TServo2049

I am wondering if the Gunman and Kitchen Sink moves were done during BOM's absence - Inferno's date change wasn't announced on BOM either, the date was just silently changed when they came back online and started updating again.

The Gunman also moved to March 20 (I have no idea when that happened, but it did). So I guess Kingsman will be the most successful hard-R action film of February by default. Also, I just realized that the majority of big studio releases in February were moved there, and not originally slotted there. Jupiter Ascending, Seventh Son, Fifty Shades, Kingsman, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Jane Got a Gun and McFarland USA. I think Spongebob and Focus are the only major films that were originally announced for February and stayed there.

Actually, that brings up an interesting point. Frozen actually didn't have any shorter of a release window than GOTG will; both will hit home video about 4 months after release. Frozen was "too early" because they didn't delay it after the film had better legs than expected.

I don't like the Transformers movies either, but I don't know if it's THAT simple. Battleship was basically a Transformers/Bay clone, and yet it flopped. So there must be something people liked about the Transformers movies specifically, even if we don't like them. And I have said before that there has to be a sizable portion of the moviegoing public who showed up for the braindead Transformers movies and enjoyed them, and yet also showed up for the much more intelligent and "challenging" Dark Knight and enjoyed that just as much. But this isn't a Transformers thread. The original point, Avengers' high RT/IMDB scores, I can't comment on. I do agree that there is too much IMDB 10-bombing when a film comes out that captures the Internet-cultural zeitgeist (just as there is 1-bombing of whatever current target of scorn from those same people - remember when Disaster Movie was the lowest-rated movie on the site?) But I don't use IMDB scores as a gauge of quality or even of mainstream public opinion, just of what IMDB users think are the best films.

Hancock (I'm not sure if it was development issues or what - Peter Berg should have made Hancock 2 instead of Battleship) The Karate Kid (Karate Kid 2 would have probably done well if Will had committed Jaden to that instead of f'in After Urf) Wedding Crashers (not because it needed one; I'm just surprised that studio execs didn't try to get a sequel going. Even if it was inferior, it could have had a Meet the Fockers/Hangover II sequel bump; anybody remember any rumblings about it from back when?)

Yes, this. See also: Angry Birds.

Don't want to derail this thread, but glad to read mahnamahna's diatribe on PG films that really deserve a G. I, too, believe that it's the studios having an irrational fear of the G rating, and not as much the MPAA being too strict nowadays.

That's the Nut Job sequel, actually.

Was Kill the Messenger intended for a wide release at some point? I saw the trailer attached to Lucy, at a theater that is not actually playing the movie.

They could be shooting it early in case something else gets cancelled/shuffled around. No joke - after all, look how early principal photography for BvS is...

I enjoyed Lucy enough for a one-off viewing. I'm not chomping at the bit to see it again, but it wasn't as horrible as some make it out to be.

Yes, things do seem to be back to normal (except that trying to use the adjuster gives a Forbidden error on many pages - you can work around by copying the string from a page where it DOES work, pasting it on the end of the URL, and replacing the year with the one you want). Still shouldn't get complacent. But Ray writing articles again gives me more confidence.

Well, considering how often their original films have been falling on their faces, I almost wouldn't blame them at this point. It's not that they're not developing new films, it's that they're having trouble developing new HITS. When three of their last four originals led to write-downs, they might be forgiven for retreating to the security blanket of their franchises. And speaking of originals, that's another reason I want HTTYD to conclude. I want to see what Dean DeBlois can do next. By the time this wraps, he will have been working on the same series for almost a decade.

No idea. If they do do a fourth, I'd hope Dean DeBlois would write/direct again. But I'd rather have a great trilogy. He talked about "completing a story that has a reason for being and a strong sense of integrity and three chapters", that's what I want.

I'm conflicted about the prospect of a fourth. If Dean DeBlois still does it and still gets to conclude the hero's journey arc, fine. Just a tad nervous about the series not getting to a proper finale/getting to a finale but without Dean. I want to see the ending he's been building up to.

Artificially extending a story past what the writer/director wants. That's what would be wrong.

Yes, Corpse Bride. Heck, didn't the land of the dead in that have a Dia de los Muertos feel to it too? (I remember wondering if Burton ripped off Grim Fandango...)

Cars 2 was 5 years after Cars 1, HTTYD2 is only the third longest gap (4 years, 3 months)

Which is why I am still urging that the project to back up all the data continue, and why I think that any interested BO aficionados should work to put together a contigency plan to establish some sort of wiki-like free and enthusiast-run historical BO database that can take its place if they do decide to bury BOM in the future...

Mojo returned last night, then was updated this morning/afternoon after a ton of technical difficulties. (The adjuster still gives a 403 error when trying to use it on certain pages.) Unfortunately, that does make more and more sense the longer they stay quiet. If that's true, then to all the people I warned not to jump to conclusions, I recant and thank you for saving BOM. And if they were intending to do so, maybe that's why there was no report for this weekend. As I said, if Robert Stack were still alive this would probably eventually end up as an episode of Unsolved Mysteries...

Gone Girl has the 9th smallest second-weekend drop for a 3,000-location #1 opener that repeated at #1, and didn't have its second frame on a MAJOR holiday weekend (I will still count Columbus Day and Veteran's Day, just nothing else). And out of only live-action releases, it's 5th. I missed you BOM

And now the site finally has an accurate Last Updated timestamp, and is displaying up-to-date showdowns and links to Friday/Saturday estimates. (But no article yet.) Sanity seems to be returning. Though every other time I visit the front page, it shows up like it did before (albeit with Last Updated 10/12/2014, 12:27 PM Pacific Time - and now, I notice, with up to date showdown numbers too). Weeeeird...

There are updates, it has the weekend estimates and daily estimates. But it's down again, for the I've-lost-count-th time. Maybe they're trying to get the foreign info and all-time charts and stuff up? Anybody know a medium, so we can make contact with the ghost of Robert Stack to host an episode of Unsolved Mysteries about this?

Again...how do we know the increased traffic isn't crashing their attempts to get it back up? I don't care if it's Sunday, can we just let it sit for a while?