Rise of the Silver Surfer BOX OFFICE Discussion

[Carp Man]

'Rush Hour 3' Packs Less Punch
by Brandon Gray
August 12, 2007


Kicking off with less than two thirds the attendance wallop of its predecessor, Rush Hour 3 drew an estimated $50.2 million on approximately 5,200 screens at 3,778 theaters, topping the weekend box office. New Line Cinema's action comedy sequel starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, which reportedly cost $140 million to make, saw initial popularity closer to the first Rush Hour than Rush Hour 2.

Six years ago, Rush Hour 2 bagged a $67.4 million start from 3,118 theaters. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, that would equal about $80 million today, the most attended August opening ever. Its $226.2 million final tally adjusts to nearly $270 million today. The first Rush Hour from 1998 was a surprise smash, grossing $33 million out of the gate or about $47 million adjusted, en route to $141.2 million or around $200 million adjusted. Production pricetags for Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 were $33 million and $90 million, respectively.

It's easy to point to the elapsed time since Rush Hour 2 as a key factor in the traffic slowdown. In general, time is not on a franchise's side as many disappointments such as Mission: Impossible III and The Legend of Zorro show. A notable exception was Bad Boys II, which saw a rise in star power of its lead actors (Will Smith, Martin Lawrence) in the eight years since the first movie and was promoted as an action event.

Rush Hour 3 was marketed as just another Rush Hour picture, in part because the movie itself is a slight romp, and lacked the event-style build-up that Rush Hour 2 had. What's more, Chan hasn't been on American screens for three years, while Tucker's last movie was Rush Hour 2. A repetitious entry in a series without a major new hook doesn't quite cut it after a six-year wait if the intent is to build or retain an audience. That Rush Hour 3 had a sizable debut is a credit to the good will generated by the first two pictures.

Holding better than The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ulimatum fell 51 percent to an estimated $33.7 million. With $132.3 million in ten days, the action thriller may become the only summer sequel to exceed its predecessor in terms of gross and attendance. The rest have fallen short of previous movies, though Live Free or Die Hard is the highest grossing of that series and currently the least attended and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is still in the running versus Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Thanks to its late summer release, Order of the Phoenix continued its series low weekends but series high weekdays, and its $272 million in 33 days is higher than its predecessors through the same point.

Meanwhile, Transformers crossed the $300 million mark on Friday, its 39th day of release, and is hot on the heels of Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End.

http://forums.superherohype.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=12463142

HP5 still $ 17 ahead of HP 1. HP 1 hit $ 272 on day 42. HP 5 on day 33. HP 1 was in theaters 70 days, 10 weeks.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Isn't Japan one of the biggest international market it can land on? 45 mil. in the next what.. 2 months can't be to far fetched until the DVDs start selling here in the US. Besides that it still has other markets to open in but I'm not to sure. I just hope in the end FOX is pleased and we get to see FF3, I'm sure that's all we want in here.

The original made just over 9 million in Japan and 15 in Spain. Not sure if the sequel is on track for 15 or not.

We will get another FF film. It's making a profit and that's what matters. They made a better film...now they need a better release date with less competition.

 

[TheVileOne]

The original made just over 9 million in Japan and 15 in Spain. Not sure if the sequel is on track for 15 or not.

We will get another FF film. It's making a profit and that's what matters. They made a better film...now they need a better release date with less competition.

It's not happening. There will always be big competition except early in the fall or late in the winter, typically a dumping ground for big movies.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ That's why I think a Winter/Holiday 2010 release or 2011 release is fine.

 

[TheVileOne]

My prediction is that they are going to do Silver Surfer next. And if that doesn't do well this franchise will go the way of Daredevil/Elektra.

Daredevil was "profitable", and a sequel was NEVER made.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ That's a bit different though. ROTSS was a big improvement over the 1st film at leats IMO. Also it just can't stand up to the Summer giants. FF needs a Winter/Holiday release like Night at the Museum. Studios are filling up the Summer and cannibilizing themselves. Films like Pirates, Shrek and Spidey can survive but not films like FF, Stardust, Grindhouse, Hostel 2 etc...They get burried.

I agree Silver Surfer will come first but I think FF3 will follow quickly after and in 2011 or before.

Daredevil will be Reborn on film before you know it at Marvel Studios. It'll be added to the slate within 24 months. I'd guess that could be on screen after 2011 as well. Also with the original Daredevil Elektra came and sucked even worse. LOL

 

[Angelus7181]

^ That's a bit different though. ROTSS was a big improvement over the 1st film at leats IMO. Also it just can't stand up to the Summer giants. FF needs a Winter/Holiday release like Night at the Museum. Studios are filling up the Summer and cannibilizing themselves. Films like Pirates, Shrek and Spidey can survive but not films like FF, Stardust, Grindhouse, Hostel 2 etc...They get burried.

