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Summer Movie Slate

SFSignal has posted a good rundown of this summer's Sci-Fi movies, with some commentary, of course. I previously posted a bit about the 2008 movies, but it's time to go back and see if my initial thoughts are still valid.

So, from the SFSignal post, here are the movies!

May

  • Iron Man (May 2)
  • Speed Racer (May 9)
  • Prince Caspian (May 16)
  • Indy Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22)

June

  • The Happening (June 13)
  • The Incredible Hulk (June 13)
  • Wall-E (June 27)
  • Wanted (June 27)

July

  • Hancock (July 2)
  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army (July11)
  • Meet Dave (July 11)
  • The Dark Knight (July 18)
  • The X-Files (July 25)

August/

  • The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Aug 1)
  • Babylon A.D. (Aug 29)

Now, SFSignal posed some questions in their post. Namely, they ask which of these movies will have the largest opening weekend, biggest overall run and which will be the biggest bomb.

Let's take the first one first. SFSignal believes "Iron Man" or "Indiana Jones" will be have the biggest opening weekend, with Indy just winning out. I have a feeling that "Speed Racer" will do better than expected, but it will be "Wall-E" that wins the opening weekend bonanza. However, I think that this year will show a more diverse dispersement of fans, i.e. several of these movies, including "Indy" and "Iron Man", will do very well. Still, a kids movie from Disney = instant box office, so that remains my answer.

Therefore, my answer to the second question (which movie is going to have to the biggest run?) is also "Wall-E". No surprise here - SFSignal also agrees with that assessment.

The last question is probably the toughest - which movie is going to bomb the hardest?

SFSignal goes with "Meet Dave", which is the Eddie Murphy vehicle in which aliens pilot his body around the city. Although I agree - "Meet Dave" will be terrible - it's too obvious. I think "The Incredible Hulk", " The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" and "The Happening" all have strong chances to bomb. Each of the preceding movies have burnt bridges among their expected fanbase. I don't think people have forgiven the first "Hulk" movie, so many of those folks won't go back (at least to see it at the movies). There have been too many "Mummy" movies, regardless of how likeable Brendan Fraser is. And, Indy is this year, which makes for bad comparisons in the genre. Finally, M. Night Shyamalan has lost it - he'd have to get strong word of mouth reviews for me to even consider seeing "The Happening" at the ol' cineplex. In short, I can't see any of these four movies becoming a success this summer.

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Posted by Fred on April 28, 2008 5:02 PM
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