Godzilla Minus One now was 31 RT reviews and is still riding at 100%.

I'm smelling a sleeper hit.

Not such a sleeper, its already made a fortune and bested all the other Godzillas. The reviews are great because, besides the monster visuals, it has a post-war storyline and relatable characters with actual depth, or so I'm told. Now there's a big difference right there.

The thing that will probably hold down the attendance here is the subtitles. I told my friend I was thinking of going and did he want to come? I got a MAYBE. I said there are Japanese sub-titles. That got a hard NO.

Lots of kids also get in to watch Godzilla, age appropriate or not. They don't like to read anything. Still, depending on the competition and number of theatres, it may well be the first sub-titled film I can remember to be on top of the weekend regardless.

Does "Schindler's List" count, it might.

So far I only see numbers for the Japan release...I figure even if it does just ok in the states I would be surprised not to see a big international box office.

Yeah, I see the sub-titles being a barrier too. Hopefully the pace isn't crazy like I have seen with some films. I am going to see it tonight.

Most of these films get a dubbed version at some point. Not sure if it will make it back to the theater though.

Hunger Games is about to pass The Flash in the days ahead, knocking the latter out of the Top 20 domestically for the year.

On the other hand, The Marvels won't make it to the Top 25 by year's end.

Looking at the charts, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 didn't even make the Top 50.

Just got back from Godzilla Minus One...a no spoilers quick review.

1. The best monster scenes I have ever seen. Also paid tribute to classic Godzilla and JAWS references.
2. Overall story and effects are great.
3. Probably a cultural thing but I thought the telling of the human side was done in a way that hammered the pacing of the film. Scenes went super calm with no music whatsoever. Acting at points reached melodramatic levels.
4. As I feel about most films these days 20 minutes less would have been better.
5. Subtitles were paced very well. Most just required a quick glance.
6. I have thoughts on the ending but will let those ride for now.
7. No after end credits scenes.
8. You will hate yourself for not watching this on the big screen.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Not such a sleeper, its already made a fortune and bested all the other Godzillas. The reviews are great because, besides the monster visuals, it has a post-war storyline and relatable characters with actual depth, or so I'm told. Now there's a big difference right there.

The thing that will probably hold down the attendance here is the subtitles. I told my friend I was thinking of going and did he want to come? I got a MAYBE. I said there are Japanese sub-titles. That got a hard NO.

Lots of kids also get in to watch Godzilla, age appropriate or not. They don't like to read anything. Still, depending on the competition and number of theatres, it may well be the first sub-titled film I can remember to be on top of the weekend regardless.

Does "Schindler's List" count, it might.

The most successful subtitled films I can think of were "Passion of the Christ" which won its first few weeks in March, 2004 and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which I'm sure won a week in late March, 2001.

My takeaway is people are more willing to read in March...or something.

They are predicting that Aquaman 2 may open with 50 M domestically this weekend, which is much less than the 86 M of the first film.

Aquaman 2 doesn't open up here until December 22nd, although it would have been fun to see him go head-to-head with Godzilla.

Had to laugh at a commercial for Wish boldly proclaiming "An instant Disney Classic!" as it flops and flounders at the box office.

So its Beyonce and "Renaissance" to top the box office this week. She won't pull in as much as Swift's "Eras", but will do good. This is the first time 2 concert films have been number one in the same year. Both of these ladies carry a huge fan base that always comes out like no others, so I'm not sure if any other singers or bands could be expected to copy them in future. They may try though.

"Hunger Games" will hang unto 2nd and Godzilla couldn't do better than 3rd. If that had been more of an international film, or even had a dubbed soundtrack, I think it would have done much better. "Napolean" and "Wish" fell off that cliff they were sitting on. The "Trolls" look bad, and I had forgotten that "Silent Night" even opened this week. It got no press at all, along with very little money it would seem.

In my area the media drumbeat about family gatherings and face masks is starting up again. Nothing official, just depressing. My feeling is that theatre attendance is going to be reduced as the holidays approach and the list of alphabet viruses keeps growing.

I didn't know about this one until catching up with this thread. Today, there was a trailer for a Godzilla/King Kong team-up (April release) during one of the football games.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
Just got back from Godzilla Minus One...a no spoilers quick review.

