Tuesday 31 May 2011

Were Kung Fu Panda’s fans out getting a Hangover?




I was a little surprised when I saw that DreamWorks Animation was sticking to the Memorial Day weekend release for Kung fu Panda 2 in North America. Not only was it just a week after Pirates of The Caribbean 4 but it also had direct day and date competition from The Hangover Part II. The Hangover sequel was perhaps the most anticipated film of the summer for most 17 – 25 year olds; and given the nature of the American ‘R’ rating (people aged 13 – 16 can see R rated films at the cinema as long as they are accompanied by an adult guardian or parent.) I’m sure it was high on the list for many 13 – 16 years olds too.





Now at first glance you might not think there’s an issue here, Kung Fu Panda is essentially an animated children’s film and The Hangover a hard core raunchy adult comedy. I have heard the scoffs when discussing this very matter elsewhere believe me (Ahem Facebook people I’m talking to you). But we don’t deal with first looks or face value here; here we look a little deeper and use my, ridiculously full of trivial information about the movies, memory and fact finding to see what all this movie business is really about.

So we’re talking not only about the age of Computer animation, which has altered the makeup of audiences for “children animation” but specifically about DreamWorks Animation’s product. You see there’s a pretty clear formula for D A films, even those that are moving into more awards friendly mode, like How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda. That is to aggressively target older viewers, the over 12s to 25 year olds in particular. Whilst they have always gone for ‘star’ names in the voice casting, this was initially as much about trying to get around their lack of brand recognition for children’s films. Pixar had it easy; their films were released and marketed by Disney and short of being in Asia with a Hayao Miyazaki film you just couldn’t get better recognition for family films than Disney. Of course Pixar cultivated their own brand to a point where it was more respected and trusted than the Disney one and their films performed far better. Disney, obviously, were Disney and despite their best efforts to destroy decades of work with many of their post Lion King efforts and plethora of sub-standard straight to video sequels, they had that trusted name that people paid attention to when deciding what to take the kids to see. DA however had nothing and needed to build their own brand as they went along, so enlisted heavyweight casting to help.

That strategy worked pretty well but then, in May 2001 something happened and that something was called Shrek. With Shrek DA cast actors who were hot with young adults and teens, but also well known to the over 25s. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow appealed to a wide range of people (demographics if you must) and it paid off, big time. The first weekend Shrek opened it had what was then the standard audience split for this type of film; 80% families to 20% general audience. But in the following weeks that split changed until it became about 60% families and 40% general audience. Better yet that general audience was full of teenagers and early twenty-somethings. The casting had paid off better than anyone could have hoped and a new pattern was set, showing DA very clearly what they now needed to do. Shrek had cemented DA’s brand and they could now be sure of opening films with just the name and a “From the makers of Shrek” tagline. But they continued the casting strategy (some movies were already at least partially cast) and by the time Shrek 2 opened in 2004 the pattern had settled. Their movies, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, MegaMind, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar 2 all opening and playing to 60% (59% for Dragon) families and 40% general viewers. The anomalies being Over The Hedge, where the premise, marketing, and a less youth orientated voice cast, led to the film reverting to the old standard of 80% families and Shrek The Third, which took the split to an amazing 50 / 50!

So here we have Kung Fu Panda 2. It received good reviews and an A Cinemascore from audiences and it is the sequel to a very popular film. The first Panda opened to $60.2m in June 2008 and it was expected to reach $70m - $80m or more for this 3 day weekend; all the more so because it had 3D screens which charge more per ticket. But it made $47.9m over 3 days and $68m over 5 days; a significant drop from the first film even before you account for inflation and 3D ticket prices (which made up 45% of the gross).

Why did this happen? Well as you can see from the information above attracting 13 – 25 year olds is a major part of the DreamWorks Animation strategy and they’ve become extremely good at it. When they fail to reach that audience, as with Over The Hedge above, then the takings tend to come in at the lower end of expectations.

The Hangover 2 received 54% of its mighty $86m 3 Day weekend from the eager wallets of those aged 13 – 25. That’s around $46m before you account for the holdover box office for Pirates 4. OF course not all of the bleed from Panda 2 can be squared away as off to Thailand; but here is an idea of how much Panda was likely affected by having to share a release date with a film that at least 40% of its target audience would see first over anything short of Avatar 2. 40% off the $80m we were thinking Panda 2 may have made is $32m; you take away $32m from that $80m and you get the $48m the film finally grossed. That fits snugly into the $46m The Hangover 2 took from that key 13 – 25 year old group.

