MR

Told you Speed Racer would flop.

The summer of 2008 is only two weeks old, and it already has its first flop. Speed Racer, the Wachowski Brothers' kaleidoscopic retelling of the classic cartoon series, got stuck in neutral this weekend, grossing a mere $20.2 million, according to Sunday's estimates — a disastrous sum for a movie that cost well in excess of $100 mil and that Warner Bros. had considered one of its major summer tentpoles.

Therefore, the highway was wide open for Iron Man (No. 1) to cruise to an easy repeat win, with $50.5 mil, on a respectable 49 percent decline. That's the 13th-best second weekend of all time and the fifth-best for a non-sequel. The Marvel comic movie is already 2008's top earner, with a 10-day total that now stands at $177.1 mil.

But back to Speed Racer (No. 2), which banked less than half of what many in Hollywood had originally expected it would earn over the course of its premiere weekend. Leaked word that the film was tracking poorly coupled with particularly weak reviews made this outcome visible from way down the road (I, for one, saw it coming by a mile). But that doesn't mitigate the damage. The movie is a wreck on the level of recent memorable summer failures like Kingdom of Heaven (which opened with $19.6 mil) and Poseidon ($22.2 mil) — at the domestic box office, at least. Overseas, well, that's another (possibly sadder) story. While would-be blockbusters that fail domestically usually have a chance to recoup their costs in foreign multiplexes (the aforementioned Kingdom of Heaven and Poseidon both did just that), there are reports that Speed Racer may have gotten a flat tire at the international box office as well; the dust still has to settle before we know the full story there.

Had Speed Racer been formatted like the old cartoon I would have been there in a fucking second, but after seeing the previews I realized that it looked ridiculously dumb. I just can't get into the whole Marvel Comic thing. Didn't care for Spiderman (one was enough for me) aside from Kirsten Dunst, and haven't seen the Fantastic Four or any others. I'll stick to Hannah Montana on Saturday mornings for my guilty pleasure.

I thought Speed Racer was a great film. Went to see it yesterday with my 5 year old daughter who absolutely loved it too. Sadly though the cinema was near empty.
This often funny movie with great characters and stellar effects had a great sense of family and moral values that will stay with me a lot longer than the likes of Iron Man (which I also enjoyed).

Best characters for me were Racer X and Trixie and Susan Sarandon was also great as Speed's mom. In fact the whole cast were terrific its just a shame that it seems to have limited appeal. Maybe it will fair better on DVD/Blu-Ray?

Whatever having my daughter skip to school this morning with her mini Mach 6 Speed Racer car in hand quoting lines from the film has made my week. She is just buzzing with excitement about it!

See my life-Size Iron Man painting -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYuAR2z7nQ

Saint John wrote:Had Speed Racer been formatted like the old cartoon I would have been there in a fucking second, but after seeing the previews I realized that it looked ridiculously dumb. I just can't get into the whole Marvel Comic thing. Didn't care for Spiderman (one was enough for me) aside from Kirsten Dunst, and haven't seen the Fantastic Four or any others. I'll stick to Hannah Montana on Saturday mornings for my guilty pleasure.

Fantastic Four 2 was really good. Shame that they skimped out on actually showing Galactus but the film worked so much better than the first one.

finalfight wrote:and Susan Sarandon was also great as Speed's mom.

That skank's in the movie? I'm glad it bombed.

I should perhaps mention that I have never once seen the original Speed Racer cartoon and my only experience of it was via Family Guy -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ibuZKVdEc

finalfight wrote:I should perhaps mention that I have never once seen the original Speed Racer cartoon and my only experience of it was via Family Guy -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ibuZKVdEc

Theoriginal cartoon was fucking awesome. One of my favorite cartoons as an asshole toddler.

Saint John wrote:

finalfight wrote:I should perhaps mention that I have never once seen the original Speed Racer cartoon and my only experience of it was via Family Guy -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ibuZKVdEc

Theoriginal cartoon was fucking awesome. One of my favorite cartoons as an asshole toddler.

Yeah, just been looking at some clips on YouTube both the original and Speed Racer X. Looks good.

Saint John wrote:

finalfight wrote:I should perhaps mention that I have never once seen the original Speed Racer cartoon and my only experience of it was via Family Guy -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ibuZKVdEc

Theoriginal cartoon was fucking awesome. One of my favorite cartoons as an asshole toddler.

finalfight wrote:I thought Speed Racer was a great film. Went to see it yesterday with my 5 year old daughter who absolutely loved it too. Sadly though the cinema was near empty.
This often funny movie with great characters and stellar effects had a great sense of family and moral values that will stay with me a lot longer than the likes of Iron Man (which I also enjoyed).

Best characters for me were Racer X and Trixie and Susan Sarandon was also great as Speed's mom. In fact the whole cast were terrific its just a shame that it seems to have limited appeal. Maybe it will fair better on DVD/Blu-Ray?

Whatever having my daughter skip to school this morning with her mini Mach 6 Speed Racer car in hand quoting lines from the film has made my week. She is just buzzing with excitement about it!

See my life-Size Iron Man painting -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYuAR2z7nQ

There is actually a story line? The trailer made me motion sick and it looked pretty hokey to me. I'll take my 9 year old based on your review. I'd never have gone based on what I saw in the previews. They were awful.

They ALL better batten down the hatches, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls is going to CRUSH them.

(in my best Beavis & Butthead)


heh heh, he said 'tentpoles' ... hehe, 'major summer tentpoles' ...



later~

Good. It looked dumb.

Now I get to laugh at my male coworkers for gushing over this movie before it came out.

Saint John wrote:

finalfight wrote:and Susan Sarandon was also great as Speed's mom.

That skank's in the movie? I'm glad it bombed.

Amen to that Dan...Fuckin A....anything with that smelly piece of slut trash needs to fail miserably...Yech. She makes me almost as sick to my stomach as Rosie Odonnell.

Red13JoePa wrote:They ALL better batten down the hatches, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls is going to CRUSH them.

And an AMEN to that as well, Red. Indy is going to fucking bury every movie released this summer....

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Reverend Frank Strangegrey. Preach on, brother Frank.

strangegrey wrote:

Red13JoePa wrote:They ALL better batten down the hatches, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls is going to CRUSH them.

And an AMEN to that as well, Red. Indy is going to fucking bury every movie released this summer....

You are probably right, but Batman will give it a run for its money.

NealIsGod wrote:

strangegrey wrote:

Red13JoePa wrote:They ALL better batten down the hatches, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls is going to CRUSH them.

And an AMEN to that as well, Red. Indy is going to fucking bury every movie released this summer....

You are probably right, but Batman will give it a run for its money.

Oh shit...I officially retract my statement.

I forgot about Batman...

I now restate my original assertion to include that batman AND Indy will kill any other mortal movie that even attempts to release anything this summer...

Saint John wrote:Had Speed Racer been formatted like the old cartoon I would have been there in a fucking second, but after seeing the previews I realized that it looked ridiculously dumb. I just can't get into the whole Marvel Comic thing. Didn't care for Spiderman (one was enough for me) aside from Kirsten Dunst, and haven't seen the Fantastic Four or any others. I'll stick to Hannah Montana on Saturday mornings for my guilty pleasure.

Dude, you MUST go see "Iron Man", now that was an awesome flick. I'm not a fan of comic books but the movie was fanfreakintastic


Robin

Personally I am so tired of comic books and old sitcoms being turned into movies. Give me something new please.