Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2018

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Vidiot, Dec 17, 2017.

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  1. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Actually, the post that you quoted of mine, I was just havin' some fun.

    But, actually it appears that I didn't actually understand the complete meaning of your thread. Even though I have been reading them since 2015.

    I thought that it was strictly based on box office. Like the example you made, Solo. It bombed at the box office, where Bohemian Rhapsody is a box office success right out of the gate.

    But, I did not thing that you were pre-judging or judging or the thread itself by any other standards that would predict the success or failure.

    I guess it is one of those things that were so apparent, that I failed to pick up on it.

    I'll take the SW burnout thing one step further. That being, now that the franchise has been acquired by Disney, everybody knows how Disney will milk it to death, by doing every kind of spin-off that is imaginable.

    Disney spinoff's are knot generally known for their quality, only their quantity.

    I don't think that most adults. because even if you were a kid when this started, it has taken three decades to make eight of the nine planned movies.

    I think that, at this point, "we" don't want to be fed other movies, we just want to see how the SW story ends.

    But, after all of that, we will really not be seeing the real "Lucas" story would/will end, because, the franchise is now under control of the mouse king.

    No matter how you look at things now, we will never see the ending as it was intended.

    I have no interest in the other SW universe. the same as I have no interest in any L.O.T.R.'s story that was not authored by Tolkien.

    How bout, let's finish the first SW saga and THEN we can explore, what's next?

    Just my rant...


    I don't recall any prior predictions on Nutcracker so I did a search and came up empty handed. It seems that this one sort of slipped through the cracks.

    What if you took a short trip in the Wayback machine, say about a month or so, before the November opening.

    Out of curiosity, if you did not know about the actual opening weekend, what would your predictions have been?

    FOr my part, I had always assumed that it would be a huge Disney holiday success, following in the footsteps of Beauty and the Beast.

    What say you?
     
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  2. PH416156

    PH416156 Alea Iacta Est

    Location:
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    MAMMA MIA!! (here we go again :D)
     
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  3. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    This isn't the "Bohemian Rhapsody" thread . . .
     
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  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I would've said, "I dunno who the audience for this is. It's a Christmas-based story coming out almost 2 months before the holiday, there aren't a lot of big stars in it, it's a story that's been done many times before, and it cost $130 million." I would not have picked it as a huge hit, but not a bomb either. Forbes says:

    Just as Solo showed you couldn’t just slap “Star Wars” on any old movie, Nutcracker and the Four Realms shows that folks won’t show up for just any Disney live-action fairy tale. With little star power (to the extent that Keira Knightley, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren are “butts in the seats” draws outside of the art house or senior citizen crowds) and mostly “It’s pretty… but there’s no there there” reviews, audiences had no reason to take a chance on this one, especially with Ralph Breaks the Internet and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald just around the corner. Even if the Mackenzie Foy vehicle gets Thanksgiving legs, it’ll need an overseas miracle to justify itself.

    Box Office: Why Disney's 'Nutcracker' Failed To Get A Christmas Miracle

    Speaking of Fantastic Beasts: I hadn't initially thought this would be big, but WB is pushing the hell out of it, and the trailers actually look pretty interesting. It might be OK. Blockbuster... I dunno.
     
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  5. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

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    Dallas, TX, USA
    My bad. :doh:
     
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  6. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    I wouldn’t call myself a Harry-Potter World fanboy, but I’m really looking forward to this one.

    John K
     
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  7. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    Actually we have seen George Lucas' story end; after the release of Revenge of the Sith, he was adamant that both he was done with SW and that the story was over (he even left explicit instructions that no further SW films were to be made, even after his passing!) ... the outlines he wrote prior to the Disney acquisition were not enough to hang a new trilogy on and were more for the purposes of bait during the negotiations with the Mouse House... by the way, that isn't my conspiratorial musing, Kathleen Kennedy herself expressed that very opinion in an interview a while back.

    The Disney SW films have been a total wash so far, precisely because the story is done... it finished 13 years ago.
     
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  8. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I'll take your word for it. My understanding was that there were three groups of three trilogies. That is all that I was led to believe.

    I saw, The Force Awaken's but did not see, The Last Jedi. I have just now bid for a DVD of it on eBay (Won bid $8 w/free shipping).

    I thought the Force was basically a remake of A New Beginning. I didn't think that with Daisy Ridley as Rey, it would not have held it's own very well. I thought that Rey was excellent.

    I will see how I feel about Force, I will wait and hopefully see shortly.

