Talkie

I was doing my Nostradamus impersonation back then, but I just knew, the same way I knew that The Avengers would break a billion. We'll soon find out whether my predictive powers extend beyond Marvel Studios' offerings, as I have STD performing more poorly than most here think, MOS not lighting up the box office and Pacific Rim stumbling to a sub-$200M finish stateside.

1. Iron Man 3 2. Thor: The Dark World 3. Oblivion 4. After Earth 5. The Wolverine 6. Fast & Furious 6 7. Monster University 8. World War Z 9. Pacific Rim 10. Man of Steel

When I watched Prometheus last night I found that it works very well when viewed as a horror comedy, but fails utterly if taken as a serious science fiction film. Parts of it are just gut-bustingly hilarious because the film is filled with people who are simply too stupid to live. Every single one of them deserved to die screaming. It was only too sad that all of them didn't. And of course Ridley Scott's horrified fascination with female reproductive organs was on full display once more. The man must have had an encounter with vagina dentata once, that's all I can figure.

They hate the movies because they dare to change things from the toy commercials/cartoons they loved when they were preteens. Quite a few fanboys would prefer it if the studios simply copied the stories that appeared in those cartoons, as unrealistic as that is.

Has Matthew McConaughey been mentioned? He got lucky with Magic Mike last year, but otherwise his career has been going nowhere lately. Back in the early 90s he was supposedly the next big thing. Brandon Routh is a definite flop, but I feel sorry for him. Superman Returns was not his fault at all. He was miscast, yes, but that's on the producers. They passed on Matt Bomer for the role, though the film was so poorly done that he would have failed in it, too.

1. Iron Man 3 2. Thor: The Dark World 3. Oblivion 4. After Earth 5. The Wolverine 6. Fast & Furious 6 7. Monster University 8. World War Z 9. Pacific Rim 10. Man of Steel

1. Iron Man 3 2. Thor: The Dark World 3. Oblivion 4. After Earth 5. The Wolverine 6. Fast & Furious 6 7. Monster University 8. World War Z 9. Pacific Rim 10. Man of Steel

Bryan Singer: Mark Millar "Not Involved" In DOFP

If the standard for the A-List is only $700M WW, The Avengers is in a class by itself. A-List The Avengers Iron Man Spider-Man Batman B-List Thor Captain America Guardians of the Galaxy Superman Justice League (if it ever gets made) C-List Ant-Man Doctor Strange X-Films Fantastic Four

If I had to guess, I would say that Phase 3 will have Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Thor 3, Captain America 3 and The Avengers 3. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 might fit into this phase if Marvel decides to go with more than two films a year. Phase 4 would move on from the Avengers-centric formula somewhat, giving us Namor the Sub-Mariner, a possible Strange 2, Black Panther, perhaps The Inhumans to expand Cosmic Marvel, and The Defenders. Strange, Namor & the Hulk headline The Defenders, with Hawkeye as a subsidiary member and many others. This is a team that a dyed-in-the-wool geek like Feige will be drawn to as it is both classic Silver Age Marvel as well as home to a lot of powerful yet eccentric characters. Successfully launching Defender, Inhumans and GotG will give Marvel some great event franchises to accompany The Avengers, and places to use its minor characters.

Reading the earlier pages in this thread was fun. Attitudes towards The Hobbit's slow-but-steady box office pace have me smh. Floppit! Enough of that, though. My prediction for IM3's OS haul is $700M. If anyone thinks that's trolling, well, the so-called "Floppit" made that much though that's not why I'm predicting it for RDJ & Co. My confidence stems from several factors: 3D spectacle, the Avengers boost, RDJ's massive popularity, balls-to-the-wall action and terrific trailers selling the same. I'm tempted to make an IM3 over TDKR thread, but I'm sure it would be closed as soon as it opened. For a movie as good as IM3 gives every indication of being, topping $448M/$1.08B is not unthinkable.

The trailer was cute and a lot funnier that the one for MU. The first movie was more fun than I expected, though it ran a little long. Families ought to love the sequel.

1. Iron Man 32. Thor: The Dark World3. The Hobbit Pt. 24. Oz: The Great and Powerful5. Pacific Rim6. Oblivion7. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs II8. The Wolverine9. G.I. Joe: Retaliation10. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

But YouTube isn't a moderated forum. This is. The standards should be higher here. Allowing and in some instances encouraging flaming is something the moderators here should avoid.

A bit of a rough-and-tumble attitude is fine, but when people resort to namecalling and personal attacks it gets very unpleasant here. That happens a little too often for my taste. I have no problem with people cursing about something, but when they curse at others it becomes a problem. Saying that a movie is a piece of #### is fine, but saying that another member is a ##### definitely is not, at least for me. Most sites would not tolerate that sort of behavior but the moderators here do, and sometimes skirt the line themselves when it comes to civility.

I'd love to see articles analyzing the marketing campaigns for various films. Oftentimes fans make assumptions about the efficacy of film marketing that may or may not be supported by facts. Or they may notice definite deficiencies in a campaign and wonder why a studio would make such mistakes (e.g.: John Carter's lackluster marketing). It would be interesting to have these things put into perspective so that we can better understand how decisions are made and the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. There are bound to be behind the scenes power struggles and in-fighting that figure in, and perhaps you could shed some light on those things.

It's great to see Bourne off to such a good start. Hopefully this will propel Renner into the top tier of leading men. Critics are divided on it, but the Washington Post gave it a very positive review. I'll have to see it for myself to decide. Oddly enough, I haven't liked the Bourne franchise for my own rather idiosyncratic reasons. When the first one came out I saw it while seriously ill in a hospital. Something about that experience rather unfairly turned me against Bourne and I never warmed to it. Unlike Terminator 2, which I first saw while in a morphine-induced haze after surgery and love to this day. I suppose the difference is that mainlining morphine made movie watching more enjoyable than Oxycontin did.

Why the hell would anyone who calls him/herself a journalist obey the demands of a movie studio when it comes to reporting on a news story? If the answer is, "Because they want to curry favor," then they're bought-and-paid-for hacks instead of journalists. But that probably goes without saying.

I am so disappointed that TR wasn't able to beat TDKR. That would have been good for at least a few Internet tizzies and a meltdown or two among the Bat-faithful. It's getting awfully boring on the box office scene now. Hopefully a strong contender will emerge to mix things up in the next few weeks.

Damn! I was hoping this was about Megamind's minion. I loved that freaky fish/ape/bot.

WB doesn't want to seem like they're celebrating the movie's earnings in the aftermath of a tragedy that cast a pall over the weekend. Rational people might not care about reporting the numbers, but there are plenty of irrational ones, especially in the US news media, who would slam the studio for thinking about money. Not wanting to see headlines like: WB Touts TDKR Numbers - Crass or Business As Usual? is understandable.

One account I heard said that the gunman kicked the emergency exit door in from outside after tossing smoke bombs in the front of the theater. Then he calmly marched through shooting people as they fled in terror. He is one sick bastard.

It has always amazed me that X:FC was considered a "blockbuster" by many when it really didn't perform spectacularly at the box office. It only took in $146 DOM/$353 WW, which is not an earth-shattering total.