Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

July 14, 2008

I retire from this press conference. Wait. I'm back.

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Journey to the what who now?

Kim Hollis: Journey to the Center of the Earth opened to $21.0 million. Should Warner Bros. be pleased with this result?

David Mumpower: Given that this is a relatively low-budget film by blockbuster standards at $45 million, I think so. The odd aspect is how/why a Real-D movie was done for such a paltry amount. This strikes me as a cheap grab at more expensive ticket sales, and it's worked once. I doubt this success will be duplicated soon, though. It lessens the intent of charging more for 3-D if the consumer is not being offered a special production from a technological standpoint.

Daron Aldridge: With a $45 million budget and Speed Racer still a fresh failure, WB has to be happy that this one might actually recoup its production cost and then some if it lives up to normal family film expectations.

Shane Jenkins: I think the trailers, at least in 2-D belied the small budget. The effects made me feel like I was (nerd alert!) playing The 7th Guest on my PC back in the day (while drinking an Orbitz and listening to Toad the Wet Sprocket!). I honestly think Warner Bros. should be ecstatic that this even opened in the double digits, based on those trailers.




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Kim Hollis: I do agree that they should be really pleased with this result. The trailers and previews never screamed quality, but they did seem to offer some safe fun that families could be comfortable with. Without the 3-D theaters, though, I think it would have been an epic bomb. The 3-D is possibly the one thing that sets it apart and makes it feel a little different than other Walden-type flicks. This is proven by the fact that $11.7 million of its $20.6 million came from its 3-D exhibitions, which comprised less than a third of its overall screenings.

David Mumpower: Kim's comment about the body of Journey's business coming from 3-D speaks to a larger point than this movie on its own. This is really good news for upcoming releases such as Coraline, Avatar, and the Toy Story re-releases. Those are titles with much more intrinsic demand than Journey did. So, they could be huuuuuuge performers due to the 3-D pricing structure.

Reagen Sulewski: There's a fundamental problem with advertising a movie that's in 3-D on 2-D screens. "We've got something really awesome here, just trust us." Someone's going to come along with the perfect blend of story and effects and it's really going to catch on, but the movie part of this looked so stale that it's not much of a surprise that it didn't set the world on fire.

Scott Lumley: Would you be pleased with this result? Of course not. Here's a better question. Would you have greenlit this hunk of crap in the first place? I wouldn't have. There are a lot of film properties and ideas that people are absolutely clamoring to see. This was not, and never was one of them.


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