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Top 12 Stories of 2003:#6: North America to movie sequels: Thanks but no thanks.
2003 was, in many ways, the year movie audiences took a stand. No
longer were we willing to tolerate the unending stream of unimaginative,
superfluous movie sequels that had become de rigeur in Hollywood.
Although we had certainly been exposed to mundane sequels before, the
summer of 2003 was unquestionably the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Starting with the release of X2 on May 2nd, moviegoers were inundated
with an absolutely unbelievable 13 sequels over the next 18
weeks, a good number of which – there’s no way to put this nicely –
sucked. At first, audiences seemed not to care, as major
disappointments such as 2 Fast 2 Furious managed to brush off atrocious
reviews and haul in big bucks. By mid-June, though, it seemed audiences
had caught on, as two more inane sequels (Rugrats Go Wild and Dumb and
Dumberer) opened, only this time to box office numbers way below
expectations. This was only the first wave, however, and the box office
flops became higher and higher profile. The summer’s three “girl power”
sequels were perhaps the hardest hit, as Legally Blonde 2: Red, White
and Blonde, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider: The Cradle of Life all crashed and burned, none coming even
close to matching the box office takes of their predecessors. The most
publicized sequel flops, though, were unquestionably the two Matrix
films. Going into the year, Reloaded and Revolutions were two of the
most hyped pictures of all time. Although the first sequel did score a
huge, hype-induced opening, it was quickly slammed by abominable word-of-mouth, ending up a relatively disappointing fourth on the money list for
the year (assuming LOTR: Return of the King continues to steamroll the
competition). The Matrix Revolutions performed even more woefully,
taking in about $137 million –- or $12 million more than ROTK
grossed...in five days. The fact that Return of the King is
itself a sequel should not be overlooked; indeed, another one of the
biggest success stories of the year was the surprising X2. Clearly, it
isn’t all sequels that America is sick and tired of paying good money to
sit through; it’s just the terrible ones.
The Top 12 Stories of 2003:Friday, December 19#12: Documentaries find box office success #11: The Passion production causes controversy Monday, December 22 #10: Hulk screener leaks #9: Greatest movie trilogy of all time comes to an end Tuesday, December 23 #8: Johnny Depp, box office star #7: Disney owns summer Friday, December 26 #6: North America to movie sequels: thanks but no thanks #5: Arnold the Governator Monday, December 29 #4: Gigli bombs Tuesday, December 30 #3: The Matrix sequels fall far short Wednesday, December 31 #2: Finding Nemo becomes top grossing movie of the year Thursday, January 1 #1: MPAA attempts to ban screeners |
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Friday, April 19, 2024
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