$158.3 Million for three day opening...wow...yesterday they estimated $155, not expecting Sunday to do so well as it did. It also got $250 mil in ticket sales. What's the difference? Well that's a record too. This movie's breaking all records. Broke the midnight showing record, opening day record and Sunday record. To put this into perspective Dark Knight one weekend = $158.3 mil Wall-E (GREAT movie) three weekends = $182.51 mil
I loved this movie, but opening weekend sales figures are all about the hype a movie has. That's why terrible movies like Spiderman 3, X-Men 3, Shrek 3, etc are in that top 10 of biggest opening weekends. The important thing is how well it's reviewed, 94% right now on Rotten Tomatoes is great. Plus the reasons for the bad reviews have been stupid, basically the critics who gave bad reviews don't want summer tentpole movies to be this serious and that comic books aren't worthy of having serious movie adaptations. Also, staying power, which we won't know until next weekend.
Why are you obligated to dress up Catwoman but not obligated to put Riddler in head to toe green covered in question marks? Catwoman is a catburglar that's either an anti-hero (Robin Hood) or a villain with a soft heart. That's all. The costume isn't needed. Same thing with Penguin - you don't need the trick umbrellas or foot-long beak. Just a (shorter) monocle-wearing arms dealer dominated by greed. That said, I'll back off on the Riddler. You could incorporate him if you patterned him after the Zodiac Killer or something...but I have a hard time picturing him without that suit. Maybe that's just me. Evan
Lol. Yeah it'll take a while for the hype to die down and for people to really analyze/place it where it should be. While not number one, it should be up there for sure.
There wouldn't be a point in her being called Catwoman if she wasn't dressed in a cat costume...like Batman. The Riddler's name would fit even if dressed in plain clothes just by the puzzles and clues he leaves. Anyways, Catwoman would make an interesting supporting character but not the MAIN character...not for what could be the last Batman film this cast and crew makes.
Every time someone mentions Riddler, I can't get this out of my head: (LINK FIXED) http://www.bookofratings.com/batmanvillains.html Thank you, Brunching Shuttlecocks.
There is absolutlely no way someone could say this movie was bad unless they absolutley hate action movies or are a girl who only like chick flicks. I read RT too. It was all people who want to go against the hype instead of just trying to watch it for what it is.
If I didn't already know you hung around the boards just to get kicks riling people up, I might have been surprised at this. Instead, I'm just going to pretend that you were someone asking (without having seen the film) if the performance was actually good and not just a product of posthumous hype. The simplest answer would be: you don't even see Heath Ledger in this character. Doesn't especially look like him, obviously, but more importantly, he doesn't sound like him, walk like him....Ledger completely created a new person. The only thing you focus on, is that this character is utterly psychotic, and not just by his general actions, but by the tiniest mannerisms, posture, and speech. Bad acting means you (a) don't buy at all that the character is "real", and/or (b) have seen this character a million times already (Jim Carrey/Adam Sandler syndrome). Only the opposite can be attributed to Ledger's Joker. It's fair that to argue that at least half the credit has to go to the writing and direction. They went with the correct vision of the Joker instead of the overdone pun-filled idiot obsessed with laughing gas. Still, Ledger brought it to life. His line delivery was nothing short of genius - it was hard not to chuckle with even some of his "straight" lines. Evan
The joker was the best character IMO, but the movie itself wasn't so great. It's not a bad movie, but it wasn't anything special. It's probably the hype that made this movie seem so great but I was mostly dissappointed after watching it. Too much hype leads to great expectations.
It's the last big blockbuster of the season, so it has chance to do some strong business. This very well could be a perfect storm that could propel it to Titanic territory. Strong reviews, great word of mouth, timing of release, no big movies in front of it. X Files will be out next weekend but I don't see it topping Dark Knight since most of the people that will see that are gonna be those who watched the show. And the first movie made 30 million opening weekend at the height of the shows popularity. Even if it does that well Batman would have to drop 81 percent the next weekend; not gonna happen. It'll face a test when the Mummy comes out the following weekend though. Mummy Returns made 68 million on opening weekend. But hopefully , much like Rush Hour 3, interest in the franchise has waned and it won't score a huge opening. Then you have Tropic Thunder and Clone Wars. If it can survive through August...then it could do like Titanic and stay in the top 10 for several months.
Thank you, Evan, for your wonderfully condescending post. Maybe next time you should read the rest of the conversation I was having with other members before you try making a point to me with stuff I've already said. Even with all things you are arguing to me that I have already said. (I said he was good, I said I saw Joker not Ledger, I found him funny) I saw the movie and did not think he was GREAT or OSCAR WORTHY. I didn't completely feel the character. It is an opinion, just as yours is. I do think much of it is post-humous hype. Though I was trying to watch it through unbiased eyes, I was honestly expecting a little bit more. After reading previews and whatnot, I was more excited about this movie than any in a long time. I wanted Ledger to nail it. I think he missed by a tad. Not much. A tad. Maybe it was the hype had me expecting more than could be delivered. Good movie. Will buy it. Give movie a B+. Give Ledger a B+. He was as good as the movie.
Who cares if someone thinks it's a "great" or only a "good" movie. Like a previous poster stated, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I don't understand the persistent need to try to convince another poster to agree with your particular views.
