Weekend Box Office (5/18 - 5/20): Universal Screams, "You've Sunk My Battleship!"

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by Barth

I haven't seen Battleship so I can't really say whether it's based on the board game. I guess if so, the trailers aren't what the movie is about. I didn't see anyone in the trailer sitting at a table and shouting "B4" and the other person saying "Hit!".

"From Hasbro, the company that brought you G.I. Joe and Transformers." I think it's pretty obvious this is based on another Hasbro property that happens to be a board game called "Battleship".

[Guru Askew]

Originally Posted by RocShemp

"From Hasbro, the company that brought you G.I. Joe and Transformers." I think it's pretty obvious this is based on another Hasbro property that happens to be a board game called "Battleship".

Yeah but you overlook the fact that it's actually from Hasbro's arty prestige division Hasbro Classics.

[auto]

[Kurtie Dee]

It's so odd, because everyone knows that toys are better than games. Hasbro has other toys, right?

These lame-o Hollywood Suits can't even be stupid right anymore.

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by Dragon Tattoo

Nothing makes this more clear than Universal's braindead press team saying that it's “that it’s the anti-geek, anti-midnight movie of all time”. It was made for idiots.

Press team ≠ production team

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

So far, Roger Ebert, Christy Lemire, Entertainment Weekly, Time, and Rex Reed have all given BATTLESHIP fair to good reviews. Sounds like at the LEAST, it's decent B-movie (in an A-movie budget) sort of fun.

Yup

Originally Posted by Hokeyboy

I think baracine's ghost has possessed Dragon Tattoo. In fact, I'm convinced of it.

Originally Posted by Dr. DVD

MIB 3 will open large on Will Smith's star status, but I also predict it will drop unless they have somehow gotten the mojo that made the first one so great back.

As everyone has said, Will Smith hasn't made a movie in years, and hasn't made a great movie in much, much longer.

Originally Posted by Guru Askew

Yeah but you overlook the fact that it's actually from Hasbro's arty prestige division Hasbro Classics.

---

I stand by my original opinion: Battleship is much more entertaining than it deserves to be.

[Matthew Chmiel]

Men in Black 3 has to do more than $30 million next weekend to beat The Avengers and take the number one spot.

... and for those who argue its going to do more, both Battleship and Dark Shadows were being projected to have $40-50M opening weekends. Then The Avengers was released.

[Yeti4623]

Wow, The Avengers is is much bigger than I thought.

[Rypro 525]

Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel

Men in Black 3 has to do more than $30 million next weekend to beat The Avengers and take the number one spot.

... and for those who argue its going to do more, both Battleship and Dark Shadows were being projected to have $40-50M opening weekends. Then The Avengers was released.

per BOM Men In Black is being released in about 4,000 screens. which means its technically possible to see a 100 mil open (i highly doubt it)

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel

Men in Black 3 has to do more than $30 million next weekend to beat The Avengers and take the number one spot.

... and for those who argue its going to do more, both Battleship and Dark Shadows were being projected to have $40-50M opening weekends. Then The Avengers was released.

So you're guessing Men in Black 3 is going to only muster $30 million, right?

The difference between it and the other 2 is despite the 2nd film not being well received, MIB is still a well established franchise and it has the 3D surcharge going for it. Smith's name still helped a crappy part 2 earn $190 million in the US. He's been on hiatus, but he's still a top draw that can open blockbuster movies.

10 years has past. I think the bad taste from part 2 is gone. Low end this should at least get $50 million, but I think it'll earn over $60 million for the 3-day and maybe $75 million 4-day. Who knows. Maybe everyone has forgotten part 2 and is just excited Will Smith is in a Summer movie again and they may flock to theaters next weekend. And then it opens in the $85-$90 million range.

[TallGuyMe]

it's so cool to hate the mainstream.

[Supermallet]

Originally Posted by Guru Askew

Yeah but you overlook the fact that it's actually from Hasbro's arty prestige division Hasbro Classics.

You win. I'm giving you the key to the Movie Forum.

[Shilex]

Originally Posted by JumpCutz

Early word is it's dreadful and with really bad performances.

