Van Helsing

[Oren1]

Here we go, the summer season is upon us... The Mummy Returns made 68 million

I don't know, I thought that movie sucked balls and that could influenc emy choice on weather ornot to see Van Helsing. Same director/writer... But most people probably don't care/liked the Mummy Returns. I guess this movie should do around the same business?

 

[Oren1]

68 is probably way too high I guess... It's only #5 on moviefone, and if it was to top 60 million I'd expect it to be #1 already. I think Scary Movie 3 was #1 on monday(?) before it's release and it only did what, 55 million?

 

[Big-KO]

You must really believe in that chart. IMO, it doesn't work that well. Go with your gut. I, myself, want to see this flick. The special effects look cool.

 

[Oren1]

lol... yeah, I want to believe in it even though at least half the time it proves useless... It would be nice to have something more solid to base predictions on other than gut instinct. I mean, really, this thing could do between 55 and 75 million and the line will be 63 million, then what do you do? Give up? I'd like to think that eventually I'll turn this hobby into something proffitable. It's hard when the easy winners like the Passion over only come along once in a while, and you want to make more bets than one every 4 months. My initial gut prediction was 65 million, but I'm starting to think that's too high.

 

[Oren1]

#3 at Yahoo movies, not #1 like Scooby pulled off. 44 points on the buzz chart, 1 less than Troy, and a loss of 4 points in the last day. Not sure what that number really means, I used to keep track of the chart but don't have access to my notes.... but hell Mean Girls has 71 right now! holy crap.

And, it's finally #1 on moviefone, a couple days too late if you ask me. I'm not sure if WSEX really plays games with their lines or not, maybe they just lay out the studio estimates every week without trying to take advantage of public perception. A lot of times it seems like the lay the line a little over what the movie is going to make knowing everyone's going to bet the over and lose. I sense this could be one of those times. Could this be the week Lee's low-ball estimates finally hold true? he's got it at something like 44 million. I'd say 48. If the line ends up being any lower than that I don't know if I could take the under without pissing my pants. How do you bet against Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein all rolled into one? But, most early reviews I've seen have been terrible, pretty much sounds like the over-CGI crap-fest that was the Mummy Returns, which utterly blowed goats if you ask me.

 

[Oren1]

check this out:

"blockbuster buzz" poll on yahoo:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/summermovieguide/may.html


Summer Movie Guide Poll
Which of these May releases are you most excited to see?
Thanks for voting! 29882 votes to date

Van Helsing 26% 7905 votes
New York Minute 2% 665 votes
Troy 30% 9149 votes
Breakin' All The Rules 0% 196 votes
Shrek 2 25% 7527 votes
Raising Helen 1% 388 votes
The Day After Tomorrow 11% 3504 votes
Soul Plane 1% 548 votes


Pretty good for Van Helsing. Not very good for The Day After Tomorrow, especially compared to Troy... of course, these internet surveys are always skewed towards the more computer nerdy film geeks, whom most seem to want to see Troy more than anything else. over 50 million for Helsing?

Gil, where's your prediction, don't be a pussy.

 

[Gillian]

Okay, okay... I'll make an alley cat return... I took some time off because I had some box office victories under my belt. Felt good. Wanted to savor it. With the movie list that you posted above... it isn't correct. Can't be... because SHREK 2 is going to Kill everyone. But I like Van Helsing, but those damn reviews suck. Hmmmm..... I'd say 50 million.

I hope TROY tanks... Brad Pitt makes me sick... his acting in this movie is supposedly really bad.

 

[Hitman26]

Van Helsing = 25 million. That's my prediction.



Hitman

 

[Oren1]

lol so we've got a predict for 25 and a crystal ball forcast of 50 as well, maybe average them out and what do you get, dogshit? or the line. over/under 38.5? the over would get absolutely hammered, and watch it do 37. Making Hitman's very low prediciton of 25 the winner! way to go dawg.

