Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: *THE* summer blockbuster(s)

This is topic *THE* summer blockbuster(s) in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 06-12-2001, 01:26 AM:

So who's taking what film? My bet is on Dolittle 2. American Pie & Scary Movie 2 will be bombs versus their originals, IMO.

Tomb Raider should do OK. Atlantis will do decently, but not as well as SHREK.

Planet of the Apes I don't see as doing a ton of business. There are too many folks out there who don't care for Tim Burton... and for what I remember, films copped' from TV shows don't do spectacular business..

Jurassic needs to be hyped a little more if they expect it to fly (no pun intended), and I *still* don't expect anything huge out of it...

I think that Rush Hour 2 will be a good draw, and possibly The Fast & Furious due to the wildly popular import drag scene. I think these two will have great cross over appeal and should do good.. maybe not HUGE.. but good none the less...
Yep, looks like slim pickin's for this summer. If box office records are up, as they have said each year for the last HOW many years, it'll be a result of higher admissions.....

Anyone else care to share an opinion? BTW, I posted in Ground Level because this is all in a manager's opinion... Just remember folks, you read it here first... LOL..

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The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-12-2001, 01:56 AM:

We need something with legs.

Posted by Jonathan Haglund (Member # 807) on 06-12-2001, 02:30 AM:

American Pie should do well I think, assuming they did a good job on it. There were just so many possabilities to go with in the sequel.

Dolittle seems boring and silly to the point of apathy in the desire to watch it.

Planet of the Apes is not derived from a TV show, but from the book. I think it will do quite a bit of business. Personally, I can't wait to see it.

I agree Rush Hour will be good, but I would be offended if The Fast and the Furious did well. Silly 80's movie moderninzed with new cars.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-12-2001, 02:41 AM:

It's kinda scary...the only movies people have been asking about for this summer are Pearl, Mummy and Shrek. Hope the sequels do something!

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 06-12-2001, 04:17 AM:

The Planet of the Apes was six theatrical movies, The T.V. show came later.

I think if Apes is done well it can do well. The R-rated Sleepy Hollow did well.

Dolittle has the potential to do good business because it is carrying a PG rating.

A.I. is a question mark. Spielberge Is a plus.

Jurassic Park III does not need major hype. Tell the kids there is another dinosaur movie and look out. It is opening on a wednesday. If the film gets good reviews i will do well.

possable sleeper hit will be The princess Diaries. Been getting posative responses on the trailer.

Rush hour 2 should do well but how well will depend on reviews and word of mouth for the second weekend.

American sweetheart has potential to have good legs.

After seeing tv spots for Atlantis I am looking more positive at it's potential. Should do better than the Dinosaur movie that came out last year.

Cats and Dogs I have a feeling will get creamed by all the other kid films that will be out.

Scary movie 2 may have a good opening but word of mouth will not be good and it will flat out die after it's second week.

I think this summer still looks better than last summer with films. Question is has ticket prices in some areas gotten so out of hand that nobody wants to go to the movies? Just have to wait and see.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 06-12-2001, 04:58 AM:

The first "Dr. Dolittle" with Eddie Murphy was one of the worst movies in recent memory, all I can say is "Why a sequel?" I've already seen "Fast and the Furious" and it's just plain silly.
I remember a few months ago someone saying a theater had put on their marquee "Closed until better movies come out"?

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-12-2001, 05:04 AM:

Doolitle 2 will have a huge opening weekend and then drop off by more than 50% the next. I think that A.I. will have an okay opening, say in the 20 million dollar range (hey, this is summer, that is only okay), but will have very long legs. If American Pie 2 lives up to the trailer on Evolution it will be huge. I think that Final Fantasy also has potential-unlike Titan AE, which I thought would bomb from the first time I saw a trailer of it.

Posted by Scott Madsen (Member # 167) on 06-12-2001, 12:01 PM:

The more I think about Atlantis, the more I think it has a chance to do well into it's third week and beyond. I hear many adults that are interested in it. I think it will out-do Doolittle 2.
I agree about Princess Diaries. Trailer seems to be playing well.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-12-2001, 05:32 PM:

Don't underestimate A.I. Stanley Kubrick always wanted to do that movie and it'll be interesting to see whether the Kubrickphiles take heart to Spielberg.

If any of your picks fall short there are quite a few arthouse titles with mainstream/megaplex potential: The Anniversary Party, Sexy Beast, The Crimson Rivers, Brother, Apocalypse Now Redux Care to go skiing on the Mekong?

