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MONDAY PM UPDATE: Sources tell me that Monday’s grosses of $18M for Summit Entertainment’s Eclipse and $13.5M for Pixar/Disney’s Toy Story 3 were “huge”, while the $11.7M for Paramount’s The Last Airbender moved it down to 3rd place for the first time since the M Night Shyamalan pic’s opening day. Sony Pictures’ Grown Ups took in $7.1M Monday, Fox’s Knight And Day $3.8M, and Sony’s Karate Kid $3.1M. (I’ll update all the numbers in the morning.)
MONDAY AM: Here’s the Top 10:
1. Newcomer The Twilight Saga: Eclipse looked like a record-breaker after opening to $68.5M Wednesday from 4,468 dates for a fast start. Then third pic in the franchise, and the best-reviewed, went on to make $24.2M Thursday, $28.6M Friday, $23.9M Saturday, $13.7 Sunday, and an estimated $16.4M Monday. 
So that’s a non-record-breaking $69M for the 3-day weekend, and $82.5M for the 4-day July Fourth Holiday, $162 for the first 5 days, and a total $175.3M for the full 6-day release. No, it didn’t beat New Moon‘s $179M over a Thanksgiving weekend. But don’t forget that Fourth Of July is a dramatically down day for movie attendance. Nor could Eclipse beat Spider-Man 2 which still holds the 6-day July 4th holiday record with $180M. Despite all that, Eclipse made gobs of money, so Summit is ecstatic – especially because the threequel made inroads with males (65% female/35% male) compared to the sequel (only 80%/20%). And it received an “A” Cinemascore. Overseas, comparing it to New Moon is again apples to oranges. New Moon opened day and date internationally, while Eclipse rolls out over the next two weeks because of the World Cup. Nevertheless Eclipse topped the foreign circuit this weekend with $104.6M from 6,951 screens in a relatively contained opening break of 42 territories. Major countries like the UK, France and Germany open in the coming weeks. Worldwide total: $279.6MM. Film’s budget: $68M.
2. Paramount keeps revising newcomer The Last Airbender‘s grosses upwards because of its better-than-expected performance at the domestic box office. M Night Shyamalan’s 3D epic opened to $16M Thursday from 3,169 theaters, including the $3 million from its midnight shows, and added another $16.6M Friday. But Saturday’s take went down to $14.5M and Sunday’s $9.3M because of the usual July 4th downturn. Still, helped by higher 3D ticket prices, the pic based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series debuted to $40.5M for the 3-day weekend, $53.1M for the 4-day holiday and a 5-day cume of $70.5M by end of Monday – much more than Paramount expected.
3. Starting its third week is Pixar/Disney’s Toy Story 3 with $10.5 Friday and $11.3M Saturday and $8.3M Sunday from 4,028 plays. That’s a 3D-aided $30.2M 3-day weekend and a $42.2M for the 4-day holiday weekend. The pic’s cume after 18 days is a whopping $301M, which is the fastest any animated film in history has reached that mark. Internationally, Toy Story 3 made $28.5M in 34 territories representing 37% of the overseas market. Its cume from abroad is $153.2M so the worldwide cume is now $454.3M.
4. Grown Ups (Sony) Week 2 [3,534 Theaters]
Friday $6.8M, Saturday $7.0M, Sunday $5.1M, 3-Day Weekend $19.1M
4-Day Holiday $26.5M, Cume $85M
An expected -53% hold given Adam Sandler’s reliablility at the box office and despite dismal reviews.
5. Knight and Day (Fox) Week 2 [3,104 Theaters]
Friday $3.3M, Saturday $3.9M, Sunday $3.1M, 3-Day Weekend $10.4M
4-Day holiday $14M, Cume $49.3M
A better-than-expected -49% hold demonstrating that this much media-maligned pic is finding an adult audience. But will Fox brass and Tom Cruise be relieved with its $10.2M second weekend out?
