Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

radditsu · Jan 5, 2016

khorum_sl said:
It's more than just the exposure. The Chinese test audiences must not have shown any more enthusiasm now than they did before. Disney is the most disciplined media company in history, they have a monster regionalization group that just sits around and maths up shit like why releases should open two days earlier in France and three weeks later in China. For Frozen they recruited 45 different local pop idols to dub the songs into those 45 languages--including two Chinese ones--because their test audiences predicted how massive the movie was gonna be months earlier.

Yet Tangled did not make its money back.

Heian · Jan 5, 2016

It's sad cause I really enjoyed tangled. I think it did lay the groundwork for Frozen. The characters in frozen does look like a "reskin" of Tangled.

khorum · Jan 5, 2016

Yep, like any pareto spread they've got a bottom 20% too. Curious why they'd allow a Pixar title to slip down there tho. Last Dinosaur looks like disaster.

radditsu · Jan 5, 2016

heian_sl said:
It's sad cause I really enjoyed tangled. I think it did lay the groundwork for Frozen. The characters in frozen does look like a "reskin" of Tangled.

You can tell it used the same animation engine.

Vulg · Jan 5, 2016

Removing the mask is really the only option in a movie where you're trying to convey the maturity (or lack thereof) and evolution of the character. Vader was pretty much a finished product when we met him in the original series - Ren's path maps more closely to Anakin's (though maybe should have worn one given the result ...)

Ravishing · Jan 5, 2016

khorum_sl said:
It's more than just the exposure. The Chinese test audiences must not have shown any more enthusiasm now than they did before. Disney is the most disciplined media company in history, they have a monster regionalization group that just sits around and maths up shit like why releases should open two days earlier in France and three weeks later in China. For Frozen they recruited 45 different local pop idols to dub the songs into those 45 languages--including two Chinese ones--because their test audiences predicted how massive the movie was gonna be months earlier.

And for exactly those reasons is why Disney has been giving China extra attention. 3rd party analysts are mixed but you would hope the Disney brain trust has managed to put together a successful campaign. I have faith in Disney and the added exposure will also help.

China is a very important market and winning them over now means greater success with the next movies.

ohkcrlho · Jan 5, 2016

Vulg_sl said:
Removing the mask is really the only option in a movie where you're trying to convey the maturity (or lack thereof) and evolution of the character. Vader was pretty much a finished product when we met him in the original series - Ren's path maps more closely to Anakin's (though maybe should have worn one given the result ...)

And still could show many different emotions than any character in the prequels

Siliconemelons · Jan 5, 2016

radditsu_sl said:
Yet Tangled did not make its money back.

Really? Tangled was the best imo recently - it's ad campaign was horrific it was like they let BlackBerry run the marketing campaign for it.

khorum · Jan 5, 2016

It can't have been as bad as Lost Dinosaur's marketing, though. Point is, for whatever reason, Disney must've tested Lost Dinosaur to death across every market and age group and based on that decided to budget its marketing the way it did and released it in the ass end of the year, perilously close to Star Wars too. Actually, they probably tested Inside Out and Last Dinosaur simultaneously and gave Inside Out the summer release based on that research---the fact that they clung to their analysts and picked Inside Out over the gut call to pick a traditional kid's movie about anthropomorphic Dinosaurs is more remarkable.

Runnen · Jan 5, 2016

khorum_sl said:
It can't have been as bad as Lost Dinosaur's marketing, though. Point is, for whatever reason, Disney must've tested Lost Dinosaur to death across every market and age group and based on that decided to budget its marketing the way it did and released it in the ass end of the year, perilously close to Star Wars too. Actually, they probably tested Inside Out and Last Dinosaur simultaneously and gave Inside Out the summer release based on that research---the fact that they clung to their analysts and picked Inside Out over the gut call to pick a traditional kid's movie about anthropomorphic Dinosaurs is more remarkable.

You know a movie was memorable when you not only give it the wrong title, but give it TWO different wrong titles in the same paragraph! It's The GOOD Dinosaur!

khorum · Jan 5, 2016

Runnen_sl said:
You know a movie was memorable when you not only give it the wrong title, but give it TWO different wrong titles in the same paragraph! It's The GOOD Dinosaur!

Hah two different posts too. Lol, yeah GOOD Dinosaur wasn't bad but it wasn't standout like you'd expect from Pixar.

Ravishing · Jan 5, 2016

The Good Dinosaur also had production delays & issues. It was slated to be a 2013 release originally. Pixar has never released 2 movies in a single year before. The delays pushed it to having be released between other projects. They have other productions going on and most likely didn't want to sacrifice those (presumably better) pictures... and I think most here agree Inside Out is a better picture. Their future projects are still slated at 1 movie per year, except in 2017 where 2 films are listed, but that could always change. 2016 we'll see the release of "Finding Dory". Nemo was a huge hit so it makes sense they would want to focus more on promoting the spinoff then trying to make Dinosaur work out.

AngryGerbil · Jan 5, 2016

Runnen_sl said:
Joking aside, I agree with this paragraph about how showing Kylo Ren's face was a great move.

Sure, everyone loves a menacing villain and Driver's face definitely does not make him intimidating, with his glorious Jon Snowesque curls. But the point isn't to make him scary in the movie.

We're shown time and time again that he is not -yet- taken very seriously by his peers, especially General Hux who tells him how it is right in his face. No one did that to Vader and lived to tell the tale.

