That's it, I'm fucking done. Get the guns, ladies and gents, 'cause we're going on a witchhunt to kill every mutha fucka who watched Grown Ups 2 instead of Pacific Rim. Show no mercy.
Pacific Rim Beaten by Adam Sandler at Box Office
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It was fun, but I don't see the gushing. Maybe it is because we finally have a benchmark for giant robot combat. Michael Bay could watch it and take notes. Combat has weight, feeling, spectacle, and you can actually tell what is going on.Sonic Doctor said:
Pacific Rim had to compete with an MTG pre-release for my free time this past weekend. One of these things can still be done, the other can't. Guess which one got my money?
Spoiler, I'll probably go see Pacific Rim later, because I can.
Spoiler, I'll probably go see Pacific Rim later, because I can.
To you sir i give my entire collection of interweb cookies. The thing that makes me "Not want to live on this planet anymore/weep for humanity" is the degree to which the internet is collectively losing it's mind over this so called travesty.Casual Shinji said:
The action was entertaining granted, but this is about as dumb as film making gets, it had a shoddy narrative and even the parts that tried to be clever failed pretty hard. Not to mention that box office standings are one of the biggest imaginary pissing contests of all time. The only thing that is relevant in terms of a film's success from a financial standpoint are it's earnings compared to it's budget (which i'm more than sure it will clear).
I think one of the big things is individual taste. I personally loved Pacific Rim and I am one of the people who cannot say enough good about it. Easily the best movie I have seen in theaters this year. But this is a movie pretty much tailored to make me love it and I can easily see why others might not.RedEyesBlackGamer said:
In particular I really liked the plot and script for every reason people seemed to have disliked it. I like that it sticks to the basics and that they didn't try to reinvent the genre. I am glad that they did not try to surprise us with plot twists and that they were willing to embrace old tropes without trying to play it off as irony. I even loved a lot of the dialog and cliched characters people thought were a big problem.
This is because all these elements were done well. The script could get cheesy but it always remained fun. The characters were cliched but they were also likable and successfully drove the story forward. The plot was straight forward but it also never gets bogged down.
This is because all these elements were done well. The script could get cheesy but it always remained fun. The characters were cliched but they were also likable and successfully drove the story forward. The plot was straight forward but it also never gets bogged down.
The movie is not high art but it never tried to be. By setting its sights lower it was able to achieve a high degree of excellence on the things that matter in a pure action vehicle.
I don't even get the hype over this film, but then, 'it doesn't have Adam Sandler in it' is quite a selling point I guess.
What if this is the penalty of living in a demographic computer literate enough to download the movie in a week rather than going to pay for a ticket? What if this is something that isnt about other people being stupid but is our own fault?
I would say a Kaiju just to see him poisoned by Kaiju Blue and maybe have his legs eroded off by that acidTeoes said:
This sucks balls. I get Despicable Me 2, it's a light hearted animation that continues from a well received movie with the funny characters and the minions returning(say what you will about the original, the minions made me laugh like crazy) . Grown Ups 2, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT TO SEE ADAM SANDLER DO HIS HORRIBLE GIG AGAIN?
But that's the thing, really. I mean - yes, I'm not going to give anything to Grown Ups 2 (not that I know or care anything about it, but I certainly wouldn't expect much of it! Although Sandler was outstanding in Funny People) but no matter how much Pacific Rim might appeal to the limited demographic of the Escapist, I think it isn't surprising that that appeal hasn't translated into a major breakout success (not that it's by any means a failure!). It's very, very hard to get genre movies to appeal to audiences without any recognition factor. This is a movie with no major stars, no existing IP to relate to (apart from the 'it's basically Godzilla meets Power Rangers' hook), and whose only real selling point is 'It has great fight scenes'. I don't think that's enough.Caramel Frappe said:
Consider the real breakout hits in genre movie history. Kung Fu movies are a great example (I just happened to be watching 'Snake In The Eagle's Shadow' for the first time today - simultaneously awful and glorious). So for years there were many cheesy kung fu movies coming out of Hong Kong, the equivalent of the Japanese monster movies. To the untrained eye they all look silly, although to afficionados there are some gems in there which are easy to miss because while they look just as bad on the surface, actually they have some great characters or ideas or fight scenes. But you have to love the genre as a whole to devote the time to finding those gems.
