789 replies to this topic

[dl316bh]

It seems despite all the negative reviews money talks, so there may yet be a sequel (or 2) for this movie:

Here's the problem though; they blew a big wad of money on this movie and with how horribly it's being received there is no guarantee it's going to come close to even making that amount back. Paramount spent close to three hundred million on this film. A hundred and fifty million for the budget and a hundred and forty million on marketing it. Just a hundred and fifty million wouldn't make back half of what they paid to get this movie out there. Unless something crazy happens, it's probably not going to make it. At which point they may well need the DVD's to do okay to recoup their losses.

Opening weekends for films like this are usually rather strong, but the real test is going to be moving forward; if it made seventy million opening weekend like Nowhere Man says, with the current word of mouth and reviews I highly doubt it will make back the production budget alone, much less the grand total.

Edited by dl316bh, 05 July 2010 - 10:55 AM.

[No WhereMan]

I really hope they decide to go with a reboot, because even those who anticipated Night to screw up the franchise didn't think he would do so THIS badly. Hoping that we'll go from the Joel Shumacer of Avatar to our Christopher Nolan...

Eh...I did.

Also, dl316bh, I didn't exactly say that, it made 70 million this weekend. That' s what an article put out. Honestly, I didn't agree with it's numbers because that same article stated the last airbender made 40million it's opening day, which all other report stated it made 16.3 million. A second article I found stated it did close to 41million the opening weekend, which sounds like a more honest figure.

I'm also going to say I don't think it's going to make at least its budget back. Hell, I don't think it till break that much over 100 million. If it does it's just by fans who:
1. Hadn't heard the reviews and went into seeing it blindly.
2. Fans, that couldn't believe that the movie would be that bad, refused to believe the critics, and therefore went into seeing it stubbornly.

Edited by No WhereMan, 05 July 2010 - 11:33 AM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

@ Kodachi - Wow, you brought up a lot of good points and ideas. It would be good if the studio went with some of them.

I'm hoping another director will come along and do a better remake like how bad the first Hulk film was and it get a much better remake.

This would be good as well.

And the thing is about them possibly making a second movie, there are people who actually liked this movie. I have spoken with a number of people this weekend and they said they really enjoyed the movie. These were mainly teenagers and little kids, and their favourite parts of the movie...the special effects. So, as long as little kids and certain teenage audiences go to the movie, and it makes a decent showing after a few weeks, they might just go ahead with another movie and say "who cares" to the core angry fanbase.

[No WhereMan]

Found another article about the weekend profits. This seems to be on the money. So to speak.

The rivalry between vampires and werewolves of “Twilight Eclipse” hit theaters on Wednesday with the much anticipated release of the David Slade-directed third entry in that franchise. It seems like a guaranteed weekend winner. On the other hand, “The Last Airbender” came along last night, thumbing its nose at an increasing number of so-so reviews to open at $16 million. So, a “Last Airbender” weekend box office upset seems possible, if unlikely. But however smart money this weekend is definitely on “Eclipse.”

The two blockbuster films which is the ‘Twilight Saga‘Eclipse’ and The Last Aibender” seems hooked lot’s of movie enthusiast’s attention. On the top grosser ranking, “Eclipse” took first place with $69 million, an impressive result that shows that “Twilight” fans’ support for Team Jacob, Team Edward, and all the supernatural suitors in between transcends the need to devote the weekend to America’s patriotic holiday. Currently, “Eclipse” has generated $161 million since opening on Wednesday, almost a full $100 million past its production budget — and that’s not even factoring in the film’s performance in international theaters. Although it’s like imposiible for “Eclipse” hit $200 million by the end of the holiday weekend on Monday, its final opening weekend tally will be quite rewarding nonetheless.

Coming in second place is “The Last Airbender,” M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon kiddie-cartoon series. Despite of most negative reviews, Shyamalan’s latest has accumulated a solid $40.7 million this weekend alone, which resulted in a $57 million total since opening on Thursday.

Below is the list of new released movies:

1. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” ($69 million)

2. “The Last Air Bender” ($40.7 million)

3. “Toy Story 3″ ($30.2 million)

Heh, heh, "so-so reviews..." reviews that's putting it very lightly. Anyway, I'm sticking to my guns about it barely breaking 100 million, much less recover the 150 million the film cost, (not including the 130million for marketing). If the studio can't recover what it put out for the films production, it becomes basically a flop.

