Hollywood's Biggest Turkeys This Year

[mez7]

Plus the love of remakes isn't going to help any either. At least the remakes are always worse than the originals.

the magnificent seven
scarface
the maltese falcon (made twice before the bogart version)
ben hur (made twice before the heston version)
brewsters millions
the departed
a fistfull of dollars
the fly
the good thief
little shop of horrors
my fair lady (1964)
the ten comandments (cecil B. Demile remade his own silent movie)
the thing
the thomas crown affair (im a steve mcqueen fan, but i prefer the remake)

i also like the dawn of the dead remake better than the original,
but still like the old one too.

 

[Wes R]

I should have clarified that most new remakes aren't as good. I'm not a fan of newer zombie films, even the ones by Romero himself. Actually i've only seen a few of the ones on that list.

 

[Vivek]

Twitter / Scott Weinberg:

All I know is I had a ball with SCOTT PILGRIM, THE EXPENDABLES, and PIRANHA. Box office is temporary; the movies will remain fun forever.

The above quote by Cinematical editor nicely sums up the nature of box office numbers and movies.


Blade Runner (1982) - Box Office Mojo

Fight Club (1999) - Box Office Mojo

I am not comparing the quality of these movies to Scott Pilgrim, just that these critically acclaimed movies underperformed during their time. Even in retrospective when people talk how great the movies are, hardly anyone recalls their box office results. Scott Pilgrim performed poorly at the box office, but when people discover and re-discover this movie years later, all they will talk about is how awesome and quite original the movie is. These box office earnings will be long forgotten.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) - Box Office Mojo

 

[terryr]

There's a difference between an Arty film and a load o' crap made for the bucks.

Yeah, there were some good remakes back then. But they were made because someone realized the original wasn't all it could be. Now they do remakes because they were GREAT. Somehow they think they can make it better than great.

 

[Effingham]

Another thing is, most movies aren't fun to go to anymore.

Popcorn and Coke is another ten bucks (!), and the vibe from most audiences is that they think they're in their own living rooms and can carry on conversations and behave as if other people didn't drop $12 to see a movie in peace.

Plus there are the interminable coming attractions at ear-destroying volume.

Oh, and commercials, too. Yeah. COMMERCIALS. At a MOVIE THEATER.

Screw all that. I'll wait for the DVD and rent.

 

[Jet Beetle]

Scott Pilgrim bombed because nobody cared about that movie. The poster is not to blame considering how it was marketed with even the kitchen sink behind it. The style, story and environment was geared at a small group - the comic con crowd - and they always leave disappointing sales figures in the end.

 

[micdavis]

Until Comic-Con this year I'd never even heard of Scott Pilgrim. But it was ALL over the con.

Perhaps it was the subject matter to begin with.

Was this a popular comic?

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

Hollywood's Biggest Turkeys Of 2010 according to Forbes. Some surprises.

I thought a film had to be a critical failure to be a turkey, not a commercial one. Blade Runner, which seriously under-performed on initial release, is a turkey too by this Dorothy wotsernames's definition of the term. I thought the term for a commercial failure was 'bomb'.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Fluid definitions and all.

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

Then damn fluid definitions to hell!

 

[Jeyl]

God, Jonah Hex. You know your movie is going to be bad when it's running time is 81 minutes WITH CREDITS. And I thought Men in Black 2 was bad in it's short running time.

Not saying that making it a longer movie would have been better, but it clearly shows there was a lot of very bad editing going on.

 

[Art Andrews]

Not saying that making it a longer movie would have been better, but it clearly shows there was a lot of very bad editing going on.

Is it bad editing or is it editing to try to remove all the bad filming?

 

[Contec]

God, Jonah Hex. You know your movie is going to be bad when it's running time is 81 minutes WITH CREDITS. And I thought Men in Black 2 was bad in it's short running time.

Not saying that making it a longer movie would have been better, but it clearly shows there was a lot of very bad editing going on.

I just saw jonah Hex and it was a okay movie, a bit like wild wild west.

 

[Solo4114]

I just saw jonah Hex and it was a okay movie, a bit like wild wild west.

Wow. High praise.


As far as Michael Cera is concerned, I think it's the Seth Rogen effect, really. I gather the guy plays all his roles EXACTLY the same. In some cases, that schtick works. In most cases, I guess if you don't like him, you won't like the film.


As far as Jude Law is concerned, I think the issue with him is less a matter of raw talent, and more a matter of the material he works with. I thought he was excellent as Watson in Sherlock Holmes. I really enjoyed the performance. But that's also because the film itself was really enjoyable and he played well off of both Downey and the underlying version of Watson that everyone knows. Again, it's the material you're given, I think.



At any rate, financial bombs won't stop crappy movies from being made. I guess all we can hope for is that better films somehow manage to sneak through. Although I have to say that Hollywood seems determined to **** up the experience both at home and in the theater. The latest thing that I HATE about Hollywood? FORCING me to watch a gajillion bloody trailers and ads before letting me watch my damn DVD. Not sure if this is a Netflix-only issue, or if it's on the commercially sold DVDs too, but it sucks.

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

Wow.


The latest thing that I HATE about Hollywood? FORCING me to watch a gajillion bloody trailers and ads before letting me watch my damn DVD. Not sure if this is a Netflix-only issue, or if it's on the commercially sold DVDs too, but it sucks.

Yep. It was on a bought DVD I watched the other day. I was about to put my boot through the screen when I tried pressing the menu button and all the trailer crud actually disappeared and I got to the film.

 

[Solo4114]

Well that's something. On the rental DVD I was watching you couldn't even do that.

 

[terryr]

I thought a film had to be a critical failure to be a turkey, not a commercial one. ... I thought the term for a commercial failure was 'bomb'.

The article came out at Thanksgiving, hence the 'turkey' thing.

How about 'dud'? A bomb that fails to go off.

 

[ihs]

...As far as Jude Law is concerned, I think the issue with him is less a matter of raw talent, and more a matter of the material he works with. I thought he was excellent as Watson in Sherlock Holmes. I really enjoyed the performance. But that's also because the film itself was really enjoyable and he played well off of both Downey and the underlying version of Watson that everyone knows. Again, it's the material you're given, I think...

Well said. My wife's a big Sherlock Holmes fan, but wasn't keen on seeing this in theater's as it didn't look all that great in the previews. However, we rented it later on and both of us really enjoyed it, particularly Law's character. I'd never been a big fan of his before, but in this film he seemed to fill the role perfectly.