Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts Tres

[COProgressFan]

I got a report of MK around 22 today, not sure yesterday. ... a friend mentioned that DAK couldn't even hit 10K one or two days last week. Not good. No matter how they'll spin things.

Wow...those are crazy low numbers. That's really shocking, actually. I guess the effect of the obscene pricing and stale product is really setting in.

Of course, we all know the solution to this problem...more cutbacks!

I love Disney's attitude..."Wait, people aren't buying our product? Let's make it even crappier!"

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I would be more apt to agree if they hadn't of done this last year with John Carter. ... and if they did nothing to make this film fail, they certainly have done nothing to make it soar.

All anyone needs to know about whether Disney wanted to tank the film or not are revealed by its release date. It doesn't take a genius to know that opening against Despicable Me 2 was a clear sign of dontgiveash*titis.

Disney has done it before. Princess and the Frog got the shaft due to overwhelming (and unwarranted) confidence in Zemeckis' creepy Christmas Carol, which got the primo spot while PATF was relegated to the middle of December. Tangled opened a couple days before Harry Potter 7.1, inexplicably throwing away millions of dollars on what they clearly didn't expect to be a hit. Winnie the Pooh opened the same day as Harry Potter 7.2. John Carter opened in early March - a spot that has never been used to successfully launch a big budget sci-fi actioner.

What's hilarious about the idea that Iger blew Ranger on purpose due to not owning the IP is that Disney USED to own the IP, and sold it years ago when they divested of the Wrather Corp holdings (besides the DLH of course). Now DreamWorks Animation owns The Lone Ranger, and Lord knows ain't nobody at Disney who wants to write checks to Katzenberg.

 

[culturenthrills]

With the poor attendance last week and the crappy weather make you wonder how much WDW attendance the week of the 4th is florida resident driven. With the weather as bad as it was I bet that kept alot of locals away. Me included well not to WDW but to SW or Uni. I may hate the heat and humidity but I was soo over all the rain we had.

 

[Texas84]

22 pages since Friday? Really? Did we solve anything?

 

[culturenthrills]

I am really disappointed with the cutbacks that have been going on at SW and BGT. My friends back in VA have said they have been making cuts at BGW to entertainment and closed their Europe in the Air sim ride for the year. At SW they ditched their nighttime fireworks/fountains show and after years of running 2 shows each of Sea Lion's Tonite and Shamu Rocks they have cut back to one show each and good luck catching both with the way they scheduled them. BGT hasn't cut as severe but they did cut back from being open until 10 on Fri and Sat. It seems like many of our worst fears of them having an IPO and beholden to stockholders is coming true. It would really suck to see those parks take a step back after making so many improvements.

Seems like the only place that hasn't cut back is Universal.

 

[ChrisM]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two PoTC movies but have to admit they completely lost me with the third installment: The Movie That Would Never End.

What an absolute meandering, nonsensical, and alternatingly loud and utterly dull movie that was. It was so painful to watch I've never even considered watching the fourth and, upon hearing most of the gang was back for the reboot of the Lone Ranger franchise, have little interest in seeing that, either.

Conspiracy theories aside, while I don't always agree with their reviews, I find Slashfilm's writers to pen very honest opinions. I can't help but think their take on The Lone Ranger is a worthwhile one:

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-lone-r...between-tradition-and-subversion/#more-183506

I'm sure I'll eventually catch most, if not all, of it on cable at some point.

 

[ChrisFL]

I know. Too bad it isn't EPCOT!

Crap, if Comcast could somehow buy EPCOT and put funding into it.......

 

[ChrisFL]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two PoTC movies but have to admit they completely lost me with the third installment: The Movie That Would Never End.

What an absolute meandering, nonsensical, and alternatingly loud and utterly dull movie that was. It was so painful to watch I've never even considered watching the fourth and, upon hearing most of the gang was back for the reboot of the Lone Ranger franchise, have little interest in seeing that, either.

