Kong Flops?
 

i just read that the opening of kong (on wednesday) was way below industry expectations - that combined with luke-warm critical praise and some ambivalent word of mouth makes me wonder - do you think King Kong might be a flop? Will the giant monkey remake go the way of the giant lizard remake (the atrocious Godzilla)?

thoughts?

...considering it is the most expensive movie ever made...I wouldnt be surprised...I'm not gonna see it at the cinema

Is it? I had heard it was the 5th.

I too refuse to dole out 8.50$ for that film even if it HAS Naomi Watts.

..maybe you are right but they said it on the radio .....but I'm not sure

It's on pace to make around $100 million bucks... definitely not gonna cut it.

i really wanted to see it until i started seeing all the previews. . . now i'm not so excited for it

kong looks way to c.g. and it seems to have too much of the dew-eyed emotional swell of the last 40 minutes of Return of the King

3 hours of even good CGI is hard to take. This wasn't like 'LOTR' wher all the fans had a close say in what eventually made it on screen mind you. This was Peter Jackson's ego at work and the studios rewarded him this favor for his 3-peat. When all is said and done, it's still just another remake.
CK

what luke-warm critical praise? I've heard nothing but glowing reviews (it's got an 83 fresh on Rottentomatoes)

i've seen some pretty nasty things said about it on "aintitcool.com" - which is a site that i figured would have been busting a nut over this film. . .

I never saw the original, never wanted to either. This movie looks really, really dumb. I bet enough helicopters get blown up to get mindless people into the seats though. Peter Jackson will probably win awards for it etc.

aintitcool news is like the Gene Shalit of online film reviews. This was the same site that orgasmed all over Daredevil when it first came out

agreed - though i still check it religiously -- i just noticed the new yorker also didn't like King Kong - thought it was too pushy and overly dramatic

I honestly don't want to see this film! Yes, I'll probably see it when it comes out on video. But, it being 3 hours, I can see it easily being 2 and a half hours of people hearing sounds in the jungle, and then King Kong attacking mindlessly for 30 minutes straight. Even though Peter Jackson is behind the wheel, he has disappointed me on many ocassions (LOTR). So, I'll probably skip on this flick for awhile.

I just called my friend and he was at the theater waiting for it to start...the Friday after it opens and he said there were 10 people there besides him. Sounds exciting.

WOW - that's shocking.

of course, it will still make money - i remember reading an article about that awful godzilla film and it said that the godzilla remake ended up making a lot of money - though mostly overseas. . . ahh well, that's hollywood for you - enough hype and they make their cash (and could care less about the audiences)

Don't forget about the Taco Bell promotions...."here leeeeezard leeeeeezard"

oh my god - i just saw a similar burger king ad for King Kong with that really creepy (and disturbing) looking "king" dude staring into a woman's penthouse window and reaching in to give her a burger. . .that really creeped me out

No shit, I saw that one last night...kept me awake.

I know Im checkin it out in theatres. Lookin forward to it, too.

How overtly did they say that? Was it an inferrence by the tone of the review and the overall attitude towards the movie, or did they actually out and out say that?

If it's the latter, then you can more or less translate that to "I just wanted to see the cool action stuff, why did they have to have boring character development?!"

hahaha...he's so bored watching it he's texting me

I agree, I just thougt that was kinda funny. I go see a lot of movies that get bad reviews. I generally go against them, and RARELY do I think a movie is as bad as everyone says. I just love movies...even a lot of the ones everyone else likes to say suck so much. I'll be seeing Kong on Sunday I do believe.

I watched the old black and white one and then the remake just the other night for the first time. I liked the remake better, the old one didn't look"real" enough! I think it is kinda boring at first, i'm not mucj into that sorta thing. I say give it a chance, you never know!!! :)

Well, I thought it was pushy firstly because I thought the romance between Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll was badly drawn; I felt a romance was being forced on the audience very quickly--a romance that was prefabricated in the sense that Ann was already starry-eyed over screenwriter Driscoll before she'd met him. I didn't personally feel a sense of attraction between them. It was more like, "Here's your lovers, folks, they'll be kissing in a minute, there's sure to be some jealous rivalry once they get to that island with the big ape." I have nothing against drama, but I like it to be well designed.

Exposition in New York was choppy and didn't flow. Jack Black a talented performer but miscast, and not a likeable character...Robert Armstrong's 1933 Carl Denham was much more likeable, which I preferred. Both risked the lives of their crew, but the newly-rewritten character seemed much colder and exploitative, a real Hollywood jerk, whereas the original character was a friendly but reckless adventurer.

I did however feel that they delivered the effects in spades, and generally the effects were remarkable. The production is gorgeous. Kong the animal/character was beautifully realized and worth the price of admission. If you wanna see some cool shit, I say grab yourself a ticket and some popcorn and see it. I realize my review sounds split, and maybe it is. At about the 1/3 mark, I recall thinking that "this looks great but doesn't replace the original film in any way." Peter Jackson is tremendously talented himself but considering that he respects the original film, and displays more than a little humble reverence for it on the 1933 film's DVD supplements, I believe he presents this new King Kong as a reimagining, not as a replacement.

well, the new yorker guy clearly wasn't looking for more action but, to give it to you straight, david denby said: "This Kong is high-powered entertainment, but Jackson pushes too hard and loses momentum over the more than three hours of the movie. The story was always a goofy fable - that was its charm - and a well-told fable knows when to stop." (p. 102)

My daughter saw it last night and loved it...said it was a bit drawn out in spots but overall was satisfied.
I personally loved the LOTR movies and thought it was the best use of C.G.I. yet.If he can do the same for Kong...it can't be too bad.

i also loved LOTR (thought RoTK was a bit long) - i'm just afraid that jackson will fall too much in love with himself . . but i'll still go see it this week

explain

Return of the King, 3rd Lord of the Rings movie.

well..
I would say that FM's critic would hit it
on the nail for me..
Em not a huge..P.J fan either..
As somebody mentioned ..too drawn out..
too hollywoodish...miscasted male lead actor.
I preferred the original and appreciate what they did in order to bring the big ape to the screen..with all that mecahnical stuff they had going on and used what they could afford in those days..
The problem with todays remakes..too
much computer generated shit..
Spiderman and Batman movies are good examples of what em talking about.
Give me the good ole classical originals any day..
You could actually feel the passion from the directors and crew..in which you dont' get that now..
too much empathis on surprises and graphics and ooh wow!!that'll look kewl on the big screen bullshit..

I wanted to mention that I do like Peter Jackson's work, quite a bit...Lord of the Rings and The Frighteners, I enjoyed tremendously. This new film I didn't think shined like some of the others he's done. I have to give him a lot of credit because he's very daring and inventive.

Same thing with John Carpenter...I like 90% of his films a LOT, but a couple of them fall a little flatter to me...and just to make sure you know that I know my opinion is an OPINION, I wanna say again that I liked GHOSTS OF MARS a lot, and most other people I've talked to wanted all prints of that movie turned into guitar picks...

bring back Alfred Hitchcock..
didn't he have any offspring that could fill
his shoes.
I would just go punch PJ if he ever decides to remake an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

..I believe you..:p

Wouldn't you rather see this:-

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141516/

:confused:

yes!

There must be some ancient spell book we could use to bring him back. :cool:

66 million..50 over the weekend,just because a big movie opens in the middle of the week doesn't mean everybody goes to see in the middle of the week.

Starring MONSTER DAD!!!!!!!!!

Yes, yes I would.