13 Comments
founding

Three general thoughts:

- As an Entertainment Weekly-obsessed child, I enjoy box office statistics in the same way people enjoy sports statistics, or any minutiae of their chosen obsession. Box office is useful in showing trends, historical data, etc. But once you get emotionally involved, with that or RT scores, it's over. It's not my money. Plenty of movies I loved bombed or got bad reviews.

- Some people will always go to the movies, and never need convincing. Some people will never go to the movies again, and will never be convinced. I do think more diverse product/mid-budget stuff is going to help convince the middle ground of people to come back.

- I know it depends on the market, but I've been going to the movies my entire life, and never seem to encounter these hellhole theaters anti-theater people seem to always stumble into. Sure, I've had shitty seats/sound/projection and bad audiences before, but to the point that it ruins the movie? Once a year, if that.

I assume Furiosa's going to be a long-tail movie, if not in theaters, then at home. And that's kind of how Fury Road was! Yes, it got ecstatic reviews and won Oscars and you'd be hard-pressed to find people who didn't like it, but as noted here, it opened in second place, almost $25 million behind Pitch Perfect 2. It was the 21st highest-grossing movie of the year, sandwiched between San Andreas and Daddy's Home. It only made money because of international grosses (it made $153 million domestic on a $150 million budget). I could maybe see a universe where Furiosa comes out in 2019 and hits big, but now? This is about what I expected.

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I've been working vfx on movies for over 20 years so I'm pretty jaded, but DAMN if I didn't get invested in this one because it was just such a hoot to work on.

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Pretty sure that piece of shit you referenced was called Anyone but You even if Anything but You works better to describe the movie.

I'll definitely see Furiosa in theater but hit some logistical snags. Hurry up, mushroom guy!

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author

Someone must have put your mushrooms in my coffee this morning

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Anything But You was rated NC-17 and featured extensive cock sleeve action and googly eyes.

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founding

Anyone But You... is what they should have said to Sydney Sweeney, who is a good actress and totally wrong for "screwball romcom heroine!"

*chuckles, a distant dry cough*

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You can tack on another $20 from my wallet to the Furiosa box office 'cause I'm definitely seeing it again.

Plus, it was my first time at an Alamo Drafthouse, and it was well worth it. Witness me!

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May 28·edited May 28

I'm surprised this underperformed while Dune 2 is the highest grossing movie of the year by a considerable margin. It seems like the venn diagrams of those fandoms would have more overlap. Or maybe the Dune franchise has crossed over to mass-market 'normie' appeal?

I guess that means we probably get adaptations of the books beyond Dune: Messiah. Bring on the weird shit: sex-assassins! human-sandworm hybrids! replicants being murdered and resurrected multiple times!

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Really wish The Powers That Be would not judge a film’s success by opening weekend numbers. The screenings art “my theater” were pretty full all weekend, and post-Covid me enjoys the less crowded experience. So, I’ll be seeing Furiosa this week. Side note: I saw, and quite enjoyed, The Fall Guy in similar fashion — a few days after opening weekend. I was shocked to see it already streaming last week. It really should be seen on a big screen.

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I realize this isn't applicable other than to myself but after moving away from a great movie theater and nearby equally great food/drink options (downtown Redwood City) I haven't really been out to a movie. The town I'm in near Seattle has a small theater but it doesn't have the newer comforts and there is a lack of places to go before/after. So with that in mind I've been streaming new releases and also buying physical media of more obscure stuff (think Shudder/Shout Factory, MST3K type films).

The two things I really miss are fountain Dr Pepper and movie theater popcorn. That might actually sway me back at some point.

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I'll have you know this was already going through my head when I typed out my post.

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Vince you may be the first writer to talk about this without mentioning how Streaming has probably killed the movie theater experience in general for younger generations.

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