Eric Prime

It cost 100M because that's what the producers needed to make the movie happen. I know people want movies to have lower budgets, but that typically means you have to take out characters or setpieces or just have the movie in general look and feel cheaper, which in turn hurts these movies creatively and financially. And shouldn't we just want these movies to cost what they need to be as good as they are? It's not our money, and it's not like Color Purple is designed as something to make sequels out of anyways.

On it like a bonnet. Hyped for the new year. 9x: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: Uncharted, The Batman, The Creator, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Napoleon, Godzilla Minus One, Wonka 7x: The Color Purple: The Little Mermaid, Barbie, Theater Camp, Bottoms, A Haunting in Venice, The Nun 2, Wonka Dune: Part Two: Fast X, Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer Round 2, Haunted Mansion, Blue Beetle, The Nun 2, The Iron Claw 6x: Poor Things: Talk to Me, Theater Camp, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, The Equalizer 3, Priscilla, The Holdovers Argylle: The Creator, Killers of the Flower Moon, Priscilla, The Holdovers, Napoleon, Godzilla Minus One Elio: Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, The Incredibles, Coco, The Lion King, Moana 4x: Wonka: Blue Beetle, Stop Making Sense, Hocus Pocus, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Migration: The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Arthur the King: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Napoleon, The Iron Claw, The Boy and the Heron Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Napoleon, Godzilla Minus One, The Iron Claw, Ferrari 3x: Ferrari: The Equalizer 3, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon Drive-Away Dolls: Past Lives, Asteroid City, The Holdovers Challengers: No Hard Feelings, Joy Ride, Barbie White Bird: Thor: Love and Thunder, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, The Little Mermaid 2x: The Boy and the Heron: Stop Making Sense, Maestro The Boys in the Boat: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Maestro The Beekeeper: Godzilla Minus One, Ferrari Mean Girls: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Wonka Turning Red: West Side Story, The Boy and the Heron Madame Web: Napoleon, Wonka Bob Marley: One Love: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Killers of the Flower Moon Ordinary Angels: Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Theater Camp Civil War: The Iron Claw, Ferrari The Fall Guy: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Iron Claw Inside Out 2: Wonka, The Boy and the Heron The Bikeriders: The Creator, Ferrari Problemista: Past Lives, Talk to Me 1x: American Fiction: Maestro Anyone But You: Godzilla Minus One The Iron Claw: Priscilla The Teachers' Lounge: The Boy and the Heron The Book of Clarence: The Equalizer 3 Lisa Frankenstein: The Holdovers Soul: The Boy and the Heron Origin: Ferrari Imaginary: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Kung Fu Panda 4: The Boy and the Heron Love Lies Bleeding: The Iron Claw Luca: The Boy and the Heron Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: Napoleon Furiosa: Ferarri The Bikeriders: The Creator, Ferrari The Unbreakable Boy: King Richard Perfect Days: Ferrari

I would give it to some people saying Schwarzenegger not being a good actor (though frankly I'd argue he had plenty of directors who knew his limitations and used his charisma properly), but I can't say Stallone is just a muscle beach guy at all. Even in action schlock, he has always had great charisma and screen presence and personality. And that's not even getting into his work in Rocky. He's a good cut above most of his contemporaries.

It does suck to see this frontloading happen to Color Purple (hoping to catch it today or in the next few days), but they were also doing that Pay It Forward BS where the box office was artificially inflated by people "buying" tickets for other people, so...I guess it's kind of good karma when you think about it.

Me and @CoolioD1 were beefing this Christmas over our faves, but now both our babies have become leading men and #Draws. Good for you Coolio. I'm happy for you.

As it turns out, we both won this battle. Congratulations good sir. You deserve this.

I mean Jason Momoa's pecs are my everything, so I get it. Like when he was wearing that bathrobe in Fast X? His hairy chest out? Soooooooooooooooooooo daddy material

So that’s all my predictions. And uh...I’ll be honest, going through each month, I suppose, if my predictions come to light, it’s not that bad. 2024 does look like it will have some bad months, and there sadly doesn’t seem to be any huge, epic juggernaut that we saw almost every year since 2015. We’re also still behind from the record-breaking grosses we had, where the years consistently totaled $11B+. But as I’ve gone through this, and especially how this Christmas period has folded out, it’s important to recognize that those halcyon days when the box office was at a high are behind us...and maybe that’s okay. After years of movies being top-heavy and Disney monopolizing everything, everything being spread out means more interesting stories and the wealth being shared. Like how it should be. And perhaps that despite the incredible box office highs, greater depth, more diverse features, without one big movie clogging up the screens and attention, is what we really need. So...yeah, this year might still suck. But I guess it’s okay for it to suck. And perhaps the lower totals can lead to greater, more interesting stories for everybody. Just gonna have to wait until next year to find all that out. Thank you as always to @WrathOfHan for being my partner in all this. I'm excited to see the rest of your predictions in the coming days. And thank you to everybody who replied here, gave me a like, and so on. I love doing this every year and I think it's always fun to share my own opinions that 9 times out of 9 won't pan out anyways. So I'm excited to do this all again next year. Take care fam!

