I recently blogged about my concerns if Evan Almighty flopped this weekend.I, as well as many others, would classify the $32.1 million opening weekend of Evan as a flop. Peter Sanders of the WSJ believes that Evan Almighty was the first "major pothole" in Hollywood's sequel-filled summer. He also put Evan in the same category as Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, by saying May's blockbuster "threequels" were all expected to fall short of their previous domestic sales numbers.
Could that be true? Looking at the numbers, Sanders has a good argument. That's only if you thought sequels should outperform the original. Other than Shrek II, most of the recent sequels made less than its predecessors. Even the Harry Potter franchise couldn't make a sequel that outperformed the $317.5 million earned from Sorcerer's Stone.
In today's standards, movie sequels are often criticized as being inferior. Most of today's films deliberately have story developments that a sequel could develop into future films if they drive enough fanfare at the box-office. Sequels are often thought of as a way to "milk" the original movie for all its worth – and sometimes its works.
Sanders believes the massive amount of sequels have sent audiences in search for more original movies. Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), scored big with Knocked Up, which cost less than $30 million to make and surpassed the $100 million mark domestically in a month. Sony Corp's (NYSE: SNE) Superbad and Paramount's (NYSE: VIA) Hot Rod are both low cost comedies that could do well relative to production costs.
Bank of America certainly agrees with Saunders, an analyst at the firm downgraded the theater sector to Neutral from Buy based largely on weaker-than-expected box office figures.
While there are expectations for the next batch of sequels to do well, Warner Brothers's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Universal's third "Bourne" movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) said that it will stop making sequels of classic animated films like Cinderella. This is a move the AP says reflects the growing influence of former Pixar execs John Lasseter and Steve Jobs, who called the films "embarrassing." DisneyToon Studios will now only produce original DVD films.
I still think the failure of this movie hurts Tom Shadyac's career, positioning him to be one of Hollywood's one-hit wonders with Bruce Almighty. This could also hurt Steve Carell's opportunity to garner more leading roles. With movie-budgets climbing each summer, there is bound to be more and more flops out there. Each flop will have a negative impact on the distribution company and pressure the theatre industry to find profits that aren't there.
Regardless of who or what this will hurt, we just have to look at next summer's movie list – Walt Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16th), Universal's The Mummy 3 (July 11th) and Warner Brother's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (August 8th) – and wait a few months before we start to make any harsh judgments on sequels again.
Kevin Shult is a writer for Theflyonthewall.com (subscription required).
Sanders believes the massive amount of sequels have sent audiences in search for more original movies. Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), scored big with Knocked Up, which cost less than $30 million to make and surpassed the $100 million mark domestically in a month. Sony Corp's (NYSE: SNE) Superbad and Paramount's (NYSE: VIA) Hot Rod are both low cost comedies that could do well relative to production costs.
Bank of America certainly agrees with Saunders, an analyst at the firm downgraded the theater sector to Neutral from Buy based largely on weaker-than-expected box office figures.
While there are expectations for the next batch of sequels to do well, Warner Brothers's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Universal's third "Bourne" movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) said that it will stop making sequels of classic animated films like Cinderella. This is a move the AP says reflects the growing influence of former Pixar execs John Lasseter and Steve Jobs, who called the films "embarrassing." DisneyToon Studios will now only produce original DVD films.
I still think the failure of this movie hurts Tom Shadyac's career, positioning him to be one of Hollywood's one-hit wonders with Bruce Almighty. This could also hurt Steve Carell's opportunity to garner more leading roles. With movie-budgets climbing each summer, there is bound to be more and more flops out there. Each flop will have a negative impact on the distribution company and pressure the theatre industry to find profits that aren't there.
Regardless of who or what this will hurt, we just have to look at next summer's movie list – Walt Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16th), Universal's The Mummy 3 (July 11th) and Warner Brother's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (August 8th) – and wait a few months before we start to make any harsh judgments on sequels again.
Kevin Shult is a writer for Theflyonthewall.com (subscription required).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-25-2007 @ 9:04PM
Dave said...
Tom Shadyac a one-hit wonder? Either you didn't do your homework or you're just plain ignorant. Shadyac directed Ace Ventura:Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Patch Adams and Bruce Almighty, ALL of which grossed over one hundred million dollars.
6-25-2007 @ 11:07PM
david clark said...
"Evan Almighty" flopped because people are tired of formulistic comedies that rely souly on the "big names" and have no plot. If you even went to see this movie and disliked it, what do you expect? You want to see a movie that someone didn't crank out in a factory? Try "Once!!!!!!!"
6-26-2007 @ 2:25AM
John Aboud said...
At the risk of piling on, I want to second "Dave"'s comment about "one-hit wonder." That pretty much invalidates everything else in the post.
6-27-2007 @ 1:49PM
JIM said...
We have not been to the movies for over 20 years. We enjoyed the movie Evan Akmighty. We had some BIG laughs. Maybe some who did not like it did not know the story of the ARK. There were some very sudle funny things. Go and enjoy a movie that does not have any 4 letter words or a bunch of sex. We did.
6-28-2007 @ 12:35AM
Julie said...
My family saw "Evan Almighty" on Tuesday. We deliberately didn't see it over the weekend, because we thought it would be crowded.
It's the most family friendly movie that I have seen in a long time and it was a lot better than I expected. My husband and I are athiests and I was pleasantly surprised that the movie wasn't preachy at all, which I appreciated, yet it sent a nice message about protecting the earth.
My family goes to a lot of movies. I would have to say that "Evan" was the first movie that I have seen this summer that wasn't a disappointment.
7-01-2007 @ 12:51AM
kathie said...
I enjoy all types of movies and don't consider myself in any way a conservative moviegoer, but I loved this movie. I agree wholeheartedly with Julie. This was a great family movie, one that my teenage boys could enjoy and laugh about (even if they thought some of the jokes were corny) and I believe in time, it may build a little momentum among people who would like to see a movie just once in a while without sex and violence and just watch some old-fashioned fun. Wanda Sykes as usual was a crack-up.