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SUNDAY AM: Showing just how fiercely competitive the summer box office is right now, rival Hollywood movie studios are complaining to me they don't believe Warner Bros' domestic gross numbers released today. Those claim its disastrous Speed Racer came in 2nd behind Marvel's Iron Man in the weekend's Top 10 contest. All the other majors -- Fox, Sony, Paramount, Universal, Disney, and MGM -- have the anime actioner opening only 3rd. And rivals dispute WB's reporting that Speed Racer made $20.2 million for Fri-Sat-Sun because its projected Sunday number isn't seen as possible. "That's a very aggressive Sunday estimate to try and claim 2nd," one studio's top marketing and distribution mogul complained to me this morning, echoing the disbelief of most of his colleagues. "Warners is hoping moms want to go to Speed Racer for Mothers Day." (To give Warner Bros the benefit of the doubt, it's true that family pics do well on Mothers Day.) But all the other studios have Fox's romantic comedy What Happens In Vegas in 2nd place with $20 million, and Speed Racer only 3rd with $19.7 million. 
And the rival execs say that, since Speed Racer's gross was even softer than anyone thought, up only 18% on Saturday because of kiddie matinees compared to Friday, the Warner Bros film couldn't possibly get to $20 million for the weekend barring a box office miracle on Sunday. "Their estimate is utterly laughable!," a top exec at a rival major told me this AM. "That being said, from what I've heard, they are not trying to dress up the pig. They're resigned to it being a disaster... just not enough to stop them from fabricating a number to jump Fox for the #2 position." These kind of controversies don't develop often in Hollywood, but when they do, they can be ugly. That's because there is a certain code of honor among thieves, if you will -- a tacit agreement that every Hollywood studio will try to report weekend box office numbers as accurately as possible, even though there's a significant PR advantage to artifically moving a disappointing film up a slot in the Top 10 by inflating numbers. The irony is that these controversies get settled quickly, as soon as tomorrow when the actual theater by theater grosses for Sunday come in Monday and then determine the "actual" figures as opposed to the Sunday "estimates"...
Nobody is disputing distributor Paramount's figures that Marvel's summer blockbuster Iron Man made a platinum $15 million on Friday from 4,111 venues, and $21.6 million on Saturday, giving it an estimated FSS total of $50.5 million, or more than double the domestic box office gross of its nearest weekend competitor, to stay No. 1 again. Its new cume is a monster $177.1M. But Warner Bros' Speed Racer, whether its weekend total is $19.7 million or $20.2 million from 3,606 plays, made only half what the studio hoped, even with lowered expectations because of bad buzz and poor tracking. Not only is the anime actioner this summer's first summer bomb, but it's also doing dismally in key areas of its 30+ day and date opening foreign territories. The pic has gone bust in many international markets, with some disastrous openings in Europe in particular. Besides a too-long running time and a too-small audience of younger boys, the Wachowski siblings spent at least $160M making the pic, whereas Fox's What Happens in Vegas cost only $35 million. Hollywood is convinced Warner Bros has a major writedown on its hands. Vegas took in $7.1 million Friday and $7.5 million Saturday from 3,215 runs for a $20 million weekend. For much more analysis, see my 'Speed Racer' Crashes & Burns To Become First Summer Bomb and Weekend Prediction.
The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers: #4 Sony's Made Of Honor took in $7.6M for a new cume of $26.2M; #5 Universal's Baby Mama, $5.7M weekend, $40.3M cume; #6 Universal's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $3.7M weekend, $50.7M cume; #7 Warner Bros' Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, $3.1M weekend, $30.7M cume; #8 Lionsgate/The Weinstein Co's The Forbidden Kingdom, $1.9M weekend, $48.2M cume; #9 Fox's Nim's Island, $1.3M weekend, $44.2M cume; #10 Sony Classics' Redbelt, $1.1M weekend, $1.2M cume.
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I’ve got ten words for Jeff Bewkes and Alan Horn…
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Hi, Nikki. I find somehow disturbing the glee that the much-anticipated and hoped-for “failure” of SPEED RACER inspires in you and others. What is so good about seeing the “siblings” (as you like to point) fail? So many people seem to share that feeling. I generally like and enjoy the comments and information in this page, and thank you for the time and courage to offer some real insight into matters that are never discussed honestly, but this wachowski witch hunt fever doesn´t become you, and I feel you’re much better than that. Don´t become a wanna be hater. Your voice is much too important as an observer of the realitities of the desert of the real, as the “siblings” would say. Thanks for your page.
This weekend probably locks a $40 million TOTAL N.A. gross for Speed Racer. Exhibitors aren’t going to be letting this one hang around past its initial expiration date.
Some will never learn.
For further evidence, I submit “The Incredible Hulk.” It’s a lock for a stinker.
The only thing incredible about it is that they think a second try in five years will be any different from the first time.
That’s incredibly stupid.
Could be that the PRISM boycott is actually having a bit of an effect? Or perhaps maybe it’s just that bad of a film….
So very happy for Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. What an awesome movie and awesome actor.
