The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[The Sweeney]

I AM surprised at 2 things:1)opening weekend topping $60+ million and 2)Last Friday doing almost the same as the prior Friday, at around $8 million, but the Holiday had a lot to do with this. Do you believe that mostly people over 23 are going to see this or are there tons of teenagers unaccounted for who never knew of the Connery/Moore era?

There are probably a lot of young kids seeing QoS who knew nothing of the early films, and probably a few who know nothing about Brozza's either.

Also, it will still pull in the older generation like us. After all, its a Bond film when all said and done. I saw many older folk in the audience on the viewings I saw, who probably don't go the cinema that often, but make exception because its a Bond film.

[Mazer Rackham]

I AM surprised at 2 things:1)opening weekend topping $60+ million and 2)Last Friday doing almost the same as the prior Friday, at around $8 million, but the Holiday had a lot to do with this. Do you believe that mostly people over 23 are going to see this or are there tons of teenagers unaccounted for who never knew of the Connery/Moore era?

There are probably a lot of young kids seeing QoS who knew nothing of the early films, and probably a few who know nothing about Brozza's either.

Also, it will still pull in the older generation like us. After all, its a Bond film when all said and done. I saw many older folk in the audience on the viewings I saw, who probably don't go the cinema that often, but make exception because its a Bond film.

The problem Sween is it has not happened. The data shows the old school audience- same as before and notedly lacking the younger Bourne/Transporter demographic.

Twilight has younger demographic and it is being driven on that alone, 120m in 10 days.

The younger demographic hasn't pick up on the aging hipster Craig and his Bourne-Bond (akin to Man-Bear-Pig of South Park). The game sales for Quark are flat.
Inevitability there is a younger component making up audience that has attended the problem is that they are a very, very, slim minority of their brethren. That dog wont hunt.
If Sony were coming on board now with Bond they would be looking at making changes. Bond should be a billion dollar BO take every time out. And it can be under the right management.

[katied]

That is true about kids(10-11 years old and up) going to see QOS.A query by me at the movies each of the times I've seen it reveals that the majority of them saw CR(and enjoyed it)

[Mazer Rackham]

The whole point to Craig's being hired...wait.. well lets say that the way he was sold to the studio and others was he along with the changes they were making were going to bring in an entirely new audience. A bigger audience.

That has not happened. The audience data confirms the vast majority are older than the targeted demographic and that they are more or less the same as audience as the franchises last 2 outings.

They kind of got themselves stuck in a new rut that is not as easy to get out of. Craig limits their options to a Bourne knock off franchise. Strange that the people who were so mortified by Austin Powers are copasetic with the ridicule for coping Bourne (and others) and comedy had at their expense which is more damaging the AP ever was.
Meet the Spartins began with a CR torture scene recreation adding a dog to it, not becasue it was gritty and realistic but becasue it was funny on some level. At the core this is a problem because AP's loving rips at Bond and other 1960s spies were different becasue those series didn't take themselves too seriously, this one does and the more it is ridiculed the shakier their own contentions and conceit become.
How many of Quarks self important scenes are going to be mimicked and made fun of in the next year, how many people are going to be able to sit straight faced watching the movie without mocking it on some level, for the OTT action, camera work, water theme and environmental villain as well as the sourer faced middle aged man pretending he is a spry boy of 30 just starting out. Got his first apartment and his first car. Nor is it surprising that it's a Ford.

[katied]

I am not happy with anything *remotely* seeming like it's going back to the stuff that Austin Powers made fun of.I honestly don't get the love people have for certain characters(If I had a dollar for every time certain ones have been suggested to return I would be a rich woman

Did I think QOS was Bourne light? I could see the *influence*, but I don't think that it was as egregious as some.


"Meet the Spartans" was a lame movie.It's one of those "Scary Movie" knockoffs that was trying WAY too hard in the joke department.

[James]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/cont ... nadeq.html

James Bond and the many inadequacies of “Quantum of Solace”

By Scott Eyman

There was a lot of public resistance to the title “Quantum of Solace” and it turns out that the resistance was correct. What they should have called it was “Generic Action Thriller.”

