Wednesday Estimates: Mad 3 - 5.7 ; Prom - 4 ; SWATH - 2.4

[Gopher]

Avengers should go something like 2.1m Friday (50%) 2.75m Saturday (29%) 2.75m Sunday (flat) 7.6m weekend (-32%), 585.6m total... 615m total? I expect a Sunday hold closer to Star Trek's than Thor's.

[tawasal]

RTX strikes again.

[Dementeleus]

I can understand why someone might not like PROMETHEUS.... but I don't get how you would be confused by it. It's really not all that complicated at all. I mean, I didn't INCEPTION was all that complicated either, you just needed to pay close attention. But you don't even need to pay close attention to follow PROMETHEUS's basic story, and it's not like there are giant twists or anything.

[baumer]

Gitesh Pandya ‏@giteshpandya #Madagascar3 broke $100M intl WED incl $25.8M from Russia. Will pass $100M US SAT in 9 days & may hit $275M ww by SUN.

[tawasal]

Awesome M3.

[baumer]

I can understand why someone might not like PROMETHEUS.... but I don't get how you would be confused by it. It's really not all that complicated at all. I mean, I didn't INCEPTION was all that complicated either, you just needed to pay close attention. But you don't even need to pay close attention to follow PROMETHEUS's basic story, and it's not like there are giant twists or anything.

The only thing confusing to me is how the Mr. Universe body builder guy at the beginning created humans by drinking that shit that killed him, and why did his spaceship leave him, and why did he disintegrate, and how did Janek know it was a military intallation and how did he know that those cylinders were weapons? Other than, I'm fine.

[jb007]

There is nothing to be confused about Prometheus like some people who love the movie proclaim. The script is just poorly constructed and the movie is an exercise in boredom. Contrast that to the last half hour of Alien and Aliens. They are fantastically thrilling just as much Prometheus is boring. Further, way too many scenes are laughable to consider Prometheus to be a deep movie aka thinking man's movie by anybody over the age of 5.

Edited June 14, 2012 by jb007

[yads]

See this is problem I have with some people who complain about Prome...no one wants to think about anything, no one wants to have to use their brain to come up with thoughts or conclusions on their own, everyone wants everything shoved down their throat or completely obvious, no one wants to have to pay too much attention (that example you gave people are tweeting and Facebook updating in the middle of the damn movie for crying out loud!), too many (younger) people can't even sit in a movie and pay attention without texting or talking, etc, etc.

I agree this is a movie that doesn't give all the answers, and I have no problem with that kind of movie. Unfortunately I felt it was also a movie filled with inconsistent characterisation, scientists who were hand-picked by a billionaire (presumably the best of the best) who exhibit the kind of intelligence Friday the 13th teenagers usually display, plot threads that are introduced and go nowhere, and a promise of philosophical depth in the first half of the movie, which is sadly jettisoned completely and replaced in the second half by generic monster movie action beats.I wonder whether, in hindsight, trying to blend a 2001-style chin scratcher, and a monster movie was an unworkable combination.I also suspect that the mass frustration Prometheus has inspired is in part due to this: as a prequel it is expected to explain some of Alien's mysteries. That was a widespread audience expectation. Rather than doing that, Prometheus instead asks a bunch of different questions, which it also doesn't answer.

[Harpospoke]

The only thing confusing to me is how the Mr. Universe body builder guy at the beginning created humans by drinking that shit that killed him, and why did his spaceship leave him, and why did he disintegrate, and how did Janek know it was a military intallation and how did he know that those cylinders were weapons? Other than, I'm fine.

My thought was that

the Engineer at the beginning was sacrificing himself to create life. That makes him similar to the mythological figure Prometheus. That may be why they have a problem with humans since we are more than capable of sacrificing other life to prolong ours. Weyland himself seeks to prolong his own life at all cost. Janek may have been guessing or assuming.

[Rudolf]

Mad3 last 2 dailies over Cars2. I hope it can beat it.

[Dementeleus]

The only thing confusing to me is how the Mr. Universe body builder guy at the beginning created humans by drinking that shit that killed him, and why did his spaceship leave him, and why did he disintegrate, and how did Janek know it was a military intallation and how did he know that those cylinders were weapons? Other than, I'm fine.

