X-Men: First Class

thecolorsblend wrote:Domestic: $55,101,604
Foreign: $64,000,000
Worldwide: $119,101,604

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=xmenfirstclass.htm

Not a bad little opening.

Weekend Report: 'First Class' Ranks Last Among 'X-Men'
by Brandon Gray
X-Men: First Class
June 6, 2011

Wolverine's absence was felt as X-Men: First Class's attendance hit a franchise low in its debut. The Hangover Part II crashed after a wild opening, while Kung Fu Panda 2 didn't save face.

X-Men: First Class squeaked by with a passable $55.1 million on approximately 6,900 screens at 3,641 locations, and it's looking more like the fanboy fantasia it sounded like when first announced than something that will advance the franchise. Sure, the first X-Men movie opened to $54.5 million, but $55.1 million in 2011 is far less impressive than $54.5 million in 2000. The first X-Men's start was the equivalent of over $79 million adjusted for ticket price inflation. More telling, though, is that First Class marked a sizable step down from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which made $85.1 million in its opening weekend.

Earlier this summer, a Marvel Comics adaptation of a lesser character, Thor, mustered $65.7 million out of the gate (though attendance was about the same as X-Men: First Class after adjusting for 3D), and First Class drew less than The Incredible Hulk's $55.4 million from June 2008. In fact, <b>First Class</b> had the lowest opening for a major Marvel Comics adaptation since <b>Ghost Rider</b> in early 2007. Some would like to think of Batman Begins as a more appropriate comparison, but even that picture fared relatively better: its first weekend was $48.7 million (after burning off demand with a Wednesday launch) or the equivalent of nearly $60 million adjusted for ticket-price inflation. The debut of another fanboy fantasia, Watchmen, could be a better comparison to First Class: Both were ensemble period pieces and both had exceptionally high results in Box Office Mojo's "when will you see it" polling that didn't translate to correspondingly high grosses.

Distributor 20th Century Fox's exit polling indicated that 58 percent of X-Men: First Class's audience was male and 54 percent was over 25 years old. That means First Class skewed more male than Wolverine (53 percent). The hope now is for First Class to hold well moving forward, but that's unlikely, given the history of the franchise and the genre. The previous X-Men movies all flamed out after their first weekends, including the supposed good ones (X2 and the first X-Men). If First Class holds as well as the first X-Men and X2, that would give it a final gross range of $141 million to $162 million (Wolverine closed with $179.9 million), but, if its pattern hews closer to The Last Stand and Wolverine, it would wind up with $118 million to $128 million.

X-Men: First Class's opening reiterates the danger of rebooting a still prominent franchise without a clean break and the passage of a lot of time (Wolverine was just two years ago). While wanting to restart things after the purported quality issues of Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand was understandable, First Class was just a Wolverine-less prequel to the public and couldn't shake the baggage of those last two movies. First Class's marketing, which sent mixed messages by including references to the previous movies, didn't go into the movie's actual story. It merely focused on seeing what the X-Men were like when they were young and the brewing disagreement between Professor X and Magneto, which was already covered in the previous movies. All things considered, then, First Class's $56 million start wasn't too shabby and certainly displayed the continued popularity of the franchise.

non_amos wrote:As you can tell, they're not exactly in this film's corner with all their 'double-speak': "Sure, it made 55 million but that doesn't mean the same today as it did in 2000, which adjusted for inflation is 79 million." Blah, blah, blah! This is the sort of thing that pisses me off with the Internets! A film comes out, & whether good or bad, it doesn't stand a chance with these 'harbingers of doom'!

Duh Internets, ya gotta love it!

Apologist Puncher wrote:Here's the difference between a film like 'X-men' and 'THOR':

'X-Men' is made by a big-budget mega-corporation studio in Fox. 'THOR' is made by a smaller, upstart 'Marvel Films' studio.

The expectations are a lot higher in a case like this.

thecolorsblend wrote:Mmm. The expectations are probably higher for X-Men but I'd argue the stakes are higher for Thor for the very reasons you mention. Fox can easily survive if X-Men bombs it.

Brazil boy seems to attract metal objects

Published - Jul 09 2011 01:27PM EST

SAO PAULO — An 11-year-old boy in Brazil's northeastern city of Mossoro is drawing attention with his purportedly magnet-like qualities.

The Globo TV network has broadcast images of Paulo David Amorim demonstrating how forks, knives, scissors, cooking pans, cameras and other metal objects seem drawn to his body and remain stuck on his chest, stomach and back.

The boy's father tells Globo that he decided to test his son after learning of a boy in Croatia with a similar ability. Junior Amorim says he was surprised to find "a fork and knife stuck to his body."

The youth says classmates call him "magnet boy."

Dr. Dix-Sept Rosado Sobrinho tells Globo it is the first time in his 30-year career that he has seen a case like this.

non_amos wrote:I finally saw X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. I had intended to make it to the theater but was unable to so I went the online route. I lucked up & found a 'DIVX' version that was DVD quality! I'm still trying to finish right after the 2-hour mark as the film 'froze up' but from what I've seen, it wasn't the 'gay-fest' that I thought it'd be.

The film was actually pretty good & visually looked good. Story-wise & acting & everything seemed pretty good too. It actually seemed well made. It still hasn't quite made back its' budget domestically but internationally it's grossed over 300 million. Personally I wish they'd let this be a true reboot of sorts, like STAR TREK, & continue to tell stories without 'being beholden' to Bryan Singer! Reboot, I say!

non_amos wrote:Ya know, it probably helped that the film wasn't directed by Bryan Singer, only produced. This Matthew Vaughn guy really seemed to have his act together here. I had someone tell me recently that this was their favorite X-Men film! That he even turned around & watched it again. Obviously it was to the fans' advantage that Singer didn't direct. I was also originally concerned about this being a 'period piece' but it was good anyway, like that didn't even matter. Here's hoping that the Captain America film will be good too!

webhead2006 wrote:Just saw this funny video on ign about the screwed up timelines for the x films:
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/09/06/the-fd-up-timeline-of-x-men-first-class

thecolorsblend wrote:

webhead2006 wrote:Just saw this funny video on ign about the screwed up timelines for the x films:
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/09/06/the-fd-up-timeline-of-x-men-first-class

I rather enjoyed the movie... but it's best to think of it as a reboot rather than a prequel.