November 7 kicks off the holiday movies season with a bang, although possibly not as loud as previous years.
Interstellar (Nov7) opens to much hype, but a serious lack of fanfare. I've seen the previews and am confused by the direction of the movie. Admittedly, I am not a Nolan fan. Other than Heath Ledger, I thought he missed the mark on Batman. Memento was good, innovative, but his other efforts are mixed. I'm sure it will do well for opening weekend, but have steep drops after.
Big Hero Six (Nov 7) was an odd choice for a Marvel animated movie, I thought at first, but since seeing the previews, I'm jazzed to see it. I keep wanting to pick up cats and say "Hairy Baby." While I will probably skip Interstellar, I will be in line for this one.
Dumb and Dumber To comes out the following weekend. Another skip. Twenty years is a long time for a sequel and this one will probably fail to live up to the first's expectations.
The Penguins of Madagascar comes next and is one of the few brands that do reliable domestic business, although the series' international returns have skyrocketed. It will be the family go-to for those who want something familiar.
Nov 21 is the beginning of the Thanksgiving crop of movies. Of course, Mockingjay will open huge, but not the levels of Catching Fire. The third book is the worst liked of the trilogy and I expect that to carry over into the films. Plus, splitting it into two seems a bit of a money grab. Still, it will probably take the top spot from Guardians by Xmas.
The week before Christmas brings the final Hobbit movie, but there has been declining returns for each one. Turning the slim book into a trilogy seemed like overkill and, as a big LOTR fan, even I'm not looking forward to it.
Christmas brings three movies that will undoubtedly be well attended. Into The Woods is Disney's offering and the few scenes I've seen make it look inventive and exciting. Annie is the usual holiday musical fare which plays well for families and Night at the Museum 3.
There are a few other offerings that may surprise such as Paddington, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Unbroken and Horrible Bosses 2, but none of these seem to be sparking very well. One or two might break through and do decent BO, but most will flounder.
Mockingjay 1........375 million
Interstellar.............260 million
Hobbit 3................240 million
Big Hero 6............215 million
Penguins...............185 million
Into The Woods....17o million
Night/Museum......155 million
Annie....................150 million
Dumb and Dumb..125 million
Unbroken..............110 million
Horrible Bosses....85 million
Check back in February for final numbers
Friday, October 31, 2014
Marvel vs. DC - Cinematic Universes
I grew up reading comic books. If it had a superhero on the pages, I wanted to read it. And I could read most of them, being 40 cents a copy. I guess I was a fanboy when fanboys didn't exist. So this past month, October 2014, was a virtual orgasm of delight for me.
The first note I must make is, Am I Marvel or DC? By an edge, I'll say Marvel, only because I was a huge FF fan and I loved John Byrne. Yet there are a number of individual DC heroes I liked: Firestorm, Blue Devil, Booster Gold and especially the New Teen Titans with Raven and Cyborg. I loved the team books since it felt like I was getting more heroes for my 40 cents. Justice League and Doom Patrol were right up there with Avengers and X-men.
So you would think I should be utterly excited by Warner Brothers announcement two weeks ago. Except I'm not. I viewed the upcoming slate with skepticism and dread. The even funnier thing is they made their announcement during a shareholder's meeting. Not a fan or reader in sight.
Unlike the MCU, DC has yet to prove that they know what they are doing with their characters. Ezra Miller as Flash. Huh? Gal Gadot who? They reboot Superman and he kills in the first movie and we get another origin story. Green Lantern could have been epic, but a giant cloud monster was the villain. WTF? Other than Heath Ledger, the Dark Knight failed to impress me the way Avengers did. It always feels like the company handles their heroes like they don't know who they are. Or, they approach them as a business, while Marvel genuinely love their toons and are fans themselves.
Two weeks later, Marvel announces their entire Phase Three. They rented a building, invited press and fanboys and made a spectacle of it. Like they're proud parents showing off their children. RDJ and Chris Evans showed up. Their upcoming list is just as impressive and ambitious, yet for some reason I believe they'll pull it off. OK, I'm leery about Ant-Man, but I trust Marvel, so I'll be there on opening weekend.
What is the difference? Marvel hasn't let me down yet. DC has yet to impress. (Green Lantern?) Their casting has been spot on, even when I've raised an eyebrow. Mark Ruffalo? A Third Hulk? Their storylines have skewed from the source material only because it needs to fit into a two and a half hour slot, but they don't piss all over the source material and change it for artistic purposes.
Although I am interested to see what DC does, it does not create the fervor the Marvel does now. I already have the weekend of Age of Ultron off from work. I plan on seeing it at least three times that weekend. It will probably do 275 million opening weekend and give Avatar a run for the top domestic spot. Its budget is 250 million and I bet it does 2 billion worldwide. Dawn of Justice will probably have a higher budget and do MoS numbers. Not impressive.
The point is, Marvel can fail and not much will happen to their brand. Their entire Phase 3 will progress as expected. If DC can't ignite audiences with DoJ and Suicide Squad in 2016, their ambitions may be short lived.
The first note I must make is, Am I Marvel or DC? By an edge, I'll say Marvel, only because I was a huge FF fan and I loved John Byrne. Yet there are a number of individual DC heroes I liked: Firestorm, Blue Devil, Booster Gold and especially the New Teen Titans with Raven and Cyborg. I loved the team books since it felt like I was getting more heroes for my 40 cents. Justice League and Doom Patrol were right up there with Avengers and X-men.
So you would think I should be utterly excited by Warner Brothers announcement two weeks ago. Except I'm not. I viewed the upcoming slate with skepticism and dread. The even funnier thing is they made their announcement during a shareholder's meeting. Not a fan or reader in sight.
Unlike the MCU, DC has yet to prove that they know what they are doing with their characters. Ezra Miller as Flash. Huh? Gal Gadot who? They reboot Superman and he kills in the first movie and we get another origin story. Green Lantern could have been epic, but a giant cloud monster was the villain. WTF? Other than Heath Ledger, the Dark Knight failed to impress me the way Avengers did. It always feels like the company handles their heroes like they don't know who they are. Or, they approach them as a business, while Marvel genuinely love their toons and are fans themselves.
Two weeks later, Marvel announces their entire Phase Three. They rented a building, invited press and fanboys and made a spectacle of it. Like they're proud parents showing off their children. RDJ and Chris Evans showed up. Their upcoming list is just as impressive and ambitious, yet for some reason I believe they'll pull it off. OK, I'm leery about Ant-Man, but I trust Marvel, so I'll be there on opening weekend.
What is the difference? Marvel hasn't let me down yet. DC has yet to impress. (Green Lantern?) Their casting has been spot on, even when I've raised an eyebrow. Mark Ruffalo? A Third Hulk? Their storylines have skewed from the source material only because it needs to fit into a two and a half hour slot, but they don't piss all over the source material and change it for artistic purposes.
Although I am interested to see what DC does, it does not create the fervor the Marvel does now. I already have the weekend of Age of Ultron off from work. I plan on seeing it at least three times that weekend. It will probably do 275 million opening weekend and give Avatar a run for the top domestic spot. Its budget is 250 million and I bet it does 2 billion worldwide. Dawn of Justice will probably have a higher budget and do MoS numbers. Not impressive.
The point is, Marvel can fail and not much will happen to their brand. Their entire Phase 3 will progress as expected. If DC can't ignite audiences with DoJ and Suicide Squad in 2016, their ambitions may be short lived.
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