Emile Hirsch is not a star. He is an indie character actor. He certainly shouldn’t be headlining an action film. Much like James McAvoy. Every cent that Wanted pulls will be due to whatever appeal Angelina Jolie still has.
If by some miracle Wanted avoids being the bomb it now looks to be, we’ll get a deluge of fawning articles about how McAvoy has now “arrived” and his “universal appeal”. When that happens, every woman in the nation then needs to go on a rampage against this sexism. That movie is being sold 100% on Jolie. She damn well better get 100% of any credit.
Not surprised in the least. You make a 129 minute-long kiddie movie that makes for a noisy, headache-bright, computer-degenerated mess of a trailer based on a property whose appeal is only entrenched in the hearts of a petite group of overaged hipsters and expect boffo BO? Those brothers are being exposed as hacks who owe their careers to a couple of cutting-edge-circa-1999 special effect technologies.
The Wachowski bloom is off the rose.
They lucked into the Matrix, virtually destroyed the franchise with the two sequels, and have done nothing of consequence since then.
Since they love high concept, big budget projects, I can only see them attached as hired-guns for some sort of Americanized anime film or sequel…and not for a couple of years as “penance” for costing the studio millions.
What surprises me is how poorly that Speed Racer performed this weekend. Anything that Joel Silver and the Wachovisky Brothers has done remarkable in the box office. Bot a less 20mil domestic gross? Something wrong with this picture. I saw the trailors to Speed Racer and it blew me away.
Well other economic factors could be in play.
High gas prices.
Subprime mortgage could really pulling on the consumer to affect the box office. Coupled by high ticket prices. But high gas prices,subprime and foreclosures are pulling on the customer. Consider the bigger picture and Warner Execs need to rexamine the market on this one.
Making “Speed Racer”, while it seemed to make some sense, based on the fact that the show came here a long time ago, really wasn’t the smartest idea. The property is considered extremely forgettable by the Japanese. There are oodles of incredibly popular animes and mangas with very empathetic characters and cinematic settings and huge worldwide followings, like for instance “Berserk”, “Grappler Baki” and the have made $billions already. Why pick a minor one with paper thin characteers? Maybe because the racing setting is good…then the challenge would be to develop a great script out of it. Rumor is, the script was very good at an earlier point, but got emasculated. It gets back to the basic rule: you need a great tentpole premise and a great script followed by terrific direction and performance. Easier said than done! But this failure in letting the W-Brothers get by without developing their characters should not be used to hold against anime and manga properties, far from it. The bedrock of the great mangas and animes is terrific character development. And it should rock on DVD, as another person said.
Looks like WB will be banking on The Dark Knight to save the summer!
Wachowskis should have either made it more real human or all animation. Combining the two was the deathnill for a movie based on a lightly seen cartoon. IronMan has a higher recognition rate than Speedracer.
I hate to say it but movies like these are why studio suits demand more say. M. Shyamalan and Tim Burton are others that could use some additional studio direction or stop making movies.
This should come as no surprise to anyone. From the trailers it was obviously a bomb. FX do not make a movie; Poor acting and fake looking FX = flop.
Surprising. I saw it Saturday night and enjoyed it. But by the time it was done, I felt like I had eaten too much candy.
they can’t all make money
happy mothers day warners
A Movie based on a Cartoon?…Beyond, Oxymoron..
Superman, I. II. III, IV, ReDo
SpiderMan, I.II.III..etc.etc.
And There was a “writer’s” Strike ?? What, ??, they weren’t being paid enough for Comic book re-Hash?
Crap Movies
REHASHED PLOTS
Animation in lieu of acting..
Agenda Driven, re-written “History”
“Star Wars” became a cartoon based on a movie..
Wonder why Casablanca and Titanic are Great//..and “SpeedRacer” is paper lining the bottom of the bird cage??
Even if Speed Racer were a very good movie, nobody would show up. It shouldn’t have been made, and the design and style by which it was made is all the worse.
Look for Indiana Jones to not be in the top two Summer pictures. It’s Wall-E and The Dark Knight this summer.
Another rip-off of a baby-boom concept destined for the shitpile along with “The Flintstones”, “Rocky and Bullwinkle”, “The Little Rascals”, “McHale’s Navy”, “Sgt. Bilko”, “The Beverly Hillbillies”, ad nauseum. And what of the endless remakes that also, are NEVER as good as the originals were (”Ocean’s Eleven”, “The Longest Yard”, “Psycho”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, “All the King’s Men”)? Where is the ORIGINALITY in Hollywood? When they’re not ripping off past generations (and doing a terrible job of it), they seem preoccupied with murderers, social deviants, dumb teen comedies, “gangsta” tripe and PC dramas about the downtrodden and the sexually “misunderstood”.
Have they no clue as to why so many people don’t bother attending movies anymore? The last Oscar telecast proved how far Hollywood has fallen. Half the presenters were not stars by any definition but Hollywood’s! Most were little more than watered-down celebrities with thin credentials and relatively few people bothered to pay to see these nominated films at all. Hollywood is experiencing a tailspin in prestige, the new celebrities are simply not too talented, nor are the alleged “writers”, and the public knows it. But I guess there’s always room for “Ocean’s 26″.
