Monday Morning Quarterback Part III
By BOP Staff
March 31, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Jason Barney: Not really. I was a fan of the original print stories, so I plan on seeing the movie. Dawn of Justice may be unwatchable, but I can compartmentalize that and move on. I'll still see Suicide Squad when it comes out.
Ben Gruchow: The full trailer for Suicide Squad is some kind of weird masterpiece of timing, cutting, and music. I've been looking forward to the movie ever since the trailer was released, and DoJ doesn't affect that. It's also directed by a man with considerable skill, and instincts that appeal to me far more than Zack Snyder's do. If the DCEU has any kind of artistic future, I think it's going to look more like SS than DoJ.
Felix Quinonez: I think Suicide Squad looks great and I'm really excited for it. But my excitement is based on the trailers for the movie and is completely independent of Batman v Superman. In fact I'm also very excited that someone other than Zack Snyder will be handling a DC movie. I hope it's not too late to kick him off of the Justice League movies.
Kim Hollis: I actually think Suicide Squad may be slightly impacted by a bit of distrust in the DC brand. The good news for Warner Bros. is that I think there will be enough interest in seeing Harley Quinn (and the new Joker) onscreen to even out any losses they might have suffered otherwise.
David Mumpower: I consider the recent announcement that Suicide Squad is reshooting to add more humor the most obvious news item in ages. I've lamented the lack of humor in DC's movies for years now, and I was incredibly frustrated by the marketing for Batman v Superman. It felt insincere, bordering on abrasive. It seemed like the studio was trying to tell people what they wanted rather than listening to what they'd been saying. Now that Dawn of Justice has failed almost completely, WB has accepted that the hundreds of thousands of angry social media posts deserve their attention. If they'd acted this way in the wake of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman might have/should have turned out quite differently.
That's a long way to go to say that I do think Suicide Squad is tainted by what has transpired. Any remaining benefit of the doubt DC/WB might have had has vanished. Now, the marketing for Suicide Squad will have to demonstrate it's a cut above. The good news is fans have always responded better to it than to Batman v Superman, which means they want to like it. The issue is that they've been burned multiple times recently. I think that a strong marketing campaign and glowing reviews for Suicide Squad would guarantee that it opens north of $100 million. If word leaks that it's lousy, however, the entire build-up to a Justice League movie is in jeopardy.
Ryan Kyle: The Suicide Squad trailer played better than BvS in my theater. I think a giant opening is in store and I wouldn't be shocked if it is on par with this film's. Being a part of the same cinematic universe Snyder has set up might give some pause, but it looks different enough (in a great way), that people will check it out in mass.
Kim Hollis: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the sequel to the 2002 phenomenon that earned a massive $240 million at the box office, debuted with $17.9 million. What do you think of this result?
Jason Barney: I think this is a very strong opening. It's a sequel that comes 14 years after the original and passed its production budget in three days so it's in very good shape. Of course it will never get close to matching the $242 million the original made, but it would have been crazy to expect that. The first one was a phenomenon that caught lightning in a bottle and it would be unfair to think that could happen again. Maybe if they didn't wait 14 years to put out a sequel it could have benefitted more from the original's legendary box office ru,n but too much time has passed for that.
But it doesn't have to be a phenomenon to be a success. Its "A-" cinema score means that decent legs are a possibility and it could make it all the way to $60-$70 million domestically. That should be considered a win.
Ryan Kyle: Sequels are rarely made for adult films anymore so there aren't many movies to compare this too, but with the opening weekend already covering the production budget, I'd consider this a big win. Fourteen years later, no one was expecting this sequel to match the lighting-in-a-bottle heights the first film achieved, but with a relatively empty two weekends of new releases, MBFGW2 should play on to the $60-75 million range. The 12% drop between its Friday and Saturday gross gives me a bit of a pause, but it seems like audiences have been liking it, even though the harsh reviews probably shaved off a few million as this demo still tends to read the newspapers.
Michael Lynderey: It's actually pretty remarkable, considering every other product from the same brand hasn't been very successful (the Big Fat tv show, and Vardalos's films Connie and Carla and My Life in Ruins). The number shows that, other than the fact that counter-programming works, the first film is still remembered fondly by enough people (given the fact that it made over $240 million, that's not a surprise) and that nostalgia still sells well enough, even in amounts that are modest relative to the original box office take. I don't think this number is a mandate for another film, but it's good enough and it'll probably even have decent legs, considering that romantic comedy fans are more or less starved for content right now.
Kim Hollis: Considering how long we've gone since the original movie (which I saw in limited release way back when), this result is really pretty spectacular. None of the performers have gone on to be big names, and the 2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding is really a perfect example of a movie that just captured a moment in time to become something so much more than what it really is. There's no logical reason that it should have made $242 million, and it's not even remembered as any sort of special classic. It's just a nice, fluffy, happy movie. I'm glad it exists, and I'm glad that people are seeing the new one even if there is obviously no hope whatsoever of it approaching its predecessor's lofty heights.