Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

July 23, 2015

Simply smoshing.

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Felix Quinonez: I think in both cases the box office would be about the same. I really think a lot of people are overselling the Chris Pratt box office draw. I don't want to discount how great he was in Guardians of the Galaxy and I do believe it was his breakout role. But I don't think that he carried the success of that movie on his shoulders. I think that he happened to be in two big franchise movies right after another but it doesn't prove he's a huge star that can make any movie a huge hit. I think Jurassic World was going to be huge without him and Genisys would have been a flop regardless of who played Kyle Reese.

Max Braden: I haven't seen either yet but the concept of a Jai Courtney dinosaur movie is only slightly more appealing to me than an Aaron Taylor-Johnson dinosaur movie, and I didn't like Godzilla much at all. I'd have to think Jurassic World would have taken a significant hit for that casting. Pratt would have done a little better with Genisys, but I think the problem there is that the role would be more "Pratt!" than Reese. Pratt just isn't quite right for that character, so even though he may have been able to pull in more audience, I'm guessing the movie would have felt more disjointed in tone.

Kim Hollis: I tend to agree with Max. I think Jai Courtney in Jurassic World would have made it a significantly less impacting film at the box office. It wouldn't have gotten the opening weekend record, and it wouldn't have passed Avengers in total worldwide box office. There are numerous reasons for this, primary among them the fact that Courtney is about as charismatic as a block of wood. Pratt was critical in the marketing for JW, and then after the film hit theaters, his presence only expanded its box office. The raptor wrangler meme probably wouldn't have been a thing with Courtney in that role, because who cares?

I do think Pratt's efforts at marketing and media would have lifted Genisys some, but I don't think the two films would have traded places box office wise. Instead, we'd probably be talking about JW as a decent win for Universal and TG as a movie that was improved by the presence of Pratt.




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David Mumpower: I'm a bit more extreme with my opinions than others stated here. I'm convinced that the presence of Pratt added a great deal to the bottom line of Jurassic World. It was always going to do well, because people love the concept. The opening of the actual theme park is a killer premise that sells. With Chris Pratt onboard, however, it levels up as the perfect combination of actor and role at exactly the right moment in time.

Conversely, Jai Courtney is a warm body and little more. He not only adds nothing to the box office but also probably subtracts from the total due to his innate dullness. His casting in Terminator: Genisys didn't cause the film's domestic failure since the script did that. He certainly wasn't a net positive, though.

Someone made the determination that the combination of The Doctor and Khaleesi would be enough to cause fanboys and fangirls to rush to see the film. So, they got lazy with the story. Their target audience is too smart for filmmakers to treat them so nonchalantly. Still, if Chris Pratt had starred opposite Khaleesi, I do think Paramount would have enticed more fence-sitters to take a chance on the project. It's similar to Ant-Man in this regard. A small change here or there can have dramatic ripples.

Star power isn't the end-all, be-all to movie marketing. It does help in combination with other factors, though. Chris Pratt is hot right now, and so his presence would have aided either project. Jai Courtney has done nothing to help the bottom line of *deep breath* Jack Reacher, A Good Day to Die Hard, I, Frankenstein, Divergent/Insurgent, and now Terminator Genisys. That's an amazing track record of negation. He's like the David Hume of Hollywood blockbusters.


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