TH: DOS Box Office Watch

[Smaug's voice]

Oh come on PtB! Who doesn't like to see races?

Plus, it keeps us occupied till any actual reports come.

[sauronsfinger]

Oh come on PtB! Who doesn't like to see races?

Plus, it keeps us occupied till any actual reports come.

I do enjoy reading the reports. Keep em coming V.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Don't worry.

[Passdagas the Brown]

I'm not complaining! It's just a sight to see. And as someone who cares not a bit about the subject, I'm generally curious about the phenomenon!

So yeah, keep em coming V!

[Elentári]

As you guys say, "I could care less..."

(...except that actually I couldn't care less... )

But I guess it's sort of fun watching others get worked up over it!

[sauronsfinger]

I'm not complaining! It's just a sight to see. And as someone who cares not a bit about the subject, I'm generally curious about the phenomenon!

So yeah, keep em coming V!

It is a way of keeping score so to speak. That is what I find interesting about it. I like seeing things I like do well.

But I am a bad barometer of such things. Sometimes I go the opposite way. I still think it was a mark of pride that HEAVENS GATE was such a disaster and probably lost more money dollar for dollar invested and recouped than any other film. And I love that movie.

I remember being a kid in high school and loving the very early Rolling Stones from NOT FADE AWAY when everybody else - and in my high school - I do mean everybody else - loved the Beatles. A couple years later the Stones came out with SATISFACTION and broke the barrier and people fell in love with them. I still like them better when I had them to myself and think TELL ME is tons better than SATISFACTION.

Now none of this makes sense in relation to SMAUG but I can't stop.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I find it interesting because I find it interesting. What I have a difficult time understanding, to be honest, is the need to comment about something that you don't find interesting. If I didn't know better, it would come across as quite supercilious.

The only estimate that I have been able to find for Japan is the following:

an opening weekend of ¥300 million ($3 million) or maybe slightly more is looking likely. ¥300 million exactly would be a 36% increase over the opening weekend of the first film.

http://forums.boxoffice.com/index.php?/ ... ?p=1278217

[Passdagas the Brown]

Not at all, as you know. I simply find it interesting that people find things that I don't find interesting to be interesting.

Unless one feels insecure about one's interests, there is no reason to see a value judgment in it, either implicit or explicit.

In fact, I really enjoy the energy of people discussing things that they are passionate about.

The people I am most wary of, to be honest, are those who are bored by everything or generally incurious.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Revised Saturday estimate for China, 31.4M (up for the previous 29M). Somewhat more encouraging.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Sunday estimate for China, 25M (AUJ - $18M). Nothing for Japan that I have seen.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

According to Deadline, the opening weekend in Japan is estimated at $3.4 million, 36% higher than AUJ. If that percentage holds, the total would be about $24,366,320.46005719. China total is at $56.1 million, already over six million more than AUJ.

http://m.deadline.com/2014/03/internati ... worldwide/

I would guess the final total is going to be around $966 million, give or take.

[Smaug's voice]

Hmm, that seems about right. I personally do not want it to get to 1 bn (or very close to it) anyway!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Why? (I don't particularly care that much, but it seems like an odd thing to root against.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Current total is $943,957,425. Doesn't look like it will get much past $950 million.

[Passdagas the Brown]

Still a pretty impressive number.

I actually want this to make as much money as possible. IMO, the more financially successful it is, the less pressure the WB people will put on PJ to include elements of standard blockbusterism. That theory sits on a shaky empirical foundation, but it feels right to me!

[Elentári]

Still a pretty impressive number.

I actually want this to make as much money as possible. IMO, the more financially successful it is, the less pressure the WB people will put on PJ to include elements of standard blockbusterism. That theory sits on a shaky empirical foundation, but it feels right to me!

Surely the reverse is more likely? Could one not look at these figures and say that DoS has made less money the further away it got from Tolkien and the closer PJ tried to squeeze it into the "Blockbuster" mould? If DoS had been the most successful, WB would have felt the changes more vindicated...

[Smaug's voice]

Still a pretty impressive number.

I actually want this to make as much money as possible. IMO, the more financially successful it is, the less pressure the WB people will put on PJ to include elements of standard blockbusterism. That theory sits on a shaky empirical foundation, but it feels right to me!

WB won't care anyway, since they have enough in their pockets. Not much of a difference between 950 and 1bn to them.
But hopefully it does get to PJ's attention that the fan-reaction has been colder (relatively, but still) than he would have expected.
And what Elen said.

[Smaug's voice]

Why? (I don't particularly care that much, but it seems like an odd thing to root against.)

Apologies, odd enough, I never saw this post till now. I believe I have answered that question a few pages back (and have Elentári's agreement too I believe )

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Surely the reverse is more likely? Could one not look at these figures and say that DoS has made less money the further away it got from Tolkien and the closer PJ tried to squeeze it into the "Blockbuster" mould? If DoS had been the most successful, WB would have felt the changes more vindicated...

Not really, since DoS making less money has more to do with AUJ and it's less than stellar reception among critics and the general public than it does with DoS. And that had more to do with the part of AUJ that stayed closest to Tolkien, the first hour, than the parts that deviated from Tolkien.

[Passdagas the Brown]

Surely the reverse is more likely? Could one not look at these figures and say that DoS has made less money the further away it got from Tolkien and the closer PJ tried to squeeze it into the "Blockbuster" mould? If DoS had been the most successful, WB would have felt the changes more vindicated...

Not really, since DoS making less money has more to do with AUJ and it's less than stellar reception among critics and the general public than it does with DoS. And that had more to do with the part of AUJ that stayed closest to Tolkien, the first hour, than the parts that deviated from Tolkien.

I don't think that's so easy to say (regarding the opening of AUJ). Many critics complained about its slowness, but I don't think that necessarily had to do with purism. My theory (which I would love to test, though life prohibits me) is that audiences and critics had difficulty accepting that first hour because PJ created a very odd mix of children's story conceits (funny-looking dwarves and silly songs - rather bookish) and epic LOTRisms (the entire prologue, Thorin's grim speeches, etc). There was a pretty dramatic tonal back and forth in that first hour that threw people off, I think.

Had PJ played the whole thing straight - and either stuck with the book's tone, or gone wholly with a LOTR tone, I believe the the beginning would not have been so singled out.

But that's really almost impossible to test. However, I think it's equally impossible to say "AUJ was poorly received because of the purist beginning." The movie was a mess of tonal inconsistency, poor character development (losing sight of Bilbo too often) and awkward staging (Radagast race with the wargs, etc).

Critics saw the whole movie, and didn't care for it much. And the beginning seemed like an easy target!