I agree Silver Surfer will come first but I think FF3 will follow quickly after and in 2011 or before.

Daredevil will be Reborn on film before you know it at Marvel Studios. It'll be added to the slate within 24 months. I'd guess that could be on screen after 2011 as well. Also with the original Daredevil Elektra came and sucked even worse. LOL

With the possibility of Franklin Richards being introduced in FF3 a fall or winter release wouldn't be a bad idea.. could be the holidays with the FF. t:

Basically FOX should handle the release date like Disney did with the Incredibles.

 

[TheVileOne]

^ That's a bit different though. ROTSS was a big improvement over the 1st film at leats IMO. Also it just can't stand up to the Summer giants. FF needs a Winter/Holiday release like Night at the Museum. Studios are filling up the Summer and cannibilizing themselves. Films like Pirates, Shrek and Spidey can survive but not films like FF, Stardust, Grindhouse, Hostel 2 etc...They get burried.

Umm . . . Grindhouse was not a summer movie. April is not considered a summer month for Hollywood. Spring dude.

I agree Silver Surfer will come first but I think FF3 will follow quickly after and in 2011 or before.

If it comes at all . . . MWAHAHAHA .

Daredevil will be Reborn on film before you know it at Marvel Studios. It'll be added to the slate within 24 months. I'd guess that could be on screen after 2011 as well. Also with the original Daredevil Elektra came and sucked even worse. LOL

Chances are it won't be a sequel. My point that even though the movie was apparently "profitable", Fox NEVER made a sequel.

My guess is they won't see fit to rush one out for FF2 like they did for FF, and after a while it will become a silly joke to fans that have been saying Punisher 2 is coming every year, Thomas Jane is working on the script, and there will be a new director, blah blah blah.

 

[Kelly]

Umm . . . Grindhouse was not a summer movie. April is not considered a summer month for Hollywood. Spring dude.



If it comes at all . . . MWAHAHAHA .



Chances are it won't be a sequel. My point that even though the movie was apparently "profitable", Fox NEVER made a sequel.

My guess is they won't see fit to rush one out for FF2 like they did for FF, and after a while it will become a silly joke to fans that have been saying Punisher 2 is coming every year, Thomas Jane is working on the script, and there will be a new director, blah blah blah.

blah blah blah

Perfect way to end your posts here......

 

[Malus]

Perfect way to end your posts here......

If only.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Umm . . . Grindhouse was not a summer movie. April is not considered a summer month for Hollywood. Spring dude.



If it comes at all . . . MWAHAHAHA .



Chances are it won't be a sequel. My point that even though the movie was apparently "profitable", Fox NEVER made a sequel.

That's cause New Regency owns the rights.

 

[highguard]

^^ While I agree that a change in release date may help this franchise's BO the biggest reason IMHO FF2 did not perform this summer is that they are not faithfully adapting the stories.

Comic book movies have a source and when the deviations from the source are too great then you have shot at least one bullet into your brain (BO) before the film is ever released.

Fox simply does not seem to have a clear understanding of how to do these comic book movies.

They are making changes (Doom, Galactus) that are far beyond cosmetic (organic web shooters) and it may be arrogance.

They did not learn from the backlash they got with Doom in the first movie which means that they really dismissed the constructive criticisms by people who really loved the franchise.

I myself having a better understanding now of how the marketing and promotion of these revered characters are done, I can now appreciate a lot of the comments of others who have been critical of Fox more than before.

Clearly IMHO Fox is just not listening enough. The creators are having too much of a hard time pushing through what are obvious and necessary elements of these movies. Those elements always seem to end up ommitted or on the cutting floor of Fox movies.

As the infamous Mark Frost said, well "once you understood it was a studio driven project you just went with it".

I don't know but this is called being a hack.

The studio calls you in and tells you, look we know we are suits but here are our ideas, can you provide us with some dialog and keep your ideas to yourself as much as possible. And don't worry you will get credit as the writer.

And frost's apparent response, sure, is the check signed, cause I am your man.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ The studio is footing the bill and they want to ensure their investment pays off. I understand that. Not every studio will make great films that please everyone. I for one loved FF2 and could care less if it's 100% faithful to the source. It's all entertainment. I don't see anyone complaining about Batman Begins or the Dark Knight and how the characters have all been changed. It's all good.

 

[highguard]

^^ Their payoff is less than it could be I think. That is bad business. If maximizing Shareholders wealth is the objective as we were thought in business school, I would suggest that they have failed to do so with the FF franchise.

