Box Office - 2007 will be a record year

[Sonic Youth]

Nah, Superbad isn't a sleeper, either. Sleeper films don't get the front cover of EW and a four page article before it opens.

And Sony did have a lot of advance screenings for the film. Plus, I've seen/heard ads for months. It was hyped like any other film. It was hardly subterfuge.

[rolotomasi99]

awhile back someone, i think it was oscarguy, asked which film would be the sleeper hit of the year. some said KNOCKED UP, but this was vetoed by others since it already had so much hype months in advance of it release. sleeper means no hype. well, it seems those staring into their crystal ball were just slightly off. it would actually be another film from the same team that made KNOCKED UP such a success that would actually take the sleeper crown. with SUPERBAD set to have a $36 million weekend, and probably a really strong weekly run as well, i think this little film could easily pass the $100 million mark. for a tiny film with absolutely no stars as the leads, this is very impressive. before anyone disagrees with me, i want to make clear there is a difference between getting good buzz from reviews, and having hype before a film has been seen by anyone. as far as i was aware, no one knew this film was going to be such a critics darling, and this has certainly given it more broad appeal than any other teen raunch fest.

[Franz Ferdinand]

Alright, so Bourne barely missed the mark with $69.3M. What I find interesting is that it is the first movie to open with $69M. There are some other numbers that movies haven't opened with:
$53M, $61M, $63M, $66M, $71M, $75M, $76M, $78M, $79M, $81M, $82M, $84M, $86M, $87M, $92M, $94-101M and then the scattering of $100M+ openers above that. Just a curio fact!

[Franz Ferdinand]

Four $70M openers in five weeks is something incredible, and with Transformers about to cross the $300M mark in a week, this year will go down as an extremely lucrative one. And that's with the three hyped Threequels not only failing to reach the previous installment's heights, but sucking major eggs in quality. Thank goodness for Jason Bourne!
The next threequel to bomb is next week's Rush Hour 3 - six years after the previous set the August benchmark, and currently riding a ripe 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oh why? I can foresee morbid curiosity leading to a $60M opening weekend and a severe drop-off in coming weeks, something like the Simpsons unfortunately suffered this weekend.

[anonymous1980]

I rewatched Prisoner of Azkaban last night and I was really amazed by how great it is. Cuaron's stylish shots really made the film as magical as it's source material. It truly is one of the best films of 2004.

[taki15]

Given how dull the Potter characters and plot are, I'm rather glad he just showed off how good he is with setpieces.

Well, he could TRY to make them more interesting, like good directors do.
But I guess he was too busy arranging all those stylish shots.

[Okri]

And he is certainly not the kind of auter to compromise the characters and the plot of his film just to show off what a great artist he is, like Cuaron

Given how dull the Potter characters and plot are, I'm rather glad he just showed off how good he is with setpieces.

Maybe they can get Chris Columbus back for the final two films. Than I can safely ignore them.

[MovieWes]

The Simpsons Movie took a major hit this weekend and only grossed $25.6 million, down a whopping 65% from last weekend. I wonder if it's going to struggle to make it past $200 million now. It'll need strong weekday numbers to do so.

The Bourne Ultimatum grossed $70.2 million this weekend.

[Sabin]

Sabin, I'm telling you now:

If they pick the right director...

Aye, there's the rub.

[taki15]

In my opinion the fourth film is by far the best. The reason for that is quite simple.

Mike Newell is the perfect director for those films. He is an accomplished proffesional, but not a studio hack like Columbus.

And he is certainly not the kind of auter to compromise the characters and the plot of his film just to show off what a great artist he is, like Cuaron.
Plus, with ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' he showed an aptitude for multipersonal stories, where nobody is reduced to a caricature.

The fifth film (which I watched on my computer, admittedly not the best of circustances) seems to me to try to combine the best of the two previous. But it is so rushed and incoherent that in the end I didn't care one iota about the fate of the characters.

