As to whether 3D is a marker of quality or cultural ruin is growing increasingly beside the point.
Jump scares, sexy vampires, popular villains, and bloodshed, especially if related to a centuries-old text, are good for business.
Bad reviews will hurt Pan, but they won’t sink it; Warner Bros.’s uninspired $150 million investment and ho-hum marketing will.
The international box office came to the rescue for numerous films and franchises, often counting for nearly three quarters of their worldwide gross.
Confession: I don’t like The Lord of the Rings films. All of them.
Without question, Bale remains one of Hollywood’s most versatile and risk-taking leading men.
Disney continues to produce and use the same kind of fantasy marketing template to attract kids of all ages.
Aside from the ethics of 3D, it’s undeniable that Catching Fire will be at an economic disadvantage without it, losing as much as $4 per ticket in some cases.
The departure of a new Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle surely meant another equally high-profile or even several smaller-profile releases would be flocking to the date.
Anchored by its attachment to The Avengers, this new film’s artistic aspirations become irrelevant to domestic reception, since the massive global opening ensures its event status.
The D or F CinemaScore can indicate something potentially subversive about the material, whether intentional or not.
The entirety of the marketing for The Counselor suffers from what I’m calling “prestige-film fallacy.”
These Academy members possess an elementary school understanding of art, where films operate in a purely denotative register.
In what sense, then, is Machete Kills not simply that: a cash-in sequel meant to make fast money?
So, Contagion is the reigning champion—at least, until Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity opens in IMAX 3D this Friday, the first AHB to open in the two-plus years since.
Baggage Claim, the other(ed) wide release this week, will likely be marginalized because of these “higher profile,” male-driven openers.
There are many, many articles railing against 3D: picture is too dim, glasses are uncomfortable, provide a distancing rather than immersive effect, and so on.