    I do think that the franchise has about run it's course, so it is not surprise that Solo, was not attracting many viewer's. I think that they have milked the franchise so much that most just want it over, so that there can be some sort of closure.
     
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  9. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I don't know about there not being any major stars in it? Keira Knightley, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren are very established stars. and Mackenzie Foy came on the scene in the Twilight Saga and was well received. She did excellent in her roll in Interstellar. MacKenzie was well picked for her roll in Nutcracker. She is a known commodity now.

    There is something about overspending on a "Christmas" themed movie. I can see the logic behind that, because most of the box office is likely to come from the North American market and maybe some from Eastern Europe?

    I think that a Holiday movie opening the 2nd of November is ridiculous! It should have opened after Thanksgiving, when the Christmas buzz would be in big swing. Who wants to see a Christmas movie, three weeks before Thanksgiving?

    I think that opening against Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born, was not a wise move either.

    I think they could have cut the budget in half. The studio's are spending too much on production costs where it is not warranted.

    The story has been done before, but I do not think that really had any impact on whether it should or should not be done again.

    How many times has Alice In Wonderland been made into a movie, yet it was done again.

    All Hollywood does is remake movies! Did we need to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, just to give Johnny Deep a paycheck?
     
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  10. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Harry Potter is over, but the wizarding world is not. Rowing is a prolific writer and like Tolkien, she did not stop creating after her core books were published.

    With Fantastic Beasts, there was already a market waiting for a movie to fill it.

    I stopped in Barnes & Noble the other day, just to see how the store was doing and particularly the media department, as I was on my way to the Best Buy next door.

    What I was really surprise at was the large displays of everything Harry Potter! I was really taken aback, as I thought that Potter mania had long since subsided.

    I need to take another trip to BB and I will take some photos. I did take some photos of their record department, the other day. Their physical media department is still the same size that it was many years back and full of DVD's, Blu-ray's and CD's and had quite a few records that they did not have many years back.

    With a worldwide gross of over 800,000,000, it stands a reason that a sequel is a no-brainer.

    After all, the HP cash cow has long since dried up for WB.

    Your prediction about Fantastic Beasts (Harry Potter tie-in, can't miss) was accurate. But you found the film to be disappointing.

    For me, it was a half and half thing. I liked that main characters and the animals thing, but I did not like the movie plot.

    I felt the same way about the Lost In Space movie, many years back. Character's were good, but the movie plot sucked!

    The thing about the HP franchise is that we know where it was going, with Fantastic Beasts, we don't?

    It clearly needs a better direction for the 2nd installment.
     
  11. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    Absolutely not. He sold the franchise for $4 billion knowing full well that the saga would be extended. He gave his blessing. The Force Awakens is critically acclaimed and the highest-grossing film of all time, not adjusted for inflation. The Last Jedi is critically acclaimed and made $1.3 billion at the box office. In what universe can that be considered a wash?

    This is a sweeping multigenerational saga. A beginning, a middle and an end, each trilogy separated by a generation. And this is the Skywalker saga, not the story of Darth Vader’s downfall and redemption as Lucas would have us believe. The story of the struggle between light and dark in the Skywalker bloodline runs like a river through all three trilogies.
     
  12. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I was given to understand that Lucas would have been up to direction these final movies and that it was Disney's decision that he stay "retired" from the franchise.
     
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  13. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

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  14. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    You would think that with all the new material that MUST be available, these guys never quite recycling the same old ****.
     
  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

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    Hollywood, USA
    No, Lucas said he was done with directing as of 2005. People think it was Star Wars that did it, but I think the disappointment with Red Tails in 2012 is what killed his enthusiasm for making new films. And that was also the year he sold Lucasfilm to Disney... which I think was no coincidence.

    I'd like to see some proof of that. This runs counter to everything I've read on the subject. I think Disney had the option to use George's story outlines for Episodes 7-8-9, but they chose to go into another direction. Some who claim to have read those outlines say they were a lot more political and ethereal than what we saw in the previous films: no giant space battles, no explosions, a lot more philosophical debate and character studies. Clearly, that's not what Disney wanted in a $4.05 billion franchise.

    I find it very telling that Lucas has never given his opinion on what he thought of the last few Star Wars films made without him. As far as I've seen, the most he's said is, "it's technically a very well-made film, but it's not what I would have done" (or words to that effect).
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2018
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  16. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I just hate seeing unhappy billionaires.
     
