It depresses me greatly to hear that people would much rather watch gross-out "comedy" than see giant monsters get beat up by giant robots.

 

[hazabaza1]

Considering Pacific Rim looks like a completely standard "big thing smash big thing" affair I'm not sure why people are getting uppity about it.

 

[Lictor Face]

I am not mainstream America.

Sometimes, I'm very, very glad of this.

It's hard to resist the urge to rage. It's so tempting to scream at the 33% of high school graduates who never read another book after graduation and the 43% of college graduates who do the same. The people who make "Honey Boo Boo" and "Jersey Shore" into major success stories.

To snarl the ever-popular, "This is why we can't have nice things!!"

But what will change from my snarling and sneering? I mean, if giant robots fighting sea monsters is just a little too high-brow fer yeh, how am I ever going to change your mind by moving my face-parts? (And I'm perfectly aware that posting this on The Escapist is largely preaching to the choir.)

*sigh*

Why would you read a book? We have the internet, we have video games, we have movies, we have much much more effective ways of conveying an idea and emotion. The smugness and sense of superiority over 'the mainstream' is palpable.

Ok hold the hell up. Did you just say books are irrelevant? Did you REALLY say that what practically is the building block for human education and literacy is irrelevant?

I hope that was just a poor point you pulled up to respond to a mocking quote. You are saying that reading is only done by people with a "superiority" complex. News-flash. Every single person who has ever been thought of as intelligent EVER in the modern world has read a book.

Einstein read books. Newton read books. Stephen Hawking read books. Pasteur read books. That doctor you go to see when you catch the flu has read a book.

The list goes on infinitely.

CD roms have become outdated, replaced by DVDs and even that is soon to be replaced by blu-ray. Yet I am willing to bet at least 80% of all the people in the world who has ever owned a media player owns a CD rom. Regardless of irrelevance.





Back on the point. It appears that many people are confused why everyone is fed-up how GU2 beat Pacific Rim ( initially anyway ). Pacific Rim is an original IP. It wasn't fantastic yes, but was it a good film? Debatable, it had pretty lulzy scripting and it was a cliche melting pot. Was it a fun film? Definitely. It was a fresh IP and a breathe of fresh air in the movie industry, which has thus far been filled with the same old superhero movies and generic action movies.

GU2 is everything that is wrong with the movie industry. Its a sequel of an already horrifically bad IP. It sells almost completely off celebrity status. There is absolutely nothing in it that makes me want to sit-up and take notice. It is a generic, faceless comedy which contributes nothing to comedy at all. At least despicable me 2 contributes to cutesy and subordinate humor. GU2 is a bleached grey slate. And yet people still go and see it.

For the 20th time in this thread.

THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS.

 

[SushiJaguar]

Could you please not say that the idea of giant monsters being punched by giant robots came out of Hollywood? That's just plain stupid and wrong.

Besides, it's not like Pacific Rim was a very good example of that particular sub-genre of film.

 

[MXRom]

Although I haven't seen the Adam Sandler film... I did see Pacific Rim - due to friends wanting to go see it.

I thought it was pretty god damn awful if I'm honest. Cheesy lines, stereotypical casting, unnecessary stupid visual jokes.

I know people will probably rage at me for saying that but it really wasn't my cup of tea at all. Summarising the film is as simple as 'Smashy smashy' - so I think it should take its box office position as a win for such a poor film.

It's not so much the position that hurts as much as the fact that it was beaten by a movie that subsists on bland humor and repeated jokes.

 

[Erttheking]

...There's no justice in the world. There just isn't...wait what am I talking about?

This isn't really that bad now that I think about it. I mean haven't we learned anything from Call of Duty? A game doesn't have to be the best, it just has to be really good. Same applies to movies, and it seems like Pacific Rim is doing very well. It's almost broken even already.

 

[Yuuki]

Yeah but that's at the AMERICAN box office.

So all those endlessly posting stuff like "Lost faith in humanity etc" "I don't want to live on this planet etc etc", please edit your posts to say "Lost faith in AMERICA" and "I don't want to live in AMERICA anymore".

That way we can collectively stop giving a shit about all the retarded stuff that happens in US

 

[Nazulu]

Usually I don't get in the way of people going dramatic. However, why does anyone really give a shit? They're all average, stupid, cliche', redone crap that has been done 10 times better before. None of these movies deserve anything.

I'll save my rage when a stupid comedy beats Saving Private Ryan.

 

[runnerbelow]

Truly this is going to be what makes me have my existential crisis, and proclaim that I'm utterly disappointed in my species. The Box-Office results. The world must hear me baww from the top of my roof.

On topic, I agree with the guy whose post is above mine.
An action-movie with a terrible, nondescript title is doing worse than an Adam Sandler movie. What a shock. Be happy that Pacific Rim didn't completely bomb at least, okay?