As bad as some people say TPM was but......

It still sits at #3 in the worldwide gross as taking in the most money of all time, 925 million. Bad movies don't make that much money simple as that.

See it for yourself at boxofficemojo.com worldwide gross catagory.

ATOC made about 300 million less and is considered a better movie, the hard numbers make that debatable.

 

Number 2 is ANH and number 1 is Titanic. TPM did pretty good.

Money doesn't grow on trees, it grows on my trees

 

Keep in mind EVERYONE went to see it before they knew how it turned out. And of course the people that liked it went to see it multiple times. And in any case, it is your opinion that it is good. The fact that it makes money does not make it good, any more than a film not making money means its bad. Citizen Kane did terrible when first released. Does this mean its bad?

 

The amount of money a movie makes has nothing to do with quality. Everyone has their personal opinions of the quality of a film, and the truth about the film comes from within each person. No one can be necessarily right when it comes to something that can be judged only by opinion.

And the price of movies changes over time as well. I have read that A New Hope would be far atop the list of the movie ticket prices had stayed consistant with what the prices were when Titanic was released.

I think The Phantom Menace is a good film, no matter how much money it made. Judging a movie by its income, in my mind, is no different than listening to the critics who give the prequels a bad rating.

And of course Attack of the Clones will have a lower income...everyone wanted to see The Phantom Menace when it came out, then the basher movement started, and a bunch of people either didn't see Attack of the Clones in theaters (waited for DVD) or they didn't see it multiple times like a lot of people did with The Phantom Menace.

A lot of the money that The Phantom Menace made came from interest, too. A lot of people who remembered seeing the original films probably went to see it just for the heck of it, and once Attack of the Clones came out, they decided to just wait for DVD, since it wasn't quite the same experience as seeing it in theaters.

 

Actually, factoring in inflation, Gone With the Wind made the most money.

 

I guess I read wrong, then.

 

Yes. Gone with the wind is by far the most popular. Today it would take in ca. 2 billion dollars with Star Wars well over 1 billion (1.4 if I remember correctly). The third most popular is Sound Of Music. Titanic is I believe around 10th place. I love TPM and its popularity proves that it wasn't as badly received as many would have you believe (And that Jar Jar was very popular). There were certainly some who didn't like it but there were just as many who loved it. As RM said: a film doesn't take in over 400 millions without people liking it. And that is a fact.

 

Truly horrid movies don't make tons of $$$, this is a fact, word of mouth spreads and they get pulled from the theatre.

The better a movie is the longer it stays in the theatre, a good movie will still be playing at the cheap theatre even when the DVD comes out.

But it is true about TPM that it had the advantage of being the 1st new SW movie out in over 2 decades.

 

well i can only add to this discussion by saying that TPM got $21 from me (3 viewings) while LotR : TTT got $48 from me (6 viewings)......sigh....can't wait for Return of the King and episode III.....


...the cloner

 

TPM got about $50 from me.

 

Do you know why TPM made so much? Because a hell of a lot of people loved the classic trilogy and were excited to see the prequels.

And if people were like me, they saw it a second time because they thought "it couldn't have been that bad...maybe I was just in a bad mood or something".

AotC's numbers are a reflection of people's disappointment with TPM. People who hated TPM and didn't love Star Wars enough to see the rest of the saga anyway stayed home.

Episode III will be between the other two in terms of money because of the concepts of "third time's a charm" and "going out with a bang". Also, people are excited about getting a chance to see a young Darth Vader, regardless of the film's quality.

 

Well what about the drop from ANH to ESB? People consider ESB the best of the OT and it did almost $100 million less then ANH. Were people disappointed then with ANH?

TPM got from me $23(4 times). I go to the matinees and it was $5.75 then I believe. ATOC got $36(6 times)dollars from me. Matiness jumped to $6 by then. It is now $6.50.
So I do beleive $$$ value does not determine film quality but I believe it determines film popularity. The film was popular. $431m says so.

 

Bill Gates has a lot of money but GL or Stan Lee or way cooler than him.

But yeah it was a big selling movie and it seemed to be more impactive than AOTC, especially with promotion. If all those people saw it then how come no one likes it.

 

So I do beleive $$$ value does not determine film quality but I believe it determines film popularity.

That sounds about right to me

 

So can a bad movie be popular? If it truly is bad and yet popular, it is bad to a minority, the critics most likley.

Then again some ctitics rave about some movie that most find utterly boring and would not even watch it on TV.

For example I still fail to see what was so awesome about spiderman(which I have watched numerous times, certain parts anyway), was it because it was cool and the "in" movie? It was good but way over hyped

 

I guess Pokemon is amazing entertainment then...

 

"I guess Pokemon is amazing entertainment then..."

I know many, many, many people who would agree with that.

I don't really care about how many people like what. I liked TPM, enough to see it 6 times in the theater. That still holds the record for me (I could only see AOTC 4 times, because of other movies and just not enough time).

Cometgreen

 

Man, I saw TPM at 7.50 a pop 21 times. That's well over a hundred dollars in tickets alone, and that's not even counting all the times I saw it in the dollar theater.

 

From Box Office Mojo

Listed in rank all-time

2. Star Wars (ANH) - $460,998,007
4. The Phantom Menace - $431,088,297
13. Attack of the Clones - $310,676,740
14. Return of the Jedi - $309,306,177
18. The Empire Strikes Back - $290,475,067

 

You guys are joking right?
TPM was THE MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIE OF ALL TIME. Everybody went to see it. Damn, I saw it myself two times in the cinema and I hate the thing.
Has NOTHING to do with the quality of the movie.
Or do you really think TiTANIC is better than STAR WARS?!

 

"Or do you really think TiTANIC is better than STAR WARS?!"

No but if the original SW would have been shown in 1990's it would have grossed ca. 1.4 billion - more than twice what Titanic took in. Llook at the special editons of ANH - it grossed over 100 million in the space of weeks. Even ROTJ and Empire would have been more/as popular than/as Titanic. But Titanic was more popular than the new SW films (well Leo and Kate's topless scene meant many went to see it 20 times). Does it mean Titanic is a better film than the prequels. No but it does mean it was more popular. And that is the point with TPM - It was popular and it wasn't received as poorly as many claimed. Some didn't like it but just as many did like it.

 

blue jedi said...

"So can a bad movie be popular?"


...absolutely...have you ever seen spiderman or the hulk??....if you have i'm sorry....


...the cloner

 

Sure some people watch movies they hate in the theaters multiple times, but most of the people who see a movie in the theater multiple times do it because they like the movie.

 

His point wasn't that it was the as good as it's gross... But the very fact that it was that successful proves that it wasn't a piece of crap. Piece of crap movies don't make money, they bomb. Look at Gili. It had lots of press, big stars, but it sucked as much in the box office as in reality.

 

Blue_Jedi33: So can a bad movie be popular?

Yes. Look at Evil Dead. Worst movie I have ever seen, but it has a cult following.