Mortal Engines | December 14, 2018 | Universal

[jedijake]

1 minute ago, Zakiyyah6 said:

Nutcracker looked like garbage, it looked like those terrible Alice in Blunderland movies. I'm glad that isn't going to become a franchise. A Wrinkle in Time doesn't need a sequel. Still I think it deserved better.

Point is that ALL movies that aren't SW, Marvel, Pixar, and a very small group of other successful franchises can be described the same way. Everything that has come out suffers the same fate.

[JB33]

I think it's up to the biggest studios - Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures - who can afford it to keep trying original films. Obviously with flops like MORTAL ENGINES the strategy doesn't make sense for any studio but you just hope the ones who can swallow a flop here and there keep trying.

[Barnack]

1 hour ago, jedijake said:

The downward trend has been devastating for new properties this year. Wrinkle In Time, Nutcracker, and now this. Not a whole lot left to do but bury these ideas.

 

If there something that is not particularly new is Nutcracker:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker#In_popular_culture

 

1 hour ago, jedijake said:

"Original" or first time fantasy/big budget/sci-fi/potential franchise films can only stoop so low before studios just stop putting them out for theatrical release.

It would be hard to completely stop, they always were quite risky and when you score a Lord of The Rings/Avatar/Transformer/Potter/Hunger Games/Pirates/etc... it become so much of a money printing machine if you own most of it in house.

 

I doubt Hollywood will stop the franchise model soon and they need from time to time to get new one to replace the dying one. If they ever achieve a Fast&Furious model of starting small and ramping up maybe they will stop trying those bid budget first time affair, but that was quite exceptional, I cannot imagine say a John Wick 4 going Mission Impossible scale.

 

The Meg & Ready player one just pulled it off nice performance, has long has international buyer/partner make those try relatively safe.

 

Disney is an other one that will probably continue to try from time to time, the way they can moneytise success and a franchise making a win so big that they can afford many failure, Artemis Fowl for example.

[Zakiyyah6]

Stuff like Mortal Engines and Valerian bombing does bother me a lot. I would love for an original or lesser known property to succeed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Battle Angel.

[Barnack]

4 minutes ago, Zakiyyah6 said:

Stuff like Mortal Engines and Valerian bombing does bother me a lot. I would love for an original or lesser known property to succeed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Battle Angel.

I have not seen ME, but at least for Valerian and from what I heard concerning ME, they were not really good and for Valerian quite miscast.

 

It leave hope open, a really good one, with good trailers and attractive high concept bombing would be quite more troubling.

[Zakiyyah6]

23 minutes ago, Barnack said:

I have not seen ME, but at least for Valerian and from what I heard concerning ME, they were not really good and for Valerian quite miscast.

 

It leave hope open, a really good one, with good trailers and attractive high concept bombing would be quite more troubling.

There is some hope when one looks at it that way.

[DAJK]

2 hours ago, Zakiyyah6 said:

Stuff like Mortal Engines and Valerian bombing does bother me a lot. I would love for an original or lesser known property to succeed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Battle Angel.

I mean… the meg was a hit

[Titan Man]

I don't think the fact that it's an original property is making all these movies bomb, it's rather because they suck balls. Valerian was mediocre at best, WiT and Nutcracker were travesties, so seeing them bomb is making me happy, actually, as it shows that GA won't absorb anything just because it looks pretty. Studios have to put their effort if they want a franchise, just look at Paramount, they had Transformers as their cash cow, then it started bombing because of their laziness, so they brought the right people to put it back in the place, and they're looking at a moderate hit that will revitalize the franchise for the coming years.

[That One Girl]

Valerian rules.  Don’t believe the haters.

[Titan Man]

1 minute ago, That One Guy said:

Valerian rules.  Don’t believe the haters.

Seen it, forgot it, lol.

But seriously, I really wanted to love it, the comic book was revolutionary, but the movie was just... meh. The leads were awful, the story was predictable, only the visuals were stunning, but that's not enough anymore.

[Zakiyyah6]

35 minutes ago, DAJK said:

I mean… the meg was a hit

True. 