I sure do miss the real Hollywood and the wonderful experience of going to the movies. But to pay exorbitant prices for B-movies made on A-list budgets with few, if any legitimate stars, is no great pleasure. Sad, really. Anyone agree?
Not surprising. A truly horrible movie.
The brothers just messed this one up, that’s all. It doesn’t look like the much loved for generations now cartoon. It looks ridiculous. Poor Emile Hirsch, like Vincent Chase being pushed to do Aquaman, has ended up in an ugly film to look at, and in such an unbelievable world, people will have trouble believing in the characters, no matter how well played. This one is a bomb for a reason. Warner Brothers should have known.
All the advance reviews on Speed Racer, except for one by Richard Corliss in Time mag, said that it was basically boring…….so who wants to take their kid to that? Son, when the dvd comes out I’ll get it for you. That’s what this movie has been reduced to…
Wonder when tinsle town will figure out it cannot expect good attendance numbers when it produces so many films with political statements in them that half of America does no agree with? Oh well, they can keep telling us how stupid we are.
Yeah because its still hard to figure out what this movie is supposted to be about.
And yet WB refuses to greenlight Wonder Woman, a far more widely recognizable and beloved pop icon from their own (largely untapped) DC stable. Speed Racer is from the get-go a thematically shallow and generationally challenged property by comparison.
When will the studios learn that kids aren’t afraid of traditional superhero material or female leads. Audiences don’t need contrived flash and reinvention in their movies, so much as a good story well told with truth and directness (by a director with an emotional commitment to the material).
Iron Man points the way.
I mean, given the choice, who would make Speed Racer over Wonder Woman?
Why is Hollywood surprised? People are hurting out there with rising gas & food prices — not to mention millions of people losing their homes. Why should we go out and pay almost $10 a ticket to watch a movie?
The Wachowski bros are proving, time and again (excluding their only lucky blockbuster, the first Matrix), that they actually DON’T KNOW WHAT IT TAKES to make a great movie. These guys are like the Democrat Party of the silver screen — when faced with a challenge, they throw a lot of money at it, and when they fail miserably, they throw more money at it (preferably somebody else’s)… Guys, listen, I grew up watching Speed Racer as a kid, and there was a REASON it was only a 30 minute cartoon — in truth, only a 20 minute cartoon sans commercial breaks. It wasn’t THAT sensational of a toon, and it was mind-breakingly redundant. We kids just watched it to see the Mach V go airborne with its signature “oing oing oing” sound FX and to laugh at Chim Chim and Spritle. The rest of it was boring as HELL — no offense intended toward the late Tatsuo Yoshida. It’s just that the Japanese were and are easily entertained with goofball antics and ridiculous plots, while American audiences were and are anal retentive with short attention spans, and that goes triple for American kids. If the Wachowski bros really wanted to appeal to…well…ANYBODY with “Speed Racer,” they should have produced it as a series of 5 one-hour movies and focused on complete and easily resolved plotlines-per-episode. Ohhh, Speed!
I knew it would happen.
it bombed cause it sucked!
Fun movie, but not appropriate for small children that you dont want to expose to “the bird”. I was shocked and somewhat embarrased to have exposed my seven year old son to the one finger salute in a PG rated film.
The story and previews made the movie look horrible and mind dumbing. Is anyone surprised that this movie did horrible? At least I can start watching TV without every other commercial being Speed Racer.
Com’on, Speed Racer was a kids cartoon, an anime for cry’n out loud. What did you expect?
Big shocker there, WB! The movie looks boring and Iron Man looks awesome.
Also, other than a handful of cartoon fanboys, was this REALLY a live action update audiences were clamoring for?!?!? It’s not like the original show was that interesting to begin with.
Other than a little nostalgia, this one was dead on arrival. Also – the glossy CGI races, while I’m sure are a technical marvel, just look really, really boring.
I’m happy with the idea that Speed Racer could be a complete failure. Are they even trying anymore? I am tired of them replacing real things with computer generated everything…
It was a stupid idea for a movie. Like 90% of the rest of the trash coming out of Hollywood. I hope all of your movies fail!
I really have no interest whatsoever in seeing “Speed Racer,” but I’ll weigh in with a comment just based on the trailer I saw and reading some of the reviews: Why such a monumental waste of resources on a feature-length film? It seems to me the Wachowski brothers might have used this as an opportunity to pump some juice into the short film genre — and then it could have screened ahead of something like “The Dark Knight” or “Incredible Hulk.” It looks like it might have made a fun 10-minute feature. I would watch that. But who needs, or even wants, two plus-hours of this shit? Evidently, based on the weekend box office, not many.
Aside from the fact the trailers were enough to induce seizures, a redux based on 60’s style low-grade Japanimation is always a risky proposition.
“Charles Miller — May 11, 2008 @ 10:26 am” – These guys are like the Democrat Party of the silver screen — when faced with a challenge, they throw a lot of money at it, and when they fail miserably, they throw more money at it (preferably somebody else’s)
Hah! That’s the best comment on this blog Charles. In any event, with this economy and gas prices, one has to wonder how much that has to do with things. It will be interesting to see how Indy IV will do a couple weekends from now.
