Movie Malaise…

So this happened over the Memorial Day Weekend:

Wall Street Journal: Holiday Box Office Lowest Since 2001

(For those interested, a list of the summer movies from 2001)

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20 and, given that reality, the results don’t entirely surprise me, even if at least one of them I predicted beforehand.

Let’s start with that particular prediction, regarding THE big Memorial Day release, Tomorrowland.  Directed by Brad Bird, when word first came that this would be the next movie he did after Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, and was a movie he chose to do instead of the new Star Wars film, people like me were naturally curious.

But as I pointed out in a blog posting from May 22, the very day of the film’s formal release (you can read the entry here), I sensed audiences might have a tepid at best reaction to Tomorrowland, at least based on the odd, uninformative trailers being released to allegedly hype the movie up.

As I said in that entry, I got the feeling well before the film’s release that its plot might be a mess, and based on critical reaction, that turned out to be the case.

So if Tomorrowland was looking shaky upon arrival, then what of the other films out there?  As I mentioned in that same entry, it felt like the studios gave up on the Poltergeist remake.  I hardly saw any advertisements for it and, while it made some money, it doesn’t surprise me the film didn’t storm out of the gates.

Which leaves us with the “older” films.  Furious 7, while still in the top ten, is looking long in the tooth by this time.  Those who wanted to see it have pretty much seen it.  Still somewhat strong is Avengers: Age of Ultron, though I suspect that movie is falling into the same category.

The two big films of the previous week, Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max Fury Road, still did well.

Pitch Perfect 2 was so outside my wheelhouse that I can’t even begin to offer theories on why it did as well as it did.  Perhaps it was counterprogramming, giving audiences a welcome opposite of the typical big budget blockbusters.  Perhaps in part it was due to good will from the first film (which I don’t know all that much about either).  Regardless, the studios backing this movie have got to be smiling.

Which brings us to Mad Max Fury Road.  While the film is a critical darling and the internet is filled with gushing posts from people who absolutely love the film, it was beaten, financially, in these two weeks by Pitch Perfect 2.  That’s not to say the film is a financial failure.  Not at all.  However, one wonders, how did a comedy/musical wind up beating what looked, coming into the week before, to be a massive hit?

And here’s where my awesome powers of hindsight come into play…I suspect the thing that might have turned off some people from giving the movie a try was the fact that it looked a little too weird.

There’s a place for weird cinema but with the large summer audiences, one has to be careful to not go too far and potentially alienate these same audiences.  My wife was reluctant to see the film because the commercials made it look too “out there” for her.  Yet once I got her to the theater (no force involved! 😉 ), she came out with the opinion the film was far better than she thought it would be.  How many more people are there out there like her, people who might ultimately like the film yet are reluctant to go see it -indeed, might not go see it!- because of that feeling?

My own opinion of Fury Road remains the same.  I liked it but am not one of those people who absolutely loved it.  As good as the movie was it didn’t totally blow me away like The Road Warrior did back in the day.

I suspect in the long run the film will more than make its money back and, hopefully, will even see a sequel.

Interestingly enough, I suspect Mad Max Fury Road might have done better had it be released this past week rather than the week before and against Pitch Perfect 2.  I strongly believe the desire for people to see Tomorrowland was weaker than many thought.

As for the rest of summer…we’ll just have to wait and see.  And when all is said and done, maybe I’ll offer another sterling 20/20 hindsight opinion! 😉