Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2017

You didn't like it?
Oh well.

 

Another good piece on "the disastrous summer box office of 2017," which some are calling the worst in 25 years...

Reports now, according to Exhibitor Relations: if things continue as they have, this will be the lowest box office in a quarter century. While there have been bright spots (“Dunkirk”) and surprises (“Baby Driver”) the failures have outweighed everything. Start with a total write off on “King Arthur” and go from there. Then go to “The Dark Tower.”

One terrible new failure: “Nut Job 2,” they say, is the biggest loser ever in wide release (4000+) studio movie. It made just over $8 million this weekend.

Four years ago, at a USC symposium, famed and very successful directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg warned the film industry that reliance on blockbusters– tent pole movies that failed would cause an implosion. At first no one took them seriously. But now maybe we’re seeing what they meant.

Spielberg said at the time: “That’s the big danger, and there’s eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown. There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that’s going to change the paradigm.”

Report: Movie Box Office On Track for Lowest in 25 Years as Spielberg-Lucas “Blockbuster Implosion” Omen Prevails

 

Thinking next years mega movie MEG is gonna bomb.

 

I'm not surprised that The Nut Job 2 didn't do well at all.

 

What's MEG? I know of Ready Player One, and that looks iffy to me.

Haaaaaaarible reviews. A big 11% on RottenTomatoes so far.

 

I thought you were referring to me.
Here's me thinking who's the other nut job.. Lol

 

Meg. ( 2018).
Sorta Jurassic Park meets Jaws.
Big budget extravaganza.

 

No. I was referring to the movie.

 

Oh, where's Paul Blart to save this summer's awful box office?

 

Not Ryan.

 

In East Tennessee, we call movie big bombs like this, Atomic or Nuclear. Good news, the folks in Grainger County who grow tomato missiles, will do big business supplying moviegoers with tomato missiles to hurl at the screen. So, this year we'll have at least two movie box office bombs so big we'll be naming them Fat Man and Little Boy!

 

Why is there such a disconnect between critics and filmmakers anymore? Not that I want filmmakers pandering to critics but there shouldn't be that much of a disconnect.

 

It's not like the first movie was a smash - it made $64 million US.

It took in $120m worldwide on a $42m budget, so it made a little money, but it wasn't exactly a blockbuster...

 

Somehow I completely missed Nut Job. I guess I'll pass on the lame sequel too.

 

You missed nothing!

I went to see it theatrically because Regal offered "Crown Club" members a huge point bonus to go but it was a pretty weak movie.

I barely remember it, honestly - it was wholly mediocre...

 

Those type of films aren't necessarily the problem. My take away from the article that Vidiot posted is that's really about the lack of good movies. They have the hype but without the reviews to back it up. So you aren't seeing people saying "this is a movie we have to see".

I think it generally comes down to what it usually comes down to; bad story telling.

 

It's hard to say what's going on with the failure of so many "tent pole" movies this year.

Sure, you can say it's bad reviews, but "War of the POTA" got excellent reviews and underperformed.

Seems like "Wonder Woman" is the only franchise blockbuster that surpassed expectations. With $306 million US, I guess "Spidey: Homecoming" did fine, though even it feels like a commercial disappointment...

 

I sense that the movie Geostorm will probably bomb too (I'm seeing it anyway.) With all its reshoots and its scheduled release date (Oct. 20) pushed back multiple times, I imagine the budget is much higher than originally planned. Anyone know what the current budget is? It's produced, written and directed by Dean Devlin (directorial debut) and starring Gerard Butler, Ed Harris and Andy Garcia. Devlin is no stranger to producing/co-producing some previous big movies...Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot and the awful Independence Day: Resurgence. Apparently he and Roland Emmerich worked together on more films than I initially thought. LOL.

 

True many movies get excellent reviews and underperform. There could also be some titles that have just hit fatigue in the eyes of the public and they don't care as much as well and that could even cause general fatigue over these sorts of films.

Perhaps rather than saying bad reviews, it's more about getting people excited about a movie and good reviews don't always result in that. I dunno. Clearly some of these films are working so I can't say it's the genre itself that's the issue.

At times it does feel like it's more about the brand rather than the story telling and they'll push a movie out based on that brand even if it isn't good enough to be pushed out just yet.

Yeah Spidey does feel like a bit of a commercial disappointment. I thought it would do better anyway.

 

I think a lot relates to the fundamental fialure of some of these movies to be centered on characters you can care about, or at least respect. In the last two Superman movies, he seemed kind of clueless. And Henry Cavill usually conveys some innate intellgence as an actor. So there was a disconnect. I wonder if the studio understands how conceptually flawed their approach was (and I hope no longer is). so, ok, you invert Superman's decency, leaving the auidence to root for..... what?

 

I was surprised to see "Homecoming" hit the $300m mark in the US - I thought it petered out (ha!) pretty quickly after its debut. I guess after a big 1st week drop that it had legs!

 

Spiderman: Homecoming did $702M worldwide (and counting), which is exactly as much as Amazing Spiderman 2 made in 2014. The difference is: the latter film cost upwards of $275M. The new film cost "only" $175M, so from that point of view, it's much more profitable.

 

Yeah, "Homecoming" undeniably did well - it still feels like a disappointment commercially to me.

I think everyone expected it to do HUGE HUGE HUGE numbers, and it didn't.

Sure, $300m US is nothing to sneeze at, and it's better than either of the "Amazing" films.

However, it's less than any of the Raimis - and those are all 10-15 years old.

I think because "Homecoming" marked Spidey's first MCU feature, folks expected it to go insane at the box office, and it didn't...

 

Exactly...and adjusted for ticket price inflation, any of the Raimis destroys the boxoffice performance of Homecoming