2012: A Monster Year? (box office predictions) - Part 2

[The Morningstar]

Wait... they chose Battleship over Del Toro's Mountains of Madness??!?!!?!?!?!

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

You can't conceive how angry that has made me. The very definition of hack work over the very definition of passion project.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Is that true? If so, then ****.

 

[david icke]

Wait... they chose Battleship over Del Toro's Mountains of Madness??!?!!?!?!?!

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

You can't conceive how angry that has made me. The very definition of hack work over the very definition of passion project.

From what I read recently, Del Toro decided not to make that movie because Prometheus ripped it's plot off from the book.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Women can go see hot guys in Avengers anyway.

Without women action films wouldn't be as big as they are.

Yeah, I'm glad the American public could smell outright pandering a mile away. Battleship was a film designed as product first, derivative product at that, with a plot, I'm hesitant to use story, grafted on afterwards.

Hell, Universal reportedly chose this product over a passion project like At the Mountains of Madness. At least they would have been attempting to make something artful and lasting with the alternative, instead all they get is red ink. Serves them right.

Universal doesn't even know how to pander to the public, I could have told them and whatever partners they have not to spend 200mil on a Battleship movie. The movie was a huge joke before they even started principle photography. It was a joke when it was announced. Hell, they couldn't even get together a real cast for the damn thing! I still think that Mountains of Madness would have tanked but I don't see how it would have tanked anymore than Battleship did. It might have done slightly better.

Wait... they chose Battleship over Del Toro's Mountains of Madness??!?!!?!?!?!

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

You can't conceive how angry that has made me. The very definition of hack work over the very definition of passion project.

Just be happy that it failed on all levels. The good taste fairy sure is.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Wait... they chose Battleship over Del Toro's Mountains of Madness??!?!!?!?!?!

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

You can't conceive how angry that has made me. The very definition of hack work over the very definition of passion project.

yeah pretty much my exact feelings. I don't outright wish for any film to bomb but in this case I'm pretty ok with a really poor decision coming back to bite them in the ass.

 

[The Morningstar]

It's some comfort at least

I don't think i've ever actively hated a movie before. Battleship, at least you've earned something!

 

[Man in the Suit]

From what I read recently, Del Toro decided not to make that movie because Prometheus ripped it's plot off from the book.

Nah. He was just talking about Prometheus being too similar. Universal killed ATMOM because they didn't want to take a risk with an R-rated horror tentpole. But decided to put movies like Battleship into production.

 

[The Morningstar]

Prometheus does have a Lovecraft vibe, but so did the first Alien, so it plays into that.

ATMOM could have still happened without it being seen as a rip off or whatever. There needs to be more Lovecraft adaptations, especially now that technology has advanced so much.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

There needs to be more Lovecraft adaptations, especially now that technology has advanced so much.

 

[The Morningstar]

With the state the horror genre is in, some totally insane and truly frightening Lovecraft stuff is what the world needs.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Yes. Oh, how I ache for a Mountains film.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

It's some comfort at least

I don't think i've ever actively hated a movie before. Battleship, at least you've earned something!

I hated it too. My hate for it is almost as bad as my hate for the Transformers movies. My sis and I should have just left the theater but we are completest so we just can't walk out of any film.

I did walk out of The A-Team but I went back in because I didn't want to sit in the lobby until the film was over.

 

[jacobed]

Business side of things, I don't blame them for the choice. Del Toro's movies while some of them being awesome they don't make much money and back when the decision was made I understand the thought oh this can make Transformers numbers.

 

[david icke]

Nah. He was just talking about Prometheus being too similar. Universal killed ATMOM because they didn't want to take a risk with an R-rated horror tentpole. But decided to put movies like Battleship into production.

From what I recall of the article, he was saying that if not for Prometheus doing a very similar story, that would spoil the surprise and impact of ATMOM, he would have still pursued the project. ie in regards to what you and others are saying, maybe it would not have got greenlit this year, but perhaps it would have later on, if he had decided to push for it.

I have no idea if they are similar, as I am unfamiliar with both works, but a lot of people in the talkback agreed that the plots were so similar that the surprise of an ATMOM movie would be spoiled by Prometheus.