There ya go, it is of course more complicated than that, but I’m certain that this release date has cost Kung Fu Panda 2 dear. With X-Men: First Class opening in a few days there may not be a chance for the Panda to claw back those older viewers who made other choices this Memorial day weekend.



Monday 30 May 2011

The Hobbit movies get release dates and titles. Preciooouuuusssss!




WooHoo, our long awaited returns to Middle Earth have now become just a little bit more tangible! I know we had the titles already but here a go your Christmas plans for 2012 and 2013 have been changed!
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit cinemas on the 14th of December 2012, whilst The Hobbit: There and Back Again will hit on the 13th of December 2013. Nice easy dates there 14/12/12 and 13/12/13. As before Peter Jackson has written the films, along with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. There is also writing credit for original director Guillermo del Toro, who sadly had to give up the director’s chair. The cast has many familiar names from the Rings trilogy, including recently announced Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Martin Freeman plays the titular Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, as will Ian Holm returning as the older Bilbo.

I cannot wait so I’m off to invent and build a time machine! I’ll let you know if it was worth it!


Box office news! Hangover II breaks records whilst Pirates steals global box office again and Panda’s Kung Fu is strongest abroad.



As there are holidays around the world tomorrow the estimates will include be around a little longer, so no charts until tomorrow at the earliest.

The biggest news of the weekend, in N. America, is the record breaking debut of The Hangover part II. With an estimated  FIVE day take of $138m making it the biggest comedy debut of all time there. Put another way in just 5 days the film is expected to have grossed about half as much as The Hangover did in its entire run! Also impressive is the way the film has been earning its gold. Taking $31.6m on its opening Thursday (Including midnight previews) the Friday gross Barely budged at all at $30m; Again the takings almost froze at $29.7 for Saturday and a holiday boosted $26.7m for Sunday! All figures are estimates of course and Monday’s gross is projected at the $20m mark. All of this shows that despite the terrible reviews the word of mouth on the film appears to be pretty strong; a view further supported by an impressive A- Cinemascore rating.

The number 2 film was Kung Fu Panda 2. I’m currently half way through a piece about why I thought releasing that film head to head with The Hangover pt II was a risk, and the gross for that film, whilst certainly good, appears to support those concerns. Kung Fu Panda 2 grossed $48m for the 3 day weekend, $54.6m since Thursday and is projected to have grossed $68.2m by the end of Monday. Now don’t let anyone tell you $68.2m in 5 days is bad, because it aint (Please let my first film make that much money) but given that the first Panda made $60m in 3 days, 3 years ago without the extra price of 3D, it is below expectations. (Which were more in the $80m+ range over 3 days) I’ll be going further into that in my Kung Fu Panda 2 piece later on, but suffice it to say that a company whose biggest hits rely on at least 40% of their grosses coming from non families and people over the age of 13, releasing a film against the most anticipated film of the year for 17 – 30 year olds (and doubtless many 13 – 16 year olds, given the American ratings system) seems to have made a miscalculation to me. (Rough maths to drive this home, a typical Dreamworks movie could expect 40% of its audience to be non families. Originally analysts were looking at a 3 day weekend of $80m for Panda. It ended up with a 3 day of $48m; now you take 40% off $80m you get... $48m! Ta da! I know it isn’t that simple, but do think it is relevant.  The film has earned strong reviews and an especially impressive A Cinemascore! Of course this does add hope that the film will, as most good animations do, play well for a long period and make up its gross in the long haul.

Dropping from 1st to 3rd, but only sustaining a 56% drop (good for modern blockbusters and similar to films 3 & 4) Pirates Of The Caribbean: OST with $39.3 for the weekend and a projected $50m for the 4 day total. This is pretty good news for the film with 2 big movies having just come out against it and means it could make a far more respectable North American tally than was originally thought.

In fourth Bridesmaids continues to wow all with its staying power, especially given the direct competition of another R rated wedding comedy with The hangover sequel. Dropping just 21% from last weekend the film took $16.4m to bring its total to just under $85m. The only questions remaining are how much over $100m the $32.5m costing film can go , and can it repeat the Hangover’s difficult trick of translating North American comedy success to global box office success.

Rounding out the top 5 was Marvel Studios’ Thor with $9.4m, bringing its North American total to $159.7m. that’s perhaps better than may have been expected in that market, given the general aversion to Fantasy and the tricky prospect of taking science fiction, fantasy, other worlds, aliens and having them fit into the same world as Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Whilst the International gross had all but guaranteed Thor’s return wouldn’t be limited to next year’s Avengers film, the good showing in Marvel Studios’ home market seals the deal.

