Prometheus (Post-release)

Yeah. It must be approaching break-even, I guess? Do we know? I never really bought that low figure which was claimed for the budget.

If it was actually quite cheap then great, otherwise the take isn't looking too healthy.
 
Milburn was simply following the 'expert' Fifield who was suffering from both anxiety and the effects of 2093 future weed. I think the lack of communication with the ship and consultation with his compass was due to that feeling of 'just around the corner' effect. This kind of disorientation happens to pilots e.g. jfk jr.'s slow downward death spiral and expert scuba divers exploring wrecks and caves all of the time.

Milburn was freaked out by the giant headless aliens. He was dealing with his own fears by approaching something that looked relatively tame in comparison to the larger 'engineers.' He is a biologist and didn't suffer from extreme animal phobia. The penis snake didn't have any visible teeth or large mouth. As a divemaster i see Scuba divers reach out and try to touch everything they see all the time.

I think while both scientists were freaked out by the discoveries in the caves, some part of them had to have been fascinated albiet reluctantly and gotten distracted. Anyway, i didn't see Milburn and Fifield getting lost as a plot hole.

I did have a problem with Fifield showing up with his legs over his shoulders. I thought it was a John Carpenter's the Thing crossover for a minute there.
 
Ha! Yeah. I had more of a problem with that scene being shot in unspooky broad daylight (okay, points for taking a chance), and the cast completely under-reacting to all of the many elements of the situation which would have completely justified a "reach for the nearest flamethrower" immediate over-reaction.

If I see a guy I thought was dead and a mile away suddenly right on my doorstep, weirdly folded up, I'm not going over for a chat with him...
 
I just saw this movie and thought it was good BUT I just can't get over the inneptitude of these characters. Everything from removing their helmets because the air is "breathable" to that ******* who was trying to pet the white snakelike thingy.

I mean these people traveled 2 years to get to a planet that supposedly holds the origins of human life and they go about everything so willy-nilly? That was a HUGE dissappointment.

I did like the ALIEN tie-ins strewn throughout.
 
Couldn't disagree more.

I will be the first to admit, I don't think Alien (or Blade Runner) are quite as great as many here seem to think.

I didn't feel sympathetic towards the crew. Most of them were annoying and I was just waiting for them to go.

Dallas was the ONLY truly likable character in my opinion. The rest just felt like Jerry Springer style white-trash (yes, Parker is black, but you know what I mean).

With that being said, I am willing to admit, more attention and time was given in Alien to the development of the crew, but it didn't make any of them more likable to me or make me want to root for them.

That's it...

Today shall be Alien/Blade Runner/Prometheus day. I will watch the first two and then head to the theater (as I have been looking for a reason to go watch it again). Will report back when done.

All I know is I felt bad when Brett, Parker and others were lost, you we're rooting for them to beat that mother. They felt real to me, time was spent showing a realistic human side. Around the table while eating, griping about day to day job issues, expressing a sense of humor. Your freaked out while Dallas is crawling around in darkness. Dallas had a real presence as the ships Captain. Real horror when you see that damn thing for two seconds with arms outstreched, Lambert near total breakdown really sold several scenes on a very human base level. And it all still works today.

Prometheus didn't connect at all like that with me.
 
Prometheus is a great movie. Personally I don't see any issue with it. Certainly there isn't a reason to nitpicket to death with trivial matters it is after all just a movie. With actors, props, writers, etc... Some of you act like it was a based on actual events history channel motion picture or something? Just go with it the movie is great. I thoroughly enjoyed it heck my wife even liked it and she hates the whole alien franchise.
 
I watched Alien last night...I actually thought Parker was a pretty well rounded character.

Until the scene when he is HOLDING a flamethrower, with a CLEAR chance to kill the Alien, and what does he do? Let me tackle this thing, OOPS...bad idea Alien ***** slapped him and he's dead.

Compared to that, trying to pet a small penis alien is peanuts.
 
Dallas, Kane, Parker, Lambert, Brett, Ripley.

If anyone 30 years from now refers to the characters of Prometheus by name instead of "the biologist", "the stoner geologist", "the captain", "pilot #1", "pilot #2", "nurse ratchet", "charlize", etc...

