Trailer Hitch
By BOP Staff
May 13, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Josh Spiegel: Having only seen the original Predator dubbed in French (not my choice, to be clear), I'm not exactly chomping at the bit for a new film, but I will say this much: the preview does a very good job of evoking an Aliens vibe, even with the very odd cast (so Adrien Brody is the leader of these tough guys? Adrien Brody? And Topher Grace is billed second?). I'll still probably wait for Netflix, but before this preview, I wasn't expecting to even go that far with this film.
Curt David: Congratulations to Michelle Rodriguez! I watched that trailer and every time they showed the female soldier, I expected it to be Michelle Rodriguez, but it wasn't. The movie would be better if she was in it (I really like her). But the congratulations goes out to her, because if she's not in this movie, she may be getting to pick better roles now. (I liked how she was the tough chick in Avatar, but was finally allowed to smile in a movie). Interesting side note: Robert Rodriguez produced Predators, but chose Michelle Rodriguez for his next directing effort: Machete.
Kim Hollis: I find this trailer to be pretty blah. I'm not feeling like it offers anything new or distinct in the Predator mythology. Honestly, I got a little bored part way through it and tuned out a bit. That's probably not a good thing for an action film.
Michael Lynderey: Seems like about an average Predator film, and it's going to be out smack dab in between some real genre heavy-hitters (Last Airbender, Inception). One other problem this has is that the last Predator movie technically came out less than three years ago, so expanding the audience for this one beyond its existing fanbase may be a real challenge. I dunno - it seems to me like Robert Rodriguez really should have directed this film, and maybe some kooky-but-brilliant plot would've been the real ticket, rather than another jungle adventure. But we shall see.
Scott Lumley: This is one of those movies that is going to drive me crazy. I loved the original Predator. I even enjoyed the sequel with Danny Glover. Then for a long time there was nothing, followed by a pair of really, really, horribly, unbelievably bad crossovers. So for me, I just want this movie to return the concept to respectability. To treat the franchise with a little love and make it something more than a bad joke. There's so many directions this franchise can go and I'm hopeful that they've picked a good one.
If there's one thing that makes me hopeful here, it's Adrien Brody. His garbage film quotient is very, very low. I'm hopeful we can at least get a King Kong level of performance. To me, that means at least a $75-$80 million box office performance. Not earth shattering, but definitely a good result.
As to whether or not we get that, flip a coin. At least Verhoeven's name is nowhere near the project...
David Mumpower: I'm going to go against the group here and say that I loved this trailer. In good storytelling for established properties like the Predator mythology, there are certain beats that need to be hit. This ad does so effectively, first establishing that all of the people brought together have been chosen for their remarkable skill set in the field of...well, murder. No, there isn't a Grammy Award for that (and if there were, Simpsons Boogie would win it) but this identifies the players without individualizing them. As such, we can only guess whether Morpheus from The Matrix, Venom from Spider-Man 3, Boyd Crowder from Justified or Adrien Brody dies first. Since Adrien Brody is in the clip the most, I'm guessing it won't be him. Since Boyd Crowder is only in a (great) TV show, I'm expecting it to be him. Whatever the circumstance, once the clip hits the next beat by spinning the wording, it reveals that they are no longer predators on their world but instead prey on another world. I'm hooked at that moment in the ad. In addition, there is a money shot with the three-pronged laser pointers all lining up on Brody's flak jacket. I'm inclined to believe that this is another Sin City-sized hit for Robert Rodriguez.
Beastly
Josh Spiegel: Oh, boy, does this look unnecessary. Granted, considering that it's got Vanessa Hudgens as the beauty, and Mary-Kate (or is it Ashley?) Olsen as the evil witch, it doesn't look that great to begin with. But...why is there a new version of Beauty and the Beast to begin with? Why is the Beast in this movie not a beast, but merely the son of the Eric Bana character from Star Trek? Just...why?
And, also, this may be the beginning of Neil Patrick Harris not making gold out of every project he's involved in.
Curt David: I'm not a big fan of movies that involve high-school students falling in love (especially if the movie also involves dancing, horses, or is based on a Nicholas Sparks book). Teenagers shouldn't even fall in love. They are too young and if there was a sequel to any of those movies the main characters would break up when they went to college. With that said, if I was forced to watch a teenage romance movie, I would appreciate some type of hook. Maybe a little science fiction. Maybe something a little unrealistic so I don't gag at how serious the high-schoolers are taking each other. Beastly is going to add the plot of Beauty and the Beast to a typical high school romantic movie, which has to be better than just a typical high school romantic movie. Right? That's why I'm going to support this movie (in this column, I'm not going to actually pay to see it).
