Pretty much agree but I have a feeling Wonka might do well.

My only experience with The Color Purple is the Spielberg version and nothing about that screamed musical.

Can't shake the thought that Aquaman will suffer from WW84 syndrome.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
Pretty much agree but I have a feeling Wonka might do well.

Oh yeah, it has the best chance to attract people looking for that family holiday movie this year. I don't like the look of it, but then again, I'm not the target audience.

Wonka is just one of those weird things that has always been a television experience for me. I didn't see the original until several years after it came out. I thought the Depp version was good but felt no drive to see it in the theater. I pretty much feel the same about this one.

As it is I will most likely support Chalamet in Dune 2 at the box office in spite of a meh attitude over the first one. It was pretty to look at on the big screen.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
As it is I will most likely support Chalamet in Dune 2 at the box office in spite of a meh attitude over the first one. It was pretty to look at on the big screen.

Be prepared to support him for a good chunk of your time. Dune 2 was first reported as running 195 minutes. Now I hear its 166 minutes. Either way, it's too long.

What really irks me though is that the Director is hinting that a Dune 3 is already hanging out there. I hate that. Every movie's a trilogy and nothing ever ends. Even when you get to the third one, they just start a reboot or a prequel. Maybe it's just me, but a film feels special when I'm left wanting more without getting committed to a mediocre franchise for life.

Domestically it looks like Minus One will beat out the two previous #1 films. Beyonce is falling fast with no international love at all. Comparing the Shin Godzilla numbers this one has really plowed through with the right combination of story line and effects.

Critics and audiences seem to like Wonka but $39M on a $125M budget is not great, especially when covering over 4000 screens. I mean it's gotta suck when films like Wonka and The Marvels get their a$$e$ kicked by Five Nights at Freddy's.

I think it has become futile to hope that Hollywood will get the message.

The Hunger Games is up to 146 M domestically. It passed Fast X and is now #16 for the year. But it may not go much higher than that unless it can make another 10 or 15M. Seems to be slowing down

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
Wonka is just one of those weird things that has always been a television experience for me. I didn't see the original until several years after it came out. I thought the Depp version was good but felt no drive to see it in the theater. I pretty much feel the same about this one.

As it is I will most likely support Chalamet in Dune 2 at the box office in spite of a meh attitude over the first one. It was pretty to look at on the big screen.

We saw "Wonka" and loved it. Chalamet plays him without any of the sort of sarcasm that Wilder and Depp displayed as an aspect of the character's personality, which was quite refreshing. Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa (instead and wisely) injects a bit of that kind of humor. The set piece at the zoo was particularly well done. Olivia Colman is one of the villains and she has a great time chewing the scenery.

As I was watching it, I had the feeling throughout I used to get watching older live action Disney movies, like "Mary Poppins", "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", or "Candleshoe". I don't watch a lot of movies twice, but I'll probably see this one again once it's streaming.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:


We saw "Wonka" and loved it. Chalamet plays him without any of the sort of sarcasm that Wilder and Depp displayed as an aspect of the character's personality, which was quite refreshing.

I always thought that was sort of the progression of the character, less cynical in his younger years. I definitely plan on seeing it as I am sure it is a good film....just will wait until it hits a service I am already paying for. ;-P

Aquaman grossed a mere 40 M this weekend

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Aquaman grossed a mere 40 M this weekend

In typical DC fashion worse than the MARVELS. A bunch of kids off this week...wonder if that will have any impact?

Unfortunately, all 4 of the DC movies released this year (Shazam 2, Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman 2) have been DOA.

They are hoping to make a comeback with Superman in 2025, but who knows if that will work.

It isn't surprising that almost all the Marvel and DC movies did not do well this year. Its only surprising that the studios couldn't see it coming and went ahead despite all warnings.

For one thing, many of the films were centered on secondary superheroes. For another, its not just that they overdid it at the movies. Streaming is loaded with limited special series on Loki, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, etc.

But the worst thing is that everything has become so convoluted. The idea of the multiverse has made one big mess where nothing stands on its own. Nothing ever ends. No one ever really dies, unless they do, in which case someone else just pops up to replace them. There are all sorts of rules, that just get broken when the plot hits a dead end. You have to be a expert to understand what's going on and none of it makes any sense or is worth the time to learn.

It all lacks originality or fun. The multiverses have ruined them all and the greed of the studios have kept cracking them out. Maybe the failures of 2023 will hurt enough to do some good and take out some these same backlogged projects.

Not to sound old, but back in the 1990s and 2000s, you had 1 or 2 superhero films a year and so it became a special event. Batman, Spider-Man, etc.

Then at some point in the 2000s and 2010s there was seemingly a new X-Men or Wolverine film every other year. Eventually those imploded.

Now instead of 1 or 2 a year, we're getting 4 or 5 Marvel movies annually and 3 or 4 by DC, which is trying to compete and keep up.

