Summer Movies: Heroes, Reboots and Duds
June 20, 2008 13:11
June is usually a hot month for movies, but for the most part this has been a summer where the studios are playing it safe. Or is it? This past weekend especially was an interesting one for two movies with a lot on the line: "The Incredible Hulk" reboot, and "The Happening." Before we go into how they did, a brief recap of the summer so far.
Of course the most anticipated movie of the summer, or at least a close second to right to "The Dark Knight," finally came out, and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" made big money, of course. But so far "Iron Man" is the real big winner box office and review wise (in a shrewd marketing move, Tony Stark's cameo in the Hulk is now prominently featured in the commercial, which certainly couldn't have hurt the box office performance of that film). Even though "Indian Jones" had a bigger opening, "Iron Man" is leading the way this summer with $300 million in domestic ticket sales and plenty of positive reviews from the critics (including Tom's Games).
After a 19 year absence, the return of Indiana Jones has polarized audiences. Those who enjoyed it liked it fine, thank you, while those who hated it are fuming and feeling cheated. Were the expectations too high because of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster skills? Should he have delivered on those expectations? It's not currently clear where the blame lies for those who hate the film, although for Lucas haters the oft-criticized script seems to be adding more fuel for their fires. Now with the rejected Frank Darabont draft finally online, the Internet debates are sure to rage throughout the summer.
The biggest dud of the summer without a doubt has been "Speed Racer." It was almost 10 years ago the Wachowski Brothers reinvented the action blockbuster with "The Matrix" and showed Lucas up before the release of "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace." Upon the release of "The Matrix," it seemed the sibling filmmaking team's potential was limitless. Don't they have anything original or different to offer other than a remake of a '60's cartoon that's ancient history to today's generation?
Variety's Anne Thompson weighed in on why Speed Racer didn't take off, and one point Thompson brought up was also a reason given for Tron's failure: It was just too much new technology to take in. Thompson called it "pixel fatigue," and quoted one moviegoer who got "sensory overload" just from watching the trailer. Sadly, Tom's Games agreed with those assessments (check out the full review).
Another filmmaker who exploded in 1999 and has also fallen on hard times lately is M. Night Shyamalan. The buzz was bad for his latest film "The Happening," and the reviews have been largely negative (go here for the Tom's Games review), which is why it's a surprise it outperformed expectations. "The Happening" earned $30 million its opening weekend, and the film is also doing well overseas. All in all, the consensus seems to be that the film lies somewhere between Shyamalan's worst ("Lady in the Water") and his best ("The Sixth Sense," "Signs"). Still, Shyamalan is still a lightning rod for critics and fans alike. As Nikki Finke reported on Deadline Hollywood Daily, the director has "been branded as [an] hopelessly arrogant has-been, with media outlets appearing to root for the failure of his latest pic." Finke also reported that Fox put Shyamalan on a leash with the press, clearly afraid his ego would alienate potential filmgoers.
Edward Norton in "The Incredible Hulk."
Ironically, the movie that suffered from arguably the worst buzz for the summer movie season also had a surprise opening. "The Incredible Hulk" pulled in more than $50 million for its opening weekend, which has to be considered a huge success for the film considering all of the doubt that swirled around the franchise reboot ever since the first trailer appeared with more cartoon-looking CGI. But hey, it is, after all, a comic book, right? And if recent summer movie seasons have proven anything, it's that audiences love comic book superheroes (go here for the Tom's Games review).
Still, like "The Happening," the new Hulk film hasn't been without its share of controversy and behind-the-scenes drama, which hasn't seemed to hurt "The Incredible Hulk" - yet. And that is a good thing for Edward Norton, who has a reputation as being a difficult actor on the set and a control freak in the editing room. The press has made much of Norton's attempts to take over "The Incredible Hulk," which started last summer with his surprise announcement at Comic-Con 2007 that he had rewritten the movie's script.
But Norton clashed with Marvel Studios over the final edit of the film, and after not getting his way the star refused to cooperate with the press for the film's media tour (Fox News has called him "The Incredible Sulk"). The only major press he's done so far is being interviewed by co-star Liv Tyler (certain to be a fascinating talk, of course). Thompson's Variety blog goes into great detail about what Norton brought to the project, who came up with what scenes, and what didn't wind up in the movie (Norton wanted 20 more minutes of character development, but Marvel had final cut). Reading the reviews, Norton may also have been right on this point, as several critics wished there was more character development as well.
Perhaps with the disaster of the first "Hulk" film, where Ang Lee tried to give the story deeper philosophical meaning and failed, Marvel wanted to play it much safer this time around and focus on the action. And in all fairness, the first time Norton did his cut of a film, "American History X," it resulted in rave reviews and an Oscar nomination for the star. Again, perhaps it was the right move to make because its famously self-destructive director, Tony Kaye, pulled his own endless shenanigans throughout the production.
Judging from the reviews so far, the current incarnation of "The Incredible Hulk" may end up being the next "Spider-Man" (the first movie, that is). It wasn't the greatest comic book movie ever made, but there were innumerable ways it could have been ruined, and thankfully it turned out to be a very respectable effort. However the Hulk does overall in its theatrical and DVD life, the good news is comic movies aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and who better than Marvel and Stan "the Man" Lee to lead the charge? And with a possible "Avengers" project down the road combining Robert Downey Jr.'s "Iron Man" and Norton's "Hulk," Marvel Studios may have a dream team on its hands.
It looks like Hollywood has once again dodged more bullets, but I wonder how much longer it can keep churning out sequels, remakes, and reboots before audiences revolt. On the eve of The Hulk's release, Variety polled its readers asking what other superhero needs a reboot. 52 percent voted "Find a New Franchise."
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