Wkd Box Office 07•12-14•13 - many stay true to Gru, less grow up, fewer get rimmed...

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A robot movie without an attractive "heart throb" leading man and no romance bombed? Shocking...

It should do well overseas, and might even rebound in the US thanks to good word of mouth. But this was never going to have a big week 1.
 
Maybe all the nerds are at EVO and Pacific Rim will get a bump?

Hopefully it makes a profit after Global and Blu Ray. I loved the movie.
 
IGSaint said:
Was it? Pacific Rim sure wasn't advertised like it was a "AAA" franchise/IP. The lack of great advertising really killed this movie. Fuck
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It'll make money when it releases in Japan in August and the entire Japanese economy is funneled into box offices.
 
Busty said:
But general talk seems to be that Bruckheimer and Verbinski will be spending some time in film jail over this.
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I think Verbinski will take the brunt of the Negative consequences. Depp will just do Pirates 5. Armie Hammer is far from the only young actor who failed to carry a blockbuster, and Bruckheimer is pretty diversified.
 
IGSaint said:
Was it? Pacific Rim sure wasn't advertised like it was a "AAA" franchise/IP. The lack of great advertising really killed this movie. Fuck
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It played a part, but ulimately it will flop (in the US) because it doesn't feature anything to attract a female audience. It's a pure sausage fest for nerds, and nerds alone cannot make a major blockbuster film a success. As others have pointed out, Transformers features a pretty boiler plate "regular guy gets the hot girl" plot underneath the giant robot shit. It became an "event" movie because it was slick, appealed to multiple demographics, and also had a nerd/fanboy aspect.

Thor, Man of Steel, Iron Man, etc were all successes not just because they attracted nerds - they were successful because women wanted to see those movies. Chris Hemsworth is shirtless in the Thor trailer for a reason, Henry Cavill has been shirtless in multiple shots of Man Of Steel for a reason. And obviously women love RDJ. Pacific Rim doesn't have any of that. It has a leading man who might as well be Taylor Kitsch: not bankable, wasn't really marketed, etc. Sure there's Idris Elba who we all love, but it's been long established that unless you're Will Smith or Denzel Washington, your black actor isn't going to put women in the seats alone.
 
Pacific Bomba

WB should've known better. The problem aren't the mechs either, it's how it looks and who the actors are.

Del Toro has a vivid imagination, but he doesn't know how to reach a wide audience. Universal must be smiling from ear to ear right now, that they didn't green lit Montains of Madness.
 
Sunday doesn't count as part of the weekend? I'm going to see Pacific Rim this afternoon. I would've seen it yesterday if I had known.

Hopefully word of mouth saves the film.
 
kswiston said:
I think Verbinski will take the brunt of the Negative consequences. Depp will just do Pirates 5. Armie Hammer is far from the only young actor who failed to carry a blockbuster, and Bruckheimer is pretty diversified.
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If one person has to carry the can then you are right it's likely Verbinski. He's a talented director who is great at shooting action but he's expensive and doesn't play well with others. Unless he comes back to do a franchise film and starts to play nice he might be waiting a while for the phone to ring.

I think Armie Hammer will escape this box office crash the most unscathed. He's co-starring in Man From UNCLE with Henry Cavill and won't have his 'brand' tarnished given that his was Depp's show.
 
Why do people want films like Pacific Rim in the first place? Is it just for action setpieces? Is there another reason im not aware of? All the marketing in the UK has been "MECHS ACTIONS MONSTERS MORE MECHS MANKIND" which holds absolutely nothing for me. I understand there is a thing called "taste" but the whole point of the movie seems to be showing as much confusing shit as possible on screen making you wonder what the hell is going on, ala transformers. Now if that is the only reason people want them then fair play to them but im really curious if im missing something.
 
I'm just glad Pacific Rim exists, together with Scott Pilgrim. A sequel will never happen, but again, this is not surprising. Hopefully Godzilla will still come out later instead of being shelved.

Mr Cola said:
Why do people want films like Pacific Rim in the first place? Is it just for action setpieces? Is there another reason im not aware of? All the marketing in the UK has been "MECHS ACTIONS MONSTERS MORE MECHS MANKIND" which holds absolutely nothing for me. I understand there is a thing called "taste" but the whole point of the movie seems to be showing as much confusing shit as possible on screen making you wonder what the hell is going on, ala transformers. Now if that is the only reason people want them then fair play to them but im really curious if im missing something.
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'Why do people like what I don't like?'
 
ElTopo said:
The first film and its trailers had more than enough comic relief, especially the trailers for the first one seemed a lot less "dark/gloomy and serious". Haven't watched the others since I didn't like the first one. Either way, it was pretty forward. You knew you'd get talking robots that transform into cars, a romance plot between a "normal guy" and a hot girl, all sorts of action.

It's a movie about talking robots that transform into cars. There's a limit to how seriously people can take that.



There was a ton of advertising.

