Amph The 2015 Box Office Bloodbath (And the winner is...)

The parts of Pitch Perfect 2 that involve "international" elements are just a conglomeration of absurd stereotypes known only to American network television. Absolutely awful.

Poltergeist and Tomorrowland both look like they're going to get generally mixed weakly positive reviews. Variety calls Poltergeist "generally entertaining but unnecessary" which is not the kind of critique that will keep audiences away.

No idea which movie wins out, though Pitch Perfect 2 and AOU should get at least $48 million between them. Maybe Mad Max does $21 million.

Maybe combined Poltergeist and Tomorrowland don't do any better than the Mad Max/Pitch Perfect opening weekend combo - $115 million-ish divided up in some manner between them. Maybe a bit less. It's a good time for a horror movie. Unfriended opened a month ago and earned $42 million worldwide on a $1 million production budget.

 

I thought Unfriended died pretty quickly?

 

$42 million doesn't seem like a lot unless your movie only cost $1 million to make.

 

Yeah, it's why everyone forgets that Mad Max was the most profitable film for a very, very long time. A$400,000 for US$100,000,000 return. In 1979.

 

I just want Poltergeist to do well so we can get the remake of Poltergeist II: The Other Side into production.

 

random guess, having not looked at the pros picks for the weekend:

1) Pitch Perfect 2 (probably still get a solid 2nd weekend)
2) Tomorrowland (reallly close but I'm not thinking Tomorrowland will open past 40 mil. Ads are just kinda weird at this point and they started off uber-mysterious weird)
3) Poltergiest (PG-13 horror, do not underestimate the power PG-13 horror)
4) Mad Max (probably hold okay but PP2 & openers will beat it out only cuz R rating)
5) Age of Ultron (still clacking away! I think it'll eventually pass F7 when the international cume is said and done)

 

What's funny is hearing local radio use non-international numbers and acting like Mad Max is tanking.

 

So if I could only see one of the two this weekend, which would be a better choice: Fury Road or Tomorrowland?

 

I can't decide myself.

 

Tomorrowland: 55% RT with 70 reviews.
Fury Road: 98% with 239 reviews

The small number of Poltergeist reviews make it look bad on the level of the reviews that most low budget horror movies get, although the last release Unfriended had a much higher 62% score.

 

Damon ****ing Lindelof wrote Tommorowland. I'd endure practically anything rather than seeing another one of his grade-school-level scripts come to life in theaters.

 

Brad Bird does not make bad movies. I refuse to live any longer in a world where Brad Bird makes bad movies.

 

Disney wanted him to direct TFA, but he was committed to Tomorrowland. He probably spent the entire time directing the film thinking, "And I could've been directing Episode 7. Dammit."

 

I haven't seen Tomorrowland yet, but I saw Fury Road Wednesday and I'm still buzzing from it. I'm sure both films are best appreciated on the big screen, but not seeing Fury Road on a big screen would be criminal.

 

Pitch Perfect 2 may be the #1 movie of the holiday weekend followed by Tomorrowland, Fury Road, Poltergeist, then AOU.

 

Fury Road was excellent. Shame about Tomorrowland possibly being the first dud of the season.

 

One the one hand, I want to support original content. On the other hand, if it does well, it's just one more franchise. Tomorrowland 2. Return to Tomorrow. Tomorrowland 3: Escape from Yesterday. Tomorrowland 4: The Day After Tomorrow. Tomorrowland 5: Dawn of the Land of Tomorrow. Tomorrowland 6: Rise of the Land of Tomorrow.

 

I can think of at least two.

 

I personally wouldn't put either Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatoullie or Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol under the category of "bad movies".

 

Iron Giant - an extremely competent movie and very entertaining
Incredibles - An animated feature masterpiece
Ratatouille - fantastic
Ghost Protocol - a competent movie and maybe the best of the not so great MI series, but I never need to see it again.

 

I wonder how San Andreas will do?

 

That movie looks like a monster hit. Disaster movies don't fail at the box office unless they're much more awful and much more expensive than "Into the Storm." It has a $100 million production budget and is the kind of movie that will do well on rental almost regardless of quality.

But if it's halfway decent, $700 million worldwide is a piece of cake. The Rock is a star in China thanks to Furious 7 becoming such a blockbuster there.

Heston's Earthquake made nearly $350 million in the U.S. alone adjusted for inflation. It would not surprise me at all if this movie hits $300 million in the U.S.

And just about anyone will pay top dollar to see California plowed under.

 

I am to understand the JCC watched a lot of plowing last night...

 

Heyoooo

 

Two of the worst movies I've ever had the misfortune of watching.