Rise of the Silver Surfer BOX OFFICE Discussion

[Carp Man]

Tuesdays #'s are in. $ 102,050,188 domestic. $ 161,189,039 WW.

 

[Iron Maiden]

Bruce Willis was hilarious on Letterman the other night, yelling Yippee Kiyo Kayay and jumping off the roof of the theater....well sort of anyway.

I think Fox is trying to keep a big star on board by giving his movie a jumpstart before Transformers.... but at FF:ROTSS's expense. It's questionable that the box office on FF will be very high through the weekend now.

 

[tviceman]

I feel confident it will. I'll bet we're going to see budgets getting curtailed for most sequels, however.
And as Lightning suggested, Fox better think long and hard about that Silver Surfer movie. I'd like to see a Surfer movie too, but a good one. And I have very little confidence that Fox will allow that to happen.

From Reuters News Service:
"Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" all debuted strongly, but faded faster than expected. Most box office watchers now believe all three will top the $300 million mark, but likely fail to match the final tallies of their series' second movies.

FF2 is not bombing. It's simply following the same trend as these other genre films.

source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN2625248120070626?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true

Shrek and Spidey have already topped $300 million domestically. Pirates is about $10.5 million away, but I think there's a slightly greater chance of it not getting to $300 million with Die Hard out today, Ratatouille this weekend, Transformers on Monday, and Harry Potter 9 days later. You may as well go ahead and kiss away more than half the remaining theatres Pirates will be in by Tuesday.

Anyways, I think if you looked a little bit further and analyze why the sequels aren't doing as well you'll find a common trend.
Pirates 3 = not very good.
Spidey 3 = not very good.
Shrek 3 = not very good.
And what I mean by "not very good" is that it's either not as good as it's predecessors, or it's not generally liked as much as it's predecessors.

Fantastic Four, while bucking the trend of the these three films and actually be a better than the original, is suffering from a combination of it's own demise (the first was generally not liked) and the sequel-itise syndrome the "Big 3" films have given us (not being very good sequels).

Unfortunately, all this means FF2 might not even get $120 million domestically (At this point I think there is a bigger chance of it not reaching $120). I'm as suprised as all the FF fans are that it didn't do better initially, but the writing is now on the wall.

I know all of this has been said in one form or another, so I apologize for the redundancy. I just wanted to get my $.02 in.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

Shrek and Spidey have already topped $300 million domestically. Pirates is about $10.5 million away, but I think there's a slightly greater chance of it not getting to $300 million with Die Hard out today, Ratatouille this weekend, Transformers on Monday, and Harry Potter 9 days later. You may as well go ahead and kiss away more than half the remaining theatres Pirates will be in by Tuesday.

Anyways, I think if you looked a little bit further and analyze why the sequels aren't doing as well you'll find a common trend.
Pirates 3 = not very good.
Spidey 3 = not very good.
Shrek 3 = not very good.
And what I mean by "not very good" is that it's either not as good as it's predecessors, or it's not generally liked as much as it's predecessors.

Fantastic Four, while bucking the trend of the these three films and actually be a better than the original, is suffering from a combination of it's own demise (the first was generally not liked) and the sequel-itise syndrome the "Big 3" films have given us (not being very good sequels).

Unfortunately, all this means FF2 might not even get $120 million domestically (At this point I think there is a bigger chance of it not reaching $120). I'm as suprised as all the FF fans are that it didn't do better initially, but the writing is now on the wall.

I know all of this has been said in one form or another, so I apologize for the redundancy. I just wanted to get my $.02 in.

..and well spent may I add.

 

[highguard]

.......... FOX has to stop clutching pennies and just do the damn thing right ALL THE WAY.

Well now that the dust is starting to settle as Malus said earlier I think the likelihood of an FF3 is fairly high.

The thing is though that at this point I really hate Fox's business model. I think that they are a studio who are a little too driven by the number crunchers.

Mark Frost (someone please open the door to the negative Zone as he walks by) just said that the FF has been a studio driven Franchise from the start. They seem to have a habit of getting good but malleable directors and putting them in a straight jacket. Recall that slash and burn meeting Tim Story said he went to early in the preproduction cycle.

