The totals are in and it was a good opening weekend for War of the Worlds. The box office receipts for the new Spielberg-Cruise sci-fi action film totalled $101.7 million for the film's opening (which started Wednesday of last week), according to Reuters.
For a movie with a reported budget of $135 million, that's pretty encouraging.
I haven't seen the movie yet, and am not sure I will. Those of you who did, please leave comments letting us know what you thought.
Next Friday brings another major opening, and one with greater resonance for comics fans: Fantastic Four. How FF fairs may go a long way to telling us what's going to happen with comic book movies in the next few years.
(If you ask me, it looks dreadful. But I'm a sour old man.)
Aside from the many layers those people are wearing, it's scary how much that photo looks like the crowds at the fireworks display downtown Chicago last night.
ReplyDeleteAt one point, when all you could see was people, my friend remarked to me, "What if this was Land of the Dead and these were all zombies?"
Let me tell you, that will sober you up right quick.
My expectations for WAR OF THE WORLDS were pretty low, and as a result I was pretty damn impressed with the film, which I noted as a "culmination of every other film Spielberg has done to date." It was so good, in fact, that it *almost* made me forget about all of his pedopheliac tendencies that leak into his films...
ReplyDeleteAs for FANTASTIC FOUR, I'm still cautiously optimistic that it will be a good popcorn movie.
I'm looking at the Fantastic Four movie as if it is a pack of Skittles. Not something I'd be craving, and with no great value, but if someone offered me on, I'd say "Meh. Why not?"
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ReplyDeleteI thought War of the Worlds was okay, but not great. I'll give it a 3 out of 5. It would have been a better movie if Spielberg didn't wimp out with the ending. When it comes to alien invasions from the individual point of view, I enjoyed M. Night Shyamalan' Signs a lot better.
ReplyDeleteAs for FF, it's looking like just rental to me. I'm waiting to see what the reviews are like. However, I may end up seeing it in the theatres if my friends drag me along, which is how I end up seeing most big blockbusters these days.
Speaking of horror in cinema - I stumbled onto something VERY curious. Check out www.wienertakesall.com - is this the same Shane MacDougall that did the vampire slayers handbook? I hope so - what a departure! Even if it's not it by him it looks funny but I am super hopeful it is the same guy. Wonder what dark evil part of wiener dog racing he is going to prey on lol.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed War of the Worlds. The problem is they're promoting it like Independence Day when in fact it's more like Private Ryan.
ReplyDeleteThe shots of the Human Torch in the trailers for FF look good, but elastic heroes always come off a little silly when you see them on the screen.
Enjoyed War of the Worlds. I only remember a couple of moments where Spielberg felt the need to go for the emotional punch above story logic (why didn't his son change his clothes? wouldn't the grenades explode sooner than that?). There are other bits that don't make sense (what's with the buried tripods?) but since Cruise's character is an Ordinary Joe his understanding/awareness of the invasion is limited.
ReplyDeleteSaw Signs for the first time this weekend as well. Sorry, Matthew, I think War is a far better movie and not simply for the amount of pirotechnics. The invasion tactics in Signs make no sense. And how stupid a species do you have to be to cross interstellar space to invade a planet covered with a substance that's poisonous to you? And to not wear survival gear while invading it?
david lee,
ReplyDeletethat's the part that gets me. it's like, alien, dudes, you're invading a planet that's 75 percent water and it also falls from the skies and condenses on the ground as dew.
Also, they travel across the galaxy or whereever to invade Earth and forget to bring a sledge hammer or screw driver?
I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect to ... but hey.
Pleasant surprise.
JJ's right--this is like a "What if the opening fifteen minutes of Saving Private Ryan" had lasted for the entire movie?
ReplyDeleteVery good indeed. If this had had zombies instead of aliens and was directed by George Romero instead of Steven Spielberg but was otherwise identical, the genre in-crowd would be going completely apeshit over it. And yes, the chunks of the last third undercut it, but in the end I don't particularly care. You should go see it.