December 25 Nosferatu: Feels like an easy candidate for major hype amongst movie nerds and even casuals, but it’s just too much or too weird for normal audiences. I’m obviously excited as Eggers is the GOAT, but don’t expect too much. 7 (OD)/30

December 20 Mufasa: The Lion King: Genuinely not sure what the goal was here to make a prequel to a remake nobody liked. And frankly, I doubt Barry Jenkins was given much, if any creative control or auteurship on this feature. Disney just refuses to take risks on creative artists these days, because of capitalism. The only good thing this has going for it is that it’s in December. If it was any other month, this would have fallen like The Marvels. But now? It’ll fall like Alice 2. Good job Disney. Good job. 27/125 (4.63x) Sonic the Hedgehog 3: I’m in the Sonic fandom. And let me tell you, that Shadow teaser at the end of the second movie was insane. The fans were going nuts, and if my screening was anything to go by, I had never seen so many 9 year olds lose their minds on a character reveal. Fans love these movies and are definitely excited to see how the trilogy ends. And...well, it’s not like there’s anything else available for people to watch this Christmas. Good on ya Sonic for being...the least awful of the December lineup. 50/215 (4.3x)

December 13 Karate Kid: The 2010 Karate Kid was a big hit back in the day and Cobra Kai has kept the franchise’s longevity going way more than most probably expected. It's still a big deal with 80s kids and arguably kids of today. With enough of that nostalgia juice and some of the old cast returning, this could be a solid performer. 30/145 (4.83x) The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim: Anime is bigger than ever and LOTR is still a loved franchise. This obviously won’t reach the heights of the Jackson movies, and being animated will limit its appeal, but this should be a modest hit, especially if reviews land. 20/110 (5.5x)

Quorum Updates Arthur the King T-78: 27.22% Mickey 17 T-85: 10.42% Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire T-99: 34.25% Challengers T-113: 19.35% The Strangers - Chapter 1 T-134: 23.5% Kraven the Hunter T-239: 26.03% Night Swim T-1: 43.94% Awareness Final Awareness: 86% chance of 10M, 53% chance of 20M, 30% chance of 30M, 19% chance of 40M Horror Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 62% chance of 20M, 25% chance of 40M The Beekeeper T-8: 40.61% Awareness Final Awareness: 86% chance of 10M, 53% chance of 20M, 30% chance of 30M, 19% chance of 40M Medium Awareness: 77% chance of 10M, 61% chance of 20M, 46% chance of 30M, 15% chance of 40M The Book of Clarence T-8: 27.29% Awareness Final Awareness: 16% chance of 10M Low Awareness: 14% chance of 10M Mean Girls T-8: 57.17% Awareness Final Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 92% chance of 20M, 72% chance of 30M, 36% chance of 40M Low Awareness: 100% chance of 10M

I want this too. I need more Nick Wilde in my life. Badly.

November 27 Untitled Disney Animation Movie: Apparently it’s either Zootopia 2 or an original movie. If it’s Zootopia 2, expect a huge hit, because it's a nostalgic toy commercial. If it’s an original movie, then bombs away. Wicked Part 1: It’s not as big as it used to be, but the original musical still brings in the crowds and Ariana’s presence, alongside the rest of the cast, will get the stans excited. Hell, some of the Ariana/Ethan Slater drama is (sadly) free publicity when you think about it. Jon Chu’s been making solid, crowdpleasing hits lately, and I see little reason to expect otherwise Still dumb this is a part 1, and that is definitely the biggest thing hurting the film’s chances to go above 200M or something, but at least it should be a solid success story. Do the typical high-end numbers musicals do. 50/65/170 (3.4x)

November 22 Gladiator 2: People love Gladiator, but Ridley’s been so inconsistent for decades that I have doubts Ridley Scott really made a banger. Or at least one that will serve as a crowdpleaser. So I’m gonna be pessimistic compared to a lot of the higher expectations, but it should cross the century mark quite easily. 50/125 (2.5x)

November 15 Alto Knights: Not a nostalgic toy commercial and I doubt Barry Levinson made that much of a banger. It's that time again. 8/25 (3.12x)

November 8 The Amateur: Not a nostalgic toy commercial. You already know what time it is. 9/30 (3.33x) Venom 3: Superhero movies are dead. However, Venom’s still big enough of a character that he can whether the storm a lot easier than most superhero characters can. But expect a huge decrease either way. 55/145 (2.64x)

Like...Taylor Swift has a cameo in the movie? Or that she wrote the film's screenplay?

Lmao people are still mad at that after all these years? Give me a break.

It’s been that way for a good while mate.

Don't mind me, I'm just gonna travel back in time to make sure Jaws never got made.