no Gil, I really don't want it to go over 50. But, so far the crowd reports have been very good I think:
"Caught the 10:15 show. Theatre was full, saving the first three rows. I have to admit I was suprised, somewhat thinking this movie would bomb. And the people were not the "dress up as your favorite character" types. Mostly couples and groups of college aged kids. Line of people outside upon my exit for the next showing, but about half looked like they were heading to PDIA2. 1/4 looked like they could go either way.
Many trailers, HERO, BLDE3, CNSTN, MR3K, FRINL, TAXI, and RESE2. None seemed to get any major reaction. But it was early in the morning ; )
Movie wasn't great, but wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I think the PG-13 really put the biggest dent in what I was expecting.
"
"12:01am, Mercado 20, Silicon Valley
Sold Out in multiple auditoriums
I tried to get James Cameron to make this as his next movie after True Lies. He was a little scared of the necessary budget, and decided to “go make a simple love story set on a boat.” I would have worked for scale to get Predator vs. Alien made. Of course, without my involvement, it took them another 10 years to get this thing done. To say that it was highly anticipated does not go far enough. The crowd was practically rabid, almost to the point of Star Wars lunacy. There were people sneaking up on other patrons and attacking them with face-hugger stuffed animals, or reptiles or whatever.
There were tons of previews. Mr. 3000 did not much of a response. It sounds like a good idea, but Bernie should be called BigMac, because he does not have the athletic chops necessary to play a major leaguer. Maybe Balco can do some special post-production effects work. The preview that did get the best response was Team America (which totally fell flat when it preceded Collateral). Apparently, there really is a demand for a big-budget terrorist SWAT team action movie starring marrionettes!
The movie was quite good. Paul Anderson’s last movie was Resident Evil, so he has shown that he knows how to deliver the goods. The casting was a bit daring. Rather than casting a well known, internationally acclaimed, buff, muscular, confident but humble action star (like me), they cast a group of almost knowns. You might recognize some of them from movies like Pearl Harbor, Gladiator, and Blade. By doing this, there is no obvious star who audiences know will make it to the final act, and obviously, not many of them will. Casting Lance Henrikson, who played Bishop in Aliens, as Charles Bishop Weyland, head of Weyland Industries, was a nice, but unnecessary touch. However, none of the cast has any star quality. None of the women are remotely gropable, and there’s nary a potential governor in sight.
Part of the fun of watching a movie like this is recognizing all the warning signs that the characters in the movie ignore. Putting your hand down on the ground and discovering a wet puddle of slime is NEVER a good thing. The movie does a good job of setting up the confrontation, and the build up in the first act is very good compared to most movies like this. While the movie might be scarier if you don’t know anything about Aliens or Predators, you definitely would miss out on the inside jokes included here. I am a little confused about the titles here though. The aliens are technically born here, so why would they be called aliens? The predators are more like big game preserve hunters. But I guess the current title is better than Undocumented Citizens vs. Hunters of Artificially Stocked Preserves. I can’t say much more without giving anything away, although I will say that this would make an awesome video game. It was also very refreshing to not be watching yet another CGI vs. CGI fight like in Van Helsing.
Minor quibbles aside, this was a heckuva (have to watch my language, this is PG-13) movie. It is structurally similar to Aliens (my favorite) and unlike the sequels, has a first-rate third act. The audience really got into it. Unlike the Freddy vs. Jason movie, where the audience just watched, people were cheering like at a football game. The A-LI-EN or PRED-A-TOR chants got a little annoying every time there was a death. There was applause and cheers at the end, especially during the money shot (do not leave until the credits actually roll). Maybe they’ll add Terminators to the fray in the definitely-to-be-green-lit sequel as soon as Friday’s grosses come out"
sold out at multiple midnight shows, and almost full at this morning's shows.
Right now I'd guess a 17 million Friday.
There's a bunch of midnight crowd reports, which are from 85-95% full, and just the bulk of crowd reports so far would indicate it's gonna be huge.
"Caught the 10:15 show. Theatre was full, saving the first three rows. I have to admit I was suprised, somewhat thinking this movie would bomb. And the people were not the "dress up as your favorite character" types. Mostly couples and groups of college aged kids. Line of people outside upon my exit for the next showing, but about half looked like they were heading to PDIA2. 1/4 looked like they could go either way.
Many trailers, HERO, BLDE3, CNSTN, MR3K, FRINL, TAXI, and RESE2. None seemed to get any major reaction. But it was early in the morning ; )
Movie wasn't great, but wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I think the PG-13 really put the biggest dent in what I was expecting.
"
"12:01am, Mercado 20, Silicon Valley
Sold Out in multiple auditoriums
I tried to get James Cameron to make this as his next movie after True Lies. He was a little scared of the necessary budget, and decided to “go make a simple love story set on a boat.” I would have worked for scale to get Predator vs. Alien made. Of course, without my involvement, it took them another 10 years to get this thing done. To say that it was highly anticipated does not go far enough. The crowd was practically rabid, almost to the point of Star Wars lunacy. There were people sneaking up on other patrons and attacking them with face-hugger stuffed animals, or reptiles or whatever.
There were tons of previews. Mr. 3000 did not much of a response. It sounds like a good idea, but Bernie should be called BigMac, because he does not have the athletic chops necessary to play a major leaguer. Maybe Balco can do some special post-production effects work. The preview that did get the best response was Team America (which totally fell flat when it preceded Collateral). Apparently, there really is a demand for a big-budget terrorist SWAT team action movie starring marrionettes!
The movie was quite good. Paul Anderson’s last movie was Resident Evil, so he has shown that he knows how to deliver the goods. The casting was a bit daring. Rather than casting a well known, internationally acclaimed, buff, muscular, confident but humble action star (like me), they cast a group of almost knowns. You might recognize some of them from movies like Pearl Harbor, Gladiator, and Blade. By doing this, there is no obvious star who audiences know will make it to the final act, and obviously, not many of them will. Casting Lance Henrikson, who played Bishop in Aliens, as Charles Bishop Weyland, head of Weyland Industries, was a nice, but unnecessary touch. However, none of the cast has any star quality. None of the women are remotely gropable, and there’s nary a potential governor in sight.
Part of the fun of watching a movie like this is recognizing all the warning signs that the characters in the movie ignore. Putting your hand down on the ground and discovering a wet puddle of slime is NEVER a good thing. The movie does a good job of setting up the confrontation, and the build up in the first act is very good compared to most movies like this. While the movie might be scarier if you don’t know anything about Aliens or Predators, you definitely would miss out on the inside jokes included here. I am a little confused about the titles here though. The aliens are technically born here, so why would they be called aliens? The predators are more like big game preserve hunters. But I guess the current title is better than Undocumented Citizens vs. Hunters of Artificially Stocked Preserves. I can’t say much more without giving anything away, although I will say that this would make an awesome video game. It was also very refreshing to not be watching yet another CGI vs. CGI fight like in Van Helsing.
Minor quibbles aside, this was a heckuva (have to watch my language, this is PG-13) movie. It is structurally similar to Aliens (my favorite) and unlike the sequels, has a first-rate third act. The audience really got into it. Unlike the Freddy vs. Jason movie, where the audience just watched, people were cheering like at a football game. The A-LI-EN or PRED-A-TOR chants got a little annoying every time there was a death. There was applause and cheers at the end, especially during the money shot (do not leave until the credits actually roll). Maybe they’ll add Terminators to the fray in the definitely-to-be-green-lit sequel as soon as Friday’s grosses come out"
sold out at multiple midnight shows, and almost full at this morning's shows.
