Wednesday, June 02, 2010

The Month of May: What the Hell Happened?

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Gross so far: $280 million

Budget: $200 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 74%


Robin Hood (2010)

Gross so far: $86 million

Budget: $200 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 44%


Shrek Forever After (2010)

Gross so far: $146 million

Budget: $165 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 52%


Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Gross so far: $37 million

Budget: $200 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 40%


Sex and the City 2 (2010)

Gross so far: $51 million

Budget: $100 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 17%


CONSENSUS: FAIL


For anyone who knows me, May is one of my favorite months of the year. The summer movie season begins and audiences are thrown into the world of blockbusters. There is usually one film that sticks out as one of the summer’s best. In 2008, there was Iron Man. Last year was Star Trek.


This year, there’s…


Uh…


Um…


Bueller?


Iron Man 2 is acceptable but nowhere near the heights of the first. Robin Hood is barely escaping bankruptcy. People don’t seem to care about Shrek Forever After. Prince of Persia is in theaters and it still doesn’t seem to make sense. Sex and the City 2 lost half its audience because its marketing campaign failed to realize that you need more than just a sequel to be successful. You need to sell a story. Because of this, I’ve only seen two movies all month, and only one midnight premiere. Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood. As it is now June, I must look back and ask, what the hell happened?


Maybe I was busy graduating college or working more hours. Maybe it’s because I moved back home to New Hampshire from Boston. Or maybe, for the first time in my movie-going experience, it’s because I just don’t want to see anything that's been offered to me.


This is a rare occurrence, because I am always game for the movies regardless of what it is. But I think it’s time I finally say that I am not the same moviegoer I once was. I’m losing hope in the blockbuster genre, as this summer we have eleven sequels (up from nine last year and seven the year before), God knows how many pointless remakes/adaptations (Robin Hood, The Karate Kid, The A-Team, etc.), and several projects that once looked promising but now have fallen victim to mediocrity (I don’t want to say it, but I’m becoming skeptical of Toy Story 3, mostly because of sequel fatigue). Is it bad that the next movie I’m looking forward to the most right now is a horror film starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley called Splice?


I would recommend Get Him to the Greek, the funniest movie of 2010 so far. For those wanting an Apatow-fix, this one supplies the rare feeling of satisfaction.


Attendance is down and universal crowd-pleasers are becoming extinct. When will Hollywood redeem itself? Other than my personal interest in seeing The Last Airbender (mainly because I’m the last remaining M. Night Shyamalan fan), I never thought I would be so vulnerable to put all of my hopes for this summer of movies on one film. One film that will make or break my decision of whether or not this is (so far anyway), the worst summer of movies I’ve ever been apart of.


Did you hear that, Inception?

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