Weekend Estimates: Kong 61M, Logan 37.8M, Get Out 21M, Shack 10M, Lego Batman 7.8M

[PPZVGOS]

6 minutes ago, The Futurist said:

The franchises movies that are all SF/Fantasy exist today for a very good reason :

 

you couldn't make them, the technology just wasn't there, you just couldn't produce those images.

 

Watch Superman 1978 and Man of Steel 2013 and see it for yourself.

 

 

 

Yes, tremendous improvements in FX technology plus the global movie market (which has allowed for bigger budgets) have made this mega fantasy franchises possible. 

[grey ghost]

After Star Wars, studios tried to invent their own franchises.

 

It worked for a while with hits like Ghostbusters and Back to the Future but they eventually gave in after so many flops and simply bought the rights to stories that came with a prepackaged fanbase.

 

The bigger the fanbase the more sequels, spinoffs and reboots you can manage to pull off successfully.

 

Then you had disappointing film after film from super stars like Adam Sandler.

 

So audiences and studios shifted their attention to franchises and mega franchises which was even more curtailed to individual tastes than following a famous personality from movie to movie.

 

Avatar was probably the final nail in the coffin. Little star power yet it made an unprecedented and legendary amount of cash.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2017 by grey ghost

[DMan7]

2 hours ago, grim22 said:

 

No, Kevin James is

 

 

 

Weirdest cinematic universe ever.

Two Zookeepers, 1 Wife. 

[The Futurist]

After The Abyss/T2 and Jurassic Park, it all snowballed from there.

 

Star Wars Prequels, LOTR,Harry Potter, Matrix, Spiderman and X Men all happened  in 3 years, 1999-2002 and it s been this business model that has been ruling Hollywood ever since.

[Eevin]

16 minutes ago, PPZVGOS said:

 

I'm not saying actors don't count at all anymore, only that star-power has been greatly diminished as a BO factor. The Martian was also effects-heavy, but yes, I definitely accept your point, Matt Damon (plus Jessica Chastain) definitely came that movie a lot of boost. Gone Girl was a brilliant David Fincher thriller, but again, you are right, Affleck also helped considerably. I can't consider that Rosamund Pike counts as "star-power" since she was unknown to general audiences, even though she fitted the role perfectly and was the main attraction of the movie (IMO) 

 

Now, this gets me thinking, today picking the right actor for the right role, is far more important than old-school star-power. Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl, RDJ as Iron Man/Tony Stark, Jackman as Wolverine, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn are all prime examples of this new Hollywood trend.

This. Star power isn't totally gone, but people aren't going to go see a movie just because of an actor - there's stuff like reviews, the IP, genre, how they fit the role, etc. It's like how Joy, a film starring Jennifer Lawrence, made $56m, while Silver Linings Playbook, also starring JLaw, made $132m. She certainly helped with the box office of both films, but one of them had strong reviews, a terrific cast, and significant Oscar buzz, while the other one...didn't. 

[PDC1987]

21 minutes ago, grey ghost said:

After Star Wars, studios tried to invent their own franchises.

 

It worked for a while with hits like Ghostbusters and Back to the Future but they eventually gave in after so many flops and simply bought the rights to stories that came with a prepackaged fanbase.

 

The bigger the fanbase the more sequels, spinoffs and reboots you can manage to pull off successfully.

 

Then you had disappointing film after film from super stars like Adam Sandler.

 

So audiences and studios shifted their attention to franchises and mega franchises which was even more curtailed to individual tastes than following a famous personality from movie to movie.

 

Avatar was probably the final nail in the coffin. Little star power yet it made an unprecedented and legendary amount of cash.

 

 

The funny thing being Avatar has one of the biggest discrepancies in box office and actual zeitgeist longevity ever. Highest grossing film of all time yet next to zero cultural impact. I genuinely can't tell you the last time I heard that film mentioned in basic conversation, the ultimate downside of selling a film exclusively on visuals and a 3D gimmick I suppose.

Edited March 12, 2017 by PDC1987

[grey ghost]

4 minutes ago, PDC1987 said:

The funny thing being Avatar has one of the biggest discrepancies in box office and actual zeitgeist longevity ever. Highest grossing film of all time yet next to zero cultural impact. I genuinely can't tell you the last time I heard that film mentioned in basic conversation, the ultimate downside of selling a film exclusively on visuals and a 3D gimmick I suppose.

 

Avatar 2's reception is the biggest unknown in box office history.

[The Futurist]

5 minutes ago, PDC1987 said:

The funny thing being Avatar has one of the biggest discrepancies in box office and actual zeitgeist longevity ever. Highest grossing film of all time yet next to zero cultural impact. I genuinely can't tell you the last time I heard that film mentioned in basic conversation, the ultimate downside of selling a film exclusively on visuals and a 3D gimmick I suppose.

 

Americans keep saying that.

It s funny.