The movie was about what I expected. My kid liked it and, aside from the seizure-inducing graphics and the totally unnecessary profanity, it was worth the ticket price.
Someone blamed the economy on the movie’s poor showing. How bad could the economy be if Ironman can gross $100M its first weekend and Grand Theft Auto IV can gross $500M in its first week? The answer is probably more basic in a weekend where Ironman is still going strong and mothers don’t particulary care to be subjected to a kid movie on a day when they don’t have to.
I watched the cartoon as a kid. I was surprised someone would want to make it into a movie. That said, it was fairly true to the characters.
Here’s a clue for the studios, just make the previews and release them and then decide whether to make the movie. After seeing the preview for Speed Racer, I could tell this would flop bigtime, hell anyone could.
America is too sophistiscated to throw millions of dollars at a third rate piece of crap Japanese Cartoon. This movie should have NEVER been made and whatever group of execs decided this was a good idea need to have their heads examined. Subtitle it in Japanese..release it on DVD there and cut your loses and run because Anime to Real-Life will always = failure. Only American Cartoons can appeal to American audiences. Japanese anime has such a huge cultural gap you don’t know whether your suppose to laugh or cry at what you are seeing..and what the Japanese interpret as hilarious often comes off as just wierd and creepy to us. This carried over in Speed-Racer..unfortunately.
Speed Racer will be great. I think it can be a word-of-mouth movie and will have a huge DVD release. My 5 year old and I plan to see it next weekend, despite all of these haters!
It’s too bad the movie has been getting bad press, I’m a 30 year old female who saw Speed Racer on a whim and LOVED IT. Absolutely loved it, it was much better done than I expected. I hate to see WB get punished for producing a great movie with expensive production costs because it didn’t have enough violence or smut.
I went to see speed racer with my kids and they loved it…My youngest said it “was the best movie he has ever seen” Iron man on the other hand was a real stinker so i think in the end people will get over the bad and good hype to see what is really the good movies out there.
The problem with Hollywood is that they still think the audience is stupid. They are out of touch with the American audience. What they should have is make a movie that appeals to the 20-40 year olds. We are the ones who remember Speed Racer. I really wanted to like this movie but when I first saw the previews, well it looked dumb.
Pretty movie with lots of color … wasn’t a bad movie but it was LONG.
It’s the second of many casulties for this summer. The first one was Made Of Honor….a attempt to give a alternate to Iron Man. With these movies with overblown budgets that are due to come out……there are going to be a slight number of hits and a lot of casulties. It’s simple math. If you get a great opening weekend and lose your legs with heavy drops in the following weekends…..you are just as screwed possibly as being a $200,000,000 film that can’t have it’s big opening. Sit back and enjoy…..as long as you are not a suffering studio executive.
Emille Hirsch did the talk shows and he is a personality-deprived nobody scrawny-punk-nerd. Nobody is going to go see the film because of him.
Speed Racer is a 40 year old character that has no following with todays kids. They should have tried to bring it back as a cartoon before the flick to get someone interested.
The trailer looked bad. But, why not just play a video game?
And on top of that, Ironman had a great trailer, great leads and that made for a tough opening week.
hahahhahaha. They took a wonderfully simple, classic 1960’s anime and slicked it up and made it garbage.
I’m glad it failed. The W brothers are phonies and I hope we never hear from them again. V for Vendetta was one of the worst films ever made, not to mention that Matrices II & III were unwatchable. These guys are lousy filmmakers. They were trying to ruin a classic, dragging it down with pedestrian, unimaginative dreck.
I knew it was a stupid concept. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t be a stupid movie.
Even by the standards of very young children, Speed Racer has nothing to offer.
Did WB actually think that kids would be attracted to a movie like looked no different than a Saturday morning cereal commercial, was far less engaging (judging by the trailers), and would go on for far too long? What was the concept for this?
“It has bright colors and it moves!”
The TV comercials for this give us no idea of what the movie is about – beyond being one long commercial that you pay to see. Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks understand that, if you want to sell your kiddie movie, you have to engage the adults who are going to sit with those kids.
Even trailers for something as low budget as the Veggie Tales movies give you some idea of what the movie is about.
Crows, while having very small brains, are attracted to bright shiny objects and perhaps this is how the Warchowski Bros. sold this.
And of all weekends to open a candy-coated puff like this, let’s do it on Mother’s Day! Because, by golly, what Mother wouldn’t want to see a movie like this?
I’m a mom and I went with my family to see Speed Racer Friday night. And I enjoyed it. I think people take this stuff wayyyy too serious and judging from these comments, some perspective is in order here. The theater was full, families were sitting together laughing and enjoying a good night at the movies with each other. In the grand scheme of things movies are all just fluff! Take your passion and put it into something that matters, folks. Movies shouldn’t matter to you this much. Lighten Up already!
Smart comments about a dumb maovie. Why do you think Speilberg/Geffen/Katzenberg cashed out to Viacom for 1.6 B three years ago? They saw the graffiti on the brick wall. It’s a hell of a lot easier to sell four tickets than two, you jackass.