 

[The Morningstar]

They are similar in that their stories are kinda about "space gods" so to speak. And how humans are nothing but insignificant ants in the big picture of the universe. How that revelation just destroys our entire belief system in how the universe works etc.

 

[Iceman]

Haha, Battleship's production budget wasn't that much less than Avengers. $25m Vs $207m t:

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Business side of things, I don't blame them for the choice. Del Toro's movies while some of them being awesome they don't make much money and back when the decision was made I understand the thought oh this can make Transformers numbers.

Everybody but the studio knew that this movie had a great chance of bombing when it was announced. GI Joe didn't make Transformers money so I don't know why they would expect that? I mean the movie costing 209 or 220mil and being released in the summer does point to the studio thinking that it would make big bucks but I honestly don't understand why? At best this movie was probably only going to do 150-165mil in the states and that still isn't great for the budget it had.

I'm not saying that they should have green lit Mountains of Madness but why did they choose to green light a movie that was so obvious and cynical to even the most uneducated film goer? Sure movie studios don't know what is going to be a hit and what isn't but blatant rip offs of other blockbuster franchises has never been wildly successful venture so why sink so much cash into Battleship? Hollywood really is broken.

 

[Iceman]

Hollywood really is broken.

At least it's getting punished. They really can't afford to waste time, money & resources making films that get results like this.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

At least it's getting punished. They really can't afford to waste time, money & resources making films that get results like this.

I'm happy about that too.

Let me be clear that I am not against fun dumb blockbuster movies, there is a place for those movies but those movies still have to be well done.

 

[Iceman]

I'm happy about that too.

Let me be clear that I am not against fun dumb blockbuster movies, there is a place for those movies but those movies still have to be well done.

Very much agreed. All films should be well made including kid's films, comedies & romcoms etc & there is a place for all of them.

 

[Iceman]

On that subject this quote about "What To Expect When You're Expecting" from deadline really pisses me off:

And at Lionsgate, a financial partner put its production exposure under $30M which was cut almost in half by international presales for the high-profile cast including J-Lo and Cameron Diaz. ”Our risk on the film is therefore very low,” the studio boasted to me. Which just goes to show that creating crap rejected by domestic audiences comes with few consequences for those in charge

 

[chaseter]

I guessed around what Avengers would make but I thought Battleship would do a tad better. Luckily...it seems that the public knew better. We sunk their Battleship. With a $200 million + budget...this is a bomb. It won't make $100 million domestic.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Wait... they chose Battleship over Del Toro's Mountains of Madness??!?!!?!?!?!

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

You can't conceive how angry that has made me. The very definition of hack work over the very definition of passion project.

Really? That's really f**king stupid.

The sad thing is that I met Ron Meyer (The head of Universal) before at a Q&A and had a conversation with him. He seemed to be a much smarter guy than this.

 

[DACrowe]

I can't remember my prediction, it was like 140mil or so because I had no faith in the American public and I'm happy as a clam that I was wrong as I thought that the movie looked like **** and now have conformation after seeing it. Also Battleship has to be one of the most cynical cash grabs of all time because it made no bones about being a Transformers ripoff in ever way possible. Luckily, It's not going to come anywhere near making that 200mil budget back and it didn't make enough overseas to save it either. It doesn't have as much publicity but it is almost as big a flop as John Carter.

The Dictator did as well as can be expected. It's not a game changer one way or the other unless it has a long run.

Dark Shadows is officially a huge bomb after that drop. I predicted in the 100's for it but I'm not really sad about being wrong. I didn't see it and don't want to.

What to Expect When Your Expecting did a great deal worse that I thought it would, for some reason I saw it opening to like 20mil. I guess women who see these types of films just decided that it looked too cheap and pathetic even for their tastes. I'm always happy to see bad looking films bomb.

Yeah, I expected Battleship to flop similar to C&A or GL (except a little better because of all the CGI Transformers-lite crap). But it is straight up bombing and won't cross $80 million domestic. I'm not too upset.

Dark Shadows flopping is both deserved and disappointing. It could've been good and had a few good scenes, but Burton squandered it and the movie.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I know it's been beaten like a dead horse but he really needs a change of pace, a better writer, and needs to start using new actors, composers, etc.