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  17. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

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    When I met and worked with him almost 15 years ago, it was clear to me that Lucas was not happy by the never-ending criticism from fans on the Star Wars prequels. And he said (word-for-word), "for some of these fans, all they want to do is just tear down everything I do." I can see where that would be wearying after awhile, no matter how much money, success, and fame you had.
     
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  18. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I can see that. but Lucas keeps doing things, like the kid and Jar Jar that are just outright annoying and never go away.

    Natalie Portman brought some new life into the franchise as did Liam Neeson who I think is one of the better not idiotic character's in SW. Of course, they kill him off!

    Even as an adult character, Hayden Christensen is never one that the audience would ever warm up to.

    Jedi light saber dual's while flying through the air are better reserved for wizard dual's.

    Jedi's jumping out of flying speeders to intercept and land on another racing speeder, kind of reminds me of Batman and Robin riding surfboards back to earth.

    I think that these were the type of things that were being mentioned to Lucas.

    The number one positive observation that I had about The Force Awaken's, is no really stupid dialog!

    If Lucas would just refrain from the really stupid things that he is prone to do, I think there would be less critical comments coming his way.

    The prequel's were not generally liked as much as the original trilogy.

    One thing that film buffs are never appreciative of is going back and reediting films, even if they are your own.

    Lucas got rich off of the merchandising, not as much on his movies, up until he sold out the entire franchise.
     
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  19. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

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    Same old sh$t indeed!
     
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  20. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

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  21. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR! Thread Starter

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    None of what you're saying happened in 2018, so you oughta take that to the other threads that criticized the films Lucas actually made. As for the last 4-5 years, George says...

    [​IMG]
     
  22. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    Lucas had originally intended the SW saga to be three trilogies, Episodes I-IX, but by the time he got to Return of the Jedi - Episode VI - in early 1981, he was burned out on SW and decided to end it with that installment, albeit with the intention of returning to tell the prequel trilogy at a later date when technology had made it both financially and practically feasible to produce what was in his head.

    In an interview with the UK's Total Film magazine in 2008, Lucas was asked about further SW movies, and his answer was pretty definitive;

    "I’ve left pretty explicit instructions for there not to be any more features. There will definitely be no 'Episodes VII-IX'. That’s because there isn’t any story. I mean, I never thought of anything! The 'Star Wars' story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story."

    As usual, Lucas' initial instincts were correct... but in 2011, he seemingly went back on that and started researching/writing a sequel trilogy, working on it for a whole year until he signed away his company to the Empire... er, I mean the Disney Corporation... what a pity he didn't spend that same amount of time working out the prequel trilogy story in advance, alas...

    In a universe where storytelling substance should trump style, fickle critical approval, and box-office grosses... there's nothing, absolutely nothing, under the surface of these new films... at least the prequels had a (potentially) dynamite story to back them up, even if they were largely botched in the overall execution... with these new films, there is no story of any dramatic or thematic substance, they have no sense of the mythic resonance that permeated the OT or even (at times) the prequels, and they suffer accordingly.

    Disney has achieved in six years what Lucas couldn't in 35 years... make people (myself included) tired of new Star Wars films... a feat I would have thought impossible even a few short years ago!

    But that's just, like, my opinion... man.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2018
  23. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    The prequels are just awful. No matter how good a story you have, if the execution isn't good there's not much that a good story can do. I find them to be unwatchable for the most part. The newer films are far better IMO. Not without criticism themselves but they're actually watchable.
     
  24. Of the films in that list, all the animated examples seem like no-brainers that will probably end up happening. However, I can't imagine there being much demand for another Boss Baby. "Guardians 3" is an inevitability regardless of the drama happening behind the scenes, and Gladiator 2 feels unnecessary at this stage. Also, didn't Jackie Chan officially retire from action movies? I can't imagine a new Rush Hour being created without him, though I have read that Richard Donner kept the door open for the Lethal Weapon series, so it's not as if the buddy cop genre is without hope. However, the one that's left me the most puzzled is Legally Blonde 3, since I could have sworn this already existed:

    Legally Blondes - Wikipedia

    Sure, it's technically a spin-off, but Reese Witherspoon was fully involved as a co-producer. (For the record, I endured this just once, and that was once more than enough for anyone!)
     
  25. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Exactly. Awakens is - like Return of the Jedi - largely a repeat of Star Wars, but at least it's well-directed. Last Jedi is the first film since Empire to do anything original that wasn't idiotic, like those prequels. It has, um, problems, but at least it's original.
     
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