January 27, 2003

Box office abhors a vacuum…

Darkness Falls, expected to stiff, stiffed the rest of the field, managing an estimated $12.7 million.  Look for the total to out under $30 million, but still, that is a good number for a movie that wasn’t seen as having much potential. 

But there’s not a lot of interesting stuff to chew on in the box office charts.

How `bout them Super Bowl commercials!

I counted ten movie spots in during the game itself.  Warner Bros. got one in for Gods & Generals during the pre-show and others turned up as well.  The reality, to me, is that the best spot of the day had nothing to do with movies and that one was the Terry Tate: Office Linebacker spot for Reebok.  Dead funny.  Way over the top.  And yet, really smart.

But of the ten movie spots, there were three categories: 1. Irrelevant, 2. Blurry, 3. Successful.

IRRELEVENT

The Recruit – This spot seemed a little more loaded than some of the previous TV ads, but still, Disney has loaded up all of the lead up play-off games with spots for the film and the expenditure here just didn’t seem to make sense.  The film doesn’t target the wider Super Bowl market and the guys who were wanna-sees were wanna-sees before this very expensive ad buy.  (On the other hand, maybe there was a deal cut.  After all, the four ESPN commercials are very unlikely to have been sold by ESPN parent ABC at full price to the cable net.)

Tears of The Sun – Again, not a revelatory experience.  One smart aleck said, “Oh, Hart’s War,” which pointed out the unfortunate release date on this year’s Bruce Willis war film.  Still, it seems more Black Hawk Down than Hart’s War.

BLURRY

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle – The trailer seems to be trying to trade on a relationship that the studio wants to believe people have with this film.  But do they really have it?  I don’t think so.  Do the girls look great? Absolutely.  Do we get more than a single close-up in the ad other than of Bernie Mac?  Nope.  Even Demi Moore would be unrecognizable to anyone who wasn’t looking for her.  The biggest fear from this spot is that they haven’t understood the basic draw to this movie… it’s the three women, not the karate or big effects. 

Bad Boys II – Not much to thrill over here.  The commercial isn’t really fun.  It’s big.  It’s loud.  But where is the joy?  Again, this is a Michael Bay success that is half Bay and half in spite of Bay.  The spin around the room rip-off from Swordfish is actually a little embarrassing.  Bay trying to top Dominic Sena is like Scorsese trying to top Guy Ritchie.  The bright idea of the original was a funny buddy comedy that added Bay’s hyperactive camera.  This ad was all Bay, no joy.

Daredevil – Could there be any reason for spending more money on this one than another opportunity to try to capitalize on Jennifer Garner.  Far more interesting were the almost-bizarre ABC spots featuring Garner in her underwear in a last ditch attempt to salvage the show that not enough people are watching.  I now know why she was in that underwear and the show actually does a flashback in the episode so we can see her in the lingerie yet one more time. Still, there’d better be more in Daredevil when it arrives in theaters than in these spots, unless the gay S&M audience is enough to make this film a hit.

Bruce Almighty – I got it… I got it… I got it… I don’t got it.  Clearly a wining premise that screams “smash hit.”  But I still haven’t seen a spot or teaser trailer that gets me really excited in the way I was excited by every spot for Liar, Liar.  There was less here than in the teaser trailer.  Not a home run.

T3 – Again, a pale reflection of the trailer that’s already out.  I was actually a little more taken with the visuals here, but I’m still not terribly excited about what this movie is about.  Or is it about anything?  We did this dance once before in recent months.  It was called Red Dragon.  I hope we’re wrong about this one.

SUCCESSFUL

Anger Management – Columbia’s paring of the biggest passive aggressive star of this moment and the biggest aggressive aggressive star of this era just smells like a can’t miss, funny, painful, brilliantly stupid and irresistible experience.  If it’s anywhere near as good as this spot and the teaser trailer, it will be the biggest box office film from either star since Batman.

The Hulk – I didn’t like this one that much the first time around.  But thanks to Tivo, I watched it again… and again… and then, in slow motion.  And the more I look, the more I like the CG.  Even the first time I saw it, it occurred to me that such a smattering of images couldn’t really tell us what Ang Lee & Co. were up to with the character.  But slowing it down and looking at it frame-by-frame, the musculature and its motion is amazing.  And the face is pretty remarkable.  Then there is this… what do people expect?  And I don’t have an answer.  The Hulk standing in the shadowy hallway of a house is an interesting way to show a CG character.  The spinning and throwing of the tank is classic Hulk.  The truth is, I want to be a true believer.  I like the character a lot and I like Ang Lee a lot.  This was just a taste.  And will the character feel real when it is complete?  Only time will tell.

The Matrix – Perhaps the most powerful thing in the entire trailer is the last images, of the titles and their fast approaching dates.  You can almost feel the surge of excitement that comes form The Year of The Matrix. Imagine a New Line campaign for all three Lord of the Rings films six months before Fellowship of the Ring arrived.  But that’s hardly the only thing here.  If I have any concern, it may be that it seems like they’ve gone overboard… too much action… CG that’s too showy.  As with other films on this list, character is king.  And we love these characters.  Which brings me to one genius decision here… they don’t introduce a single new character in the spots.  No Jada Pinkett, no twins, no Monica Bellucci.  The team on this made the brilliant decision to overwhelm us with relatively familiar stuff and to leave the new ideas and images for later.  For razzle dazzle, this spot couldn’t be beat.  And watching it in Tivo-ed slow motion made it all the more impressive.  You will believe a man can gross $100 million on opening weekend for a second year in a row.

READER OF THE DAY:  EX-MON writes:  “I think the story of the Super Bowl - in the movie world anyway – will be that HORRIBLE TV spot for "The Hulk."  Oh man, that was lame.  The Hulk CGI effects were laughable.  My wife and I actually moaned in embarrassment.  On the other hand, without a doubt, the next "Matrix" will be not only the biggest film of the year, but will probably top "Spider-Man."  The TV spots sure were better than the game -- and the crappy halftime show.

THE YACK writes: “I decided to wait till after the Super Bowl and all the movie commercials to write in, so I could comment on them.

The Matrix commercial, was hands down, the best one by far. I am officially drooling everytime I watch it on my computer.

T3 was pretty good. I hope we get to see an entrance for the female Terminator in the same vein as Arnold and Robert in T2. Shallow I know, but still.

Hulk looks amazing especially the shot of Hulk whipping around the tank and throwing it. I have faith in it thanks to Ang Lee. CT, HD proved he could meld romance and action together perfectly.

Bruce Almighty looks funny as hell. Jim Carrey reverts back to form as the funniest guy in the world. I can't wait.

The shot used for the Bad Boys 2 commercial was cool. Hope it is more of the same old fun from the first one.

Daredevil looks okay at this point. Jennifer Garner looks hot, but I'm kinda iffy on it.

As if seeing the trailer 4 times in one day wasn't enough, I had to see a commercial for the Recruit. Hope the top level talent translates into an above average movie. I'll find out soon.

Couldn't care less about Charlie's Angels 2. Sure, three sexy women are in it, but the only way I'll see this pretender to feminism is for free.”

E ME: What are your Super reviews?