1. The best monster scenes I have ever seen. Also paid tribute to classic Godzilla and JAWS references.
2. Overall story and effects are great.
3. Probably a cultural thing but I thought the telling of the human side was done in a way that hammered the pacing of the film. Scenes went super calm with no music whatsoever. Acting at points reached melodramatic levels.
4. As I feel about most films these days 20 minutes less would have been better.
5. Subtitles were paced very well. Most just required a quick glance.
6. I have thoughts on the ending but will let those ride for now.
7. No after end credits scenes.
8. You will hate yourself for not watching this on the big screen.

Hunger Games is up to 121 M domestically, passing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scream 6, and The Flash.

That currently makes it # 18 for the year.

It could make another 30 M and reach # 13.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
So its Beyonce and "Renaissance" to top the box office this week. She won't pull in as much as Swift's "Eras", but will do good.

It's kind of a weird weekend to decide who won in the top three.

Beyonce slammed into all of the big and IMAX screens for the weekend and then went away until next weekend. Not to mention she is struggling on the international box office.

Hunger Games is riding mid range theaters and filling out roughly 1400 more screens than Godzilla. It is playing 2 to 1 in my limited area.

Godzilla is mostly throttled to the 75 seat screens that seem to be selling very well.

The amazing thing about "Godzilla Minus One" is that it was made for only 15M. The last "Godzilla v Kong" says the budget was somewhere between 155M - 200M and the breakeven point was $330M. It is so much easier for "Godzilla Minus One" to have the greater return on investment when it was produced for less than 10% of the mainstream franchise.

If the quality of the film, including the visuals, is equal or better with Minus One, why such a big difference? Star salaries? Unions? Copyrights? Video technology? Promotions?

Take your pick or think of others, but current big screen titles are just costing too much to make and I think, like so much going on now, a lot of it is simply waste or even skullduggery.

For the bigger budget movie, they hired the real Godzilla. Craft services alone spiked the budget by over 100 million as the big guy exclusively eats uranium, which is quite costly. Godzilla also requires a significantly larger dressing room than does the average-sized movie star, such as Angelina Jolie or Gerard Butler.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
It is so much easier for "Godzilla Minus One" to have the greater return on investment when it was produced for less than 10% of the mainstream franchise.

The crazy part is that Toho pictures is considered to be the evil big budget studio in Japan.

I do often wonder if the entertainment consolidation of the past 40 years in the US has not killed too much of the competition factor.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
I do often wonder if the entertainment consolidation of the past 40 years in the US has not killed too much of the competition factor.

Very possibly. Also, the insertion of multiple middlemen in just about every organized business, regardless of the business. You are paying for people that you don't need, except that they are necessary to get to the next step in the process, because that has become the process.

Looks like Godzilla and Hunger Games are punching it out for daily number one spots.

I did read that 200 more screens are being opened for Minus One. Looks like my theater just moved it into a larger room. A bigger screen would be cool but I don't think I would pay for another ticket unless it was in IMAX.

Beyonce is back but not in IMAX...so far pre sales are higher for Minus One but neither are very impressive at the moment.

Another weird weekend and two foreign films take number 1 and 3 with the giant nuclear lizard breaking records for live action entries from Japan.

The Boy and the Heron take number 1 in 1460 less theaters than Hunger Games while Godzilla Minus One takes #3 in 1125 less with roughly $2M difference between the three films. To be fair Hunger Games is in its 4th week but would have been interesting to see the numbers if all three were getting equal distribution.

Beyonce drops to number 6 in just as many theaters as Godzilla with both on their 2nd weekend.

I guess Wonka will be in next week to shake things up.

More weird is coming. I saw a joint commercial yesterday for the 3 upcoming holiday movies, "Wonka', "The Color Purple" and "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom". I won't be seeing any of them any time soon.

I really don't see the charm of Timothee Chalamet, but Hugh Grant as a flying Oompa Loompa was stomach churning. All the darkness has been removed from the Willy Wonka story and this is what they have left.

"The Color Purple" as a musical doesn't seem like a blockbuster. If you don't count those 2 concert films, recent movie musicals have done pretty badly at the box office. This was a Broadway show almost 20 years ago. I don't see where anyone besides Oprah was waiting for the screen version.

Now "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" still looks more animated than live action to me. I don't know if the big screen will help out with the visuals, but water movies always have problems too. I do like the charisma of Jason Momoa, but he has done this character before, and I don't think he alone can carry another movie. Since this one must have cost a lot to make, I think the potential is more for a big loss than for a moderate hit.

I don't see myself going to a theatre until January.