theoj
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Post by theoj on Sept 5, 2013 9:38:37 GMT -5
I'm talking about adjusted grosses, not talking about if today's audience would enjoy STM as much as they did in 78. Obviously not (unfortunately!)
But is there a website out there that lists the most successful films of all time in terms of tickets sold or adjusted for inflation grosses?
And where would STM stand today?
Probably around $400 million at least I'm guessing!
(US domestic gross only)
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Post by eccentricbeing on Sept 5, 2013 10:54:15 GMT -5
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Post by crazy_asian_man on Sept 5, 2013 11:51:33 GMT -5
This is a great question...
So many superhero films have been influenced by STM- that in a way STM would be competing against its own grandchildren (in a way)--- much like how John Carter (the books) influenced the original Star Wars - which influenced so many action/fantasy/scifi films that came after as well.... and so much so, that John Carter the movie felt derivative by the time it actually hit the bigscreen.
I'd probably argue a good example might be 'The Rocketeer' by Disney, when it first came out.
It's a decent, old fashioned family adventure (arguably a superhero film as well) that was well done- but compared to Indiana Jones, the action was mild, and there wasn't anything particularly exceptional that we hadn't seen already. I think if it had come out before Raiders of the Lost Ark (which really reset the bar for adventure films), it might have gotten far more attention and better response. Also, the story was pretty traditional- when the audiences were kind of hungry for something spicier and newer.
(*It's arguable that Captain America by the same director was the same, but made big box office- but I don't agree that it had the same tone as Rocketeer- the story had darker edges to it with Cap having to win the soldiers over and the ending is amazing, more like a Twilight Zone story)
If STM - without any changes to the effects, came out today, then word of mouth would dictate whether or not it was right timing for audiences to go see it with weak effects.
If STM had updated fx and came out today, then the same would be true- but I think the box office could be slightly better than SR. Reason being?
Both films relied on the characters and the drama, (heart) much less so the spectacle (which may not have enough explosions and falling buildings to bring in Transformers' money).
Titanic brought in a lot of people for the love story, but I'd argue that it took the giant spectacle of seeing the Titanic sink to make it a box office phenom.
STM and SR have action, but not on a level that it (at this stage)- to make one feel like it was something so new that it would be groundbreaking.... or just sensory overload like 2012 (the movie).
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atp
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Post by atp on Sept 5, 2013 11:59:45 GMT -5
If STM were made today, would Marlon Brando ride a dragonfly?
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Post by crazy_asian_man on Sept 5, 2013 14:35:43 GMT -5
He'd probably be a CGI-bagel on top of a dragonfly.  |
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theoj
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Post by theoj on Sept 5, 2013 17:03:32 GMT -5
Adjusted it would make $468 million today.
So only Batman, Dark Knight and Avengers have actually done better.
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Post by eccentricbeing on Sept 5, 2013 19:00:06 GMT -5
This is interesting....Superman was only in theaters for 3 weeks. At the rate it was going, it definitely could've been up there with Jaws.
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theoj
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Post by theoj on Sept 6, 2013 13:15:41 GMT -5
It wasn't just in theaters for three weeks.
I heard it was there for around 3 months!
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Post by Jimbo on Sept 6, 2013 13:50:11 GMT -5
3 weeks? 3 months? No way. Huge hits at that time were in theaters for 5+ months, or even up to a year. Even huge movies like E.T. made "only" 11 million in its first weekend, but finished at 352 million in its 52nd week. Movie viewing habits were different then.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2013 21:10:18 GMT -5
It was like that until the mid 80s. Back to the Future was in theaters for what seemed like a year. I saw it ten times.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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Post by eccentricbeing on Sept 6, 2013 21:35:54 GMT -5
3 weeks? 3 months? No way. Huge hits at that time were in theaters for 5+ months, or even up to a year. Even huge movies like E.T. made "only" 11 million in its first weekend, but finished at 352 million in its 52nd week. Movie viewing habits were different then. Hey man, that's what it says on box office mojo. Its total domestic gross comes from 3 weeks in theaters. |
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Post by Jimbo on Sept 6, 2013 22:06:19 GMT -5
Hey man, that's what it says on box office mojo. Its total domestic gross comes from 3 weeks in theaters. We're talking about Superman, right? boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=superman.htmThe information is incomplete. It shows 40.9 million through three weeks, so it obviously kept running into 1979. |
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Post by eccentricbeing on Sept 6, 2013 22:58:17 GMT -5
Oh my bad, I didn't fix the inflation back to 1978.
