Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

February 25, 2015

Where is my milk?

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Kim Hollis: This performance is terrific, and The DUFF is the kind of movie that is going to be popular on video as well. The studios involved in this should be excited about the potential profit and the performers, particularly Mae Whitman, are going to be remembered in what's likely to be a cult teen flick.

David Mumpower: The DUFF looked awesome and it performed beyond my wildest expectations. Relative to scale, this is going to be one of the biggest box office winners of 2015 prior to summer. It's also proof positive that the best teen films are driven by the concept and the ads rather than star power. I'm a bit sad for Mae Whitman that she's still playing high school students a full decade after Arrested Development. Then again, she was age-appropriate then, so I may be reading too much into it.

Kim Hollis: Hot Tub Time Machine 2 crashed and burned, earning only $6 million. What went wrong?




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Jason Barney: Poor timing. A lot of competition. A sequel that didn't have to happen....

Even though the numbers, the concept, and the attempt at a cash grab are terrible, I don’t think this is as bad a situation as the numbers alone would suggest. The story of the original is somewhat interesting, partially because of its success and partially because of the situation MGM/UA was in at the time. MGM actually made a good deal of money with the original, but the extra cash did little to help their crumbling finances.

Now Paramount is putting this sequel out there, and despite most of us feeling this product should not exist, it actually did “okay” this weekend. It has got some work to do, and it will be out of the top ten by next weekend, but the budget was only $14 million. There is a slight chance the film matches its production budget, but it will not recoup its marketing costs unless it gets some overseas support.

Matthew Huntley: I think Jason hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "A sequel that didn't have to happen...", and I would go further by adding, "A sequel no one really wanted." Yes, the first Hot Tub was a decent moneymaker, and to be fair, Hot Tub 2 did have a fraction of the original's budget, but because the original wasn't overly liked, at least not in my social circle, this one seemed like a pointless cash grab and it backfired. I would argue the reason it did so poorly was because of how, let's face it, stupid, the ads made it look. I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, but everything about the trailer and TV spots made it seem loud, obnoxious and unfunny. If it's as bad as it looks, then it deserves what it got. I guess now I'll have to see it to really know for sure.

Michael Lynderey: This is the kind of movie where the opening could have just as easily been double what it was, if only the reviews were good. The original could have been a dreadful dirge instead of a fun and entertaining piece of raunch, and the same is pretty much true of the sequel. Yes, no one really needs to see a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and you'd expect it to be pretty bad. But you could just as well have said the same thing about the first film. The difference is that the filmmakers delivered last time, but went on auto-pilot for this go-around (the absence of John Cusack possibly somewhat depressed the proceedings). I'm curious why they moved it back from December 25th. The film couldn't have possibly done any worse then.


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