Sunday, May 8, 2011

Thor ... A Flop?

The day was indeed a good one for Loki the Trickster

Thor finished the weekend number one at the box office, earning $66 million on 4000 screens. I'm sure many people will look at that number and say how can that be bad. And yes, there is no need to panic just yet. However, this is not at all a good sign for this great movie, nor is it for the future of comic movies in general.

First off, 5 Fast 5 Furious was number two at $32 million. In its opening weekend, it made $83 million, and it made another $30 mil during the week already putting it at $140 million. At this rate, Thor will struggle to make that by its third weekend. Also, Something Broom and Jumping the Borrowed each made $13 million for some unknown reason. It is a sad world.



Thor carried a $150 million budget, which is actually very reasonable considering the original estimate was sitting at a whopping $300 million. It's really amazing they did what they did, considering all the special effects, the two Academy Award winning actors (and two more with nominations) all in minor roles, the acclaimed director, and the fact that they built and destroyed an entire town. They must have spent their entire budget on everything but advertising. I saw more commercials for the Thor video game, and for tie-ins with Blackberry and Dr. Pepper, than I did actual trailers. I guess they just thought the movie would sell on its own without advertising. I mean, it is a comic book movie.

Well Marvel Studios last film Iron Man 2 opened with $128 million. Of course it did well, it was a highly anticipated sequel. Well Iron Man 1 (Marvel Studios' first film) opened with $102 million. Keep in mind, Robert Downy Jr. was not quite a bankable actor back then, and was still mostly known as a has-been druggie. Iron Man was what restarted his career.

Spider-Man opened to $114 million. Yes, Spider-Man is a much bigger name than Thor, but Spidy hit the big screen Nine years to the day before Thor opened up. That was long before 3D drove ticket prices up. Did I mention I paid $15 freaking bucks for my Thor ticket? At those prices, you only need like three dozen people to hit $60 million.

X-Men 3, which got universally bad press leading up to its release, still brought in $122 million. And X-Men Origins opened for $85 million. Remember, a mostly complete DVD quality release of Origins was leaked to the internet an entire month before it hit theaters. I guess there really isn't a thing as bad publicity.

Sure, Thor isn't the biggest name in comics, but he is still one of THE classic heroes. I've heard tons of reports of dads wanting to see because it was the comic back in the day (and then they complained about how they used Lady Sif or some other nitpicking that would make any nerd son proud).

Many people thought Thor would be the biggest blockbuster of the summer, but it didn't exactly kick off the summer with a bang. Marvel has so much invested in comic book movies (much more than in comic books at the moment), with Captain America just around the corner and Black Panther, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Namor, and every other hero with films allegedly in planing stages. If Thor has this much trouble bringing in the audience, then good luck with the smaller guys.

And of course, there's the Avengers. The ending to Thor leads directly into the Avengers (which just starting shooting). If Thor doesn't pick up speed, you would have to think they will reel back his role in the Avengers.     

DC is in a bit of trouble too. Green Lantern is very similar to Thor in regards that most of it takes place somewhere other than Earth. But Green Lantern has tons more CGI and fewer notable actors. Plus, the die-hards all already hate it just from the previews. I just can't believe GL will do better than Thor.

There is some hope. Batman Begins had the same budget as Thor, and had at the time the biggest advertising expenses ever. That opened to only $48 million. But Batman was bigger than ever after that, and its sequel is the highest grossing movie in US history not made by James Cameron.

Also, Thor has already been out over the rest of the world (for over 3 weeks in some countries), and it has raked in $176 million, already getting its budget back overseas. Although, it only made $700,000 in Norway where it should be cleaning house.

Anyway, you should all do a favor for both yourself and for Hollywood, and go see Thor this week. You won't regret it.

Besides, it could be worse. Thor could be Dylan Dog, which finished its second week at #32! With the $200 bucks it made a screen, it just passes the one million mark for its lifetime.

23 comments:

  1. Around the college circles it is spreading by word of mouth how great the movie is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lack of marketing. I had no idea there was a Thor movie coming out until I bought a bottle of diet Dr Pepper and there he was on the label. Didn't know it was out right now either.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your blog style! keep up your excellent blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  4. yeah i agree there was not a lot of advertising. i saw an add on the day it came out....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome blog title. But yea, I've heard Thor was actually really good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. thor was alright. a little cheesy but it was enjoyable

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm all for getting more people to see the Thor movie. You can probably guess by my name lol

    ReplyDelete
  8. i saw thor and loved it, it deserved all the money it earned

    ReplyDelete
  9. never heard about this..thanks for letting me know ^^

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thor was just one of those heroes you shouldn't make a movie about for the money, but for the sheer art and awesomeness of the comic to the few who read them. I honestly never saw Thor making more than $20 mil but thats just me. It's a fucking beautiful movie, but not for those who don't read the comics already.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I haven't seen it yet, I think I am just going to download it or stream or wait for it to come out on TV. I'm not really big on going to the theaters and paying to see a movie.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well it already made it's money back in the international market. Between that, domestic, and it's blu-ray/dvd rentals and buys, it will do just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  13. For real you have a very nice blog, nice content and this was a great post.

    ReplyDelete
  14. lol loki!!!! god of mischief! or something like that =x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Marvel was lucky that their first Marvel Studios movie was Iron Man, Robert Downy Jr. is the film's greatest attraction. They shouldn't invest money in smaller heroes.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've head a lot about the movie from ppl I know and such, but no real commercials etc.. haven't really noticed, but when you say it..

    ReplyDelete
  17. (Sorry for a second post, but I have to comment cause I am from Norway..) Making 700k dollars in a country with less than 5 million people is quite good! It has recieved mainly threes and fours (1-6, six is best), and that may be why so many here haven't seen it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was about to go watch it, but the trailer wasnt very good i think. To Twillighty. Every time a movie has an akwardl focus on some hunk i just cant take it that serious.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Check out my blog for latest Assassin's Creed Revelations news!
    awesomeexposed.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I can't wait to watch this movie.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just remember that at most a movie makes is 60% on international films. So check your sources when you say it *already* made it's money back inernationally

    ReplyDelete