New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Some Mayans don't finish off their Choose Your Adventure book and all of a sudden we're looking at the end of the world

Kim Hollis: 2012 opened to $65.2 million domestically, with a magnificent haul of $225 million worldwide. How did Sony pull off such an amazing result?

Michael Lynderey: That worldwide number is indeed magnificent, and it's obvious that they still love disaster movies overseas. Domestically, however, I have a hard time seeing 2012 passing $150 million (for all we know, Precious is eventually going to outgross it!), and I wouldn't really characterize that total as a win (in the short term, though - with that opening weekend - it is). Indeed, I hope I don't sound too picky when I say that, considering the budget and marketing, I have to believe they were aiming for more here, certainly in the $200 million+ territory. What this number also means is that both November challengers are now out of the way, and it's fairly obvious that Twilight will once again rule the month.





Brett Beach: $225 million! (I cannot whistle but insert whistling sound effect here). I sit here, jaw dropped, contemplating that this was the biggest international opening ever for a film that was not a sequel. Main reasons: Sony chose a great opening day, a Friday the 13th, that already worked on a smaller scale for a certain film, earlier this year. They struck out of summer and into a month where a full-on action spectacle event picture still feels somewhat fresh and different. They showed enough footage of the world being destroyed in trailers to suggest that your dollars, Euros, rubles, et. al would be well-rewarded for the investment. They did that carpet-bomb ad campaign a few months back where nearly every station under the sun showed several minutes of footage all at the same time. Conclusion: Roland Emmerich, like Michael Bay, seems to make the films that the international audiences want to see. If you give him $200 million plus, and he goes all out to make this destruction of the earth even more destruct-y than last time, he can make your budget back opening weekend on the global scale. Wow, wow, and wow.

Josh Spiegel: What is there to say aside from the fact that when things go boom in a big way, people get interested. It's almost a bit too hard to compare this to anything else from Roland Emmerich, whose movies are (technically) original, don't feature the biggest stars in the world (I like John Cusack a lot, but he's not the creme de la creme of celebrities), and don't open at the same time. At the very least, Sony should be applauded for its marketing, which was dominant but not completely obnoxious, even to those people (like me) who didn't even consider seeing the movie. Impressive result, to say the very least.

George Rose: I say it's good timing. The Fall's only hit was Paranormal Activity, a horror movie, and we haven't seen a special effects extravaganza since District 9 exactly three months ago. I knew 2012 wouldn't be a critical hit, and deservedly so, but I saw it with low expectations and actually had a decent time. Work and school are now in full swing and people are ready for escapist fun, including myself. It didn't even matter how uninteresting the characters were or how repetitive the action was (there's less and less tension each of the three times a plane "barely" makes it to takeoff); the movie was a great visual experience. If there is any way I'm going to be convinced to see a mindless Roland Emmerich film, it's going to be by seeing it on the big screen where I can appreciate what little it has to offer, and starving me of decent action for three months sure helped make me desperate enough to see it.

Continued:       1       2       3