Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

I think it'll have a $50M opening and about $130M or so total domestic.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Well, it wasn't called "unfilmable" because it looked good in red. It was because it was/is thought to be um, well, you know. It had nothing to do with it not having enough fans.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

For sure - but TDK (for example) had stellar word of mouth from comic fans and casual moviegoers alike, which undoubtedly helped its' box office numbers.

I fear that Watchmen won't fare as well. I think it will have a day or 2 of big numbers, but then a significant drop.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

$42.7m

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

<a href="http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/watchmen"><img src="http://www.metacritic.com/_images/scores/35.gif"></a>

Yikes. I'm starting to think over $50MM was a bit generous.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

I think there's a quantitative difference between Watchmen's fan base and that of Harry Potter. Studios react a lot quicker and address issues of "unfilmability" with greater vigor when there are Harry Potter numbers involved.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Yeah and its at 76% on RT. Reviews are not going to matter much. The hype is there and people want to see it. It is going to have a huge opening weekend.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Reviews matter because people that don't know anything about Watchmen (as in most people) are going to wait.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

LOTR was considered "unfilmable" as well, wasn't it?

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

And look how many years it took them to make LOTR...52 years!
(Well, it was more "animatable" than "filmable," hence, Bakshi's 1978 animated LOTR feature.)

If Tolkien's books had initially been best-sellers the way the Harry Potter books have been, LOTR might have been a major Hollywood production--in Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound!--in the 1950s. (Fox made PRINCE VALIANT in 1954--in Cinemascope--based on a successful comic strip!) But the Tolkien books weren't that kind of success right away. They built up a fanbase over the years, developing a cult following but not really taking off until the 1960s when the hippies and the counterculture embraced them. (I should know--I remember those days.) Fortunately the fanbase kept building in the post-hippie era so that there was enough interest to get Peter Jackson's film series off the ground when it did, 20 years after Bakshi's film and more than enough time for it to have thankfully faded from public memory.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Also, LOTR's unfilmable nature really stems from the visuals. While some of the backstory is complicated, once the gang gets on their way, it's a pretty simple tale. Part of why Watchmen was considered unfilmable was because of all the information given to the audience through secondary sources and story tangents. It's a much more complex piece in terms of the actual storytelling.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Does anyone know if the Regal Cinema chains take the 'Hollywood Movie Money'? i put the zip in their site and one time it came up and one time it didn't. i didn't know if they just list all the theaters in the area or just the ones that are eligible...

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Regal should take it, they always have in the past.

I went to the site locator also, and had problems searching for theaters, but I think that is becuase the HMM website has not been updated with Friday's showtimes in my areas. If that is that same problem you are experiencing, try again closer to Friday.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

well, you just have to put in the zip (not promo code) and it should tell you the theaters, regardless of movies shown that accept. mine was just hit or miss, but i think you're right and pretty sure they accept.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

My first real post in over a year and it's about a comic book movie. Appropriate. ;)

I think it will have an impressive opening, possibly less than 300 as that had a subject matter that interested a lot of people (hunky guys, tons of kick ass action, etc.) outside of the comic book realm. The fact that this has the name of the guy who made, er, excuse me, "The Visionary Director of 300" behind it has some people interested, but a small amount.
From what I have heard, this movie is very hard to follow if you have not read the book, and the book is pretty hard to follow in and of itself I will say. This is not made for the general public, it is made for a small group of fanboys who can pump money into it time and again (or could have were it not for the economy). The fanboys are all guaranteed ticket and multiple DVD sales, and you know they will release as many different versions of this flick as they can. The general public won't get it, and it won't last long. Sad, but true.
However, that said, what do comic geeks like myself have to lose if it underperforms? Watchmen has always been the adaptation we longed for, so the whole "now they'll never make Watchmen" worry is gone. We'll get our adaptation, and if it blows, well, Snyder should be commended for making it as faithful as he did, and perhaps people will listen to Alan Moore about some things needing to stay on the printed page.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

From what I've heard, this is tracking on par with 300 if not slightly above. I do feel that we're going to see a very quick, very steep % drop, similar to X-Men United.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Luckily Watchmen is significantly better than X3.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Every Regal I've ever went to accepted them.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

A variation on the "Hitler finds out that Blu-Ray has won the format war":


Funny shit.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

^I'm glad the editor was able to throw in Stalin in one of those sentences. :)

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

That is funny...

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Cute, but obviously less funny now than it was when it was about HD DVD. Also, the guy doing the subtitles needs to learn how to spell.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

meh, wasnt very funny.
could hardly see the subtitles.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

good. there is one close to me that takes the cert, but crappy theater. the one 20+ minutes is stadium and much better and Regal so i should be good to go.

Re: Box Office Predictions: Watchmen
 

Ahhh... bullcrap. I read it monthly when I was 14 (when it first came out) and it was a dense, complex read, but an entertaining one, and VERY easy to read.
*shrugs* I suppose you're speaking for yourself... Even if the movie tanks financially, if I'm happy with it then I got what I wanted. I think the larger issue people are concerned with is how the film's financial performance will impact future potential comic-related movies. If "Watchmen" does well and if it results in a big-screen, big-budget "Zot!" movie, or "Strangers In Paradise", or "Invincible" (shout outs to McCloud, Moore, and Kirkman!) then yeah, I want to see the movie do well.