I’m not suprised at all, this movie looks awful! I had no desire to check this movie out. I thought about seeing Iron man AGAIN this weekend though. The first time I had to sit in front because the theatre was so packed.
I never was a Speed Racer fan and probably won’t go see the movie. What I don’t get about movies based on cartoons/comics/anime is, if you have a beloved character with dozens, if not hundreds of say, good comic book story lines and plots, then out of all that writing why not simple bring the best story to the big screen? The latter Superman (Chris Reeves) films and Spiderman III devolved into either goofy caricatures or at least poorly conceived movies, when literally thousands of comics of both characters should have offered some good stories to bring to life. Face it, these are pure fantasy films, but having just seen “Iron Man”, I appreciated that the hero faced contemporary foes in radical Islam and greedy corporate traitors. None of that PC nonsense that we can’t offend anyone, so lets have our protagonist fight the Nazis one more time. Marvel showed some guts making the movie and this no doubt contributed to Iron Man’s popularity.
As for anime, there are some really good works out there. Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” is an amazing piece of work, as are his other films. But if you have seen them you will notice they have complex characters, wonderful art and complex plots, not just animation. If you have not seen them, rent them! In effect, they are far more interesting than most live action Hollywood films with the so-called stars they try to sell us, where special effects and mediocre acting replace story. Also good anime combines animation (which I have enjoyed since childhood) with the perspective of another culture (in this case Japanese) which refreshingly takes one away from the overly done PC American steriotypes we are general subjected to. For yet a different cultural view try renting “The Triplettes of Belleville.”
Anime fans note that there is to be a feature film of Astroboy (The Atom) coming out soon. I believe this was the very first anime, the old B&W comics of the 60’s were great.
I was waiting for some naive person to come on and blame the low turn out for this film on the economy, high fuel prices, and the home loan fiasco. Give me a break. So, using your logic Iron Man must be a total fluke. Only the wealthy must be seeing it, and seeing it several times over each successive weekend since it came out. That must be the only way it is bucking your theory. Geeesh! Get a life!
The most troubling thing about this is that someone signed off on making Speed Racer… Are you kidding me, Speed Racer??? Someone should should be fired, and blacklisted for putting this trash on the big screen.
Not being terribly familiar with the old anime, after seeing the trailers for Speed Racer I thought they had made a movie out of the video game Stun Runner!
the bits of speed racer the movie that i saw had none of the appeal of the original cartoon and looked more like they would cause seizures rather than inspire a resurgence in interest in the cartoon. how the studios didn’t see that this was a dud is beyond me.
A great idea for a whole new movie series would be a big screen remake of the awesome animated Saturday morning series “Johnny Quest”. Hire Howie Long as Race Bannon and Harrison Ford as Doctor Benton Quest, add in a new female character, (perhaps Jessica Alba as Johnny’s tutor) and find the next Joaquin Phoenix, and you have the makings of an incredible franchise.
I love how everyone comments about a movie they haven’t even seen. Pretty funny. Speed racer is awesome and I wasn’t even a fan of the original. It is too long and prob should have been cut to about 100min, but get over the negative reviews. Everyone is so dependent on the media in every category – news, entertainment, etc, when we all know they can’t be trusted.
Ironman is not that good of a movie, but the good reviews drive people to the theaters. It’s simple marketing and to say the “reviewers” aren’t in bed with the studios is absurd.
I took my son on Friday to watch this trash. UNBELIEVABLE….This movie was a joke, thanks to the Wacko brothers trying way too hard….If they were trying to create the worst movie ever, then I guess they succeeded…. As for people not going to the movies because of the “economy” or “high gas prices” that is horse squeeze…. Just look at the numbers for Ironman…Its not affecting that movie…Why? Because its a good movie….I want my money back MPAA and all involved in this disaster….
Even when I was a kid I thought speed racer was the stupidest thing on tv.
I’m hardly a movie expert like most others here, but in the buildup to ‘Speed Racer’s’ release, I increasingly thought it was a terrible idea. Who were they really pitching this movie to? Japanimation freaks? People who watched the original cartoon 40 years ago? Even THEY weren’t foaming at the mouth for a big-budget film version. As Jim Emerson aptly puts it, the show was something we watched for lack of anything else being on, between reruns of Gilligan’s Island and The Munsters.
A dum-dum concept and now it’s a big flop. Doesn’t surprise me. If anything, I’m surprised it made as much as it did opening weekend.
As someone who suffered through Bewkes’ and Horn’s utter destruction of New Line — to save, what, $50 million? — over THE GOLDEN COMPASS’ poor domestic performance, it makes my heart swell that they’ve taken it between the legs for this shiny turd. Karma, motherfuckers, karma.
Nice try blaming high gas prices and the economy. People are driving to see Iron Man. Speed Racer just sucks.