I caught all the conversation, and took the time to put down a decently detailed post on why I felt Ledger's performance was "great" and not just a by-product of hype. You took a somewhat controversial semi-swipe by saying the performance wasn't great, danced around why you felt that way, started covering yourself by talking about how you thought everything was in fact very good, and then finally tossed out a head-scratcher of a reason for why you thought Ledger's performance wasn't great or Oscar worthy. Not that this should even matter in terms of Heath's performance, but the essence of Joker was chaos - there was no reason for him being who he was, there was no method to his madness, there was no end-goal he was striving for. He was chaos, and a origin or backstory would diminish that by giving reason to him. Harvey Dent (not Batman) was the polar opposite - he represented order without shades of gray (his tension with Gordon and the corrupted police corps). Painting a broad brush, Best Actor Oscars go to an outstanding portrayal of a difficult or decidedly unique character. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump or Philadelphia, Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets, Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, etc. The audience sees someone that is completely outside of the norm, yet are totally convinced by the performance (the character seems real). How does Ledger miss that mark here? Can you give any concrete reasons, or was it just a letdown brought about by either overhype or a bias against him because of the posthumous attention he's getting? True, just because he died doesn't mean he should get Oscar hype. At the same time, just because he died doesn't mean the performance wasn't Oscar worthy. I doubt anyone would jump on you or anyone else over not liking the movie (you did, I know) or thinking Ledger wasn't Oscar worthy as the Joker. I think you're getting jumped on because you don't seem to have any true reasoning behind it. I suppose "it just didn't grab me" is well enough, though. If you say " , you need to be able to back that up. Hell, Russell Crowe got one for Gladiator.
Yeah I dont think TDK is Citizen Kane aka best of all time but like MadMax the 2 movies I immediately thought about of as comparisons were ESB and Die Hard. ESB being ESB and Die Hard an immediately hard impact movie for viewers that EXPLODED people's minds in the movie theater with its pacing and action (best R action movie ever, and arguably the best of all time). I also thought of Matrix in terms of impact it's going to have on the movie industry. Like with those 3 movies you get up from the your seat and your first impulse is to go buy another ticket. In terms of box office I knew this would be the first movie in a long time to come in ABOVE projections, that's how strong the real-life buzz is for this movie. I mean when's the last time you went to a club and there's chicks standing around talking about Batman??? Maybe the first LOR and that movie was overrated The ESB analogy is especially good because like ESB and Godfather 2, watching this second movie adds texture and understanding to what we saw in the first movie. Stuff about blowing up his father's monorail, Bruce's decision not to kill or save Ras etc. You even have a better understanding of Ra's philosophy.. not that Bruce would ever regret his decisions in BB but at the back of his mind there has to be an image of Ra's putting a revolver to the back of Joker's head and saying "see bruce? our way is better we dont create monsters like this" and pulling the trigger. At the same time I can understand people who did not like this movie. It is very dark. Of course some of them are being contrary or did not understand it (aka some reviewers who couldn't even keep the plot straight). But there is a subset of people who just prefer something like Iron Man, where stuff blows up, you're entertained and you dont have to process too much to enjoy the movie. What's actually ANNOYING are people who try to dig up holes and plot inconsistencies that aren't actually there in order to try to get traffic to their site or to demean people who did enjoy the flick the core of Christian philosophy isn't like that. media would have you believe Christianity is about being perfect little people and judging everyone but it's exactly the opposite. It's about accepting that people are not perfect and forgiving the evil that people do. It's not an exaggeration to say this specific idea is the thing that Christianity introduced to world religions. the idea that batman is himself deeply flawed yet takes on the sins of another is an EXTREMELY christian metaphor. I myself am agnostic but thats 7 years of being an altar boy as a kid and 2 semesters of comparative religion in college talking.
bloop..you just hit exactly what i meant when i compared it to Die Hard....the pacing!!! yes, that's it exactly. Die Hard was just a roller coaster ride that kept accelerating...you moved from one sequence to the next with tension building...things looking worse for him over and over. This was like that. That pacing. I don't know if it was intentionaly modeled in that respect or not, but it certainly had that same feel to it. Thanks for your post! good stuff.
I saw the flick this weekend, didn't really listen to the hype, and really wasn't planning on watching it, but my bro and the lady wanted to so we went. My opinions... Good movie. Entertaining. Had some content and "meat" to it, if you will. Not just all fluff. I am still not sold on Bale as Batman, Bruce Wayne, yes. Batman, no. Joker, hell of an entertaining character. As a few have alluded to here, I consider an actor/actress good if I don't see them but instead see their characters. I see Bale when I watch Wayne/Batman on the screen. I see Will Smith or the Fresh Prince when I see him in movies. I see Tom Cruise in every movie. But when I watch Tom Hanks, I see Forrest, I see the kid in an adult's body in Big. I watch Denzel I see John Q, or Training Day. I watch Ledger, I saw the Joker. Oscar-worthy? Perhaps. I'm not expert on it, I'll just say he was damn good in this movie. Best scene to me...the Lambo. I'm just a car nut though. Forgot to add: To me the movie was really about the Joker's character. That or Heath stole the show.