All of this [including excellent specialty box office for Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris, $1.9m & a screen average of $33,000; and Terrence Malik’s Tree of Life $352,000 & a screen average of $88,000!] led to a record breaking Memorial day weekend. With box office project to reach $270m, which easily beats the current record of $254m from 2007.

The bigger picture

The international box office was again dominated by the fourth Pirates of The Caribbean movie, which has sailed past the $600m mark in just 12 days! Estimates put its international gross for the weekend at $122.9m! It’s expected to have $646.5m in the bank by the end of Monday. Even with the high cost of making these films it seems certain now that the film will have made enough to warrant a sequel within  another week, let alone by the end of its run.

Not to be outdone The Hangover appears to have stolen 2nd place with its opening in 40 markets, whilst Kung Fu Panda is, perhaps the biggest winner of them all with a multi record breaking weekend in just 11 markets! The Hangover Pt II estimates are $59m, including a massive $16.4m from the UK, a record opening for a comedy.

Kung Fu Panda kaboomed its way to an amazing $57m from just 11 territories; breaking the highest ever animated opening in 7 of those markets. Following on from the first movie’s record breaking run in China Panda 2 kicked up China’s biggest ever 3 day weekend for a foreign film with $18.5m.

So that’s $177m for The Hangover II, around $162m for Pirates 4 and $110.5m for Kung Fu Panda 2. Not a bad weekend for the top 3 movies eh?

Charts and final figures as soon as they are available.

Sunday 29 May 2011

David Fincher’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trailer. (cam)Red band!




I wouldn’t normally bother with something like this, but it’s a special case. I spotted this on AICN (thx) and they were similarly reluctant to post a cam trailer that WILL be removed at any moment.

This film is NOT a remake. GWTDT is a book and this is a fresh, English Language, adaptation of that book; hopefully a more thorough and more faithful one at that. There are issues with film one that lead to film two being weaker than it should be and film three having much of it’s depth removed, because the seeds were not sown in the previous movies. There’s also the issue of how incredibly intelligent Lisbeth is is never really transferred to the screen.

It’s a “Red Band” trailer, which means it’s got images totally unsuitable for little uns!

Anyway here it is, for now at least. The feel bad movie of Christmas!

Saturday 28 May 2011

X-Men: First Class, cliptastic thoughts. It should be great but...






This blog is going to have the kind of ‘fanboy’ crap I hate in it; there’s no way to avoid it, not if I’m going to write this properly, but I hate it. I just want that clear. I’ve also got to make it clear that I am really looking forward to this movie.








I’ve been a fan of X-Men since across various media, comics, TV cartoons and the live action Films. X2 remains, just, my favourite comic book movie of all time. There’s a lot to look forward to; the setting of the film in cold war America, where the Civil rights movement is about to reach its heights is inspired; Matthew Vaughan (Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick Ass) has quickly become a director whose work I look out for; and the key casting for young Xavier and Erik is about as good as it could get with James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland, Wanted) and Michael Fassbender (Centurion, 300). So what’s the BUT?



Ok I’ll start with the issue that doesn’t’ bother me at all, but does have many a ‘fanboy’ up in arms. Also to be fair to the fanboys this is a problem the studio made for itself for no apparent reason. You see the film is called X-Men: First Class and there’s a line of X-Men comics called “X-Men: First Class”, but the film isn’t based on those comics; Confused? Well a   lot of people are, why bother to name it after a specific comic and then not bother to have it be about that comic. The Amazing Spider-Man is about Spider-Man, not one or more of the dozens of Spider-Women. As if trying to make matters worse the film also refuses to use the actual original X-Men, in other words the actual first class. Once again it doesn’t really bother me, it’s weird, but I’m fine with the idea that each different medium can have its own rules and language. The cartoons aren’t the comics and the live action films shouldn’t e expected to be the comics either. Furthermore, we haven’t seen the movie, those reviews out so far are generally quite strong, so we have no idea how well any of this fits within the context of the movie.



So onto the real problem(s): The advertising for this film has gone to great lengths to tie this film to the original 3 X-Men movies, but in doing so it attracts the same problem Wolverine did. Watching a Teenaged Scott Summers (Cyclops) running around in the 1970s just set the WTF alarm off in the back of mind. So no matter how much I may have been enjoying the scenes with him in a voice  was calmly reminding me that Cyclops was in his 20s in the “not too distant future” of X-men 1 -3. Even if we were to be cruel to the guy and pretend he was actually more like 35 AND assume that the not too distant future was actually 2006, then Cyclops would still have to have been BORN in 1971! Not a teen in high school in 1979 (when the film ends at 3 Mile Island’s infamous accident.) A more realistic view is that the even if X-Men was meant to be taking place around 2006 a teenaged Scott is at high school around 2 years before he is going to be born. Of course seeing as Havok, Cyclops’ brother in the comics is in First class, apparently as Scott’s future father, maybe the Cyclops character in Wolverine is actually his uncle, or something!



