Box Office 2005

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I don't think I could even get along with anyone that thought it didn't suck. Every single person I know walked out of it.

It, uh, sucked astoundingly hard.
It should've been the best Superhero movie ever made.

Would ANYone argue that it was?

Key-word: FANTASTIC four.
They shouldn't've made it if they couldn't procure a WAY bigger budget and handing over Jack Kirby's baby to A GUY WHO HADN'T EVEN REMOTELY PROVEN HIMSELF as a director of kinetic, hyper-visual, action/fx-oriented movies was just plain offensively stupid.

Yes, the characterization is SO important, but not ALL-important.
What does it matter that Chiklis was perfectly cast as the Thing and gave a phenomenal performance if he was playing a guy made out of rock-skin that looks like a gummi-bear?

It's like saying that Star Wars would've been just as good if every ship was a paper plate tied to a string and they scratched the film to make the lasers and lightsabers.
Ridiculous.

 

[Darth Elektra]

I loved the "Real-life" story they took through the movie.

 

[ultimatefan]

Yea,FF didnt suck!

I still tried to see it as a mildly fun popcorn movie when I saw it at theaters, but I rented the DVD the other day and... it was almost unbearable. It´s not that it´s lighthearted, it´s not that it´s "unpretentious"... It´s stupid. It´s the kind of movie that assumes "fun" means you gotta wink at your audience all the time, that assumes it´s okay to underestimate your audience´s intelligence at every corner, as long as it´s in the name of "fun". When you look at the history of the FF in comics, the richness of their storytelling potential, it´s practically criminal. In some ways it´s more perverse than Batman & Robin, because at least that movie never tried to pretend that it was true to the spirit of Bill Finger or Frank Miller´s work, while this dares to say it´s the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby FF.

 

[Darth Elektra]

Yea,but I liked the "every-day living" amosphere,FF had.

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

I still tried to see it as a mildly fun popcorn movie when I saw it at theaters, but I rented the DVD the other day and... it was almost unbearable. It´s not that it´s lighthearted, it´s not that it´s "unpretentious"... It´s stupid. It´s the kind of movie that assumes "fun" means you gotta wink at your audience all the time, that assumes it´s okay to underestimate your audience´s intelligence at every corner, as long as it´s in the name of "fun". When you look at the history of the FF in comics, the richness of their storytelling potential, it´s practically criminal. In some ways it´s more perverse than Batman & Robin, because at least that movie never tried to pretend that it was true to the spirit of Bill Finger or Frank Miller´s work, while this dares to say it´s the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby FF.

Dude...I totally agree. I thought FF was a total disgrace. I knew the movie was gonna be bad the moment I heard Tim story was attached. Taxi was horrid...and Barbershop was medicore...at least IMO.

 

[American_Hobo]

I still tried to see it as a mildly fun popcorn movie when I saw it at theaters, but I rented the DVD the other day and... it was almost unbearable. It´s not that it´s lighthearted, it´s not that it´s "unpretentious"... It´s stupid. It´s the kind of movie that assumes "fun" means you gotta wink at your audience all the time, that assumes it´s okay to underestimate your audience´s intelligence at every corner, as long as it´s in the name of "fun". When you look at the history of the FF in comics, the richness of their storytelling potential, it´s practically criminal. In some ways it´s more perverse than Batman & Robin, because at least that movie never tried to pretend that it was true to the spirit of Bill Finger or Frank Miller´s work, while this dares to say it´s the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby FF.

Totally agree.
Both Taxi and Barbetshop were horrible. They should've never let Tim Story to direct Fantastic Four.
To me, it was worst movie of 2005.
I liked Stan Lee as mailman though.