I promise to print out this entire thread and eat it with my soylent green.
 
I didn't feel sympathetic towards the crew. Most of them were annoying and I was just waiting for them to go.

I was just a kid watching Alien the first time. I had seen Aliens first, so I was unimpressed. However Alien grew on me, and it didnt take too long before I started to love it. Its the kind of film where you catch new things every time you see it. Blade Runner I watched the first time when I was mid teens. Ive been in love with it ever since.

Have fun on your Scott day. :)
 
I watched Alien last night...I actually thought Parker was a pretty well rounded character.

Until the scene when he is HOLDING a flamethrower, with a CLEAR chance to kill the Alien, and what does he do? Let me tackle this thing, OOPS...bad idea Alien ***** slapped him and he's dead.

Compared to that, trying to pet a small penis alien is peanuts.

Lambert was in the way.
 
Lambert was in the way.

Transplant that scene into Prometheus and it would also be described by detractors as poor writing and unrealistic character reaction. Lambert, manic and frozen in place by fear preventing the indecisive Parker from finishing the job, how unprofessional.
 
Couldn't disagree more.

I will be the first to admit, I don't think Alien (or Blade Runner) are quite as great as many here seem to think.

I didn't feel sympathetic towards the crew. Most of them were annoying and I was just waiting for them to go.

Dallas was the ONLY truly likable character in my opinion. The rest just felt like Jerry Springer style white-trash (yes, Parker is black, but you know what I mean).

To me, there is a difference between likable and realistic. Parker and Brett are my favourite characters in ALIEN, possibly in most of sci-fi, not because I necessarily like them, but I can relate to them. They act like real shipboard engineering guys. Lambert is an emotional crying wreck, but she is a believable emotional crying wreck. Ripley portrays the cool, thinking, strong woman, but Sigorney does a great job of showing the underlying tension and fear that Ripley has. Dallas is a laid back, nice guy just trying to get home. I will agree he is the most likeable guy on the ship.

I just didn't get that from the Prometheus. I didn't care if any of them died. I think a lot of that stemmed from the taking off of the helmet (I don't care if the atmosphere is breathable or not, that was just SILLY) and the two guys getting lost. I mean, they had a holographic map and constant radio communications. Yeah, one of the might be a little high, but I think the crew on the ship would at least start yelling at them over the radio "Go left. No, left. YOUR OTHER LEFT." I never got the impression that the crew was acting from a true inner motivation (except for David, and to a minor extent Weyland). It seemed they were doing things to contrive to the plot; it felt forced, so I couldn't relate to what they were doing. The best scenes to me that show any kind of emotional response are David's remark to Shaw that everyone is wishing for the death of the parents, and Weyland's comment of "if she says anything else, shoot her." David seems to be wrestling with the concept he is a superior being crafted by an inferior, and Weyland is a rich egomaniac looking for immortality. But those are at least true to form responses and brought me a little closer to their characters. Hell, I had more of an understanding and sympathy for the Engineers than I did for the crew of the Prometheus.

Charlie
 
Lambert was in the way.

Right. Whether you saw Alien yesterday or in 1979, that makes sense for both characters. Lambert panicked, froze, and got them both killed. Parker didn't torch Lambert to save himself/Ripley/Jones/the ship. They acted in ways that were set up for their characters the entire movie.

The sound of them dying was more emotional (to me) than anything I saw in Prometheus.

Ultimately, I have to believe Lindelof and Scott are happy with all this. Recently, Lindelof gave his first interview about the Lost finale and it came out in the interview that the interviewer loved The X-Files. So Lindelof asked him, "What happened in the finale of the X-Files?" and the interviewer couldn't answer. Game, set, match: Lindelof. Because no matter what anyone thinks about the Lost finale, people are still talking about it. To him, that = win. I'm certain he feels the same way about Prometheus.
 
The Prometheus crew that get any screen time arent that bad. The Captains an ok guy, half serious, half loose but fully straight up, Vickers is nothing if not fascinating, i want to know more about her, the bitter daughter of the worlds most powerful man always had her own agenda leaving behind stewardship of the what must surely be the most important corporation on the planet. Weylands appearence seems to annoy people more than the character, both are fine by me.