LS is right about their penny pinching ways, but it is nigh impossible to change a culture at a corporation overnight without bringing in new talent.

And Tom Rothman aint going anywhere. Ultimately FF2 looks like it will do as well as FF1, as a matter of fact it will probably with international sales top the first.

So Fox will crunch the numbers, give it a budget that just allows the actors to get new costumes and milk this franchise for some more millions.

They know that the DVD sales, TV licensing and stuff will pay for a third installment.

The fallout for us fans however is that FF is never really going to be as great as it could have been.

And I saw LS said in an ealier post that they will dump Tim Story and I think that he may be right.

I can see Rothman sitting in his cold dark dungeon of an office ala Doom in the movie, determining how best to appease/manipulate the fanboys he so obviously despises and deciding that throwing Story to the wolves is his best option.

Then they will come out and say that they want to move to a more epic event type movie and that with the characters well established they decided to build on what Tim started and bringing in a completely new director to take FF to the next level.

They will remind us that the contract was for four 4 movies and that they want to give someone else a shot at the next two.

Then we will start saying how cool this news is when Chris Columbus or some big name director signs on and the hype will begin again.

I can hear Rothman now laughing (cackling) somewhere while he counts his money and planning his next round of deceptions upon the unsuspecting world.

If I sound a little bitter, today I am, however this too will pass and I will no doubt join the ranks of those who will hope eternal that the greatness of the FF will one day be realized as the group who started the whole revival of a dying industry.

The group who let us see that family is a foundation that is at the heart of so much that is good in us and made comics fun again.

FF can still be great, but someone needs to show them the way.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

FF is currently a B-Movie superhero franchise. Fun, but disposable. A back-up to the big guns like Spider-Man or X-Men.

Now I do like and enjoy the FF series, but it's so far away from it's potential it's almost laughable.

If you gave the project to someone like James Cameron or Robert Zemekis, with a proper budget, they'd give you a proper epic sci-fi action adventure, like Back to the Future crossed with Terminator 2 and Spider-Man and Star Wars. Imagine a Thing who had genuine pathos and wasn't simply a walking advert for his own action figure. Imagine a Doctor Doom who was as regal and menacing as Darth Vader, a character based on Doom.

And rake in $400m US.

Because that's what FF is supposed to be, not some little comedy superhero flick.

 

[FCEEVIPER]

FF is currently a B-Movie superhero franchise. Fun, but disposable. A back-up to the big guns like Spider-Man or X-Men.

Now I do like and enjoy the FF series, but it's so far away from it's potential it's almost laughable.

If you gave the project to someone like James Cameron or Robert Zemekis, with a proper budget, they'd give you a proper epic sci-fi action adventure, like Back to the Future crossed with Terminator 2 and Spider-Man and Star Wars. Imagine a Thing who had genuine pathos and wasn't simply a walking advert for his own action figure. Imagine a Doctor Doom who was as regal and menacing as Darth Vader, a character based on Doom.

And rake in $400m US.

Because that's what FF is supposed to be, not some little comedy superhero flick.

Agreed.

 

[batdude]

Ultimately, I don't think FOX is totally to blame here. They did manage to include the Surfer and keep the cast together. Will they throw Tim Story to the wolves? Possibly. I think it's possible Highguard's right and a cheap sequel and a fairly cheap Surfer solo is coming. Then, in four to six years A new cast possibly including the Sub-Mariner is coming from Marvel who will blame Fox and maybe even Alba for the last movie. It's wrong, but will happen especially if Avi Arad or Mark Frost are involved at that point.

 

[Malus]

Well now that the dust is starting to settle as Malus said earlier I think the likelihood of an FF3 is fairly high.

The thing is though that at this point I really hate Fox's business model. I think that they are a studio who are a little too driven by the number crunchers.

Mark Frost (someone please open the door to the negative Zone as he walks by) just said that the FF has been a studio driven Franchise from the start. They seem to have a habit of getting good but malleable directors and putting them in a straight jacket. Recall that slash and burn meeting Tim Story said he went to early in the preproduction cycle.

LS is right about their penny pinching ways, but it is nigh impossible to change a culture at a corporation overnight without bringing in new talent.

