Official Weekend Estimates: Straigth Outta Compton - 56.1M; The Man From UNCLE - 13.5M; MI5 - 17.3M; Fantastic Four - 8M

[Ozymandias]

Because some of us think that we should expect better from our movies. I don't get what's so elitist about this. Especially when no one was making "it's dumb fun!" excuses about Fury Road or MI5 or Furious 7 or Inside Out this year alone. 

 

 

Ie what JW does. Weirdly some people think this is disputable. It's the text of the movie, this is what most conversations in the film are about. Audiences can still enjoy the movie anyway (they did), I can ask why. 

 

Hey now, the Fast and Furious movies are the definition of dumb fun and thats necessarily a bad thing.  Those are the kinds of movies Michael Bay wishes he could make when hes not failing miserably at serious material like Pearl Harbor and his upcoming Benghazi movie which is gonna be the laughably bad cousin of Black Hawk Down.

[Gopher]

The assistant's death is meant to be horrific and unsettling but people found it fun like "haha the bitch deserved it".

 

Weirdly enough, Compton--which I like plenty more than JW, for what it's worth--has a beat ("Bye Felicia") that I think had the same divide between intent and execution. 

[Gopher]

Hey now, the Fast and Furious movies are the definition of dumb fun and thats necessarily a bad thing.  Those are the kinds of movies Michael Bay wishes he could make when hes not failing miserably at serious material like Pearl Harbor and his upcoming Benghazi movie which is gonna be the laughably bad cousin of Black Hawk Down.

 

I should've added an asterisk to that one (it's not as intellectually stimulating for sure), but I think the F&F franchise knows exactly what it's doing more clearly with each installment. It's great stunt action wrapped in a mythology of love and trust and family and big broad concepts that are irresistible, especially when Vin Diesel spews pulp poetry about them. The intent and execution are both met and therefore everybody loves these movies. 

[scoobysaurus]

It's not the audience that I'm blaming. It's the cynical makers that think the audience are dumb enough to be fooled by their super smart "self-consciousness" while proceeding to make the surface-level blockbuster 2.0 amping up the hollow shiny spectacle they're lamenting. General audience proved in the past they can enjoy expertly made and genuinely fun blockbusters without being blamed for the state of the franchise driven industry made by execs that look upon their audience with contempt.

 

When the movie's intent is lost on the audience like putting Williams majestic and awe-inspiring music onto a view of a corporate park and people emotionally react in tears like a dream coming true while the director stated that it was ironic, that's an issue. The whole movie is filled with tonally jarring moments like this where intent totally diverges with the audience's reaction. The assistant's death is meant to be horrific and unsettling but people found it fun like "haha the bitch deserved it".

 

The vast majority of the same general audience seems to have enjoyed this movie. Would that make them "dumb" because they got coaxed into it by cynical makers? 

 

My point is that regardless of the intent behind the production of this movie, they put out a product that the vast majority of the target audience enjoyed. To say they were fooled would be insulting their intelligence. Say what you want about the producers but audiences aren't dumb. They will pay for what entertains them and JW has done just that IMO. Who is one to say what should and shouldn't entertain people? We all vote with our wallets for what we perceive as good and I'm about to do that for the 17th time for Jurassic World. 

 

And no, I didn't think the bitch deserved it.

[La Binoche]

DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL exceeded my expectations. Too bad it's flopping. I'm stunned it wasn't rated NC-17. I did not expect that from an American movie. 

[Caesar]

We're discussing if a large majority of the movie audience is dumb? I thought that was answered years ago when that audience went to see five Twilight movies.

 

Watch all five Twilight movies to find out whether the bland girl with no personality ends up with the old pervert with no personality who's emotionally abusing her or the young pervert with no personality who's emotionally abusing her.

 

It's not that movie audiences are inherently dumb, it's just that they seem to be able to relax more when they're watching movies that don't require them to think about characters or the plot. Given how needlessly complex some of the art house movies and even some blockbusters make their stories, I don't really blame them. 

Edited August 16, 2015 by Caesar

[La Binoche]

Most people are dumb. Most people watch movies. 

[DealWithIt]

The vast majority of the same general audience seems to have enjoyed this movie. Would that make them "dumb" because they got coaxed into it by cynical makers? 

 

My point is that regardless of the intent behind the production of this movie, they put out a product that the vast majority of the target audience enjoyed. To say they were fooled would be insulting their intelligence. Say what you want about the producers but audiences aren't dumb. They will pay for what entertains them and JW has done just that IMO. Who is one to say what should and shouldn't entertain people? We all vote with our wallets for what we perceive as good and I'm about to do that for the 17th time for Jurassic World. 

 

And no, I didn't think the bitch deserved it.

The only people who can't stand that JW did so well spend too much time online. Critics liked it, audiences loved it and a sequel is on the way. Have a good laugh at the people who go into a rage over a movies success when there are actual things in this world to get pissed about and then forget about them. I know I have a good laugh when an extremely successful movie that general audiences love pisses off the vast minority that are bloggers or those annoying YouTube reviewers. Or those that frequent message boards too.