Here, let me put it to you this way, the first "Hulk" movie that the majority of everyone hated cost 137 million to make. It grossed 245 million and it still got a film reboot. So unless The Last Airbender pulls an amazing turn around in the next week or so. It's basically a done deal.

Edited by No WhereMan, 05 July 2010 - 01:06 PM.

[dl316bh]

Only 57 million?

If this thing makes even it's production budget back it might be something akin to a miracle.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Heh, I guess we'll just have to watch and wait, and by next weekend we should have a better idea of where the movie stands in terms of money made back

What I'm most curious about is how M. Knight is feeling right now. As I had mentioned sometime earlier, I feel kind of bad for him even though he pretty much brought all of this on himself. He thought he was doing a good job with this movie, and for it to be practically universally panned and hated by critics and fans alike...that's gotta hurt.

[dl316bh]

Yeah, a week from now we'll have a better picture. At absolute best, it might make half in it's second weekend that it made in it's first. It'll depend on momentum and how long it stays in theaters. If it bombs out quick, it will likely be dropped within a month, but if it goes steady it may stick around a bit longer.

What I'm most curious about is how M. Knight is feeling right now. As I had mentioned sometime earlier, I feel kind of bad for him even though he pretty much brought all of this on himself. He thought he was doing a good job with this movie, and for it to be practically universally panned and hated by critics and fans alike...that's gotta hurt.

I imagine it doesn't feel good, no. This is just me guessing, but he'll probably be okay with it in the end. It wouldn't be the first time one of his films has been hated and panned. I imagine you get used to it. He's done some quality films over his career though, so I don't think he has to worry about this film hanging his career or anything. Despite the bile, I don't think his reputations at that point.

If he really gets too far down, though, he should just tell himself "at least I'm not Uwe Bolle"; suddenly, everything will fall into perspective for him.

Edited by dl316bh, 05 July 2010 - 01:25 PM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

If he really gets too far down, though, he should just tell himself "at least I'm not Uwe Bolle"; suddenly, everything will fall into perspective for him.

LOL, very good point XD

[No WhereMan]

Heh, I guess we'll just have to watch and wait, and by next weekend we should have a better idea of where the movie stands in terms of money made back

What I'm most curious about is how M. Knight is feeling right now. As I had mentioned sometime earlier, I feel kind of bad for him even though he pretty much brought all of this on himself. He thought he was doing a good job with this movie, and for it to be practically universally panned and hated by critics and fans alike...that's gotta hurt.

I've actually been looking for any comments from him in regards to the films reception. If anything I hope this is a wake-up call to M. Night. I mean he had some good work in his earlier films. I hope this set back might allow him to stop and re-access where things went wrong for him in his growth as a director. Almost ten years ago I was a big fan of M. Night's work. I enjoyed Six Sense. I loved Unbreakable. Signs, freaked me out greatly. But after those three films, things took a tragic downward spiral and I'm hoping with this set back allows him to see that and to start to make changes.

I think he has talent as a director and I don't want him to stop making films. I think this blow to the ego, might be a good thing.

[Lid]

Well with the estimates being around 57 mil, I don't know what the studios will think for a sequel. Because of the bad word of mouth I don't think this film will have legs to carry it for the next couple of weeks and will probably have steep drop off with incoming competition.

On M. Night, I think his career will continue to dive, I don't think he has made a good film since Signs and that was back in 02, really to bad since I think he's a good director.

Edited by The Notorious L.I.D., 05 July 2010 - 01:33 PM.

[No WhereMan]

Now, going back to Kodachi's idea about a reboot spanning six films. I think it could be done, although it would be hard since getting a six film deal on a concept that the original film flopped on. (or so we are believing it will flop) I mean, you could point to Harry Potter, but that's a special case. I doubt when they made the Sorcerer's Stone they think they start a franchise with it.

Second problem with making a film series that will span in six installments. Age. The Harry Potter films works because they're going through school, so it's no problem that the guys are growing up with each installment of the series. With Avatar we don't have that luxury because everything happens in a year. So you start off the film with Aang as a little kid. The end of the series, he's standing eye to eye with Ozai. See that's going to be a problem.

I think a reboot would work and should be attempted because I love Avatar and I'd love to see it on the big screen done right. And I think if I'd have to go with a director, I'd lean towards maybe Zach Snyder to take the helm.

I know what your saying, why him?