[incognitoo]

On 12/15/2018 at 8:03 PM, Elessar said:

Can't remember the last time a blockbuster flopped this hard. Even something like Warcraft had like over 3-times its opening day.

Red Planet ($ 8,7 million fwe), Babylon AD ($9,5 million fwe), maybe Battlefiled Earth (yet to be seen as this trainwreck made $11,5 million fwe). Heck even Sky Captain and Speed Racer made more on first weekend. That's so sad. 😞

 

Jesus effin Christ, not even $8 million ow? Worse ow than Red Planet? What did the movie do to deserve that?

Edited December 17, 2018 by incognitoo
additions

[Neucentro]

5 hours ago, Elessar said:

Can't remember the last time a blockbuster flopped this hard. Even something like Warcraft had like over 3-times its opening day.

 

I didn't expect anything after there being zero hype yet i'm still shocked at the result. It's disastrous. There will be books written about it.

The Adventures of Pluto Nash?

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

Nutcracker is a fantastic movie and I won't hear any different. I haven't even heard a particularly reasonable critique of it other than it was a 'mess' - despite the fact that it had a perfectly coherent narrative, characters with specific agency and motivating factors, was tonally consistent and featured performances that aligned perfectly to the stye of movie it's aiming for - almost none of which could be said about AWIT. I swear it's just the boldness that puts people off. And that it was and is an easy target.  

 

As for Mortal Engines, I think even those who think it's terrible, which is a bit harsh, can't summon up any satisfaction in it doing this badly. It's just sad. Even more so when, whatever one thinks of the movie there's clearly actual effort on show on a level far greater than, say, The Grinch that is just rolling in it right now.

[jedijake]

I actually have to mostly agree about Nutcracker. It was, for the most part, a straight forward story. Kiera was a bit corny but the story was easy to follow and really played out like a modern Wizard of Oz or a Narnia movie. 

 

But again, it doesn't matter. If this movie was released 20, 30, 40 years ago, it wouldn't create a stain on the hopes of a new material film. Instead, in 2018, it just goes along with WIT, Pooh, and ME saying that it won't be long before NO new material films will be made. 

[Crainy]

I havent seen Valerian or Mortal Engines yet (though Im planning to), but knowing the behavior of the GA, a movie like that flopping doesnt have to come down to quality. Alot of people on this board and the GA today (and I guess most of the people on this board belong to the GA) display a great inability to appreciate movies that do not fall into a very limited niche. As soon as a movie is interested in beeing a worthwhile piece of art and tell their stories in more expressive and artful ways, it seems like most audience members of today are completely incapable of understanding and reading that movie, leading them to dislike it and call it "bad™".

 

In an environment like that, its very hard for movies who aspire to be anything more than generic to succeed. Now I cant say if this also applies to these two cases, but if you are complaining about not enough original movies succeeding, the fault probably lies in part with you and how you define "quality".

Edited December 17, 2018 by Crainy

[dashrendar44]

The first 10 minutes are the most promising blockbuster introduction in media res of the last decade in terms of imagery and impetus like a family friendly Mad Max Fury Road made by Jim Henson.

 

Too bad that the clunky and derivative script doesn't live up to that propelling visual storytelling.

[Valonqar]

there's a conspiracy theory that Jackson directed this but was so embarrassed he paid his SFX guy to feature as the director. 

[The Futurist]

1 hour ago, Valonqar said:

there's a conspiracy theory that Jackson directed this but was so embarrassed he paid his SFX guy to feature as the director. 

I think the theory is valid, his ego probably got bruised with the Hobbit, and Lonely Bones.

 

He is all over the marketing for this movie and HE personally promoted the movie all around the world.

Edited December 17, 2018 by The Futurist

[Valonqar]

I think that his problem is his stubbornness to film everything in NZ exclusively (including recreating NYC there instead of filming on location, etc). That won't attract lots of top talent to his movies. Taika Waititi's gonna surpass him as NZ's greatest the way things look cause he's flexible, works everywhere. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by Valonqar