 

[The Dark Defender]

I thought Fantastic Four was a pretty fun flick. It's amazing how so many people can praise the X-Men films, which singer did a horrible hack job on, and bash the hell out of FF.
The X-Men films shove everyone else to the background just for the sake of putting Wolverine front and center when they should be ensamble films, and even with all the time they spend (waste) on him, they can't even get him right. He's little more than a generic bad-ass that can't back up his b.s. because he gets his ass royally handed to him everytime he fights a mutant.
Reed is over analytical and thinks too much while not acting enough, Johnny is overly impulsive and acts too quickly without thinking, Ben is an outcast trying desperately to come to terms with has happened to him, and Sue is the maternal figure that's trying to keep to maintain a peaceful co-existence between the conflicting personalities around her; the way these conflicting personalities(personalities, something the bulk of the X-Men characters don't have)interact and come together was far more interesting than watching Singer's flat as a board excuses for characterizations pointlessly swallow up screen time.
Wolverine is a generic bad-ass. Storm has no personality. Jean has no personality. Cyclops has no personality, Rogue and Iceman were butchered and have done nothing of any significance through 2 entire films other than petty crap that anyone could've done like clumsily landing the X-jet and engaging in a pointless puppy love story that doesn't do a damned thing besides waste time(not to mention they're both horribly mis-cast. Rogue should be vuloptuous, Paquin hardly fits; and it'd be tough for Ashmore's acting couldn't be more wooden if he were a cigar store Indian), Sabretooth, Deathstrike, and even Mystique are used as little more than mindless, cool looking goons...
Singer defined most of the characters solely by the powers without giving them distinct characteristics as people that made them worth caring about. All the guy did was point and shoot, his direction was non-existent. They're bad films (to be generous) and worse adaptions.

 

[WarBlade]

It's amazing how so many people can praise the X-Men films, which singer did a horrible hack job on

Ah, the old "Here's my opinion expressed as fact" trick. I wish I had five dollars for every time I saw that one on SHH.

Rogue should be vuloptuous, Paquin hardly fits

Yeah she does. You're just too happy too ignore the real comicbook Rogue as she was before she put on the black bodysuit and green G-string.

 

[The Dark Defender]

Edit

 

[The Dark Defender]

I didn't express my opinion as fact, it's my opinion that Singer did a horrible hack job on them, hence why my username is next to it. Nowhere did I say that it was fact.
For the sake of argument, fine, Paquin fits. The character still sucks and has done virtually nothing of any use through 2 films.

 

[Jolie_Desastre]

ff was a disappointment in my opinion.

 

[Galactus]

North America

1. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($380,3 million)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($265,3 million)
3. War of the Worlds ($234,3 million)
4. Wedding Crashers ($209,2 million)
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ($206,5 million)
6. Batman Begins ($205,3 million)
7. Madagascar ($193,2 million)
8. Mr. and Mrs. Smith ($186,3 million)
9. Hitch ($179,5 million)
10. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ($174,4 million)
11. The Longest Yard ($158,1 million)
12. Fantastic Four ($154,7 million)
13. Chicken Little ($130,5 million)
14. King Kong ($128,5 million)
15. Robots ($128,2 million)
16. The Pacifier ($113,1 million)
17. The 40 Year-Old Virgin ($109,3 million)
18. Flightplan ($89 million)
19. Walk the Line ($87,8 million)
20. Saw II ($86,9 million)

 

[Darth Elektra]

Damn...I hate those #'s!

 

[Excel]

Here are my predictions:

War of the Worlds is going to be VERY AVERAGE, do AVERAGE BOX OFFICE and start all sorts of, "Is Spielberg on the downward spiral? and, "When was the last good Spielberg film?" accusations.

King Kong will be awesome, outdo War of the Worlds in every way, and have the critics saying, "With Lord of the Rings and now the majestic King Kong, Peter Jackson has taken the crown from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas."

Star Wars Episode III will be the best prequel, but only by default. Writing, acting and directing will be as bland as Episodes I and II, but the sheer ammount of lightsaber battles, ties to the original trilogy and the appearence of Darth Vader will make it the most entertaining of the prequels.

