The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[bjmdds]

This morning on NBC Bales and Lyons gave TBM a . Both loved CR. Alison Bales even stated the film should be skipped, it was a major disappointment, and one should rent CR instead of watching TBM. Interestingly enough, $27 million was shelled out by movie goers on this on Friday in the USA. It will shatter all previous opening records;however, will it still be going strong after 2 weeks? THAT is the question.

[Kristatos]

It's now at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes.

[English Agent]

Its strange..............the cinema going public!!!!

Quality films get somewhat ignored, but their inferior sequels reap the rewards!!!

Well its good news for the Bond franchise, but i hope Sony and EON don't think the grosses
reflect the liking for QOS, but are really for the crowd who liked CR and wanted to see the sequel
made the same way.

One thing i will say for you 'BJ', you got the Bourne thing right!!!..............i really didn't think EON
would film and edit QOS as per Bourne.......its easy enough to make a dark, violent thriller without
this unneccessary camera fad work.

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

AB

[Kristatos]

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

Some people on this forum (not me) were praying for QOS to tank at the box office in the apparent belief that if it did, EON would sack Craig and return to making more traditional Bond films. Personally, I think the best thing that could happen from our point of view would be for the next Bourne film (which is apparently being made despite Matt Damon himself saying that "if they did make another one, they'd have to call it The Bourne Redundancy") were to bomb. That's not a prediction, I'm sure it will do well, but if it did bomb, EON would be forced to sit up and take notice.

[FormerBondFan]

Some people on this forum (not me) were praying for QOS to tank at the box office in the apparent belief that if it did, EON would sack Craig and return to making more traditional Bond films.

I don't think EON would sack DC as they love him as Bond so much.

[Omega]

Its strange..............the cinema going public!!!!

Quality films get somewhat ignored, but their inferior sequels reap the rewards!!!

Well its good news for the Bond franchise, but i hope Sony and EON don't think the grosses
reflect the liking for QOS, but are really for the crowd who liked CR and wanted to see the sequel
made the same way.

One thing i will say for you 'BJ', you got the Bourne thing right!!!..............i really didn't think EON
would film and edit QOS as per Bourne.......its easy enough to make a dark, violent thriller without
this unneccessary camera fad work.

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

AB

Quantum is a bad movie period. Not even sean connery could of made it enjoyable.It is a crime that they will make money with a piece of s**t like Qunatum.Casino was boring but it wasn't as lifeless as Quantum.Emo James Bond is the only step down from here.

I prefer the old Bond movies to Casino but Casino wasn't as lifeless and charmless and this.

[Omega]

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

Some people on this forum (not me) were praying for QOS to tank at the box office in the apparent belief that if it did, EON would sack Craig and return to making more traditional Bond films. Personally, I think the best thing that could happen from our point of view would be for the next Bourne film (which is apparently being made despite Matt Damon himself saying that "if they did make another one, they'd have to call it The Bourne Redundancy") were to bomb. That's not a prediction, I'm sure it will do well, but if it did bomb, EON would be forced to sit up and take notice.

It would take a magical dwarf to crumple the series.This may end up being it.This movie is bad enough to potentially take away everyone's interest in anything Bond again.

[Kristatos]

Emo James Bond is the only step down from here.

The name's Bond. Emo Bond.

[Gary Seven]

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

Some people on this forum (not me) were praying for QOS to tank at the box office in the apparent belief that if it did, EON would sack Craig and return to making more traditional Bond films. Personally, I think the best thing that could happen from our point of view would be for the next Bourne film (which is apparently being made despite Matt Damon himself saying that "if they did make another one, they'd have to call it The Bourne Redundancy") were to bomb. That's not a prediction, I'm sure it will do well, but if it did bomb, EON would be forced to sit up and take notice.

I hope any future Bourne does not bomb as I enjoy those films.

My main hope is that Craig winces at the idea of making a real Bond, and walks away.

[katied]

One thing i will say for you 'BJ', you got the Bourne thing right!!!..............i really didn't think EON
would film and edit QOS as per Bourne.......its easy enough to make a dark, violent thriller without
this unneccessary camera fad work.

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

AB

I didn't think it was as much Bourne as some people feared,but,as I said in my review,I can see why a lot of the reviewers have made the comparison.

[bjmdds]

Its strange..............the cinema going public!!!!

Quality films get somewhat ignored, but their inferior sequels reap the rewards!!!

