The Big Picture: The Numbers

[Nimcha]

That's a shame, that movie sounded interesting!

But I'm pretty sure there are also plenty of stories of directors who made big with generic cash rake-ins and then used that to create something original and daring.

It's a double-edged sword but I agree in this particular case it really seems like a big loss.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

Well, in the short term your correct. However, time does tend to weed out the crap and the classics. You know what else were disasters for the studio at the Box Office at the time of release?

The Wizard of Oz.

Most of the film of Walt Disney (including Fantasia).

Caddyshack.

It's A Wonderful Life.

CITIZEN KANE.

In time, the studio will find out what treasures they have wasted.

 

[Lead Herring]

Great video, only flaw in your logic is assuming that Scott Pilgrim was a good movie.

My opinion aside, Scott Pilgrim didn't fail because people are too ignorant or stupid to get it.
It failed because it was catering to a smaller demographic. The nerds/gamers, and lets be perfectly honest, we nerds/gamers are a fickle damn bunch who will nitpick the shit out of something until nobody enjoys it. Sure there are people who love this film, but there are a lot more who dislike/hate it. It failed on it's own merits, and the expendables had nothing to do with it. Stop blaming the general movie going public for not watching a movie they had no interest in, to begin with.

I don't know that I agree with you there. The Nerd demographic is at least big enough to warrant an Avengers movie and all the movies leading up to it. The Expendables was in direct competition to Scott Pilgrim so it is pretty relevant, though I think a better example for Bob to use would be Eat Pray Love, not only because everybody here at the Escapist hates romantic comedies, but also because it got a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 38%. It was #2 behind the Expendables #1 and people didnt even like it.

 

[ewhac]

Looks like Universal spent too much money on porcelain deer:

 

[Korne]

Now, I know the Expendables made a lot of money and they are making a sequel, but I think the general public didn't like the first one... they just wanted to see it for the nostalgia.

And while Fast and Furious wasn't great, Fast Five was a surprisingly fun movie. One more good one will probably be enough, even though they will probably go at least 3 more into the series.

And as for Scott Pilgrim... blame marketing. The advertising for this movie was awful. How can a movie like Skyline have a kickass trailer while Scott Pilgrim (a much, MUCH better movie) looks like hipster trash. And if geeks don't like anything, it is usually hipsters. This is why the geek community (extremely large population) just waited for the DVD release for it. I will say though, Universal will easily make its money back in DVD sales and other stuff (like T-shirts and Soundtracks, which they will get a cut of). Cult hits always turn out to be worth it in the long run, like Boondock Saints and Fight Club. In fact, Scott Pilgrim reminds me of another movie... Donnie Darko (but with a tiny budget). Donnie Darko was mis-marketed, and it tanked even with a small budget. But it had legs, and is extremely profitable now.

 

[Canid117]

My only thought after watching this was "...and the exact same can be said for gaming." It's always about the bottom line.

Only Game critics are allowed to talk about financial success and do a lot. Which is why the average escapist hates gaming execs a lot more than your average E fan hates movie execs.

 

[icyneesan]

This made me incredibly depressed.

 

[Megacherv]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Call of Duty

Need I really say any more?

True to a degree.

You see, Call of Duty actually does what it does well, or at least better than others.

Yes, it's now the cookie cutter format for the modern FPS, but you can't deny that CoD titles are actually quite addicting. While I love to rage at those camping, heartbeat-sensing mofos which the game's shortcomings in design allows, it succeeded at holding my interest despite that.

Call of Duty is not analogous to "The Expendables"- poorly made games based on CoD are.
(^ I know you didn't say otherwise (since your post was short), but I thought it was a valid point.)

Thanks for doing what I hoped and not raging at me

That much is true, but consider this:

Those poor CoD clones wouldnt exist, much less sell, if CoD didnt rack in so much dough...
Same analogy goes for Korea and their MMO market...

and this is whole point, so sure CoD might be a good game, but because it sells to well, money others invest in is doing uncreative mindless clones, ratehr than experiment and advance the industry.

Same goes for everything, music, gaming, tv, movies and so on....

You know whats a great example of a good TV dying because of such system? Firefly.

To be fair, without CoD, there would be no Bad Company 1, which was a great game

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I had this discussion with my brother why Avatar was so popular when it was such a simplistic boring story with it's hippie tone especially when he's made far far better movies (Alien, Aliens, Terminator)

James Cameron didn't make Alien, Ridley Scott did.

The man is right. If this WERE a perfect world, only good films would make money, only good actors would become famous, and the likes of Uwe Boll and James Cameron would be out of a job.

Why the merry blue hell would James Cameron be out of a job in a perfect world?


OT: I didn't see Scott Pilgrim for a couple of reasons, the big one being I saw the trailers and it just looked obnoxious in the worst way. I saw the trailer for the Expendables and all I saw was Stallone and some of the best action stars ever forever nodding and winking to the audience.

In truth I didn't expect the Expendables to do as well as it did, I honestly though that like Scott Pilgrim it would end up as a noble experiment that didn't work.

