The Big Picture: Go Go Godzilla - Hoping for Better Blockbusters

MovieBob

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Go Go Godzilla - Hoping for Better Blockbusters

Bob may not have enjoyed Godzilla, but still hopes to see more blockbusters that at least try to be as energetic, unique and joyful as Godzilla.

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Zontar

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Feb 18, 2013
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I don't really understand why, but for some reason while the internet seems to be "meh" about Godzilla, all the word of mouth I've heard in person both at the theater and from people I know is overwhelmingly positive. I don't know, could just be a Canadian thing, but as a fan of Godzilla I actually liked the movie. Sure it's not the best Godzilla movie, but it's sure in the higher side of the scale in terms of storytelling.
 

MB202

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Sep 14, 2008
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...Is it just me, or does Bob sound a bit... slow, in this episode?
 

Burnouts3s3

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We live in the age of Brands, Bob. We better get used to it; especially with the "Peeps" movie being green-lit.

One thing about the adaptation conundrum is that we seem to be forgetting one factor what with the television reboots, the movie reboots and just plain movies there for product placement.

I'm talking about franchises from books, like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and yes, even Twilight. A lot of times, many fans of the original source material will say a movie is disloyal or misses the tone of the book, but when it comes to these Young Adult franchises, the studio tries as hard as possible to be as close to original source.

And, I like that aspect better since Young Adult franchises are allowed to have a beginning, middle and end.
 

thejboy88

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Good episode. I've personally never had much of an issue with movie's being made as products so long as I enjoy them while I'm watching it. Godzilla, Avengers etc, all things I enjoyed despite knowing that there was more than a little bit of marketing behind the wheel.
 

Jman1236

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Yes, cannot wait for Guardians of the galaxy, that is going to rock. How can a movie with a gun wielding raccoon suck?
 

Evonisia

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Jun 24, 2013
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MB202 said:
...Is it just me, or does Bob sound a bit... slow, in this episode?
Yeah, maybe it's the miserable kind of disappointment unlike Man of Steel's rather emotion driven disappointment.

OT: Good episode, though I wouldn't keep my hopes up for TASM 2 failing at this rate.
 

MatParker116

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Mr Edwards has talked about Destroy all monsters as a basis for Godzilla 2 which should lead to more of third act (which was fucking awesome).
 

Gxas

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MatParker116 said:
Mr Edwards has talked about Destroy all monsters as a basis for Godzilla 2 which should lead to more of third act (which was fucking awesome).
But first we need a Biollante movie, a Gigan movie, a Rodan movie, and a Mothra movie.

Then they can all be mashed into a Godzilla movie and make WAY TOO MUCH MONEY
 

AJey

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I just cant agree with the idea that anything within Guardians of the Galaxy is original...
 

Hitchmeister

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Evonisia said:
MB202 said:
...Is it just me, or does Bob sound a bit... slow, in this episode?
Yeah, maybe it's the miserable kind of disappointment unlike Man of Steel's rather emotion driven disappointment.

OT: Good episode, though I wouldn't keep my hopes up for TASM 2 failing at this rate.
Not failing, that's not going to happen. But disappointing, as in the studio saying, "Damn, we only made buckets of money off of this, we were hoping for barrels."
 

Hutzpah Chicken

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Bob, you seem to forget the main attraction of Godzilla (at leas in America) is the camp value. To expect that something is going to be a great and well created movie based off of the appeal of cheesy monster movies is just falling prey to the hype machine.
 

TheMemoman

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Yeah. That's basically it. Thank you for being so succinct about it, Bob. You just nailed it.
 

Carbo

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Evonisia said:
MB202 said:
...Is it just me, or does Bob sound a bit... slow, in this episode?
Yeah, maybe it's the miserable kind of disappointment unlike Man of Steel's rather emotion driven disappointment.

OT: Good episode, though I wouldn't keep my hopes up for TASM 2 failing at this rate.
Despite TASM2 looking to possibly outgross The Winter Soldier it's still not looking to be the hit people were expecting it to be. The movie had an abysmal drop at the Domestic Box Office and it already debuted lower than any of the other Spider-Man movies, even if the massive Asian opening sort of balanced it out. With all the marketing accounted for it has to gross a lot more than the original TASM in order to break even, so around the $800M range. Even if it only just reaches that goal it's hardly in Sony's best interest to make movies that exist simply to make back budget, because their film business is one of their worse performing divisions out there.

Meanwhile, movies like Godzilla and The Winter Soldier open strong right out of the gate with relatively conservative budgets and still come out on top because they are smart movies that don't succumb to overproduction. By the end of the year, movies like these will have benefited a lot more in the grand scheme of things than movies like TASM2.
 

