The Debate Over The Biggest Blockbuster Of The Summer Comes To An End!

[Wilt Dasney]

My suspicion all along has been that all of the excitement for AWE on here might have obscured a more widespread discontentment with DMC. I know it made 80 quadzillion dollars, but there was a palpable dropoff in quality from the first one in my eyes. Maybe at the same time that the Pirate fanatics were driving up the box office by seeing it 7 times each, a lot of people who ponied up to see it after loving the first one felt the same way as me and just gave up on the series. I remember that walking out of the Matrix 2, I was so disappointed that I knew there was no way I'd be paying to see Part 3.

It's still early, but...maybe?

 

[imagineer boy]

I really don't think DMC was a dissapointment among the general public. Not as much as Reloaded was anyway. Especially judging by the sales of DMC's DVDs ( its still the #2 top seller at Itunes right now ).

I'm not sure if those numbers are very accurate. My local theater was PACKED yesterday. Besides, we've still got the rest of the weekend to go. Maybe people are waiting until memorial day or Sunday.

 

[dxwwf3]

Guys the movie made nearly $60 million dollars in just a little over one day. There is really no way this could overpass Spider Man 3 because of the 8 PM Thrusday showings. If Disney was THAT interested in records, they wouldn't have released it at that time. I think this will still be the highest grossing film of the year (or AT LEAST number 2 behind Spider Man 3). I highly doubt that Disney is going crazy over these numbers.

And I HIGHLY doubt that Harry Potter will do anywhere near this business.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Yeah, I'm sure it will rake in the bucks. No doubt about that.

It just looks like all the breathless expectation that this thing was going to smash every record and rule summer might have been a tad optimistic. Time will tell.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I really don't think DMC was a dissapointment among the general public. Not as much as Reloaded was anyway.

No, definitely not. Reloaded was refried crap on a stick. :lol:

I was just making a general correlation.

 

[dizpins14]

Box Office estimates are in and looks like Pirates did not do as well as everyone expected. For the weekend Pirates ended up with 112,547,000 and if you include Thursday 126,547,000. So if you include Thursday, which ill be generous, Pirates beat out Shrek 3's numbers by 5 million dollars and falls short of Dead Man's Chest by 10 million.

I'm sure some are going to argue people are waiting to see it on Memorial Day and that these numbers are not that bad; however I think a lot of it has to do with people not liking the second one. Also I think Disney did a poor marketing job on the movie. I work at the Disney Store and I found a lot of people coming into the store saying, "Wow there's another Pirates movie?"

I think it was way too soon for another Pirates movie to come out. I know it worked for Lord of the Rings to wait a year between flims but I feel the nature of the films and story allowed for it to work. A movie like Pirates there needs to be anticipation and waiting a year does not build it. Plus a confusing plot does not help.

 

[Maria]

Could you tell us if there is any scene or anything at the end of the credits? If so, is it worth staying to see it? (Note: the "scene" and the end of the second one was NOt worth staying an extra 5 min or so... IMO)

I saw it last night - and although I guess you already saw the movie, for those who haven´t, yes, you have to see it cause the movie is not ended without that scene.

Now tell me, what was the scene after the credits on the second movie??? I don´t recall seeing it! (and I do watch credits all the time!).
Thanks!

 

[DisneyDefenders]

Funny...But Apparently True

There was absolutely no chance whatsoever that Spidy 3 would make more than Shrek 3 this weekend. The only way it could have happened is if all the Shrek 3 prints had been destroyed over the week.

While I still think that "At World's End" may increase significantly today and tomorrow in the box office, I was clearly wrong about my predictions for "Shrek The Third." This became evident when I went for a screening of "Surf's Up" on Thursday and saw that several showings of "Shrek" were sold out.

One thing that was brought up by someone else on here is the marketing strategy. Disney waited too long to release a trailer. There was a thread on here where I speculated that perhaps Disney was planning an ingenious marketing strategy in the final weeks before "At World's End" opened, but in all honesty the whole "Online Road Block" and additional promotional elements they implemented fell short of what a movie like this needed.