 

[uguito-93]

oh COME ON! way to ruin my chances to get mentally scarred general public! Honestly i loved Pan's Labyrinth, it was hands down one of the greatest movies of the last decade and cemented my immense liking of Guillermo del Toro's aesthetics, which makes this project falling apart heart breaking

 

[Moeez]

I saw both at the cinema, but got Scott Pilgrim on Blu Ray. Showed it to loads of people at a party, with the preamble that this is the one movie they should see since everyone knew of Inception. They all loved it. I did my part.

And yet I still feel bad.

 

[Adventurer2626]

I think I just threw up in my mouth. Thanks for reminding me how much the real world sucks and why I like my sci-fi/fantasy so much. Jerk. It needed to be said though and I learned a couple things so good video.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

i havent seen Scott Pilgrim, but i want to now. it always looked a bit stupid to me, but if Bob says its good, i trust his judgement.

 

[Darmani]

Look, if you enjoyed the Expendables and hated Scott Pilgrim, whatever, more power to you. You have a right to like/dislike whatever movie you watch, though I personally preferred Scott Pilgrim more.

The thing is, though, even if you loved the Expendables, you have to admit that it's just yet another action movie. Above all, The Expendables is just your standard action film that has been done time and time again. If you liked it, good for you, but you cannot deny how utterly copy-pasted it is from so many other movies.

No the problem is, as others have said, Scott Pilgrim was a another mangeek romantic comedy loaded with too specific appeal (indie music, canadian hipsters, on lowincome having house parties and torn between two girls, after dating a third who is being ***** about it, they have no deep and respectful ties with) and video gamey special effects. I'm 30 and not that much in the dating scene. I am not in the emotional or personal tier of Scott and his "friends." Even when I rented it it just came off ... flat. Not Cera's fault, per se, but still I just wasn't into it and the film depends on you being into it, on a level (likely reliving or recognizing your own 18-20something romantic misadventures and how..uncool they were)

In short it did a romantic comedy with unsympathetic protagonists doing skeevy things and goes "them being unsympathetic and skeevy IS THE POINT" and kind of puffs up yet more relationship drama (my parents divorced and I've been on the periphery of local gaming club and convention scene, I've had enough of that shit happen to last me a lifetime). And yet Bob keeps talking it up like this great revelation of the human condition speaking the language of the generation. Its a damned paint by the numbers webcomic missing a mascot. I have followed Faans and College Roomies from Hell and some of the Its Walky universe. SAME EXACT THING. And just like those things Scott Pilgrim isn't that good. They are just tailormade (new at the time of start) generation appealing soap operas and community hubs to geek about. Not bad. Just not The Revelation.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, hell Medea Goes to Jail (Bob loves dissing on Tyler Perry but at least the 1st and 2nd act drama is something actually.. well important than white boy douchenozzle not getting hollywood actress girl friend or can't TRY to make ends meet), Runaway Bride, Knocked Up, The HangOver, (another Bob diss that isn't as viciously torn into as the expendables just mocked), Mickey Blue Eyes, etc.

Men you need to clean up your act before you get the right romance and (this can be how it happens with the girl who's throwing you in over your head, btw isn't this a little silly and un-realistic/healthy) is not some wild unexplored territory in movies in the last three years. Out side of that time frame or media its not even fresh and suited for adaptation.
Stallone, Li, etc just goofing around on camera and having a badass unrepetant action movie sounds REALLY REALLY REALLY awesome. Like Snakes on a Plane awesome, only ya know it worked, somehow. Could have been better, if it had been genuinely dumber, in my opinion. I want to watch it again. I just didn't get the ex number 1 battle with Scott Pilgrim and some of the secondary material was better than the movie itself (the posters for the action star's movies sounded way more hilarious and entertaining)

Scott Pilgrim is Twilight for 20-30 something manboys.

 

[Srdjan Tanaskovic]

It did, but it was only up for a couple of days. I intended to see it, but it was gone by the time I had time to.

I got it on DVD though, and it's good. It's unfortunate really how a thin layer of video game culture makes people think it's a movie about video game geekdom or something.

I'll admit I'm part of the problem. I went to see both Thor and the new Pirates movie recently. Neither were particularly good, but at least I could riff on them with the people I went to see them with afterwards.

What town do you live in ?

Because I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't shown where I live (Helsingborg)

 

[coakroach]

I didn't care for Scott Pilgrim or The Wolfman, but the cancelled project in question would have been interesting.
Tis a shame indeed.

 

[Mooly]

GAHHHH!
I think a large part of the problem is rooted in the geek cultures tendency to pirate its movies and media. The beer pong douches take thier girlfriends to the theater, while the nerds torrent hellboy and play world of warcraft.

 

[Powerman88]

Bra-fuckin'-vo Bob. Well said sir.

 

[sleeky01]

Isn't the whole business model for the film industry kind of broken nowadays? People haven't primarily used theaters to see movies for a while now...why such emphasis on box office?

I tend to agree. Along the same lines I'm of the opinion that subscription (not broadcast subscription) television might be the next means for "blockbusters".

Moving away from the 1 1/2 - 2hr movie and delve deeper into stories through either regular season runs or mini-series.

 

[pwnzerstick]

Its things like this that make me want to rage quit life