The future is here, at the box office anyway, and it doesn’t look great. It looks a little like a third world country in fact. Back here in the present however, a stripper, a small time drug deal, and two teenagers are going to rake in a little bit of cash from the onscreen drug deal. And then of course, Dusty Crophopper isn’t really going to get off the ground.
#1 — Elysium
Budget: $115 M
Totals: $30.4 M, Weekend / $10.9 M, Foreign / $41.3 M, Worldwide
Weekend 1
Looking at the disparity between the budget, and what this film brought in this weekend, I have a bad feeling about this. The film didn’t even make it to the half way mark of the production budget and that’s never a good sign.
Elysium was quite a bit to preachy for my taste — extremely heavy handed and with all the nuance of an overgrown bear. Here’s the thing, though I am a Christian, I cannot stand almost any Christian films due to their heavy handed nature, lack of nuance, lack of artistry, and a general sense that the film is beating you over the head with it’s message. So why would I feel any different about a film coming from what could perhaps be called “the other side?” Setting up a false scenario to prove one’s point, a straw man, does not make something true.
On the other hand, Elysium is somewhat entertaining, taken on it’s own. And yet even without the heavy-handed political commentary, I found it to be somewhat lacking. The villains lacked anything of substance and were ultimately too cartoony (and way over-acted in the case of Jodie Foster) to be taken as any serious threat, let alone be well integrated into the story.
I’ll have quite a bit more to say about this in the upcoming episode of The MovieByte Podcast at 8:00 PM on Wednesday so make sure to tune in for that!
#2 — The Millers
Budget: $37 M
Totals: $26.5 M, Weekend / $38 M, Worldwide
Weekend 1
Someone want to tell me what this trash is doing, stinking up my cinema experience?
Just kidding, I know what the deal is: today’s moviegoing audience loves a good, raunchy comedy with overtly disgusting — and often sexual — humor. Well count me out, I’m not the least bit interested. But apparently general moviegoing audiences thought it was worth propelling over the production budget already, which is a sure sign that we’ll get more of the same. You get more of what you subsidize people, please remember that when you go to the theater and think long and hard about it!
#3 — Planes
Budget: $50 M
Totals: $22.5 M, Weekend and Current Total
Weekend 1
You didn’t ask for it, but you got it anyway. From what has become Pixar/Disney’s most lackluster brand comes Planes.
You know, I like Cars a lot, and with the right material, sequels and spinoffs might have been warranted. We have not seen the right material yet, and in fact, as lackluster as I may have found Cars 2 to be, it has nothing on how terrible this film looks to me. Nothing. And apparently movie-goers agree with me.
What I don’t get is that there are other brands that Disney has, both within Pixar, and other places, that could be put to use and would probably do much better — not that I want to see Disney muck with some favorite brand like Toy Story for instance — but I have to wonder who is making these bad decisions and why do they still have a job?
#4 — Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
Budget: $90 M
Totals: $14.6 M, Weekend / $9.8 M, Foreign / $33.2 M, Worldwide
Weekend 1
So, I’ve had a chance to see the first film, finally. I’ll see this film this week sometime. But this poor opening weekend doesn’t look promising.
The first film wasn’t terrible, if it did feel a bit rushed and had a strange cadence to it. I was hoping this second film would be interesting and fun. I do love some good fantasy stories. As far as my opinion, I’ll find out soon enough.
#5 - 2 Guns
Budget: $61 Million
Totals: $11.1 M, Weekend / $48.5 M, Total
Weekend 2
Well that feel quickly. I guess a little bit of bad buzz goes a long way. That, and movie-goers splitting their collective movie budget between all the new films, of which there were several to choose from.
I’ve already talked about my opinion of this film, but suffice it to say that some issues with this film caused me to rate it negatively.
#6 — The Smurfs 2
Budget: $80.2 Million
Totals: $9.5 M, Weekend / $46.6 M, Domestic / $110 M, Foreign / $156.6 M, Worldwide
Weekend 2
It’s obvious that for whatever reason, this film’s success is going to come from foreign markets. I don’t get the draw myself, it looks like an awful film.
#7 — The Wolverine
Budget: $120 Million
Totals: $8 M, Weekend / $111 M, Domestic / $194 M, Foreign / $306.6 Million Worldwide
Weekend 3
Easily the best film in the top eight, it should be higher in my opnion. But I guess if everyone has already seen it, they wanted to check out the other new offereings at the box office this weekend. It’s too bad.
And, $306 Million isn’t a terrible haul. That’s just slightly over 2.5 times the film’s production budget, so that should mean the film was a profitable venture, and I want more, so that’s a good thing.
#8 — The Conjuring
Budget: $20 Million
Totals: $6.7 M, Weekend / $120.7 M, Domestic / $47.2 M, Foreign / $167.9 M, Worldwide
Weekend 4
Sigh.