As the poster who works at the Disney Store mentioned, there are many people who are unaware the movie is in theatres. There has recently been quite a bit of promotion for "Dead Man's Chest" premiering on cable, especially from Comcast. So I think that TV spots, on top of some of the early ones being rather weak, may have been lost in the mix.

In addition, although some may dispute this point, I believe that the fact that Disney is no longer promoting their films through McDonald's is huring them. In my opinion, that was probably one of their best promotional outlets, and not having that for "At World's End" undoubtedly hurt them.

For all of you who have been hoping for a huge failure for "At World's End" I'll say this, no matter what happens from here on in, with two of the big movies of the summer to compete against, "At World's End" is a HUGE SUCCESS and I believe will have great longevity in theatres, which is what will get it to break records on the highest grossings movies of all time charts. :sohappy:

 

[Maria]

CNN says not s' good, mate:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/24/review.pirates.end/index.html

Entertainment Weekly gives it a C:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20039931,00.html

I agree... I was expecting more of this movie It was too complicated and I needed to see more of Jack Sparrow (not clones though).

I still think that the first one was the best (even the music). The second one was good too, just different. They both had more things to remember that will become "classics" (why is the rum gone?, savvy?, the giant wheel scene, the bone cages, the multiple eyes - LOL) and for this one, I don´t think I will remember any! Well... maybe the crabs... haha.

I really missed Jack´s drunken comedy on this one and since it was more "obscure"-it was almost all at night and too many battles, I even dozed off a few times.

Oh well... I´ll wait for the 4th one... :animwink:

 

[DisneyDefenders]

Get some sleep!

I agree... I was expecting more of this movie It was too complicated and I needed to see more of Jack Sparrow (not clones though).

I still think that the first one was the best (even the music). The second one was good too, just different. They both had more things to remember that will become "classics" (why is the rum gone?, savvy?, the giant wheel scene, the bone cages, the multiple eyes - LOL) and for this one, I don´t think I will remember any! Well... maybe the crabs... haha.

I really missed Jack´s drunken comedy on this one and since it was more "obscure"-it was almost all at night and too many battles, I even dozed off a few times.

Oh well... I´ll wait for the 4th one... :animwink:

I think you need to get some sleep before you go to the movies, if you're falling asleep in one of the most action-packed movies of the year. And, you're statement that there aren't any memorable moments in this movie!?!

Lets just list A FEW:

1. The first song with great lyrics opens the movie
2. Going over the water fall into Davy Jones Locker
3. The crabs (as you mentioned)
4. Down is up scene...this was pure creative genious!
5. Keith Richards cameo
6. Tia Dalma's transformation into Calyso
7. Maelstorm battle
8. "And all that without a drop of rum!" -Jack Sparrow

 

[Maria]

I think you need to get some sleep before you go to the movies, if you're falling asleep in one of the most action-packed movies of the year. And, you're statement that there aren't any memorable moments in this movie!?!

Lets just list A FEW:

1. The first song with great lyrics opens the movie
2. Going over the water fall into Davy Jones Locker
3. The crabs (as you mentioned)
4. Down is up scene...this was pure creative genious!
5. Keith Richards cameo
6. Tia Dalma's transformation into Calyso
7. Maelstorm battle
8. "And all that without a drop of rum!" -Jack Sparrow

LOL! Probably - I need more sleep... :lol:

You are right, all those are good scenes - probably the ones I will remember, but still... it´s hard to explain... I just laughed a lot more with the other ones and didn´t get too lost in the movie with so many parlays and agreements and legends and all that! :animwink: :wave:

P.S. I posted the same post in another thread - where I should have from the beginning - if you reply, let me know so I can copy and paste this one as a reply! lol

 

[clarksfan95]

One of the things that really hurt this movie on the weekend box-office was that Disney decided it would be a great idea to release it on a Thursday. I think it should've been released on Friday....I also feel that the past 3 Star Wars movies should've broke on a Friday as well. By breaking a movie during the week they damage the weekend (Fri-Sun) numbers significantly. I think that this may have been a problem for this movie.

