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SUNDAY AM: Here are Friday, Saturday, weekend, and cume estimates:
1. Pixar/Disney’s Toy Story 3 is the 3D monster everybody thought it would be with $41 million Friday and $37 million Saturday and an estimated $31M Sunday on 4,028 locations, including 2,463 3D screens (of which 180 are IMAX which did $8.4M at 180 theaters or 8% of TS3 overall weekend domestic gross for the biggest IMAX animated film ever and the 5th highest IMAX domestic opener ever). The 3D ticket price advantage made this Pixar’s biggest, swamping previous Pixar 2D opening weekends, including 2003 Finding Nemo‘s $70.2M and 2004 The Incredibles‘ $70.4M. Toy Story 3 will debut to $111M this weekend (with that fat +46% admission price which adds about $18M to every $100M of box office gross). But TS3 was still 2nd to Shrek 3‘s opening. “The Toy Story films are the heart and soul of Pixar,” said Darla K. Anderson, producer of Toy Story 3. Which is why it drew 40% of its non-family audience from young adults ages 17-24 who grew up with the Toy Story characters and Disney targeted them with college screening programs. Also going for it were brilliant reviews with a Cinema Score of “A” and a Rotten Tomatoes tally of “99%” positive reviews. Plus, Fathers Day is a huge moviegoing opportunity for families — “if you have the right movie,” a studio exec reminds me. Which this is, of course. This threequel gives Pixar/Disney their 11th No. 1 debut, the highest June weekend opening in industry history, and only the 3rd animated film in history with an opening 3-day weekend of over $100M.
Day and date overseas, Toy Story 3 made $44.8M, representing 25% of the market, with strong showings in Latin America driven by Mexico, Brazil & Argentina which together earned $20M. China realized $9.5M, the biggest weekend in history for an animated title in this market. That puts the pic’s worldwide cume at $153.8M.
2. Sony Pictures’ holdover Karate Kid, which has been doing surprisingly strong midweek numbers since school let out, made $8.8M Friday and $11.2 Saturday and an estimated $8.9M Sunday from 3,663 runs for $28.5M (and a week’s drop of only -48%). By the end of the weekend, its cume is already $106.2M.
3. Fox’s The A-Team drops -46% from its poor opening a week ago for a $4.2M Friday and $5.2M Saturday from 3,544 theaters and a $13.7M weekend with cume of $49.7M.
4. Get Him To The Greek (Universal) Week 3 [2,592 Theaters]
Friday $2M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $6.1M, Estimated Cume $47.9M
5. Shrek Forever After 3D (DWAnimation/Par) Week 5 [3,207]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.0M, Weekend $5.5M, Cume $222.9M
6. Prince of Persia (Disney) Week 4 [2,605 Theaters]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $2.1M, Weekend $5.3M, Cume $80.5M
International Cume $213.1M, Worldwide Cume $293.6M
7. By contrast, newcomer Warner Bros’ Jonah Hex already is such a flop that it’s not even meeting the studio’s low opening weekend expectation of $10M from 2,825 venues after it wasn’t tracking. My sources say it opened to only $1.9M Friday and $1.7M Saturday so it’s hard-pressed to get to even $5M this weekend. As one Warner Bros exec said about the lesson learned; “You don’t take a handsome actor and disgfigure him.” The studio is so embarrassed that it took great pains to points out that the pic was greenlighted before Diane Nelson took over as DC Entertainment prez. About the cowboy with the disfigured face and legend that he can’t be killed, a minor character in the DC Comics galaxy of stars, Jonah Hex was attempted on the cheap. The studio claims the final budget was $35M. UPDATE: But I hear Warner Bros cut the original budget of $80M to $40M right before production with no script changes. Then the studio did 70 pages of reshoots about 6 months ago. That may have added another $25M for a new budget of $65M. Ouch! As one insider tells me, ”the studio looked at the movie a long time ago and wrote it off”.
8. Killers (Lionsgate) Week 3 [2,619 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $5.1M, Cume $39.3M
9. Iron Man 2 (Marvel/Paramount) Week 7 [1,612 Theaters]
Friday $711K, Saturday $1.0M, Weekend $2.6M, Cume $304M
10. Marmaduke (Fox) Week 3 [2,495 Theaters]
Friday $675K, Saturday $1.2M, Weekend $2.6M, Cume $27.8M
In the specialty business, Fox Searchlight platformed Cyrus, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, in 4 theaters — 2 in LA, 2 in NYC — Friday for $51K with a strong per screen average of $13K per theater. This is the biggest Friday opening of a limited release this year and bodes well for a strong weekend. Saturday’s take was $70K, with a per screen average over $17K, or +30%. Weekend opening was $180K with a strong average of $45,072 per theater. That average makes it the second biggest limited opening of the year. Studio plans to expand it June 25th in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Austin, and Toronto. More runs will be added in LA and NY, bringing the total number of theaters to 17. It reaches national break in the 5th week of release starting July 16th. Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, and produced by Fox Searchlight in conjunction with Scott Free (Tony & Ridley Scott), Cyrus was made for a very modest budget of less than $7 million and employed improvisational techniques for a cast including John C Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, and Catherine Keener.