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 06-13-2001, 04:01 AM:

Charles, you forgot CHOPPER.
I wanna see CHOPPER.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-13-2001, 04:35 AM:

Hopefully A.I. will be better than Pinocchio and Bicentennial Man. Both of those movies were about fake people wanting to be real. I'm not a Kubrik fan (The Shining was entertaining, though).

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-23-2001, 12:17 PM:

A.I. is getting huge hype from Time magazine. To AOL Time Warner corporate synergy is more important than reporting news

The Anniversary Party and Sexy Beast just opened in NY suburbs -- but not in any New Jersey megaplexes The product jam coming up means I may have to go into Manhattan for them.

James R: Chopper was a spring release with no mainstream potential.

Posted by JC Cowles (Member # 914) on 07-01-2001, 04:31 AM:

Well, I'm jumping into this a little late, but I think Shrek will be the biggest grosser, even tho it came out before Memorial Day. Scary Movie 2 will probably be one of the "Grossest" movies this summer, but I think it will do better than American Pie 2. I have a feeling American Sweethearts will flop.

I am betting on Jurassic Park 3 and Planet of the Apes for big opening grosses. But I fear both will fizzle out significantly faster than their...um...ancestors?

I just want to see Jurassic Park 3 beat out Spielberg's A.I.

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 07-01-2001, 05:34 AM:

TOMB RAIDER will be the most selling I believe.
AI is a question mark.
Jurassic Park III - Gone too much . It won't do the job it is expected to do.
American Pie 2 - Definately Sell
Scary Movie 2 - OF COURSE
Rush Hour 2 - Anyone who does not think this movie will work is not right in the brain!

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 07-15-2001, 11:11 PM:

Yeah, I know I'm late but....
Jurassic Park 3- Hard to do anything new with the series
(besides new toys...)- it'll die out
Planet of the Apes- The kids will love it, but just like the Psycho
remake, the people who have seen Charlton Heston
as the human will consider this one a travesty.
- Another slow death
American Pie 2- Looks like some new plot elements, but after the pie
scene in the first, who cares? Teenagers, that's who..
- A definite sell-out show
Rush Hour 2- Looks funny, one that i might see with paying customers!
- Don't be short staffed for this one...

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I hope that after I die, people will say of me: "That guy sure owed me a lot of money!"

Posted by Christopher Finn (Member # 938) on 07-16-2001, 12:47 PM:

Ok, so I am mega late, but I just finally received my password last night, so woo-hoo!!

Well, we have already seen the "predicted" summer blockbusters flop... Pearl Harbor, Tomb Raider, A.I., Atlantis, Scary Movie 2.

We have had some interesting surprises.... Legally Blonde, The Fast & the Furious, Shrek, Swordfish.

With what is left, I see JP3 as being a disappointment. Too many bad memories of The Lost World. Planet of the Apes I also think will fail to live up to the hype. My gut feeling isn't that strong for America's Sweethearts either. Rush Hour 2 should pack them in. The Princess Diaries should be a good kid's flick, nice that it is rated G and looks like an appealing, if overdone, story for girls. I think American Pie 2, at least judging from the new trailer, looks to be more "grown-up" than the first. Should be a decent flick. And don't underestimate the power of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.

Then, guess what, summer 2001 is over!!

Kids are back in school, and the studios besiege us with the horrible remains of their vaults!

I know that the most surprising event for our summer was the success of our midnight shows. We had some flicks that performed better with one show, with highly reduced ticket prices, than films that ran all day at regular prices! Gotta love nostalgia. If you are into doing them, The Goonies, Spaceballs, Top Gun, Ferris Bueller & Gremlins do very well. We just celebrated Christmas in July this past weekend with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and it performed better than alot of our other films....a Christmas movie in JULY!! Next up is Tim Burton's Batman on Planet of the Apes weekend. Who knows!?!?

Chris

Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 07-22-2001, 04:29 AM:

Jurrassic Park III and America's Sweethearts have turned out to be successful- and thank god; it's been a dull summer.
For a while, it seemed like everything was down-hill from Mummy Returns.

Posted by JC Cowles (Member # 914) on 08-06-2001, 04:49 AM:

Just out of curiosity, is there *ANYTHING??!?!??* good coming out between now and Christmas? Anything??? I've just gone into a depression lately looking at the coming soon lists.