And to the person bringing up Mad Max, you aren't serious I hope. Paper thin characters and story that are thankfully saved by great action. Then you turn around and criticize JW? Pot meet kettle.

[scoobysaurus]

The only people who can't stand that JW did so well spend too much time online. Critics liked it, audiences loved it and a sequel is on the way. Have a good laugh at the people who go into a rage over a movies success when there are actual things in this world to get pissed about and then forget about them. I know I have a good laugh when an extremely successful movie that general audiences love pisses off the vast minority that are bloggers or those annoying YouTube reviewers. Or those that frequent message boards too.

And to the person bringing up Mad Max, you aren't serious I hope. Paper thin characters and story that are thankfully saved by great action. Then you turn around and criticize JW? Pot meet kettle.

Great first post. Welcome aboard!

P.S people regularly on message boards/online don't necessarily have to hate these movies.

Edited August 16, 2015 by scoobysaurus

[KATCH-2D2]

Because some of us think that we should expect better from our movies. I don't get what's so elitist about this. Especially when no one was making "it's dumb fun!" excuses about Fury Road or MI5 or Furious 7 or Inside Out this year alone. 

It's elitist to assume that just because some of us enjoyed the movie you didn't like = we were way easier to please and didn't ask much from our movies especially when I didn't give MMFR a full mark like many of you had.

And FF7 was a motherfucker of dumb fun movies. , it probably felt less dumb to you because you had fun with it.

[Spidey Freak]

We're discussing if a large majority of the movie audience is dumb? I thought that was answered years ago when that audience went to see five Twilight movies.

 

Watch all five Twilight movies to find out whether the bland girl with no personality ends up with the old pervert with no personality who's emotionally abusing her or the young pervert with no personality who's emotionally abusing her.

 

It's not that movie audiences are inherently dumb, it's just that they seem to be able to relax more when they're watching movies that don't require them to think about characters or the plot. Given how needlessly complex some of the art house movies and even some blockbusters make their stories, I don't really blame them. 

 

Twilight was a very specific boy band-esque fad among teensters that was successful at striking when the iron was still hot. Not representative of general audiences at all.

 

Now Bayformers on the other hand...

[Claire of Themyscira]

The only people who can't stand that JW did so well spend too much time online. Critics liked it, audiences loved it and a sequel is on the way. Have a good laugh at the people who go into a rage over a movies success when there are actual things in this world to get pissed about and then forget about them. I know I have a good laugh when an extremely successful movie that general audiences love pisses off the vast minority that are bloggers or those annoying YouTube reviewers. Or those that frequent message boards too.

And to the person bringing up Mad Max, you aren't serious I hope. Paper thin characters and story that are thankfully saved by great action. Then you turn around and criticize JW? Pot meet kettle.

Oh, hi there.

 

[Star-Lord]

F4 3.3 Well, the drop isn't gonna be memorable at all. Just a run of the mill shitty second weekend drop 

 

How do theater counts work? Is there an agreeement between theater and studio on how long theaters will carry their movies?

 

F4 is the only movie that has more than 4,000 theaters and actually added more this weekend. 

 

Wouldn't theaters want to get rid of F4 as soon as possible?

[grey ghost]

Marvel and other studios don't make cash grab blockbusters?   Nobody said Jurassic World is above criticism. 

MCU is more ambitious than your endlessly escaping dinosaur scenarios.

By 2030 there will be a library of films and tv episodes with dozens of Marvel characters while JP6 is rotting in the Walmart 5 dollar bin.

[TLK]

How do theater counts work? Is there an agreeement between theater and studio on how long theaters will carry their movies?

 

F4 is the only movie that has more than 4,000 theaters and actually added more this weekend. 

 

Wouldn't theaters want to get rid of F4 as soon as possible?

 

They have a two weeks agreement. F4 will probably lose half of its theaters next weekend.

[RobinHood26]

Some girl on set told me today her favorite movie was Soul Surfer 

[scoobysaurus]

MCU is more ambitious than your endlessly escaping dinosaur scenarios.

By 2030 there will be a library of films and tv episodes with dozens of Marvel characters while JP6 is rotting in the Walmart 5 dollar bin.

JP is more ambitious than your endless hero beats villain scenarios. And no Marvel isn't above criticism either

[Spidey Freak]

Some girl on set told me today her favorite movie was Soul Surfer 

 

Must be my sister, numero uno Carrie Underwood loon.

[KATCH-2D2]

The only people who can't stand that JW did so well spend too much time online. Critics liked it, audiences loved it and a sequel is on the way. Have a good laugh at the people who go into a rage over a movies success when there are actual things in this world to get pissed about and then forget about them. I know I have a good laugh when an extremely successful movie that general audiences love pisses off the vast minority that are bloggers or those annoying YouTube reviewers. Or those that frequent message boards too.

And to the person bringing up Mad Max, you aren't serious I hope. Paper thin characters and story that are thankfully saved by great action. Then you turn around and criticize JW? Pot meet kettle.

Great first post. Welcome and please stick around.

And I agree, it's ironic that a lot of JW haters are MMFR worshippers.

[Chewy]

 

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