Overall, it looks like a big $200M moviegoing weekend, way up +33% from last year.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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It deserves it. Best film so far this year; easily the best story this year, and the ending is incredible. If you have kids, or just remember being a kid, this is must see material.
OMG. BEST MOVIE EVER. AND TO JUMP ON THE WAGGON, MY 2 KIDS WERE DELIGHTED, PASSED THEIR BED TIME BY HRS THEY STILL MANAGED TO KEEP AWAKE FOR THE ENTIRE MOVIE. MY HUSBAND AND I WERE ALSO VERY THRILLED BECAUSE IT BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES FROM OUR CHILDHOOD. THANK FOR ALL THE EFFORT THEY PUT IN. CANT WAIT FOR THE BLUE RAY COPIE.
If the studio wrote Jonah Hex off long before it’s release let alone before it was finished, this explains why the powers in charge decided to release it on the same weekend as Toy Story 3.
Hex did not fail because they made the lead disfigured. Hex failed because it was an awful, AWFUL movie. In the era of RottenTomatoes studios can’t get away with 14% positive movies.
Anyone else feel the preview made the movie seem so dull? I’m not rushing to see it but after everyone is raving about it, and since i loved the first two, i’ll go see it. Killers seems to be holding well.
Can’t wait to see KNIGHT AND DAY this wednesday!
I saw the A-team — it was good — and contrary to popular belief — it does have a good story. surprised that a lot of the great action scenes were not in the trailer.
TOY STORY 3 is going to do $500 million domestic. you heard me! just you wait and see. legs for months!
Legs for months? It dropped on saturday and sunday.
so, Jonah Hex is estimated to make $8.5M for the weekend, not just Friday?
Woh. The toys are back in town…with a vengeance. On a side note: bye bye, Megan Fox. Your fifteen minutes of fame is about up.
It’s a tragedy isn’t it? Not the fact that she’s irrelevant but the fact that a young “actress” has the arrogance to think so much of herself, she bad-mouths the only person who ever gave her the tiny little relevance she ever had.
Lesson learnt hard way, eh Megan?
Wisdom and humility are more more valuable than gold. Miss Gold is another showbiz example, that an individual is given one shot to succeed, and if they aren’t prepared for it, their talent will be remembered for what they were at the time of their failure. Fame can be toxic.
Megan Fox doesn’t even hide her arrogance or her attitude, but if teenage boys love her so much, why don’t they do see her movies?
Bye Bye, Josh Brolin, Will Arnett, and John Malkovich! Haha! One bomb and your careers, good sirs, are over. Jesus, can we not jump to fucking conclusions because Megan made a couple of bad films?
On a side-note: she badmouthed Michael Bay. It’s not like she wanted Scorsese’s Oscar taken away…she just said Bay is a sub-par director. And he spites her by…hiring a no-talent Victoria’s Secret model? Just affirming her points. People really need to back off of her – it’s a sickening obsession with being jealous and wanting to see someone fail so you can feel mildly better about yourself.
Toy Story 3 in 3D. A+
In my opinion, the only other movie this year to come close in that level of craft was Shutter Island. The crew at Pixar know how to make tip top, memorable and effective entertainment. Now if only they’d branch into live action. The saviors of Hollywood they are.
LOVED the movie, but the 3D effects were grossly underused. I am a huge fan of 3D, but in this case, they just didn’t pay much attention to it and I wish I wouldn’t have spent the extra money on seeing it in 3D. My husband even said when we walked out “what parts were actually in 3D?”
John Carter of Mars – Pixar Live Action, June 2012.
Eclipse is going to have a bigger weekend. Jonah Hex was always going to flop. Megan Fox is over. She better call Playboy.
The Last Airbender will beat Eclipse for that weekend. Watch what happens when you open on a Wed. instead of a Friday.
Doubt it. Airbender’s not a big cartoon series, and the Karate Kid cornered the tween action market first this year. Plus, the Twilight series has date movie potential, but Airbender does not have female appeal.
Not a big cartoon series? It’s a HUGE cartoon series, epic in fact. And I have to admit, as na adult (42 years old with 3 kids), I found it to be some of the best writing and best children’s entertainment I’ve ever seen. The entire trilogy is astounding. if it’s true to the animated series, it’s going to be “Harry Potter” huge.
I mean “big” as in huge in terms of sales.
Of course, Power-Puff Girls was almost as big as Pokemon, and the movie still bombed, so…
you are crazy
That’s funny, cos when the announced moving it up (by the way, Airbender opens on a Thursday) they admitted that Eclipse will win the weekend. So unless you know something they don’t…
No surprises there.
Tick Tock Tick Tock—That’s the sound of Megan Fox’s movie career coming to an end.
