Welcome back, Ladies and Dwarves! This weekend is pretty exciting, seeing as we have one of the nations most anticipated (and also least - more about that after the jump) movies of the year coming out! Rounding second base of the December month, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" finally gets its nationwide release! So dust off your old Gandalf hats and put on your golden rings...or throw those down the biggest damn volcano you can find if you know whats good for you! It's once again time for the world to nerd-out together! The smell of those movie tickets is entering my nostrils as I write to you; the lines push for the doors and everyone checks their wristwatches (yeah right) every twelve seconds to see if the three hours until movie start time has happened since they last checked. It's finally almost here.
If you want to check out a general rundown (HIMYM?) on the situation ahead, just hit the jump and we can chew the fat a bit.
First things first, I said I would talk about the anticipation factor a bit here, so let's begin there. I am hyped for this movie, but am I as hyped for this movie as I was for the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy? I certainly am not. I can't quite put my finger on why, either. I am more familiar with the source material here, since I read The Hobbit numerous times but only read the entire LOTR series one time as a kid. The hype should be there but it sort of isn't. What's worse is that nearly everyone I talk to says the same thing: they are excited about The Hobbit but keep forgetting that it's coming out. Is this a master plan by Peter Jackson in an attempt to take everyone by surprise? When "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" came out, it was a big deal but it wasn't the biggest deal of all-time like the subsequent two were. As The Hobbit currently holds a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes I am scared to wonder why. A 74% is respectable enough but is that the number I was looking for on a movie titled "The Hobbit"? No. I was looking for something in the mid-90's, easy. Why isn't that happening? The other thing that worries me is the cartoon-like nature of the dwarven constituency in this film. Why don't they all look a bit more like Gimli? He was perfect; these are...silly.
Now as far as the numbers go I just don't know if The Hobbit can hold a candle to its predecessors. Will it win twelve Oscars and make THE MOST MONEY IN THE WORLD!? No, probably not. LOTR: ROTK made $1.1BB by the time all was said and done, with a production budget of only $94MM. That's one heck of a percentage increase! Now I honestly don't know what the budget is for The Hobbit but assuming it's on par with the others, it probably hangs somewhere in the $100MM range. Do you think it will put up the same kind of numbers as the LOTR movie did, or do you think this movie will end up making much less commotion? It's going to make money, but the question is: how much? Feel free to leave some of your estimates in the comment box below, because honestly it could vary quite a bit, but with the holiday season upon us and the quality of fresh movies in the theater right (or, lack there of, maybe), this films should be looking at a pretty strong opening mark, even if it doesn't pan out to be as epic as the previous trilogy. I'll throw out a number of something around $100MM for this weekend, but from there I'm just not sure.
Basically there isn't much more to say about The Hobbit other than that people need to go check it out. It seems like a film that deserves at least a chance to see what all is going on. And I don't think there's much other competition to fight for your dollars, either. Only one other film opens in any variety at all this weekend, and that's "Save the Date", which will be debuting in a gigantic two theaters ('The Hobbit' better watch out!) - and when I say "gigantic two theaters" I don't actually mean that the two theaters it's opening in are gigantic; honestly I have no idea about the size of the theaters it will be in. Ultimately, I really don't have much info on this movie at all, other than that it's a thing and it's happening.
To close up schopp here - yeah, you caught it - I'd just like to say, have a great and safe movie-watching weekend! Don't be afraid to Nerd out to enjoy this Middle Earth flick (it's okay, Nerds are in now!). After you check out the film, feel free to stop back by this post and let us know what you thought of it. I'd love to hear some reader opinions!
First things first, I said I would talk about the anticipation factor a bit here, so let's begin there. I am hyped for this movie, but am I as hyped for this movie as I was for the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy? I certainly am not. I can't quite put my finger on why, either. I am more familiar with the source material here, since I read The Hobbit numerous times but only read the entire LOTR series one time as a kid. The hype should be there but it sort of isn't. What's worse is that nearly everyone I talk to says the same thing: they are excited about The Hobbit but keep forgetting that it's coming out. Is this a master plan by Peter Jackson in an attempt to take everyone by surprise? When "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" came out, it was a big deal but it wasn't the biggest deal of all-time like the subsequent two were. As The Hobbit currently holds a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes I am scared to wonder why. A 74% is respectable enough but is that the number I was looking for on a movie titled "The Hobbit"? No. I was looking for something in the mid-90's, easy. Why isn't that happening? The other thing that worries me is the cartoon-like nature of the dwarven constituency in this film. Why don't they all look a bit more like Gimli? He was perfect; these are...silly.
Now as far as the numbers go I just don't know if The Hobbit can hold a candle to its predecessors. Will it win twelve Oscars and make THE MOST MONEY IN THE WORLD!? No, probably not. LOTR: ROTK made $1.1BB by the time all was said and done, with a production budget of only $94MM. That's one heck of a percentage increase! Now I honestly don't know what the budget is for The Hobbit but assuming it's on par with the others, it probably hangs somewhere in the $100MM range. Do you think it will put up the same kind of numbers as the LOTR movie did, or do you think this movie will end up making much less commotion? It's going to make money, but the question is: how much? Feel free to leave some of your estimates in the comment box below, because honestly it could vary quite a bit, but with the holiday season upon us and the quality of fresh movies in the theater right (or, lack there of, maybe), this films should be looking at a pretty strong opening mark, even if it doesn't pan out to be as epic as the previous trilogy. I'll throw out a number of something around $100MM for this weekend, but from there I'm just not sure.
Basically there isn't much more to say about The Hobbit other than that people need to go check it out. It seems like a film that deserves at least a chance to see what all is going on. And I don't think there's much other competition to fight for your dollars, either. Only one other film opens in any variety at all this weekend, and that's "Save the Date", which will be debuting in a gigantic two theaters ('The Hobbit' better watch out!) - and when I say "gigantic two theaters" I don't actually mean that the two theaters it's opening in are gigantic; honestly I have no idea about the size of the theaters it will be in. Ultimately, I really don't have much info on this movie at all, other than that it's a thing and it's happening.
To close up schopp here - yeah, you caught it - I'd just like to say, have a great and safe movie-watching weekend! Don't be afraid to Nerd out to enjoy this Middle Earth flick (it's okay, Nerds are in now!). After you check out the film, feel free to stop back by this post and let us know what you thought of it. I'd love to hear some reader opinions!
