Box office roundup

[shiznitz]

Saw 'Iron Man' on Saturday with the wife and we both quite liked it. RDJ makes you ignore how silly and preposterous the story really is. That script could have very easily been made into a VERY bad movie.

Agreed. Travolta as Tony Stark would have turned this same movie to shit. RDJ is teh winnerz!

[HaemishM]

Luckily, it wasn't just RDJ that made Iron Man great. He had good chemistry with all the other actors and that helped tremendously. I didn't dislike Gweneth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges as Stane worked out really well.

[Signe]

I missed something.  What is RDJ?

[stray]

Robert Downey Jr.

[Jain Zar]

Speed Racer fucking tanks.

Iron Man dropped off 49% giving it a second weekend of just over $50 million, quite respectable considering the type of movie and the magnitude of the opening weekend.  Meanwhile Speed Racer barely limped past What Happens in Vegas to take the #2 spot at about $20 million.  Bombs away.

Aww.  I just got back from seeing it and it was a fun movie.  Admitted, the first 10-20 minutes kinda sucked, but then you got used to it being a live action family cartoon and all the gee whiz kickass race sequences began and it was all good fun from there on out.

A shame they put it up so close against Iron Man, which is probably for a bit older of a general audience, but to be honest is pretty fucking great.

Too many movies of a rough general action/adventure/nerd interest base this month.   Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones all in one month?  They should have spread it all out.  Then Hulk, Batman, and Star Wars CGI in the summer, plus a Sci Fi oriented Pixar flick?

That's a Shit Ton of films I would like to see because I am a horribly stunted man child who seems to avoid almost every Oscar nominated film in existence every year without fail.  (I think maybe LOTR, Braveheart, and Silence of the Lambs are the only ones I have actually watched from the last 2 decades.  I know.  I suck and should watch more of these deep important films instead of stuff blowing up in things that aren't in any semblence of reality.)

[Signe]

Robert Downey Jr.

oops.  I like him, too. 

[Velorath]

Meanwhile Speed Racer barely limped past What Happens in Vegas to take the #2 spot at about $20 million.  Bombs away.

With the final numbers for the weekend in, Speed Racer did in fact slip to #3 with its actual total only being about 18.5 million.

[Miasma]

Whenever I see ads for that movie I can't believe it got the greenlight, I have no idea what they were thinking.

[Signe]

Is it not a children's film?  By children, I mean like G rated or something, with animated bits in it.  I saw some adverts and it looked that way.

[Riggswolfe]

That's a Shit Ton of films I would like to see because I am a horribly stunted man child who seems to avoid almost every Oscar nominated film in existence every year without fail.  (I think maybe LOTR, Braveheart, and Silence of the Lambs are the only ones I have actually watched from the last 2 decades.  I know.  I suck and should watch more of these deep important films instead of stuff blowing up in things that aren't in any semblence of reality.)

You and I sound exactly the same in our movie tastes. No Country for Old Men? I'll pass. Ironman? I'm fucking there.

[Miasma]

Is it not a children's film?  By children, I mean like G rated or something, with animated bits in it.  I saw some adverts and it looked that way.

No believe it or not it's rated PG for language and violence.  It's supposed to be a serious film for grown ups...

[Signe]

Is it not a children's film?  By children, I mean like G rated or something, with animated bits in it.  I saw some adverts and it looked that way.

No believe it or not it's rated PG for language and violence.  It's supposed to be a serious film for grown ups...

Oh.  Oh dear.  The adverts don't do it much good then, do they?

[Lantyssa]

Not really.  The previews make me think it would be great for adults old enough to remember speed racer while on a trip.  Not that large an audience unfortunately.

[WindupAtheist]

I remember Speed Racer.  It sucked shit.  What a horrible cartoon.

Also, can you believe they budgeted this shit at like $120 million?  WTF?

[Signe]

I never watched it so maybe that's why it looked like a kid's film to me.  They should have done Dexter's Laboratory instead.

[shiznitz]

The Speed Racer cartoon was about racing in mountains, plains, ice, snow, etc. Outisde. The movie looks like they are racing inside a candy cane or a pinball machine.

[Jain Zar]

It was a family film.  The few bits of foul language were probably just there to keep it from getting a G rating.
Most of the violence was cartoon oriented.  Kicks in the nuts, 80s pro wrestling sorts of fighting..
Nobody dies from what I could tell.  Every car has this bouncy bubble thing that comes out when their ride explodes.

2 scenes that make the movie a must watch?

JOHN GOODMAN DOES WRESTLING MOVES ON A NINJA. 

During a mid air flip, Racer X PUNCHES A VIKING RACECAR DRIVER IN THE FACE. 

Its the sort of movie that had it been around when I was 12 years old it would be one of my most cherished childhood films that actually holds up pretty well today.

That and if I wasn't already playing Car Wars this movie would make me start up a campaign. 

[rk47]

so is that a glowing recommendation to take two grade school kids to Speed racer instead of Ironman over the weekend?
Cause I'm taking my colleague's kids to the cinema this coming weekend. I've seen Ironman, it's quite slow to digest at the start, kinda hard for children to swallow. And the suit building don't seem interesting for kids.

[stray]

I would have flipped out if I had seen Ironman when I was young. Pretty sure I would have loved Speed Racer too.