Megan Fox is the reason I won’t see this.
Megan Fox is also the reason why the few who did go, went. Sorry folks, she still gets a few kicks at the can.
LOL…her movie career is not coming to an “end”. The hype possibly, but not the career. It’s all or none with you guys.
“LOL…her movie career is not coming to an “end”. The hype possibly, but not the career.”
How do you figure? She can’t act worth a damn, so aside from her body what does she have? A porn career?
That’s not what I said. Despite what YOU think about her or what she has, or doesn’t, she’ll continue
to work…just like other women like her. And that’s what I said; the hype will die down, but she’ll
still be working.
Goodbye Skeletor.
I’m still going to see Jonah this week – I’m a fan of Megan. She plays such a small part in this film that she can hardly be blamed for it tanking. Can’t stand Josh Brolin, but I’ll suffer through just for Megan.
Is Johah Hex the final nail in the coffin of Megan Fox’s career?
Jonah Hex makes Wild Wild West look like The Searchers.
thank you, American, for ignoring this abomination.
I give Megan Fox two years until she’s doing softcore porn on Cinemax.
Isn’t she in about fifteen minutes of this film? I doubt she could have done anything to help it.
What are you talking about? The marketing campaign was built around Megan Fox (MISTAKE). Matter of fact, pre-release, the only thing I had heard about this movie was that she was starring, and all about her 18 inch waist, and her corset and pics sent out to media outlets of her in costume. I knew she was in it, but I didn’t even know Brolin and Malkovich were. So yeah, nice try at passing the buck – but based on her pre-Jennifer’s Body hype all over the damn place, I the studio thought they had a winner just on her name alone. Scary to think someone’s #1 spread in Maxim can make a studio blow millions.
The commercials made it seem like she was in a lot more of the movie than she really was. With or without her, this movie was doomed to do badly. She was a very minor character, just above the antagonist’s number two man, and just below, let’s say…Jonah Hex’s horse.
She certainly is no draw, but who could have made people want to pay to watch this film when by all accounts it’s so bad?
The 15 or so minutes she is in the film doesn’t even help it, she makes it worse, much much worse
Brolin killed the movie. And I mean killed. Even the stoners sneaking in at the 10 minute mark got up and left. This fellow needs to go back and his performance on Charlie Rose when he was pushing NO COUNTRY… and being fawned over by the host.
His big ego does not help make him interesting to watch
two years is generous
i saw TS3 last night at the midnight showing and will be seeing it again tomorrow morning. Its a work of art.
I’m certain 24hrs before the A-Team’s important second weekend, FOX is grateful to Joe Carnahan for causing more bad press on the troubled film with his misguided attack on you that went viral. I bet FOX wanted that bad press about as much as they wanted the “How Alex Young lost Control of the A-Team” story 24hrs before The A-Team’s opening weekend.
Carnahan should direct and Alex Young should produce a movie starring Megan Fox. Three career killers for the price of one!
we get it “Real” – you don’t like Alex or Joe or this movie and want to keep your agenda front and center. Have you even seen the movie? Or the Cinemascores? Or the many good reviews? Or the strong mid-week numbers? Such a “real” man for putting your name on all these posts.
i agree that there was a harsh element there but unless a team is huge huge huge on dvd isn’t the whole idea of a franchise gone?
The Cinemascores didn’t help the huge -57% drop in BO this bomb managed to squeak out after an already weak opening. What should have been a surefire franchise has been mismanaged into a one pic failure.
you are a moron. it dropped 46%. Less of a drop than KK and much less than action movies usually fall in their second week. Maybe instead of being Nikki’s lapdog, you should have an open mind. Or maybe see the movie. Just a thought.
Actually Joe’s press is good press. Brings attention to a dying bomb.
Thank you.
I have NO idea what all the drama was surrounding The A Team… all I know is that I just saw this movie last night and thought it was awesome. Whoever is responsible for the publicity is doing a crappy job because it’s a good movie and no one is getting the word out there.
Not to mention, as good of an actor that brolin is (and he is great), nobody is seeing movies because of him.
Nobody knows anything? Then how come, Pixar, by putting story first, is always a winner, and Warners, just figuring any old comic book character would do, is generally a loser?
People care about Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, and that’s about it. Nobody really cares (widely) about obscure characters like Hex, no matter how little battles they create inside Warners. Yeah, it takes more fighting with big shots inside Warners to make a Superman, or a Flash movie. So what? People will pay to see them.
[The animated stuff put out on DVD from DC is generally first class, fun, and generally close to the characters as originally conceived.]
Hex got made because he was one of the few DC characters not to generate a big fight over. That’s pathetic.
Karate Kid falls, in the Toy Story 3 hoopla. Consumer money is not unlimited — it’s not the 2000′s any more.
I agree with you that those who put story first win and those who put brands first lose.
