Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Like Mike

This is topic Like Mike in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000345

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 07-05-2002, 03:50 AM:

Brad Miller on MIB2

quote:
Kodak filmstock = movie the studio expects to do well.
Fuji filmstock = movie the studio expects to bomb!

Explains why Like Mike was printed on Fuji filmstock.

Bad story, bad actors, bad movie.

Posted by Jim Casterioto (Member # 1155) on 07-05-2002, 06:06 PM:

I have to disagree with you, I thought this movie was quite enjoyable. Being a sports movie, the acting isn't usually one of the strong points of the film, however it kept my interest, and the sold-out auditorium I was in found this movie to be comical.

This film definately did not bomb, it sold-out all shows on July 3rd, and has sold out all the matinees July 4th, and today July 5.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 07-05-2002, 07:29 PM:

Remember that a "bomb" denotes a film that does not make a profit. Early returns from the first few days does not ever pay for the cost of production and marketing. The real tale will be how long it takes for it to get dropped out of the top ten and how many millions it must make to be profitable.

Dave

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-05-2002, 07:34 PM:

Like Mike isn't doing any amount of business worth mentioning around here. I can also sum up my review in three elegant words: this movie sucks!

Maybe those Delaware people like basketball???

Posted by Jim Casterioto (Member # 1155) on 07-06-2002, 01:01 AM:

I will say that its not a great movie, but for the region my theater is located in, it is doing very well. Advance ticket sales for Saturday, have already surpassed those of this summer's so-called "blockbusters." I'm sorry if this movie isn't doing well in your theater, however in mine it is blowing out MIB 2.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 07-07-2002, 02:18 AM:

At the end of Saturday night's 7:00 showing of Like Mike I ran downstairs and asked all the people coming out of it (a grand total of 3) how they liked it. Their response... 'the only reason we saw it was because MIB2, Mr. Deeds and Minority report were already sold out when we showed up, we didn't like it at all'.

Fox arranged to have a checker at the theatre for the weekend for Like Mike. The report will go something like this, 'Saturday's 7:00pm showing: Attendence 3, tickets sold 4, apparently the one person who bought an advance ticket didn't even show up... more likely they snuck into MIB2'.

Posted by Jim Casterioto (Member # 1155) on 07-07-2002, 01:59 PM:

Not to be redundant on this topic any longer, but this movie grossed $20 million dollars over the weekend. Obviously your opinion of a bad movie is different from the entire nation's.

I highly doubt three people saw it on a Saturday night, at 7:00. No need to make up false numbers.

Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 07-07-2002, 03:02 PM:

Jim,

Opinions are like ***holes, everyone has one. Equating box office $ to quality is probably not the best link.

Anyway those numbers that were reported could very well be accurate. Like Mike has done extremely well in Urban areas and has done fairly poorly in suburban and rural areas. (Last night at my suburban theatre we had 10 people at the 7pm show). A good friend of mine
runs an urban theatre (with approximately the same business level as my place) and when I talked to him on the phone last night he said they sold out a 400 seat auditorium for it. Just because one anecdotal story doesn't match your own anecdotal story doesn't mean that someone is lying or using hyperbole.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 07-07-2002, 05:55 PM:

Here is a quote from comedian George Carlin...

"since when did Urban come to mean Black? I was never consulted on this! I never received a phone call, a letter in the mail, a notice of some kind!"

As for good returns means a good movie, dont bet on it. Like mike will be out of the first run theaters within four weeks nation wide. It will do no more than 50 million worldwide, and I am betting that the studio, who will recieve about 28 million of that figure, will not recuop the cost of production and marketing.

But hey, I was wrong on Harry Potter, I said it would do only $785 million worldwide, and it's done what... about 900 million? So maybe Like Mike is a great movie and will topple Titanic?

Dave

Posted by Jim Casterioto (Member # 1155) on 07-08-2002, 12:21 AM:

As Brad mentioned earlier, Delaware people love basketball :-)

My theater is in the suburbs, and had no problem selling out all of the shows before 7:00, Wednesday - Sunday, so you can not stereotype the Urban vs. Suburban crowds.

Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 07-08-2002, 01:11 AM:

Jim,

You miss my point. Anecdotal evidence does not prove or disprove the box office numbers one way or the other. Claiming that someone is lying about the numbers at their location because of national numbers is wrong.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 07-08-2002, 01:26 AM:

quote:
Obviously your opinion of a bad movie is different from the entire nation's. I highly doubt three people saw it on a Saturday night, at 7:00. No need to make up false numbers.

Maybe Canadians don't Like Mike.

If I hadn't of been there I would too doubt such a turn out. I never expected such a stellar crowd!

Seriously though, the 7:00 and 9:00 shows have been dead since Thursday night. The matinees have been OK, pretty much split between Mike, Lilo and Scooby.

Glad to here that you are doing well with it. If only we could all have more basketball fans in our area.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 07-08-2002, 04:19 AM:

I think this movie is less about basketball and more about showcasing lil bow wow.

A basketball movie is called Hoosiers, or to a lesser extent, blue streak.

Like Mike is just goofy. My girlfriend seems to think it will be really funny from the preview and is telling me that I have to go with her. Tell me I can kill her. TELL ME!!!!

Dave

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-08-2002, 10:40 AM:

I haven't seen it (and probably won't). But the previews make it pretty clear this is a kids' fantasy movie: What if a regular kid could suddenly play basketball as well as Michael Jordon? To compare it to Hoosiers seems like a stretch (but then maybe you were being sarcastic).