I liked the third one somewhat...the visuals were nice, but the plot was a complete mess, had no idea what was going on...I've watched it about 3 times and finally think I have some idea of what is going on.

 

[articos]

Interesting, I've heard this, too. have you heard they're looking more downtown, or the attractions area?

Downtown, although I have also heard they've done some research in the I-Drive area too.

 

[ScoutN]

I liked the third one somewhat...the visuals were nice, but the plot was a complete mess, had no idea what was going on...I've watched it about 3 times and finally think I have some idea of what is going on.

Is it bad I completely understood it the first time?

 

[Magenta Panther]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two PoTC movies but have to admit they completely lost me with the third installment: The Movie That Would Never End.

What an absolute meandering, nonsensical, and alternatingly loud and utterly dull movie that was. It was so painful to watch I've never even considered watching the fourth and, upon hearing most of the gang was back for the reboot of the Lone Ranger franchise, have little interest in seeing that, either.

Conspiracy theories aside, while I don't always agree with their reviews, I find Slashfilm's writers to pen very honest opinions. I can't help but think their take on The Lone Ranger is a worthwhile one:

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-lone-r...between-tradition-and-subversion/#more-183506

I'm sure I'll eventually catch most, if not all, of it on cable at some point.

I just watched the Pirates movie "On Stranger Tides" via Amazon over the weekend, and holy cow what a stinkeroo! Scattershot story, poor use of the Blackbeard and Penelope Cruz characters, way too many pointless and badly choreographed sword fights, and no reason to care about what happens. It was even worse than "At World's End", which is saying something. I really liked the first 2 Pirates movies, but the others, whoo. I really hope Disney doesn't make any more Pirates movies UNLESS it has a solid script and good director. Maybe the failure of The Lone Ranger will teach Disney that inserting Depp into a movie won't cure all its ills. Let's hope so.

 

[ShookieJones]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two PoTC movies but have to admit they completely lost me with the third installment: The Movie That Would Never End.

What an absolute meandering, nonsensical, and alternatingly loud and utterly dull movie that was. It was so painful to watch I've never even considered watching the fourth and, upon hearing most of the gang was back for the reboot of the Lone Ranger franchise, have little interest in seeing that, either.

Conspiracy theories aside, while I don't always agree with their reviews, I find Slashfilm's writers to pen very honest opinions. I can't help but think their take on The Lone Ranger is a worthwhile one:

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-lone-r...between-tradition-and-subversion/#more-183506

I'm sure I'll eventually catch most, if not all, of it on cable at some point.

That review is SPOT ON. I just saw this movie and I have to say it was an incoherent mess.

 

[willtravel]

All anyone needs to know about whether Disney wanted to tank the film or not are revealed by its release date. It doesn't take a genius to know that opening against Despicable Me 2 was a clear sign of dontgiveash*titis.

Disney has done it before. Princess and the Frog got the shaft due to overwhelming (and unwarranted) confidence in Zemeckis' creepy Christmas Carol, which got the primo spot while PATF was relegated to the middle of December. Tangled opened a couple days before Harry Potter 7.1, inexplicably throwing away millions of dollars on what they clearly didn't expect to be a hit. Winnie the Pooh opened the same day as Harry Potter 7.2. John Carter opened in early March - a spot that has never been used to successfully launch a big budget sci-fi actioner.

What's hilarious about the idea that Iger blew Ranger on purpose due to not owning the IP is that Disney USED to own the IP, and sold it years ago when they divested of the Wrather Corp holdings (besides the DLH of course). Now DreamWorks Animation owns The Lone Ranger, and Lord knows ain't nobody at Disney who wants to write checks to Katzenberg.

I agree. I think opening LR July 4th weekend was stupid.......

 

[bubbles1812]

Is it bad I completely understood it the first time?

