movie sequels - inferior but shiny
It's hard to believe.. apparently this year's biggest box-office success was Transformers.
It gets worse - not the first one, the *second* one: Revenge of the Fallen.
http://www.the-numbers.com/market/
Ticket sales in the US + Canada will top $10 Billion this year, apparently a new record.
Of course they could have made $10.1 Billion if it wasn't for all that downloading.. damn pirates.
It's also been the decade of the sequels.. no sequels *at all* in the top 10's before 1999. Then we start getting Toy Story 2, M.I. 2+3, X Men 2+3, Jurassic Park 2+3, Rush Hour 2, MIB 2, Shrek 2, Terminator 3, Ice Age 2+3, Bourne 2+3, Spider Man 2+3, not to mention the new Star Wars series, Batmans and Harry Potters...
Why do we love sequels so much? Is it so guaranteed that people will see sequel 2 and 3 of movie 'X' that it's built in to the business model? Most of those were ok for what they were. But come on, Revenge of the Fallen?! This is a seriously crappy sequel to a pretty silly original movie anyway, yet it sold 10 million *more* tickets. That's the power of the sequel. Produce it and they will come. Guaranteed. Movie goers are largely predictable.
As embarassing for our society as it is that this shitty piece of shit crowns 2009, it does so not by a hair, not by a whisker, but by a decisive $100 million. On average, there's $15 million between all the others in the top 10, $32 million max. So that's a notable win. Second place was The Half Blood Prince - a powerful franchise in itself, yet left eating Transformer 2's dust. The entire 2009 list is pretty woeful, redeemed somewhat by the presence of Star Trek for a number of reasons. But even Night at the Museum 2 (the sequel ffs) slipped in there at #10.
It'd be interesting then, to see who exactly spent the most money on the crowning crap of this year. Who do we blame? The kids? The parents? Idle curiosity of the masses? The criminal misuse of CGI? We may never know.. such detailed demographics will have to wait, at least until the Facebook RFID implant chip comes out.
The complete list is full of eyebrow-raisers:
http://www.the-numbers.com/market/movies2009.php
Terminator Salvation barely pips Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
Paul Blart Mall Cop beats Gran Torino
Slumdog Millionaire, District 9 and Watchmen sits behind G-Force.
I can only conclude that most people are simply not qualified to watch movies and should be banned.
It gets worse - not the first one, the *second* one: Revenge of the Fallen.
http://www.the-numbers.com/market/
Ticket sales in the US + Canada will top $10 Billion this year, apparently a new record.
Of course they could have made $10.1 Billion if it wasn't for all that downloading.. damn pirates.
It's also been the decade of the sequels.. no sequels *at all* in the top 10's before 1999. Then we start getting Toy Story 2, M.I. 2+3, X Men 2+3, Jurassic Park 2+3, Rush Hour 2, MIB 2, Shrek 2, Terminator 3, Ice Age 2+3, Bourne 2+3, Spider Man 2+3, not to mention the new Star Wars series, Batmans and Harry Potters...
Why do we love sequels so much? Is it so guaranteed that people will see sequel 2 and 3 of movie 'X' that it's built in to the business model? Most of those were ok for what they were. But come on, Revenge of the Fallen?! This is a seriously crappy sequel to a pretty silly original movie anyway, yet it sold 10 million *more* tickets. That's the power of the sequel. Produce it and they will come. Guaranteed. Movie goers are largely predictable.
As embarassing for our society as it is that this shitty piece of shit crowns 2009, it does so not by a hair, not by a whisker, but by a decisive $100 million. On average, there's $15 million between all the others in the top 10, $32 million max. So that's a notable win. Second place was The Half Blood Prince - a powerful franchise in itself, yet left eating Transformer 2's dust. The entire 2009 list is pretty woeful, redeemed somewhat by the presence of Star Trek for a number of reasons. But even Night at the Museum 2 (the sequel ffs) slipped in there at #10.
It'd be interesting then, to see who exactly spent the most money on the crowning crap of this year. Who do we blame? The kids? The parents? Idle curiosity of the masses? The criminal misuse of CGI? We may never know.. such detailed demographics will have to wait, at least until the Facebook RFID implant chip comes out.
The complete list is full of eyebrow-raisers:
http://www.the-numbers.com/market/movies2009.php
Terminator Salvation barely pips Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
Paul Blart Mall Cop beats Gran Torino
Slumdog Millionaire, District 9 and Watchmen sits behind G-Force.
I can only conclude that most people are simply not qualified to watch movies and should be banned.