Well, I don't know if you guys read the actual comics of 300 and Watchmen. But with 300 dialogue and scenes were basically 92% on par with the comic. With Watchmen it was more along the lines of 84% either way, we know he pays attention to the source material. We know he can do some wild fight scenes. And we know he can capture the visuals and the feel of the works he's working from.

I mean that's just my 2 cents on it.

[Sakura Blossoms]

I think a reboot would work and should be attempted because I love Avatar and I'd love to see it on the big screen done right. And I think if I'd have to go with a director, I'd lean towards maybe Zach Snyder to take the helm.

I know what your saying, why him?

Well, I don't know if you guys read the actual comics of 300 and Watchmen. But with 300 dialogue and scenes were basically 92% on par with the comic. With Watchmen it was more along the lines of 84% either way, we know he pays attention to the source material. We know he can do some wild fight scenes. And we know he can capture the visuals and the feel of the works he's working from.

I mean that's just my 2 cents on it.

He sounds like a good choice

[dl316bh]

Well, I don't know if you guys read the actual comics of 300 and Watchmen. But with 300 dialogue and scenes were basically 92% on par with the comic. With Watchmen it was more along the lines of 84% either way, we know he pays attention to the source material. We know he can do some wild fight scenes. And we know he can capture the visuals and the feel of the works he's working from.

He really did do his damndest to get the job done on screen; with 300 I felt he definitely succeeded for the most part.

Watchmen didn't really get the job done, but that's not really his fault. Watchmen was long called "unfilmable" and part of that has always been because of the nature of how the comic was written. It wasn't suited for the big screen and it showed.

It would be interesting to see how he would fare with the Avatar material, but personally I never thought a live action Avatar film was a good idea anyways.

Edited by dl316bh, 05 July 2010 - 02:15 PM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

It would be interesting to see how he would fare with the Avatar material, but personally I never thought a live action Avatar film was a good idea anyways.

Actually the idea for a live-action Avatar movie never even remotely crossed my mind, until I heard that M. Knight was suddenly doing it. I was just enjoying re-runs of the series, and wondering if the rumors of a second series were true (hope it's not!) So, the movie really came as a bit of a surprise for me.

[Dreamer]

Did M. Knight even watch the cartoon before making the film? I'm assuming he didn't with the wrong name pronunciations. I just don't understand why he didn't have the actors say some of
the names right at least.

Edited by Uzumakikage, 05 July 2010 - 02:26 PM.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

^ Again, the name pronunciations thing was to make it more Asian, consulting a linguist to change the English pronunciations to their Asian pronunciations. I honestly didn't really care too much for it. I think, with the amount of slow-mo shots in the movie, it'd seem like Zack Snyder might've directed Last Airbender anyway. XD Oh and regards to renaming a possible reboot "Avatar Aang", I heard, though if someone can confirm it, that James Cameron would've tried to sue if they did use the name Avatar on their title....

Edited by shadow_Uzumaki, 05 July 2010 - 02:41 PM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Did M. Knight even watch the cartoon before making the film? I'm assuming he didn't with the wrong name pronunciations. I just don't understand why he didn't have the actors say some of
the names right at least.

He watched the entire series with his daughter and wife, and actually the pronunciations he used are the 'correct' Asian way of saying the names.

I think he should have just left the way the names are pronounced in the show alone though.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

True, didn't really add to the already abundant Asian influence permeating throughout the series and even the movie already anyway.

[Dreamer]

^ Again, the name pronunciations thing was to make it more Asian, consulting a linguist to change the English pronunciations to their Asian pronunciations. I honestly didn't really care too much for it. I think, with the amount of slow-mo shots in the movie, it'd seem like Zack Snyder might've directed Last Airbender anyway. XD Oh and regards to renaming a possible reboot "Avatar Aang", I heard, though if someone can confirm it, that James Cameron would've tried to sue if they did use the name Avatar on their title....

He watched the entire series with his daughter and wife, and actually the pronunciations he used are the 'correct' Asian way of saying the names.

I think he should have just left the way the names are pronounced in the show alone though.

Ohh okay, thanks for the clarification. It felt like the bending took to long too.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

Well, considering that they have to gather the required amount of their element to do what they need to do. That's how I see it.
Though, to be honest, I found Pakku's somewhat casual taking out of Fire Nation soldiers quite badass. XD

Edited by shadow_Uzumaki, 05 July 2010 - 03:01 PM.