Box Office Report...

[Youth N Asia 0]

2,188, which is about 1,200 less than Flightplan and 1,000 less than Corpse Bride

[ZGangsta 0]

Serenity had a higher PSA than Flightplan, and it didn't cost that much to make. It's not like it was a Stealth or The Island. I'd consider 10 mil a success for a movie based on a cancelled-after-one-season sci-fi show that showed on just over 2000 screens and had a budget of under 40 mil. And I'd wager that studio execs would agree with me. It's like the Whedon-Marks WANT this movie to fail to turn the guy into some sort of martyr. God I fucking hate Whedon-Marks.

[Dangerous A 0]

Serenity needs to kill in international box office and DVD sales to the point where movie execs believe that they may have built up newer fans through that to green light another movie IMO.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

well clearly the movie didnt kowtow to the "casual audience" enough. man i hate the fuckin casual audiences.

 

There HAS to be a better way for kickass niche stuff to make money. Something DVD-related would do nicely. what whedonite wouldn't buy a 4 or 5 hour miniseries of brand new content?? Fuck, a 4 hours of goodness that doesn't have to worry about "casual audiences" > 2 hours of general audience goodness.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I would buy anything new Firefly related on DVD. Movie? TV movie? Season? Mini Series? ALL OF IT

[Guest JMA]

I'm very happy to see Into the Blue bomb. As for Serenity, it'll do just fine.

[Guest fanofcoils]

I went to see A History of Violence today.  It was awesome and it's surprising no one has started a thread about the film.

 

I saw it and I thought it was a nothing film.

 

The first 2-3 minutes of the film were horrible. Nothing happened. It was pointless and boring. The movie was going pretty well until it was revealed that Stall was Joey, which was predictable and boring. The movie was unentertaining at this point and only got better when it was made known that Joey didn't like his past. At the end of the movie I thought it was 3-3.5 stars out of 4 but I quickly realized it was a nothing movie, nothing new or fresh happened in it, it wasn't special at all, it was an ordinary good or very good film and as I said nothing new. Nothing special. I read from some reviewers at least Ebert that said this is a special film, I didn't get that and I was disappointed.

 

[SuperJerk 0]

Between this and your Serenity "review", I'm starting to notice a pattern for you judging a film before you've actually seen more than a few minutes of it.

 

I'd love to see your review of The Godfather.

 

After watching the first scene, I guess this was the story of how a mafia don has to do favors for people all the time.  It was kind of boring because people were talking all the time like I suppose to know who they were.  And Al Pacino was in it, but he was kind of boring because he was a soldier and hated what his dad did for a living or something.  Nothing interesting at all, and the scene where the other son dies made me dizzy.

[Ravenbomb 0]

2,188, which is about 1,200 less than Flightplan and 1,000 less than Corpse Bride

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Then what the hell are people saying it didn't do good for? It kicked Nightmare Before Christmas 2's ass...

[Guest fanofcoils]

Between this and your Serenity "review", I'm starting to notice a pattern for you judging a film before you've actually seen more than a few minutes of it. 

 

I'd love to see your review of The Godfather.

 

After watching the first scene, I guess this was the story of how a mafia don has to do favors for people all the time.  It was kind of boring because people were talking all the time like I suppose to know who they were.  And Al Pacino was in it, but he was kind of boring because he was a soldier and hated what his dad did for a living or something.  Nothing interesting at all, and the scene where the other son dies made me dizzy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There is no pattern because I saw all of The History of Violence. What is wrong with my review of it? As I said it could be considered a very good movie except the fact is it is so been there done that, and there is nothing special about it at all. It is pretty obvious if you have watched it, seen a good amount of movies in the past, and have some common sense. I reviewed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in here before and you read it because you provided comments regarding it. If you are interested in rechecking it here it is: http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?...pic=71773&st=60

 

As for the Godfather, I don't think I can give a full review of it now because I haven't seen it recently. But it definitely was a very good movie at least.

[cabbageboy 0]

I've read some other criticism on imdb.com of the opening scene of History of Violence and I don't really get what was bad about it. It was during the opening credits and personally I'm not used to an insane amount of action happening while trying to read the cast names and director, etc.

 

Just wondering fanofcoils but....

 

Why at the end is this such a "nothing" film? As in what did you expect to happen? Sure, something like having Stall/Joey embrace his former identity for good and teaming with his brother would be kind of unexpected but it would also make zero sense (not that you suggested that in particular).

 

Some have criticized it for being predictable, like "Oh, it's so obvious that Tom Stall is really Joey Cusack." Well, yeah. That's the point. It isn't a mystery or plot twist, it wasn't meant to be. You're supposed to realize that Tom's past life is going to be revealed...the real suspense is not in "Is he really Joey Cusack, brother of a notorious mob boss and killer in his own right?" The suspense lies in how Stall will confront his violent past (issues with the Ed Harris character and also his brother at the end) and also how his family will deal with the revelation that he is/was a vicious killer.

 

If you look at it more along those lines I think it's a more interesting film.

[Guest fanofcoils]

I've read some other criticism on imdb.com of the opening scene of History of Violence and I don't really get what was bad about it.  It was during the opening credits and personally I'm not used to an insane amount of action happening while trying to read the cast names and director, etc.

 

Just wondering fanofcoils but....