But I disagree that DC should only focus on Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Flash. Good story is good story, regardless of brand recognizability. It’s thinking like that that would have never led Marvel to make IRON MAN or New Line to make BLADE, two monster titles based on characters with little to no following.
Story is story, baby. And story always wins.
Blade had story?
I agree with you Short and Sweet on your comments, but I need to note for you that the Iron Man character has its own title comic. It hardly had “little or no following”, but is one of Marvel’s most important and best known characters.
For those of you bitterly disappointed by Jonah Hex, just put on “The Outlaw Josey Wales” – its the same story from the comics.
Karate Kid didn’t fall you bloody idiot.
It’ll make 30+ this weekend after huge mid week numbers.
You’re an abomination of stupid, bro.
You say that those who put story first are always winners. What about Transformers 1&2?
[The animated stuff put out on DVD from DC is generally first class, fun, and generally close to the characters as originally conceived.]
Whiskey – I can’t believe you actually said something that made a lot of sense.
~
Coat
Whiskey – Karate Kid is going to make $100 million in three weeks. what do you mean by “falls?” the movie is a breakaway hit genius…
If smaller comic characters didn’t sell, then Blade wouldn’t have two sequels and Constantine wouldn’t make $200 million world-wide. Jonah Hex was just done by committee, rather than by someone who cared for the source material.
KK currently sits at 106 mill after 10 days…
The pain that must be causing has to be outright unbearable!!
(WANK>>>>))
whiskey, your comments are the reason I wake up in the morning. Putting story first, which WB totally didn’t do with their sell-out adaptation of “Watchmen.” Generally losers. Right, they didn’t make “The Dark Knight” and gross almost a billion dollars. Or “300.” Or “Harry Potter” – in 5 movies, the biggest-grossing worldwide film franchise EVER. Warners just keeps fucking it up at every turn. “Inception” – totally unoriginal, boring, lacking of story, destined to go down as one of the worst films ever. Hahaha keep it up, buddy.
The company screwed up the ending of Watchmen; only went for TDK, because of the good will from Batman Begins; and only got HP right because they know there’s money to be made on it.
As one Warner Bros exec said about the lesson learned; “You don’t take a handsome actor and disfigure him.”
This from the studio behind The Dark Knight, another DC Comics movie and one that horribly disfigured not one but two handsome actors.
You sir, win the thread.
Absolutely. The lesson isn’t, “Don’t disfigure handsome actors.” The lesson should be, “Make movies that don’t suck.”
Actually, I learned about Jonah Hex’s superhero ‘power,’ reading the deadline blurb JUST NOW. The trailer should have clued me in on that, NOT Nikkie Finke. That’s a big BIG mistake in marketing.
Maybe if they had emphasized that he was a superhero western gun man that could not die/be killed, that would have explained said disfisguring (a really good sfx actually) and of course, have made the movie more compelling.
As is, the trailer just kept showing quick shots of scantily clad Fox, interspersed with Brolin’s nasty gunshot hole cheek.
Instead of saying ‘Aha! I get!’
I just ‘Yuck, wtf?!’
Lesson learned: Tell us what the movie is about guys (to studio)??
Tell me, let me know. Then you MIGHT get my money.
What’s that you say? Has it worked for us before?
I’m glad somebody else picked up on that quote. If studios actually believe the moral of the Jonah Hex flop story is about Brolin’s face, then they learned absolutely nothing and will probably make a few more mistakes that cost themselves tens of millions.
I so agree. If the story is good, then it doesn’t matter what you do to the lead actor’s face. In fact it usually leads to Academy Awards — (Mask, Monster, English Patient, The Hours etc.)
So once again the kid movie stomps all over the fanboy movie. Since fanboy movies also generally cost more to make than kid movies, backers are losing money two ways. Yet producers are obsessed with catering to fanboys. They don’t even have the excuse of losing money for “art”, since fanboy movies rarely win awards or contain notable artistic merit. It is losing money just for the sake of not being criticized on a few fanboy websites and because heard mentality has convinced producers that fanboy appeasement is the thing to do right now. Why it is the thing to do they can’t explain, but “everybody else is doing it.”
Sorry bro. Pixar has more “Fanboys” than the obscure “Jonah Hex”. I don’t know anyone who was anticipating that movie. Even on the AICN message board and that place is filled with “Fanboys”.
I’m not so sure. Pixar has more *fans* than Jonah Hex does, but fans and fanboys are distinct (if related) species. “Jonah Hex” is a fanboy kind of movie in a way that the more broadly-appealing “Toy Story 3.”
In other words, Pixar’s base includes “fanboys,” but is not limited to them.
Sorry–that should have read: “Jonah Hex” is a fanboy kind of movie in a way that the more broadly-appealing “Toy Story 3 is not.”
You are so right about this. The melon heads in Hollywood think Fanboys are limited to comics and fantasy stuff. A true Fanboy loves anything good in the genre realm.
You can’t just feed them shit like Hex and think they will respond. That’s the thinking of these Harvard business assholes who arrogantly simplify the “little people.”
