Box office for last years films.
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 WB $1,328.1 $381.0 28.7% $947.1 71.3%
2 Transformers: Dark of the Moon P/DW $1,123.7 $352.4 31.4% $771.4 68.6%
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides BV $1,043.9 $241.1 23.1% $802.8 76.9%
4 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Sum. $702.3 $281.3 40.1% $421.0 59.9%
5 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Par. $671.1 $207.5 30.9% $463.5 69.1%
6 Kung Fu Panda 2 P/DW $665.7 $165.2 24.8% $500.4 75.2%
7 Fast Five Uni. $626.1 $209.8 33.5% $416.3 66.5%
8 The Hangover Part II WB $581.5 $254.5 43.8% $327.0 56.2%
9 The Smurfs Sony $563.7 $142.6 25.3% $421.1 74.7%
10 Cars 2 BV $559.9 $191.5 34.2% $368.4 65.8%
11 Puss in Boots P/DW $528.6 $149.1 28.2% $379.5 71.8%
12 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows WB $510.5 $185.5 36.3% $325.0 63.7%
13 Rio Fox $484.6 $143.6 29.6% $341.0 70.4%
14 Rise of the Planet of the Apes Fox $481.8 $176.8 36.7% $305.0 63.3%
15 Thor Par. $449.3 $181.0 40.3% $268.3 59.7%
16 The Adventures of Tintin Par. $372.1 $76.6 20.6% $295.4 79.4%
17 Captain America: The First Avenger Par. $368.6 $176.7 47.9% $192.0 52.1%
18 X-Men: First Class Fox $353.6 $146.4 41.4% $207.2 58.6%
19 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked Fox $326.4 $130.0 39.8% $196.4 60.2%
20 Real Steel BV $295.5 $85.5 28.9% $210.0
Three franchised films broke the billion mark. The most common complaint leveled at those films was that the 3D wasn't really very effective and not worth the extra outlay. Infact 3D has been showing a pretty rapid decline in popularity. Yet some people were still paying the higher ticket prices to go see them last year, if not in the numbers expected.
Of the six films in that top twenty that I could be interested enough to see (hint;there was only one in the top eleven) "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was by far and away the best. An old remake ,but an intelligently scripted , cleverly referential and above all a technically brilliant updated version of an old favorite. Done in 2D. Soft marketing release but carried by very positive word of mouth by the viewing public.
My original point was that expectations of box office performance based on the technical improvements in 3D that Prometheus will introduce back into the cinemas make it a likely candidate to break the billion worldwide. The feedback on the visuals produced by the people using it are staggeringly positive. Thats why many current production teams in the process of shooting, most noteably "The Hobbit" are going berserk over it. Interestingly Prometheus, The Hobbit and Rise of the Planet also all employed Weta as the key effects company. So its going to look very good at the least. And that will mean the masses will be more willing to pay higher prices for tickets if the rest of the film is even just reasonably acceptabe to hardened sci fi critics like myself. As far as I'm concerned there have only ever been two Alien films.
Before the trailer, particularly when the photo stills were released the opinion was overwhelming negative,it didn't look right . I did stick up a post that the reason they appeared like that was the requirements to light the set for 3D shooting ment alot of post set alteration was to be done, but it was largely ignored.
Then the trailer hit and opinion swung the otherway.We saw very little that trailer, one minute of film but it looked spectacular. Reading between the lines its the tip of the iceberg. I suspect what we will get because it is Ridley is a visually stunning director and produces truely authentic feeling films ,which may be enhanced for once by the 3D tech hes used. And because he has become more commercial over the years it will contain far more action than the original, perhaps more like Aliens. Certainly the employment of puppeteers and creature manufacture and design teams in the crew credits suggest this. Also the fact there are "Mercenaries" ie paid soldiers in the Prometheus crew profile suggest plenty of combat is likely. And I also find it quite hard to believe they got Giger across just to paint a few muriels. The man who designed the biomorph look? Pull the other one mate.
So there we are. A film that will look spectacular, made by a director who has produced two of the most outstanding sci-fi films ever, with a huge fan base ,built up over thirty years, shot with the best tech available at this time on a huge budget, with everybody involved gagged to the nines because the story is supposed to be that good . Oh and Ridley is already talking of sequels. That takes confidence one hundred days before its even released.
I'm sorry that people have taken so negatively to my comments. I saw the original cinema release of Alien as a teenager in the 70's and it has remained in my top five sci fi films ,along with ESB,SW, Aliens and Bladerunner ever since. All of them unique and warmly recalled episodes in my cinema viewing history ,rarely to be repeated. To me that feels like a thirty odd year drought, with a lot promised to quench my thirst but in the end very,very little that ever managed to do so.
But I really do believe that Prometheus will hit that spot. Honestly. That does not make me a raging fanboy, just a man who remembers how strongly he loves a really GOOD film at the cinema, and for that moment when you really cannot believe what you are seeing on the screen its that brilliant and you are left with that slightly empty feeling when it all ends that can only be filled by seeing it again. Which is what I assumed this website was all about. But it appears I may have even got that wrong.
