Han and Eric's (Not-So) Controversial Predictions of 2023

[BadOlCatSylvester]

5 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

To the people arguing that they should bring Michael Bay back for Transformers, whether ironically or not, you guys are aware that Transformers 5 flopped, right? People got sick of Bayformers. The franchise was a big deal in the late 2000s, because there hadn’t really been anything like it before, but the MCU pretty much rendered Bayformers obsolete in the eyes of the average moviegoer. 

Seriously, does anyone outside of a vocal minority within the fanbase actually want Bay back? Last Knight flopped so hard Paramount Rogue One'd Bumblebee into a reboot. There's a damn good reason why Rise of the Beasts has the blocky, more colorful G1 aesthetic. And don't even get me started on the casual sexism and occasional racism of the Bay movies. You think they were icky back then? Try getting away with that now.

[TwoMisfits]

So, I saw thew Transformers trailer after Spider-verse...and while it did not displace Spider-verse as #1 with my kids, my kids would also all go to see it...and they've never seen one of the movies (but they rode the Universal Studios ride).

 

I kinda did love it...but back-to-back movies for 6 might be rough in June...

 

Maybe it has Ghostbusters numbers in it b/c it draws back the original fans...

[WittyUsername]

7 minutes ago, BadOlCatSylvester said:

Seriously, does anyone outside of a vocal minority within the fanbase actually want Bay back? Last Knight flopped so hard Paramount Rogue One'd Bumblebee into a reboot. There's a damn good reason why Rise of the Beasts has the blocky, more colorful G1 aesthetic. And don't even get me started on the casual sexism and occasional racism of the Bay movies. You think they were icky back then? Try getting away with that now.

Let me tell you, watching Age of Extinction in theaters was a very daunting task for me. I had to force myself not to walk out of the theater before the credits rolled, and I was fresh out of high school back then, so I still had some dumb teenage sensibilities. The movie was just unbearable.
 

There would be no positive to bringing Bay back. His Transformers movies got lazier and lazier as they went on. 

[JustLurking]

I don't think they bring back Bay at all if this one flops, I think the franchise just gets shelved for a while. Which would be for the best, anyway.

[poweranimals]

I thought Bumblebee was a step in the right direction but I can see why people might have felt that it was too little too late. I almost didn't even give it a chance myself. Plus having it go up against Aquaman and Spiderverse killed its chances of making much of an impact. The competition is definitely a concern for this new movie as well. Being sandwiched between Spiderverse and Flash is just asking for trouble.

Edited January 1, 2023 by poweranimals

[BadOlCatSylvester]

22 minutes ago, JustLurking said:

I don't think they bring back Bay at all if this one flops, I think the franchise just gets shelved for a while. Which would be for the best, anyway.

Exactly. It'd be far more likely for Paramount to just end the franchise and let the rights revert to Hasbro. A decade or so of cinematic silence, followed by the inevitable Netflix reboot since I don't see Hollywood touching this IP if Rise of the Beasts fails.

[Krissykins]

I would be very happy with both of those guesses for Scream VI. 
 

I’m scared to go big on M3gan and Cocaine Bear as we’ve all been here before. 

[John Marston]

Is Rise of the Beasts a sequel to Bumblebee? Why didn’t they bring back Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena? Instead we have a total no name cast

 

 

also while I don’t think Bay has to come back or anything the kind of action he brought to those films are the main reason they were successful. Otherwise you would get a GI Joe or Battleship type performance

[CJohn]

People don't want the Bayformers 4 and 5 with Trashberg. People want Bayformers 1-3 with the big nostalgia hook of Shia and Megan. Its pretty obvious. This new TF reboot will mega bomb especially in Europe.

[filmlover]

Bring on those predictions for the most anticipated weekend of the year (July 21)!

[Eric Loves Rey]

July 7

Insidious: Fear the Dark: With the return of the family from the first two movies (though I don’t think Lin Shaye is in this? That’s weird), there’s some intrigue, arguably even nostalgic memories, among the horror fandom for this new entry. The Last Key made about 67M, and I think those numbers feel right. Though it is a bit reliant on the film’s quality, and we won’t know how good Patrick Wilson is as a director until we see the movie. 28/65 (2.32x)

[Eric Loves Rey]

July 14

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One: I'm sorry to burst people's bubbles, but TGM isn’t gonna make this movie make a bajillion dollars. I know there's the hope that this film will ride the TGM goodwill, but let's be realistic here. Mission: Impossible’s gone on long enough where people know what they’re getting into. Not much room for growth. And this new film, while looking super good and fun and interesting, doesn’t offer anything new for people who don’t care about this franchise. But an increase from Fallout should happen and Paramount and Cruise are both already putting their all in the advertising with more than a year-long campaign. People know this is coming and it will be big, though not as big as people probably want. 80/260 (3.25x)

[JustLurking]

49 minutes ago, CJohn said:

People don't want the Bayformers 4 and 5 with Trashberg. People want Bayformers 1-3 with the big nostalgia hook of Shia and Megan. Its pretty obvious. This new TF reboot will mega bomb especially in Europe.