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theoj
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Post by theoj on Sept 7, 2013 3:25:24 GMT -5
So annoying there's no figures for its weekly takings into 1979 and no foreign grosses either.
(Think it says somewhere on the net how it made a similar amount in overseas grosses too)
Would love to see how it panned out over its entire run.
But amazing to see how it expanded from 500 screens to 800 screens and that its third weekend was bigger than the first or second weekend!
Word of mouth must have really spread!
Chris Reeve and Richard Donner must have been so impressed... And then Donner gets the note that he's fired!
CRAZY!!!
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Post by Jimbo on Sept 8, 2013 0:38:39 GMT -5
If I were Ilya Salkind, I would have fired Donner too.
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atp
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Post by atp on Sept 8, 2013 1:50:01 GMT -5
If I were Ilya Salkind, I would have fired Donner too. Why? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2013 2:21:23 GMT -5
I'm talking about adjusted grosses, not talking about if today's audience would enjoy STM as much as they did in 78. Obviously not (unfortunately!) But is there a website out there that lists the most successful films of all time in terms of tickets sold or adjusted for inflation grosses? And where would STM stand today? Probably around $400 million at least I'm guessing! (US domestic gross only) About tree-fidy (tree dolla an' fidy cent)!  |
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Post by crazy_asian_man on Sept 8, 2013 14:56:56 GMT -5
Yeah.... I remember seeing it a zillion times over months at the 'giant' screen ( I was incredibly lucky we had one in town at the time)- then at least one or two more when it went to the 'second round' theatres after that. Star Wars I remember had ads for its one year anniversary in the theatres for the first one.
BUT.... that was before vhs, dvds, videogames, internet, and many many more superhero films competed for the general audiences' attention.
STM was/is a classic film- but timing was almost perfect (even more perfect if they came before Star Wars)!
An add-on question might be: Not just how much would STM make today- but what would be the gauge (how many dollars/tickets sold) for what would constitute a 'reasonable success' vs. 'disappointment'?
MUST audiences have super-fast paced films at this point to ever reach blockbuster status? If that's the case, maybe STM wouldn't be a giant hit like it was back in the day. (But then again, would Jaws be a giant hit today either?)
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Post by Jimbo on Sept 8, 2013 17:11:52 GMT -5
If I were Ilya Salkind, I would have fired Donner too. Why? Calling his bosses assholes to the press. Delivering a movie late and overbudget. Shooting hours of footage that will never be used. |
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Post by crazy_asian_man on Sept 8, 2013 18:36:11 GMT -5
At first glance, I know insulting your boss publicly (or to a reporter) just isn't done if you want to keep your job- I get that, it's an implied rule. On the other hand- the more that came/comes out about how the Salkinds did business (rumoredly getting crews to do work at different locations, then not paying any of them after they did the work)--- It's still not clear what all the facts are in the situation. If Donner never was given a budget, but was told to do things properly- then he seemed stuck between a rock and a hard place. Donner hasn't had any of these kinds of problems with producers (that I'm aware of) since that situation. Without Donner, maybe they would have gotten something either within the budget or under budet..... but how good would the results have been? I look at the cheap looking on-budget Superman III (*compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind about or earlier than the time SIII came out.) and wonder if the Salkinds really do regret hiring Donner for STM once all is said and done.  |
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