Gautske

This is totally for you... Courtesy of the LA Times... Oh it's coming... http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-ghostbusters-remake-reaction-20160716-snap-htmlstory.html (there's a poll to vote in too!)

Don't underestimate the sentiment/plethora of articles like this one: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/07/your-duty-to-see-ghostbusters-this-weekend.html

The short answer is because Chinese movies are even worse than our Hollywood flops. Many Chinese admit that they even think many of these films aren't good, but they're still better than a lot of the domestic crap that gets made there. I've heard/read that many Chinese filmmakers complain about creative freedom (adherence to strict guidelines) and how government censors still force them to make heavy edits that lead to incoherent plots among other problems. Basically, censors playing the role of heavily-interfering big studios except they have different motivations. I know there has been a lot of push-back in China over the last couple of years (and we're seeing Hollywood partner more with domestic Chinese companies), but their film industry (HK excluded) is still relatively young.

This sounds like the same thing Scott Mendelson at Forbes was trying to peddle like a month ago: http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/07/22/why-is-mad-max-fury-road-a-hit-while-terminator-genisys-is-a-flop/ Except MMFR has made over 1.5M more domestically with another 4M+ international tallied since he declared MMFR done. The top comment on that article is also worthy of note (along with what a lot of people here have already said in response). For what it's worth, last August's WSJ article is worth checking out with all the subsequent discussion of Domestic/International receipts (might be behind a paywall [can be googled around]): http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-hollywood-not-all-box-office-dollars-are-equal-1409241925 "In the U.S., with its comparatively robust post-theatrical businesses, $1 of box office translates into about $1.75 of total revenue over a decade." There's a nice graphic like this attached also: As others have said, Mad Max is going in a completely different direction than the Terminator franchise. I imagine Fury Road will breathe life into the market for the previous movies in a much more significant way than what Terminator Genisys will do for its more well-known installments.

Saw this on the 7th, and I give it a B, maybe a B+ if I'm generous. I think it was decent and better than a lot of the stuff that's out there now (or comes out). It's very much a throwback to all the early 90s type of thrillers. (see Roeper's review where he lists a number of those movies that this made me think of while watching: http://entertainment.suntimes.com/movies/gift-thriller-keeps-giving-goosebumps/) I quoted ainsleyb above because I similarly figured out early on where I thought this was going. I was hoping the twist/subversion would go in a different direction, but my initial suspicion turned out to be correct. For me, I found this too predictable and very disappointing. There were a few things that strained credulity throughout the movie, but I'll echo that it's still fairly solid. Now there were elements/scenes, even while watching it, I'm not sure would make sense on a rewatch, but many are so minor that most people don't seem to have as much of a problem with them as I did. I also didn't see any trailer for this movie (I thought it was actually going to be more horror than suspense until my friend let me know right before it started) and didn't realize Joel Edgerton was so intimately involved in so many aspects of the film. I think this is a really fine effort on his part and am interested in seeing what he does going forward. The whole "gay" thing was also in the back of my head as well because the one thing I did hear about it beforehand (from a podcast) revolved around some kind of "gay fling" but I wasn't sure if they were being facetious or not. Bottomline, I'm not sure I really liked the ending (and/or execution of) as much as some other directions they could've gone. It probably takes my rating down a notch or two, but if you like suspense/thrillers, I still recommend checking it out. Oh, I do definitely like what they were going for with Bateman's character and that general theme as many have mentioned. Just felt this had a lot more potential.

I think there's a ton of JW trash-talking versus MMFR folks and then some kind of racial/urban argument that got deleted, so I think probably not worth reading mostly to answer your question.

Did anyone read the book for The Martian? I don't know if Ridley Scott being attached to this is a good thing or bad thing anymore. Watching the trailer, I do remember seeing this a while back. It looks like a serious movie, anyway. I might wait for the RT score and to read critic reviews when this comes out. Is there huge anticipation for the second trailer dropping?

I'm not sure if you're being semi-sarcastic or not, but I remember reading how we would have a manned mission to Mars by 2017 or 2018 in the 90s... Now it's like 2035 if everything goes to plan/wishes of the Mars dreamers and with private industry contribution. NASA's budget is always looking more dismal as well. Best bet is if the Chinese are serious about establishing a moon base to rekindle that Soviet space race dynamic. I had to quickly google this stuff because I haven't paid attention in a few years but launch/resupply windows are ~500 days (not factoring in how to leave Mars, radiation effects, etc..). Getting to Mars has always reminded me of fusion power... Always two or three decades away. I'll still watch the trailers to see if I can buy into this, but I think I'm still trying to get those... Depp and Kilmer movies out of my head? Forgettable anyway. I skipped Gravity when I kept getting people to tell me to see it. I responded that if it was anything like "Castaway in Space," I don't think I'll like it much, and people were just like, "nevermind then." I thought Apollo 13 was alright, but I haven't seen it since... the 90s? I guess I need to start hyping myself for this one if I'm going to indeed find hype for it.

