Mortal Engines | December 14, 2018 | Universal

[MagnarTheGreat]

Late Night TV Talk Show Lineups Page

 

LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY, NBC
We 12/12: Jameela Jamil, Hera Hilmar

 

ACCESS LIVE, syndicated
Fr 12/14: Ali Lohan, Hera Hilmar, Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles

 

Not seeing too many cast appearances to promote the movie on that list. NBC is Universal.

Edited December 10, 2018 by MagnarTheGreat

[kayumanggi]

I saw this last Sunday with low expectations given the tracking. I think the RT score is kinda low. I really enjoyed this one and loved the epic world-building. The final scene was amazing. Too bad we won't see a sequel.

[Neucentro]

The movie opened at #1 in Hong Kong with about $600,000. better than last week's openers Robin Hood ($525,000) and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ($460,000).

[Crainy]

12 hours ago, dudalb said:

You really need more then great visuals for a hit nowdays.  You could get away with great visuals and mediocre or bad everything else back in 2009 but nowdays you have to deliver more.

FIlm is not a trainwreck, but it really needed  to be really good and get a really good reception to have a chance against the just plain brutal completion.A mixed reception just will not do it.

If it really cost 200 Million, the losses on this are going to be huge...probabl6 the heaviest in Jackson career.

Not true. Marvel movies prove that you can even take away the "great visuals" from a movie that appeals to the lowest common denominator and still make alot of money. The amout of money movies make is not about quality most of the time, especially in todays age. Its about a marketing campaign that is able to trick people into liking the film and convince them that watching it in the cinema is something that belongs in their lifestyle. Thats very hard to do with a unique and unknown property like Mortal Engines.

 

As for why Peter Jackson bough it: Because the guy follows his vision and was obviously interested in making this movie happening on the big screen. Directors like Peter Jackson are artists, and for most artists money is a secondary concern (but still an important one).

Edited December 11, 2018 by Crainy

[Elessar]

Indeed, many movies that make boatloads of money belong in the category average, generic or whatever you wanna call it, from Jurassic World, Marvel, to Fast & Furious. Just to name a few.

[Zakiyyah6]

Mortal Engines looks even more generic than Marvel movies. It looks like a typical YA film. Which is fine but that's what it looks like.

[The Futurist]

On 12/11/2018 at 11:48 AM, Elessar said:

Indeed, many movies that make boatloads of money belong in the category average, generic or whatever you wanna call it, from Jurassic World, Marvel, to Fast & Furious. Just to name a few.

once you have seen a few hundreds movies in your life, everything can be described as generic.

This idea you can somehow re-invent the weel and be "" original "" with each film is an exercise in futility.

Edited December 12, 2018 by The Futurist

[The Futurist]

Even the world building of ME is generic to me, I have seen some other versions of this in plenty of other films, besides the giant Car Cities.

And the story is as basic as it can get.

[Elessar]

32 minutes ago, The Futurist said:

once you have seen a few hundreds movies in your life, everythung can be dsrribed as generic.

This idea you can somehow re-invent the weel and be "" original "" with each film is an exercise in futility.

I'm not talking about originality. I'm talking about a general meh feeling when watching all of the films above.

 

It's not about reinventing the wheel, it's about good storytelling.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Elessar

[Barnack]

22 minutes ago, The Futurist said:

Even the world building of ME is generic to me, I have seen some other versions of this in plenty of other films, besides the giant Car Cities.

And the story is as basic as it can get.

Nice, so we would not have 7 post of sarcastic "and they say people want knew things" when referring to a yet again YA post-apocalyptic dystopia SCI-FI   when the terrible box office numbers will roll out for it ?

[Litio]

Box office mojo says budget is $100m

 

MRC and Universal Pictures are releasing Mortal Enginesinto 3,103 locations this weekend with expectations for a meager, $10 million debut for the $100 million production. Our analysis points to a debut anywhere from $9.5 million on the low end with $14 million as the absolute ceiling, though our range boils down somewhere closer to $10-12 million. 

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4466&p=.htm

 

[jedijake]

Read the article about the "franchise machine". It's actually pretty sad and it's discouraging for anyone wanting to make movies that are fantasy, sci-fi, or have any sort of bigger budget. It tells a tale of being stuck in a continually dwindling environment of franchise films where no original films can break through and more and more franchise films will begin to fade.

 

Marvel can't last forever. Nor can Star Wars. Disney live-actions, Jurassic Park, Avatar, etc. Something somewhere will have to come along and carry the torch. Too bad something like Mortal Engines can't cut it. 

[Valonqar]

It's good that ME can't cut it cause YA is mostly crap and it's good to see it's flopping in movie format. Hopefully Chaos Walking crashes and burns too.

 

What movies need are original franchises. Star wars was an original franchise once. So was F&F, Indiana Jones, etc. They were not based on pre-existing source. 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Valonqar

[jedijake]

13 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

It's good that ME can't cut it cause YA is mostly crap and it's good to see it's flopping in movie format. Hopefully Chaos Walking crashes and burns too.

 

What movies need are original franchises. Star wars was an original franchise once. So was F&F, Indiana Jones, etc. They were not based on pre-existing source. 

 

 

But do we have the climate for an original franchise?

 

The best and most original new properties in the past 10 years (or maybe 20) have been animated films.

Edited December 14, 2018 by jedijake

[Valonqar]

5 minutes ago, jedijake said:

But do we have the climate for an original franchise?

 

The best and most original new properties in the past 10 years (or maybe 20) have been animated films.

and Avatar. 

 

There's always climate if you create great characters. many lesser known or unknown properties basically work as new properties. GOTG for example. Marvel brand helps but as with other lesser known properties from the same brand, result is not the same. GOTG is far more popular than Strange and Antman/Wasp, arguably 2 lesser known properties but still somewhat more known than GOTG. GA was generally clueless about all but preferred GOTG by a large margin. 

 

So create appealing characters and universe and they will come. ME's bland af leads didn't help at all. 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Valonqar

[The Futurist]

The last big somewhat original franchise was like ....POTC ?

15 years ... and counting ...

[Valonqar]

POTC is original to OS but it's a known theme park ride in US. But yes, somewhat original it is. 

[jedijake]

9 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

and Avatar. 

 

There's always climate if you create great characters. many lesser known or unknown properties basically work as new properties. GOTG for example. Marvel brand helps but as with other lesser known properties from the same brand, result is not the same. GOTG is far more popular than Strange and Antman/Wasp, arguably 2 lesser known properties but still somewhat more known than GOTG. GA was generally clueless about all but preferred GOTG by a large margin. 

 

So create appealing characters and universe and they will come. ME's bland af leads didn't help at all. 

Yes lesser known properties have essentially become the new franchises. And popular franchises have become genres themselves. Thus, new SW stories and new Marvel films about characters that are not as well known will become the new NEW franchises.

 

It's new stories with a familiar universe attached.

[Valonqar]

well said! 

[MrGlass2]

Well no, any Star Wars or MCU movie is not original and about as far from original (or a "new franchise") as it gets.

 

No need to lower standards just because critics and audiences alike want to watch the same blockbusters at the moment.

Edited December 14, 2018 by MrGlass2