Amph Summer Box Office

XMen Generations is doing a lot better than Godzilla outside the U.S., but maybe Godzilla hasn't opened everywhere yet...no $$ listed yet for China or Japan, but I was surprised Godzilla opened stronger. I wonder whether Generations will fall as hard as Godzilla on its second weekend. Doubtful, but possible.

 

Depends on whether good word of mouth continues and if people give a hoot about Maleficent and whatever else DOFP competes against next weekend.

 

I don't know whether the movie's any good, but Million Ways to Die in the West has one of the funniest trailers I've ever seen.

 

What about A Million Ways to Die in the West? Or is that going to flop hardcore like 2008's The Love Guru did?

 

MacFarlane is riding the Ted wave. He'll get people into theaters on the basis of the trailer plus Ted alone, regardless of reviews, at least for the first weekend. If the movie is an endless series of punchlines for the same joke "million ways to die in the west," because they had no basic safety regulations and poor medical care and nutrition limited their life expectancy--get it?-- then maybe it will collapse quickly.

But Ted was a huge hit on one joke: he's a teddy bear. And he's vulgar.

 

Yeah, and to this day I've never seen it and probably never will. But hey, I guess the 'Murican masses will just about lap anything up. Otherwise, "reality tv" would not exist.

 

I liked Ted for the one-joke premise that it was. It was certainly better than the increasingly tiresome Hangover sequels.

 

Yeah, Hangover had two sequels too many. I hope that someday, studio execs will realize when they should take a pass worthless scripts.

 

I'd take just about any kind of movie as a break from the endless stream of CGI animated feature films, comic book superhero sequels and young adult sci fi novel adaptations.

 

I really wish we'd get some original sci-fi flicks, but studios are so terrified and spineless to release them. And when they do get released, they almost always flop domestically.

 

Interstellar and Jupiter Ascending should count as original sci fi. All You Need is Kill/Edge of Tomorrow is a graphic novel adaptation, but I don't have a problem with anything that's not a sequel or a boring trend attempting to cash in on the success of another movie.

 

What about that Tom Cruise flick? Is that based on something? Looks pretty good to me. And I may be in the minority, but I enjoyed Oblivion.

Edit: Ok. Got it.

 

You really shouldn't lower your standards with Seth McFarlane drek just for lack of a better product out there. While Maleficent looks "original", lack of reviews or early screenings at this point is troubling. Same thing goes for Edge of Tomorrow, which passes itself as an original sf flick. But my Spidey-sense (see what I did there) just screams at me to avoid it like the plague.

 

I have no idea whether Edge of Tomorrow is good, but from the trailers it looks as though they've retained enough elements from All You Need Is Kill to make it interesting, not that the illustrated novel is any kind of classic, but it has an entertaining narrative.

 

Manga graphic novel, which is a nicer way to say "japanese comic book". So you're interested in the comic book movie even though you hate comic book movies? Is that what you're saying?

 

you don't think there's a difference between serial superhero comics in the U.S. (Marvel and DC), which are endless variations on a single theme, and a non superhero graphic novel?

 

Oh, I know there's a difference and it's usually akin to night and day. Just messing with you, dude. Still, the premise of the movie and Cruise himself just don't inspire too much confidence. But my expectations are so low I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised if it turns out I'm wrong.

 

I thought Jupiter Ascending was based on a novel?

 

io9 positively raved. I didn't read it to avoid spoilers, but they screened it and people liked it.

Maleficent, I don't know -- there may be a review embargo until Wednesday which isn't out of the ordinary, but if they haven't screened it, then there's a problem.

A Million Ways to Die in the West is showing up at Preview Movies about as much as Pitch Perfect did; I took that to be a bad sign then (as it usually was) but Pitch Perfect was awesome so this may be too.

No, should be wholly original I believe.

 

I know a lot of people either aren't fans/are turned off by MacFarlane's style & schtick, but I ain't one of them, so I'm eagerly anticipating A Million Ways to Die in the West; I really, really enjoyed Ted.

 

I read a review for A Million Ways this morning that rated it as mediocre. That if you've seen the trailers then you've seen the best parts of the film. Not very reassuring, IMO.

 

Million Ways is at 40% on RT. Not Adam Sandler bad, but bad. Maleficent is low 60s so far, so not great. The Problem with the movie is that it looks too scary for little kids, but the adults will think it's dull.

 

I mean, what do you expect? We have a LOTR inspired CGI fest featuring an Angelina Jolie so emaciated her cheekbones nearly pierce her skin, playing one of the most infamous Disney villains that invokes the powers of hell before turning into a freaking dragon. All the while somehow painting a more sympathetic side to the character? This was going to be a tough sell no matter what.

 

They already changed her character, so...

 

I think the cheek bones may be prostethics.