I think the input that the suits are having in the creative process is too great. Sure it is their investment, I can't argue with the need to make solid business investments, what I am saying is that you have to as a suit resist the temptation to use your position to micromanage the creative process which is not your forte which is what I think they have been doing.

I mean, do you really think it was too expensive to present a faithful adaptation of Galactus.

If they had spent ten million more to develop Galactus and half an hour more to add some meat to the film they could still be playing relatively strong right now. As it is everyone is now confused as to the direction of this franchise.

And again what is with this Silver Surfer push. There is a groundswell of support and history with the Fantastic Four, the SS is a supporting character like Elektra was with Daredevil. One is not a substitute for the other.

If you want to do a Surfer movie fine but it must be in the context of setting up the next FF movie at best.

If it is not and they are letting FF go the way of Daredevil then, I think that is just stupid. Did not the Daredevil/Elektra fiasco teach them anything.

It is all very sad to me and I liked the movie.

[Edit] I also don't expect a 100 percent adaptation, I had no problems with the organic web-shooters, initially I did not even cry any tears over Doom, I was so happy just to see a movie, but foolishness is foolishness, and the studio seems unwilling to learn from its mistakes.

I have found in my own experience that is never a good thing in any endeavor in life. It just leads to a lot of pain.

That is what the Franchise is experiencing right now, unnecessary pain.

 

[Iron Man's Dad]

I don't see anyone complaining about Batman Begins or the Dark Knight and how the characters have all been changed.

That's because Mr. Nolan has been quite faithful to the source material.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Not really. He made his own spin on pretty much everything outside the core/basics.

 

[Kelly]

I believe the 4 themselves were hit on the mark in the second movie. Doom was not.....I'm not sure that giving Doom a more Latverian stronghold would have helped.....IMO, more action, more world ending feel (Maybe Galactus as a 30 ft, humanoid would have helped, who knows....), but the lack of action has been the biggest weakness I've heard from the kiddos this go around....they wanted an action between the SS and the 4, more specifically Ben and the SS........they were fine with the cloud, that thought that looked cool, but OH YEAH, knowing something was within that cloud that was much more menacing, definitely would have helped in the "The world's ending" feel.....they said it seemed like Reed and Sue werethe only ones that had a clue to the fact that the world was ending....they started out with this GRAND ENTRANCE of the SS, and left it there.....


It was interesting talking with the kids this weekend.....they enjoyed the movie.....but they left saying...."that was it?" they didn't want anything changed from the movie itself....they wanted more in the area of action....

Would holding to the source material have helped that......not sure? A humanoid Galactus? not sure? One thing I am sure of.......they would have gone to see the movie several times had the action been there......the eye sequence was "meh" to them.....nothing special.....they liked the final battle, and they wanted more of that.....

 

[Carp Man]

I believe the 4 themselves were hit on the mark in the second movie. Doom was not.....I'm not sure that giving Doom a more Latverian stronghold would have helped.....IMO, more action, more world ending feel (Maybe Galactus as a 30 ft, humanoid would have helped, who knows....), but the lack of action has been the biggest weakness I've heard from the kiddos this go around....they wanted an action between the SS and the 4, more specifically Ben and the SS........they were fine with the cloud, that thought that looked cool, but OH YEAH, knowing something was within that cloud that was much more menacing, definitely would have helped in the "The world's ending" feel.....they said it seemed like Reed and Sue werethe only ones that had a clue to the fact that the world was ending....they started out with this GRAND ENTRANCE of the SS, and left it there.....


It was interesting talking with the kids this weekend.....they enjoyed the movie.....but they left saying...."that was it?" they didn't want anything changed from the movie itself....they wanted more in the area of action....

Would holding to the source material have helped that......not sure? A humanoid Galactus? not sure? One thing I am sure of.......they would have gone to see the movie several times had the action been there......the eye sequence was "meh" to them.....nothing special.....they liked the final battle, and they wanted more of that.....

Count me in with the kids. The ending was not enough. The ending of the 1st movie was way better then the ending here. More action, more Thing. The Thing is the glue that holds the FF together, in the comics. He's always front and center of whatever is going on. He gives it the edge. That edge is there, but not enough. More action, more Thing, longer movie. Take the shakles off and go for it. Bring in a big screen action director if need be, and that's not a knock against Story, but mabey he just doesn't have what it takes to bring the action to the forefront. I would love to cross Spielberg, with Story. That director would have it all. Charactor development, and action.The 3rd one needs to be amped wayyyyyyyyyyyyy up. If it's amped to the max, kids will flock to see it. If it's the Frighful Four, The Inhumans, or whoever the action needs to be taken to the max.

 

[Advanced Dark]

I liked the ending of FF2 much more.