Batman Begins will be very much a product of it's time; beginning as a sword-swinging epic with stunning widescreen landscapes, before becoming a darker and much subtler version of Spider-Man. Does very well but not one of the year's top three hits, and doesn't rake in Spider-Man size box office. Critics suggest the superhero craze MAY BE on the wane, finally.

Fantastic Four is the anti-superhero movie snowball picking up speed. Audiences just see it as a yet another comicbook extravaganza, and the critics state the animated The Incredibles had more heart and brains and more convincing characters (you just know the critics will say this WHATEVER FF is like). The relatively small budget compared to Spidey 2, X2 et al means it's somehwat underwhelming as a spectacle. Very average box office.

WOW!

 

[Super_Ludacris]

WOW!

He was mostly correct

 

[Galactus]

The top 15 films of 2005 performed as well at the box office as the top 15 films of 2004; however, every film below the top 15 performed worse, Daily Variety reported today (Friday) in a year-end analysis of the top 100 films at the box office. The trade publication pegged the total for the year at around $8.75 billion, down 5 percent from $9.2 billion a year ago, while admissions dropped 11 percent to 1.32 billion from 1.48 billion. (It marked the third consecutive year of declining attendance.) Variety observed that only two studios, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, posted higher box-office earnings this year than last. It pointed out that Fox had received a big boost from Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith, which earned $380 million, making it the year's top grosser. It failed to point out, however, that Lucasfilm, which fully funds its productions, also takes all of the profits, paying the studio only a flat distribution fee.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Yeah see and that's why I thought the slump wasn't as bad as they made it out to be. It was a shame though they missed out on some great movies.

So on to 2006's Box Office. Do we all agree that POTC 2 is clearly going to be the top draw?

 

[Erzengel]

Yeah see and that's why I thought the slump wasn't as bad as they made it out to be. It was a shame though they missed out on some great movies.

So on to 2006's Box Office. Do we all agree that POTC 2 is clearly going to be the top draw?

I wouldn't be surprised but I wouldn't count out X-Men 3, Superman or Cars.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

I wouldn't be surprised but I wouldn't count out X-Men 3, Superman or Cars.

I think POTC 2 will beat them out. Mainstream audiences may love comic book films but Johnny Depp and that movie franchise are just far more popular. However, I wouldnt be suprised that although it will make its money it might not be a great film. It's possible, you never know.

I think Mission Impossible 3 (unfourtanetly) and POTC 2 will be the two top films with Superman Returns and X-Men 3 in the lower to middle top 10.

But its just a hunch feeling not an educated guess

 

[Erzengel]

I think Cars will be up there. With Finding Nemo and Incredibles being such a success, I can see Cars following suit.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

I think Cars will be up there. With Finding Nemo and Incredibles being such a success, I can see Cars following suit.

Well Finding Nemo and Incredibles were critically good films to boot. What's Cars about I haven't heard about it?

 

[Sava]

I think POTC 2 will beat them out. Mainstream audiences may love comic book films but Johnny Depp and that movie franchise are just far more popular. However, I wouldnt be suprised that although it will make its money it might not be a great film. It's possible, you never know.

I think Mission Impossible 3 (unfourtanetly) and POTC 2 will be the two top films with Superman Returns and X-Men 3 in the lower to middle top 10.

But its just a hunch feeling not an educated guess

...


... I hope X3 is huge, i wasnt a fan of POTC but love Johnny, so i guess i'll check it out

 

[Super_Ludacris]

...


... I hope X3 is huge, i wasnt a fan of POTC but love Johnny, so i guess i'll check it out

You can be mad about my spelling but cruise is dead to me

 

[Erzengel]

I thought getting Katie Holmes pregnant was Mission Impossible 3?

 

[Sava]

You can be mad about my spelling but cruise is dead to me

good for you then, I'm sure MI3 will be huge, it will be better than MI2 and Cruise never makes a bad movie IMO