David is David but pulls off one of the best zingers ive heard in a film for a while and its target, Shaw is as hard as a cats head, never thought of Ripley once when things got interesting for her. Didnt care for Hollaway, he was just there to get Shaw pregnant. The story didnt allow much leftovers for the rest of the crew and i wasnt dissapointed by that.
 
I remember my reaction after I first saw Alien. I thought the characters were a bunch of losers and Ripley was a cold ugly beyotch. I thought it was paced slower than a snail and I had a ton of nagging questions and gripes after watching it:

Why don’t more of the alien eggs open up? Why is it only the one Kane is facing? Did you have to knock on one to activate it?

I always wondered why they didn’t try harder to get the facehugger off Kane. They try to pry off a finger and it tightens its tail so what do they do? They try and cut off the finger. If it tightened its tail when they tried to pull it off what the hell did they think it would do if they tried to cut it off? If it was tightening its tail wouldn’t you want to try to unwind the tail from Kane’s neck? Nope let’s cut the finger off.

Why didn’t Dallas ask Ash why the bio scanner didn’t detect a sizable growth in Kane?

After Kane’s death they team up to find the beastie. After Brett lets Jones out of the net they tell him to go find the cat again. Did they think it was safe to let someone go wandering off by themselves? Yes they didn’t know the alien had grown but it didn’t look too friendly when it burst out of Kane and took off like a rocket. It looked freaking dangerous to me. Brett didn't even take one of his cattle prods with him.

How did Ash get into the locked Muther room without Ripley hearing it? Does the door have a stealth mode?

Nice cutaway from the Ash fake head to Ian Holm.

When Parker torches Ash with the flame thrower why is Ash’s head one solid piece underneath the skin?

What the hell body part did the alien teeth hit on Parker? He must be a mutant.

Despite all these nitpicks Alien is one of my favorite movies. I doubt Prometheus will grow on me the way Alien did but you never know.
 
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Don't forget the foreign take which is $97,736,717 more than the U.S. for a total $167,219,717.

Alien was 203 million for 1979 and Aliens was 183 million for its total 1986 worldwide gross, so Prometheus will easily get in that range. Considering about 30% of that was for the more expensive 3D ticket, that's not bad at all. Prometheus' profit margin is much different than the others though, but DVD/BR sales are so much more a part of a films gross these days. If the BR/DVD release comes out prior to Christmas, another 30-40 million will easily get tacked on.

Fast investor return is important, but the studio looks at the larger long term picture as well. The series has already earned them well over a billion just in theatrical sales, over 2 billion including home media and licensing.
 
Alien was 203 million for 1979 and Aliens was 183 million for its total 1986 worldwide gross, so Prometheus will easily get in that range. Considering about 30% of that was for the more expensive 3D ticket, that's not bad at all. Prometheus' profit margin is much different than the others though, but DVD/BR sales are so much more a part of a films gross these days. If the BR/DVD release comes out prior to Christmas, another 30-40 million will easily get tacked on.

Fast investor return is important, but the studio looks at the larger long term picture as well. The series has already earned them well over a billion just in theatrical sales, over 2 billion including home media and licensing.

Are this inflation adjusted box office figures for ALIEN and Aliens? It's very meaningful if you compare it to Prometheus.
 
Dallas, Kane, Parker, Lambert, Brett, Ripley.

If anyone 30 years from now refers to the characters of Prometheus by name instead of "the biologist", "the stoner geologist", "the captain", "pilot #1", "pilot #2", "nurse ratchet", "charlize", etc...

I promise to print out this entire thread and eat it with my soylent green.

I would agree with this... but then Alien is a much more character driven movie (like Blade Runner) and Prometheus is not at all. The characters in Prometheus are completely secondary to the themes presented. In Alien, the characters are almost equal in importance to the theme. You aren't going to see me argue that the characters in Prometheus are very important... and maybe that is the issue people are having. Maybe they feel the characters should have been more important.
 
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