But that doesn't make the story very confusing -- it's just details. However:

The black goo (which was in the mix that he drank) is a genetic accelerator that breaks down your DNA and rapidly transforms it. They apparently have different varieties, since what happened to him was somewhat different than what happened to humans. He seemed to be on the planet of his own accord; he wasn't emotional at the ship leaving or angry or anything. It seemed very ritualistic to me.Janek assumed it was a military installation -- which seems like a reasonable assumption, given how the goo in the cylinders was reacting to them, and the basic layout of the place. (Why else would you stockpile all of that very hazardous stuff in one location?)

Edited June 14, 2012 by Telemachos

[rahvinn87]

I also suspect that the mass frustration Prometheus has inspired is in part due to this: as a prequel it is expected to explain some of Alien's mysteries. That was a widespread audience expectation. Rather than doing that, Prometheus instead asks a bunch of different questions, which it also doesn't answer.

I don't think this is true at all. Scott constantly downplayed the idea of the film being a direct prequel to Alien (and actually I agree with him).I also know from discussions with friends who aren't sci-fi fans and from perusing general internet forums, that most people did not go into the film expecting an Alien prequel. Whether they came out thinking that is another question.

[yads]

Scott constantly downplayed the idea of the film being a direct prequel to Alien (and actually I agree with him).

Scott certainly did his best to downplay it, and he often made the point it isn't a conventional Alien prequel. No arguments there. But the Alien fans I've talked to were all excited to see what the deal was with the crashed ship the Alien crew found, and the origin of the Space Jockey - and Scott said that Prometheus was in large part about explaining the Space Jockey's origin. So it's understandable they would be excited.

Finding out he's just a really angry bald guy who wants to kill everyone was something a lot of us found disappointing.

[fmpro]

Are TASM numbers out yet??Anyone..Nikki?

[Harpospoke]

Scott certainly did his best to downplay it, and he often made the point it isn't a conventional Alien prequel. No arguments there. But the Alien fans I've talked to were all excited to see what the deal was with the crashed ship the Alien crew found, and the origin of the Space Jockey - and Scott said that Prometheus was in large part about explaining the Space Jockey's origin. So it's understandable they would be excited.

Finding out he's just a really angry bald guy who wants to kill everyone was something a lot of us found disappointing.

I actually don't think the Engineer in Prometheus is the same one from Alien. From what I understand it's a completely different planet. (plus the Engineer never gets back to the ship's chair) We get to find out about the original space jockey's species...but not him specifically.The reason he was angry is because we are a failed attempt at creating life (in their eyes) and they want to end the experiment.

Edited June 14, 2012 by Harpospoke

[rahvinn87]

But the Alien fans I've talked to...

I think that's the key point. Alien fans had seen all of the trailers, knew all of the back story and references etc. I would contend that most of the general cinema going public aren't Alien fans to that degree.

[RTX]

I'm curious as to your definition of what exactly "a ton" is.I think it will hold on to them this weekend, but start shedding them next weekend.

700+The film only made 11M last weekend, while still playing at 3100 locations. That's bound to change sooner rather than later.

[yads]

The reason he was angry is because we are a failed attempt at creating life (in their eyes) and they want to end the experiment.

You're right, but I found it underwhelming, partly the idea and partly the execution of the scene.A lot of the Space Jockey disappointment isn't even the film's fault - it's that Alien fans have had 30 years to come up with cool explanations.

[druv10]

700+The film only made 11M last weekend, while still playing at 3100 locations. That's bound to change sooner rather than later.

Thank you, you've been great for TA. :)

[RTX]

Probably wrong on TA (as usual). It could do as Spider-Man did. The daily/weekend numbers have been really close between them this week and last week. Spider-Man was even ranked No 5 going into 7th weekend before dropping to 7 with 2 new openers.SM lost 500+ theaters but still managed a $7.5m 7th weekend, dropping only 28% from the previous. Not saying TA will....but it could.

TA has not followed SM in dailies at all, so I don't think it's appropriate to use it as a model. Excluding post-Memorial weekend SM's weekend drops have been consistently under 40% - something TA has been unable to do.