And while I’m on the subject we need to clean house of all the self-important Harvard people. It’s clear now they none of them are smart just privileged and annoying. Let’s stop them before they do to Hollywood what they did to Wall Street.
Great post! I don’t know what the thinking is, or why they don’t clean house at the Hollywood development departments. It really isn’t rocket science.
they clean house at the hollywood development departments everyday. it is actually rocket science. just try doing it.
Anybody who was a fanboy for Jonah Hex probably avoided this thing anyway. Not that Hex has a huge audience, but the indie-ish cred that the character might have had was fritted away with the Wild Wild West 2 marketing.
Ah, the fanboy hater. You’re right under whiskey as reasons I read this site. Please, tell us how “You Again” is more fanboy-fare because it has Kristen Bell in it. Or how the incredibly small fanboy base had to mortgage their homes to buy a million tickets apiece to give “The Dark Knight” the numbers it made.
MAYBE, just MAYBE, Pixar has a G rating, which opens up its audience base a ton. And it’s got name-recognition from the first two installments, not an obscure DC Comic or a sort-of-well-known 80s show. Maybe the 3D ticket price inflation helped Toy Story. Maybe it was just a good movie, and Jonah was bad.
But for God’s sake, stop basing every thought you’ve ever had about movies on how they affect AICN and “fanboys.”
Yep Megan Fox gets all the bad PR, but she is barely in the movie at all. Brolin leads the movie and can’t get anybody to see it. He has never been a draw, but people around him had hoped to change that. I don’t think that ever will change though.
Good Point!
While I agree with you about people caring about few comic properties… do they really care about Green Lantern?
If its done right. I’m not a fan of comic books at all, and when I decided to watch something like The Dark Knight, it wasn’t because I was a fan of his comics (or other properties), it was because it looked like (and was) a fantastic film. Also, Green Lantern has established star power.
Yep Green lantern has a box office draw with the lead Ryan Reynolds, plus special effects and 3-d, should get some good money back into WB..Jonah Hex was a bomb with the 1st trailer..and Megan Fox is not box office gold
Kevin -
Don’t worry, Warner Bros will be making sure that everyone will be hearing of Green Lantern next year. They’ve already got a all new animated series in the works and an original DVD ( a sequel to last year’s DVD ) all lined up just in time for the movie’s release.
~
Coat
I’ve been wanting a Green Lantern movie for years now. He has a hell of a lot more recognition than Jonah Hex. I would say GL is tied for Fourth place with the Flash in the DC Universe after Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Plus the Guardians of the Universe, the Green Lantern Corps and what the ring does is such a great concept and will look amazing on the big screen with a huge budget and top talent behind the film.
Jonah Hex? Jonah Hex??? For this they pass up “The War That Time Forgot”? WWII soldiers fighting dinosaurs. There go shoot that. $100 million the first weekend.
You are probably wrong. Do you really think that people want to see soldiers slaughtering dinosaurs? I don´t think so. It is also very expensive to make a dinosaurs´ movie.
You’re right, he’s probably wrong…but I’d still be amused by any attempt to adapt The War That Time Forgot. Any studio that spends money on it would be crazy but they’d entertain a select few of us, at least. ;p
Man no one wants to see that crap either..” the War the time forgot”- geez
The idiot unnamed executive at Warner is just flat-out failing to learn the actual lesson regarding Jonah Hex, who is supposed to be horribly disfigured. And is a character that Brolin is absolutely right for. Hell, Megan Fox is just about believable as a cocky hooker-with-a-heart-of-okaymaybeitsgold. She’s not the best actress in the world — HEY! Don’t agree too quickly, you meanies! Leave Megan alone![1] — but she clearly did what little was called for by the tone-deaf director and writers. Whoever the writers may be. So the failure of the movie isn’t even remotely close to being her fault, either.
The problem is that Jonah Hex is supposed to be a straight-up western in the vein of The Man With No Name and John Wayne in The Searchers. It’s not supposed to be a brainless summer-tentpole-action comedy with supernatural elements.
If that idiotic unnamed suit at Warner had actually read the comics, s/he’d have understood that the second the supernatural and action comedy elements were announced, s/he’d have instantly known that the movie was doomed. League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen-level doomed. On the other hand, at least Hex was cheaper than LXG — even with the reshoots. So they’ll probably make their money back when the movie has been run through all the revenue streams (DVDs, foreign, VOD, streaming, etc.)
You’d think that the people at Warner who fucked up this property would have learned by now — I mean, damn, the debacle of Batman & Robin was over a decade ago now — that you respect the property, you be faithful to it — you make damn sure that every level of the production team and every level of the suits understand what the property is and what the fanbase’s expectations are. Which is clearly what didn’t happen with this movie.
When it ain’t broke, you don’t fix it.
