The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
08-17-11, 01:14 PM
#2751
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
That pic of Hathaway kissing that douche is depressing. Delete it now!
08-17-11, 01:17 PM
#2752
DVD Talk Hero
08-17-11, 04:50 PM
#2756
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Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
Since I'm on an iPhone I can't be bothered to multi-quote all the replies to me calling out "Batman Begins" as the box office disappointment it was.
I'll say this: you have to put every spin imaginable on it to make it seem like it performed to WB's satisfaction. It was clearly their response to the money Sony was making on the "Spider-Man" movies and in that respect it was no contest. Warner Bros. was going for their fourth consecutive decade of superhero dominance and before the Pfized corporation came along an intervened they were failing.
Most people just perpetuate the "Batman Begins as blockbuster" myth like it's gospel without ever bothering to back it up and they get away with it because the Nolanites are more than happy to forget what it was really like back in '05. I personally remember sitting in a theater with literally about 7 other people on opening day (though it was a matinee to be fair) and being pretty surprised. Culturally it was a complete dud too. I was born in '81 so I was in heaven during the cultural phenomenon that was '89 when "Batman" cme out but "Batman Begins" was just another movie in '05.
As for the "legs" that's the ultimate weak euphemism. It's almost like Warner Bros refused to take it out of the dollar theaters until it hit $200 million just to save face. It felt like either that or they stood to lose the rights or something if they didn't or something. I believe the final domestic tally is something like $203 million or something. I'm surprised they didn't put it out of it's misery a $200,000,000.01.
DVD sales weren't so hot either. I believe it barely cracked the top 10 for the year and I've seen fanboys use it's November release as an excuse for this but in reality the overwhelming majority of home video sales occur in the last few weeks of the year due to the holidays and the fanboys will also conveniently overlook pesky little facts like the one about how "Revenge of the Sith" managed to hit #1 for the year when it hit DVD 2 weeks AFTER "Batman Begins".
That's the name of the game for BB apologists though. You can blame "Batman and Robin" for the failure of "Batman Begins" but you have to ignore the fact that "Batman Forever" managed to do huge business after the poorly-received "Batman Returns". Or how the warm reception of "Forever" wasn't enough to make "Batman and Robin" a hit. The success of single "Batman" movie before "Begins" can be squarely attributed to the content of the film itself yet with "Begins" you have to believe that all of a sudden people are incapable of watching a trailer or looking at a poster or whatever else was screaming in their face that they weren't in store for Batman on ice skates or Arnold Schwarzeneggar making awful snow and ice puns.
Then you have the guy in this thread who has the balls to blame "War of the Worlds" for ruining BB's second weekend by coming along making $100 million in a week like it's a big mean bully without having the sense to realize that he's essentially underlining what BB failed to do in the first place.
To this day you still see evidence of BB's failure here and there whether you're seeing the trailer load up before TDK on Blu (seriously, when was the last time you saw this on a sequel? It's like they're saying "hey, if you like this movie there's a whole 'nother one we spent a lot of money that you never saw!") or the super-awful "Bride of the Son of the Dark Knight's Curse" title for the third film that attempts to start a new naming convention as of the first film never existed.
I'll say this: you have to put every spin imaginable on it to make it seem like it performed to WB's satisfaction. It was clearly their response to the money Sony was making on the "Spider-Man" movies and in that respect it was no contest. Warner Bros. was going for their fourth consecutive decade of superhero dominance and before the Pfized corporation came along an intervened they were failing.
Most people just perpetuate the "Batman Begins as blockbuster" myth like it's gospel without ever bothering to back it up and they get away with it because the Nolanites are more than happy to forget what it was really like back in '05. I personally remember sitting in a theater with literally about 7 other people on opening day (though it was a matinee to be fair) and being pretty surprised. Culturally it was a complete dud too. I was born in '81 so I was in heaven during the cultural phenomenon that was '89 when "Batman" cme out but "Batman Begins" was just another movie in '05.
As for the "legs" that's the ultimate weak euphemism. It's almost like Warner Bros refused to take it out of the dollar theaters until it hit $200 million just to save face. It felt like either that or they stood to lose the rights or something if they didn't or something. I believe the final domestic tally is something like $203 million or something. I'm surprised they didn't put it out of it's misery a $200,000,000.01.