[HaemishM]

Do the kids a favor. Take them to Iron Man. They'll get it eventually. Giving the Wachowski Bros. money for Speed Racer is just a goddamn crime.

[SurfD]

It was a family film.  The few bits of foul language were probably just there to keep it from getting a G rating.
Most of the violence was cartoon oriented.  Kicks in the nuts, 80s pro wrestling sorts of fighting..
Nobody dies from what I could tell.  Every car has this bouncy bubble thing that comes out when their ride explodes.

2 scenes that make the movie a must watch?

JOHN GOODMAN DOES WRESTLING MOVES ON A NINJA. 

During a mid air flip, Racer X PUNCHES A VIKING RACECAR DRIVER IN THE FACE. 

Its the sort of movie that had it been around when I was 12 years old it would be one of my most cherished childhood films that actually holds up pretty well today.

Exactly.  Im 90% certain that the average kid these days sees more violence in a half hour worth of typical saturday morning cartoons, and hears more swearing during recess on the playground at school.

[Evildrider]

I saw Speed Racer and it was OK... I have definitely seen worse.  I'm sure the younger set will really like it.

As far as taking kids to Iron Man.  I saw a matinee of it before I went to my night class, and there were a ton of kids there.  They really seemed to enjoy it, especially the row that had like 10 kids all with Iron Man costume masks on.

[WindupAtheist]

Leading up to Iron Man, I kept hearing how it was risky because Iron Man is sort of a B-list character.  Which was true enough.  But I wonder if the movie, to be movies plural soon enough, could bump the character up to A-list as far as the public consciousness is concerned.

[Evildrider]

I don't think he's as B-List to the newer comic readers.  He's definitely had more face time, especially with the whole Civil War thing.

When I was growing up, most of my Iron Man came only through the Avengers.

[Velorath]

Leading up to Iron Man, I kept hearing how it was risky because Iron Man is sort of a B-list character.  Which was true enough.  But I wonder if the movie, to be movies plural soon enough, could bump the character up to A-list as far as the public consciousness is concerned.

I don't think people really care whether the character is A-list or B-list.  Fucking Ghost Rider did $228 million worldwide.  Hell, one of the biggest franchises in recent years was based on a a fucking ride at Disney.  It's just like doing any other movie, in that you just need good marketing and good buzz.

Edit:  Also keep in mind that it was Blade of all characters that really kicked off Marvel's success in movies.

[stray]

Umm, next to Reed Richards, Iron Man is like the most important character in the Marvel U.

[WindupAtheist]

General populace.  As in, people who don't know WTF the "Marvel civil war" is.

[stray]

Ah, gotcha. One could have said the same for the X-Men too, I guess. There's really only like 4 comic characters the general populace is acquainted with.

[Megrim]

I felt as though i should point this out. A curiously underrepresented bit of history, unfortunately.

[stray]

A curiously underrepresented bit of history, unfortunately.

Strange, isn't it? Probably the biggest military badass in history (not to mention that as much as 11 percent of the world's population might be able to claim to be a descendant from him apparently... probably myself included!), and yet...


Anyways, interesting looking flick.

Also, he was the original writer of Conan, if you didn't know. ;)

The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their horses and take away their possessions. To see the faces of those who were dear to them bedewed with tears, and to clasp their wives and daughters in his arms

[Engels]

I felt as though i should point this out. A curiously underrepresented bit of history, unfortunately.

Dude, I am so there.

[Velorath]

I felt as though i should point this out. A curiously underrepresented bit of history, unfortunately.

I've been looking forward to that one, but it will likely be yet another limited release that my theater would have gotten were it not being released in the middle of a bunch of "blockbuster" movies which are taking up most of the screens.

In other news Prince Caspian drastically underperformed this weekend going by early estimates.  Iron Man continues to be the only hit movie of the season so far, with a smaller than expected drop-off in its third weekend.  Indiana Jones has been getting very mixed reviews from early screenings, though I'm not sure how much that will hurt ticket sales, if at all.  Meanwhile, most of the theaters around me are reporting higher than expected pre-orders for midnight showings of Sex and the City, ensuring my faith in humanity remains at rock bottom.

[Selby]

In other news Prince Caspian drastically underperformed this weekend going by early estimates.

Maybe if they had promoted it that would have helped.  I didn't even know it was out until yesterday morning when they mentioned it underperforming.

[Riggswolfe]

In other news Prince Caspian drastically underperformed this weekend going by early estimates.

Maybe if they had promoted it that would have helped.  I didn't even know it was out until yesterday morning when they mentioned it underperforming.

Releasing it between Iron Man and Indy was stupid. I'd have put it out at Christmas so it'd have A) The whole "family" movie season thing going for it and B) very little competition from big movies.

[Merusk]

In other news Prince Caspian drastically underperformed this weekend going by early estimates.

Maybe if they had promoted it that would have helped.  I didn't even know it was out until yesterday morning when they mentioned it underperforming.

You and I watch drastically different TV stations.  I couldn't get away from the damned ads.  I've known for a little over a month now it was coming out last week.

Releasing it between Iron Man and Indy was stupid. I'd have put it out at Christmas so it'd have A) The whole "family" movie season thing going for it and B) very little competition from big movies.

Yep.   The whole reason I didn't go see it was there was no way I was blowing $40 3 weeks in a row on movies.