Weekend Estimates: The Hobbit - 73.6M | Frozen - 22.2M | Madea - 16M

[Leyla]

I'm really far from being a specialist in cgi & all but in ROTK some scenes looked ... ehhhhm... lulzy as hell

like Army of the dead on the Pelennor fields (the jokes about 'Fairy' pouring were quite frequent @ that time in reviews)

the death of the Witch King (what was that? a tin can distorting?  )

 

 

imo in both LOTR AND TH films we can find examples of good & bad effects & to say smth is brilliant 100% & smth is shit is ridic 

Edited December 15, 2013 by Leyla

[Incarnadine]

Last weekend 8 of the top 10 movies jumped more than 50% on Saturday.

This weekend 2 of the top 10 jumped more than 50%. (Frozen and Thor 2 - 51% vs 75% last Saturday)

Defn a muted Saturday for all.

Last week there were no big openers so the big holdovers still had the market to themselves, this week there is a 70+ mil opener, that's going to have an effect no matter what. CF and Frozen still managed to hold well, maybe even a little better than I was expecting.

[kowhite]

Yep compare The Thing to the remake/sequel from 2 years ago, one films looks disgusting and terrifying while the other one looks like a cartoon.

 

You know, I'd love to see what the prequel Thing's practical effects looked like.  I mean, they must've been somewhat awful for them to scrap them and replace them with CG, right?

 

That being said, The Thing is a masterpiece of practical special effects...let's be real, that's not easily accomplished.

 

I'll use that movie Hansel and Gretel for example.  That had a big, practical sidekick beast thing.  Granted, the movie was campy so I guess it kinda worked in that context.  But man it looked dumb.  I have a hard time believing a CG creation would've made me think that looks dumb any more.

[The Stingray]

Yep compare The Thing to the remake/sequel from 2 years ago, one films looks disgusting and terrifying while the other one looks like a cartoon.

Great example. Couldn't agree more.

[kayumanggi]

So the 3D share is 49%. That's good.

[xube]

I don't see how building sets from scratch and getting many extras in costume and make up could possibly be cheaper than doing it on computer. Maybe I've got it wrong, but it can't possibly be less labour intensive.

Catching Fire Budget: 130M

Frozen Budget: 150M

 

I am still amazed that Frozen's animation/cgi (what is that classified as anyway?) with zero physical sets or locations cost more to put on the screen than live actors on sets with CGI added.

 

 

[Blankments]

Oh hell no. Stephen Moyer doesn't look anything like Cucumber.

I can see it.

[Blankments]

That Cracked thing is right, when Sarah McLachlan starts up, I'm reduced to tears.Every.Single.Time.

I'm unusual with Toy Story 2, because that's not where I cry... I cry at this every time.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3GaJzMtr2Q

[Jack Nevada]

Now watching A Muppet Family Christmas. Fucking Muppets, man. 

[Mojoguy]

If it was cheaper to do the Orcs in real life, they would have done.

But... but you don't have to pay to feed the real life Orcs if you use CGI Orcs.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Mojoguy

[Mojoguy]

Catching Fire Budget: 130M

Frozen Budget: 150M

 

I am still amazed that Frozen's animation/cgi (what is that classified as anyway?) with zero physical sets or locations cost more to put on the screen than live actors on sets with CGI added.

 

 

It takes lots of MONEY to make an animated movie look GOOD.

 

There are plenty of crappy cheap animated direct to video animated movies. They don't make much money at all and no one cares about them.

[kowhite]

Catching Fire Budget: 130M

Frozen Budget: 150M

 

I am still amazed that Frozen's animation/cgi (what is that classified as anyway?) with zero physical sets or locations cost more to put on the screen than live actors on sets with CGI added.

 

 

Well, making a CG movie is like hiring a crew for a movie, but keeping them on the movie a few years instead of a few months.  Never mind for Disney, you're talking some of the best artists in the business.

 

Catching Fire wasn't exactly special effects heavy, so it's not like that was a substantial portion of the budget.

 

It's not exactly surprising.

Edited December 15, 2013 by kowhite

[Ent]

With 4 new wide releases and expansions coming out within the next 5 days (on wednesday and friday), i really don't know how we can avoid the bloodshed.

 

I only can see Frozen and newly released TH2 staying relatively unscattered.  But Thor the Dark World, Catching Fire will, Out of The Furnace and Delivery Man will lose a great deal of theaters count as early as wednesday.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Ent

[yjs]

It takes lots of MONEY to make an animated movie look GOOD.

 

There are plenty of crappy cheap animated direct to video animated movies. They don't make much money at all and no one cares about them.

yeah it's funny how the advent of the CGI-animation era was once expected to lower the cost for making animated films since it already had been an expensive business during the hand-drawn-animation era but the result was more like the opposite.

[John Marston]

Overseas, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE lit up $19.5M, $372.9M total. UK ($47M) GER ($34M) OZ: (28M) CHN ($27M) MEX ($22M)

[Jandrew]

Well DM2 only cost $75M and it looked good enough. Pixar is like the Starbucks of animation studios. It's the brand name that comes with the price. Yes their animation is beautiful, but i think DWA, Blue Sky, and Sony all do a good enough job as well.

 

People complain SPA is too cartoony looking...but thats what their movies basically are - saturday morning cartoons. Not everyone has to follow the Pixar route and go in depth realistic. I didn't see that much a difference between MU and DM2, but again its like Starbucks vs Dunkin Donuts, but every studio has their own style, and as long they put in real effort to make a quality product, im good with it. The budgets shouldn't be a huge concern, especially since the money isn't coming out or in our pockets really.

[baumer]

 

Overseas, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE lit up $19.5M, $372.9M total. UK ($47M) GER ($34M) OZ: (28M) CHN ($27M) MEX ($22M)

 

 

Wow, the overseas gross for CF is really not what I was expecting.  It might even finish with less than New Moon.

[dr pawel]

Wow, the overseas gross for CF is really not what I was expecting.  It might even finish with less than New Moon.

 

GOOD

[ShadowGuardian]

[Blankments]

 

Exhibitor Relations ‏@ERCboxoffice2m

One of Paul Walker's final films, HOURS, debuted with $50k in 16 theaters--$3,125 per.

 

Yummm, that film theory predict of 17M

 

 

BoxOffice ‏@BoxOffice59s

FROZEN: $22.18M Weekend (est) / $164.39M Domestic Total / 3,716 Locations / $5,970 Location Avg. #Frozen

 

Yessssss, it maintained a sub 30% drop. 

 

WOOO! Frozen own everyone!