Night at the MuseumYahoo Critics/Users C/B+
Rotten Tomatoes 34%
Lead’s Star Meter 31
Budget 150 million
Rating: PG
Terminator Salvation
Yahoo Critics/Users C+/B
Rotten Tomatoes 44%
Lead’s Star Meter 5
Budget 200 million
Rating: PG-13
"Night at the Museum" cost less, is reviewed worse, has almost the same rating, and in it's lead has less star power. So, why did it win?
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One is a family film (i.e. "everyone" allowed) the other is just another "guy movie."
ReplyDeleteIs Terminator just another "guy movie?" Would Warners spend 200 million on just another "guy movie?" Terminator grosses to date are over $1.0 Billion dollars.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because people want bouncy, light, and feel-good in these increasingly dark times as opposed to a rehash of a known franchise about the near downfall of humanity at the hands of machines.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think Warners would spend 200 million on just another guy movie.
ReplyDeleteI remember a scene from the comic strip "Zits," where Jeremy goes up to an older couple and proclaims "I am the reason Hollywood makes most of its movies!" and the old people gasp, scream, and run away.
They have their old property they want to resurrect (again), they've got it stuck in the earlier days of the summer, and summer is dedicated mostly to 18 - 39 year old guys...
Frankly I'm looking forward to Up...
OK, I keep hearing Terminator is about Guys. Did no women go to see Terminator? Did women not go to see the first 3 in the series? Do Women not like Christion Bale? Was last year's "The Dark Night" merely resurrecting (again) and old WB property?
ReplyDeleteTDK was a fluke.
ReplyDeleteAny time something comes along, unexpectedly, and has that wild crazy success, it is a fluke. Hell George Lucas admits to that happening in the extras to the Phantom Menace dvd when Frank Oz asks him to explain the success of Titanic, etc.
You can't explain TDK, Star Wars, Titanic....somehow, someway, it just touches a chord.
oh sure some girls would go, thinking Bale is all dreamy and that crap, but have you forgotten that a lot of women really do not care for these action movies?
if girls showed up by the thousands to see TDK, it was for Heath Ledger most likely...and not simply because he was the Joker...
I see the "guy movie" vs. "girl movie" showdown play out all the time...the guys are dragged kicking and screaming to Twilight, Titanic, etc., and the girls at best are humoring guys when it comes to Terminator, Resident Evil, and so on...it really is a battle of the sexes played out in cinemas...
Possibly. Anecdotally it makes sense, but do we have any real data to support this "common sense" view point. Previously common sense said Guys go to horror movies. Then demographic polling showed the majority of horror ticket buyers were actually women.
ReplyDeleteSure we don't have the percentages and such to back up any claim at all...and frankly I wouldn't declare the points I made to be "common sense" ones or not...that's the simple experience from observations I've had over the last countless theater going years between me, my friends, their friends, and so on...not to mention those discussions (and arguments) going on at mania and such.
ReplyDeleteBut let's ask this -- are YOU surprised "Night" did better than "Terminator?" I'm not...and hell, I wasn't even paying attention to their numbers.
Little surprises me anymore, and the purpose of discusssion was not forecasting. However, it is noteworthy anytime a studio, staffed with smart people, greatlty outspends another (I believe the WB marketing budget was much larger) with a bigger star, better reviews and loses. What I do think is that the scenario is not nearly as simple as Guy flick vs. Family flick.
ReplyDelete"Little surprises me anymore..."
ReplyDeleteNot to pick on you Bartlett, but maybe that's the problem.
If there's one thing I'm very, very familiar with is the fact one needs to be surprised by things...and when a person loses the ability to become surprised by this, that, or the other, then you need to step out of that life and shake out the expectations and such and really, really look for things to surprise and amaze you.
Just when I think I've gotten it all figured it out....something comes straight out of left field and takes me completely by surprise.
Sure "family film" vs "guy movie" may be over simplifying it...and it may not. You're seeing it from Inside of LA, we're seeing it from outside of LA.
You see the scheming, wheeling and dealing...and (thank god) we don't.
Pixar and Up! will trash them all...and while that doesn't surprise me, Pixar's constant, unending ability to tell something truly wonderful does. Plus the Disney's return to standard hand drawn animation this fall is also a nice surprise....and looks better than any other preview I saw today.
Face it, Terminator's story line and screenplay was not very good. Same old thing, same old place and same old look. It was like a great pice of meat with no seasoning and nothing to eat with it. The key is in the story. I am coming to see you Mr Butler and show you what I mean.
ReplyDeleteSorry I miss spelled your name, Mr. Bruce Bartlett
ReplyDeleteMosheh, I think your getting at something important. In a Summer with both Terminator and Transformers, possibly Terminator was not unique enough in the eyes of filmgoers when compared to their other options. No worries about the name.
ReplyDeleteanother aspect could be similar to the statement above...
ReplyDeletegive us something NEW, instead the same old thing over and over...
NEW, please....not repeats, remakes, reboots, revisionings, re redos......NEW damnit....
Did more females really buy horror movie tickets? And does that mean women are more likely to be horror fans, or just that male horror fans are more likely to sponge off their girlfriends? ;)
ReplyDelete