6. Karate Kid (Sony) Week 4 [3,109 Theaters]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $3.1M, Sunday $2.2M, 3-Day Weekend $8.1M
4-Day Holiday $11.5M, Cume $155M
7. The A Team (Fox) Week 4 [2,153 Theaters]
Friday $1.0M, Saturday $1.1M, Sunday $905K, 3-Day Weekend $3.1M
4-Day Holiday $4.2M, Cume $70.3M
8. Get Him To The Greek (Universal) Week [884 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $470K, Sunday $342K, 3-Day Weekend $1.2M
4-Day Holiday $1.6M, Cume $57.9M
9. Shrek Forever After 3D (DWA/Par) Week 7 [957 Theaters]
Friday $273KM, Saturday $310K, Sunday $265K, 3-Day Weekend $847K
Est 4-Day Holiday $1.2M, Cume $232.6M
10. Cyrus (Fox Searchlight) Week 3 [77 Theaters]
Friday $240K, Saturday $314K, Sunday $225K, 3-Day Weekend $774K
4-Day Holiday $1.0M, Cume $1.7M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Best movie of the three?
Isn’t that like winning the tallest midget contest?
Well said, Erin! The dumbing down of American moviegoers (not to mention the country itself) is hereby completed!
What about all of the other countries where Twilight made tons of money this weekend? A lot of “dumbed down” American movies are made for foreign consumption ie simple language, lots of explosions. Twilight is sort of a female version of those sorts of movies.
Yeah, because Toy Story 3 was atrocious. /sarcasm
Last month it was reported that Hollywood was up in arms because all the “sequels” were under-performing. So now what, green light a remake of Goonies and another Indiana Jones sequel?
Hint: It’s not the stars or familiarity that throws a movie over the top, its the quality and word of mouth.
Dumbing down? Have you read the books? They are at par with JK Rowling. Hardly dumbing down of anything.
I wont say the movies are great, by no means, but saying they are dumbed down is, well, just dumb.
“at par with JK Rowling” Seriously?
Well, JK Rowling isn’t exactly F. Scott Fitzgerald either.
Well at least THE A-TEAM has finally passed THE TOOTH FAIRY in worldwide boxoffice. That must be such a relief.
Now only 2o million more to go to catch THE BOUNTY HUNTER!!
The Last Airbender is by far the worst movie since Waterworld!
The bad buzz on twitter is spreading, people are booing at the screen.
This is not a movie, It is a place where they unplug your cinematic life support
Machine after the first half hour puts you into a coma.
M Night needs to never make a movie again!!
You’re calling a movie opening the same weekend as a Twilight movie the worst movie since Waterworld? *tsk**tsk*
Hello, if you’ve seen Eclipse, then you can comment about “a Twilight movie,” as with different (talented) directors, and different plot development and character arcs, they are very different movies. Otherwise, you come off like a blowhard know-it-all like Cliff from Cheers. Try to comment on something you’re actually qualified to comment on in the future. We all appreciate it, Mr. Not-so-smartypants.
Men aren’t qualified to judge this movie, since it wasn’t made for us. Clearly only the ladies understand how Twilight is the best series of movies in cinema history.
Eclipse- 49% on the tomato meter
Waterworld- 40% on the tomato meter
The Last Airbender- 8% on the tomato meter
Judging by critics, the Last Airbender if actually worse than Waterworld.
I think you are being more than a little overdramatic, lol.”M Night needs to never make a movie again!!” Sounds like sour grapes. It’s one thing if you have not seen the movie and are trashing it (obviously you have not), and quite another if you have seen it and genuinely did not like it.
There’s no need to drag Waterworld into this…
Or worse, Cliff Claven.
There is already some controversy regarding this flick. The fact that Hollywood decided not cast an Asian for the lead has pissed off a lot people. I don’t know what kid is but he doesn’t look Asian, might be half. When will Hollywood learn about keep the movies authentic.
What is your definition of “authentic”? Cause as far as I remember the continent where the story of “The last Airbender” takes place isn’t called Asia.
Oriental?
From now on, everyone should submit to a DNA test before being cast, right? And colorblind casting is the way to go, unless the actor is white, right?
….and yet it has a $60 million opening. Funny, that.
Well…regarding that 60M opening, you can subtract the cost of three tickets from that.
Three of us went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D at the Regal Thorton Place in Seattle which is also playing Airbender. Despite the fact that I stated twice what I wanted to see, and the ticket seller confirmed, and the fact that each of us bought our tix separately from two different sales folks, we all got tix that were for Airbender.
We talked briefly to a customer service person at the theater (which was very interesting in and of itself), who typed into a computer, but I don’t believe really did a exchange, and went to TS3.
So, I must wonder, how real is that total?
Are you seriously suggesting that because someone sold you three tickets to the wrong movie that the box office figures are all wrong? Let me tell you my little anecdote. I attempted to go to a 7:30 show of The Last Airbender (in 2D) on Thursday but it was sold out.
Seriously? It looks kinda nice in the trailer.
I thought I would like it too, based on the trailer, and not knowing the series from whence it came… and is one of the few movies so bad that I actually walked out mad at how bad it was. I feel like I am in an abusive relationship w/ M. Night… started out great, got a little shaky, and now just get beat up by these last two… Why should I give him any more chances?
I’ve seen hundreds of movies worse than Waterworld in the past 15 years.
Like Battlefield Earth, for example?
Agreed. This was directed like a cartoon — yeah, I know that’s what it originally is/was — but it rivaled Lucas’ Star Wars direction. M. Night should be forced to give back his DGA card after this one.
Sorry dick but I took my kids yesterday and people were clapping and cheering. It’s #2 in the box office and looks like it will make enough to warrant a second one. It was too short and he did a poor job of developing the charaters but it was still decent.
Fu@k you haters!
That’s weird, ‘cus the people at a con I just went to were clapping when the panelist made a crack at Shyamalan. Anyway, the only reasons it’s #2 are because of the 3D and the 4th of July weekend. It’s still going to bomb overseas and when Despicable Me comes out.
No dude, your wrong. Shamalyn is a good director he just needs time to revamp himself and become a good director again.
When he comes back with a good movie, I will be waiting to watch it. Untill then, you can kiss eclipse goodbye . Slade is talented yes, but unfortunately the reviews say it all, a 50% anyone? Yeah.
M.Night Sharlatain is a fraud, a thief and an awful filmmaker. Without original material to steal, he has been a disaster. He can thank Richard Matheson for Stir Of Echoes, which he turned into The Sixth Sense for his career.
He’s a naked Emperor and people should stop expecting him to “return to form” he won’t since being sued for The Village (which he also stole) and the disaster that was Lady In The Water which was of course his original idea.
Airbender is a total fanboy flick and will plummet the rest of the weekend. It’s got horrible WOM already and will struggle to do 40 mil for the 5 day weekend. Mark my words. It’ll be like 8 mil tomorrow, 7 on Sat. 5-6 on Sunday and another 5 on Monday.
You are wrong. had The Last Airbender been the fanboy flick, it wouldn`t have opened well because fandom is spreading the bad buzz like crazy. From midnight screening onwards, there`s constant barrage of negative tweets, reviews,etc. yet the movie managed a fantastic $13 mio or more on top of the $3 mio midnight. So looks like it`s working for some demographics that either don`t check out tweets, fan reviews, professional reviews,etc or never cared about bad buzz. Kids, anyone?
I agree. I’m a big fan of the series and I really did not enjoy the M. Night’s diaster of a movie. I have also not been shy about my viewpoint–I actually told my brother, who is also a fan of the series, not to bother seeing it in the theater and I am not going to go see it a second time with my wife.
From all of the fansites I have been to, they share a similar dislike of the movie. What it comes down to is the kid fanbase–the 6-11 year olds who love the series and enjoy the movie plus the parents they drag along. There were actually parents with kids that age at the midnight showing when I went.
Apparently, you are wrong. People put too much stock into “horrible WOM” without taking into consideration there that horrible WOM circulates. Teenagers, sure. Kids? Nope. This is a kids movie and they are critics and twitter-proof. Just because online bloggers and critis and trade critics and cartoon fans over the age of 8 hated it, it doesn`t mean that other demogrpahics won`t see it or even enjoy it. I`m not the target audience for Alvin and the Chipmunks series but that one is doing extremly well. So I can`t base my boxoffice predictions on my personal resentment as well as that of people from my age/gender/etc group.
Gotta admit you’re right about this. I am stunned that it did 16 mil on Friday. Let’s see how it does the rest of the weekend. I’m not making any predictions.
I’ll say one thing. For a guy with a a whole lot of people hating him, M. Night has made a lot of money for the industry. There are other much more beloved directors who have cost the industry millions and no one ever goes after them. (I won’t name names but a quick check at Box Office Mojo will reveal quite a few.)
The Chimpunks movies did well because they were released during the holiday season. And the only reason Avatar made the money it has is because it’s counter-programming to boys who want to avoid Twilight 3.
Don’t be ridiculous. Avatar was a movie phenomenon. You don’t just explain those kinds of boxoffice numbers with such a reckless, throwaway comment, not if you want to be taken seriously.
I’m talking about the Shyamalan Avatar, not the Cameron one.
The original title was Avatar: the Last Airbender; it was dropped because of Cameron’s Avatar; he claimed that he had started his project 15 years ago and therefore had rights to it (though I don’t think you can copyright a title; they wanted to avoid confusion, and Cameron said that he had it first). Anyway, how would Cameron’s Avatar even be relevant? So, obviously D.Z. is referring to the Last Airbender.
D.Z. is totally right–the theater I went to for the midnight showing was still having midnight showings of Eclipse. The line for Eclipse was full of teenagers, their moms, and college girls. The line for Last Airbender was made up of college guys who had nothing better to do or were fans of the show (or maybe they thought the action/effects looked cool by the previews or their girlfriends were in the Twilight line), parents with their kids (mostly boys), and miscellanous fans of the show like me.
Unfortunately, I heard a couple of guys comment after the movie that they would have rather seen Twilight…ouch…
hmm tho the movie does suck, looks like ur estimate is wrong. it’s already made 32.7 mil in just 2 days.
Twilight will fall with it too, because it is a fanbased movie. Once all the fangirls see it will be gone. Thank god…
Eclipse sure didn’t disappoint, following in the foot steps of it’s predecessors. A huge opening and massive bleeding from there on out. The Twilight series gives new meaning to front loaded. Not even the Harry Potter movies are this front loaded.
Not even Saw is this front-loaded!
But, at the same time, I give the makers credit for being smarter than anyone else in Hollywood right now: The budgets are low, as they should be, none of this $150m+ nonsense. They’re timely, each one coming out as soon as possible to strike while the iron’s still hot. And boy can they get the target audience salivating…
The front-loaded aspect probably helps; the studios get a bigger share that way. Something else will be #1 by default next weekend, but like Survivor, Summit has no regrets.
The Harry Potter movies aren’t as front-loaded at the Twilight movies because, well, they’re actually GOOD. Plus they appeal to a much broader audience. The books were read by old and young, male and female. Twilight? That’s strictly a female audience and the only males attending are being dragged their unwillingly for a date night penance. I’m a woman and I’m embarrassed by all the high drama of the female fans that surrounds this schlock. I’m talking grown women, not just tweens. When you’re crushing on the same guys/characters as your 12 year-old? That’s uber icky to me.
The movies are actually as or even more front loaded than twilight. The 6th Harry Potter movie made a world wide gross of 104 million (having the record for the highest single-day worldwide gross) which is a lot more than what Eclipse made world wide on its first day. The film also made 154 million domestically and 236 million in other territories in 5 days bringing its total gross to 394 million.This then broke the record for biggest ever worldwide 5-day opening, surpassing Spider-Man 3′s $381 million and made the film the fastest to reach the $350 million mark in worldwide box office of all time.
Twilight may rule in domestic gross but in terms of world wide box office which matters the most in the end, Harry Potter does a lot better.
Keep in Mind, tho, Harry Potter costs $150-$250 million to make, where as the Twilight movies cost $50-$68 million
“How over-priced 3D convinced execs to stop worrying about bombs.”
HA! That’s good. Needs an above title. Is “Doc Hollywood or How over-priced 3D convinced execs to stop worrying about bombs” too much?
I think Eclipse will wind up beating Spiderman 2. I think its final domestic box office weekend total will be more like $186 million.
Yup. Sunday will be a big day for Eclipse, a LOT of ‘older’ Twi fans will be out in droves trying to fit this in before making hot dogs for the kiddies. Sunday/Monday is the Friday/Sat for older females.
Airbender is definitely going to lose money. As it should because its garbage. Again anything with M. Night’s name attached to it I’m staying away.
Man, i’m just hearing some horrid reviews for the last airbender — i mean worst movie of the year comments repeatedly — is this true from those who have seen it? I swore the last time I would never see another M.Night movie, but I thought that since he didn’t write this, it wouldn’t be so bad. Saw eclipse, i didn’t think it was the best of the three, i found the first part a bit dull but I think this is Kristen’s character at her strongest. Grown ups is just filled with a great cast that is just wasted by a rather unfunny script. Best movie to watch by far is Knight and day — which is truly a great great fun all around superb film, and the karate Kid. The A=Team actually has a lot more action than expected and is worth a look too. but KNIGHT AND DAY — don’t miss it.
i saw the last airbender saturday it’s not to bad but if they,re going to have book 2 and 3 they’re going to need to do alot of changes but it’s a kids movie and son said the movie was awesome
Unfortunately, M. Night wrote the script–which was the weakest part of the film. The source material is not his, but what he created takes away the character development and humor that was essential to the animated series.
I am still hoping for a decent director’s cut on DVD–there was a lot stuff shown in various trailers and mentioned by M. Night that was not in the theater. The movie would still be subpar, but maybe not shamefully bad. Also, if Paramount decides to make the sequels with M. Night then maybe they’ll force him to let someone else write it or at least consult with him on the script(the dialogue, in particular was dreadful).
C+ user’s score on Yahoo? That can’t be good. Still, if a piece of shit like this can make $60 opening weekend, what hope is there for good movies?
The Dark Knight’s record is saved for another year! Eclipse did not even come close. But still did very well and will make a boat load of profit. Congrats to them on that though.
We saw the Last Airbender last night and enjoyed it. I don’t get the trashing at all. It was done just like the cartoon as far as the dialog and whatnot. I guess it didn’t translate well for those who aren’t familiar with it?
Read Roger Ebert’s review of “what he hopes” is truly…The Last Airbender. Looks like Night’s Lights are Out!
How does a movie with no stars and 05% on Rotten Tomatoes make $60 million?
Simple. It makes 60 mil, because the Mommies all want to see Eclipse, so they are taking the kids 12 and under to the theater w/ them and using The Last Airbender as ‘babysitter,’ while they sneak into Eclipse. It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to last long enough for Mommy to get her Edward and Jacob freak on in peace.
never thought that a Twilight movie would technically be the best out of 2 on opening weekend. On the bright side, maybe this will stop M Night from movie making. I say give it one more chance with just writing (or maybe he has already effed that up before?) and then walk away from the movie making business.
Actually the criticism I’ve always heard/read on him is that he’s a solid director, but a crappy writer (‘Sixth Sense’ being the exception) who would benefit from focusing solely on directing, maybe writing the story but then letting someone else script it out instead of doing his own screenplays. I think IF he is to be given another chance (and let’s be honest, he’s still got the name recognition and enough appeal to audiences) then it should be a situation where he directs someone else’s script. Let’s see how he does with someone else’s material, it might also help the perception that he is egotistical and thinks he will save mankind through his writing (see: ‘Lady in the Water’, utter trash).
well, I figure at least take away one of his privileges. Personally, the only movie he did that I liked was Signs. Unbreakable wasn’t bad either, but I say that because Bruce is my favorite actor. I really do not have any more confidence in this guy. I think the only reason people went to see TLA was because of the source material.
He’s long long overdue to adapt some books. There are any number of writers whose material would be excellent for him, given his preoccupations/issues.
@Andrew
Best of the three?
Toy Story 3 by a landslide. I’ll admit though that Eclipse was easier to digest than it’s predecessors and is better than that putrid crap know as Airbender. At least I can take solace in the fact that I bought a ticket to Toy Story 3 and then went into Airbender, so my $16 actually went to a movie that deserves every penny.
“At least I can take solace in the fact that I bought a ticket to Toy Story 3 and then went into Airbender, so my $16 actually went to a movie that deserves every penny.”
Come on dude… Too much effort for something silly. Especially since Toy Story 3 is going to be the biggest Pixar movie ever. Why waste $16 bucks to support a movie while sneaking into another one? If you love TS3 so much you should have just saw it again AND THEN sneak into Airbender.
Airbender is the worst movie since Battlefield Earth. Wait’ scratch that. Worst movie since….there were movies. And to top it all off, the 3D is rarely even noticeable. Night need to move on to say…parking cars for a living. And don’t even get me started of Twilight. Truly a sickening and saddening wknd for cinema
Eclipse will be up tonight, Sat, and Sunday. It’s made about $93 million domestically in 2 days. I think it can do another $90-$100 million or more, over this weekend. That would mean somewhere around $185-$193 million and would break the Spiderman record. The Last Airbender didn’t even please the fans of the original series so its fall off will be bad. Plus the fanboys are already posting it on bit torrent.
the eclipse numbers dont make sense? 110 for 5 days & 178 for 6days? the 5 day for it is wed – sunday so if it has already made 68.5 on wed & 24.4 thurday that means 85.2 already. somehow i think it will make more then 24.8 mil on fri, sat & sun. somehow i dont think in one day it is making the 69 mil dif between the # that nikki has listed.
I am truly disappointed at “The Last Airbender” movie. I am a huge fan of the TV series and an extreme movie-goer and I feel RIP-OFF by this movie. The storyline was horrifically chopped therefore making the story incoherent. Nicola Peltz was portray as whiny, weak damsel when she is suppose to be one of the strongest character. Dev Patel and Noah Ringer were so emotionless and awkward thru-out the movie. Jackson was suppose to be a humorous character which was not portrayed well at all.
I can honestly say that this is one of most disappointed movies I watched this whole year.
The world isn’t right if Airbender gets 2nd place over Toy Story.
this is true but Toy story has been out for a few weeks whereas Airbenders just opened. It’ll die in like a week.
The Airbender trailer is terrible. I don’t even know what the movie is about. At least with Grown Ups, I got it — Caddyshack for today. There was even a funny joke in the trailer.
I think this speaks to the movie itself. When I see a trailer that has no point, I figure the movie itself has no point. Shymlan looks like a one-hit wonder, unable to replicate the one big thing he did.
I wish a movie could get me excited to go and see it. But I just figure I’ll Redbox/Netflix everything when it comes around — nothing really exciting or “must-see.”
You don’t always need to know necessarily what a movie is “about” in its trailer.
When I see a trailer that has no point, I figure the movie itself has no point
With respect, that’s ridiculous – and you’ve probably missed a lot of great films because of that misguided preconception.
For example, the “Inception” trailer gives no hint of what the movie is “about”, but it’s intriguing and mysterious and has caused quite a stir simply because people are curious about it based on the imagery alone. Not every trailer needs to give away the whole kit and kaboodle.
The trailer for “The Matrix” made no sense at all and did not explain anything. And that movie made perfect sense.
A gazillion teenaged girls will make sure “Eclipse” is the #1 flick this weekend……and likely next weekend
Funny thing is I work at a cinema, and Eclipse only sold out on wed, has not sold out a single show since…
Repeat after me: REPEAT VIEWINGS. It’s a female thing. The mommies will send this thing even further into the stratosphere during the week.
I dunno. I saw an IMAX screening of this film with my GF and it was not filled at a 4PM showing. Also, she thought the movie was a little boring and not as good as the book.
So we may see an even quicker drop off.
8 of us went and saw it and nobody was under 21 and we felt that it was better than anything that Summit has put out for Twi. We then took some of the younger members to see The Last Airbender and it is exactly what it says it is. It’s a good clean action packed movie with good special effects. Noticed I never said it was the best of anything but was what was represented.
We had walked out of Eclipse the night before and can say I am finally over that Franchise it’s a joke that Summit makes the type of profit they make and produce the type of trash they produce. I finally figured out that Summit could care less about Twi but loves the profit.It’s also very sad to me that all these Twifans have managed to get things they wanted but never once have they demanded a good movie. The three leads were at their all time worse and once again they only needed to take acting lessons somewhere in the last three movies but if they can’t be bothered to read the books then they can’t be bothered to deliver a good performance.
“It’s also very sad to me that all these Twifans have managed to get things they wanted but never once have they demanded a good movie”
Hon, if those fans were that smart, they wouldn’t be sucked in by this non-written retrograde crap in the first place.