If it all sucks, who is to blame? Maybe similarly to John Carter there's something about the movie and premise that doesn't appeal to mainstream audience.
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Did you watch Pacific Rim? The movie had zainy scientists, forced humor, romance and jokes throughout the movie. Pacific Rim did not take itself super seriously at all. You could say the overall feel of the movie was marketed more towards kids more than adults.


The advertising did not feel adequate at all for Pacific Rim. This is an entirely new franchise and I don't feel personally that it was marketed like previous blockbuster films. You may feel different but that's how I feel. And obviously the numbers back up what I'm saying. There was just very little hype and build up to this movie from your average audience.
 
TheWriter said:
I'm just glad Pacific Rim exists, together with Scott Pilgrim. A sequel will never happen, but again, this is not surprising. Hopefully Godzilla will still come out later instead of being shelved.
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Well it won't shelved as it's already in production but we'll have to see if it keeps it's original May 2014 slot.

If WB are at all jittery about it they could move it to late summer or even fall. Of course that's just speculation at this point.
 
Why is anyone even surprised? Grown Ups was his 2nd highest grossing movie ever and that was awful too. Like cmon it's GROWN UPS 2!! It's a sequel when no other Adam Sandler movie got sequels so of course people would go see it when they liked the old one.

I'm actually surprised Pacific Rim didn't do less than it did.
 
After seeing Pacific Rim last night, I was surprised the marketing never put any emphasis on Mako's role. It's a pretty male dominated film, but it has a strong female costar and highlihgting that could have helped the film branch out a bit, had she been featured in the marketing. I had no idea she was more than a very small role. The marketing as a whole was awful, but that struck me as a missed opportunity.

The international take will help, but I don't see Pacific Rim having very long legs. Still, it's not a Lone Ranger-scale disaster.
 
Mr Cola said:
Why do people want films like Pacific Rim in the first place? Is it just for action setpieces? Is there another reason im not aware of? All the marketing in the UK has been "MECHS ACTIONS MONSTERS MORE MECHS MANKIND" which holds absolutely nothing for me. I understand there is a thing called "taste" but the whole point of the movie seems to be showing as much confusing shit as possible on screen making you wonder what the hell is going on, ala transformers. Now if that is the only reason people want them then fair play to them but im really curious if im missing something.
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I was saying the same thing as you in the OT but then I ended up watching it anyway and its a lot better than any of the trailers. I found the action a LOT more coherent than Transformers and movie was pretty epic. Would give it a chance
 
GhaleonEB said:
After seeing Pacific Rim last night, I was surprised the marketing never put any emphasis on Mako's role. It's a pretty male dominated film, but it has a strong female costar and highlihgting that could have helped the film branch out a bit, had she been featured in the marketing. I had no idea she was more than a very small role. The marketing as a whole was awful, but that struck me as a missed opportunity.

The international take will help, but I don't see Pacific Rim having very long legs. Still, it's not a Lone Ranger-scale disaster.
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Unknown asian femaler actress. There is your answer... Maybe they will use her more in asia when it comes to marketing. Well at least in Japan.
 
GhaleonEB said:
After seeing Pacific Rim last night, I was surprised the marketing never put any emphasis on Mako's role. It's a pretty male dominated film, but it has a strong female costar and highlihgting that could have helped the film branch out a bit, had she been featured in the marketing. I had no idea she was more than a very small role. The marketing as a whole was awful, but that struck me as a missed opportunity.

The international take will help, but I don't see Pacific Rim having very long legs. Still, it's not a Lone Ranger-scale disaster.
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She's a non-white female. Hollywood doesn't really like marketing those kinds of leading roles. Every now and then there is an actress that's an exception (Zoe Saldana comes to mind), but definitely not an unknown one like this.
 
Busty said:
Well it won't shelved as it's already in production but we'll have to see if it keeps it's original May 2014 slot.

If WB are at all jittery about it they could move it to late summer or even fall. Of course that's just speculation at this point.
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Emmerich's Godzilla made more than Pacific Rim will likely make, and it was released 15 years ago. I think that a Godzilla movie done right has the potential to make a decent amount of money. No idea if the 2014 take will be that movie though.
 
So this summer, the biggest duds are

After Earth
White House Down
The Lone Ranger

Two of those films are made by Sony. Ouch! That's got to hurt.

They have Elysium coming up, what is the production budget for that it?
 
siddx said:
Good for Kevin Hart, making a ton of money on his movie. I can't remember what I read he put up for it but it was something like 2 million of his own cash to make it and he will pull in at least 30 million from it.

And shame on every single idiot who went to see grown ups 2 instead of pacific rim. I hope you all get trapped in a housefire.
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And here we go...
 
