tonytr87

LOL typo...11:30AM.

The question is...what changed between the summer and this holiday season? Because, at least to me, this past summer was pretty big. It was the usual share of blockbusters, sleeper hits, disappointments, flops, and everything in between. But since October (or September, but that month is always dead) the box office has been unusually low, with a few exceptions.

Troll much?

War Horse11:30am showing95% full (pretty incredible for such an early showing)Trailers:The Vow - silence (McAdams needs to move on from this drek)ParaNorman - silenceChimpanzee - notable female reactionJohn Carter - silenceBig Miracle - good reactionMovie: A-Much better than I expected. The first half-hour or so is a little hokey, but after that Spielberg's command of his craft overwhelms any cloying sentimentality. Felt a lump in my throat more than a few times, and once Joey enters the war there's a slew of iconic moments. The horse really is the star here. The film is a mix of realistic and unrealistic (Spielberg's trademark happy turnouts) without ever becoming unbelievable. Audience seemed to like it and there was applause at the end.

People here underestimate how much it costs to film in other countries that aren't Canada. Also, the longer you shoot the more money you spend, and Fincher is notorious for long shoots.

Here's the thing...if The Artist doesn't make enough money before the Globes and Oscars arrive, it won't win anything. The market is down, and there's zero mainstream buzz for it right now, so in all likelihood it'll make 10-15mil between now and those awards shows. It didn't matter for The Hurt Locker, but it might matter for The Artist.

No. In America only cinephiles saw it pretty much.

He's a big name. I have no doubt that people know who he is. But that doesn't mean people are going to show up to everything he does outside of Tolkien. Same with Spielberg. As sad as it is, a director's name only draws people if it's paired with certain material.

I know. What I was saying is mainstream appeal is not the sole reason last year's Oscar contenders broke out. Because this year we have quite a few that SHOULD appeal to a relatively wide audience, but they're not.

War Horse, Hugo, and even Dragon Tattoo all have elements friendly to wide audiences.

I'll wait until after this weekend to predict doom and gloom, but these numbers do seem small...for everything. Where's the Christmas bump? I suppose you could argue, disregarding quality, that these numbers aren't totally unexpected. We have three sequels no one really asked for, a disturbing, R-rated crime thriller, and a mo-cap film based on obscure source material from Europe.

Said this in another thread but I guarantee sometime between now and March the box office recession talk will end because a handful of movies will either break out or exceed expectations, thus temporarily ending our worries until another slump rears its head, and so on and so forth. This happens every year. Yes, it's true admissions have declined. But going to the movies will always be relatively popular, at least for the near future.Also, quality of movies isn't a problem. It's the same it's always been. There are just as many movies that are fresh on Rottentomatoes as there are movies that are rotten from 2011. People watch crap and avoid great movies every year. Should they make less remakes and less sequels? Absolutely. But there's plenty of original films every now and then and people don't watch them, they watch franchise movies like Transformers, Potter, Twilight, Pirates, or comic-book movies. And while there's nothing wrong with that, audiences are sending a message to Hollywood when they frequent those and not anything else, and that message is: we flock to brands. The message may be unintended, but that's what studios hear when Transformers makes 300mil and Drive or The Descendents make only 40mil.

The Sitter7:45pm showing50% fullTrailers:Project X - laughsChronicle - chatterThe Three Stooges - few laughs at the Snookie jokeMovie: C-Not always laugh-out-loud funny, and I'm not sure it really earns the more "heartfelt" moments between particular characters, but this is nowhere near as bad as the reviews make it out to be. Their accusations that the movie is racist and homophobic are way off base. Jonah Hill is likeable as usual, Sam Rockwell once agains plays a great villian, and it has its share of laughs. Despite all that...too many cliches, the kids are not likable at all for a good stretch of the film, and it's chock-full of plot holes. Very flawed, but passable entertainment on a rainy day.

Sherlock Holmes IIMidnight showing60% fullTrailers:MI4 - some chatterWar Horse - silenceThe Dark Knight Rises - cheers, some clappingMovie: B-Entertaining, a couple good action sequences (forest chase is a highlight), a couple good performances (Besides Downey, Jared Harris steals the show), and continued chemistry between Holmes and Watson. However, the endless pithy banter begins to annoy, especially with every character speaking so quickly and so "English." The comedy isn't nearly as effective and at times too over-the-top (Holmes' array of disguises grow tiresome). Until the climactic showdown, the story is convoluted and quite hard to follow. An exciting climax, riveting scenes between Holmes and Moriarty, and a plot that goes to some interesting places toward the end saves the film from becoming a shallow, over-directed copy of the original.

I don't know, I don't think there's THAT many people out there downloading movies. At least, I don't know anyone who makes a habit of it.

Just realized why Happy Feet is underperforming so badly...the original was five years ago. HF1 wasn't a big enough hit for a sequel half a decade later to come close to matching its total.

You're joking, right?

Funny People opened with 23mil. Jack and Jill is expected to make 18-20mil.