— Rob
[1] Why are people mocking her for getting fired off Transformers 3 anyway? You’re the same people that were complaining that Transformers 2 was so bad, after all. So she’s either a Machiavellian genius or really damn lucky to have pissed Michael Bay off that much. Sheesh!
PS: Somebody’s bound to bring up the supernatural black comedy elements of the three deeply satirical Hex miniseries done for DC’s Vertigo imprint back in the 90′s. While they are good reads, they aren’t representative of the Jonah Hex concept as a whole, which is the straight-up Western stories that make up 95% of the comics ever produced about the character. And so many of the characters they used from the comics besides Hex himself are from the current, straight-up Western ongoing series that it’s quite obvious that the “writers” were just throwing into the real Hex concept whatever they pulled out of their asses.
To be fair Rob – Jonah Hex’s first 1972 comic book appearance did just happen to be called “Weird Western Tales”.
Make of it what you will.
~
Coat
Shhhhh! Don’t confuse me with the facts!
–Rob
PS: The scar is what made him weird.
You seriously think there there are even enough people alive who care about the stuff you discussed in this post to affect the box office?
Dude, even when the audience isn’t familiar with the source material, they can smell when the suits and director and “writers” don’t respect it. If the makers of the movie don’t respect the concept, it fails. If the makers of the movie try to force a concept into a subgenre that it’s wholly incompatible with, the audience knows. Because the moviemakers’ lack of interest in craft shows through in the final product. Fans like me are just better at articulating why movies like Jonah Hex (or LXG) fail.
FTR, early news about the supernatural elements in the script got out even before the reshoots. Want to know how a movie, bad or not, tanks out of the starting gate? Give fans a reason to be the word-of-mouth on why to NOT go see a movie and y’know, the information on how awful the given movie is does spread out to the larger audience that is unfamiliar with the source material.
– Rob Jensen
PS: If you haven’t read the comics, go read Jonah Hex (current series) #50, which came out about six months ago and features Tallulah Black. That story should make you even more appalled by how badly the movie treats the Hex concept.
Rob, excellent post. I don’t get all the Megan Fox hate. People scream about how terrible an actress she is and don’t say a word about Ashton Kutcher who is still getting regular work these days.
Jonah Hex flopped, and no one cares. Lol, Megan should beg for her old job back. Oh, yeah she called her old boss Hitler… so that might no be happening.
i am convinced that megan fox looks exactly like every high schools hottest girl who never looked our way in class. her face just has that look all the time like she hasn’t grown out of that phase. i am convinced that is where the hate is coming from.
I saw “Jonah Hex” and it was one of the finest, most fulfilling, experiences that I’ve ever had in the cinema. I predict that in a few years time people will have forgotten about “Citizen Kane” and that “Jonah Hex” will be seen, justifiably, at the top of the pantheon of great American, indeed global, films. Megan Fox has IMO already overtaken Meryl Streep as our finest actress; the emotional range her characters display is simply breathtaking. Mark my words, in future generations film students will study “Jonah Hex” and it will be seen as a crucial turning point in the history of the cinema, just like “Intolerance”, “The 400 Blows”, etc. It is truly that good.
I’m eagerly awaiting Megan Fox’s interview with James Lipton on “Inside the Actors Studio”.
This is a joke right? Anyways I seen Toy Story 3. I actually cried and I’m usually not the type too. I just graduated college and it brought all those memories back of leaving home for the first time. I was a great movie with a lot of heart. I’m 21 years old and to me this was the best movie I have ever seen.
Oh, Sarcasm! How I am kindasortamaybe jealous of thee!
— Rob
I agree, TS3 was a beautifully written tale..I was choked up a few times during it
How blessed we are to be living in the same time period of such greatness. It’s like being there first-hand to witness Shakespeare or Beethoven. One day we’ll tell our grandchildren and see their faces gape in awe of the splendor we have seen. To see their eyes twinkle with excitement when we tell them “I saw Jonah Hex in theaters when it was first released” will be a treasured moment. Savor these times, my friends. Savor these times.
I’m not familiar with Skakespeare, but I remember witnessing “Beethoven” first hand. And you’re right – it was truly a transcendent experience.
Charles Grodin gave a truly sublime performance and Bonnie Hunt was beyond spectacular. And the supporting cast? Unknowns Stanley Tucci, Oliver Platt, Patricia Heaton, David Duchovney, and in a remarkable scene-stealer as “Student #1″, Jason Gordon-Levitt.
Brian Levant has obviously directed many, many wonderful films, but only Beethoven stands among the greats (sorry, “Snow Dogs” fans).
And notice how I didn’t even mention the dog?! That’s how amazing the film was.
Strongly disagree. Whatever its merits (and, to be fair, I haven’t yet seen JONAH HEX) I doubt very much it will overtake CITIZEN KANE and 400 BLOWS in the pantheon of all-time great cinema “classics.”
And Megan Fox, while certainly a promising newcomer, is still too young and inexperienced to bear favorable comparison with Meryl Streep.