I have yet to pay much of any attention to The Martian, but it sounds like one of those movies where I might have trouble getting into just based on the premise. As BKB says, a Mars mission is likely a one-way ticket for the very foreseeable future. No one is coming to rescue you... PERIOD. It's uneconomical and the planetary alignment makes the travel window very limited. NASA would most likely just try to keep you alive long enough to do whatever is you went there to do before letting you die. I don't know if that would make the most desirable movie (but I do like the idea of knowing you will die, but can you accomplish your mission before doing so? — diff movie though). I will have to checkout the trailers nonetheless. Answering the question though... No... I'm not adventurous/space obsessed.

Speaking of Batman '89, I remember how incredibly popular that was at the theater then (also GB 2 and IJ&TLC). HUGE lines for a comic book movie. I was either too young or not really paying attention to the Superman movies then, but Batman '89 wass really my first memory of the absolutely massive GA appeal of a comic book character movie. I ended up see The Gift this Friday cold, never saw a preview for it. Very much a throwback to all those early 90s stalker thrillers. The theater was quite diverse, mostly 30+, and fairly packed. I would say the movie was "okay," not sure if it really holds up on analysis or on another viewing. Waiting for that showing though, my friend and I were hanging out in front of one of the FF4 theaters (in a 24 screen multiplex) for about 15 min, and we decided to dip into a 1:00 something FF4 showing to see how many people were in there. The credits were just ending, and there was nobody in there. Neither one of us recalled anyone coming out of that theater the whole time we had been talking there either. We both thought, "Wow, this movie is going to totally bomb."

Yeah.. I noticed the same thing with the UK as Australia since I posted this. Bigger number in US$ from mid-July on BOM and a lower US$ from the The Numbers more recently updated. Sifting through public Rentrak data as we speak. This is driving me nuts now. There are a lot of discrepancies between the sites (I think EoT has a $5m difference in total takes between the two sites). I used the Australian figures earlier from Aussie sources, but who knows if those are good either. I guess IBO take is added weekly (daily?) using the conversion rate at the end of the weekend? I wonder if some of it is the sites using conversion rates on broad totals. I figure the Russian BO is really hard to calculate (broadly) with the ruble fluctuations. Any other good sources for accurate numbers that are easily available? I do know that 216m is wrong because you can just look up the Japanese take since that time..

Any updates on the foreign total? Is Japan the only market still open or is Mad Max still raking in couch change in any other territories like Australia*? Japan thread has MM:FR still open (posted early 8/4) with a 12.7m total take. From BOM: IBO: 216M DOM: 152.2M WW: 368.2 http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=furyroad.htm (updated 7/16) From The Numbers: IBO: 219.5 DOM: 152.2M WW: 371.7 http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Mad-Max-Fury-Road#tab=international (updated 8/4 — but I think it was updated to 219.5m around 7/30) Breaking 370m WW is a nice hurdle to get over. I'm still seeing industry/movie sites referring to MM's worldwide take not breaking 370m referencing those BOM numbers. I'm assuming the 219.5m is more accurate, but if anyone has anything more to add, please do. If not, this serves as a nice update anyway. *I've seen numbers for Australia in AUD for July 9-15th with a $21,558,971 and a figured posted on 7/31 with $21,606,347 (~ $15.87m US). The difference for those two weeks is $47,736 which converts to about $34,800 US. BOM has a total converted take of $16,071,753 US as of 7/12. The Numbers has the take as $15,777,646 as of 8/3. As it all depends on conversion rates, it's hard to pin a figure, but the BOM/Numbers figures are curious considering the updates.

I didn't see this last week, but I've (probably) seen it here and have else where. If I remember correctly, there was an article from one of the trade pubs back from like 2010 or 2011 (several years ago anyway) where the Chinese censors didn't permit/condone movies with time travel/speculative future type stuff. I've also seen others follow-up saying that the Chinese government has basically abandoned that policy over the years (like the ban of home console video games now being lifted). That's why movies like DOFP, and I think stuff like Looper got China releases. In fact, I remember seeing several movies that were released in China over recent years that had time travel/future elements. It just goes to show that these things get so entrenched when trying to speculate on why foreign movies get delayed or unreleased in the Chinese market.

http://movieweb.com/goonies-2-gremlins-3-reboot-still-happening/ (not sure how credible the site is but just the same) Studios really are trying to plunder the 80s bare. I sympathize with Robert Zemeckis (when did I miss all this conspiracy theories/hate surrounding Forrest Gump anyway?) on BTTF. Would anyone be surprised if Chris Columbus (or Disney) angles for An Adventures in Babysitting remake with Chris Hemsworth crossing over as Thor this time around?

Oh, wow... If it does open sub-30, I hope that means Chris Columbus won't be allowed to wreck havoc on The Goonies and the adult Harry Potter characters. Thanks. I wish they would all track as long as possible.