Well its good news for the Bond franchise, but i hope Sony and EON don't think the grosses
reflect the liking for QOS, but are really for the crowd who liked CR and wanted to see the sequel
made the same way.

One thing i will say for you 'BJ', you got the Bourne thing right!!!..............i really didn't think EON
would film and edit QOS as per Bourne.......its easy enough to make a dark, violent thriller without
this unneccessary camera fad work.

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

AB

Glad you saw the light Arthur. PURE UNADULTERATED MIMICRY, and so far, they got away with it. I read a few more local NYC reviews and by and large, this film is a

[Captain Nash]

Bj you appear to be looking for an answer to rid the Bond world of Craig that just isn't going to happen.
I really do understand your displeasure with Craig, although for me he's a wonderful Bond. But he's not going anywhere fast. Two more Bond films on his contract.
QOS is raking in the money...though not winning over the critics. Fair enough.
But at the end of the day who do the movie studios make movies for?
Critics or the general public?
As far as I'm aware it's the movie business.
QOS is thus far a hit, whether it has the same legs as CR remains to be seen. Though I would imagine it does. It certainly wont be a flop. No matter how much some of the members here wish it was.

[bjmdds]

You will see him after the 19th down under. Here, people saw it, and the word of mouth is NOT good. Even in the UK, the second weekend had a bigger drop off than CR did and I want to see what occurred this weekend there. If TBM does less in the UK than CR did, with more shows per day and higher ticket prices, that will NOT bode well for 1)Eon's direction with Bond and 2)Craig's future as Bond. Craig has not been well received outside Bond at the box office and with so many negative reviews this time, his ego may tell him, "Stage Door Left".

[Captain Nash]

Sorry to tell ya bj, but that's just a pipe dream.
Craig is Bond for the forseeable future.
QOS despite what you would like to think IS a box office smash.
I'll be seeing it tomorrow night. Review to follow.

[The Sweeney]

Its strange..............the cinema going public!!!!

Quality films get somewhat ignored, but their inferior sequels reap the rewards!!!

Well its good news for the Bond franchise, but i hope Sony and EON don't think the grosses
reflect the liking for QOS, but are really for the crowd who liked CR and wanted to see the sequel
made the same way.

One thing i will say for you 'BJ', you got the Bourne thing right!!!..............i really didn't think EON
would film and edit QOS as per Bourne.......its easy enough to make a dark, violent thriller without
this unneccessary camera fad work.

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

AB

QoS holds no prisoners, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. I quite like the fact that they trashed 14 Aston's, stunt guys nearly died, Craig gets constantly injured, yet the film itself doesn't linger on any of these moments, instead opting for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it approach, which I applaud them for having the balls to do. The frantic editing and shaky cam for me add to the overall more realistic effect they have gone with this one.

The action disorientates the viewer, we never quite know exactly what is happening, as we are plonked right in the eye of the hurricane, in the middle of the storm, and for this factor alone, it made QoS the most faithful adaptation of how Fleming wrote the action scenes in the novels. Action erupts suddenly without warning in the books, things unfold around Bond in a flurry, a haze - and it's usually all from his POV. Often we never quite know exactly what has happened until a few paragraphs later, when Fleming back-tracks to explain the sudden outburst of violence. And in QoS it's no different. The film is easily the most faithful representation in the entire franchise of how Fleming wrote and described his action set-pieces.

I assume this was not accidental by Forster and Bradley (who could have had Bourne primarily rooted in the backs of their minds - as many critics have accused them of), but instead a concious, inentional decision to remain faithful to the sprit of the Fleming novels.

I think (and hope) it was the latter, as Forster and Craig went on record stating they were trying to bring a level of detail to the screen by reflecting visually how Fleming wrote his books. One assumes they meant the action scenes too....

[katied]

Sorry to tell ya bj, but that's just a pipe dream.
Craig is Bond for the forseeable future.
QOS despite what you would like to think IS a box office smash.
I'll be seeing it tomorrow night. Review to follow.

I'm curious to know what you thought I posted a review on my blog but I've set it to private until a few more people have seen it since it's pretty spoiler-heavy.

[English Agent]

Early reports from 'Variety' and 'The Hollywoodreporter'
----------------------------------------------------------------

Total weekend grosses for QOS this w/end $70.4 US + $56.1 INT

for a massive weekend total $126.5 mil............amazing.