One of us is not getting the joke.
yeah not doing any favors to the classic liberal establishment there notgettingthehumor guy.
He’s just pretending not to get the joke so as to make classic liberals look bad (note his username).
It’s possible the poster was overstating the case, but not by very much. Have you seen “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen”?
The Megan Fox v. Merryl Streep debate is one that film historians will be debating for years, but as Fox is just starting out, it’s not quite fair to compare her thus far brilliant performances to Streep’s entire body of work. Not fair to Streep, that is.
You’re right Streep didn’t get to start out with material as good as “Jennifer’s Body” and “Transformers”, not to mention the brilliant “Jonah Hex”. It’s a lot easier to play Julia Child (perfectly) than it is to look hot in jeans and ride a motorcycle. Sure Meryl Streep has won some oscars and things but that doesn’t mean anything. Meryl could never land a man with the rapping talent of Brian Austin Green, NEVER!
Not sure who to blame, Megan Fox’s stupidity or bad management for getting her involved with the Hex fiasco. It was nice knowing you.
She got paid good money for 5 days of shooting. I doubt she really cares. It’s not the last we see of her since she is a tabloid fixture yet she doesn’t follow the drunken Lohan path or does stupid drunken ho shit to get attention.
My question? If everyone online despises Michael Bay with a passion. And they hated both Transformers movies. Why are they happy Meagan got fired for not liking to work for him and speaking up about it?
because the TF movies are her level and she’s too dumb to know it
bitch think she all that
She put in a decent performance in “Jennifer’s Body.” Despite all her hype, I don’t think she’s been around long enough that we can be sure the Transformers films are “her level.”
I couldn’t agree more. “People” (as in the movie-going audience) don’t care about any comic book characters outside of, perhaps, Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. Nobody cares about Green Lantern or the Flash; I’d be very surprised if most people had even heard of either one.
Nobody outside of a tiny piece of the very niche audience of comic book readers cared about Iron Man, but that didn’t stop the movie version from being a raging success. The characters themselves aren’t going to sell the movie — it has to actually be a non-crappy movie.
And I don’t think Jonah Hex should be lumped in with superheroes anyway. This movie is just the latest in a series of films made from niche, critically acclaimed comics that nobody (yes, not even comic fans) reads that then also failed to find a wide audience when pitched to moviegoers. How exactly is this a surprise?
Not all comic books are superheroes in spandex that lend easily to the summer movie treatment. I mean, the Jonah Hex concept doesn’t exactly scream “summer blockbuster.” How people think something that only appeals to a niche audience of an already small niche audience will somehow be a mainstream hit is beyond me.
MEN IN BLACK was based on a “niche comic,” and that one did alright.
But that’s because Will Smith just came off ID4 and it was produced by Senor Spielbergo.
Plus, it got something ID4 didn’t…overall good reviews.
Men in Black was a good movie, so people went to see it. I think the point is, people will go to see the Big 3 (Spiderman, Superman, Batman) even if they’re trash (and clearly a few of the recent renditions have been trash, yet did huge business). The others have to actually be good or they bomb the first time out or the second. Jonah Hex wasn’t doomed by the fact it was a niche comic, though obviously if it wasn’t it would have made a bunch more money regardless. It was doomed because it sucks. Same thing with the upcoming Green Lantern/Flash/whatever. If they’re good, they’ll do business. If they’re bad they might do business regardless, but they probably won’t. And if they do, #2 will bomb like the second Fantastic 4 and that will be that.
Are you really that retarded? Men in Black didn’t work because of the comic. It is literally a good title and a great concept. If there had never been a comic, it would have done the same business.
Um…that’s just what I meant to suggest…that a good movie will make money regardless of whether the source material is “niche” or not.
iron man starring robert downey jr just shot your opening argument to shit.
Jonah Hex was a bottom of the barrel comic that was doomed to fail. But some of the comics you mentioned are very well known just screaming to have big budget movies made from them, because of their orgin story and their powers. Iron Man is one and Green Lantern is another. To call those niche comics proves that big budget blockbusters are made for sli*s.
Just looking at the stars of Jonah Hex I just can’t see why they would expect it to make money, both Brolin and Fox films open at 7 million tops. I kind of agreed that it would make about ten, only because of the short running time, the time of year and that it was rated PG-13. Otherwise it was easy to see it would make MacGrubber type of numbers.
Opps. I meant aren’t made for …
And another blue chip comic is Thor. And I think American men are very familar with those comics. And again you don’t have to be a weekly comic book reader, but I think most straight males are familar with them, either from cartoons, friends or toys, when they growing-up. I really think women are non-factor and they may not know even the basics of what is a mainstream comic. The movie has to stand on its own for them, but they’re not the demo.
I’m not saying Thor and Green Lantern will be hits, but they are definitely be characters men are generally familar with. Now Flash and Aquaman are also well known, but they are known for sucking(one dimensional power). I think the key is to have really great super powers. Again, another FAIL for Johan Hex, we know he gets disfigured, but what kind of power did he have, not enough for that type of trouble.
