Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By BOP Staff
February 10, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Edwin Davies: This is about what I expected since the film took much too long to come out and it missed its moment in the zeitgeist. The book became a surprise hit in 2009 and the film was quickly announced, and that initial version was meant to star Natalie Portman and be directed by David O. Russell, hot off the success of The Fighter. That was the very definition of striking while the iron was hot, but that version fell apart almost as soon as it started, and the project cycled through a lot of different writers and directors for the next six years. Interest in literary mashups flared and died pretty quickly during that time, as evidenced by the failure of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in 2012, so it was apparent four years ago that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' time had probably passed, but too much time and money had been invested for the film not to come out at some point. Maybe it could have overcome that delay if it had been able to attract big names or if the film had actually been good, but neither of those outcomes were likely once it became clear that audiences had moved on and the joke had stopped being funny anymore.
Felix Quinonez: I think this is a great result simply because it could mean we don't get any more of these mashups. I might be one of the few people who don't find zombies entertaining or interesting in any way so simply adding them to a Jane Austen story has no appeal to me. Even with its relatively low budget it might lose money.
Max Braden: I am surprised that this only made a third of the amount Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter made for its opening. As I understand it (having never watched), iZombie is a pretty popular television series. It would be interesting to see if demographics had any effect between the different properties. I mean, let's face it: I'm a dude, so you can dress up the undead in pretty much anything including historical drama and get me to see it... except corsets. You could try a mashup of Sense and Sensibility and the Fast and the Furious, but you're still going to have trouble dragging the boyfriends to see it.
Ryan Kyle: I think that Edwin hit the nail on the head that the hotness around these "mash-up" properties is long gone and the stench of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter just further extinguished it. Also, the major down-casting from the originally announced Natalie Portman and director David O. Russell really diminished excitement (and expectations). Playing in nearly 3,000 theaters, $5.3 million is a terrible opening and next weekend's double header of Deadpool and Zoolander 2 should be a deathblow to P&P&Z as they are going after the same audience. I will admit that I am surprised how low this opened, but I guess as we learned with The Finest Hours last weekend, when it comes to certain genres, audiences just aren't interested.
David Mumpower: I'm actually crushed by this result. This was the first gothic twist on a classic concept I ever heard. I loved it instantly and have been drawn to it ever since. I maintain that if Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter had come out second, PPZ would have performed much better. There would have been more studio support with a better cast. Instead, this particular production reached the point where they had the rights and it was time to either move on them or send them along to somebody else. Screen Gems chose to make a clearly inferior title rather than the potentially great one that was possible. The end result is that this concept has died a horrible death despite the fact that I find it quite clever.
Kim Hollis: What did you think of this year's batch of Super Bowl commercials? Favorites? Least favorites? What movie previews were the best?
Max Braden: Hearing a sheep hit a Freddie Mercury high note was especially amusing. I'm not sure what sense it makes to have audio speakers in the exterior of a utility vehicle makes, though. Maybe it would have been more on point if the singing goats were tailgating with the truck outside a football game. (As usual, I have no memory of which brand the ad was for.)
On the movie ad side, while I'm still unimpressed by the cast in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, I liked the approach Turkish Air took. Using the characters to act as spokesmen for a fictional travel destination was both clever, amusing, and on point for both brands. It felt like one of Saturday Night Live's fake commercials. I'd like to see creative ads like that for other movies more often.
Kim Hollis: The sheep ad was for the Honda Ridgeline! I generally thought the Super Bowl ads were pretty lacking in quality, humor and intrigue. None are particularly memorable (at least not for good reasons - Puppymonkeybaby is horrifying and I will be happy never to think or hear about it again). For the movie ads, I think that the Captain America: Civil War ad is white hot, although I worry people will be confused about why the two sides are against each other. Jason Bourne also made me sit up and take notice. It was the perfect tone for the series, and I expect people to be pretty jazzed for the film.
David Mumpower: I'll lead with the movie ads. As a Jason Bourne mega-fan, I was thrilled by the debut of this trailer, which had somehow slid under my radar. It looks every bit as hot as we've come to expect from Matt Damon/Paul Greengrass productions. I'm also all in for The Secret Life of Pets, which would remind me of Minions even if it weren't the same team behind Minions marketing it that way. The rationale is that I knew immediately upon watching the Despicable Me trailer that the Minions were gold. The same is true of The Secret Life of Pets, and I'm already prepared to cede the thrash metal scene as the funniest thing in 2016 cinema.
With regards to the rest of the ads, I fly in the face of public opinion about Rocket Mortgage, which I thought did something rare in advertising these days. It deftly explained what their product was while providing consumer confidence about why they would want to use it. My favorite non-movie ad was Commander from Audi. I love concepts like that, wherein older people are made to feel young again. On a seemingly unrelated note, I really like the Cocoon films.
As far as hating stuff, anything involving the bowels or a person's junk isn't something I want to think about during the Super Bowl. Coldplay is punishment enough. I also hated the Taco Bell ad. It's like a high school baseball team showing up at Yankees stadium and going, "You guys all suck." Finally, and this circles back to the first statement, I don't need to know about baby booms in Super Bowl winning towns. More power to you if you had a good night; just don't advertising it during a sporting event viewed by millions of people. How is this okay but not Janet Jackson's accidental nipple?