Michael Lynderey: It's quite interesting that Vanessa Hudgens' Beastly is now scheduled to open on July 30th, smack dab opposite her co-star Zac Efron's new movie, Charlie St. Cloud. I'm still on the fence about the box office prospects of that latter film, but Beastly never sounded on paper like anything that would take off with teen audiences, and now that I've seen the trailer, I'd say it also doesn't look like anything that will break out. This could very well be the Bandslam of this year, and I suspect both Efron and Hudgens may feel the wrath of another Disney starlet, Selena Gomez, whose Ramona & Me opens just a week before their two films, and is probably going to do very, very well.
Some release date changes are in order here.
David Mumpower: Dear Mary-Kate Olsen: please learn inflection. As for the rest of this, I realize that everyone over the age of 25 is desperately trying to understand how the 12-25 crew could swoon over Twilight, so copycats are everywhere. Even so, I just don't think that CBS Films is getting it. And not just with this film. Of course, the depressing thought here is that as much of a train wreck as this appears to be, it will outperform the marvelous Bandslam. God, I hate teenagers...and not just because of XBox Live.
Kim Hollis: I actually think that Vanessa Hudgens is pretty talented (she's wonderful in Sky High and Bandslam, and she's actually pretty wonderful in High School Musical as long as you let yourself get past the fact that it's a silly Disney Channel property). With that said, *no one* in Beastly seems like they care. CBS Films seems to be trying to release movies into theaters that would be better served as a "Movie of the Week." No one wants to shell out cash for that sort of thing.
Jonah Hex
Josh Spiegel: This movie has a really good cast, if a very weird one. You've got Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Lance Reddick, Michael Shannon, and Will Arnett. Really good cast. So why is it that all I think of when I see this preview is Wild Wild West meets The Punisher, as long as he looks like Harvey Two-Face? I'm skeptical about this one, but I'm willing to give it a chance should the reviews not say the movie sucks.
Kim Hollis: This looks like an out-and-out disaster. The guns are nifty, but other than that, just...yuck. Wild Wild West is a good comparison, or Ghost Rider, or any second rate superhero movie. I very much like Josh Brolin, but there is not much in this trailer that's enticing me to see it. Megan Fox and her lack of inflection sure don't help.
Curt David: I think this is a type of movie that is perfect for Megan Fox. (Josh, you seemed to have accidentally forgot to include her name under your list of actors that make the cast great). She may not be able to carry a movie entirely on her shoulders (Jennifer's Body), but she seems well-suited to play a character like this one in Jonah Hex.
Brett Beach: Yeas to all the Wild Wild West comparisons. I understand what John Malkovich and Megan Fox are doing here, but Josh Brolin? This is how he cashes in his critical ascension and Academy Award nomination? Lots of explosions (which as with WWW, don't seem to belong in that time period). Single entendres (which is what Fox is best at) seem to be dominant and I am going to hazard a guess that this gets an R because I don't see how some of the violence the trailer suggests is going to be PG-13-ified. All in all, it may not be an out-and-out disaster, but it will have to do for now.
Michael Lynderey: The trailer looks okay, but it'll be really hard to pass muster on this until reviews start coming out. But in all honestly, I believe this film will be trampled over by Toy Story 3, and could possibly finish with some near-offensive total number, like, say, $26 million (no, I don't mean for the weekend). I'd like to be wrong...
Jim Van Nest: I know nothing about the character or the story. I was anticipating this one because I happened to stumble (literally) onto the set in New Orleans last year and I was amazed at how they transformed a couple blocks of the French Quarter into an Old West version. We watched them film for quite a while. Had I known that THIS is what I was watching, I'd have gone back to Bourbon Street and had another drink instead. Watching Brolin, a fine actor, doing a bad Eastwood impression through Two-Faces scarred mug makes me want to cry. And Megan Fox should just skip all the movie stuff, move on to Playboy and then go away. Everything she's in, she makes worse. I think Kim's right...anything shy of an out-and-out disaster will be a miracle.
Scott Lumley: Summer eye candy garbage at its finest. Naturally, this is either gonna blow up huge or disappear quicker than Megan Fox's serious career. And judging by the eclectic cast, the cartoony look and the lack of Giant Robots, my money is on fail miserably.
Incidentally, the sequence involving the pair of gatling guns strapped to the horse and used apache helicopter style was pretty much the point I realized that Hollywood screwed up yet another comic book film.