The whole, timeline makes no sense, thing gets even worse in First class. Mystique is another character who seems to be running around as a teenager years, if not decades, before she should be born. I know what you’re thinking, Mystique is a shape shifter and as such can look anything from 15 – 150. Well yes, when she’s passing herself off as “normal”; but when she’s herself, blue feathery scales or not, she has an age you can guess at. More than that in X-Men 3 she loses her powers and transforms into a regular human female, looking very much like the ridiculously good looking Rebecca Romijn; in other words a woman who is in her early 30s, not someone who has been walking the planet since the mid 1940s and is fast approaching, or already past her 60th birthday!



So if, as the promo material keeps suggesting, this is connected to, a prequel to, the original X-Men trilogy then what’s with completely screwing up the timeline? If it’s more of a reboot, then why go to such lengths to tie the older films to this one? In other words why give the fanboys another excuse to badmouth the film? It’s not like they don’t take naked pleasure in ripping apart the things they claim to love and Fox’s treatment of Marvel properties in particular is it? So there’s the film’s name, the character mix and a connection to a set of films that it doesn’t entirely fit in with on the con side; added to that is the return of the notorious Fox, impossibly short, release schedule. Ironically a shorter one than the time Matthew Vaughan had for X-Men 3, which he left because he didn’t feel he could make a film of sufficient quality in the time given to him.



But there are plenty of factors in the plus column too. Apart from Vaughan, the director of Layer Cake and Kick Ass, this film sees the return of Bryan Singer (director of X-Men and the superb X2) in the role of Producer. He was originally down to direct the film but a prior commitment (to highly the anticipated 2012 release Jack The Giant Killer) meant he had to stick to producing this one. There’s also the brilliant casting of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy as Erik Lensherr (Magneto) ad Charles Xavier (Wheels Professor X). They may not have reached the status of Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, but it’s an equally savvy pair of casting choices. Then there’s the geek stuff. Fans of the old comics and even the 90s cartoon show will be extremely pleased to see the Blackbird, the actual freaking Blackbird, and that the 1960s setting has allowed the filmmakers to get that classic yellow and blue colour scheme; it works a lot better in moving pictures than it did in that horrendous leaked photo of a few months ago.



There’s a lot riding on this film. Success, significant success would not only confirm the continuation of this new prequel / reboot series but would likely see the green-light given to Producer Lauren Shuler Donner’s proposed continuation of the original series. X4 has at the very least a treatment (which Donner confirmed in May’s Empire magazine) was already with Fox and allegedly very well received. More to the point “...X4 leads right into X5”, according to Donner. Whatever does or doesn’t happen to First Class continued or X4: Cyclops and Jean return, we’ll be getting both a Ryan Reynolds starring Deadpool movie (apparently with the harder R, 15 – 18 rating many though Wolverine should have aimed for) and a new Wolverine movie, snappily titled ‘The Wolverine’. Unfortunately the latter film is no longer being helmed by Darren “Black Swan” Aronofsky (Ahem Luc Besson / J J Abrams or Cohen Bros) but as it’s based on the legendary Wolverine goes to Japan storyline, I have high hopes for that film.

X-Men: First Class opens in the UK on the 1st of June and North America on the 4rd of June.



Friday 27 May 2011

You have to see it for yourself, with Hangover trailer homage.



A bit of a departure here folks. No pics no big descriptions or monologues. Just a teaser of sorts. It's pretty funny and starts with a play on The Hangover Pt II's teaser, but works best if you don't know what it is before you watch.

Enjoy...

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Stan ‘The Man’ Lee discusses his Marvel movie cameos, including the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man.


Now this isn’t new, it’s been around on the net for at least a day, but some of you guys may not have come across it yet on Coming Soon or AICN so I thought I’d put it up anyway.

Stan Lee is a living legend and, along with Hayao Miyazaki is a prime reason we need a real fountain of youth ASAP! He’s created, co-created or inspired a massive chunk of 20th and 21st pop culture and inspired many of the people creating works of fiction this very day. I still kinda miss hearing a Stan Lee intro or narration on a Marvel Super Hero toon and looking out for his cameos in Marvel character films is an added dose of fun.


He’s on rare form here, having the audience in fits of laughter several times and explaining how his cameos work. It’s sad to hear there won’t be one in X-Men: First Class, although you’ll love Stan’s suggested reason for his absence! If you are really expecting to get through to next summer without finding out who the main villain of The Amazing Spider-Man is then avoid, but good luck with that task.

