Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By MMQB
December 19, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Edwin Davies: I'm not sure how the original trilogy is being perceived by most people nowadays, but the Hobbit films haven't diminished The Lord of the Rings films for me, personally. They still stand up as technically ambitious and innovative works of fantasy and spectacle, and their influence is still being felt today through Game of Thrones, a series whose scale would have been unimaginable without The Lord of the Rings. Also, since they aren't as universally derided as the Star Wars prequels, and instead are seen as just mediocre, I think the damage to the Lord of the Rings brand has been much more limited than if the films were seen as abominations across the board.
Matthew Huntley: No, because I don't think it was ever anticipated The Hobbit films would ever be as good as LOTR, and so far the franchise - with its muted reviews and box-office returns - is merely confirming that. Fans took the original series much more seriously; whereas they view The Hobbit as purely supplemental (though hardly essential) fun. Besides, I don't think anyone thinks The Hobbit movies are outright bad; just sort of mediocre. And to piggyback on Edwin's Stars Wars prequels comparison, I don't think anybody is walking away angry from these films angry (unlike George Lucas' travesties). Apathetic, yes; but p.o.'d, not so much.
Felix Quinonez: I don't think so. I feel (and I think others do too) that The Hobbit is its own series of movies and I judge them separately from the LOTR. I know story wise they are related but I still feel like they are two different franchises. I felt the same way with the Star Wars prequels. I viewed them as a completely different thing from the older movies. And the prequels did not make me love the REAL Star Wars movies any less.
On the other hand The Matrix sequels did tarnish the original for me. Because those movies were part of the same franchise in a more direct way.
Kim Hollis: It doesn't change how I feel about the original films, and I think this extends to most people. In fact, I felt like I wanted to go back and watch the originals so I could go back to the more magical, deep illustration of the same world. But honestly, the book The Hobbit itself isn't nearly as good as The Lord of the Rings books, so at least there's some consistency there, I guess.
Bruce Hall: I guess to a degree this depends on perception, because I'm not sure there's any way to quantify it. People do tend to view the past through the prism of the present and therefore slightly out of context, so I am sure there will be revisionists who apply their dislike of the new films to the old ones. But my sense is that the Hobbit films are widely viewed as less creatively robust and satisfying than the original trilogy and if anything, they have reinforced the good will many still have toward all three LOTR films. To see a similar example look no further than the Star Wars franchise, where three horrifyingly awful films in a row caused people to rhapsodize about the original trilogy, often to a highly exaggerated degree.
I love Star Wars as much as the next guy but the original movies weren't THAT good. The new ones were just THAT bad.
But in this case, I think that the LOTR films remain as strong as they ever were and that while inferior, the Hobbit series doesn't land anywhere near Jar-Jar Binks territory. I think fans are disappointed entirely because the first trilogy was so powerful and engaging. This time around the emotional investment is not there, and the experience feels empty and incomplete. The complaints you hear are not all hyperbole and nostalgia, it's recognition of the fact that while by no means perfect, Peter Jackson's original vision of Middle Earth really did represent an almost unprecedented creative triumph.
Kim Hollis: Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas earned $16 million, the lowest total so far for any film with "Madea" in the title. What do you think happened here? Do you think it will actually hold up over the Christmas holidays?
Edwin Davies: There seem to be two possible explanations here; either A Madea Christmas had a depressed opening because of its proximity to the holiday season and will rebound over the coming weeks, or most of Perry's audience decided to pass on this one. It seems we'll have to wait to see how well the film performs next week to get any confirmation, but I'll stick my neck out and say that it's the latter, if only because this is such a sizable drop from the usual Madea opening of $25 million plus. I think it'll hold up fairly well over the next couple of weeks (in comparison to most Perry films, which tend to be one weekend wonders) because it's so obviously seasonal. However, since it's starting from a lower point, it'll probably wind up being the first Madea film to earn less than $50 million, which suggests to me that the concept wasn't strong enough this time around, and the performance of each Madea film seems largely dependent on whatever the central hook is.
Bruce Hall: Forgive me if I've mentioned this before, but is it possible that even Tyler Perry's famously gullible devoted fan base might someday get tired of watching the same movie over and over again? Of course as I've also mentioned before, Tyler Perry's films do have a built in audience, and tend to sport the kind of modest production budgets that make them almost automatically profitable (although at $25 million, this one is firmly on the expensive side).
I'm also privy to unconfirmed reports that his screenplays are all improvised during the 20 minute organic cucumber toner treatments he and Oprah enjoy after an afternoon of using their servants as life size chess pieces. The damn movies practically come off an assembly line.
And let's not forget that unlike Tyler Perry's other Tyler Perry films, this Tyler Perry film is specifically holiday themed. So despite the uncharacteristically soft opening, A Madea Christmas might well hang around longer than a traditional Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry film otherwise would. I therefore predict that Tyler Perry Presents Tyler Perry's Production of Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas will have legs - and will eventually turn enough of a profit to allow Tyler Perry to make this exact same Tyler Perry movie again someday.
It's all about the Benjamins - and as long as Tyler Perry's movies bring them in (and I reluctantly insist this one eventually will), he and Lionsgate will continue their very profitable, Very Tyler Perry relationship for many years to come.