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Episode II Surpasses $116 Million at Box Office
Domasi writes "The Force is with George Lucas again as the fifth installment of the Star Wars saga, 'Attack of the Clones,' took in $116.3 million in its first four days and to become the second-fastest film behind only "Spider-Man"." Spider-man is better. But I plan to see both of them again.
I bet there was no one amongst this crowd who ever thought Spider-Man would out perform -ANY- episode of Star Wars at the box office. Ever.
I certainly didn't see it coming.
It is worthwhile to mention that Spider-Man is being shown on over 1000 screens more than AOTC, etc.
You are only popular on the Internet.
I'd see it again just to see yoda fight. I just wish there was a clear ending to the fight so everyone could have cheered for him.
Yeah I thought so too. I just loved that scene with the New Yorkers on the bridge throwing down junk at the Green Goblin to distract him from beating up Spidey. "You mess with him and you mess with us!".
As plot devices go that's up there with destroying an Alien battle fleet with a PowerMac and Word Macro Virus
I have trouble with passwords among other things.
..."Episode II" did cheat slightly by opening on a Thursday, giving it an extra day to profit that Spider-Man lacked. (OTOH, it also opened on fewer screens, although I personally find that hard to believe as my local mega-theaters gave "Spider-Man" four screens opening weekend and "Episode II" got five.)
I personally think it will be more interesting to see how business is on the second weekend, which "Spider-Man" did extremely well on, after everyone's had a chance to hear and read reviews from their friends.
Not that I'm bedrudging "Episode II", mind you. I have yet to see it, but everyone seems suitably pleased with it. I just like to keep everything in perspective, and remember Mark Twain's warning about statistics as the third basic kind of lie.
And probally will, just to see Yoda in action.
I don't know how to describe it. It was like...Kermit the Frog on crack!
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
I found myself watching it the first time for "what happens next". I went again this weekend and enjoyed it WAY more because I watched what was happening. The subtle detail in each scene put a smile on my face more often than not.
TheForce.net had a good thread running about "the little things" in the film.
I think the repeat business will keep Clones going for a little bit.
-techwolf
I don't do this for karma, I do it for cash. It's much better.
Spider-Man did it in three days without a mid-night opening.
Here's a snippet from hollywood.com: 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm's PG rated franchise installment Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones exploded in first place with an ESTIMATED $86.15 million at 3,161 theaters ($27,254 per theater).
After opening to $30,141,417 for Wednesday midnight screenings and Thursday, its four day cume is approximately $116.29 million. By comparison, Spider-Man's record setting opening was $114.8 million for a normal three day weekend (May 3-5).
Star Wars' average per theater was the highest for any film playing this weekend.
Directed by George Lucas, it stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen.
"That's the third best three day regular weekend opening ever after Spider-Man's $114 million and $90 million for Harry Potter," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said Sunday morning.
"It's the second fastest to $100 million. Of course, Spider-Man did it in three days and this is four. The previous record was Star Wars: Episode I in five days. It opened on a Wednesday (May 19, 1999). Its five day number was $105.659 million. So we've kind of blown past that in four days with $116.291 million on this one. It's just terrific and we're delighted."
Looking back at Episode I -- The Phantom Menace, Snyder noted, "Its Wednesday, the opening day, was $28.5 million. That was the high water mark for the run. The next best day was $24.4 million on Saturday (of weekend one). In this case, we opened to $30.1 million, went to $25.2 million on Friday and Saturday looks like $32.25 million, so it's actually above the opening day and the opening day, remember, had the Midnight shows (from Wednesday) folded in. So this is really a spectacular performance."
Phantom Menace wound up grossing $431.1 million in domestic theaters. Its worldwide total (domestic plus international) was $923 million. Asked about reports that Clones' Wednesday midnight shows had ticket sales of approximately $6 million, Snyder replied, "Something in that area. It depends on how they got folded into (the total for Thursday), but I think that's a fair estimate."
