Summer School - Part I
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I must be one of the 4 people in the world that like the Riddick movies. Even the second one, although I was frustrated that they seemed to have built this whole mythos and never explained any of it.
(In before people start shouting at you to read the Dune books) I liked the Riddick movies too. Vin Diesel is kinda ludicrous, but they're not bad by most definitions.castlewise said:
You're not alone in thinking that this summer you got tired of the rides. The problem to me, is the movies and the sameness of them all. Too many of the movies just look like they were written by an accountant where you know the entire movie before even walking in the theater.
Another question, would Iron Man 3 have made as much money if it released in mid July as opposed to the first week of May? Sure I liked the movie, but would it have done as well had audiences already gotten their fill of explosions for the summer. Granted it had the best twist of the summer, and had a solid plot, so that does help.
And finally, blockbuster popcorn movies are supposed to be fun. Marvel and Disney seem to have figured this out, but everyone else is just too serious for their own good. Man of Steel, Star Trek, (something else), etc... They were all too self important for themselves. I think that's what Marvel/Disney have figured out, they're just movies, while you can touch on real world issues, don't make them the issue. In Iron Man 3 the issue was terrorism but the movie was about Tony Stark/Iron Man.
I don't know, you're the critic, I'm just trying to add to the conversation on how I felt this summer.
Another question, would Iron Man 3 have made as much money if it released in mid July as opposed to the first week of May? Sure I liked the movie, but would it have done as well had audiences already gotten their fill of explosions for the summer. Granted it had the best twist of the summer, and had a solid plot, so that does help.
And finally, blockbuster popcorn movies are supposed to be fun. Marvel and Disney seem to have figured this out, but everyone else is just too serious for their own good. Man of Steel, Star Trek, (something else), etc... They were all too self important for themselves. I think that's what Marvel/Disney have figured out, they're just movies, while you can touch on real world issues, don't make them the issue. In Iron Man 3 the issue was terrorism but the movie was about Tony Stark/Iron Man.
I don't know, you're the critic, I'm just trying to add to the conversation on how I felt this summer.
May I be the first to coin the term 'Tonto taint' for this phenomena? There are entredres which I think do justice to the stinker. In the future when it looks like Depp has been cast to wear a funny hat and draw attention from an otherwise phlegmatic endeavor we can caution that his Tonto taint is showing, so look away. Look away!MovieBob said:
Captcha was 'silver lining'... ok, perhaps the horse was very good but I can't imagine it made Lone Ranger worth watching.
Sure, I'm with you guys. The first did a lot with a small budget. The second was was... well, not weird, just not the movie I expected, though given my low expectations this was totally a value added feature. Also, I'm faintly mystified / impressed that Dame Dench was in it.Thunderous Cacophony said:
Although Olympus (according to wikipedia anyway) had the bigger box office, it was only by $30 million. If it had had the same box office Down had it still would have been a financial success because it had less than half the budget. I wouldn't say that the lesson is so much get their first as it is, don't have a budget that you aren't sure you'll be able to make back.
That or don't have shitty trailers. Because I'll be honest, Of the trailers that were aired on TV for the two, I would have pegged White House Down as looking substantially less interesting and even completely stupid. But that may be because I have trouble taking Channing Tatum seriously as an action star.
Minor additional topic - Ryan Reynolds should pretty much never be the lead actor: any time he's prominently featured as the main character in a mainstream movie, said film dies a horrible death (RIPD was one of the big duds this year and Turbo didn't do much better). It seems when he's the sidekick or not the focus of audience interest (Croods, Origins Wolverine, The Proposal, Safe House) or in a lower budget film he does a bit better. Thing is I don't feel he's a bad actor - he just has really bad timing and taste in projects.
Predicted topic - Horror is doing really, really well. Obviously they have for a while, but I'm wondering if there's a more interesting trend being expressed through the successes of Purge and Conjuring.
Predicted topic - Horror is doing really, really well. Obviously they have for a while, but I'm wondering if there's a more interesting trend being expressed through the successes of Purge and Conjuring.
Bob did you say Iron Man 3 was the best in its trilogy?
Bob wat r u
"The best of its own trilogy by far"
-Bob 'Moviebob' Chipman
Bob
Stahp :'(
Bob wat r u
"The best of its own trilogy by far"
-Bob 'Moviebob' Chipman
Bob
Stahp :'(
Using archetypes I see, breaking rules, I don't see. The major characters under discussion? Tough black
I have actually been feeling the same way you did about this summer for a few years now, everything seems to be the same as everything else and to me that is because every movie is like every other movie. It reminds me of how I felt about Oblivion, I was able to guess almost every single plot twist in the movie based on the trailer alone.
As far as Riddick goes, I wasn't demanding it but now that its coming to theaters I will probably go see it for it reminds me more of Pitch Black then Chronicles. That and I tend to be more interested in a movie that tries to be different then a clone of everything else out there which seems to make up a good chunk of the available movies.