Then came Enter The Dragon. It was different for a number of reasons. Obviously, it had a higher budget and was marketed better. But it also was genuinely good. It had a story that was well told, great directing and cinematography, snappy dialogue and a joyful storytelling that could appeal to the audiences who *didn't* care about the fight scenes. It could bring those audiences in, and that's why it managed to break out of the genre ghetto.
Much later you also find Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which took the next step and managed to appeal even to the more 'arty' types. It wasn't just entertainment, it was in some way a 'proper' film.
I think you can say the same about the other genres too. In SF you can think of Star Wars and of 2001; in comic book movies there was Superman and Batman, and more recently Avengers and The Dark Knight; in fantasy there's Harry Potter. These are the ones that make the real money, the ones that manage to go beyond the genre and deliver great stories and character *as well* as giant robots hitting each other.
And yes, I know Transformers made a shitload of money. That's because they had a lot more name power behind them, but also, I hate to say it, because they broke up the giant robot fights with a story about some kid getting a girlfriend. And while that annoyed the Transformers geeks, it appealed to the vast majority of other people.
So - tl;dr: whatever its merits as a giant robot smackdown, I don't think it's a big surprise that Pacific Rim is only going to be a moderate success and not a major breakout hit.
Personally, I liked the characters and while the drama could have been better, it was serviceable enough for me to emphasize with the pilots of the Gypsy Danger and the Marshal.Caramel Frappe said:
Here is the odd thing; this movie, as discussed by me and my friends, was pretty much banking on an extremely small portion of the American audience but a Large portion of the Asian market. Kaiju and Mecha fans are hard to find in America as they are usually only found in conventions and clubs because of limited appeal (though why giant nuclear laser lizards and mechs that can destroy armies has limited appeal I can't fully understand).
But Asia, especially Japan, has a heritage of Kaiju and Mecha. Giant robots as we know it was started by Mazinger Z with Gundam helping to develop them to more realistic standards (only slightly but still noticeable); Gundam to this day has a massive following in Japan as one of the biggest metaseries in the coutnry. Kaiju, as stated in Critical Intel, has been a staple of Japan's media as expressive of national issues and with the tsunami/earthquake/Fukishima, Kaiju are perfect as symbols of those forces and will make a big impact in Japan.
Even the international sale number says so, Almost 3 times the amount in the US and i bet a good portion is in the Japanese, Korean and Chinese market.
+1 to OP mentality. I do find it sad given how great the video was in terms of action quality. I mean it easily out does transformers in sheer volumes when it comes to robot action scenes. Would almost dare to say that 50% of the movie is just amazing CGI robot action that everyone wants. Not like transformers sad 30% or less.
That makes scene as it seems to be focused on the foreign market. The fact that Kojima calls it the Ultimate Otaku Movie should pretty much explain it: this movie is aimed towards a lot of mecha and kaiju fans which reside in large numbers in Asia, especially China, Korea and Japan. I've seen the movie and it definably lives up to the moniker; I saw references to Evangelion, the jaegers look like old gundam designs and the Kaiju look like Old Godzilla designs but with modern textures and movements.Shinkicker444 said:
Regardless, Pacific Rim is not going to flop at this rate, a total of 129 million is sure to make up the costs of production and del Toro will have enough goodwill to make the Mountains of Madness movie he wanted to do.
Good call. I didn't consider that and you're right, that could make an enormous difference. It's a bit like that weird Top Cat movie that came out last year - it was completely baffling to see that anyone had made it, but it all fell into place when you learned it was made primarily for a South American market where Top Cat is a much bigger deal, and only really released elsewhere as an afterthought.Izanagi009 said:
I'd watch it this instant, but I'm gonna watch it with my anime geek friend after he returns from abroad work this fall. 
Well, camaraderie built with drinking games while watching mecha animes is a hard one to die.