DVD sales weren't so hot either. I believe it barely cracked the top 10 for the year and I've seen fanboys use it's November release as an excuse for this but in reality the overwhelming majority of home video sales occur in the last few weeks of the year due to the holidays and the fanboys will also conveniently overlook pesky little facts like the one about how "Revenge of the Sith" managed to hit #1 for the year when it hit DVD 2 weeks AFTER "Batman Begins".
That's the name of the game for BB apologists though. You can blame "Batman and Robin" for the failure of "Batman Begins" but you have to ignore the fact that "Batman Forever" managed to do huge business after the poorly-received "Batman Returns". Or how the warm reception of "Forever" wasn't enough to make "Batman and Robin" a hit. The success of single "Batman" movie before "Begins" can be squarely attributed to the content of the film itself yet with "Begins" you have to believe that all of a sudden people are incapable of watching a trailer or looking at a poster or whatever else was screaming in their face that they weren't in store for Batman on ice skates or Arnold Schwarzeneggar making awful snow and ice puns.
Then you have the guy in this thread who has the balls to blame "War of the Worlds" for ruining BB's second weekend by coming along making $100 million in a week like it's a big mean bully without having the sense to realize that he's essentially underlining what BB failed to do in the first place.
To this day you still see evidence of BB's failure here and there whether you're seeing the trailer load up before TDK on Blu (seriously, when was the last time you saw this on a sequel? It's like they're saying "hey, if you like this movie there's a whole 'nother one we spent a lot of money that you never saw!") or the super-awful "Bride of the Son of the Dark Knight's Curse" title for the third film that attempts to start a new naming convention as of the first film never existed.
08-17-11, 05:19 PM
#2757
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Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
That picture wasn't posted here that I recall. That is indeed funny. 
wmlopez is on my ignore list but I read his little post above mine. Pretty much reaffirmed why he's on my ignore list.
wmlopez is on my ignore list but I read his little post above mine. Pretty much reaffirmed why he's on my ignore list.
08-17-11, 08:21 PM
#2758
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
I hope Anne Hathaway never does this again...especially when it's time to do promos for TDKR.
<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uKvQvWTZFWg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uKvQvWTZFWg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Damn... she looks cute as hell in that Conan clip.
08-17-11, 11:30 PM
#2763
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08-17-11, 11:40 PM
#2764
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Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
I started a Dark Knight thread on the movie boards on spawn.com. GuruAskew came in there bashing Nolan's Batman movies. You should have read the crap he was saying leading up to the release of The Dark Knight. Well, actually he's recycling a lot of the same stuff here, Nolan's Batman is boring, BB's "weak" box office, the hype was only based on Ledger's death. He also talked about how much better Burton's were, how the Spider-Man movies (yes, even #3) were better than BB, how it likely wouldn't do that much better than BB at the box office and how Indiana Jones would destroy it. As if box office = quality. He thought it was absurd that anybody would mention the possibility of Ledger getting nominations for his performance. To be fair, that speculation was only based on trailers and clips...which before seeing the movie did seem far fetched as we are talking about the Academy.
The funny part is, his last post on the Spawn boards was the Monday following TDK's release. Something about it not really beating Spider-Man 3's opening weekend because of inflation and IMAX or some nonsense. But after that he just couldn't "show his face" around there anymore. Kind of sad he took off with his tail between his legs because for the most part, his internet slap fights were entertaining.
The funny part is, his last post on the Spawn boards was the Monday following TDK's release. Something about it not really beating Spider-Man 3's opening weekend because of inflation and IMAX or some nonsense. But after that he just couldn't "show his face" around there anymore. Kind of sad he took off with his tail between his legs because for the most part, his internet slap fights were entertaining.
08-18-11, 07:55 AM
#2765
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
I love how embarrassed she got at the end of that clip. Really cute.
08-18-11, 10:58 AM
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Re: The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan)
Although this way of thinking screwed Adam & Eve, but it's who's telling you that I'm talking about.
08-18-11, 11:09 AM
#2769
DVD Talk Hero
08-18-11, 11:44 AM
#2771
DVD Talk Hero
08-18-11, 01:14 PM
#2773
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
08-18-11, 01:22 PM
#2775
DVD Talk Legend
