TServo2049

They didn't even talk about the temporary outage on Twitter for the 12 hours it was down. That's almost more troubling. (And there was that cryptic "terrible horrible" tweet from Ray Subers which could mean anything...)

Why can't they just come out and say what's going on instead of letting the rumors spin out of control?

Why the jump to conclusions from "IMDB is shutting the site down" -> "IMDB will force us to pay for the same info that used to be free"? Just asking.

If they are really just temporarily doing it, why don't they come out and say it? Nothing on Twitter, nothing on Facebook.

I notice we have heard virtually nothing about any of the other Warner Animation projects at any time since Lego came out and hit big. Surely they're not going to only make Lego movies from here on out.......... ........are they?

From what I've heard - correct me if I'm wrong - perhaps the decision was made (by Sony?) to skip TLS because it was deemed too America-centric, and this franchise has always been bigger overseas? Or perhaps they took a look at the book's sales vs. Inferno's (particularly outside of US/Canada/UK) and chose to go with the bigger seller? Or maybe they chose to adapt the more recent book so it would still be relatively fresher in the mind?

Only MI4 sold as many tickets as anything he put out from '86-'06. None of his other starring vehicles were hits to the same degree. (I am not counting overseas.)

Honestly, has any star been able to sell literally anything, besides Tom Cruise from 1986-2006? (Fun fact: Other than Eyes Wide Shut - and Magnolia, if you count that, every single Cruise starring vehicle over that 20-year period adjusts to over $100m. Even Tom Hanks wasn't that consistent for that long.)

Which explains why Sherlock Holmes did so poorly...wait... ...actually, you may well be right, in that the selling point for SH1 was basically "See Tony Stark play Sherlock Holmes." Audiences probably only care about RDJ when he's playing Stark-like sly action heroes. (So he's sort of the Johnny Depp of the 2010s?)

This film gets hated on too much. It was a glorious misfire, but I found it to be a load of fun for how absurd and over-the-top it was. John Belushi steals this movie and runs away with it. Wendie Jo Sperber took whatever Belushi left behind. The special effects are amazing. And Dianne Kay is cute as hell. Yes, this film has weaknesses - plenty of them (I'm looking squarely at you, Bobby Di Cicco) - but I still enjoy it nonetheless. And while it's definitely a Spielberg movie, at times it almost feels like he's channeling John Landis at times. In a good way. B-

Shrek 2, Ice Age 2 and Despicable Me 2 all increased over 100% over their predecessors overseas. I think people were expecting that to happen here as well - or at least for it to cross the $500M mark. I'm sure DreamWorks was. On the flip side, it still had a bigger increase than Ice Age 3, Toy Story 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, or any of the Madagascar sequels. The first Dragon only grossed $277M OS, at the peak of the 3D craze, and yet HTTYD2 still ended up in the $400M+ echelon. For a movie which is definitely more mature and serious than your average OS animated megahit, it did pretty well. It at least saved face. Actually, its OS increase/general performance reminds me of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - increased over its predecessor almost everywhere (but not as much as hoped), was buoyed by a China overperformance (though Dawn was even more so - outside of China, the UK, France and South Korea, it did either equal or less business than HTTYD2), and a total OS increase of about 60%. And that film came off as serious, slow and dark too, didn't it?

Yes, we should trust the man who gave us Foodfight! This film will probably end up being the spiritual sequel to Battleship (if the Space Invaders movie doesn't first).

Is this the first TV-to-movie adaptation where the source material was completely inconsequential? (The closest example I can think of is S.W.A.T. - as with this, it was basically an original movie with some character names grafted on, right?)

Interesting that these news reports are referring to HTTYD2 as a leggy success, not an underperformance. Regardless of the fact that it could/should have done better, it's still their biggest film OS and WW since Madagascar 3. Nevertheless, I bet these sale talks are indeed a result of the recent stock price rollercoaster ride.

I thought Conrad Vernon left DreamWorks? He's doing Sausage Party for Sony. We also can't forget Chris Sanders (HTTYD1, Croods) and Jennifer Yuh-Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2+3).