Well, camaraderie built with drinking games while watching mecha animes is a hard one to die.
I could argue that it had least have some character development. Yeah, Mako, Stacker, and Becket aren't the best characters but they had interesting backstories and had enough development to be considered more grown at the end than at the beginning.Chatboy 91 said:
Compared to Transformers ( I don't want to bring the argument up but it's the closest comparison) and you get Sam with very little development, Fox's character is just a walking doll and the Transformers themselves don't grow and are standard as hell.
fair enough that the Chinese and Russian pilots are not given any lines but they get across what they are: military minded people who work well in formation (the Chinese triplets playing basketball in perfect sync and Russians having bodies that look out of Spetsnaz training)Aiddon said:
the Aussies were interesting with recognizable personalties. Idris Elba does the tough Marshall role with a heaviness and commitment that I like. Kikuchi's Mako is basically a more expressive form of Rei Ayanami (the blue highlights were a dead giveaway) but I still understood her pain and Hunnam conveys the pain of being with people somewhat well.
All and all, the characters are pretty much out of TVtropes but still enjoyable.
P.S. if we have future Jaeger designs, del Toro should look to the Gundam Series, great stuff there with beam sabers, fin funnels, and mobility that rivals fighter planes
Meh...
The real sting is that it was beaten by another half-assed SNL reunion special. Even American Otaku describe it as a B minus effort. While it will be vindicated by worldwide box office numbers in the long run, it won't be the darling of the American cinema this summer. And while there's probably a little irritation that the only original nerd movie out this summer didn't make a significant cultural impact, it's the fact that middle-aged men telling fart jokes beat it that gets under everyone's skin.
Still, even Moviebob couldn't have expected any different (okay, no one saw the sequel to Grownups taking the number two spot) since even he had to beg American audiences to go see it. While not exactly an untested formula to the pocket protector crowd, this is pretty high-concept for your standard popcorn-muncher. It may not be a no-brainer to us, with all of it's in-jokes and references to Kaiju and Mecha, but yeah, those things are well outside the grasp of your average US moviegoer.
Still, expect huge US box office numbers when American audiences and critics try to show how 'with it' they are when it blows up internationally. Theaters will have more showings, and the PR machine will run with the international numbers.
Also, expect the PR for "Enders Game" to change based on how domestic audiences respond (perhaps by placing a gag order on Card). It already looks like Halo with tweens in the previews so...about twice that. I predict the opposite of what's happening here. The faithful will hate the previews but absolutely love the movie.
I hate to say it, but if projects like this are going to succeed, advertising to the nerds isn't a good idea. We only needed one shot of a skyscraper sized robot/monster to throw our money at it.
The real sting is that it was beaten by another half-assed SNL reunion special. Even American Otaku describe it as a B minus effort. While it will be vindicated by worldwide box office numbers in the long run, it won't be the darling of the American cinema this summer. And while there's probably a little irritation that the only original nerd movie out this summer didn't make a significant cultural impact, it's the fact that middle-aged men telling fart jokes beat it that gets under everyone's skin.
Still, even Moviebob couldn't have expected any different (okay, no one saw the sequel to Grownups taking the number two spot) since even he had to beg American audiences to go see it. While not exactly an untested formula to the pocket protector crowd, this is pretty high-concept for your standard popcorn-muncher. It may not be a no-brainer to us, with all of it's in-jokes and references to Kaiju and Mecha, but yeah, those things are well outside the grasp of your average US moviegoer.
Still, expect huge US box office numbers when American audiences and critics try to show how 'with it' they are when it blows up internationally. Theaters will have more showings, and the PR machine will run with the international numbers.
Also, expect the PR for "Enders Game" to change based on how domestic audiences respond (perhaps by placing a gag order on Card). It already looks like Halo with tweens in the previews so...about twice that. I predict the opposite of what's happening here. The faithful will hate the previews but absolutely love the movie.
I hate to say it, but if projects like this are going to succeed, advertising to the nerds isn't a good idea. We only needed one shot of a skyscraper sized robot/monster to throw our money at it.