BOOM! That's the sound of Luc Besson's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets." US Weekend total is $17 million, not even a multiple of Friday's $6 million. Costing at least $225 million, "Valerian" is a domestic dud.
The only hope for STX Films on the most expensive indie film ever made is people in non English speaking countries not caring about the story or dialogue. This often the case, and dud films– see "The Mummy" — can find audiences who just want the visual flash.
"Valerian" will have to count on China, Russia, South Korea, and other out of the way locales to bail them out.
The previews looked visually amazing. Was the movie really that bad?
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Monday July 24 2017, @05:18PM (11 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @06:40PM (9 children)
I guess I don't get how or why people attempt to critique movies based on their revenue over a 72 hour period.
I think it's valid to analyze their marketing strategy based on a 72 hour period, however. We can mostly rule out word-of-mouth, so we are looking at a clear view of the success of their marketing campaign. Given this is the first time I'm hearing about this film, I'd say that marketing was absolute shit. In August, I'm probably going to see The Dark Tower, which also has shit marketing. The trailer just came out like two weeks ago!@!!eleven!!!1! At least I know that the film existed prior to its opening weekend! Even then, how the hell could it possibly do well on its first weekend even if it were The Shining?!
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday July 24 2017, @08:28PM (6 children)
As a huge fan of the series (the novels are outstanding!), I'm not expecting very much from the film. Given that it compresses a story told in 3-4000 pages into an hour and thirty-five minutes, I'm sure that a great deal of the story and *any* nuance will be lost.
By all means, see the film. Once you do that, read the novels (or at least start out reading The Gunslinger [wikipedia.org]). You're in for a real treat.
As for good movies, how about stuff like:
Breaker Morant [wikipedia.org]
Mediterraneo [wikipedia.org]
The Brother From Another Planet [wikipedia.org]
Three Days of The Condor [wikipedia.org]
D.O.A. (1950) [wikipedia.org] (not the crap 1988 remake)
Bad Lieutenant [wikipedia.org]
King oif New York [wikipedia.org]
No, they're not in theaters. But who wouldn't prefer to watch their movies naked and away from the great unwashed masses anyway!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @10:16PM (4 children)
Wow that is a poor selection. Bad lieutenant belongs on nobody's list.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday July 24 2017, @11:07PM (2 children)
And I imagine these top your list, eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lara_Croft:_Tomb_Raider [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron:_Legacy [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._(film) [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon:_The_First_Movie [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOA:_Dead_or_Alive [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angry_Birds_Movie [wikipedia.org]
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @09:56AM (1 child)
Ummmm what exactly is wrong with that list? 2 of those movies are my favs
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @10:05AM
SMB and DOA if you are wondering
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Monday July 24 2017, @11:09PM
I don't know about Bad Lieutenant, but Breaker Morant is a great film
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @03:43AM
Well, technically this is a sequel to the book series. I finished the book series except The Wind through the Keyhole a while back (before that 8th one came out). But that one takes place right before Wizard and Glass, right?
Zomg, a legitimate use of the <spoiler /> tag below!
I haven't read any of the comics, though. I guess the only way to know for sure is for me to wait a few more weeks and then go and find out.
Oh yeah, and the number one reason to suspect the movie will flop is that there's been no inexplicable uproar about casting a black man as Roland. Maybe Idris Elba is just that damned epic, but it's almost as though these identity politics crises with movie casting decision are manufactured forced memes. But that's my tinfoil speaking. (I do whatever the voices from my tinfoil say! j/k)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @09:25PM (1 child)
I don't even own a TV and I saw the commercial a couple times at a bar over the last few months.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @03:45AM
I'm sure they're showing it. I just think it's a bit strange that the trailer took so long to come out. The release date also kept getting pushed back recently.
Maybe it will be a horrible movie, and those things are the signs of that. I'm hoping that Idris Elba can carry the whole damned thing himself if he needs to.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 24 2017, @09:24PM
Rookie (or, in this case Indie) mistake, there's a pretty big potential audience that won't go see it now because its opening weekend was so weak. It can pick up steam later, but for those high margin seats in the first run theaters, they've really hurt themselves by going head-to-head with bigger players.
🌻🌻 [google.com]