Posted on 05/05/2006 11:06:21 PM PDT by MadIvan
Hollywood is asleep at the wheel. They have grown comfortable and take us "peons" for granted and figure we will fork out the bucks for their remakes and sequels. They have grown lazy and are more involved in political matters than film making. What a shame for us and them.
This projects out to 10 billion in annual sales. That really is pretty bad.
Not when you consider it in terms of the industry's usual take. Hollywood's not nearly as big as some are led to believe--the shoe industry, for example, rakes in astronomical sums compared to Hollywood.
On the one hand, it depends on who you ask about this year's box office:
"The season, which lasts roughly four months starting the first weekend in May, earns movie studios as much as 40 percent of annual ticket sales. Already this year the box office is up, and highly anticipated films such as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" have optimism running high. "The marketplace is definitely on an upswing," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc. "'M:I:III"' is the type of movie that will set the tone" for the summer ahead. But Dergarabedian sounded a cautious note saying that just one slip-up could lead to box office gloom, which is what happened last year when the season began with a bomb, "Kingdom of Heaven." That is why the "M:I:III" start is so important. ADVERTISEMENT When the season ended, the box office was down 8.5 percent from 2005 at $3.6 billion, and attendance was off 11.4 percent at 565 million, according to Exhibitor Relations. By contrast, year-to-date ticket sales in 2006 are up 6.7 percent at $2.6 billion and even slightly ahead of 2004. Attendance is also up, by 3.4 percent at 397 million.
http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/va/20060426/114608890700.html
On the other hand, what's box office been like overall the last few years?
US box office for 2005 was $8.99 billion. For the fourth straight year, domestic cumulative box office from all studios continues to hold near $9 billion. (Refer to page 2 of the 2005 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)
http://www.mpaa.org/researchStatistics.asp
So ten billion would be one of the biggest box office years ever.
I'm going to go see M:I3 because I love Lost and like what I've seen of Alias. Don't particularly care for Tom Cruise, and I never saw the first two, but that's okay. It looks good, and the word-of-mouth is pretty strong.
What I'd pay to go see is a docu-drama about the second Battle of Fallujah. 'Course, finding a man with the (ahem) of (now)SMaj Kasal would be daunting.
I personally have no problem with Cruise, couldn't care less about his dopey personal life. And SOMEONE likes his movies, the way they haul in the cash.
As for JJ Abrams, I don't watch TV but he seems like a smart, creative man. But if he makes Ben Affleck Captain Kirk (and I ain't even a Trekkie), he's clearly losing it.
Has he been in something we might have seen?
Yep, that's what I've heard. Abrams says he loved the show growing up and insisted on making it a team effort.
I haven't liked Tom Cruise for years. Strangely, it's since he's gone nuts that I've gone back to his films! Well, saw War of the Worlds, and now this.
I don't believe the Ben Affleck rumors for a second. If true, you won't need wild horses to keep me away from the theater.
Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League were much more respectful of Luthor as a real bad guy. Batman Begins showed that you can do an origin story and get it right. Spacey aside, hopefully this won't suck as much as Superman III and IV did.
"When will Hollywood learn that Lex Luthor is NOT a stand-up comedian?"
I liked some of the lines in the first 2 Superman movies by Luthor. Like the "the greatest criminal mind surrounded by idiots". They had to have some kind of comedy. Superman was boring as hell as the rest of the charactors, excepting Lex Luthor. Though the fat guy was funny at times.
I won't see any Superman movies ever again.
Zod, I must admit was a good character.
Actually, they're not rumors; I believe it was an open story that Abrams did talk to Affleck about a Star Trek project, though no mention was made of the role. But when you charge what Affleck does, on this kind of project, it's not so hard to guess.
As a non-Trekkie who only liked the original show, I think they should either let that franchise die, or, if they must continue, do hire someone like Abrams, but go FORWARD, not backward. Ah but don't get me started on the horrors of ST from the first bad movie on...I'm putting my ideas for that kind of thing in a novel I'm writing. :)
This isn't about the origin of Superman, it's set after the Reeve movies.
Rosenbaum IS Luthor.
Spacey's Luthor I imagine is like his Dr. Evil in the movie in the movie Austin Powers:Goldmember. Ugh.
He's done a few guest star roles and was on contract on One Life to Live. I've always been a fan of his. I hope he can fill the large shoes that preceded him.
http://imdb.com/name/nm0746125/
I hope they gave him something good to work with on this one.
Unless you have something beyond the Cinescape story, it's not only rumor, but not very believable either. Abrams planning to visit a set suddenly means Affleck is Kirk? None of it is even sourced. Some effects guy says "some others have heard" that "Ben is talking to Paramount." Please. Besides the tenuousness of the article, if they really are doing a "Kirk at the Academy" movie--which Abrams has failed to confirm--why would they pick a guy who is just about the same age Shatner was when he first played Kirk back in '66?
To be honest, I'm not interested enough to get all that excited about it, but I've heard it from a friend who edits a movie magazine.
Huh? Is this a parody piece or were they really stupid enough to do that?
I mean, if they wanted to take fundamental liberties with core characters, how about a gay Superman? That's the ticket -- and then throw in a long, complicated-but-touching relationship with Batman and sit back for the Oscars to roll in ....
Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League were much more respectful of Luthor as a real bad guy. Batman Begins showed that you can do an origin story and get it right. Spacey aside, hopefully this won't suck as much as Superman III and IV did.
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