Nope. I got it just fine the first time. *shrug*. I didnt think it was terrible, but they definitely could have streamlined the plot a bit. There were some plot holes you could drive a bus through, but it was ok.

On Stranger Tides however... The only thing I liked about that movie was the Sparrow/Barbossa dynamic. Well, and the mermaid scene was cool. But Blackbeard was just silly (talk about overacting) and Angelica was just lame. And I could have cared less about the Orlando Bloom replacement.

 

[willtravel]

I just watched the Pirates movie "On Stranger Tides" via Amazon over the weekend, and holy cow what a stinkeroo! Scattershot story, poor use of the Blackbeard and Penelope Cruz characters, way too many pointless and badly choreographed sword fights, and no reason to care about what happens. It was even worse than "At World's End", which is saying something. I really liked the first 2 Pirates movies, but the others, whoo. I really hope Disney doesn't make any more Pirates movies UNLESS it has a solid script and good director. Maybe the failure of The Lone Ranger will teach Disney that inserting Depp into a movie won't cure all its ills. Let's hope so.

I'm not one for sequels. I think the first is always the best since the theme of the movie is new, fresh. Especially action movies. LR, that is a different matter.

 

[Captain Neo]

Just got an interesting note from a west coast friend, who has been amused by the bantering here and watching what is going on out there and he wants people to realize there's also a strategic reason for Disney wanting this pic to fail. They don't own the IP. That costs money. ... Iger would much rather showcase Iron Man 3 or Monsters U or Thor 2 or Frozen because Disney owns that IP. He also wants the kudos and accolades when the films of companies he acquired make oodles of money. And Disney will be fine either way.

I'm just disgusted by it all. They gutted this fine film like Butch Cavendish does some digging in Dan Reid's chest cavity. And, yeah, it seems that just like John Carter (or any of the animated failures a decade ago that were screwed with until they lost all sense of what they were and no one bought tickets) this seems like an inside job.

Oh, did I mention that two folks I greatly respect told me tonight that Horn and Staggs have both been public in saying they're looking at all options since Iger decided to stay on an extra year. I hate burying the big stuff at 1:30 a.m., but I am getting older and I was just having a fun with mugons discussion.

Maybe you already have answered this and if so just refer me to the post. But why even greenlight the film if you want to set the movie up to fail? Because it failed Disney now has to take a beating from the media, has to write it off, the stock may be impacted, etc. How do they benefit from doing that? Wouldn't it have been easier to just cancel it during preproduction? (Which at one or two points they actually did to cut the budget)

 

[ctxak98]

I personally Liked At worlds End A lot. I felt the Pirates 2 was the worst of the original 3. It was just a mid story that didn't really solve any mysteries or give away anything. Pirates 3 finished the first story perfectly and I think Pirates 4 would have been better if ALL the original cast came back....But they didn't!

 

[John]

Because of the great Drive-in in my area I was able to see both MU and TLR last night. I am not a movie critic and don't play one on these forums. I go to a movie to be entertained.....to spend a few hours and hope to get my monies worth. Well both these movies did just that.....they entertained me. I enjoyed them both.

I actually like Lr a little more then Monsters U. I personally like westerns. Thought it was well done :shrug:
There is a lot to be said about enjoying a movie at a drive in. Cant hear everyone talking over the movie.... don't have some brat kicking on the back of your seat.....don't have to play that game of who is going to put their elbow where on the arm rest. Don't have to breath everyone elses germ infested sneezes.....yes, I will take a Drive in ayday. Its a shame they are dyeing. You can enjoy the cool night air and a great movie (two) at the same time. What a nice evening.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I totally forgot how much I miss the original Illumination ROE pre show loop, with "they were dancing barefoot". So much better then the Epcot dance party loop they've used since 05.

Amazing how we have righteous indignation about icing on cinnamon rolls but when something actually good changed there was little outrage.

I suppose music isn't fattening

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I suppose music isn't fattening

Clearly you've never attended a Jimmy Buffett concert.