The INT gross fell closer to 50% than 40% that was expected, but in the major
markets such as UK drop was around 40%. Smallest drop was, believe it or not
Switzerland, Marc Forsters homeland of only 20%.

QOS top 2 markets:-

USA + CANADA :- $70.4 mil
UK :- $64.1 mil

OVERALL WORLDWIDE TOTAL AS OF TODAY:- $332,000,000 (est)

EA

ps: INT figures would be even better if the dollar wasn't so strong at the present.
UK pound is worth about 5 jelly beans at the moment.

[English Agent]

Its strange..............the cinema going public!!!!

Quality films get somewhat ignored, but their inferior sequels reap the rewards!!!

Well its good news for the Bond franchise, but i hope Sony and EON don't think the grosses
reflect the liking for QOS, but are really for the crowd who liked CR and wanted to see the sequel
made the same way.

One thing i will say for you 'BJ', you got the Bourne thing right!!!..............i really didn't think EON
would film and edit QOS as per Bourne.......its easy enough to make a dark, violent thriller without
this unneccessary camera fad work.

I just hope the producers don't get swayed by any other future Bourne films and make Bond 23 the same.

AB

QoS holds no prisoners, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. I quite like the fact that they trashed 14 Aston's, stunt guys nearly died, Craig gets constantly injured, yet the film itself doesn't linger on any of these moments, instead opting for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it approach, which I applaud them for having the balls to do. The frantic editing and shaky cam for me add to the overall more realistic effect they have gone with this one.

The action disorientates the viewer, we never quite know exactly what is happening, as we are plonked right in the eye of the hurricane, in the middle of the storm, and for this factor alone, it made QoS the most faithful adaptation of how Fleming wrote the action scenes in the novels. Action erupts suddenly without warning in the books, things unfold around Bond in a flurry, a haze - and it's usually all from his POV. Often we never quite know exactly what has happened until a few paragraphs later, when Fleming back-tracks to explain the sudden outburst of violence. And in QoS it's no different. The film is easily the most faithful representation in the entire franchise of how Fleming wrote and described his action set-pieces.

I assume this was not accidental by Forster and Bradley (who could have had Bourne primarily rooted in the backs of their minds - as many critics have accused them of), but instead a concious, inentional decision to remain faithful to the sprit of the Fleming novels.

I think (and hope) it was the latter, as Forster and Craig went on record stating they were trying to bring a level of detail to the screen by reflecting visually how Fleming wrote his books. One assumes they meant the action scenes too....

Well i'am glad you really enjoyed it 'Sweeney'..........as at the end of the day thats all that matters.
Me personally, i'd just like the WARP factor speed to be toned down next time!
Maybe its my age?

AB

[Mazer Rackham]

I am stunned by the 70m, that's a nobody had. Guess they knew the best way to put lipstick on this pig.

Glad you brought it up. This is the last big hurrah for Quark, after next weeks it all limp home mode. Drop off has been grater than anticipated in some markets and there are quite a few where it completly failed to meet expectations. Now you'd have to be privy to what those expectations were and now they wont be acknowledged outside of the boardrooms. Instead the better than last time will be played up and ignore other lesser movies doing better in the same regions.
I wouldn't be surprised if when the numbers settle down and go beyond estimates the total goes down a little, closer to 68m. I also wouldn't be surprised if the drop off is much quicker than anticipated becasue there is very bad word of mouth for Quark.

Early reports from 'Variety' and 'The Hollywoodreporter'
----------------------------------------------------------------

Total weekend grosses for QOS this w/end $70.4 US + $56.1 INT

for a massive weekend total $126.5 mil............amazing.

The INT gross fell closer to 50% than 40% that was expected, but in the major
markets such as UK drop was around 40%. Smallest drop was, believe it or not
Switzerland, Marc Forsters homeland of only 20%.

QOS top 2 markets:-

USA + CANADA :- $70.4 mil
UK :- $64.1 mil

OVERALL WORLDWIDE TOTAL AS OF TODAY:- $332,000,000 (est)

EA

ps: INT figures would be even better if the dollar wasn't so strong at the present.
UK pound is worth about 5 jelly beans at the moment.

[bjmdds]

ABC television in NY City's movie critic Sandy Kenyon put it best. He did NOT like TBM BUT he feels the Bond films are bulletproof and the average moviegoer will see it no matter what. This film has been panned by critics, yet explosive action seems to be the vehicle, not necessarily the driver(Craig). $70 million opening in the USA surprises me. We will see by weekend 3 if this has stamina.