 

 

 

 

[cubsfan]

5 minutes ago, PDC1987 said:

The funny thing being Avatar has one of the biggest discrepancies in box office and actual zeitgeist longevity ever. Highest grossing film of all time yet next to zero cultural impact. I genuinely can't tell you the last time I heard that film mentioned in basic conversation, the ultimate downside of selling a film exclusively on visuals and a 3D gimmick I suppose.

I hear about how it has next to next to zero cultural impact for years.  Whatever the case people are still talking about it good or bad.  People bend over backwards to prove their negative point for 8 years now.  

[PDC1987]

Fanboys detected.

[cubsfan]

2 minutes ago, grey ghost said:

 

Avatar 2's reception is the biggest unknown in box office history.

Not really.  1B is the floor.

[DMan7]

NOT THE AVATAR THREAD

 

Spoiler

Everything besides Avatar can be talked about though. 

 

Edited March 12, 2017 by DMan7

[PDC1987]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

I hear about how it has next to next to zero cultural impact for years.  Whatever the case people are still talking about it good or bad.  People bend over backwards to prove their negative point for 8 years now.  

Quite frankly that's like the 12 or 13 remaining Mariah Carey lambs screaming at everyone that the massive press over her self inflicted NYE massacre proved she's still relevant and successful. (Mind you her 2016 concerts in two 13,000 capacity arenas in Glasgow and Zurich only sold 3,506 and 4,007 tickets respectively, despite an average ticket price of well under $100 and it being her first European tour in 13 years.)

Edited March 12, 2017 by PDC1987

[Eevin]

2 minutes ago, DMan7 said:

NOT THE AVATAR THREAD

 

  Hide contents

Everything besides Avatar can be talked about though. 

 

Everything? 

[PDC1987]

1 hour ago, grey ghost said:

 

Avatar 2's reception is the biggest unknown in box office history.

The push backs are just fueling that fire.

[Nova]

I think in regards to star power, some folks also forget that the role matters. For example I can't imagine Melissa McCarthy starring in a heart wrenching drama and it doing well. Or Leonardo DiCaprio starring in a straight up comedy. I feel like today the actors who have this so called "star power" are the ones who have found their niche and are choosing the right roles. And their performances show. Some actors like to try different types of roles and it just doesn't click for them hence terrible reviews and a bad box office performance. 

[Jonwo]

1 minute ago, Nova said:

I think in regards to star power, some folks also forget that the role matters. For example I can't imagine Melissa McCarthy starring in a heart wrenching drama and it doing well. Or Leonardo DiCaprio starring in a straight up comedy. I feel like today the actors who have this so called "star power" are the ones who have found their niche and are choosing the right roles. And their performances show. Some actors like to try different types of roles and it just doesn't click for them hence terrible reviews and a bad box office performance. 

 

Tom Hanks has done well playing heroic people like Captain Phillips and Sully though he did have success playing against type in Road to Perdition, Cruise is mostly action but he has dabbled in non action roles in the last decade to varying degrees of success. 

[Wrath]

So, if we're not talking about Avatar anymore, I'll mention that I just drove an hour to see Great Wall, of all movies, as a favor to my daughter. For no apparent reason, my wife and younger daughter wanted to come too, so it became a family trip.

 

I wouldn't say it was a good movie, and the English dialogue very much had a "this line was translated into English from Chinese" feel. But it was fun, was visually wonderful, and the kids were bummed out because they had a bunch of questions (what exactly is going on in that mountain to the north?) which will never be answered. If the movie's budget had been $50M, there probably would have been a sequel addressing these points, but it was a lot higher than that so there won't.

 

I wouldn't exactly recommend it, but whenever it shows up on Netflix its enough fun to build a good drinking game around watching it.

[Wrath]

4 minutes ago, Nova said:

I think in regards to star power, some folks also forget that the role matters. For example I can't imagine Melissa McCarthy starring in a heart wrenching drama and it doing well. Or Leonardo DiCaprio starring in a straight up comedy. I feel like today the actors who have this so called "star power" are the ones who have found their niche and are choosing the right roles. And their performances show. Some actors like to try different types of roles and it just doesn't click for them hence terrible reviews and a bad box office performance. 

 

Along these lines, if the rumors are true and Nathan Fillon is going to be Cable, I'm going to be very curious to see how it works out.

[WrathOfHan]

4 minutes ago, Wrath said:

So, if we're not talking about Avatar anymore, I'll mention that I just drove an hour to see Great Wall, of all movies, as a favor to my daughter. For no apparent reason, my wife and younger daughter wanted to come too, so it became a family trip.

 

I wouldn't say it was a good movie, and the English dialogue very much had a "this line was translated into English from Chinese" feel. But it was fun, was visually wonderful, and the kids were bummed out because they had a bunch of questions (what exactly is going on in that mountain to the north?) which will never be answered. If the movie's budget had been $50M, there probably would have been a sequel addressing these points, but it was a lot higher than that so there won't.

 

I wouldn't exactly recommend it, but whenever it shows up on Netflix its enough fun to build a good drinking game around watching it.

@MrPink