Posted on 10/07/2017 7:04:07 AM PDT by EdnaMode
4th Update, Friday 11:47PM: What a fascinating business. This weekend a $35 million-budgeted horror movie in its fifth frame will gross close to nine times its production cost with a running domestic B.O. total of $304.6M.
At the same time, a $155M-plus attempt to reboot a cult sci-fi franchise may not even make it to $100M by the end of its domestic theatrical cycle.
We are, of course, comparing New Line/Warner Bros.’ It and Alcon Entertainment/Sony’s Blade Runner 2049, and the latter is now looking at a three-day weekend of $36.5M, an awful start for this brilliantly crafted cinematic opus directed by Denis Villeneuve and executive produced by Ridley Scott. In fact, Blade Runner 2049‘s projected weekend isn’t that far from Scott’s summer misfire Alien: Covenant ($36.1M).
By some miracle, should Blade Runner 2049 get into the low $40Ms by Sunday, it’s still not a fantastic start for this tentpole size budgeted sci-fi film. One financier remarked tonight that they weren’t impressed by the early European B.O. results for the sequel, and that it’s now up to Asia to save Blade Runner 2049.
Those affiliated with the movie have been saying that $400M is the magic breakeven number, but Deadline sources believe that’s far from true. One source with knowledge of the budget claims it’s significantly higher in the $170M range versus the $155M being floated around. To Alcon’s credit they took advantage of foreign credits and rebates, shooting Blade Runner 2049 in Hungary. One insider even asserts they came in under their original proposed budget.
Nonetheless, this is truly a very depressing result for Blade Runner 2049: Here was a passionate attempt to revive a cult classic, be completely faithful to its original property from its mind-blowing production design to its sophisticated plot, and now kerplunk.
(Excerpt) Read more at deadline.com ...
Amazing how many artistic types (musicians, actors, etc) are Obama lovers and Trump haters.
Maybe a case of people with artistic abilities lack logical thinking abilities.
....think the hard Left calls them Useful Idiots.
Audiences today are sharper than the west coast businessmen. If the well padded film crowd had any smarts about them, they would find a script, preferably one not seen before, and begin to work from there. Even the supermarket shelves have seen persons steer away from descriptions “new and improved”. Apparently those well healed know nothing of the true America.
And yet another sequel goes splat. What a surprise.
“Should have been adapted as a TV series.”
It’s going to be.
I do not see many movies in the theater. I try to avoid ones with nudity, sex scenes, and blasphemy.
These things appear to be, for practical purposes, mandatory in Hollywood films.
I was hopeful about this sequel, but it has all the things I want to avoid, even if they are not as prominently featured as in other films.
Kids don’t want to see movies where the “hero” could be their great-grandfather.
While the original has some affection with SF fans, it wasn’t a big mainstream hit when it came out and never won mainstream appreciation.
Underperformance isn’t a surprise, really.
bttt
Ryan Gosling is worth looking at, but I can wait for Netflix.
I liked it. But I don’t see it having mass appeal. I think anybody who’s fan level of the original is below about 7 or 8 won’t like it. It’s a love letter. And let’s face it, love letters not written to you are kind of creepy.
I echo your review and recommend Blade Runner 2049 highly, particularly with all the bells and whistles - large screen, 3D and Dolby Atmos sound system. The sound track and effects were so dramatic that there was considerable physical impact and immersion in the action.
Does the 3D require those stupid glasses? I have NEVER been able to get those ugly things to work...
Yes, but they have improved a great deal over the past few years. The glasses and the technology work a lot better now. I saw BR yesterday in 3D, large curved screen, and with the enhanced sound system. It really added to the experience.
Thanks!
I will most likely be going tonight.
I have seen the original (well, the “original” once, other versions) dozens of times, and consider it one of the finest movies ever made.
I made the mistake of paying six bucks to see BR on DirectTV. An hour in, I’m bored to tears. The movie is mostly eerily orchestrated dead moments leading to nothing. Critics seemed mostly to laud it for its faithfulness to the original.
That’s a silly metric. It has to stand on its own, and this doesn’t.
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