Weekend Box Office Thread

[gbagok]

I'd imagine what most people see when they watch the Hex trailer is "bad looking Western with a B-Level cast".

That's about what I thought. All I know about the character is he's a scarred bounty hunter from comics I've never read and he guest starred in the animated Batman years ago--and that's probably more than most people know of him. Otherwise the character means nothing to me and the ads didn't tell me anything. I may even be confusing Hex with the Solomon Kane trailer from a few months back. This registered on my radar less than the Wolfman and even that I haven't seen yet on DVD.

[Midwinter]

The Jonah Hex trailers were definitely bad, but sitting through the actual movie did irreparable damage to me.

[Firefly]

Twilight dominates, while Last Airbender ($150 million production budget) opens in second.

July 2-4 estimates:

1 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $69,000,000 -$161,000,000
2 The Last Airbender $40,650,000 -$57,000,000
3 Toy Story 3 $30,174,000 -$289,000,000
4 Grown Ups $18,500,000 -$77,082,000
5 Knight & Day $10,200,000 -$45,508,000
6 The Karate Kid $8,000,000 -$151,523,000
7 The A-Team $3,025,000 -$69,116,000
8 Get Him to the Greek $1,185,000 -$57,427,000
9 Shrek Forever After $799,000 -$232,182,000
10 Cyrus $770,000 -$1,488,000

[CarKrash]

I wanted to see the Last Airbender and Grown Ups but the reviews, and what friends have said kept me away.. I guess I want to check out Toy Story 3 still.. A-Team looks pretty sweet too.

I just haven't gone to see a movie since Iron Man 2.

[Optimus Prime]

CarKrash, don't listen to what critics say, or your friends. Go see the film and make up your own mind.

It amazes me how many people act like sheep in this world and just follow the flock.

[mbaker]

It amazes me how many people act like sheep in this world and just follow the flock.

The same thing could be said about people who go see 'Twilight' movies.

[Optimus Prime]

The same thing could be said about people who go see 'Twilight' movies.

Yes, but supposedly all these people love the books LOL righttt....

[King Kahn]

there is honestly only a handful of places where i trust their reviews since their taste usually falls in line with my own.

i will always end up seeing the movie anyway if i wanted to.

Jonah hex was an example. i may have gone to see it in the theatre if I saw better reviews but now i will still see it but i will wait for it to come out on dvd.

[CarKrash]

CarKrash, don't listen to what critics say, or your friends. Go see the film and make up your own mind.

It amazes me how many people act like sheep in this world and just follow the flock.

I'll still see the movies! My GF works at blockbuster and I can watch 10 movies a week for free!!

So.. since movies like grown ups and airbender have been dissapointing by everyone I talked to in person, and 90% of the internet.. I'm not gonna spend 20some dollars for my gf and I to see it in the theater.. I'll watch it free on my tv in my living room..

..and no sticky floor!!

[Firefly]

Stallone & his crew sizzles while Scott Pilgrim fizzles.

Weekend box office estimates August 13-15:

1 The Expendables $35,030,000
2 Eat Pray Love $23,700,000
3 The Other Guys $18,000,000 -$70,543,000
4 Inception $11,370,000 -$248,554,000
5 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World $10,525,000
6 Despicable Me $6,767,000 -$221,993,000
7 Step Up 3-D $6,626,000 -$29,565,000
8 Salt $6,350,000 -$103,569,000
9 Dinner for Schmucks $6,316,000 -$58,816,000
10 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore $4,075,000 -$35,104,000

[Dynamo of Eternia]

That's unfortunate for Scott Pilgrim. I saw it and thought it was really good (but it was in the middle of Saturday afternoon when I saw it and there weren't that many people in the theater, so I was kind of wondering if the box office take would end up being something like that).

Hopefully it makes up some of the money on DVD/Blu-Ray.

[markatisu]

At #11 is Toy Story 3 having just crossed $400m

[Uki]

We went to see The Expendables today; it was a lot of fun. A great harkening back to the action movies of the eighties. He-Man was not a very nice guy through most of it...

