Monday Morning Quarterback Part III
By BOP Staff
March 31, 2016
Ryan Kyle: The Suicide Squad trailer played better than BvS in my theater. I think a giant opening is in store and I wouldn't be shocked if it is on par with this film's. Being a part of the same cinematic universe Snyder has set up might give some pause, but it looks different enough (in a great way), that people will check it out in mass.
Kim Hollis: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the sequel to the 2002 phenomenon that earned a massive $240 million at the box office, debuted with $17.9 million. What do you think of this result?
Jason Barney: I think this is a very strong opening. It's a sequel that comes 14 years after the original and passed its production budget in three days so it's in very good shape. Of course it will never get close to matching the $242 million the original made, but it would have been crazy to expect that. The first one was a phenomenon that caught lightning in a bottle and it would be unfair to think that could happen again. Maybe if they didn't wait 14 years to put out a sequel it could have benefitted more from the original's legendary box office ru,n but too much time has passed for that.
But it doesn't have to be a phenomenon to be a success. Its "A-" cinema score means that decent legs are a possibility and it could make it all the way to $60-$70 million domestically. That should be considered a win.
Ryan Kyle: Sequels are rarely made for adult films anymore so there aren't many movies to compare this too, but with the opening weekend already covering the production budget, I'd consider this a big win. Fourteen years later, no one was expecting this sequel to match the lighting-in-a-bottle heights the first film achieved, but with a relatively empty two weekends of new releases, MBFGW2 should play on to the $60-75 million range. The 12% drop between its Friday and Saturday gross gives me a bit of a pause, but it seems like audiences have been liking it, even though the harsh reviews probably shaved off a few million as this demo still tends to read the newspapers.
Michael Lynderey: It's actually pretty remarkable, considering every other product from the same brand hasn't been very successful (the Big Fat tv show, and Vardalos's films Connie and Carla and My Life in Ruins). The number shows that, other than the fact that counter-programming works, the first film is still remembered fondly by enough people (given the fact that it made over $240 million, that's not a surprise) and that nostalgia still sells well enough, even in amounts that are modest relative to the original box office take. I don't think this number is a mandate for another film, but it's good enough and it'll probably even have decent legs, considering that romantic comedy fans are more or less starved for content right now.
Kim Hollis: Considering how long we've gone since the original movie (which I saw in limited release way back when), this result is really pretty spectacular. None of the performers have gone on to be big names, and the 2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding is really a perfect example of a movie that just captured a moment in time to become something so much more than what it really is. There's no logical reason that it should have made $242 million, and it's not even remembered as any sort of special classic. It's just a nice, fluffy, happy movie. I'm glad it exists, and I'm glad that people are seeing the new one even if there is obviously no hope whatsoever of it approaching its predecessor's lofty heights.
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