On top of that, Sony has its separate Spider-Man universe films. They have been milking that with Venom, and now in 2024 we're getting from them Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter. I can't see those as being hits, in light of what happened to Morbius in 2022.

It just can't continue like this forever...

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
For one thing, many of the films were centered on secondary superheroes.

Who wants to watch nothing but Iron Man films? A character who, ironically, was a secondary superhero until the MCU.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
But the worst thing is that everything has become so convoluted. The idea of the multiverse has made one big mess where nothing stands on its own. Nothing ever ends. No one ever really dies, unless they do, in which case someone else just pops up to replace them. There are all sorts of rules, that just get broken when the plot hits a dead end. You have to be a expert to understand what's going on and none of it makes any sense or is worth the time to learn.

That's putting superhero comics exactly on the screen - every point you made is commonplace in comics.

For the record, I do hate the multiverse concept. It's a lazy way to just do whatever without consequences.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
Not to sound old, but back in the 1990s and 2000s, you had 1 or 2 superhero films a year and so it became a special event. Batman, Spider-Man, etc.

That's a great point. Star Wars is in that same boat.

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:
That's putting superhero comics exactly on the screen - every point you made is commonplace in comics.

Exactly true. And the comic book industry is doing so very well now too, right?

No, not as far as I can tell anyway.

Reading comic books used to be a staple in a kid's life. I had many myself. Now I'd be afraid to give a younger child a current superhero comic book for a few reasons.

There's a whole conversation about the influences of modern society that could go in here, but not on Card Talk. Suffice to say it's not about sounding old, but about what was better and can never come back.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:
That's putting superhero comics exactly on the screen - every point you made is commonplace in comics.

Exactly true. And the comic book industry is doing so very well now too, right?

I don't know, I stopped reading comics years ago. But the reason I stopped is probably why many have stopped - it's too expensive to keep up with monthly. I'll pick up the occasional graphic novel or omnibus.

I don't know how true it is, but I have heard recently that the comic book market is very healthy right now, I can only surmise that's people reading digitally because any kind of print is a dying medium.

But the point I was making is if it's translating directly from comic to screen, why are comic fans now rebelling against the films? I love that they're all interconnected. Many can stand on their own, they include a few winks and nods to the other movies which makes it a cohesive universe. They always give enough information that you don't HAVE to have seen the other thing. Case in point - in The Marvels when Monica explains that she got her powers from a witch hex, do you really need to watch all of WandaVision to understand that? Just take it at face value and go with it.

To make it all even more confusing hits like Daredevil and Punisher get put on the slow track.

DC, Marvel and Star Wars all have the tag "universe" attached to it. There seems to be a disconnect with the idea that a film can lower the budget while developing interesting characters from actors we aren't familiar with. The doorway to originality is wide open and nobody is walking through it.

Why can't WB take their TV formula and apply it to the movies? Doom Patrol on MAX is amazing!!

Not to mention another awesome trading card potential that we will never see.

Yes, the comic book stores that survived the early 2000's appear to be doing okay. One of them in my area did go out-of-business during the pandemic.

I was in one a couple of months ago. There was still a wide variety of new releases though not as many back issues. In the old days, every store had tables of back issues. Yeah, they had some regular sales from those boxes but it was slow. They had to clear them out to make room for things that were faster sellers (sometimes Funko Pops, sometimes vintage toys, sometimes figures/statues/busts, etc.). I guess comic stores figured it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:
That's putting superhero comics exactly on the screen - every point you made is commonplace in comics.

Exactly true. And the comic book industry is doing so very well now too, right?

I don't know how true it is, but I have heard recently that the comic book market is very healthy right now, I can only surmise that's people reading digitally because any kind of print is a dying medium.

Every comic book store I knew has closed up except one, and that one has diversified its inventory to include lots of toys, models and books. Even bookstore chains and newspaper corner stores that used to carry a selection of comics are either completely gone or they have dropped the small batch they had.

There is no such thing as impulse buying a comic because you have to look hard for it. I'm sure you can pick them up online like everything else and the pandemic may well have increased sales over the declining years, but doing better than dead is not the same as being healthy.

They are trying to revive the comics industry much in the same way as all collectibles, but the store network is gone, at least in New York.

I don't know why anyone thought we needed a 95M bio pic about Enzo Ferrari, but since it opened with 7M this week, they must have been wrong.

I don't know why anyone keeps making movies starring Adam Driver. They don't make money, not even the ones that aren't art house projects. Forget Star Wars, he was just in it.

I don't know why anyone even thinks Adam Driver is a good actor. He always looks and sounds exactly the same, like a one trick pony, even when he's doing accents. "The House of Gucci" bombed, so he comes back as Ferrari, brilliant casting.

He is also a staple in anything that wants an ensemble cast of overrated method actors. Next up "Megalopolis". Don't say you weren't warned.