It looks like "Renfield" is going to be a big 2023 miss. Even though I want to see this when it streams, I get why it wouldn't pack anyone into a theatre, and the producers should have gotten it too.

First of all, hit horror movies, or the horror/comedy movies we see a lot, are supposed to be cheaply made. The best ones make big profits because they have small budgets. Renfield cost $65 million, it made about $10 million at opening. With the added expenses, I don't see how it can even break even.

Then also it came out at the wrong time. It had competition at the box office and early Spring doesn't blend well with horror films, but they were already there anyway. It came in 6th place, behind "Mario" and "John Wick", but also "The Pope's Exorcist" (say what?), "Air" and "Dungeons & Dragons".

Then Nicolas Cage is not a big draw or a reliable star. Is he doing drama? Is he doing comedy? Does he know what he's doing? Nobody knows until they see it, and do you want to pay theatre prices to find out?

Yes I will see it, but I can wait for some time at home, probably in the Winter. For the Netflix fee, it should be good enough.

Re: Nicolas Cage. Gone are the days when he could headline a film like "The Rock" (1996) and "Con Air" (1997).

Yeah, you would think both this and "The Pope's Exorcist" would have come out in October.

Cage was on "Late Night with Stephen Colbert" last week and it was an entertaining interview. He talked about his preparation, and his appreciation of previous Dracula incarnations (especially Christopher Lee). The hope is that the audience enjoys it in the same way it did "An American Werewolf in London," with its fine blend of horror and comedy. That's a tough target to hit as the 2012's "Dark Shadows" proved.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
It looks like "Renfield" is going to be a big 2023 miss. Even though I want to see this when it streams, I get why it wouldn't pack anyone into a theatre, and the producers should have gotten it too.

First of all, hit horror movies, or the horror/comedy movies we see a lot, are supposed to be cheaply made. The best ones make big profits because they have small budgets. Renfield cost $65 million, it made about $10 million at opening. With the added expenses, I don't see how it can even break even.

Then also it came out at the wrong time. It had competition at the box office and early Spring doesn't blend well with horror films, but they were already there anyway. It came in 6th place, behind "Mario" and "John Wick", but also "The Pope's Exorcist" (say what?), "Air" and "Dungeons & Dragons".

Then Nicolas Cage is not a big draw or a reliable star. Is he doing drama? Is he doing comedy? Does he know what he's doing? Nobody knows until they see it, and do you want to pay theatre prices to find out?

Yes I will see it, but I can wait for some time at home, probably in the Winter. For the Netflix fee, it should be good enough.

Just saw the trailer for "The Flash". People will probably go to see it for Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck both returning as Batman.

Looks like alot of special effects and explosions.

But will it really capture a wide audience ? I am not sure that it will. Perhaps it will be a moderate hit.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Just saw the trailer for "The Flash". People will probably go to see it for Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck both returning as Batman.

Looks like alot of special effects and explosions.

But will it really capture a wide audience ? I am not sure that it will. Perhaps it will be a moderate hit.

I didn't even realize Affleck was also in this. I guess they're trying to do what they did in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

I suspect Affleck doesn't have much screen time in this one. Fans seem more interested in seeing Michael Keaton's Batman again and he may have a larger role, hopefully. I gather that this is one of those plots where someone, probably the Flash, foolishly creates some other timeline or dimension that he and his friends have to fix.

I really can't stand those "anything can happen, no rules apply" storylines, if that's what it is. The multiple versions of the same person in different times that all meet up and chat is just one of those time travel devices that never work to me. I guess people can fly, but there can be only one at a time for me.

Here is the new Flash trailer.

https://www.google.com/search?...ceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Super Mario Bros is #1 for a third week in a row, making about another 60 M and bringing its domestic total to 435 M plus

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Super Mario Bros is #1 for a third week in a row, making about another 60 M and bringing its domestic total to 435 M plus

Looks like John Leguizamo's personal protests have failed. Mario is killing it at the box office. Another front runner is Evil Dead Rise hitting a $23.5M domestic on a $19M budget.

So next up is "Guardians of the Galaxy 3". I haven't followed it, mostly because I find Chris Pratt to be the "B" version of Ryan Reynolds when Reynolds on-screen jabbering persona annoys me.

But I have read a couple of cast interviews in the past week and, if they are any indication of anything, nobody is going to like this movie as much as they do. The whole bonding together to support James Gunn was inspiring. All for one and one for all! And they all got paid a fortune too.

If Mario left any money behind, Guardians fans are probably not the same people, and the big finale is always going to bring out the crowd. But if the film is anything like those sickeningly sweet interviews, it's not going to do what is expected. Anything less than a record breaker is a failure for Marvel now.

