B5Erik

I was surprised to read Bill Hunt's "review" of Speed Racer on the Digital Bits.

He was GUSHING about it - said it was more fun than Iron Man (he said Iron Man was a better movie, but that Speed Racer was more fun). He noted that much of what you see in the movie is straight out of the cartoon, and that long time Speed Racer fans would love it. He did note that it's a, "Turn your brain off at the door," kind of movie, but that it was extremely entertaining nonetheless.

I just wonder if marketing to the kids and fans of the old cartoon is enough. The cartoon really peaked in popularity in the States in the 70's (when I was a kid), so a large percentage (a majority, most likely) of Speed Racer fans are over 40 and may not even go see this movie. The ads and trailers did a poor job of showing the stuff that's straight out of the comic book, and just made it look stupid instead. (It's like they were trying to keep most of the fanboy stuff as a surprise, but in the process hurt their marketing of the movie.)

I still think that Iron Man will likely hold off Speed Racer this weekend, but maybe Speed Racer's a more entertaining movie than it's being given credit for thus far.

Having said that I'll probably wait for the Blu Ray...

Charlie Goose

I don't think so. Iron Man is getting great reviews, so the dropoff won't be much.

Speed Racer looks terrible. And is the original cartoon so well-remembered across the board to ensure a big opening?

Matthew Chmiel

Sigh.

I mentioned in last week's box office thread.

Iron Man will hold the number one spot with $46-48 million whereas Speed Racer will be in second with $32-34 million.

It's upsetting as I've heard nothing but positive about Speed Racer from the folks who I know who have caught it early. Too bad Warner didn't know what the hell to do with it as the tracking numbers are borderline awful. However, to be honest, I don't think the mainstream public is ready for a live-action anime.

I'll be there tomorrow night in IMAX as:

1) I actually enjoyed The Matrix sequels (Revolutions was the better of the two).
2) I enjoyed the cartoon when I was younger.
3) Cameo appearance by Ben fuckin' Miles.

RichC2

Yeah I hear Speed Racer is pretty damn entertaining.

Internet community isn't a particularly strong representation of the masses at large. Shocking, I know. Boondock Saints has a 7.8 on imdb with 55,000 reviews, and a B+ on Yahoo with 9600 votes - and that movie is a giant pile of shite.

Ronnie Dobbs

i saw Speed Racer. Its not very good. You can't really spoil the story because you know the climax is a race and you know who's going to win.

My biggest question is where the fuck did Trixie get a helicopter from midway through the movie.

Mr. Cinema

No way. Iron Man will still manage $50 million, which will be more than enough for the top spot. I wouldn't be surprised if Speed Racer finishes 3rd, behind What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. Nobody is excited about Speed Racer. It will be this year's Summer Bomb.

Next week, Prince Caspian arrives and will squash the remaining life out of SR. It'll be lucky to finish with $75 million. Thankfully, WB has The Dark Knight to fall back on.

The movie is 135 minutes long. That's alot of racing time.

The Bus

135 minutes for Speed Racer? That's honestly at least 30 minutes too long. It's longer than V for Vendetta. Give me a break.

I think if Keanu and Vince Vaughn had been in Speed Racer, it would've done a lot better. WB is doing promotions, but who cares that John Goodman is in a movie?

Brent L

I think that even most of those of you saying no are giving Speed Racer too much credit.

I think it's going to be the biggest dud of the year. It won’t quite be as low or as badly received as, say, Thunderbirds, but it'll be a huge disappointment. I'll be shocked, truly shocked, if I'm wrong on this.

Iron Man will still be #1, and it'll likely make twice as much as what Speed Race brings in, if not even more than that. I'm not even convinced that Speed Racer will be #2. It will be lucky to be able to even reach that high.

Mr. Cinema

The runtime is insane. This is a movie based off of a cheesy 60s cartoon. Not a whole lot of substance there. This should have been 90 minutes tops.

BravesMG

Holy crap, 135 min?? That just checked it off my list, or at best I'll randomly catch it on a boring day. No way I can drag people that already don't want to see it if it runs that long.

Brack

135 minutes long? haha, ADD, FTW.

Kicker_of_Elves

Nope, word of mouth will keep Iron Man in the top spot.

Jericho

I don't think the word of mouth on Iron Man really matters. Very few movies really hang around these days (except family films), and I don't think Iron Man will be different. Narnia and Indiana Jones will push it to the background. Even if it does "have legs", that's more for Weeks 5 and 6, not so important in Week 2.

Still, I can't see Speed Racer beating it. Even with a 50-60% drop, Iron Man takes in $40 million minimum. And I don't see Speed Racer doing those numbers.

RichC2

WOM matters most in the second week, imho, as it's what carried movies like Wedding Crashers to huge success (extremely small drop in the second weekend, when the drop hurts the most.)

Brack

well, something that opens as big as Iron Man will have a decent-sized drop in the second weekend.

Burgundy LaRue

Those nostalgic for Speed Racer will be turned off by the awful trailer. Kids have little or no idea who or what SR is. It's doomed for medicority, if it's that lucky. Iron Man will beat SR by $10-15 million.

hapgilmore

Is it me, or does it seem like every big movie released in the second week of May flops? Well, the only example I can think of is Poseidon. Kingdom of Heaven may have been in the same boat, I can't remember when that came out exactly.

Brack

Van Helsing quickly ran out of steam.

Mr. Cinema

It does sort of seem that way. Poseidon followed MI3 with an opening around $20 million. Kingdom of Heaven kicked off the Summer in '05 with only $19 million.

Battefield Earth followed Gladiator with only $11 million opening. Although that would've tanked in any month.

Looking back, there's not been many 1-2 punches in May. Van Helsing ($51 million) and Troy ($46 million) were back to back big openers. That's about it in recent years. Nothing big followed Spiderman 1 or 3, and rightly so. There was no big follow up to The Mummy Returns 2nd weekend either.

My Other Self

X-Men 3 came out at the end of May. Then there were the Star Wars prequels.

Although, I think those were the end of May.

Dash

The question is, If Iron Man does have a huge drop next week will people say that the movie is not a huge success? I mean The movie already made over half what was expected. (at least what I expected $400 Billion world wide)

My Other Self

I dunno.. reviews are pretty bad, too (granted there are only 19 total, but still 12 of them are "rotten")

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/speed_racer/

Brent L

Not to mention that it's sitting at 0% for the CotC rating (again, not many reviews there yet, but still).

mhg83

But it has a monkey in it. How can it go wrong?

Brack

wow, not a single reviewer worth reading.

*Edit* who gave it a negative review.