The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[Kristatos]

MIB3 making $70 million on its opening weekend at the US/Canadian box office is potentially bad news. It shows that a franchise movie can still be a hit even after a long gap and a disappointing predecessor - ring any bells? Then again, it does star Will Smith, perhaps the only movie star left whose name all but guarantees a big box office haul. Daniel Craig ain't no Will Smith, that's for sure.

[bjmdds]

That's over 4 days though. It did only $55 million over the 3 days. $55 million is peanuts now. I hope Bond 23 only does $55 million opening weekend but with no competition it could do $60-70 million and then tail off dramatically the following weekend when Twilight takes all of the box office oxygen away from Cr-egg's depressed egg.

[Napoleon Solo]

That's over 4 days though. It did only $55 million over the 3 days. $55 million is peanuts now. I hope Bond 23 only does $55 million opening weekend but with no competition it could do $60-70 million and then tail off dramatically the following weekend when Twilight takes all of the box office oxygen away from Cr-egg's depressed egg.

An HMSS Weblog post on this general subject:

http://bit.ly/Luwng5

[Alessandra]

Sweeney, I get what you're saying about the trailer.

The point for me is that this trailer confirms EXACTLY the type of fears that I had about the movie. And the trailers for ALL the non Daniel Craig movies (which is to say the actual Bond movies for me ) never gave me this impression. All of them. They always made me excited that a new Bond movie was coming up. This one doesn't have Bond, for starters, and the news we keep getting about plot, not to mention taking away iconic moments and replacing them with BEER, just furthers the concept that they are NOT producing a Bond movie but a random action movie, and not even a particularly good one at that. That's what really bothers me about that trailer. It's not James Bond and it's not anything that I'd rate particularly good even for a random action movie. Also, it being the first trailer, it's supposed to show you the most exciting/interesting things they can show without giving the plot away. And in my opinion, if these are the most exciting/interesting things we have that don't give the plot away, then this is going to be worse than QoS. It's just this whole bunch of factors that makes me extremely perplexed about the final product. (btw that Bond girl moment in the trailer was quite weird for me, not sexy. But that's me.)

We'll see when the movie is out, of course. It could be entirely different.(doubt it from what they're saying, but you never know). But what Blowfeld said above rings particularly true to me, and is the context for my perplexity over this film.

BJ I agree about the first weekend gross. If it does like MIB it'll be disaster because from weekend 2 on, Twilight will be there and Bond will only have breadcrumbs. But I do agree it could probably do around $60-70 mln the first weekend if it has no competition (if it does 55 like MIB it's basically toast). I think people are underestimating the fact that basically they only have ONE weekend to take home the gross, because from week 2 on, it will be game over. We're talking about the final Twilight chapter... it's going to be huge. There is no way a Craig (non) Bond movie can compete with that. Unless it's sensational, of course. Which I somehow don't think it will be.

On another note, happy Memorial day! And thanks to all Americans who have fought for our freedom as well!

[Mexican Staring Frog]

The talk of beer "replacing" the martini I think is a bunch of hooey made up by the press! Bond has already drank beer anyway (more in the novels than movies) so I don't see any harm.

[katied]

On another note, happy Memorial day! And thanks to all Americans who have fought for our freedom as well!

Both of my Grandfathers fought in World War II so today is a special day to remember them both.

[Omega]

Did mib3 do good or not? some say how poorly it did to lose the projected totals doing John Carter numbers overseas, others say it doing soooooo great it's unbelievably good. A $300 million movie it need John Carter numbers to break even, or the number the studio said they needed to break even, $700 million.

[bjmdds]

That's over 4 days though. It did only $55 million over the 3 days. $55 million is peanuts now. I hope Bond 23 only does $55 million opening weekend but with no competition it could do $60-70 million and then tail off dramatically the following weekend when Twilight takes all of the box office oxygen away from Cr-egg's depressed egg.

An HMSS Weblog post on this general subject:

http://bit.ly/Luwng5

That weblog basically agreed with what I said. The first 2 weekends here either buries Cr-egg's career as Bond or we are done with this franchise, right FBF?

[bjmdds]

Sweeney, I get what you're saying about the trailer.

The point for me is that this trailer confirms EXACTLY the type of fears that I had about the movie. And the trailers for ALL the non Daniel Craig movies (which is to say the actual Bond movies for me ) never gave me this impression. All of them. They always made me excited that a new Bond movie was coming up. This one doesn't have Bond, for starters, and the news we keep getting about plot, not to mention taking away iconic moments and replacing them with BEER, just furthers the concept that they are NOT producing a Bond movie but a random action movie, and not even a particularly good one at that. That's what really bothers me about that trailer. It's not James Bond and it's not anything that I'd rate particularly good even for a random action movie. Also, it being the first trailer, it's supposed to show you the most exciting/interesting things they can show without giving the plot away. And in my opinion, if these are the most exciting/interesting things we have that don't give the plot away, then this is going to be worse than QoS. It's just this whole bunch of factors that makes me extremely perplexed about the final product. (btw that Bond girl moment in the trailer was quite weird for me, not sexy. But that's me.)

We'll see when the movie is out, of course. It could be entirely different.(doubt it from what they're saying, but you never know). But what Blowfeld said above rings particularly true to me, and is the context for my perplexity over this film.

BJ I agree about the first weekend gross. If it does like MIB it'll be disaster because from weekend 2 on, Twilight will be there and Bond will only have breadcrumbs. But I do agree it could probably do around $60-70 mln the first weekend if it has no competition (if it does 55 like MIB it's basically toast). I think people are underestimating the fact that basically they only have ONE weekend to take home the gross, because from week 2 on, it will be game over. We're talking about the final Twilight chapter... it's going to be huge. There is no way a Craig (non) Bond movie can compete with that. Unless it's sensational, of course. Which I somehow don't think it will be.

