Gatsby77

This. The simplest explanation is people just didn't want to see the film -- and/or the trailers turned folks off. Also, social media =/= actual moviegoers. Studios learned this more than a decade ago with Snakes on a Plane, which *dominated* social media for more than six months, and even led to specific re-shoots in response to social media demand. When it came out, no one went to see it. $13 million opening and ended up with just $62 million worldwide vs. its $33 million budget.

Honestly? The marketers. It seems like the most of the 200 people who've seen this film actually enjoyed it, including the critics. But to me, the trailers made this look horrific. - Too much focus on Harley at the expense of the others (so it's not a true BoP movie) - Too much gratuitous violence and trying too hard to be "edgy" - Editing looks like it was done by an epileptic film student. It's early yet - and it may still become a future cult hit - but it looks like the trailers turned tons of folks off, not just me. Plus, if the reviews are to be believed, the things that make this "Tarantino-esque" boil down to 1) the excessive cursing, and 2) non-linear storytelling. If those are your main takeaways for "Tarantino-esque" I don't know what to tell you.

Umm...my dude's forgetting about Fantasy Island next week. Even if Sonic bombs as hard as Birds of Prey did this week (fairly likely, actually), what's the best-case scenario here? A crazy low 29% drop to a $25 million second weekend and a third-place finish? When the headlines are reading "Worst DC Opening Since Jonah Hex," you're pretty much screwed.

Huh. Now tracking for <$35 million. Even Ghost Rider opened to >$45 million domestic, way back in 2007.

While I'm a fan of Sam Raimi, I can't help but think this is a lost opportunity. They should have tried for Guillermo del Toro. Blade II *stiil* holds up, and while I didn't care for The Shape of Water, both Pan's Labyrinth and Crimson Peak showcase his gothic horror chops. I know he's got a full-slate with Pinnochio coming up, but he seems the perfect director for a truly horror-tinged Strange (should Disney/Marvel allow *anyone* to go that route).

Understood. I just think it's odd to include Rogue One and not Solo. They're co-equal one-off "Star Wars Stories" - to include one and not the other is putting your thumb on the scale - and (for instance) making the box office take of ROS seem worse than it is in terms of the true average of the five new films.

Why you ignoring Solo, yo?

Ghost Rider - when Sam Elliott reveals himself to be the Phantom Rider, and he and Johnny Blaze ride off together to the song "Riders on the Storm."

My god - those clips make Batman Forever look like a Nolan film by comparison.

Funny. When I look at that chart, I see that more than 44% of participants rated the film as an 8 or higher.

I think it's idiotic to specifically try to hire *only* women to direct female-centric films, etc. But - point of order: Marvel hired Patty Jenkins to direct Thor: The Dark World. She then dropped out. And Marvel did hire Lexi Alexander to direct Punisher War Zone.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of my top 10 favorite films (Shane Black for the win!).

Agree. Captain Marvel is like a more interesting, female version of Green Lantern.

Exactly. Different scale, but I once owned a really nice copy of Batman # 5. Expensive, but absolutely nothing key about the issue.

*Of course* there's different levels of "key." For instance, no one will ever convince me that the first appearance of Squirrel Girl is on the same level as the first appearance of Wolverine. Likewise, the death of Gwen Stacy was more important - thus more "key" - than dozens of Bronze age first appearances, even if it lags behind them in value.

FWIW, it was a $200 book in 1989-1990 - the same price as (and equivalent popularity with) Hulk 181. For a while those books seemed to move in lockstep -- it's crazy to see how they've diverged since.

Why is ASM 129 key? I'd argue primarily nostalgia. If you were collecting in the late 1980s-early 1990s (particularly 1988-1993), Punisher was a top 3 (maybe top 4) comic character. It was like: Wolverine, Batman, Punisher...maybe Spider-Man ------> Everyone else. If you weren't there in 1992-93, it's hard to describe how popular Punisher was -- three monthly titles and guest-starring everywhere. At the time the list of top Bronze Age keys was incredibly short -- Hulk 181, Giant-Size X-Men 1/X-Men 94, ASM 129 ---> everything else. (Yes - even GL 76 and Conan 1 lagged well behind those books). While Punisher has fallen off in importance in the decades since, ASM 129 still holds sway among the bulk of today's comic collectors, who are in their 40s and 50s and fondly recall that period from about 1986-1994 when Punisher was at or near the top of the A-list. That he's had three movies and (arguably - with Daredevil Season 2) two TV seasons doesn't hurt either.

Speaking of - oddly little buzz about Bloodshot, given that we're less than two months out. I have serious doubts Bloodshot will be better than Upgrade.

Not sure why the drop-off's either unexpected or interesting. It's *far* worse than Rogue One. And worse than TFA or TLJ.

I find the Trevorrow -script treatment fascinating because it shows the initial planned follow-up to Rian Johnson's film - and verifies - for instance, that Palpatine's addition as the new big bad was indeed last-minute (which we knew, since there were no hints given in the prior two films).

But at least Jack Reacher went full person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point from the first movie's first trailer. 5'7" Tom Cruise *and* featuring him in a car. It was like a huge middle finger to the fans.

Purportedly Colin Trevorrow's original -script treatment: https://news.avclub.com/turns-out-colin-trevorrows-version-of-star-wars-episod-1841002112 Interesting summary and discussion of it here, although only one answer so far: https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-like-and-dislike-about-Colin-Trevorrows-leaked--script-for-Star-Wars-IX

Florence Pugh's (well-deserved) Oscar nomination should help this one. She's positioned to be the next break-out starlet, a la Scarlett Johannsen 18 years ago or Jennifer Lawrence 10 years ago.

So...Bloodshot's nervous about Sonic the Hedgehog?

1. Receiving a lightsaber (and preliminary training in it) isn't at all antithetical with pacifism. Nor, necessarily, is swiftly ending a potentially deadly fight. 2. Kenobi embodies these principles in his fight with Vader. Recall that he simply shuts off his lightsaber and refuses to continue the fight, allowing Vader to strike him down. Which, you know, isn't very different from Luke throwing away his lightsaber in his final battle with Vader in Jedi. Or his throwing it away when presented it by Rey in The Force Awakens.