The World Does Not Hate Captain America

[Greg Tito]

The World Does Not Hate Captain America

International ticket sales for Captain America have been surprisingly strong.

Hollywood was a bit scared that there would be little international ticket sales for the patriotic hero, given that the United States' approval rating isn't exactly stellar at this point. Paramount Pictures even gave countries the option of releasing the movie under the film's subtitle The First Avenger instead of including that whole Captain America part. Despite those fears, the film has grossed more than $100 million internationally after only opening in 41 smaller markets. Hollywood executives now think they were overly cautious and that Captain America is going to end up one of the more popular comic book characters in cinema this year.

"We are very pleased with Captain America's international results so far, which clearly demonstrate the worldwide popularity of the iconic lead character as well as the continuing power of 3D at the box office," said Paramount Pictures International president Andrew Cripps.

Only three nations opted to use the shorter title of The First Avenger - Russia, Ukraine and South Korea - but that's kind of expected given the political leanings of those countries. (As my father-in-law would say, "Screw those commie pinkos.") The rest of the world so far have been happy with emblazoning their movie theater marquees with the words Captain America.

Due to the strong international sales, Captain America is on track to outperform its comic book adaptation counterparts this summer:

Thor (Paramount/Marvel)
Budget: $150 mil
Domestic: $180 mil
International: $267.2 mil
Worldwide: $448 mil

X-Men: First Class (20th Century Fox)
Budget: $140 mil
Domestic: $145.3 mil
International: $203.8 mil
Worldwide: $349.1 mil

Captain America: The First Avenger (Paramount/Marvel)
Budget: $140 mil
Domestic: $143.2 mil
International: $103 mil*
Worldwide: $246.2 mil

Green Lantern (Warner Bros.)
Budget: $200 mil
Domestic: $114.6 mil
International: $45.7 mil*
Worldwide: $160.3 mil

* Still rolling out overseas.

Oh, Green Lantern. I think you may have single-handedly ruined Ryan Reynolds career. And for that, we thank you.

Source: Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/captain-america-surprisingly-loved-by-222690?]

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[TCPirate]

I went to see this today. It was fantastic!
I live in the UK so I guess I qualify as International.

 

[Togs]

Meh theres no "AMURCA FUCK YEAH" in the film, its proletysing is more about being a good person in general.

 

[Snowalker]

Oh, Green Lantern. I think you may have single-handedly ruined Ryan Reynolds career. And for that, we thank you.

Speak for yourself, he's a good actor, Waiting and Buried? Hell, he was even decent in Blade and Wolverine even though those movies sucked. He has the tendency to be in bad movies, not being a bad actor.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I saw it last week, also fantastic!

That's it's Captain America doesn't really grate, they don't take the America part of the name too seriously, which is nice. I wish they'd had a sequel (or two) still set in World War 2, the movie looked amazing up until the last couple of minutes, then the colour scheme hit the irritating 'modern' blue grey button.

One thing though, why has Thor out performed First Class? That ain't right.

 

[John the Gamer]

It's making money because it's GOOD. If America had been a little better at foreign politics they wouldn't have had to fear low sales. I can't wait for the Avengers movie(s?).

Now it's just left to luck to see wether or not the global economy faceplants into the ground again...

 

[Zing]

I think you may have single-handedly ruined Ryan Reynolds career. And for that, we thank you.

What?

Reynolds is a fantastic actor. If you disagree you haven't seen Buried.

He's just wrong for Green Latern, but perfect for Deadpool.

"We are very pleased with Captain America's international results so far, which clearly demonstrate the worldwide popularity of the iconic lead character as well as the continuing power of 3D at the box office," said Paramount Pictures International president Andrew Cripps.

sigh, /facepalm. I think this just smacks of desperation given that 3D is becoming less and less popular. Why are studios so intent on pushing it? 3D is trash.

As for Captain America, I don't get the praise for the movie, I thought it was pretty average/boring. Maybe it's because I'm not American and the whole theme of the movie seemed to push these American values that Captain America is suppose to portray.

Also just because a lot of people went to see it doesn't meant hey didn't hate it. I saw it opening weekend because I enjoy superhero movies. But I found it inferior to Thor and certainly inferior to First Class.

He doesn't have any range. He's the same offbeat comedian in every role he plays. Which is exactly why he was the wrong guy to be in all these action flicks. Chances are that he has no respect for the source material and so just views the roles as a chance for some easy extra cash. Thus the reason he accepts one after the other so eagerly, despite having been highly criticized for the previous ones.

Did you even read his post? You just wouldn't be saying this if you'd seen Buried. Or hell, even Chaos Theory.

 

[TheIronRuler]

My sis works at the local cinema which is rather large, about 30 screens or so.
She said that Captain America was packed last week, and that this week people are going to see both Cpt. America and planet of the apes remake.
This is Israel, and having a great comic book character adapted successfully onto the big screen is always welcome, no matter its origins.

Meh theres no "AMURCA FUCK YEAH" in the film, its proletysing is more about being a good person in general.

Call up Trey and Parker, they might give permission to splice it in the film.

 

[TimeLord]

I honestly did not think anything along the lines of "OMG it's just going to be a film about how America is supposed to be awesome and super patriotic" upon going to see Captain America.

I also didn't think that leaving at the end of Captain America either.

"We are very pleased with Captain America's international results so far, which clearly demonstrate the worldwide popularity of the iconic lead character as well as the continuing power of 3D at the box office," said Paramount Pictures International president Andrew Cripps.

No no no no! I went to see Cpt America in 2D, every film I go to see nowadays is in 2D because I tried 3D and even with 20/20 vision it's still a pile of arse. If you want to see proper 3D, go to a frigging IMAX cinema!

 

[necromanzer52]

There is the fact that it's part of the whole avengers cannon. That may have affected sales.

 

[DanielBrown]

I've never seen Captain America as the standard American patriot we get shoved in our face so often, so he's pretty neutral to me. Haven't seen the movie though so I don't know how he's portrayed there. Not intrested to find out however.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I like it. And I would of hated it if there was that undying American patriotism because America is the savior of the universe stuff in it. But it did well not to alienate the rest of the world other than America.

 

[stueymon]

Meh theres no "AMURCA FUCK YEAH" in the film, its proletysing is more about being a good person in general.

I think thats why the film works in general, Sure it's a war film and it plays like one but there's no jingoism with it, which is really enjoyable.

If any film suffers from Jingoism its the transformers and it's Baytrocity of USA military is almost every bloody shot.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Only three nations opted to use the shorter title of The First Avenger - Russia, Ukraine and South Korea - but that's kind of expected given the political leanings of those countries. (As my father-in-law would say, "Screw those commie pinkos."

First of all, Russia. Unfortunate. That's not what we want out public image to be, is it? I mean, yeah, it probably wouldn't do so well in Russia under the title "Captain America", but removing that part is just... kinda shifty.

Second of all, why the South Korea remark? Their political leanings are really pro-American as far as they go in that region.

 

[misterv]

I've been to see this film 3 times I enjoyed it so much. I come from the UK and I'd still happily watch a film this good that was about Captain Brazil or Captain Italy. Just because the story is around an American patriot doesn't mean it loses its value overseas.

 

[InsomniJack]

Well, that's cool and all about Captain America, but:

Oh, Green Lantern. I think you may have single-handedly ruined Ryan Reynolds career. And for that, we thank you.

To be blunt, I didn't click this link to hear about Ryan Reynolds. I fail to see what bearing that tidbit has to the subject (which was Captain America).

 

[manythings]

I find it odd that studios still don't understand that to make money they need to release good movies. It's that simple and yet they fuck it up over and over.