L Silverman

So! The reviews are out and critics are all over the map on this film. But they seem to be in universal agreement that Bayona delivers the goods when it comes to dinosaur mayhem. And he gives us something we've never seen before- dinosaurs in a gothic setting. The climax involves a young girl being menaced in a creepy mansion but instead of ghosts or vampires, it's dinosaurs! Wow, I'd pay to see that! That novelty I think is gonna increase FK's box office, especially in Europe and Asia and should mitigate some of the lost BO from the movie being too scary for a lot of families.

Thanks!

Hey Brainbug! I know this is off-topic but are you from Germany? You mentioned that you read German subtitles for The Wailing. Reason I'm asking is because Fallen Kingdom opens tomorrow in Germany and was really hoping that you'd tell all of us what you thought of it and, dare I say, even give us some spoilers. Edit- We here in the United States won't be able to see it until the 22nd, poor us.

Blair Witch Project is one of those movies you have to see in a theater to get the full effect. Here's my Blair Witch Project Story- I saw this opening weekend in July of 1999. At the Charles Theatre in downtown Baltimore. The Charles was the only theater in the area playing this low-budget horror movie shot in Maryland that everyone was talking about. The line to get tickets went several blocks down the street and around the corner. Even longer than Phantom Menace. (Yes, this was a time when you had to physically stand in a line to get advance tickets.) I ended up seeing a Saturday afternoon showing, sold out of course. You might not think this would be as scary as seeing a nighttime showing but in fact I think it was even scarier. Going from a sunny bright July afternoon into a completely dark theater and into the total darkness of the woods at night depicted in the film. It wasn't just watching a movie, it was a shared experience by everyone in that packed theater. No one had seen anything like this before, it felt like we were watching a snuff film. When the hands started slapping the outside of the tent, everyone in the theater started freaking out, it was awesome!

I think this photo puts to bed who actually directed Poltergeist- Spielberg or the guy holding the Coke? That's Steven's Coke btw. Spielberg: "You're doing a great job, Tobe." *grabs Coke*

My guess for your #1 is Halloween (1978).

Well, there is something special about dinosuars. To paraphrase Mayor Vaughn in Jaws- "You yell monster, people say 'eh, I might see that'. You yell dinosaur, people line up around the block."

Anything over 400M domestic would shock me because I just don't see nearly the same demand for this movie as the first JW and the trailers haven't convinced me otherwise.

Also, you gotta wonder how much A Quiet Place might hurt JK just in the comparison because they both cover the same 'monster in the house' theme.

I'm willing to give FK the benefit of the doubt in terms of quality. As far as BO, I'm thinking $320-350mil domestic.

FK might as well point the gun and shoot themselves with that trailer. Yes, it's really cool but its basically scaring off 80 percent of the kids that liked the first movie. And the brave 20 percent left, their parents are gonna take one look at that and figure they don't need the headache of their kids waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares.

No, but animated films have a special attraction all their own and Incredibles 2 will be the first big budget animated film of the year.

With Incredibles, you'll have packed daytime showings just like Dory but Incredilbles will surpass Dory in the evening and late night showings because teens and adults w/o kids will want to see this movie almost as bad as the kids.

You're a braver person than me.

I think there's as much under-reported demand for this film as there was for Jurassic World three years ago. Incredibles 2 could easily explode expectations in its opening weekend the same way JW did.

I seriously think they're underestimating Incredibles 2. Basing their tracking on the past performance of animated tentpoles but I think Incredibles 2 is a unique situation which they're not properly taking into account.

Incredibles 2 is the one to watch, not Fallen Kingdom. Incredibles is currently tracking at $140+million but I could see it doing $180-$200. It's positioned perfectly, schools are letting out, no animated films in May plus it's very action heavy so it could easily draw in teens and older crowds, not just families. Finally, it's been 14 years since the first one so anticipation is very very high.

Wow, you have a real talent for making your compliments sound like insults! Thanks!

Hahaha, yeah, I'm not talking about Blue dying here but just the fact that people learn that the movie might be smaller in scale than the last one. The trailers suggest this may end up being more a 'monster in the house' smaller-scale horror type film than the big spectacle, monster brawl of the last film.

Two more obstacles for Fallen Kingdom- the trailers make the film look way too scary for kids. Might discourage families from going to see it. Also, the film will be facing stiff competition for that family dollar from a very strong second week Incredibles 2.

But the lack of spoilers drives up the opening weekend because of audiences dying to know what happens but with Fallen Kingdom opening overseas a full two weeks before it opens in the US, the movie isn't going to be able to take advantage of that.

Fallen Kingdom opens overseas starting next week. In fact, the US will be one of the last markets that the movie opens in. Really bad from an opening weekend BO because word's gonna get out pretty quickly whether Fallen Kingdom is any good or not.