A long time in a small town far away, I grew up to love movies.
My Aunt Susie would take me every Sunday afternoon to the matinees. I saw George Bruns in Oh God multiple times. Star Wars. at least ten. My mother stood in line with me to see Empire Strikes Back on opening day. Movies were a big deal. A family deal.
This was before cineplexes and multiple screens. One theater, one screen. It was, like a big thing, when the neighboring town of Celina got two....count'em...TWO screens. Two movies to choose from. It was AMAZING!
Flashforward to the late 1990s. I still love movies. I still go every week. If there is nothing new of interest, I repeat one I have. I saw the 1998 debacle of Godzilla three times. Medium popcorn. Large soda. Ten bucks and I had two hours of escapism.
2008. As Mark Wills says in his lyrics for "19something", I have a mortgage and an SUV now. Yet, somehow I still make it to the movies every week. My extensive VHS collection are now DVDS and Blu-rays. The perfect evening includes a movie somehwere. I still love movies. Still rent them if I miss them in the theater.Even if I'm not that interested in the movie, I still catch it in the theater. Is it expensive? Sure. Dinner and a movie by myself is twenty five bucks.
Now it's 2014. My expenses have increased. I work two jobs and write part time just to make less money than I did six years ago. Money is tight. Yet I still love movies. I just don't go very often.
Why, you might ask?
Let me take you to December 2013.
I get off work a little early and head to AMC24 at Downtown Disney. I hadn't seen the Hobbit yet and wanted to. What the hell? I was already there. It was a short walk. I deserved the splurge. I only had to wait a bit for the next showing, which was 630. Otherwise I would have to wait until 745. I go to buy a ticket and the showing is in 3D and IMAX, so the ticket price was 18 dollars WITH MY DISCOUNT.
I was already committed so I paid it. Then I realized I hadn't eaten since breakfast. A large soda and popcorn cost me over 20 bucks. This movie was costing me 40 dollars.
Now I understand inflation and all, but when a movie night costs 40 dollars for one person, it doesn't become a viable source of entertainment any longer. And repeated views are limited to favorites only. I saw Winter Soldier and Guardians twice this year. I might've seen them more. But I missed alot of other movies that I would've gone to like Transformers 4, Gone Girl, Fault in our Stars, Neighbors and Maze Runner.
Annual movie grosses seem to be increasing, yet ticket sales are down. When a movie night for a family of four costs 100 dollars, it eliminates a good portion of the country. Just imagine if theaters discounted bulk sales, say four tickets, large popcorn and four medium sodas for 60 dollars. Still a steep price, but much more affordable for the average joe.
Or, say half price tickets for movies that have been in the theaters for more than two weeks.
There are options, ways to increase attendance and that increases profits. Yet AMC, Regal and the others seem to content to leave the moviegoing experience to the middle class and above. Well, at least you have Star Wars and Age of Ultron this year, theater owners. JJ and Joss have me hooked so I'll come, but I'm not buying popcorn.
Showing posts with label Entertainment/Social Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entertainment/Social Media. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
Holiday Movies 2014
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
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
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.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
At The Movies - Summer 2014
Its the first weekend of May and you know what that means: Summer Movie season has started and a Marvel Superhero movie has opened. This year seems packed wall to wall with blockbusters and, looking at the slate, I think there will be several good movies that will be eclipsed by the tentpole flicks.
For May, we have sequels and reboots and reimaginings galore. May 2 is Amazing Spiderman 2, which I am sure will do boffo box office, but I think that the April release of Cap has taken some wind of those sails. Plus, five Spidey movies in 12 years has a bit of series fatigue involved.
May 16 is the Godzilla reboot. I'm on the fence about this one. I want to see it, but being a big fan of the old Toho movies leaves me expecting a lot out of it.
May 23 is the date I have circled this month. X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the perfect moments in the comics and I have high hopes that Bryan Singer can get most of that perfection on screen. If anything, I'll finally get to see Sentinels and Patrick Stewart again.