KazeAizen

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Carbo said:
Evonisia said:
MB202 said:
...Is it just me, or does Bob sound a bit... slow, in this episode?
Yeah, maybe it's the miserable kind of disappointment unlike Man of Steel's rather emotion driven disappointment.

OT: Good episode, though I wouldn't keep my hopes up for TASM 2 failing at this rate.
Despite TASM2 looking to possibly outgross The Winter Soldier it's still not looking to be the hit people were expecting it to be. The movie had an abysmal drop at the Domestic Box Office and it already debuted lower than any of the other Spider-Man movies, even if the massive Asian opening sort of balanced it out. With all the marketing accounted for it has to gross a lot more than the original TASM in order to break even, so around the $800M range. Even if it only just reaches that goal it's hardly in Sony's best interest to make movies that exist simply to make back budget, because their film business is one of their worse performing divisions out there.

Meanwhile, movies like Godzilla and The Winter Soldier open strong right out of the gate with relatively conservative budgets and still come out on top because they are smart movies that don't succumb to overproduction. By the end of the year, movies like these will have benefited a lot more in the grand scheme of things than movies like TASM2.
Also just being flat out better movies then it also helps. I'm happy to see, for the most part anyway, that these days the actual good movies are making their money back and then some. Hell I keep coming back to Frozen. I was confident it was going to do well and I'm sure Disney was too. However I don't think anyone, them included, had any idea just how good, or how special this one was. Hell I've loaned out my blu ray to some of my coworkers and the story is the same every time by the time I get it back. "I watched it like 4 times." One of them even watched it 7 times, only two of which was with her young daughter.

Point being is that with all the projections, expectations, etc...if you just flat out care and try to make a good movie things will come back to you. Frozen being made for about $300 mil. but making $1 billion by the time it was all said and done. That is just making a good film people care about.
 

SnakeoilSage

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There's some kind of dissonance amongst critics who are constantly clamoring for more original, heart-driven films getting off the ground, and then moping about how they're just not that good when they are released. I think more than a few critics are doing what many of those same critics tell fans not to do: expecting films to obey their own personal interpretation about how a movie or video game should go.

Bob covered this in his Big Picture: Mutants and Masses episode (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5525-Mutants-and-Masses). Just as fans aren't given some kind of special power over an IP just because they love it, I think it's fair to say that critics don't have any special power over an IP just because they're paid to criticize it.

Ultimately the success or failure of a film is in the hands of the everyday moviegoer, many of whom aren't looking for heart-stirring performances every single time they go to the movies (they don't go to the movies every day after all, and thus are not starved for greatness the way hardcore fans or critics might be). They don't have loft expectations or a grocery list of filming techniques they command be present to make their movie-going experience a worthy one. We can hold hands and demand artist-driven pieces with only the finest characterization and the most luscious camera angles, but at the end of the day most audiences don't have any concept of these... concepts. They're not trained to detect imperfections the way dedicated fans or critics are. They're much more forgiving of a film not meeting expectations that they themselves don't have.
 

Trishbot

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AJey said:
I just cant agree with the idea that anything within Guardians of the Galaxy is original...
Having read the comic book... yes, absolutely yes, Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the most refreshing, bizarre, weird, enjoyable, and definitely original books they had out on the market. From psychic Russian Labradors to bald lesbian mystics to giant floating severed head space stations to a gun-toting raccoon riding a mono-syllabic tree creature into battle, there was truly nothing like it on the market.


KazeAizen said:
Also just being flat out better movies then it also helps. I'm happy to see, for the most part anyway, that these days the actual good movies are making their money back and then some. Hell I keep coming back to Frozen. I was confident it was going to do well and I'm sure Disney was too. However I don't think anyone, them included, had any idea just how good, or how special this one was. Hell I've loaned out my blu ray to some of my coworkers and the story is the same every time by the time I get it back. "I watched it like 4 times." One of them even watched it 7 times, only two of which was with her young daughter.

Point being is that with all the projections, expectations, etc...if you just flat out care and try to make a good movie things will come back to you. Frozen being made for about $300 mil. but making $1 billion by the time it was all said and done. That is just making a good film people care about.
I'm one of those people pleasantly surprised by Frozen's quality and success, with similar stories. I recall vividly the skepticism before the movie came out ("oh, it's just Tangled on ice", "Ugh, that snowman looks like a Jar Jar Binks made of snow", "ugh, more princesses? That's so girly and dated.")

Frozen is on track to surpass Iron Man 3's overall box office by next week, reaching the #5 highest grossing film of all time and the biggest movie release of 2013. An original animated movie, with two female leads, a musical, little hype, and it didn't even open at #1 when it was released, becoming that big mostly through positive word of mouth? That's a success story I can get behind.

It was also made for only $150 million. Considering the nearly 1.2 BILLION they've made (and counting), I'm sure they're MORE than happy with the success.