And Tom Rothman aint going anywhere. Ultimately FF2 looks like it will do as well as FF1, as a matter of fact it will probably with international sales top the first.

So Fox will crunch the numbers, give it a budget that just allows the actors to get new costumes and milk this franchise for some more millions.

They know that the DVD sales, TV licensing and stuff will pay for a third installment.

The fallout for us fans however is that FF is never really going to be as great as it could have been.

And I saw LS said in an ealier post that they will dump Tim Story and I think that he may be right.

I can see Rothman sitting in his cold dark dungeon of an office ala Doom in the movie, determining how best to appease/manipulate the fanboys he so obviously despises and deciding that throwing Story to the wolves is his best option.

Then they will come out and say that they want to move to a more epic event type movie and that with the characters well established they decided to build on what Tim started and bringing in a completely new director to take FF to the next level.

They will remind us that the contract was for four 4 movies and that they want to give someone else a shot at the next two.

Then we will start saying how cool this news is when Chris Columbus or some big name director signs on and the hype will begin again.

I can hear Rothman now laughing (cackling) somewhere while he counts his money and planning his next round of deceptions upon the unsuspecting world.

If I sound a little bitter, today I am, however this too will pass and I will no doubt join the ranks of those who will hope eternal that the greatness of the FF will one day be realized as the group who started the whole revival of a dying industry.

The group who let us see that family is a foundation that is at the heart of so much that is good in us and made comics fun again.

FF can still be great, but someone needs to show them the way.

Now I do like and enjoy the FF series, but it's so far away from it's potential it's almost laughable.

If you gave the project to someone like James Cameron or Robert Zemekis, with a proper budget, they'd give you a proper epic sci-fi action adventure, like Back to the Future crossed with Terminator 2 and Spider-Man and Star Wars. Imagine a Thing who had genuine pathos and wasn't simply a walking advert for his own action figure. Imagine a Doctor Doom who was as regal and menacing as Darth Vader, a character based on Doom.

And rake in $400m US.

Because that's what FF is supposed to be, not some little comedy superhero flick.

Some really well-thought out posts today.

Sure hope the unimaginative, talentless suits at Fox are reading.

 

[Malus]

Ultimately, I don't think FOX is totally to blame here. They did manage to include the Surfer and keep the cast together. Will they throw Tim Story to the wolves? Possibly. I think it's possible Highguard's right and a cheap sequel and a fairly cheap Surfer solo is coming. Then, in four to six years A new cast possibly including the Sub-Mariner is coming from Marvel who will blame Fox and maybe even Alba for the last movie. It's wrong, but will happen especially if Avi Arad or Mark Frost are involved at that point.

This cast, for better and worse, is the FF for the current generation. Chiklis and Evans, in particular, play their roles very, very well and could play them for years to come. Everyone else is at least competent.
Jessica Alba is accepted by the great majority of moviegoers whether some like it or not. If anything, she has helped this film's tepid box office.
Writer Don Payne and the current cast should be retained, in my opinion.
Clean house with everyone else, including Julian McMahon. Or just let him do the voice and freakin' synthesize it into something we can accept as Doom. We shouldn't need to see his face again anyway, so there you go.

All new producers and hands-off from Fox, and I think there's real hope.

 

[Carp Man]

You people. Prior to 2005 there was no FF on the big screen. And don't give me Cormans version. That made me ill.

 

[Carp Man]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2wbTaUyL2M


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2ipcdAwtxg&NR=1

Anyone want to take a walk down memory lane ? From 1967. t:

Here's the comming of Galactus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQj8NCey1A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edu3FY6A_r0

 

[Hiruu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2wbTaUyL2M


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2ipcdAwtxg&NR=1

Anyone want to take a walk down memory lane ? From 1967. t:

Here's the comming of Galactus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQj8NCey1A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edu3FY6A_r0

LOL...great stuff...so chessy, but so entertianing...lol

Tuesday's number was a breathe of fressh air, and since this movie is tracking a tad bit behind the Hulk over the weekend, I have a feeling it's going to move past it, which kinda sets the bar at $132 million...based on this weekend, the potential for $140 million will also come clear...If the international tallies hold up, then topping FF is a given, and while FF cost $30 million less, Fox still cleaned up with over $100 million when DVDs where factored in, so FF3 will probably be greenlighted by fall or so. I think Fox needs to allow a longer film, and pick late June for an opening, away from heavyweight competition. You've gotta get on the dockets early or late, unless you're a heavy...but even for them, look at the siphoning...