I grew up watching Speed Racer as a kid and I loved it. I bought the DVD with the old episodes almost 4 years ago and my kids loved them. I took them to see the movie yesterday and they both enjoyed it. Yes, it was heavy on seizure-inducing colors and effects, but it still managed to bring back all the joy I had watching the show when I was 7 years old or so. I was also a little surprised (along with everyone else over 18 in the theatre) with some of the language and the bird-flipping, but at the end of the day that’s for me to control and decide on how to address. Perhaps they should have settled on either all animation or all live-action, as well as making sure there was a new generation of young fans, but I don’t really care that much. Every movie can’t be directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Johnny Depp. I had fun, and my kids had fun. Movies are only too long if they are insufferable. For $10 a ticket they should come with sleeping bags, but I digress. I saw Iron Man Friday night and it was simply awesome. I also almost never, ever, listen to movie critics. They have nothing to offer humanity. They are lower life-forms than lawyers and lobbyists, and that’s saying something. Create something, teach something, improve something, heck – sell something, and then come talk to me.
I’ve seen Iron Man 4 times, Speed Racer 0… I’ll see Iron Man at least a few more times before renting Speed Racer on DVD.
And Den Ko, thanks for the laugh, “Iron Man on the other hand was a real stinker”… Too funny. You are the only single real person I’ve heard of who has seen this movie and thought it stunk. Like I said, too funny…
“Movies shouldn’t matter to you this much. Lighten Up already! ”
Some of the people who come to this website depend on movies like ‘Speed Racer’ to make succeed at the box office to get their pay checks.
But I guess movies don’t matter that much!
Re: Speed Racer. My grandson went to see SR with friends, part of a birthday party. The mom-in-charge, took charge when the film opened with words and gestures totally unsuitable for its young audience, and left the theater, demanding — and receiving — a refund. If it’s junk, walk out and ask for your money back. Maybe someone will hear the cash register’s silence!
OK, so Hollywood is sinking. They have forgotten how to entertain us. I’m sooo sick of remakes, cartoon heroes, gangsta, gross you out but not horror flicks and the never ending and always BORING date movies that don’t come close to romantic comedy, the wit and storylines so forced it makes you wince. OH and NO musicals don’t get it either.
Seems this season they are throwing spaghetti to see what sticks. Please no more movies that preach or the brutality and ugliness of our past and present. We know it already. So they turn to Anime??..that is so NOT it! Can adults have a film…PLEASE?
Its not there is lack of material. Theres LOADS of it but apparently there isn’t the talent or wisdom anymore to know good material or do it justice. Its all about demographics and bucks.
I remember following one I was seriously looking forward to, RAMA written ages ago by Arthur C. Clarke, Morgan Freeman set for the title role. It dried up and disappeared and I was left deflated.
Nope, instead we get Harold and Kumar and a never ending supply of low brow, cheap shots, violent blood fests or kiddie films. Bring back Monty Python if you can’t get it right!!
I find myself seeking out long forgotten films and enjoying them all over again. What the hell is John Carpenter doing these days…HELP!
Cloverfield was good, not great but good. Hopefully that will produce something more with more for the audience to chew on in the sequel. Hopefully the POV won’t give me whiplash and will tickle my brain a little and SCARE me rather than merely gross me out.
Its apparent to this movie lover that Hollywood is in dire need of synaptic restoration therapy as it looks like about 1 in 5 are firing.
Boomers are retiring, guess what, we need movies too and not about how old we are or how to die nicely. K?thx.
What surprises me is how poorly that Speed Racer performed this weekend. Anything that Joel Silver and the Wachovisky Brothers has done remarkable in the box office. Bot a less 20mil domestic gross? Something wrong with this picture. I saw the trailors to Speed Racer and it blew me away.
Well other economic factors could be in play.
High gas prices.
Subprime mortgage could really pulling on the consumer to affect the box office. Coupled by high ticket prices. But high gas prices,subprime and foreclosures are pulling on the customer. Consider the bigger picture and Warner Execs need to rexamine the market on this one.
lol. Funny how Iron Man seemed to overcome these harsh economic talking points for a second week in a row.
Which Wachowski brother are you? Or is this Al Gore?
I agree 100% with Charles Miller, and the others about the Wachowski brothers, overrated hacks. Like a pair of Kevin Smiths, I look forward to never seeing this video game of a movie, like their last ones.
Speed Racer bombed for two very simple reasons
1. There was really no built in, large-spread fan base for this cult cartoon. It was the very definition of niche audience. There was zero, nada, zilch call for this movie to ever be made (let alone $150 million + spent)…what next, Astro Boy??
2. It was a crappy movie.
The commercials did nothing for me and I think people are tired of seeing obvious computer animation FX. If it was based more in reality rather than looking like they live in a pinball machine then they could have pulled off something. I think anime offers a lot of original material for talentless Hollywood to rip off. But Speedracer fans like the cartoon for its cheesyness more than anything else about it.
I loved it! I really did. They took a childhood-memory franchise, modernized it, ‘parable-ized’ it, memorialized it – and left it intact without damage. It took a level of brilliance to achieve that. From the kaleidoscopic colors to the completely over-the-top action sequence race scenes to the cliched scenes of angst and glory, it was a very satisfying evening! If you’re looking for Fun, go see it!. If you’re looking for angst and misery, look elsewhere.
Perhaps this will teach Hollywood to get an original idea instead of relying on old retro-crap, which wasn’t any good to begin with. I figure GET SMART and the new TREK film will die a quiet death also. They should write a by-law stating that no remakes will be allowed unless the original idea was first presented as a lost silent film or unfinished musical.