Also, as mentioned....the promotion for this movie down right sucked. They only started to slightly push it about a month or so ago....way too late. How many trailers got released total? 2? Simpsons has 3 already and is still 2 months away.

I wouldn't consider this movie a flop in any way shape or form though....though I'm not completely sure of what it cost to make, it'll certainly make all of that up. I have heard a bit of dissapointment with it though, my brother who is a huge pirates fan told me that he really did not like it - which kinda surprised me. Who knows, maybe things'll turn around this next weekend...it shouldn't have much competition from here on till Potter and the Simpsons come out in July.

 

[darthjohnny]

Pirates 3 was still the biggest grossing movie opening on Memorial Day Weekend, and it is the second highest grossing opening weekend of all time next to Spider-Man 3.

If Pirates had a traditional Fri-Sun non-holiday weekend, I think many more people would have seen it. I think a lot of people were away/waiting to see the movie on Monday.

Pirates is still holding strong as it is still #1 for the second weekend in a row this weekend.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Pirates is still holding strong as it is still #1 for the second weekend in a row this weekend.

A 62.4% drop isn't what I'd call "strong"...

 

[darthjohnny]

A 62.4% drop isn't what I'd call "strong"...

Yet nothing else has come close to it. I think it has a good chance at remaing at #1 for at least one more week before Fantatic Four comes out.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Yet nothing else has come close to it. I think it has a good chance at remaing at #1 for at least one more week before Fantatic Four comes out.

Ocean's Thirteen is out on Friday and it will do $35m+... Pirates will be looking at $25m or less on this weekend.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

A couple of interesting stats from boxofficemojo.com

Domestically, Spider-Man 3 dropped 61.5% in its second weekend from a $151 million opening weekend. Pirates 3 dropped 62.4% in its second weekend from a $114 million opening weekend.

So Pirates had a larger drop from a smaller opening weekend than Spidey.

Some people were posting about how it would be foreign receipts that would make the difference for this movie.

Well, Spider-Man's domestic haul so far represents 37.7% of its worldwide total, while Pirates' domestic numbers make up 46.3% of its total. So Pirates has actually made LESS overseas as a percentage than Spider-Man so far.

 

[darthjohnny]

Ocean's Thirteen is out on Friday and it will do $35m+... Pirates will be looking at $25m or less on this weekend.

I have some doubt that Ocean's Thirteen will do that great. The first wasn't that great. The second was even worse. It's something about having too many huge A list celebrities in one movie equaling bad film.

 

[dxwwf3]

A couple of interesting stats from boxofficemojo.com

Domestically, Spider-Man 3 dropped 61.5% in its second weekend from a $151 million opening weekend. Pirates 3 dropped 62.4% in its second weekend from a $114 million opening weekend.

So Pirates had a larger drop from a smaller opening weekend than Spidey.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Pirates because I loved both movies, but look at the competition Spidy had in its second week. NOTHING.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2007&wknd=19&p=.htm

While Pirates still had Shrek in week 3 and the biggest comedy of the summer opening in its first week. Granted it won't break any records, but nearly $30 million for an R rated movie like "Knocked Up" is remarkable business. It had the best reviews of the year and there has been a severe lack of comedies released this summer. I didn't get a chance to see it this weekend, but I certainly will sometime this week.

Making a long story short, Pirates had it MUCH tougher in its second week than Spidy did. Not even close.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I'm not trying to make excuses for Pirates because I loved both movies, but look at the competition Spidy had in its second week. NOTHING.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2007&wknd=19&p=.htm

While Pirates still had Shrek in week 3 and the biggest comedy of the summer opening in its first week. Granted it won't break any records, but nearly $30 million for an R rated movie like "Knocked Up" is remarkable business. It had the best reviews of the year and there has been a severe lack of comedies released this summer. I didn't get a chance to see it this weekend, but I certainly will sometime this week.

Making a long story short, Pirates had it MUCH tougher in its second week than Spidy did. Not even close.

A very fair point.

Putting all else aside...go see Knocked Up as soon as you can. I liked it a lot. :wave: