Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By BOP Staff
June 2, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Kim Hollis: For those of you who have seen Up, what are your thoughts?
Josh Spiegel: I really enjoyed Up. The storyline is fascinating and unique, and I found myself completely able to buy into all of the more whimsical elements of the story. What really impressed me about that whimsy is that the first 15 minutes of Up is probably the most realistic material the folks at Pixar have ever made. Of course, the rest of the movie is not as realistic, but I totally bought into the fact that, when cornered with living in a retirement community, an old man would just lift his house up with balloons and head for South America. Something else worth mentioning: this may be the funniest movie Pixar's done, especially with regards to the many animals that the two lead human characters encounter. Overall, Up was filled with lots of laughs, some great action, and a lot more emotion than I would've expected, even from Pixar. One note: I'm very curious to see the film in 2-D, partly because the 3-D, while enhancing the background animation, wasn't as in-your-face as previous 3-D films.
David Mumpower: WALL-E won Best Picture at The Calvins earlier this year and was much beloved by our staff. I too thought it was very good, but it didn't dazzle me the way that The Incredibles and Ratatouille had. I thought that the part involving the humans, while understandable, was a bit bland. Up, on the other hand, is a film upon which that I have spent the body of two days trying to find a hole, something that would make it slightly lacking. I have yet to come up with anything. I'm absolutely blown away by how deft a feat of storytelling it is. Some of the sequences shown in the trailer appear to be singular comedy bits on first impression. After watching the movie, however, the viewer comes to realize that a lot of the story's complexity is encapsulated right there in the commercials, disguised as silly little laughs. In particular, Dug seems like something of a one-note joke on the surface, but the entire concept of that collar is embedded throughout the second half of the film, providing innumerable belly laughs. Pixar has done something masterful here in combining their best character study to date with a Looney Tunes sensibility. It shouldn't work, but it does. Big time. Why can no one else in the world be as consistently entertaining as this group? It shouldn't be THAT hard to expect excellence on these seven-figure budgeted tentpole releases yet only Pixar manages it.
Sean Collier: I was struck by how sad Up was - Wall-E was emotional, but Up had me welling up once or twice. And while it is a very, very good film that I would recommend to anyone, I did find the introduction of a villain unmotivated and unnecessary. There was a clear path to the finish line that just involved various pitfalls as our leads try to get the house to its intended location, somewhat hampered by a big bird and a talking dog - the action ending struck me as a concession to the normal demands of a pedestrian kids movie, especially considering how unmotivated the bad guy's sudden turn was. I'm quibbling, though - Up is very, very good, and probably more emotionally engaging and more funny than most, if not all, other Pixar films - and that's saying something.
Reagen Sulewski: I can sort of see the complaints about the introduction of the villain, but I think (SPOILER ALERT!) Muntz works as a way of showing what a singular obsession can do to a person (END SPOILER!) And as always, Pixar managed to give its villain some depth, so I've got no problem there.
Kevin Chen: Trying to remain as spoiler-free as possible, I'll say that the villain was needed as an active force for Carl to vie against. From a pure storytelling standpoint, I think that man versus man contention provides for better character opportunity than man versus nature. But from a thematic standpoint, the villain is absolutely necessary because his purpose is a funhouse mirror distortion of Carl's. And I'll second Reagen's point that this is not a Snidely Whiplash villain who is evil for evil's sake. He has a very simplistic motivation, but it's one that's rooted in his character and is supported by the screenplay.
Kim Hollis: I am completely with Kevin and Reagen on the subject of Muntz. SPOILER ALERT! We see his downfall in the beginning of the film and realize by the time Carl encounters him in Brazil, that he has had decades to let that embarrassment fester and boil inside him. Of course he would be exactly what he is, particularly as he's been without significant human contact.
As far as the movie itself, I just loved it from beginning to end. I agree that there is a sadness to it, but it's completely appropriate in a movie that focuses on aging. In fact, I think it's a really brave film - braver than even WALL-E and Ratatouille. Pixar took a chance on a story about an old man and it works completely.
Honestly, June doesn't look better.
Kim Hollis: May's storied lineup featured six potential tentpole releases. Now that the month is over, what are your impressions of how May played out?
Josh Spiegel: I think the only big surprises of the month came with Memorial Day Weekend. I wasn't very surprised with the performances from Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons, or Up; however, the fact that Terminator Salvation will most likely not reach $150 million in domestic gross, and Night at the Museum 2 may not hit $200 million domestically is quite stunning. Having finally seen the fourth Terminator movie, I'm not too shocked as most audiences have wisely avoided the new film. Night at the Museum 2, however, is having a more inexplicable drop. Obviously, opening the week before a new Pixar movie comes out isn't the best ploy that 20th Century Fox could have taken, but the amount of awareness was much higher for this film than for Up. Still, considering the big tentpole film I saw this month, I'm glad about the outcomes: the two good movies have succeeded (though, of course, the jury will be out on Up for a few more weeks), and the others haven't.
Brandon Scott: On the positive side, its clear that Star Trek is the big winner (master of the obvious, I know), but I feel as though Angels & Demons, Wolverine, and Night at the Museum 2 are probably performing about AT expected levels. Up will still have to play out, while T4 is a major disappointment. While I was incredibly skeptical upon first learning of T4's making and imminent release, I thought it was really looking at reinvigorating the franchise based on all of the hype that was coming with it. In this regard, it clearly failed to deliver. I actually think after films were blowing away expectations at the box office early in the year, things have actually settled down in the summer. We may not have that $300 million release that we have had since 2000 and that would be a disappointment, no doubt.
David Mumpower: Looking at them individually, Wolverine is a disappointment, Angels & Demons is a draw domestically and a blockbuster once we factor in international revenue, Night at the Museum 2 has done a bit less than expected but well enough, Up is a winner thus far, Star Trek is a sublime success story, and Terminator Salvation is a train wreck. Looking at the half dozen titles collectively, I have to admit I am disappointed on the whole with their combined domestic box office as well as most of their individual totals. 2009 started off with some unassuming titles absolutely shredding; May had an epic lineup of releases. The stage appeared set for something spectacular to happen, but that scenario never materialized. Instead, most of the films made about what I expected on opening weekend and have demonstrated larger than expected declines, save for Star Trek, which appears to have stolen every other title's mojo.
Tim Briody: This was being sold to us as the Biggest Month Ever, but the only two winners here are Up and Star Trek. While the rest of the summer should play out better, this is a pretty mediocre start, especially since we saw two huge unexpected January hits in Paul Blart and Taken.
Scott Lumley: In baseball terms, Up and Star Trek are Home Runs, while Angels & Demons is a triple on a weird bounce off the foreign markets. Wolverine is a ground rule double on fanboy interference. Night at the Museum 2 is a single with an error on the play and Terminator Salvation is a ground out into a double play.
I've seen most of these films now, and out of all of them, only Terminator was completely disappointing. I actually liked Wolverine quite a bit, and I really didn't see a lot of the flaws in the film that a lot of critics picked on. Star Trek was perfect, and Angels & Demons was enjoyable, if somewhat grim.
Jason Lee: Color me a skeptic but other than Star Trek, every film basically played out like I expected. You knew Wolverine would be primarily fan-driven, you knew that there was no way that either Angels & Demons or Night at the Museum 2 could live up to their predecessor (each for their own reasons), Up was always going to be a hit and Terminator Salvation was weighed down by a disappointing Rise of the Machines given the quality of Judgment Day.
That said, unless something stunning happens with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I think we're looking at a year with one $300+ film at most.
Sean Collier: Thanks for the masterful baseball analogy, Scott. We're all in agreement on Star Trek and Up, so moving on to the others - look at it this way. While Angels & Demons can be seen as a success based on international grosses, and Night at the Museum will certainly make some money, both of those franchises are probably done - they're incredibly expensive and interest has clearly waned since the first installment. Throw in Terminator - an unmitigated disaster for one of the biggest brand names ever - and you have three successful franchises killed in the space of a month. That's bad. Especially considering that, in January and February, we were talking about how the box office was bulletproof, and EVERYTHING was raking in money. There's a big drop-off here, and I wouldn't be surprised if these results continued to show up throughout the summer - if I was a Transformer, I'd be sweating. If they sweat.