Mr Cola said:
Why do people want films like Pacific Rim in the first place? Is it just for action setpieces? Is there another reason im not aware of? All the marketing in the UK has been "MECHS ACTIONS MONSTERS MORE MECHS MANKIND" which holds absolutely nothing for me. I understand there is a thing called "taste" but the whole point of the movie seems to be showing as much confusing shit as possible on screen making you wonder what the hell is going on, ala transformers. Now if that is the only reason people want them then fair play to them but im really curious if im missing something.
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You can thank WB spending all there time with Man of Steel marketing and not really giving a shit to market PR

I mean it was still doomed but it could have been better if it was some sort of coherent marketing
 
KillerMan91 said:
Unknown asian femaler actress. There is your answer... Maybe they will use her more in asia when it comes to marketing. Well at least in Japan.
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Doubtful. Japan hates Kikuchi. They view her as a traitor whore because she got famous outside their system and she also appeared naked in a movie
 
Haven't seen Pacific Rim yet. Likely going tomorrow after work. However I have summer blockbuster fatigue at the moment after seeing Iron Man, Oblivion, Star Trek, and Man of Steel twice. I'm hoping it goes away by the time Elysium comes out.

I'm more then willing to wait for blu-ray releases at the moment for a number of films I want to see that have just come out or will be coming out. I do wish the films were quicker to release on pay per view while it's in the theater as well. That would be really helpful with cutting down on travel cost. I really rather spend money used to travel (gas) to the theater, for the tickets, and time on other things now.

I really do hope Pacific Rim ends up being profit positive at the very least in the end (theater runs and blu-ray/dvd sales) even if it doesn't do massive numbers. That's all I want in the end so we get more original stuff like this.
 
Speaking of "what were they thinking?" big budget films, does anyone expect Seventh Son to not bomb? I'm pretty sure I have seen the premise to this film in like 3 Nic Cage movies within the past 5 years.
 
KillerMan91 said:
Unknown asian femaler actress. There is your answer... Maybe they will use her more in asia when it comes to marketing. Well at least in Japan.
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TDLink said:
She's a non-white female. Hollywood doesn't really like marketing those kinds of leading roles. Every now and then there is an actress that's an exception (Zoe Saldana comes to mind), but definitely not an unknown one like this.
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Oh I get that. Just seems like since they financed the movie and cast her in it, that they might have realized what they had rather than ignoring her completely. I get the why - but I still think it's a missed opportunity. I know my daughters would have been more interested had it not been marketed entirely as a boys with their toys movie.
 
Pacific Rim has no big time actor in it (Idris Elba is not enough, especially not in this type of role). Would have needed a hot white guy and a hot white girl. Samuel L Jackson would have worked better than Elba but the role is too close to The Avenger's.

Also, the protagonist(s) never actually hit anyone themselves, it's all done by the robots, even if controlled by the humans. So there is no attachment and self-projection in seeing a big robot beat up a big monster. It's like you're watching the heroes watch a movie or playing a game.
 
Ether_Snake said:
Pacific Rim has no big time actor in it (Idris Elba is not enough, especially not in this type of role). Would have needed a hot white guy and a hot white girl. Samuel L Jackson would have worked better than Elba but the role is too close to The Avenger's.

Also, the protagonist(s) never actually hit anyone themselves, it's all done by the robots, even if controlled by the humans. So there is no attachment and self-projection in seeing a big robot beat up a big monster. It's like you're watching the heroes watch a movie or playing a game.
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I don't think that's the problem at all. You can market blockbusters with relatively unknown actors but you have to actually market those type of movies well. Pacific Rim was just marketed awfully with the budget that it has.

For example when everyone here was in shock and awe at like the third trailer release of Pacific Rim. I asked my brother if he knew about the movie. He said he didn't and that shocked me tbh. Just a horrible job to get recognition out there to people who don't absorb this type of stuff on forums like this.
 
kswiston said:
Speaking of "what were they thinking?" big budget films, does anyone expect Seventh Son to not bomb? I'm pretty sure I have seen the premise to this film in like 3 Nic Cage movies within the past 5 years.
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Nah. It's a January movie. AKA, the dumping ground. By releasing it that month they are making it clear they don't really care how it does. It actually looks a bit higher budget than your typical January movie too so it may end up attracting a greater audience when it otherwise wouldn't.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Oh I get that. Just seems like since they financed the movie and cast her in it, that they might have realized what they had rather than ignoring her completely. I get the why - but I still think it's a missed opportunity. I know my daughters would have been more interested had it not been marketed entirely as a boys with their toys movie.
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Well personally I agree that they should have used her in marketing because like you said they cast her in it and she had major role but not using her in marketing is not really that surprising either because of factors I listed.

Toparaman said:
(I'm an expert)
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Pretty much.
 
Mr Cola said:
Why do people want films like Pacific Rim in the first place? Is it just for action setpieces? Is there another reason im not aware of? All the marketing in the UK has been "MECHS ACTIONS MONSTERS MORE MECHS MANKIND" which holds absolutely nothing for me. I understand there is a thing called "taste" but the whole point of the movie seems to be showing as much confusing shit as possible on screen making you wonder what the hell is going on, ala transformers. Now if that is the only reason people want them then fair play to them but im really curious if im missing something.
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"MECHS ACTIONS MONSTERS MORE MECHS MANKIND"

This and only this. Why does every movie have to have some deep meaning.

Whats wrong with just wanting 2 hours of big things fucking hitting each other?
 
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