First things first: You’re a hater. Anyone that comes on these boards insulting a kids in a worldwide phenom who are barely out of their teens is being disingenuous about their motivations. My guess is, once again – this is one of those freaky just as obsessive ‘mean girl’ haters who resent one or more of the Twi kids. They are here under the guise of being an objective moviegoer. How can I tell? Simple: She tells you that the actors in Twilight haven’t read the books. First off, they eventually did read the entire series, those comments about not having read the books after Twilight, were made in interviews early on in their casting and initial rehearsal of the first Twilight. Contrary to what this poster may believe, Stephanie Meyers is no JK Rowling. Hell, she can’t even match up very well against fanfiction dot net. So saying these very well-read smart kids hadn’t read the Twilight series, only cements them as being overqualified for the material, not less. But what it says about YOU, ‘Rachel77′ is that you’re a little too invested and obsessed with them — that you know what some then unknown kid, said in some obscure interview in 2008. That said, if you’re aware of what a then 17 yr old Stewart, 21 yr old Pattinson or Lautner said in some obscure interview during the first Twilight – then I’m sure you’re also aware of at least one of them, maybe two, having gotten rave reviews for their acting skills from top critics for other performances. No way can you expect us to believe that you’d pour over a 17 yr old kid’s MTV interview, and remember it enough to snark present day, yet not be aware of other films that have come out to rave reviews and critical praise. I call busted.
Not a “Twilight” hater here. Everyone needs to geek out on something. I know plenty of intelligent women who love “Twilight” but also treat it like a vice. So the “lonely fat girl” stereotype is stupid.
All that said, I have seen all 3 movies. And I have to say they are just not really attempting to adapt the material in a way that would create a memorable experience for the moviegoer. “Twilight” was just a flat looking movie that had spotty acting. “New Moon” looked better visually, but it continued to have a huge problem, the acting of Stewart, Pattinson, and Lautner. All 3 are so inconsistent and do nothing to make the triangle believable enough to be invested in if you are over 13.
“Eclipse” is all over the place. The look is flat again. The CGI is spotty (especially during the mountaintop scene). Nothing is done to make “Victoria” a bigger threat. This showdown was teased and built up since the end of “Twilight”, yet she is barely shown in the film save for running away and finally a very quick final fight.
The selling point of this movie having “more action” is misleading as the battle in the end is over relatively quickly. Stewart acts better in this movie, but she still doesn’t sell “Bella” to the audience. We never know why sworn enemies would join together to protect such an unappealing girl. She isn’t instantly likable. She isn’t charming. She doesn’t fill the room with light in a way that you can see why people would risk their lives for her. She is just there. And Stewart just acts awkward and weird at times. She doesn’t have real chemistry with Pattinson. And she DEFINITELY doesn’t have any with Lautner.
Lautner overacts with his intensity as if he has something to prove. And it sticks out sorely when compared to Pattinson who now seems to be on autopilot. But oddly, he has more chemistry with Lautner than he does with Stewart. Especially in the tent scene which played to laughs in the theater I saw the film at.
“Jacob” and his declarations of love for “Bella” after a while are pathetic. Lautner and Stewart’s chemistry is so not there that he comes off as an annoying kid asking why she won’t go out with him. Had she been more believable as an actor, she could have made that work, but she doesn’t.
In all, the film really could have been adapted in a way to make it interesting. Especially since the first two films made enough money that they could have invested in making 3 a really good movie. Like Harry Potter 1 and 2 were by the numbers, but 3 was the start of them being REAL movies. The same could have happened here. But no. They dropped the ball and made a pretty bland movie where people talk more than react and nothing substantial really happens.
I don’t see this film lasting longer in the Summer.
I don’t know how the next two movies will fare even with Bill Condon at the helm… They can actually try to make them good, but at this point Summit knows they can release 2 more bland movies and it will still make a ton of money.
Way to break it down! Nice analysis.
If Airbender makes money,we all win. The movie looked unremarkable in trailers and I felt like Id seen the movie before. These underdog saves the world movies are about as fresh as 3 day old guacamole. We need compelling stories that trumpet people to the movies again
I am really happy for airbender, the 16m+ total doesn’t even contain the figures for the 3d multiplexes