 

[Iron Man's Dad]

^ Not really. He made his own spin on pretty much everything outside the core/basics.

I disagree, read "Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight", by Scott Beatty published in 2001.

Mr. Beatty references Nomex fabric, microphones in the cowl, Lucious Fox, among other things. While Mr. Nolan did expand on some things he was very true to the mythos and the character.

That's one of the reasons that movie did very well and this one did not unfortunately.

My $.02.

IMD

 

[highguard]

.....


It was interesting talking with the kids this weekend.....they enjoyed the movie.....but they left saying...."that was it?" they didn't want anything changed from the movie itself....they wanted more in the area of action....

.....

Well they said that their target market was the kiddies, maybe they should hire you Albafan, then you can help them to connect more to their target audience.

......The Thing is the glue that holds the FF together, in the comics. ........

I think that the preset time requirement hurt the thing this time around, just as it hurt the scenes with Alicia last time around. Ben is so much the heart of the ff because of his situation that what happened with his character is unfortunate. This mishandling must have been set up by the first film when at the last he "adjusted" to his status.

This mishandling was astounding. I have not seen the Extended edition yet so i can't say if that last scene was set up properly but you have the same kind of effect with Johnny and Frankie at the end of FF2, it all seemed to come from out of the blue.

I have to admit like Carp said that Tim may have been a little overwhelmed by the franchise. I think that when you are really stretched sometimes little details that would impact your film can be missed because at that point you are so wasted or extended that you can't pull the trigger on any fixes that may be needed.

But like Albafan said the heart and soul of the FF was there.

Now the question hangs in the air, Can Tim Story make that final leap and fight tooth and nail to create one more, possibly two great films.

At this point I really don't know.

FF2 may be as good as it gets and as such, we just have to accept it for what it is as Advanced said and settle for a different release date as its only available option to make a profit.

I am leaning though on letting Fox and Tim do one more, then if it is at the same level wrapping it and the rights reverting to marvel.

What I am fearful of is that they really think the Surfer is an acceptable substitute for the fans of the Fantastic Four.

I hope Jessica Alba uses her growing star power to get the final one done.

She seems to be the one working the hardest to promote this franchise and she deserves all the credit for what she has done so far.

And something else just occurred to me, maybe Fox dropped the ball in not having Doug Jones/Laurence do promotion for this film. That decision seems to be driven by the Surfer film which was already in development and their desire to downplay Doug's involvement.

This was another bullet that they shot.

Imagine how cool it would have been to have Doug and Laurence doing press for this film.

This was clearly a mess and a mistake that is also hurting the BO.

Fox just messed up on a number of things with this franchise. I don't think they know what to do.

 

[Advanced Dark]

I wonder how a Fantastic Four franchise that takes place in the 60's would do? I don't think it would do well at all. Fox will definately not be upping the budget on the next one.

 

[Carp Man]

I wonder how a Fantastic Four franchise that takes place in the 60's would do? I don't think it would do well at all. Fox will definately not be upping the budget on the next one.

Let me put it this way. Say what you want about the Corman film, and I think it was a joke, but it remaind true to the comic in every sense, story wise. The beginning with Reed, Victor, and Ben, the accident that led to Dooms supposed death, the cosmic storm in space, Johnny and Sues introduction. I think if you put that on the screen today, with the special effects they have today, and spent the money, it would have been better recieved then these films have been by the general movie going public, and the fan base.

 

[highguard]

Well you don't really need to set it in the sixties, just create the universe and world that the FF was set in and remove the incidents that would have dated the film.

The mistake was made at the script level. They simple did not have good guidance in making decisions on this film.

I understand the Rowling lady has very strict control on the potter franchise. She has veto power it seems.

Now this is a single individual and Marvel is a corporation and they seem to have a very poor arrangement on most of these deals.

heck they had to sue Sony last year cause their original deal was so bad.

 

[Carp Man]

Well you don't really need to set it in the sixties, just create the universe and world that the FF was set in and remove the incidents that would have dated the film.

The mistake was made at the script level. They simple did not have good guidance in making decisions on this film.

I understand the Rowling lady has very strict control on the potter franchise. She has veto power it seems.

Now this is a single individual and Marvel is a corporation and they seem to have a very poor arrangement on most of these deals.

heck they had to sue Sony last year cause their original deal was so bad.

Rowling has the clout to have veto power, and she deserves it. Let's remember, these "deals" Marvel made back in the 90's were made out of desperation. They were broke, bankrup. The had no choice but to take whatever "deal" anyone came up with. They got raked over the coals, and they are still paying for it today, but the fact that they will be putting up their own money to produce films, and use the studios as a distribution point is very positive.