 

Why at the end is this such a "nothing" film?  As in what did you expect to happen?  Sure, something like having Stall/Joey embrace his former identity for good and teaming with his brother would be kind of unexpected but it would also make zero sense (not that you suggested that in particular).

 

Some have criticized it for being predictable, like "Oh, it's so obvious that Tom Stall is really Joey Cusack."  Well, yeah.  That's the point.  It isn't a mystery or plot twist, it wasn't meant to be.  You're supposed to realize that Tom's past life is going to be revealed...the real suspense is not in "Is he really Joey Cusack, brother of a notorious mob boss and killer in his own right?"  The suspense lies in how Stall will confront his violent past (issues with the Ed Harris character and also his brother at the end) and also how his family will deal with the revelation that he is/was a vicious killer. 

 

If you look at it more along those lines I think it's a more interesting film.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It is a nothing film because it doesn't feel fresh at all and its nothing new at all compared to other movies. Tom Stall is really Joey Cusack, predictable? Wrong, it wasn't always predictable in the movie, in fact before it was revealed or a little time before it was revealed it was not predictable at all, it was only a possibility that he could really be Joey. The good thing is it had suspense, when it came clear who Tom Stall was, the movie lost excitement and became uninteresting, the end was good and made sense but as I tried to explain, I didn't like the movie. There was no suspense in how Stall would confront his violent past because at that point it was uninteresting. With how his family would confront him, it wasn't interesting, there was no suspense. How his family would confront him came abruptly at the end and it wasn't surprising, not that not being surprising would neccesarily mean anything.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

2,188, which is about 1,200 less than Flightplan and 1,000 less than Corpse Bride

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Then what the hell are people saying it didn't do good for? It kicked Nightmare Before Christmas 2's ass...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Because those movies arn't new releases.

[2GOLD 0]

But will it make enough to justify another movie? that's what we're wondering about

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, that ship has sailed.

Enough to make Sci-Fi consider returning it as a series? Maybe.

For another movie? It'll need to make 10 million or more in weekend two to justify. If it makes between 4 and 6 next weekend, enjoy the dvd cause you'll never see the sequel.

[Guest fanofcoils]

I'm surprised Serenity is #2 in the box office for such a no name show. I thought it would be 4th or 5th.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Plus there isn't one real movie star in the movie.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Next weekend will be interesting for Serenity. If the wealth of positive reviews and reactions actually do start getting around, it may be able to hold and pull in another $8 million. If this weekend was really just beforehand fans rushing out to see it, it may end up dropping by half or more. We'll see.

 

I want another movie, but if we don't get one, I'm really happy with what we did get.

[Guest fanofcoils]

I doubt positive reviews will do anything for it because it didn't do a thing apparently for when Firefly was on TV. Then again people may find out it is like a dizzy rollercoaster and not bother to watch it.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

You and dizziness, yikes. You have Menier's disease or something? Go read a book.

[Mik 0]

Funny you should mention that, Edwin. My girlfriend has that - it's pretty awful.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Yeah, my friend's dad has it too. He almost passed out watching Blair Witch Project, which is awful, but still kind of funny, because it's the freakin' Blair Witch Project.

[2GOLD 0]

Yeah, my friend's dad has it too.  He almost passed out watching Blair Witch Project, which is awful, but still kind of funny, because it's the freakin' Blair Witch Project.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I almost passed out from watching Blair Witch but for entirely different reasons.

[Red Baron 0]

I just want to know how good is Lord of War? No one has really mentioned it, and I haven't seen any previews for it.

[haVoc 0]

When is "Two for the Money" coming out? Any early reviews on the film yet?

[Special K 0]

There's always a chance for another movie with Serenity. It cost something like 45 mil, it'll make optimistically 30 mil domestically with the strong reviews and word of mouth, Whedon's really popular in Europe, and it should sell a shit-ton of DVDs (nerd movies always do, and this was a good one.), which should really offset the cost.

We'll see.

[SuperJerk 0]

Serenity will make its money back, but I doubt it'll be considered a hit by anything other than cult standards.

 

The good news is that Whedon's feature debut is getting him critical praise which will lead to higher profile projects. If Wonder Woman's a hit, Whedon's the new Sam Raimi.

[2GOLD 0]

I just want to know how good is Lord of War? No one has really mentioned it, and I haven't seen any previews for it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Very actually. If you have no interest in seeing Serenity then this is a great option. Cage and Leto each give very strong performances and Nic doesn't go into ham it up mode for the most part.

 

Action drama so to speak.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

"If Wonder Woman's a hit, Whedon's the new Sam Raimi."

 

BAHAHAHA.

[Ripper 0]

Serenity is going to warrent another movie.

 

This one was made completely on the strength of DVD sales and the fans.

 

The DVD sales aren't going to tank all of a sudden, and I seriously think people underrate Joss Whedons drawing power across the globe. People love this guy overseas.

 

This movie will still make a killing, and warrent another movie, but I wouldn't expect it to do 100 mil or even 80...MAYBE 50 domestically.

[SuperJerk 0]

"If Wonder Woman's a hit, Whedon's the new Sam Raimi."

 

BAHAHAHA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So, you're saying that if Wonder Woman is a hit, Whedon WON'T be a cult favorite director and TV producer turned big budget super-hero hit filmmaker (just like Raimi)?

 

The comparison is valid.