 

[Oren1]

under 56 EVEN! for 5 units baby

 

[Big-KO]

Box Office Opening Weekend Gross: Van Helsing
Closing Date: May 07, 2004 15:00 GMT -4
3-day week from Friday, May 7th through Sunday, May 9th.
U.S. & Canada box office sales only.
Option Win Odds
USD 40 million to 55.9 million -111
USD 56 million to 64.9 million +140
USD 65 million or more +190
USD 40 million or less +750

WSEX has money on the OVER at -150... where is at Itops you can get the OVER for +140.

I smell X-men numbers myself. I like 56 million to 64.9 million +140

So I guess it's BigKo vs. Oren... a race to the finish line.

[This message was edited by Big-KO on May 06, 2004 at 07:55 PM.]

 

[Gillian]

As a kid I was totally obsessed with Dracula and Frankenstien, and Wolfman... etc. I also like Jackman, even though he f-cked up his Clint Eastwood image he started from X-men. You would never see Eastwood put tights on and dance around like a fag.

 

[Hitman26]

What can I say? I grew up watching the Price is Right and it's better to bid 1$ and be under by 999, than to bid 1001 and to be over by 1$. This movie looks like a bomb to me. Sortta reminds me of LXG movie from last year. Kate Beckinsale? I am a Jackman fan so I will go check it out. This movie has been really been advertised so that will help it out but I cant see it getting many female viewers.


Thats my take
Hitman

 

[Oren1]

lol Hitman that's funny stuff... although I doubt it will flop, the extremely negative reviews surely can't help. 22% at rottentomatoes, that's pretty bad. And whenever the people are ripping on a movie mercilessly at Aint it Cool News, that's not a good sign, either. I feel pretty good about the under otherwise I wouldn't have laid down 5 units, but, I don't imagine it will do THAT much worse than 56 if it does indeed go under.

 

[Gillian]

F-ck the reviews... only one... count it 1 ...
review matters. And that is the review of Roger Ebert. He is the only person people listen to. And Roger Ebert gives it 3 stars.

Van Helsing will do awesome!!!

 

[Oren1]

yeah, by your own account, 50 million, that can qualify as awesome I guess, but it would still go under...

 

[Gillian]

GET THOSE THEATER REPORTS, OREN,,, KEEP THEM COMING IN.

 

[Oren1]

Still no crowd reports yet, and that's not good, most big budget movies like this have a few reports trickle in by the afternoon. And Boxofficemojo has predicted 44.5 million..

 

[Oren1]

ok here's the first theater report:

Waco, TX -- Jewel Theater -- 1pm

20 people, mostly college age, slightly more male than female.

snacks -- popcorn and water

trailers -- Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Catwoman, Bourne Supremacy -- no
audible reaction to anything.

Harold and Kumar looked mildly amusing in an inane sort of way,. Catwoman looked dismal.
Bourne looked been there done that.

On to the show --

I must begin by saying that Hugh Jackman is drop dead gorgeous. Kate Beckinsale is very
pretty and they look good together.

That being said, the movie sucked. It pains me greatly to say it, but alas it is true. I’m sure it will
appeal to some for it’s non-stop action, but action alone does not a good film make. The entire
film goes from action sequence to lame segue into another action sequence.

The only sequence which does not include an *oh my God, bad guys are on our ass!* element
is a really awkward scene lifted straight out of the James Bond movie of your choice. (you’ll
know it when you see it)

As I watched, I tried to figure out what the problem was. I think perhaps the biggest problem is
that it suffers from a severe lack of relaxed or down time. Not only does no one ever seem to
sleep, they don’t even need time to stop and take a breath. Therefore, there is a serious lack of
dialog and character development. The story just steamrolls forward at breakneck speed
without feeling the need to make you care about any of the characters, what they are doing or
why. Everything just kind of happens on account of the script said so.

I got the feeling that Steven Sommers had a checklist of things he wanted to film and then he
filmed them. I would like to think that somewhere there is a reel of deleted scenes that actually
contains the movie. But who knows, maybe not. Maybe he just filmed the action scenes and
edited them together.

________________________


20 people? in Waco, no less. Pretty useless report.

 

[Gillian]

Keep em going.