 

[X-Maniac]

There's nothing that wrong with the cast, except none of them are that well-known internationally. Brits know about Ioan, Chiklis is known for being in Shield, Chris Evans isn't well known in the UK (we have another Chris Evans here who is very different and not a hunky stud at all), even Jessica Alba isn't that well-known internationally. McMahon is known for Nip/tuck.

If McMahon is such a comicbook fan, why didn't he fight for a less hammy portrayal of Doom? Is is that hard to stand up and say 'Hold on, this doesn't seem right or accurate?'

A big name heavy-weight actor might help in bringing gravitas to the franchise. Much like Stewart and McKellen did with X-Men.

I hope we get a third movie. And that it's a little more serious. With Inhumans (but no Lockjaw!) and Doom trying to seize the Inhumans' Terrigen Mists (maybe he even uses a burrowing 'Moleman' accomplice or 'negative zone' portal to access the otherwise impenetrable Great Refuge). And maybe Franklin born at the end (and seeming to be normal, to complete the arc of the family dynamic...with perhaps a final after-credits scene hinting that he is not normal, a glint in his eyes or something).

 

[Carp Man]

Hulk had $ 117 million domestic after this next weekend. FF 2 needs $ 14,962,397 over the next 5 days. $ 2,992,480 average per day over the next 5 days.

 

[Excel]

how come NOW everybody talks about their penny pinchings bad but when i called em cheap in 2005 yall mauled me???

 

[Carp Man]

how come NOW everybody talks about their penny pinchings bad but when i called em cheap in 2005 yall mauled me???

You deserved it.

 

[Hiruu]

how come NOW everybody talks about their penny pinchings bad but when i called em cheap in 2005 yall mauled me???

I don't remember anyone complianing about cheap a$$ Fox, they rushed nearly ALL their films of this genre, and set them up for failure. If either of these films had been given a decent running time, they would have deliver a far more entertianing movie going experience. I'm just confused WTF Fox can't get that thru their blockheads...looks at Spider-Man, LOTR, HP, BATMAN...etc etc etc...2+ running time will not kill profits...in most cases, it will help it.

 

[Carp Man]

Hey Albafan, in your avatar, is Jess offering you a lick ? I'm shocked.

 

[Kelly]

Hey Albafan, in your avatar, is Jess offering you a lick ? I'm shocked.

Carp, I swear, please think about your posts BEFORE you post.....good lord.

 

[The Apatow Crew]

I like Your avvy Albafan.

 

[Mr. Socko]

Well it's finally passed 100 Mil domestic.

 

[Bishop2]

I still wanna know where all this NEGATIVITY came from. Everybody who loved the movie after the first weekend has left the board, and now it's full of people who think it's crap, mediocre or barely above average. What happened?

I still love it. Give me an FF3 that's on part with RotSS and my socks will be rocked again.

 

[Kelly]

I still wanna know where all this NEGATIVITY came from. Everybody who loved the movie after the first weekend has left the board, and now it's full of people who think it's crap, mediocre or barely above average. What happened?

I still love it. Give me an FF3 that's on part with RotSS and my socks will be rocked again.

Bishop its a phenomena that no one has been able to explain.....BUT OH WAIT......you will read reviews here that gave it A's, B's etc, and in 6 months....IF there is a 3rd....and we are all still here......some of those people will suddenly change and flip the other direction, again.........a phenomena I cannot explain, nor do I understand......

 

[nintendo nerd]

I still wanna know where all this NEGATIVITY came from. Everybody who loved the movie after the first weekend has left the board, and now it's full of people who think it's crap, mediocre or barely above average. What happened?

I still love it. Give me an FF3 that's on part with RotSS and my socks will be rocked again.

I loved the movie, and I'm still here. But this is the BO discussion,and for me the fact that it didn't beat the first one is quite sad,specially since this one is much better.