People complain that he was whiny, even in tears at times. And he was, at times. But that's exactly what runs in the Skywalker family.

Anakin was whiny, if terribly portrayed by Christensen, until he was grievously maimed and put into a suit that basically MADE him scary. Luke WAS whiny, until he grew up and became a non-whiny Jedi. Kylo Ren is whiny, and has not gone through the experiences of either Anakin or Luke, though he does get a pretty badass facial scarring at the end of TFA. I'm sure he'll grow up plenty in the next movies.

Keeping the mask on for the whole movie would have made the character a LOT less memorable, but those moments where he is trying to probe Rey's mind with the Force and suddenly feels HER probing his mind, and digging into his weaknesses, that was very well acted with just a widening of his eyes and a twitch of an eyebrow. Hardly the stuff of Oscars, but still far beyond what people give him credit for, and galaxies beyond the acting we got in the prequels.

I agree completely. Kylo was well done imo. Both the writing and the actor.

Jive Turkey · Jan 5, 2016

Runnen_sl said:
You know a movie was memorable when you not only give it the wrong title, but give it TWO different wrong titles in the same paragraph! It's The GOOD Dinosaur!

It's kind of a terrible name too, isn't it? That couldn't have helped

etchazz · Jan 5, 2016

Runnen_sl said:
Joking aside, I agree with this paragraph about how showing Kylo Ren's face was a great move.

Sure, everyone loves a menacing villain and Driver's face definitely does not make him intimidating, with his glorious Jon Snowesque curls. But the point isn't to make him scary in the movie.

We're shown time and time again that he is not -yet- taken very seriously by his peers, especially General Hux who tells him how it is right in his face. No one did that to Vader and lived to tell the tale.

People complain that he was whiny, even in tears at times. And he was, at times. But that's exactly what runs in the Skywalker family.

Anakin was whiny, if terribly portrayed by Christensen, until he was grievously maimed and put into a suit that basically MADE him scary. Luke WAS whiny, until he grew up and became a non-whiny Jedi. Kylo Ren is whiny, and has not gone through the experiences of either Anakin or Luke, though he does get a pretty badass facial scarring at the end of TFA. I'm sure he'll grow up plenty in the next movies.

Keeping the mask on for the whole movie would have made the character a LOT less memorable, but those moments where he is trying to probe Rey's mind with the Force and suddenly feels HER probing his mind, and digging into his weaknesses, that was very well acted with just a widening of his eyes and a twitch of an eyebrow. Hardly the stuff of Oscars, but still far beyond what people give him credit for, and galaxies beyond the acting we got in the prequels.

Kylo Ren is a fucking whiny, sandy vagina, and there is no way anyone could possibly take him seriously as a villain going forward. You can show conflict and depth in a character through great acting, dialogue, and directing. Unfortunately, this movie had none of those things. So instead, we get a prequels Anakin 2.0 level villain. Darth Vader was voted the second greatest villain in the history of cinema, behind only Hannibal Lecter. Kylo Ren would fall somewhere behind Mr. Freeze.

Cinge · Jan 5, 2016

etchazz_sl said:
Kylo Ren is a fucking whiny, sandy vagina..

I see why you are so upset, he reminds you too much of yourself.

Xeldar · Jan 5, 2016

So many neckbearded dudes gonna be doing Kylo Ren costumes come Halloween.

Runnen · Jan 5, 2016

etchazz_sl said:
there is no way anyone could possibly take him seriously as a villain going forward..

I doubt the big plan over the trilogy is to end up with Kylo Ren being seen as "the villain". Much like Vader did not end up as "the villain" in the classic trilogy, I expect Kylo Ren will go through several trials that I would not be surprised to see end in redemption or self-sacrifice (because Star Wars is cyclical like that). The true villain of the classic trilogy was always the Emperor, evil to his last breath, much like Snoke is intended to be the villain in this one. Kylo Ren, much like Vader in ESB forward, is meant as a more tragic character than a traditionnal mustache-twirling villain role (again, Vader was little more than a big boss mook in ANH).

Fadaar · Jan 5, 2016

Xeldar_sl said:
So many neckbearded dudes gonna be doing Kylo Ren costumes come Halloween.

Ya know I didn't even think about that but thank god it came out a while after Halloween. Seeing everyone in a Star Wars costume would have been pretty insufferable.

Caliane · Jan 5, 2016

Runnen_sl said:
I doubt the big plan over the trilogy is to end up with Kylo Ren being seen as "the villain". Much like Vader did not end up as "the villain" in the classic trilogy, I expect Kylo Ren will go through several trials that I would not be surprised to see end in redemption or self-sacrifice (because Star Wars is cyclical like that). The true villain of the classic trilogy was always the Emperor, evil to his last breath, much like Snoke is intended to be the villain in this one. Kylo Ren, much like Vader in ESB forward, is meant as a more tragic character than a traditionnal mustache-twirling villain role (again, Vader was little more than a big boss mook in ANH).

I hope that is not true. Ren being an emo pussy who gets his ass kicked by Rey and Finn, only makes sense if he goes full darkside and becomes a real threat. if Ren fails at kid, fails at jedi, fails at dark jedi, fails at Sith lord.. ffs. Character is just full on shit. whats the best we could get from him? "the only thing I didnt fail at, is saving you as a kid. rey"

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

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