I had no idea speed racer was already out, people were very preocupied with mothers day, however I don’t see a rebound in the second week as prince caspian is coming out Friday and stealing a large part of sr’s audience.
The only reason anyone ever watched Speedracer was because it was the only thing on tv Saturday afternoons…To spend 160 mil plus marketing on this crap shows the WB must have money to burn.
the real failure lies with the person who actually thought this project was somehow a good idea. speed racer was a terrible cartoon with a boring story. a pale comparison to speed buggy. the cartoon experienced a minor resurgence in the early nineties with the gen x set, but was short lived. who ever brought this to film must have had a strong personal affinity for the nostalgia of this story. it really proves that just because you keep making this crap, the audience doesn’t necessarily come.
When Erin Esurance outdoes the movie in its extremely awkward tie-in commercial with Speed Racer and I’d rather see an Erin Esurance film, there’s something wrong. What was Warner thinking on that one; there’s no market for car insurance for 7-14 year olds, and uh, the things done in that film aren’t exactly encouraged by insurance companies as “normal driving”.
Amazing that so many people are stymied as to why Speed Racer is tanking, when it’s so easy to explain. Some of you are getting parts of it, but no one’s addressed (from what I’ve read) two glaring problems:
1) There’s more than a bit of cursing in what is supposed to be a family- and kid-friend film. If you think the attitude’s parochial, apologies, but the language has no place in such a film, and it will keep people away in droves.
2) Word is out that a child “flips the bird” to a villian in the film, presumably for a laugh. I’ve yet to talk to a parent who wants their child seeing such a thing in a motion picture, much less emulating such rotten behavior–presumably for a laugh.
I don’t care who’s in it, how good the performances are, or the realism of the “physics” of the movie. It’s a slap in the face of parents who are trying to raise their children well, while asking for those parents’ dollars at the same time.
–Mike
Subprime mortgages are pulling on the consumer? You mean to tell me if I get an adjustable rate knowing that I won’t be able to make the payments and I face the consequences of that bad business decision, somehow that causes me to not go see a movie? What astounding economic ignorance. Yet, I don’t see that affecting Iron Man. Maybe that movie is being supported by responsible borrowers who made wise choices. Maybe it’s the war in Iraq? Could be the price of gold. How can gas prices affect one movie yet strangely leave others untouched? I do know one thing. As long as Hollywood continues to blame anyone but themsleves, it will just get worse.
Can we all just take a step back, breathe deeply, and adjust. Good.
Now, anime is in the eye of the cupholder. Speedracer was, early on, as great an animation disappointment as was Hannah-Barbera’s Yogi Bear. One would have thought that WB, the home of Chuck Jones, Mel Blank, REAL cartoons, and the Animaniacs would know better.
Taste is like a bum – everybody’s got one, and there will be those who will love this film. Of course, there are those who will be Democrats and Republicans, too. Frankly, I’m going to drive my new, totally electric car, at 90 miles per hour for 210 miles between charges, to see something else.. anything else.
Peace, Flowers, and Daisycutters for terrorists!
It’s BUSH’s fault!!!
Yeah,…and like global warming too!!
Hollywood wouldn’t recognize a good story if it snapped shut on their collective butt like a rusty grizzly bear trap. All those smart young execs in creative development probably don’t read good books and were probably raised on a diet of primetime television. That’s part of the problem right there – the people calling the shots come from a much different educational and social matrix than those who were greenlighting films like Ben Hur, On The Waterfront and Casablanca.
Times have changed. Brains have changed. The idiots are in charge now.
Chuck, you’re an idiot. Speed Racers poor performance this weekend had nothing to do with high gas prices or sublime mortgage. It had to do with the fact that people didn’t want to see the movie. Don’t bring your liberal nonsense into the picture. It’s ludicrous to even think that when Iron Man pulled in record numbers last week.
Maybe the Gross Sales are down because the Gas Prices are up and people have to give up something !!!
>>.The only reason anyone ever watched Speedracer was because it was the only thing on tv Saturday afternoons…
Oh.. that is SOOO true. It was always on when NOTHING else was on.. It was like you HAD to watch it or go outside. Even then it was simply horrible to watch. I am surprised it ever had a resurgence at all and I would attribute that to the more tasteless aspect of Gen-Xers to simply want to identify with everything that was stupid and ugly.
A couple people above me are correct. May 9 was an absolutely horrible date for this movie to bow. Studio execs don’t realize that high school is winding down right now with proms, track meets, and festivals ad naseum. Several colleges hold their graduations this weekend too. People have too much to do in the middle of May. The beginning of the month plays well because there is not a lot to do. However, when you get toward the middle the month, that’s when things get tricky. That’s why I don’t hold a lot of hope for Prince Caspian either.
It also makes little sense to push a big-budget kids movie into a month already crowded with movies people genuinely want to see, i.e. Iron Man, Caspian and, of course, a little film featuring some dude named Indiana Jones. If I have a tight budget, which most Americans do, but I love movies and only see a handful of them in the theater, I’m pushing Speed Racer to the bottom of the May list almost immediately.