Thor and Green Lantern have Superman type of power, so there is good potential and also the orgins haven’t been told on the big screen.
I hope the A-TEAM does well because it really is a good action movie and no, I am not being sarcastic.
Back in the olden days, when studios were adapting books, they were generally best-selling books, with millions of readers. Now studios are adapting comic books with less than a few thousand regular readers. But somehow the studios expect the tiny niche adaptations to be mainstream successes.
Dude, comics in general, whether they feature superheroes or not, are entirely niche, so all comics movies are adaptations of niche product.
Hell, Road To Perdition was adapted from a niche-within-a-niche comic of that title that itself was strongly influenced by the classic manga Lone Wolf & Cub! A classic, Oscar-Winning movie (and Paul Newman’s Oscar-nominated last live-action movie role) that adapts a comic that adapted a manga.
How much more niche does a comics movie have to be to tell you that whether or not the source material is from a niche has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether or not the movie will be successful, good or both?
On Jonah Hex, the actors did as well as they could with what they got, they did what they were told and paid to do. And what they were told to do was act in a hideously bad adaptation of the movie’s source material based on a moronic — perhaps even willful — misinterpretation of the source material.
What studios need to expect is to be blasted and to lose a lot of money when they make a movie that is so patently disrespectful of the source material. I mean, Catwoman-level and The-Spirit-level-disrespectful of the source material, Batman-and-Robin-level disrespectful of the source material. League-of-Extraordinary-Gentlemen-level disrespectful of the source material. (Sorry, I was on a roll.)
In other words, we in the audience can tell when the moviemakers think that the source material is shit: you produce something that a) sucks and b) bears only a passing resemblance to the source material.
— Rob
Watchmen was respectful as hell and flopped
pleasing fanboys doesn’t mean much when fanboys are give or take 100,000 nerds
catwoman failed because superheroine movies without a superstrong hook generally fail, the spirit failed because frank miller is crazy, LXG failed because aside from being a dumb idea even for a comic book the story was a mess
there are many reasons movies fail, fanboy reaction is often the least important
and comics themselves are filled with reboots that take the characters in extreme directions, hardly respectful of the original creators’ vision
To add,
Catwoman didn’t fail because “superheroine movies without a superstrong hook generally fail,” it failed because it was a terrible, terrible movie.
Comic books at their most recent peak sold often in the 2+ million range (for say, “Adventures of Superman”) and feature characters that in some cases are the most famous fictional ones (kids around the world know Superman and love him) … often for more than 60 years.
Who would not want to be able to say a magic word and be like Superman? Have a magic ring that can do anything you can think of? Be the fastest man in the world, so fast you can run up buildings? Be really, really strong when you’re angry? Be a super-soldier with an invulnerable shield?
That’s a whole lot different than a pre-cognitive assassin, or scarred gunfighter, or a degraded, impotent, and decadent bunch of superheroes.
Rule of thumb: superheroes created by folks working to make bucks in the pulp market by appealing to 11 year old boys, make money. Superheroes created to be “kewl!” by aging fan-boys for other aging fan-boys, don’t. It’s why Batman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men generally made money, and the Punisher, Wanted, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Watchmen did not.
Most (not all) comic creators working since 1985 have failed completely and absolutely to make compelling characters that wide audiences love (they fail the “will 11 year old boys love this character” test).
Also, comic book movies/characters appeal to boys and men. Women don’t like fighting/violence, and Wonder Woman, what’s the guy in her life? The only guy she can date up is Superman. Not even Batman is on her level. And Bruce Wayne’s a billionaire. Which is why men and women don’t find female superheroes attractive or compelling. Wonder Woman would not even be published if it were not to hold onto the rights.
The exception to the rule of post 1985 characters being failures would be some (not all) of the characters from Dark Horse, Valiant, and Malibu (which Marvel/Disney owns). They meet the “will 11 year old boys love this character” test which is a good proxy for broad appeal. Of course, the characters work best when relating and bumping into each other.
Hate to break it to you Whiskey – go back to watching the Justice League animated series again that you’re were talking about earlier and you’ll discover that Wonder Woman did indeed have her star spangled panties dripping wet for Batman more so than for Superman. She even kisses him in an episode.
Plus you don’t get to be Superman with a magic word. That’s reserved for Captain Marvel.
Shazam.
~
Coat
Well, sometimes it works. Take one graphic violent novel that fanboys love but no one else knows too much about (Wanted), add some kick ass effects and create an amazing exciting grab you by the balls trailer, lastly but not leastly, add one hot bad ass Angelina Jolie, and BINGO, SUCCESS!! But those elements are hard putting together. Conditions have to be right.
Uh?
maybe you heard of 300 , Road To Perdition , Wanted , History of Violence , Men In Black I and II
not all comic book film adaptions have to be based on iconic characters
start with a good script and move forward