May 30 is the toss-up weekend. Disney releases Maleficent and they've done wonders with live action adaptations on older properties lately. But...I'm a huge Seth MacFarlane fan so A Million Ways to Die in the West feels like a winner especially after Ted.
The first three weeks of June appear to be a wasteland of underperformers and wannabes. Edge of Tomorrow is straight sci-fi with a great premise, which should satisfy hardcore fanboys like me, but ignore everyone else but Tom Cruise fans. (See Oblivion) Think Like a Man Too and 22 Jump Street are more sequels from surprise hits. But this year sees no Pixar movies released. Instead, we get How to Train Your Dragon 2. Being the only family offering with any pedigree this summer, it should do quite well, much better than the original, yet I still miss my Pixar outing.
The end of June sees Transformers 4. I'm actually excited about this one since they got rid of Shia and it has the introduction of Grimlock. It may be short on plot, but sometimes I like endless violence and mounds of popcorn. There is a cornucopia of second tier releases for July and, to be honest, many of them will cannibalize one another for movie bucks. None of them really stand out as winners, although one or two will undoubtedly break out of the pack.
July does see the release of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a sequel to the surprise 2011 hit. Rise was an unexpected bright spot in summer 2011 and has gained even more popularity in DVD release. Although James Franco is not in it, this one will definitely outperform the original.
As we hit August, we also hit movie fatigue. Yet there are a few gems amidst the doldrums of summer. August 1 is Marvel's first risky venture with Guardians of the Galaxy. If the previews are any indication, they're going to have another success on their hands. Two more possibilities to breakout are Sin City 2, which has been a long time coming, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Predictions for Summer:
1. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - 300m Actuals - 172 million and counting (-128m)
2. Transformers 4 - 280m ***243 million ( -37m)
3. Amazing Spiderman 2 - 270m 202 million (-68m)
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past - 240m ***232 million (-8m)
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - 230m ***204 million (-26m)
6. Maleficent - 225m ***237 million (+12m)
7. Guardians of the Galaxy - 175m 226 m and counting (280 final)
8. Godzilla - 155m 200 million (+45m)
9. A Millions Ways to Die in the West - 140m 43 million (-97m)
10. 22 Jump Street - 125m 190 million (+65m)
Honorable Mentions - Blended, Edge of Tomorrow, Hercules, Tammy, Think Like a Man Too
Any of these may break through and see themselves in the Top Ten for the summer.
Recap - Labor Day 2014
So, prediction is not an exact science. Some of mine were spot on (within 20 million), others were way off.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 and A Million Ways were my biggest flops. Dragon underperformed by 130 million and obviously Seth MacFarlane's name cannot sell a movie since A Million couldn't break 50.
Other surprises...Transformers showed franchise fatigue even though it made it up overseas by passing a billion dollars. Which is a step ahead of Spiderman 2. Spidey barely broke 200 million and 700 million global. Still a success, it had declined enough that Spidey 3 and 4 have been derailed for the time being.
Godzilla also overperformed by my estimates, but the super duper surprise of summer came in August with Guardians of the Galaxy. I knew the Marvel name would add some cache to this unknown property, but not this much. As of this writing, it's in line to become the highest grossing movie of the year so far in another week and a half. Marvel did everything right with this one. Perfect marketing (I bought the soundtrack). Different in tone. There was much more humor in this one. It seems as if nothing can derail the Marvel behemoth, which has become more reliable than Pixar. And they aren't stopping yet. Next up...the mega, super, colossal blockbuster that will be Avengers 2.
For May, we have sequels and reboots and reimaginings galore. May 2 is Amazing Spiderman 2, which I am sure will do boffo box office, but I think that the April release of Cap has taken some wind of those sails. Plus, five Spidey movies in 12 years has a bit of series fatigue involved.