Some very good additions there. Other movies I think should have been included, or am surprised weren't included: Safety Last! (1923) The Caine Mutiny (1954) Cape Fear (1962) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) The Blues Brothers (1980) Escape from New York (1981) Sixteen Candles (1984) The Iron Giant (1999)

What can I say that hasn't already been said before? This is one of the defining films of my life. The first time I saw it, I went in not knowing what to expect. I knew relatively little about LOTR, I was getting Aragorn mixed up with Boromir and Merry mixed up with Pippin, but I was still hooked. When that last shot faded out, I had a feeling of "Aw man, that's it?" I would have sat in that theater and watched the story unfold for another 6 hours. I saw the movie in the theater at least two more times, and I watched the Extended Edition DVD over and over. I read the books multiple times, and of course I dutifully followed the rest of the film series. And it was all because of this movie. A+

What I've noticed about Honey Lemon is that she has complexion similar to Rapunzel in that one costume promo still we see everywhere, but she's tanned (and possibly even has a shade darker hair?) in all images/clips of her in civilian garb. Only the first leak image (the "prototype" version of the costume pose) had her in "hero mode" with a tan. Does her skin get lighter and her hair get blonder when she's in costume? We will find out.

It was a very short teaser, not actual footage from the movie.

Same with Honey Lemon, ever notice that she's whiter in many of the costumed promo images than in any of the actual footage we've seen (where, as some have said, she looks Latina)?

Of course it's not true. They clearly plugged in the updated OS actual as the China gross by mistake.

Jandrew - I think you somewhat misinterpreted what I said. I don't hate the movie (there was a period when I did, believe me). I WAS the target audience for this movie in 1996. I was a big Looney Tunes fan. I saw it in the theater, I got the McDonald's toys, I bought the hardcover making-of book, I bought the VHS the day it came out. My point is that when I watch it now, I realize how ridiculous it all is, I realize it's a movie that was basically created by marketing executives, but I cannot bring myself to harbor the pure contempt for it that Tele does. I don't enjoy it in the sincere way you do, but I don't despise it either. I approach it the same way I do something like The Wizard, or the Power Rangers movie.

Space Jam is a ridiculous pile of crap. I caught it on VH1 and watched the whole thing again fully acknowledging that it was a ridiculous pile of crap. And I enjoyed the hell out of taking in how ridiculous and crappy it was. The most ridiculous things I remember about the 90s all rolled into one. Stuff like that very Pulp Fiction joke in the last post. It's gloriously stupid in the same way as the original Power Rangers movie, or the Joel Schumacher Batman movies. Yes, I am "nostalgic" for it - in a "sit back and laugh at the fact that I genuinely enjoyed this as a kid" kind of way.

lilmac, I was born in 1987 and only saw the Schumacher movies in the theaters. Also, as I said in my last paragraph, I am decidedly more forgiving of the Burton movies now than I was in the mid-00s. I changed opinions on them twice over the years.

My example that immediately comes to mind: Tim Burton's Batman movies. I really liked them in that post-B&R era when the Schumacher movies were fresh in the mind (or rotten in the mind, as it were). They were still the DEFINITIVE Batman movies for me. Then, as I got more into reruns of the animated series, and especially in the months leading up to Batman Begins, I grew to quite dislike them (Laundry list at the time included: Batman kills people! The Prince songs! Joker shoots down the plane with one shot from a gun in his pants! Why does Bruce Wayne sleep upside down like a bat in that one scene? The Penguin is a Tim Burton freak stereotype! Selina Kyle magically resurrected by cat licks! Why did the Penguin bite that guy's nose off?! Penguins with rockets strapped to their backs! The Penguin "driving" a ride-em toy Batmobile! Batman record-scratches on a CD! They're really no less campy than the Adam West show!) There was some interview with Mark Hamill where he ripped into the Burton movies, and at the time I believed myself to be in total agreement with the stuff he said. Then, at some point after TDK, I gradually came back into realizing that flawed as they may be, I did not hate them, and was willing to enjoy them for what they were. So I've reached a happy medium.