It would have made more sense for WB to push this to either May 30 (biggest that weekend is Sex and the City), August 1 (push the stupid new Mummy movie out of the way), August 8 (Pinapple Express… come on), August 22 (Bangkok Dangerous) or hell, why not even toward Christmas when parents need some place to drop their kids for a few hours while they shop. Any of those dates would have been better than May 9, right smack dab in the middle of three of the supposedly biggest movies of the summer. Great placement WB, great placement.
As soon as Hollywood realizes that people would like to have movies with ENDINGS.People are getting tired of movies that don’t have an ending. Example No country for old men. I spent 17. bucks for that lousy movie ntaht had NO ENDING.
I teach high school English. All the boys are seeing IRON MAN for the first and second time, eagerly, but nobody wants to see SPEED RACER (”it’s gay”). That’s why it is a horrible movie. It totally missed its target audience by, oh, 52 miles.
To the first poster concerned over the perceived “witch hunt” of the “siblings.” No. No. You’ve got it wrong, friend. This town isn’t out for them. It’s out for JEFF ROBINOV. There has never been a clearer link to failure in the demise of a motion picture than this one. Robinov represented them. Robinov cleaned house at Warners in order to control everything — INCLUDING marketing and distribution and publicity. Robinov blacklisted scripts with female starring roles. It’s Robinov who should have his mug on this movie poster. Robinov has zero creative moxie, and he knows it, and in his morondom he reached out to a handful for help like his former clients. HE is at fault. Power is an interesting thing. Once you get it, and the more of it you get, the more transparent your actions become and the quicker your weaknesses are found out. Robinov should have never been promoted, let alone given the keys to the kingdom in the new motion picture group. You wanted power, Jeff? Congratulations, you blew it. Now, do us all a favor and get the hell out of town and take the moron bosses who promoted you.
I don’t care how much it made. Why would I? I’m not getting a commission if it meets certain numbers or anything. If a movie looks like you might like it, go see it. If it sucks, big deal. Why waste so much time hypothesizing about inane crap? Speed Racer was exactly as I expected. It may eventually break even on video. At least they tried. Some things just don’t translate from animé to more live-action style. It may not have made a bunch of money, but as a Speed Racer fan I can say they did not harm the franchise. It was fine. Aside from simply not making the movie to begin with, how would you have made it better?
This is just an opinion I hold to rather strongly: 95% of the time, I absolutely HATE remakes of movies, television shows, cartoons, etc. The originals can sink or swim on their own. Regardless of whether or not I liked the original, can’t writers and directors use their creativity to come up with NEW charactersand ideas? Having said that, this new Speed Racer film was destined to be a flop. I’m 38 and barely remember the cartoon from when I was young. When I would see previews for it, I immediately thought, “do they really expect guys in their 40s or 50s to go see this loud, overbearing mess that doesn’t seem to have much to do with the original series?” Speed Racer is not part of pop culture to any measureable extent. Kids growing up in the past 30 years would have no idea what it was, so what is the point of this movie? Why would they want to see it?
I guess now a more accurate title for the movie would be Speed, To the Dollar Theater, Racer, which will be playing right next to Harold and Kumar Escape from the Multiplex after Only Two Weeks.
Yes, I love the sweet tasty nectar of Box-Office Failure Schadenfreude.
Ironman is not that good of a movie, but the good reviews drive people to the theaters. It’s simple marketing and to say the “reviewers” aren’t in bed with the studios is absurd.
Ben is a good example of the adage “Everyone is entitled to his own stupid opinion.” I liked Iron Man. I did not see it based on any review! I liked the trailers and the casting. I was not disappointed!
Speed Racer, on the other hand, I could not be persuaded to spend a nickel upon, regardless of reviews, or who the reviewers may be in bed with!
For all of you complaining there are no movies for adults, go see Red Belt.
I got in to SR with a friend on an early showing (for free). What a disaster. I’ve PAID to see Ironman 3 times now with a larger entourage each time. Ironman nailed it artfully and will reap the fruits of doing so for years to come. Long live capitalism.
Saw it with my kids and we all loved it. In fact, people were shouting and cheering in the audience.
It’s The Matrix meets Saturday Morning Cartoon.
Well worth seeing it on the big screen. It was a blast.
Not sure why everyone is whining about this movie. Its fun.
During the “Great Depression” one of the amazing things was that people still went to movies. Comments about our present state, and movies are not really applicable. When gas hits $10 a gallon and bread costs $4 a loaf..then..folks will attend movies for “relief”
but it won’t be to see 90% of the BS that’s out there now..it had better be great…ALSO they won’t be buying $6 popcorn and $5 drinks..
Folks brought brown paper bag lunches to see Gone With The Wind.
I said it in another thread and I’ll say it again, who in the hell thought it was a good idea to turn Speed Racer into a live action movie? It’s not like Batman, or even Iron Man that can be given a great deal of depth. Plus the cartoon wasn’t that great to begin with. My reaction to the trailer was simply, why? Why would I want to see this movie? It tanked for the simple reason it wasn’t a good movie.