kells

Remember when WB and Marvel were playing chicken and threatening to release on the same weekend? And how everyone laughed and laughed at the Marvel fanboys who said CA3 could beat BvS? Yeah, HUGE disappointment. Obviously.

Deadline has yet to update. Probably because they look ridiculous trying to walk back their 5 paragraph post-mortem essay on The Boss which may now end up coming in over BvS.

HTBS - Under $20 million for a rom com on Valentine's weekend is pretty blah.

Victor Frankenstein has the same preview number as We Are Your Friends.

This is an interesting point. The first came out right after Potter ended. The second came out right after Twilight ended. By the third, a lot of that young adult audience probably moved on and didn't need the quick replacement anymore. And now, mentally a lot of people have moved on to Marvel/Star Wars.

1. YA fatigue 2. No clear plotline for the casual fans to follow. The series that do the best are the ones with a clear, easy to describe purpose. "boy goes to wizard school", "girl falls in love with vampire", "girl survives government sponsored hunting game". Mockingjay went into a government rebellion storyline that was never clearly defined and that no one really cared about. 3. No characters that people were invested in other than Katniss, and even that character was more about Jennifer Lawrence. Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson are great, but did anyone honestly feel as invested in any of those characters as they did Dumbledore, Snape, Hagrid? Beyond the most hard-core book fans, was anyone invested in this love triangle? Was the general audience dying to see what it'd be like when Katniss chooses Peeta like they were for Edward and Bella's wedding? It doesn't seem like it.

I think there was just nothing in Mockingjay that the general audience was super invested in. No easy gimmick of the games and "kids killing kids", no interesting romantic dynamics (Peeta/Katniss consistently halt all momentum in these films). They got their fix from THG/CF, and were like...eh, that's enough. Breaking Dawn was widely mocked, but there were parts of it that were highly anticipated. Edward and Bella's wedding and honeymoon, the violent birth scene, Bella as a vampire, and for the ironic viewers, the weirdness of rapid aging Renesmee and Jacob falling in love with a baby. Throw in a huge battle scene that was even a surprise to book fans, and you have the reasons why it's box office stayed steady.

Can we get similar drops for the next Fifty Shades sequels too, please?

I remember when the first THG came out and the media went crazy about how there's a new kid in town and Twilight's in trouble and no one cares about it anymore. And yet, Twilight hung on for one more film and finished strong. Kind of funny seeing THG get the "old and used up" treatment now, even BEFORE the new kid on the block opens.

This is just how I feel. She's been holding this up single-handedly. When the easy hook of the games was gone, there's only so much interest casual viewers are going to have. And for a YA series, I think the fact that not many really cared about the romance kills a lot of that teenage frenzy. One of the biggest hooks for the finale of this series should've been how the "triangle" is settled. It's even apparently But really, did anyone beyond the most hardcore of book fans even give a crap?

It's interesting to think about how this franchise would've done without Lawrence. I fully believe her rave reviews for the first film helped it cross over with non-book fans. Then with Silver Linings Playbook and her winning an Oscar, there was SO much hype going into Catching Fire. And now, at this point, she is the SOLE reason I'm even planning on finishing this series out. But I'll probably take my time doing so. A Hunger Games franchise that went with Hailee Steinfeld or Abigail Breslin might've stayed just above Divergent numbers.

Lackluster wide releases means everyone in NY/LA should go see Room, obviously.

Updated with Ultra and Hitman numbers.

Two year gap might help it actually. Right now it's such a joke. A little distance might build up anticipation and give people a chance to miss it. People thought releasing the first in 2015 would hurt, since the book's hype probably peaked back in 2013. Seemed to have worked out okay. Unless those domestic numbers are a harbinger of things to come.

I actually wonder if her contract is that different than any other authors of huge bestsellers. Does she have THAT much more control, or is she just that much more crazy? Like if JK Rowling really wanted to stop HP in its tracks, I wonder if she could've? She (and Meyers, Collins, Divergent author) might just have been smart enough to recognize that everyone benefits when you let the experts do their jobs, so they stood back and just collected their paychecks.

You're assuming she won't just be writing it herself. Unless she'll be too busy directing.

Is FSOG going to be able to limp to $170m? Good for Home, but after the Friday number, I was really hoping it'd be able to hit the upper 50s.

This is really not comparable. Rihanna is a huge celebrity presence who attracts tons of attention. She's been out there promoting this hard. I think she does deserve some credit for it doing better than expected. I also feel like in general, Dreamworks puts their celebrity voice actors more front and center than Disney does. So you see way more of Rihanna, Jim Parsons, Angelina, Jack Black, than you ever did Mandy Moore, Kristen Bell, etc.

I don't think this was posted yet? THR now has Home at 50+ million. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-home-soars-friday-784869

Not really comparable. THG/Twilight are/were genuine phenomenons. Divergent isn't. Also, in Twilight's case, the book wasn't so much hated as mocked. There were parts the fans were desperate to see (wedding/honeymoon) and parts the general audience wanted to see just for the lulz (demon baby, imprinting, vamp Bella). Basically Breaking Dawn had lots of selling points and curiousity factor. Allegiant is just downright hated.

I liked Potter, THG, didn't even mind a few of the Twilights. But this series is just so mediocre and such a lazy retread of THG. That's why I dislike it. Sequels were greenlit, the final book split, without even an audience reaction to justify it. At least Potter/THG/Twilight genuinely excited people. They built up fanbases, they earned their hype. This series is just coasting on the fumes of franchises that preceded it.

I really can't see them canceling the split for the next two. It'd be such an admission of failure, it'd basically be starting the film off with tons of negative publicity. And even if Insurgent is a slight letdown, it's still a big moneymaker. The only impact I see this having is preventing Shailene from getting much of a raise for the next two.

Not "awful", but a sequel dropping with 2 more parts to come, from a book that is hated and most don't feel should be split? It's not a great sign.

I don't think finding box office fun to follow means rooting for everything to succeed. Part of the fun for me is actually watching things crash and burn. Flopping is as much a part of boxoffice watching as breaking out. NOT that I'm calling this a flop, obviously. But if a lackluster series ends up being just as underwhelming at the box office as it's been in reviews/passion/promotion, that's quite a fitting outcome for me.

Universal being a little hopeful about that Sunday number?