Really, if the main character of the film wasn’t called “James Bond,” the movie around him could feature Jason Stathan, or Vin Diesel, or any other actor whose musculature is more important than their dramatic chops. Bond in this film is merely a heat-seeking missile of revenge. They’ve gone out of their way to studiously remove everything that makes James Bond James Bond and of all these things the thing I miss the most is simple charm, which is, of course, no simple thing. (Lack of charm was Timothy Dalton’s greatest failing.)

It’s a strange picture in many ways, full of what seems to be great stuntwork that’s hyper-edited in such a way that you can’t really appreciate it. When it calms down for dialogue scenes, it’s generally dull. (Why did Marc Forster direct this picture? What in his generally moribund corpus gave the Broccoli clan the idea he had the wherewithal to direct a Bond film? Did nobody appreciate the classy framings that Martin Campbell gave “Goldeneye” and “Casino Royale”? And if Campbell didn’t want to come back, why couldn’t they get someone to do a slavish imitation of Campbell?)

In many respects, it’s the sort of ham-handed, 180 degree, over-compensatory re-imagining that would have been more understandable coming as the first film with a new James Bond rather than the follow-up to the almost completely successful “Casino Royale.”

There have been bad Bond films before, but they’ve generally been slack and slovenly. “Quantum of Solace” is bad in a whole new way. Repetitive and uninteresting, it’s one of the few Bond’s I have absolutely no interest in watching again. Ever.

[bjmdds]

It is down 80% in the USA from last Wednesday, post holiday. It is still $110 million behind CR with bad reviews all over the place. I am curious why it has even done this well to be honest, possibly because of a lack of serious competition. Can another $110 million be pumped into the box office totals? Does Eon think they produced a winner? I wonder what MGW and Barbara are thinking?

[katied]

I don't think Mike and Babs are losing any sleep over the bad reviews,but I'm sure they have read some of the bad reviews..and they'd have to be fools not to take them into account.

[bjmdds]

All 4 weekdays TBM did not top the $1 million mark in the USA. There is not much talk here on television either now and fewer commercials as well, yet the theatre counts only went down about 50 total. Will TBM crack the $10 million level here this weekend in the USA?

[English Agent]

All 4 weekdays TBM did not top the $1 million mark in the USA. There is not much talk here on television either now and fewer commercials as well, yet the theatre counts only went down about 50 total. Will TBM crack the $10 million level here this weekend in the USA?

Umm...........i predict QOS will do around $8-9 mil in the US and $10-11 mil overseas this weekend.

So far, as of end Thurs 4th Dec, QOS has a worldwide gross around $491.17 mil

As you've said QOS hasn't lost many theatres this week, and its a little surprising, but i expect the film to lose a huge number of screens next week to make way for the Keanu Reeves sci-fi film.

EA

[katied]

A check of movie theaters around here reveals that QOS is only down to 4 or 5 showings a day.

[bjmdds]

The Day The Earth Stood Still is a classic from 1951. This Keanu Reeves take looks like hell so far.

[katied]

I dunno,I kinda want to see The Day The Earth Stood Still.Yalkyrie too. So sue me *shrug*

[James]

The film is struggling to make what Casino Royale did now which isn't what Sony had in mind when they spent about a gazillion dollars promoting it.

[bjmdds]

74% drop off from last Friday and dropped to 5th as well in the USA.

[katied]

Well, there isn't much competition,but Four Christmases, as crappy as it is,is still going strong. No accounting for taste

All the advertising in the world can't hide the fact that the new Punisher movie *sucks*.

[English Agent]

Anyone here heard any reviews on the Keanu Reeves sci-fi film?

Plus

Is it me or do there suddenly seem to be a few new members posting here?

EA

[carl stromberg]

Anyone here heard any reviews on the Keanu Reeves sci-fi film?

Plus

Is it me or do there suddenly seem to be a few new members posting here?

EA

Yes Arthur, there are a few new members! I can't keep up. There a few new Daniel Craig fans too, so Nash will be pleased.

I could not find any reviews of Keanu's latest on Google News; I did learn that he spent £1200 in a London Indian restaurant.

[katied]

Keanu's got good taste even if his movies are a bit crap .. I'd let him buy me a curry


And I'm liking the infusion of new people. Welcome, BTW,if I haven't said so yet

[bjmdds]

Come one come all to this site as we explore the current demise of the Bond franchise into a generic unoriginal entity. It will take Bale or Jackman to undo what has been done, but first, Eon must step aside and allow their parent company run the new show and return to basics.