Monday, September 22, 2014

Here I Go Again

I guess it is the boredom I have at work right now with nothing to do all day, but I continue to read Internet comments and it is shocking how little thought goes into a person’s rant, especially when it comes to comic book movies.
 
A new rumor is going around Hollywood today, on the heels of the announcement that the Marvel comic book character Deadpool would be getting a feature film, that the Deadpool movie is going to be rated PG-13.  If you know anything about Deadpool, which for me is little, you know he is a violent mercenary with a mouth like a sailor’s alcoholic stepfather.  Most commenters have been hardcore fanboys of the Deadpool series who think that Fox Studios is not giving the character the proper venue to be true to the comics with a rating any less than R.  That may actually be a valid point, but from the perspective of the business side, R-rated comic book movies, which are few in supply, don’t generally do as well as if the same movie, minus a few cuts here and there to tone down the blood and vulgarity, were to receive a PG-13 rating.  That doesn’t mean a PG-13 ensures success, but with the R rating, you are already starting behind the eight ball by limiting your audience numbers.
 
The comment I took particular issue with was this (sans editing):
 
“Im so tired of these studios wanting every comic book film to be PG-13. Gag me with a spoon! It’s very lame, take a chance for once! Roll out a ‘R’ rated comic book film and see what happens. You will never know until you try. Look at the Kick-Ass films, they may not have been runaway blockbusters that made huge dollars, but they made money and more importantly, were well received (the first film anyways lol)”
 
Actually anonymous poster (username is James), Hollywood has tried R ratings for comic book films.  Here is what happened:
300 – $65 million budget – $210 million domestically – $456 million worldwide
300: Rise of an Empire – $110 million budget – $106 million domestically – $337 million worldwide
Sin City – $40 million budget – $74 million domestically – $158 million worldwide
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For* – $65 million budget – $13 million domestically – $27 million worldwide
Wanted – $75 million budget – $134 million domestically – $341 million worldwide
V for Vendetta – $54 million budget – $70 million domestically – $132 million worldwide
The Punisher – $33 million budget – $33 million domestically – $54 million worldwide
Punisher: War Zone – $35 million budget – $8 million domestically – $10 million worldwide
The Watchmen – $130 million budget – $107 million domestically – $185 million worldwide
Constantine – $100 million budget – $75 million domestically – $230 million worldwide
The Crow – $23 million budget – $50 million domestically – Unknown worldwide
Kick-ass – $30 million budget – $48 million domestically – $96 million worldwide
Kick-ass 2 – $28 million budget – $28 million domestically – $60 million worldwide
Blade – $40 million budget – $70 million domestically – $131 million worldwide
Blade II – $54 million budget – $82 million domestically – $155 million worldwide
Blade: Trinity – $65 million budget – $52 million domestically – $128 million worldwide
Judge Dredd – $90 million budget – $34 million domestically – $113 million worldwide
Dredd – $50 million budget – $13 million domestically – $35 million worldwide
 
*To be fair to Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, it should be noted the movie has only been in theaters for four weeks, but it is going to be a financial failure.
 
From that list of 18 films, in the case of a Deadpool movie you should probably focus on six in particular.  Those movies are The Watchmen, Kick-ass, Kick-ass 2, The Punisher, Punisher: War Zone, and Dredd.  Those six movies are highlighted because they have great similarities to what fans of the Deadpool series are asking for from studio executives.
 
As the blog poster points out, the Kick-ass series has made money overall, but Hollywood wants a more bankable item when releasing a comic book film.  Kick-ass and Kick-ass 2 are exactly what Deadpool fans are asking for with the latest movie when it comes to the violence and obscenities.  The foul-mouthed characters, especially Hit Girl, were funny and drew audiences in with the first film, but from the drop-off seen with the second movie it apparently lost some of its allure with moviegoers.
 
The Punisher and Punisher: War Zone are highlighted because they are the most similar comic book character to Deadpool.  While Deadpool is much more light-hearted in his humor and by breaking the fourth wall he has a more intimate relationship with the viewer, Punisher is still a mercenary/vigilante whose movies are filled with violence and obscenities.  That is exactly what Deadpool fans are wanting with the newest movie, but these films have proven that is not a recipe for success by tacking on the R rating.
 
