Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

May 24, 2010

That...is going to leave a mark.

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Brett Beach: Let me back into answering Kim's questions. I posit myself as a novel potential consumer for this film having only seen the first film (on DVD) and never having interest in Shrek 2 or Shrek the Third. Early ads I saw for this made me chuckle and left me mildly intrigued until...they started this whole "Shrek: The Final Chapter" nonsense in their final month posters and ads. This irks me as much as How to Train Your Dragon being reduced to "DreamWorks' Dragons" in the later TV ads. That title sounds like a terrible documentary about Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg. Hearing Shrek: The Final Chapter makes me think that they brought in Tom Savini to help kill Shrek off with a machete to the face. If your title is Shrek Forever After then stick with it!

An opening weekend of even such a large sum as $70 million is relative to other installments in the franchise. Throwing in at $50 million under the last and biggest opening, even with higher ticket prices, and IMAX and 3D engagements pushing sums around 17-18 bucks in Manhattan (I guess those $20 tickets were 'mistakes') says a lot about the lack of willingness to pay a high price if perceived quality is not there. I now can't wait to see what the next installments of Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean bring gross-wise.

Reagen Sulewski: If you're looking at it in the sense of "does it make money?", then yes, Paramount is going to be glad they spent the time and money making this film. It's not as if they had another animated franchise to throw into this slot, so if your choice as a studio is this or nothing, you at least take this. But if you're looking at what they've left on the table, it's the area of several hundred million dollars, and no one can ever be happy about that. It's pretty much a case study in how to drive a franchise into the ground through overusing jokes and overstaying your welcome.




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Shalimar Sahota: Strangely, I'm reminded of another franchise that has outstayed its welcome. Saw VI disappointed by taking half of what the previous sequels were taking. Like Shrek Forever After, coupled with negative reviews and a story that's totally unnecessary, audiences are bizarrely starting to latch on, so the drop was bound to happen. However, as already noted, as a cash-grab job, it'll still be profitable. I'm more curious to see just how big it'll drop next week!

Jason Lee: While surprising, this outcome was written in the stars. Shrek the Third was a half-baked, half-hearted attempt to further capitalize on audience's enthusiasm for Shrek and his pals. Given the mediocre marketing efforts (as mentioned by Matthew), it's no wonder that moviegoers regarded the green ogre's "final chapter" with grand skepticism. Thus, while DreamWorks might have been hoping for a bigger opening, for me, the film's gross was not disappointing - it was heartening. It meant that in this day and age, you can't just copy the plot of a classic film, stuff a beloved animated character in it, make it 3-D, and expect people to plunk down $15 a head to see it. It means that quality still matters.


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