May 16 is the Godzilla reboot. I'm on the fence about this one. I want to see it, but being a big fan of the old Toho movies leaves me expecting a lot out of it.
May 23 is the date I have circled this month. X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the perfect moments in the comics and I have high hopes that Bryan Singer can get most of that perfection on screen. If anything, I'll finally get to see Sentinels and Patrick Stewart again.
May 30 is the toss-up weekend. Disney releases Maleficent and they've done wonders with live action adaptations on older properties lately. But...I'm a huge Seth MacFarlane fan so A Million Ways to Die in the West feels like a winner especially after Ted.
The first three weeks of June appear to be a wasteland of underperformers and wannabes. Edge of Tomorrow is straight sci-fi with a great premise, which should satisfy hardcore fanboys like me, but ignore everyone else but Tom Cruise fans. (See Oblivion) Think Like a Man Too and 22 Jump Street are more sequels from surprise hits. But this year sees no Pixar movies released. Instead, we get How to Train Your Dragon 2. Being the only family offering with any pedigree this summer, it should do quite well, much better than the original, yet I still miss my Pixar outing.
The end of June sees Transformers 4. I'm actually excited about this one since they got rid of Shia and it has the introduction of Grimlock. It may be short on plot, but sometimes I like endless violence and mounds of popcorn. There is a cornucopia of second tier releases for July and, to be honest, many of them will cannibalize one another for movie bucks. None of them really stand out as winners, although one or two will undoubtedly break out of the pack.
July does see the release of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a sequel to the surprise 2011 hit. Rise was an unexpected bright spot in summer 2011 and has gained even more popularity in DVD release. Although James Franco is not in it, this one will definitely outperform the original.
As we hit August, we also hit movie fatigue. Yet there are a few gems amidst the doldrums of summer. August 1 is Marvel's first risky venture with Guardians of the Galaxy. If the previews are any indication, they're going to have another success on their hands. Two more possibilities to breakout are Sin City 2, which has been a long time coming, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Predictions for Summer:
1. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - 300m Actuals - 172 million and counting (-128m)
2. Transformers 4 - 280m ***243 million ( -37m)
3. Amazing Spiderman 2 - 270m 202 million (-68m)
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past - 240m ***232 million (-8m)
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - 230m ***204 million (-26m)
6. Maleficent - 225m ***237 million (+12m)
7. Guardians of the Galaxy - 175m 226 m and counting (280 final)
8. Godzilla - 155m 200 million (+45m)
9. A Millions Ways to Die in the West - 140m 43 million (-97m)
10. 22 Jump Street - 125m 190 million (+65m)
Honorable Mentions - Blended, Edge of Tomorrow, Hercules, Tammy, Think Like a Man Too
Any of these may break through and see themselves in the Top Ten for the summer.
Recap - Labor Day 2014
So, prediction is not an exact science. Some of mine were spot on (within 20 million), others were way off.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 and A Million Ways were my biggest flops. Dragon underperformed by 130 million and obviously Seth MacFarlane's name cannot sell a movie since A Million couldn't break 50.
Other surprises...Transformers showed franchise fatigue even though it made it up overseas by passing a billion dollars. Which is a step ahead of Spiderman 2. Spidey barely broke 200 million and 700 million global. Still a success, it had declined enough that Spidey 3 and 4 have been derailed for the time being.
Godzilla also overperformed by my estimates, but the super duper surprise of summer came in August with Guardians of the Galaxy. I knew the Marvel name would add some cache to this unknown property, but not this much. As of this writing, it's in line to become the highest grossing movie of the year so far in another week and a half. Marvel did everything right with this one. Perfect marketing (I bought the soundtrack). Different in tone. There was much more humor in this one. It seems as if nothing can derail the Marvel behemoth, which has become more reliable than Pixar. And they aren't stopping yet. Next up...the mega, super, colossal blockbuster that will be Avengers 2.
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