As far as Riddick goes, I wasn't demanding it but now that its coming to theaters I will probably go see it for it reminds me more of Pitch Black then Chronicles. That and I tend to be more interested in a movie that tries to be different then a clone of everything else out there which seems to make up a good chunk of the available movies.
Everyone I've talked to about is as completely fucking stocked about the new Riddick movie as I am. Seems only reviewers don't like it!castlewise said:
Also, Chronicles Of Riddick was always meant to be a trilogy. It was sold as a trilogy, and if Diesel had to get all blackmaily to get them to continue it, that just shows that Hollywood, once again, wasn't keeping its word. That's excluding Pitch Black btw, which was just a character introduction type of tale.
It's still probably going to bomb though, it's been too long since the first movie. It will also be rated R, apparently The Underverse is kind of a naughty place.
Anyway, between that stab at the only movie besides The Hobbit that I'm interested in this year, and saying Iron Man 3 was the best in the trilogy, I don't think this guy has any clue what he's talking about. Glad I never read any of his other stuff.
Kumagawa Misogi said:
I'm not sure where you get your numbers, but Pacific Rim DID make money. It almost doubled it'd budget iirc.
And that was more so thanks to the great showing over seas
I'm surprised Pacific Rim did so well in China, considering their Jaeger gets so pathetically trounced while fighting two-on-one in their first on-screen battle.
Na, I'm the Riddick lovers. I've loved the Riddick movies since I was a little kid. Once I found out a third was being made I couldn't stop smiling. Plenty of folks I've talked to have said that they can't wait for it to hit theaters either. So why the major downplay on Riddick, I don't know, guess reviewers just don't like 'em.
Well, this column wasn't as vitriolic and angry as I expected it too. So, good for Bob?
captcha:"find your soul paint" where this weekend?
Dafuq is "soul paint"?
Dude, DO NOT give him ideas.MacNille said:
captcha:"find your soul paint" where this weekend?
Dafuq is "soul paint"?
Completely agree with Bob about the completely average Summer Movie season. Only 3 movies were above average this year: The World's End, The Heat, and Now You See Me. I give some credit to Spring Breakers and Pain & Gain for at least attempting to do something interesting. The worst summer movie, having seen The Lone Ranger & The Wrath of Khan remake, is Iron Man 3. It reminded me of the Patton Oswalt bit about talking to George Lucas before he filmed the Star Wars prequels. "Hey! Do you like the first 2 Iron Man movies and The Avengers? Well, we are going to completely throw all that away. Now I'm going to have Tony Starks out of the power suit for about 90% of the movie. It's going to be like a 1970's TV detective show. Where Tony is running around on foot chasing clues about a mystery."
Actually, Hansel and Gretel did $55m in the U.S. on a $50m budget, so it didn't even really bomb stateside. It didn't do blockbuster business there-- but did anyone ever think it would?
Wonder if the hypothesized-to-be PG-13 sequel will be able to pull the same trick. Seriously, the grim (and arguably misogynistic) tone may have been all that set it apart from a dozen similar movies that barely raise their heads in the theaters before vanishing into the video market.
(Fail to learn the lesson of Brothers Grimm and Jack the Giant Slayer at your peril, guys.)
I'm actually kind of looking forward to Riddick, too. Sure, at this point it's kind of the movie version of watching the GM's NPC kick ass while the player characters stand around and look befuddled- but it's rarely dull, unimaginative and by the numbers, and god knows there's still plenty of that to go 'round.
Wonder if the hypothesized-to-be PG-13 sequel will be able to pull the same trick. Seriously, the grim (and arguably misogynistic) tone may have been all that set it apart from a dozen similar movies that barely raise their heads in the theaters before vanishing into the video market.
(Fail to learn the lesson of Brothers Grimm and Jack the Giant Slayer at your peril, guys.)
I'm actually kind of looking forward to Riddick, too. Sure, at this point it's kind of the movie version of watching the GM's NPC kick ass while the player characters stand around and look befuddled- but it's rarely dull, unimaginative and by the numbers, and god knows there's still plenty of that to go 'round.
I also like the Riddick movies. It just tickles me that Vin Diesel uses the money and leverage he gets from his "dudebro" franchise to keep making movies in his "nerd" franchise.
International box office only pays the studio 25-50% generally, depending on the country in question.
In an earlier time or a better film year, I might have agreed. But this summer was so full of disappointments, this well-made film with a simple plot was far better than all the messy SERIOUS BUSINESS blockbusters surrounding it. Comedy's not my favourite genre, and I'm definitely not a horror guy, and yet this summer the best films I saw were This Is The End, The Heat, The World's End, and The Conjuring. Meanwhile, other than Iron Man 3 and Pacific Rim, every other action blockbuster left me really disappointed.Lionsfan said:
It used to be that for domestic box office, the Hollywood studios made 90% of the ticket sales while theatre owners made 10% for the first two weeks of release, then the studio and theatre would split the take 50/50 after that. But for the last decade or so, the studios have been able to negotiate far more advantageous deals for themselves.Kumagawa Misogi said:
International box office only pays the studio 25-50% generally, depending on the country in question.