Why would people care about Shia and especially Megan Fox? Nobody really knows who they are nowadays and I don't think people really cared for them much to begin with.

[Eric Loves Rey]

On 12/30/2022 at 10:25 PM, MrPink said:

Skip to July 21

July 21

Barbie: Alright. We’re finally here. Mama Gerwig vs. Papa Nolan. And I hate to say it, but Mommy’s probably winning here. Every BTS photo and video has gone crazy viral, and the teaser was a big hit. There’s already tons of Minions-style memes about going to see the film ironically and meme power is what gets people in the seats these days. And I have faith Greta delivered a gangbuster of a crowdpleaser, so this should be a very strong film for the end of summer, boy or girl. I was gunning for 300M, but as time passes, that’s probably super unlikely. But still, one of the biggest for the year and a much-needed win for Margot Robbie. 65/225 (3.46x)

 

Oppenheimer: The big problem is that this isn’t a nostalgic toy commercial and these kinds of adult dramas simply don’t have any appeal to today's adult audiences who would happily stream the movie at home. But there’s still the appeal of the IMAX sequences and they are at least pushing this as a cinematic event that is best viewed on the big screen. So it will still obviously do more than the average prestige drama title post-COVID. I think Nope numbers sound about right, which I guess still shows this is a strong investment for Universal when this delivers big business on PVOD and Peacock. 37/130 (3.51x)

[CJohn]

I see people continue to underestimate nostalgia from the early 2000s. 

[Eric Loves Rey]

July 28

The Marvels: This has literally nothing going for it. Captain Marvel was a total no1curr that coasted off Endgame hype. Monica Rambeau was barely utilized in WandaVision (still very bitter and mad about that), and nobody watched Ms. Marvel. Therefore, the excitement for those new characters is basically nonexistent. The tea is that Nia DaCosta has something wild and crazy coming with this movie, but these days, I expect little from Marvel when they give a director “free rein”. If anything, it just makes the movie more unappealing to people. Maybe a trailer will convince me otherwise, but this will drop big time from Captain Marvel, even with a clear August. Sorry Marvel fans, but you’re not top dog anymore. And honestly, this is probably for the best of everybody. 80/220 (2.75x)

[CJohn]

The Marvels is going under Black Adam WW. You read it here first.

[filmlover]

15 minutes ago, JustLurking said:

Why would people care about Shia and especially Megan Fox? Nobody really knows who they are nowadays and I don't think people really cared for them much to begin with.

Yeah, exactly, where is this nostalgia for them coming from lol? Shia is mostly persona non grata these days after messing up a comeback attempt with his personal issues and the only thing people know Fox for in 2023 is her relationship with Machine Gun Kelly. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by filmlover

[JustLurking]

Just now, filmlover said:

Yeah, exactly, where is this nostalgia for them coming from lol? Shia is mostly persona non grata these days after messing up a comeback attempt with his personal issues and the only thing people know Fox for in 2023 is her relationship to Machine Gun Kelly. 

Yeah I just don't get it. Adding up old cast didn't really help Dominion much at all and I would bank on the OG transformers cast having even less impact. Shia and Fox are complete nonames nowadays.

[BadOlCatSylvester]

Take a shot every time Eric uses the "nostalgic toy commercial" card. Or don't. You'd be straight up dead.

 

I can see The Marvels even go under $200M domestically to be honest. The Marvel brand doesn't even have a sliver of the strength it had last decade, and without it most of the Multiverse Saga is going to be hit hard with the no1curr. Loki's the only real anchor character they have left now. Strange and Thor both got wasted, and Wanda's basically been benched for now. Deadpool 3 is going to be a major outlier, and if they do the Fantastic Four right they can at least recover after Secret Wars. Most of the new Avengers are teen sidekicks or spin-off characters who haven't left much of an impression on people.

 

Barbie feels way too high for me. It's basically a meme movie which likely only film Twitter and shitposters are going to see. The Oppenheimer prediction sounds about right, and I fully expect that to be the winner in the duel. Make of that what you will.