Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2017

Saw it myself, just an average flick, nothing amazing at all. Not sure it deserved to be as big of a bomb as it turned out to be but it has nothing going for it that would make it a great hit either.

 

When I reviewed the Blu-ray, I referred to Doris as "60-something", but I can't recall if I did that based on info from the movie/press releases/online or if I just "assumed" due to Field's actual age...

 

Yeah, I didn't mean to convey "GitS" was terrible or anything, but I did find myself bored with it. It lacks originality and doesn't present much excitement or intrigue - it's just kinda there!

 

Dude has a few points.

 

Alright. On the basis of the trailers of My Name is Doris and Going In Style, which I was forced to sit through at the theater, neither film appealed to me, so no, I didn't go see either one. But I do also read reviews, and regarding Going In Style, I ended up agreeing with Clarke's review in The Irish Times: Going in Style review: tired jokes about tired bodies

One excerpt from Clarke's review sums up the drift of this movie (to me): "This is another of those films that pretends to show older people respect while actually treating them like comic nincompoops. You know the sort of thing. They don’t know how technology works. They forget where they are. They have to go to the loo a lot. Ha ha! It’s funny because it’s patronising."

Perhaps I shouldn't have lumped My Name is Doris in there. I don't really need movies about older people. Most of what Hollywood puts out just isn't interesting to me, and in these cases, when they finally venture for a more mature theme (something other than animated movies, superhero movies, car chase movies, teenage sex comedies, etc.), I think Hollywood falls flat. If you disagree, that's cool.

 

‘Fate Of The Furious’ Cruising To A $102M+ Opening – Saturday Update

 

As a Kinescope on YouTube?

 

Name brand recognition goes a long way.

‘Fate of the Furious’ Blasting to $534 Million in Worldwide Box Office


Universal’s “The Fate of the Furious” is dazzling moviegoers worldwide with an estimated $534.2 million in box office in its launch weekend in 65 territories, Saturday estimates showed.

Should the estimate hold, it would be the largest worldwide launch weekend of all time, topping “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at $529 million, “Jurassic World” with $524.9 million and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” with $483.2 million.

Universal’s estimated domestic gross for the weekend is an impressive $103.8 million while the foreign total is a record-setting $430.4 million. The studio reported Friday’s international gross at $112.1 million for an early total of $194.8 million, which includes previews and territories that began launching on Wednesday.

 

I was thinking earlier today where The Fast And The Furious franchise ranks all time in ticket sales (inflation adjusted) compared to other top franchises (not counting costs associated with each or merchandise sales, video/DVD/Blu-Ray sales, etc.)

I bet the franchise ranks in the top 10 all time, maybe top 5.

Besides Star Wars it would be interesting to see where some other all-time top franchises compare. Not counting whole universes, such as Marvel, as one franchise. Though, Iron Man movies could be counted separately or Avengers separately, etc.

Jaws, Rocky (and Creed), Planet of The Apes (originals and reboots separate), Harry Potter, Lord Of the Rings/The Hobbit, Transformers, Hunger Games, Star Trek, Jurassic Park, etc.

 

Wouldn't it be more objective to compare average grosses among big franchises? Doesn't seem fair to compare overall grosses given the varying # of movies per franchise - some have as few as 4 movies ("Jurassic", "Hunger") and others go into double digits.

FWIW, the 1st 7 "F&F" movies averaged $184 million in the US. That average will obviously rise with "F8" but it remains to be seen how high it'll go.

Of the 7, "Furious 7" did best by a wide margin - it hit $353m, while second place ("F6") peaked at $238m.

Really, "F7" was the only "F&F" flick prior to "F8" to be a true smash hit. Except for "Tokyo Drift" - which bombed and ended up with only $62m - all the others ranged from $238m to $122m - good money but not "blockbuster" in today's climate.

By contrast, the four "Hunger Games" movies averaged $362m in the US - almost twice the average of the "F&F" flicks!

Granted, "Hunger Games" gets a boost due to higher ticket prices - that franchise ran 2012-2015. More apples/apples? "LOTR"/"Hobbit", as those covered a time span similar to the run of "F&F" films.

"LOTR"/"Hobbit" averaged $308m in the US. The weakest-grossing of the 6 - 2014's "Battle of the 5 Armies" - still did better than any of the first 6 "F&F" movies!

Ultimate impression: "F&F" has been a successful franchise but it's not been the consistent box office behemoth it may appear to have been. With "7" and "8", it's turned into an "A"-list franchise, but it wasn't that dominant until then...

 

The Billion + club (Domestic only (un) adjusted

Avengers
Batman
Fast and Furious
Harry Potter
Hunger Games
Iron Man
James Bond
Jurassic Park
Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth
Marvel Universe
Pirates of the Caribbean
Shrek
Spider-Man
Star Trek
Star Wars
Superman
Transformers
Twilight
X-Men

Check out this list

Movie Franchises and Brands Index

 

I knew I forgot a few franchises, especially Pirates of The Caribbean, X-Men, and James Bond. Saw all the movies in each of those franchises in The Billion + club you listed except for the Twilight movies. Those didn't interest me at all.

 

Agreed, it can get a little messy comparing eras/decades, # of tickets sold might be a better barometer however those numbers are not available.

 

# of tickets sales or adjusted for inflation would be better. Averages can be skewed by a few outliers when sample sizes are small.

 

No. A worn 16mm syndication copy run through a TK-26 and fed to an RCA CTC-5

 

Funny list in that it counts movies with only one existing film - but with announced sequels - as "franchises". "Sing" and "Secret Life of Pets" probably shouldn't be on the list until they have at least two movies in existence!

Heck, for my money, nothing should be on the list until it has at least three movies - 2 movies does not a franchise make!

 

Wow Fast n Furious makes over half a billion dollars...

Skull Island broke the half a billion mark finaly.

 

I imagine 9 will pull about the same. But we are talking about F8.

 

oops just noticed that... thats how much I've paid attention to the franchise since Tokyo Drift

 

Well... movies with the focus on elderly characters are like every other genre, there are stupid stereotypical films and there are very good, thought provoking ones.

Both you and "maggie" may want to check out Atom Egoyan's Remember (2015) with Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau, or 45 Years (2015) with Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. Both films with the focus on elderly characters that are well done. I would consider Remember a great film, but that is me. These films are out there.

Sorry to get off-topic.

 

I liked "45 Years" a lot but I thought "Remember" was forgettable - ha ha!

Remember [Blu-ray] (2016)

 

Did you like 'Quartet'. Elderly opera singers. I enjoyed it.

jerol

 

Also worth noting is that the new F&F film is following the continuing trend of stuff doing better and better business outside the US while leveling out or falling in the US. "Fate of the Furious" made almost a full 1/3 *less* opening weekend in the US compared to the "Furious 7."

No doubt we'll see several more films in this series at the very least, and they'll make lots of money. But I'm already picturing the stories a few years from now when Universal dumps like $300 million into making "Fast and Furious 11", and it "bombs" when it only pulls in like $87 million opening weekend or something.

 

Last week I heard Ludacris being interviewed on TV and he said that they are already planning the next two, possibly three, in the franchise.

 

Yes, I've already heard the new one is the first in a "trilogy." Blargh.