[King Kahn]

i am glad expendables did really well.

i wish/thought scott pilgrim would have done alot better, especially after the response it got at SDCC.

[Divia]

i am glad expendables did really well.

i wish/thought scott pilgrim would have done alot better, especially after the response it got at SDCC.

I saw the other guys last week and thought it rocked.

I was talking to a comicbook fan about this movie. He thought it was gonna be really cool and based on an awesome concept book. To me, who is an average fan and not hardcore I'm like eh. I have no intention of paying 7 bucks to see this movie. I daresay most people are like me. I mean it has a huge following in the comicbook fans, but for everyone else..maybe not so much.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I wasn't even aware that Scott Pilgrim was based on a comic/graphic novel when I first saw the trailer. (I did find out, though, prior to seeing the movie, and have looked up a little info about the comic).

I don't think the desire to see or not see the movie hinges on whether or not someone is a comic book fan or whether or not you've read this comic (I mean, if they were marketing this movie based solely on how many people were familiar with the comic, it never would have gone into production).

I think they weren't counting on people knowing it was a comic or being familiar with it to want to go see it.


The movie was definitely a gamble no matter what. It is an unusual concept film. It is VERY surreal. Many of the things that happen in the movie would usually only happen in video games and/or cartoons. Sometimes doing that type of thing in live action can be hard to market.


I do think that this movie may have stood a little bit better of a chance if it had come out 5 or 10 years ago.

The problem with the movie is that, while to a certain extent the video game references in the movie can appeal to many video game fans in general, a good portion of them (the digitized-sprite looking 'graphics' attached to many things, even some references including sound effects and music straight out of the Super Nintendo Legend of Zelda game... and even some non-video game references, like their band having a song titled "Launchpad McQuack", are really going to appeal more to people who were playing video games and watching cartoons in the mid 80s to mid 90s (during the NES/SNES/Genesis era). The movie even opens with what seems to be a 16-bit version of the Universal logo, complete with a video-game music version of the music that usually plays over the logo.


But this also seems to be a movie being marketed towards the younger generation... teens, people in their early to mid 20s.

That's not to say that people who are older can't go see it. I'm 30, saw it, and very much enjoyed it (the movie could have used some tightening up here and there, but was good). But I do tend to still enjoy some movies aimed at a younger audience (the key word being SOME).

But I can see where for many people who are perhaps well into their 30s (and older), or are just entering their 30s, this movie may not longer be the kind of thing that they want to go out and see.


The problems that it boils down to is this. Most people who are in their teens today probably didn't play much NES/SNES/Genesis during their time. By the time anyone born during the early 90s got to be old enough to start playing games, it was probably during the N64/Playstation era or later. If they had older siblings, then maybe some older consoles would still be around the house, but none the less, most of their experience would likely be on newer systems if at all.

Even people in their early 20s are probably still more familiar with 3D gaming than 2D, I would imagine.


So, like I said, if this movie came out 5 or 10 years ago, it may have done a lot better (back when the people who grew up with that stuff were in their teens or early-mid 20s).

[Divia]

Or it could be a really dumb concept. The idea that this all hinges on music from video games doesn't float with me. The thought that the demographic maybe limited because they are teens is more realistic.

Still, some kid who has to fight evil exs to date some girl just sounds dumb to me. And I'm gonna venture a guess and say I'm not the only one.

You dont have mass appeal and a lame story(in my opinion)not good.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Or it could be a really dumb concept.

Just because it's not your "cup of tea" doesn't make the concept dumb. (And it doesn't 'hinge' around music from a video game, there is just some of that featured in the movie). At least they are trying something different with this movie for once.

Too much of Hollywood today is retreading on the same crap over and over again. At least this is better than those stupid crappy excuses for 'parody'
movies that come out left and right.