Enjoy and Make Mine Marvel...

(Credit to original Youtube uploader Loss2099)

Monday 23 May 2011

The Muppet’s new movie trailer!


Science has today proved with no margin for error or debate that anyone who doesn’t LOVE The Muppet’s Christmas Carol has no soul. True Story.

What are you wasting time reading this for? Get to the trailer!



(Updated with finals) Weekend Box Office 22/5/11, Pirates breaks records, Fast 5 & Thor hit milestones.



I thought it’d be good to do a regular box office update, during the “summer” season at least.


There’s no doubt that the biggest deal of the year so far is Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Whilst I (and many others) think the film itself is a massively disappointing piece of garbage, it was always going to open huge as the first three are so massively popular and well liked. (I was there on opening night, along with millions of others, based on how much I enjoyed the first three. Whilst the N. American opening *edit$90.15m* reflects the fact that the third film was not as popular there as elsewhere (Pirates 2 opened to $135m and Pirates 3 $114m.) it does also show that the films were a lot more popular than the media would have us believe. More on that here:-


Outside of N. America things were very different, reflecting the point that Pirates 2 & 3 were pretty much equally popular (in straight dollar terms 3 actually out-grossed 2 with $654,000,000 to Pirates 3’s $642,863,913), Pirates grossed *$260,400,000* over 5 days; that’s the biggest international opening of all time. Illustrating the changing face of international cinema Russia & China were the biggest markets for Pirates with Russians spending $28.6m over 5 days to mean it has already out-grossed the total take for POTC: At World’s End! $20m from China meant that the markets often 1 & 2, Japan & the UK, came further down; with the UK & Ireland grossing $19.5m, Germany $19.4 and Japan $18.2m.

Here’s the North American and International charts for the weekend. (Pirates opened on Wednesday in many countries but Hollywood still counts that as a weekend.)





North America

Film
Weekend Gross (est)
Total Gross (est)
Budget
1
POTC: On Stranger Tides
$90,151,958
$90,151,958
$250m
2
Bridesmaids
$20,882,070
$59,341,310
$32.5m
3
Thor
$15,455,304
$145,361,459
$150m
4
Fast Five
$10,576,865
$186,165,450
$125m
5
Priest
$4,750,041
$23,833,169
$60m
6
Rio
$4,687,741
$131,684,365
$90m
7
Jumping The Broom
$3,703,010
$31,3120,562
$6.6m
8
Something Borrowed
$3,516,387
$31,519,452
$35m
9
Water For Elephants
$2,179,046
$52,456,620
$38m
10
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family
$956,589
$51,723,579
Unknown



International...

Film
Weekend Gross (est)
Total Gross (est)
Budget
1
POTC: On Stranger Tides
$260,400,000
$260,400,000
$250m
2
Fast Five
$26,200,000
$321,200,000
$125m
3
Thor
$9,000,000
$247,000,000
$150m
4
Rio
$5,600,000
$317,300,000
$90m
5
Water For Elephants
$5,100,000
$45,500,000
$38m
6
Priest
$4,200,000
$37,300,000
$60m
7
Tree of Life
$2,600,000
$2,600,000
unknown
8
Midnight In Paris
$2,400,000
$7,700,000
$30,000,000
9
Source Code
$2,200,000
$57,800,000

$32m
10
Black Swan
$2,200,000
$204,600,000
$13m





Worldwide...

Film
Weekend Gross (est)
Total Gross (est)
Budget
1
POTC: On Stranger Tides
$350,551,958



$350,551,958


$250m
2
Fast Five
$36,776,865
$507,365,450
$125m
3
Thor
$24,455,304
$392,361,459
$150m
4
Bridesmaids
$20,882,070
$59,394,935
$32.5m
5
Rio
$10,287,741
$448,984,365
$90m


Elsewhere Fast Five passed the $500m mark which is amazing and has to be better than ever expected. Fast six was always hoped for (see here for more on that:- http://therealeverton.blogspot.com/2011/05/fast-five-ending-mini-post.html ) but even with the switch in focus, cast reunion and addition of Dwayne Johnson this has to be seen as a major success: Which leads us to the next biggie, Thor. That Fast Five has made $500m whilst up against Thor for most of its release is very impressive, even more impressive is the Thor is about to cross the $400m mark despite being in direct competition to a major sequel and having a relatively unknown character and star to boot. Having already passed all the milestones it would have been hoped it would meet (significantly out-grossing The Incredible Hulk and Fantastic Four films as well as X-Men and beating even the inflation adjusted international takings of Batman Begins, Superman Returns, The X-Men films and more.)