On another note, happy Memorial day! And thanks to all Americans who have fought for our freedom as well!

This might have the "all-time second week drop off" box office percentages for any Bond film. I really think people will walk out of the theatres and think there is no way they would pay twice to see such a pathetically depressing spy film about a hob goblin impersonating James Bond.

[bjmdds]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47592012/ns ... 8QKoo7HE20

[Alessandra]

The talk of beer "replacing" the martini I think is a bunch of hooey made up by the press! Bond has already drank beer anyway (more in the novels than movies) so I don't see any harm.

It's not a bunch of hooey. There are details of the contract out. And while Bond may have sipped drinks other than the Martini, he sure as hell never said that he doesn't give a d**n whether it's shaken or stirred and he sure as hell never REPLACED it with a beer. Which is what they are instead doing here. And it DOES matter, because this is James Bond, and not a random blue collar action dude.

[The Sweeney]

The talk of beer "replacing" the martini I think is a bunch of hooey made up by the press! Bond has already drank beer anyway (more in the novels than movies) so I don't see any harm.

It's not a bunch of hooey. There are details of the contract out. And while Bond may have sipped drinks other than the Martini, he sure as hell never said that he doesn't give a d**n whether it's shaken or stirred and he sure as hell never REPLACED it with a beer. Which is what they are instead doing here. And it DOES matter, because this is James Bond, and not a random blue collar action dude.

It all depends on how this is handed and featured in the film. Heinekin have been an official sponsor before for Bond, so this is nothing new. If we see Bond swigging pints of the stuff at a bar, then yes it will tarnish the image of 007.

If however, its used in the context seen in QoS, where Bond orders a beer at the bar when meeting Felix, and has a couple of sips from the bottle for just one scene, I don't see anything wrong with that. Bond does occassionally drink beer in the books, I think Fleming's favourite for Bond was Millers High Life.

[Napoleon Solo]

The talk of beer "replacing" the martini I think is a bunch of hooey made up by the press! Bond has already drank beer anyway (more in the novels than movies) so I don't see any harm.

It's not a bunch of hooey. There are details of the contract out. And while Bond may have sipped drinks other than the Martini, he sure as hell never said that he doesn't give a d**n whether it's shaken or stirred and he sure as hell never REPLACED it with a beer. Which is what they are instead doing here. And it DOES matter, because this is James Bond, and not a random blue collar action dude.

It all depends on how this is handed and featured in the film. Heinekin have been an official sponsor before for Bond, so this is nothing new. If we see Bond swigging pints of the stuff at a bar, then yes it will tarnish the image of 007.

If however, its used in the context seen in QoS, where Bond orders a beer at the bar when meeting Felix, and has a couple of sips from the bottle for just one scene, I don't see anything wrong with that. Bond does occassionally drink beer in the books, I think Fleming's favourite for Bond was Millers High Life.

Right. He and Leiter had Miller High Life in Diamonds Are Forever. Bond also had Lowenbrau in The Living Daylights (along with shots of schnapps) and Red Stripe in The Man With the Golden Gun.

I think the Heineken deal got so much attention because of the reports last year that Sony and MGM were seeking $45 million in product placement money. That's understandable, given both companies are financially stressed. So, when the Heineken thing was announced, that generated a lot of stories. Those stories took on an additional life after Maud Adams and Geore Lazenby weighed in. As noted in prior posts, Heineken has had sponsorship deals with Bond movies before. This one is different because Craig is playing Bond in a Heineken ad. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

[FormerBondFan]

That's over 4 days though. It did only $55 million over the 3 days. $55 million is peanuts now. I hope Bond 23 only does $55 million opening weekend but with no competition it could do $60-70 million and then tail off dramatically the following weekend when Twilight takes all of the box office oxygen away from Cr-egg's depressed egg.

An HMSS Weblog post on this general subject:

http://bit.ly/Luwng5

That weblog basically agreed with what I said. The first 2 weekends here either buries Cr-egg's career as Bond or we are done with this franchise, right FBF?

If Bond 23 surpasses both CR and QOS at the box office (especially here in the US even by one bit), I'm giving up on the traditional Bond, and you might as well have someone like Marty Feldman as Bond.

[bjmdds]

Marty Feldman now? No more Jerry or Steven or Blue Man group?

[FormerBondFan]

Marty Feldman now? No more Jerry or Steven or Blue Man group?

Fat Seagal is just for an unofficial Bond capitalizing on Henry's Bond. Jerry and Blue Man Group are still in the game. And same for Top.

And you said Bond 23 has only two weeks. Twilight 4.5 releases a week after that so make that one. Bond 23 won't survive when the vampires come into the scene.

[bjmdds]

Weekend two for Bond 23 is when it must tank 65% from weekend one in order for this charade to end.

[FormerBondFan]

Weekend two for Bond 23 is when it must tank 65% from weekend one in order for this charade to end.

It has to gross less than $60 million on first weekend. Otherwise, we're screwed.

[bjmdds]

The internet sites have yet to bash this trash known as Bond 23. Eon's deep pockets at work. More photos out: http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ ... .44-PM.png http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ ... .25-PM.png http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ ... .55-PM.png http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ ... .18-PM.png NY Daily News: ""Skyfall" needs to make up ground lost by the Bond franchise's last film in 2008, "Quantum of Solace," left off. That film raked in nearly $600 million world wide, but failed to excite critics and fans as well as Craig inaugeral outing as 007 in 2006's "Casino Royale."

[bjmdds]

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... 99x600.jpg http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... -image.jpg http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... 43x600.jpg http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... 00x421.jpg