[krosfyah]

I think they did a terrible job marketing scott pilgrim. I wanted to see it not based on the trailers but based on the info I read and the interviews I read (I have never read the comic) I researched the movie because I knew people who were extras in it and I could have been one too but I kept getting cast in other stuff. after researching it I became interested, when ever I saw the trailers I thought "fun but these won't sell it" it's unfortunate but a movie like this is a difficult sell from trailers and commercials alone/.

[Divia]

Just because it's not your "cup of tea" doesn't make the concept dumb.

It wasn't a huge seller at the box office this week. It will probably drop next week too, however we will wait and see. Still, its not attracting masses of people. So they must have a similar feeling on the movie.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

It wasn't a huge seller at the box office this week. It will probably drop next week too, however we will wait and see. Still, its not attracting masses of people. So they must have a similar feeling on the movie.

And that could just be because, as Krosfyah said, the marketing wasn't effective. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.

Just because the movie wasn't successful at the box office doesn't mean that it is, in and of itself, a terrible movie.

Granted, what constitutes a good or bad movie will vary from person to person. None the less, there have been plenty of 'flops' or movies that didn't fail but weren't super successful either, that go on to be 'discovered' by many on video and gain respectible followings.

I don't go around basing whether or not a movie is good or whether the concept for a movie is "dumb" based solely on how much money it makes. There have been plenty of movies that made plenty of money but otherwise sucked ass **COUGH**Transformers 2**COUGH**.

Heck, those various crappy parodies (Date Movie, Epic Movie, etc) typically make a lot of money (at least enough to be profitable), but those are just TERRIBLE movies by pretty much and reasonable, respectible measure.

I can see where Scott Pilgrim isn't for everyone. But it doesn't mean it is a bad concept for a movie.

[Divia]

I can see where Scott Pilgrim isn't for everyone. But it doesn't mean it is a bad concept for a movie.

Or maybe it is a bad concept for a movie because it doesn't have a wide appeal. The bottom line here is to make money. Not to make people feel good. It's an industry not a hippie fest.

I would be interested to see how much it does make. How much it cost to make and what the difference is. How much did they put into marketing?

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Or maybe it is a bad concept for a movie because it doesn't have a wide appeal. The bottom line here is to make money. Not to make people feel good. It's an industry not a hippie fest.

I agree that it's an industry and not a "hippie fest", and profitability is definately the ultimate goal from the studio's standpoint. But there are many reasons why some movies don't do well, and it's not always because they were "bad concepts" for movies.

You just keep beligerently harping on that being the reason that this movie didn't do well because it was something you were not interested in and because the concept doesn't appeal to you. You assume because that's how you feel, it's how everyone feels.

Sometimes movies just don't have effective marketing campaigns. If it had been marketed differently, perhaps it would have done better. Sometimes movies just open at the wrong time. It's been pointed out that The Expendables came out this same weekend. One is a movie largely influenced by 80s/early 90s video games, the other stars several 80s/90s action stars together in one movie, which could mean that they probably appeal to roughly the same people. So, arguably, The Expendables may have taken a large portion of the audience away (to summarize: Scott Prilgrim wasn't a bad concept, but The Expendables was a better concept geared towards the same audience and came out at the same time).


I would say that the argument for it being a bad concept for a movie would hold more water if the movie performed poorly at the box office AND if the people who did see it (including the public and critics) were largely saying negative things about it. But the response to this movie has been largely favorable by those who have seen it. Most reviews that I've seen/read have been good. So, that would indicate that it was a good concept and they did SOMETHING right in making this movie, but some other aspect of communicating it to the public didn't go so well.

[Divia]

You just keep beligerently harping on that being the reason that this movie didn't do well because it was something you were not interested in and because the concept doesn't appeal to you. You assume because that's how you feel, it's how everyone feels.

No, that would be presumptuous on my part. I never said everyone feels the way I do. However, there must be some who feel that it wasn't the movie for them for whatever reason.

[GP Legend]

No, that would be presumptuous on my part. I never said everyone feels the way I do. However, there must be some who feel that it wasn't the movie for them for whatever reason.

Yeah, of course there is. That still doesn't make it a dumb concept.