The Box Office Thread

There's a big difference between going dead and a natural fluctuation in sales due to changes in how people enjoy media.  There's a massive difference between how the internet influenced the way people experience movies between 1999 and 2012.  Ticket sales shrank with the advent of the TV too, but that didn't mean the death of cinema (although I'm sure there was no lack of reporters willing to predict certain doom for the movie industry at the time). 

The number of 202 million tickets is accurate, but has to be taken in context.  Gone With The Wind was originally released in 1939, and enjoyed being continually released in theaters until it began to be aired on TV in 1956.  Even then, the film still enjoyed nationwide re-releases in theaters every few years since watching the film on a black & white television with less than perfect reception just doesn't compare to seeing it on the big screen in color.  That number reflects ticket sales over the entire lengthy span of it's illustrious existence. 

As for the Alamo Drafthouse, they not only play indie films, but own a distribution company for them called Drafthouse Films.

THIS WEEK IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY

10 years ago, Christopher Nolan resurrected Batman from the dead with the successful release of Batman Begins. It opened on a Wednesday and grossed a 5-day total of $72.8 million. A prepubescent PG Cooper rejoiced but a post-teenage Doomsday found a new enemy in a British-born-but-Chicago-raised filmmaker.

15 years ago, Minnesota rap fan, Dracula , was thrilled to see Busta Rhymes in the Samuel L. Jackson reboot of Shaft. Shaft may be a bad mother - shut your mouth - but that did not translate to a box office victory. The movie did open at #1, but it only grossed $21.7 million which was mediocre even for the year 2000. There has been no more Shaft movies since then but the actor who played the villain, Christian Bale, did go on to better things.

20 years ago, Joel Schumacher brought his version of Batman to the big screen and people... didn't hate it. Wyldstaar and other fanboys like to re-write history but the truth is that Batman Forever was a HUGE hit. It was the #1 movie of the summer and the #2 movie of the year. It grossed a modern day equivalent of $343.5 million domestically. To put it in more specific terms, that's only $7 million less than Furious 7.




25 years ago, Warren Beatty tried to replicate the success of Batman (1989) with Dick Tracy but failed. Dick Tracy was the 9th highest grossing film of 1990 with a modern day equivalent of nearly $200 million domestically but considering it didn't live up to the hype, it was considered a disappointment. A good comparison is the Godzilla movie from last year. Also released 25 years ago was Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Despite being championed by thebtskink , it flopped at the box office and we're now dreading the news of a possible remake.

30 years ago, Ron Howard's Cocoon FINALLY stopped Rambo's dominance of the box office. The only blockbuster to ever star old people dethroned Sylvester Stallone. Ironic.

EDIT: Also opening 30 years ago was the nightmare-inducing Return to Oz.

I was on a Jim Carrey high when Batman Forever was released. It came out after Ace Ventura, The Mask and Dumb & Dumber and before Ace Ventura 2, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar, The Truman Show, Man on the Moon and Me Myself & Irene. I think The Grinch broke the Jim Carrey spell. So for about 5 years Batman Forever was probably my favorite Batman movie. I watched all three movies as often as I could so it's difficult to say for sure. And I know that sounds stupid in 2015 but you were alive in 1995. You too were caught up in the Jim Carrey momentum and loved stuff like this:

Gremlins 2 rules.

Jurassic World continues to make a shitload of money.

It grossed $25.3 million on Monday and $24.3 million on Tuesday. In total, the movie has grossed $258.4 million.

Again, kids being on summer vacation is helping a lot. This is a movie that children and teenagers are enjoying a lot.

I don't recall ever saying that Batman Forever didn't perform at the box office.  I simply stated that I didn't like it.  Batman: The Animated Series introduced me to Two-Face as a tragic character that deserved a shot in the movies, and Schumacher just crapped all over him.  Then he did the same to Mr. Freeze a couple years later.

Kids movies in the 80's seemed to have a goal of giving children nightmares.  The Dark Crystal with their freaky looking vulture monsters who turned cute little villagers into drooling zombie slaves.  Gremlins with adorable teddy bears that transform into monsters and a pretty girl who transforms a tale about her father dressing up as Santa into a lifetime of trauma.  Strapping Dorothy down and giving her electro-shock therapy for talking about Oz to Aunt Em, and pretty much every scene that followed scarred many young minds for life.  Time Bandits, Watership Down, The Black Cauldron... heaven forbid kids have something pleasant to distract them from the real life threat of nuclear annihilation for two hours!

No, because they're noisy, they're messy, and they smell.

Some of them smell! Babies smell!

I love it when a plan comes together.

Jurassic World

Wednesday - $19.8 million
Thursday - $17.8 million

New total - $296.2 million domestic / $695.4 million worldwide