I've just got back from seeing 'Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3'. I have made a point over the past few weeks of avoiding seeing any trailers or interviews for the film. I wanted to just sit back and watch the film without any distractions from things I might have read or heard beforehand.

The last film I saw at the cinema was 'Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania'. Not exactly one of the best Marvel films so far. This afternoons offering was much, much better. I had a very entertaining two and a half hours. Suffice to say, I enjoyed the film

As it has only been released today, I'm not going to say why I enjoyed it as that would be unfair on everyone else who has yet to see it. However, I will throw out one small spoiler: there are two credit scenes

Spoiler for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 . . .

Not really much of a spoiler, but I can't make this comment without revealing some clues.

I think there is a portion of this film that maybe should have been left out. There are two storylines in this movie, the current one and a backstory. The backstory is about animals, CGI though they may be. You can kill hundreds of people in any slasher movie, but kill the family dog or cat or rabbit, and half the audience will be in tears and hate it. That backstory will hurt this movie more than help it to me.

Kevin, since your post just popped up, what do you think. Yes or no?

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Spoiler for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 . . .

Kevin, since your post just popped up, what do you think. Yes or no?

All I will say is that without the backstory, the film would not make much sense so it has to be there.

As for deaths in movies, it depends .....

I rewatched the first two GotG movies over the last couple of nights.

***Spoiler alert for GotG 2***

In GotG 2, a lot of Ravagers were killed by being thrown out of an airlock. I doubt if anyone watching was that bothered about their deaths. But near the end of the film a single major character sacrificed themselves to save another one. That probably didn't sit too well with a lot of the audience, though they probably enjoyed the reunion triggered by the resulting funeral.

With regard to GotG3, the backstory did not give me any problems.

One thought has occurred to me while writing this. Taking Quantumania and GotG3 into account, I do think Marvel have a villain problem. I'll save the 'why that is' explanation for a future discussion.

Final thought, I got to see a few trailers for other forthcoming cinema releases. My thoughts on 'The Flash' would be: Have they left any plot reveals and surprises behind ? I can't help thinking that they covered pretty much the whole storyline in the trailer I saw, so no point wasting money on a ticket to see the few bits they left out

Thanks Kevin, I get what you're saying, I'm just one of those sensitive souls. Except when it comes to people of course.

As for the Flash, I agree that the trailer is saying a whole lot more than it should. However there could be another reveal to come. Comic book experts being what they are, a few seem to have concocted a theory that we haven't seen the real villain of the piece yet. I won't say more about that. Maybe they are wrong, or just making up a better story than the screenwriters did. It happens.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Thanks Kevin, I get what you're saying, I'm just one of those sensitive souls. Except when it comes to people of course.

Of course, there is always ***Spoiler Alert for GotG 1*** the small matter of what happened to Groot in the first film. He is neither a person nor an animal. He's a living walking, talking plant but I was certainly upset when he sacrificed himself to save the others.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven: As for the Flash, I agree that the trailer is saying a whole lot more than it should. However there could be another reveal to come. Comic book experts being what they are, a few seem to have concocted a theory that we haven't seen the real villain of the piece yet. I won't say more about that. Maybe they are wrong, or just making up a better story than the screenwriters did. It happens.

Reading this, I can't help thinking about all of the fan theories about what was going to happen in 'Wandavision'. None were right but Kevin Feige admitted that some of the suggested possibilities were better and/or more original than the story that the Marvel writers came up with and released

Apparently there is now a trailer out for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 in which they travel to Greece. Movie is to be released in September

Early numbers seem to suggest that Guardians 3 will open this weekend with about 110 M, on par with the recent Ant Man 3 and folks are suggesting that superhero fatigue is starting to set in

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Early numbers seem to suggest that Guardians 3 will open this weekend with about 110 M, on par with the recent Ant Man 3 and folks are suggesting that superhero fatigue is starting to set in

This, and the fact that it's all basically the same plot, either from the last movie with the same team, or other movies with different teams. If it's not a bonafide team, then it's one made up of single heroes moonlighting. Somebody's always in trouble and everybody else is coming reluctantly to the rescue.

I think it's to the point where Marvel and DC fans are picking their favorite team and waiting to see the others when they stream. It's not that they won't see them all, just not in the theatre, and that will bring the box office numbers down.

There's nothing bad about an 110M opening, but they cost a lot to make. The studios think every opening has to set records or it's a flop.

Interesting enough, now that some seem ready to look for excuses, the press is saying what I said before. The backstory is a problem that may be a bit too graphic for younger kids. Possibly me too.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Apparently there is now a trailer out for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 in which they travel to Greece.

Link, please? I can't find it.

Meg is back baybeeeee!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG91B3hHyY4