Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

December 22, 2008

The Vikings fumbled more than a Dubya speech yesterday.

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column

A lot of America said No.

Kim Hollis: Yes Man, Jim Carrey's latest high-profile comedy, opened to $18.2 million. What do you think of this result?

Pete Kilmer: It's not terrible. But it's also not good. It's going to be tough to make Jim Carrey the box office draw he once was. The movie-going public has been heavily burned by a lot of his past choices for roles and frankly he doesn't want to see those roles of the past (Bruce Almighty, and Liar Liar) that brought him to the table.

Brandon Scott: I'll agree with Pete. I honestly think that he has been away too long from this sort of role to draw what he once did. Others have come in to replace him. The fact that Yes Man seemed to be Liar Liar Part Deux was a double-edged sword. I think audiences feel they already saw this several years ago from him and comedies aren't usually ripe sequel material (even though this wasn't per se. You get my drift). There could be something to the weather affecting some things, but this clearly didn't take off.




Advertisement



I will also speculate that maybe his personal life could be affecting his popularity. Not that he is a bad guy at all, but his relationship with Jenny McCarthy, some weird grooming issues with the long shag hair, plus that wearing a women's bathing suit stunt...I don't know, I am just thinking that he is off and past his prime. I don't have any issues with him and like that he takes risks as an actor these days, even if the results have been mixed to say the least. I still think The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine are some of his best work.

Joel Corcoran: It's kind of a sad result, actually. From a strict numbers perspective, it's a mediocre opening, but the movie should still have a profitable - though lackluster - performance in its box office run. That's assuming the movie's production budget is somewhere in the range of $50 million. But in a broader sense, it's rather depressing to see Jim Carrey continuing down this long, slow, agonizing slide of fading talent and stardom. Aside from whatever issues he's dealing with in his personal life (and I agree that's a factor), Carrey has obviously lost whatever comedic brilliance he had a even few years ago.

Max Braden: I skipped it in theaters because I've already seen Liar Liar and I didn't want to pay for a repeat. Trailing behind Judd Apatow's comedies, Yes Man also looked like it lacked much bite. In this economy, maybe those factors made the difference. I think it means a downward adjustment on the opening estimate for Bedtime Stories.


Continued:       1       2       3       4

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.