That leaves The Watchmen and Dredd.  The reason for these selections is because of how faithful to the source material these movies were, even to a fault with The Watchmen.  Both were not just violent and profanity-laced, but they retained the true nature of the characters.  However, financial successes they were not.
 
Am I saying an R-rated Deadpool movie won’t be financially successful?  Absolutely not.  Movies like 300, Sin City, Wanted, The Crow, and Blade have proven that is just not true.  However, by forcing your hand and making an R-rated movie, a giant populace of moviegoers will be turned away at theaters simply because they aren’t of a certain age.  Producers and other studio executives don’t want to limit their target audience simply because the character originally said a lot of dirty words and sprayed blood all over the place with his swords.
 
Taking issue with watering down the character by limiting him to a PG-13 rating can be up for debate, but claiming that studios haven’t made R-rated comic book movies before is an uneducated rant.  I don’t know why I have become the Internet comment police as of late, but when you have zero to do for eight hours at work any menial task becomes interesting.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Bond 24 Production Date Announced

It was revealed this weekend that shooting of the latest James Bond movie was to commence on December 6 and a British release date of October 23, 2015, was still on schedule, with the U.S. release of the latest 007 picture to take place two weeks later.  Sam Mendes will return to the helm of Bond 24 and it has been rumored that the script, which is being fine-tuned in order to add some humor, will continue the themes that were explored in Skyfall.  With the Mendes-Daniel Craig team-up garnering Bond producers more than one billion dollars in ticket sales in 2012, it is no wonder they do not want to shake things up too much with the next film.
 
While scouring the Internet for information about this announcement, I began reading the comments section on a particular website (which is never a good idea) and the standard bickering in regard to the Bond series quickly got under way.  The two topics of disagreement among Bond fans that garner the most attention are whether Skyfall is overrated and how Bond movies should get back to its roots in gadgets and laughs.  The specific statement that sent me into research mode is below in its unedited version.  It was in response to a commenter stating that Skyfall was a terrible film and only did well financially because of critics’ response.  The commenter’s first paragraph, which is not included, was spot on about how critical analysis usually has no bearing on whether a movie is going to make money since critics have lambasted Michael Bay movies for years and they keep making billions at the box office but the award show darlings the reviewers love become flops.  However, it is the second part of his response that is very wrong.  Here it is:
 
“Lastly the old james bond you love and want to see is the reason the franchise was doing poorly before Daniel Craig re invented its success. Go ahead and look at the numbers for bond films pre craig, kept getting worse and worse numbers hence why we didn’t have any for a long time until Craig came along and rebooted it. I respect your a real bond fan but it seems like you just want the same thing over and over, which is exactly why it got stale and needed new life. If the old format was working and MOST OF ALL MAKING MONEY the nit wouldn’t have changed, fact!”
 
Ignoring the poor grammar, his idea that the series had become stale and needed a fresh look is absolutely correct.  However, the first part of that paragraph couldn’t be more wrong.  The pre-Craig era, specifically the Pierce Brosnan films, were doing just fine fiscally.  Brosnan’s four films started strong, with Goldeneye making $352 million internationally, but then Tomorrow Never Dies dipped slightly down to $333 million.  The next two films saw increases with each release, The World is not Enough making $361 million and Die Another Day $431 million.
 
Those numbers are quite formidable compared to Brosnan’s predecessor, Timothy Dalton, where License to Kill and The Living Daylights brought in $191 million and $156 million, respectively.  Even with higher production budgets than the Dalton films, and in some cases the budget increased by $100 million, and inflation being taken into consideration, the profits were still higher in the 1990s with Brosnan’s portrayal of the British superspy.
 
What does all this mean?  Why am I attempting to discredit an anonymous website commentator that I have no previous interaction with?  Is this all a waste of time and computer space?  The answers to those questions are probably “I don’t know,” “Just because,” and “Absolutely,” all in that order.  But I am bored at work and this has given me some sort of purpose for the past two hours.

Despite the fact Brosnan’s final outing as 007 was a gigantic success money-wise, the series needed to take a different direction.  The gadgets were running rampant and the set pieces had become so over the top that producers couldn’t bring things back down to reality with Brosnan still in the lead.  The Daniel Craig era, which has been grittier in tone and replicated the fast-paced action of the Jason Bourne film series, has been a massive triumph.  Audiences have embraced the blond Bond, resulting in two of the most financially successful movies of the series.