That's weird. I read early word and people are saying it's pretty good with great production values. I did read some mixed reviews about the performances (mostly Charlize), but with almost all saying Kristen Stewert does a good job. I think she can be a good actress given the right role, but she does have a lack of personality and charisma (reminds me of Sam Worthington)

And back on topic, Battleship is for Pro-Choicers. Spider-man is for Pro-Lifers. Avengers is for everyone.

[DonnachaOne]

Whose early word are you hearing/reading, guys? Right now it's difficult to tell who's just prejudging based on the previews.

[Shilex]

There are actually some reviews on IMDB from users who claim to have seen an early cut. It's IMDB, so take that with a grain of salt, but a few reviews read pretty realistic (and not just like studio plants). Again, there's no way to really know until official reviews come out. Just keep an open mind

[DonnachaOne]

Originally Posted by Guru Askew

Yeah but you overlook the fact that it's actually from Hasbro's arty prestige division Hasbro Classics.

The mark of quality.

[Solid Snake PAC]

G1 represent!

[brainee]

And there goes the chance of ever seeing that Hungry Hungry Hippos movie

[fujishig]

The weird thing about basing a movie off of Battleship... where's the merchandising money going to come from? With Transformers and GI Joe there are new toys and whatnot, but are they going to be selling more board games with this?

[brayzie]

Originally Posted by Barth

What I find funny about these weekly threads is that most people complain that Hollywood has run out of ideas and can only make remakes and sequels. Yet when they try something a bit new and throw a lot of money at it everyone here is glad it fails.

One could argue that to a degre, Hollywood has run out of ideas if they're turning to toy lines and board games to make multi-million dollar films out of. Supposedly the film has little to nothing in common with the game, so the studio just used the name to get people talking about it, which may have contributed something to it's bad box office.

[Shannon Nutt]

Originally Posted by fujishig

The weird thing about basing a movie off of Battleship... where's the merchandising money going to come from? With Transformers and GI Joe there are new toys and whatnot, but are they going to be selling more board games with this?

[DthRdrX]

Originally Posted by fujishig

The weird thing about basing a movie off of Battleship... where's the merchandising money going to come from? With Transformers and GI Joe there are new toys and whatnot, but are they going to be selling more board games with this?

I saw Avengers again yesterday and Cinemark showed a Battleship board game ad before they played the trailers. The old Electronic Battleship game still looked better though.

[Obi-Wan Jabroni]

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

I've also seen new versions of the board game where the ships on one board are alien ships.

[Mr. Cinema]

Boxoffice.com has the total budget for Battleship at $260 million. Ouch.

That's the last time Peter Berg is probably going to get a blank check, and I wonder if anyone at Universal has cleaned out their office.

[DonnachaOne]

Originally Posted by brayzie

Hollywood has run out of ideas

This is such a tired thing to say, and says more about the limited imagination of the complainer than the target of their scorn.

Hollywood never had ideas - that's why writers get hired - and has always milked what's popular and recognizable for whatever those properties are worth. 1931's Dracula wasn't the first or even best by that point. 1939's The Wizard of Oz was, what, the fifth adaptation? When folk tales and classic stories started getting adaptations for their recognition, they stopped being stories retold in new ways, and became brand-mining.

"Hollywood has run out of ideas" is as boring, bland, lazy and inert a phrase as "you should just turn your brain off and enjoy it", "it's not meant to be an award-winner", "firsties" or "Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pine movie". It's all in how the properties are handled - The Avengers is the biggest hit of the year and has entertained millions. If it were bad, you'd have a whole lot of armchair Kaels snapping up the chance to unleash their unique and sharp vitriol, echoing "another comic book adaptation? Hollywood has REALLY run out of ideas" across the internet message boards and twittersphere, meshing together into a formless taupe-colored cloud of white noise.

brayzie, I'm not suggesting, nor extremely heavily implying, that you're guilty of this yourself. It's just a line of thinking that makes no sense on a discussion board, because all it's for is to end discussion.

[Solid Snake PAC]

firsties? *raised eyebrow*