Speaking of the characters: Newell portrayed the protagonists as they were: teenage kids. Fun-loving, mischievous and with insecurities.
In OOTP we go back to the previous status of revered literary creations, without those little details that made them look so real in GOF.

Just my opinion.

[anonymous1980]

Sabin, I'm telling you now:

If they pick the right director (I'm hoping and praying they'd bring back Alfonso Cuaron if not him, Guillermo Del Toro, there are lots of things in The Deathly Hallows that's thematically similar to Pan's Labyrinth), the last film will be the best of the series and I won't be surprised if there was Oscar talk for it.

FYI: Roger Ebert doesn't like the fact that the Potter films are getting darker. He longs for the "wide-eyed whimsy" of the Columbus movies.

[Sabin]

I agree with anonymous, partly.

'The Sorecerer's Stone' was given a free pass, as was 'The Chamber of Secrets'. They had no idea what this series would look like with a real director attached, and, fanboys that they were, allowed for pallid kiddie crap to pass for entertainment, or in the case of 'The Chamber of Secrets' "dark" entertainment (as if a Columbus film could aspire for anything darker than a fart joke). Huggy Bear Roger Ebert likened the first film to 'The Wizard of OZ' and the second to something even better. WHAT?! But in all honesty, he wasn't alone.

History will look to 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' and probably 'The Goblet of Fire' as the truly interesting films; although let it be said that 'The Goblet of Fire' also received some mezzo-mezzo reviews. I would argue that the problem with the franchise (and it's a tiresome one) is that all the movies are basically the same. I haven't seen 'The Order of the Phoenix' and I'll probably get around to it this coming week, but I'm slightly more anticipatory for the colonoscopy I've got due in the next two years.

[anonymous1980]

I think the main reason for the lower RT rating is that it's the fifth in a series and follows two hugely successful and highly regarded entries to the series.

[rolotomasi99]

Rolo, it's not a common perception that this film was the second best.

I, for one, think it's just only slightly better than Sorcerer's Stone which is the worst of the series so far (not bad, but not the best).

And if I have that opinion, I'll bet there are plenty of others who would agree.

THE SORCERER'S STONE
imdb: 7.2 rottentomatoes: 79%
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
imdb: 7.2 rottentomatoes: 82%
THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
imdb: 7.7 rottentomatoes: 89%
THE GOBLET OF FIRE
imdb: 7.8 rottentomatoes: 89%
THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
imdb: 7.7 rottentomatoes: 77%

you are absolutely right oscarguy. according to rottentomatoes (a website i have very dubious feelings about), this was the least well reviewed film of the series. my presumption was based entirely on a single quote by Bob Longino in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "It's easily better than Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. It's as dark as Azkaban and as unsettling as Goblet of Fire."

personally, i think it was the second best. i do not think any of the films will ever surpass the cinematic brilliance of THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, but i really enjoyed it. i loathed the first two films, and felt THE GOBLET OF FIRE was good but not as good as the previous film.

this one, though, had me on the edge of my seat even though i knew the entire plot. i loved slavomir idziak's cinematography. the acting by the three main kids has certainly improved, particularly radcliffe. i thought the pacing was very good, and the meshing of character development and fx moments were quite nice. i particularly liked the scene where harry is discussing his first kiss with ron and hermione. you really got why these characters are friends.
of course, imelda staunton stole the show. her villainess was so delicious, in the tradition of hans gruber and hannibal lecter of bad guys you love to hate.

obviously, though, i am in the minority of this opinion. i attribute the poor critical showing to potter fatigue. i heard a rumor that mira nair was asked to direct the last film. that would be incredible! i just hope chris columbus does not get anywhere near the last film (or any other film for that matter).

[MovieWes]

I think it's also worth noting that The Simpsons Movie's $71.9 million is the third biggest opening weekend ever for an animated movie, trailing only Shrek the Third and Shrek 2, which made $121.6 million and $108 million respectively. That's pretty impressive for a cell animated movie in the CG-animation age.