Compared to its billion-grossing predecessor, it looks like Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will sink like Atlantis at the box office. Per , Warner Bros.’ big Christmas release — well, actually, one of three big Christmas releases from WB, along with Wonka and The Color Purple — is tracking for a $40 million domestic opening weekend. That's lower than The Marvels' $46.1 million, and significantly below the first Aquaman's $67.9 million opening. Given that Aquaman 2 is tracking better outside the US, and that the holiday gives it time to leg out, it could still end up a hit if word of mouth is good. But after the year that superhero movies have had (and given Aquaman 2's rotten reviews), that seems unlikely.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the year's last test to see if people still care about superhero movies. Of course, audiences will still turn out for Spider-Man and Batman, but can a character like Aquaman, who was a B-lister before his billion-grossing movie leveled him up, still put butts in seats? The Marvels, like Aquaman, was the sequel to a movie that passed that same threshold, but was the MCU's biggest box office bomb. Unless fans think Aquaman 2 is incredible, it will likely suffer a similar fate.
It has become increasingly clear over the course of 2023 that the superhero boom seems to have finally gone bust, and video game adaptations are rising to take their place. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us was one of HBO's biggest hits ever, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the second-highest grossing movie of the year. The que🃏stion now is: h📖ow deep does the bench go?
During the height of the comic book movie era, audiences were willing to show up for anything, even for characters they'd never heard of. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge hit, despite starring a squad of characters only diehards were familiar with. As I noted above, Captain Marvel and Aquaman were huge blockbusters, too. David Ayer's 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Suicide Squad made $747 million despite being one of the worst movies I've ever seen in a theater and starring characters that were largely as obscure as Rocket Racoon and Groot. Are video games going to be able to kindle that kind of box office heat once we get past the heaviest hitters?
Until this fall, that question was largely untested. The video game series that got movie and TV adaptations had, generally, been big, long-running hits. Pokemon, Mario, and Sonic could launch successful movies because their debut games, dating back to the '80s and '90s, gave them cross-generational appeal. But, in October, Universal released 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Five Nights at Freddy's in theaters and, despite the film having a day-and-date release on Peacꦰock, it was a huge hit, grossing nearly $30♐0 million on a $20 million budget.
That movie's success was anomalous, not just for video game adaptations, but for IP filmmaking in general. When we look at the biggest blockbusters, they tend to be based on franchises that date back several decades. Batman has been stalking dark alleys since the 1930s. Spider-Man has been swinging from rooftops since the '60s. Fantastic Beasts/Harry Potter dates back to 1997, Jurassic Park/World to 1993, Star Wars to 1977, Barbie to 1959.
One of the biggest problems with IP filmmaking is that it constantly rehashes the successes of the past instead of creating new worlds for young audiences to invest in. Five Nights at Freddy's is the rare blockbuster success that is based on IP that isn't even a decade old. It's a success because zoomers who grew up with the games turned out to see the movie. If video game adaptations are going to experience anything resembling the longevity superhero movies enjoyed, it will because Hollywood learns to listen to the youth, delivering movies based on properties they're interested in, instead of reheating decades old leftovers.
Are We Really Surprised Five Nights At Freddy's Is Bad?
If you're disappointed by the reviews, you were expecting🍬 too m𒉰uch.