Here's the breakdown of box office report
42
I agree completely. Raw dollar amounts mean nothing... what matters is how many seats out of the total available were filled, and how long the movie kept filling those seats for.
A film is a time sequence of images (not necessarily chronological) often intermixed with audio. "Impart[ing] human feelings via relationships and understanding" is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition of filmmaking. It's also a muddled notion of aesthetics. Some aestheticians have remarked that, "Art expresses human emotions," but this is a theory of beauty and certainly debatable. Furthermore, some films--concept films mostly--lack both characters and plot, and this is by design.
Distaste is not a reason for trolling.
Let's get drunk and delete production data!
Could someone explain to me how it is possible that Episode I, which turned so many people off to Star Wars, grossed less than its successor? If you didn't see Episode I, what are the odds that you would see Episode II?
I know that our theatre, in the interim, had a $2 hike in prices. I wonder if it is related to the monotonic increasing revenues.
Anyone else find it odd that Episode II garnered more money than Episode I, though?
They obviously aren't figuring inflation into this number. Wouldn't it be a little more accurate to list how many tickets were sold instead?
The inflation-adjusted top movies of all time list for viewing pleasure...
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted/
Software Wars
I agree with you about the acting. Lucas does a fabulous job with the technical details and CGI, but when it comes to acting, he seems completely clueless. Character development is poor, and his ability to draw on the skills of top actors and actresses is appalling.
The romance was supposed to be one of the key parts of the story, yet the scenes were jarringly bad. The whole scene towards the end where Natalie Portman was sprawling stunned on the sand then suddenly got up was right out of (no offense intended): "Dummies Guide to Winning Penalties and Freekicks Using the Acting Skills of South American and Italian Footballers"
I loved Episode 2, but there were a few things that seemed a little too familiar...
Count Dooko's speech about "The Dark Lord" and his pleas of "Join me!" caused a little too much deja vu, since it has only been months since watching Lord of the Rings.
The clone factory on Kamino where 'humans are no longer born, they're grown' seemed to be borrowed directly from the matrix.
The gladiatorial style execution seemed to be inspired by another recent film. Besides that, the crab-like monster looked, sounded, and moved a lot like the aliens from Starship Troopers.
Yoda, Anakin, and the other Jedi borrowed quite a few martial arts moves from the characters in the matrix. They didn't fight that way in Episode One.
The cityscape of Corusant and the opening chase sequence was a little too reminiscent of the Fifth Element.
Just a few things I noticed! Hopefully $116M is just the beginning. It may be too optimistic to hope that it unseats Titanic as the box office record holder, but one can hope...
-- Adam
I can't fanthom why in this age people still hang around that "Box Office" thing ?
I mean, 40 years ago, it didn't cost an arm and a leg to purchase a movie ticket, ahhh... those are the drive-ins day.
Today, how much does it cost for a ticket to a first-run movie ? $10 ? $ 25 ? $ 40 ?????
Who knows ?
I mean, the "Box Office" figure should have been retired many years ago, since it really DOES NOT REFLECT HOW MANY PEOPLE GO TO SEE THE MOVIE !
Let's say
If the Box Office figure for Episode II is 5 times the amount for Jaws (back in the '70s), do you think Episode II attracts FIVE TIME MORE PEOPLE to see it, than Jaws back in the '70s ?
I really hope that one day we will see the figure for "Box Office" in terms of HOW MANY PEOPLE PURCHASING THE TICKETS, instead of HOW MUCH $$$$.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Because Spiderman is pure and simple popular story-telling, while AOTC was full of histrionics and exposition, much of which would probably be useless and/or confusing if you hadn't seen all of the other films.
I know this is going to sound strange, but as far as ease of digestion goes, it's almost as if AOTC is the art house gourmet movie and Spiderman is the summer popcorn movie.
We all know about apple.slashdot.org or yro.slashdot.org . These are for sections that pertain for the articles. Have you ever thought about creating one called payed-for-by-mpaa.slashdot.org ??? That's what this place is turning out to be.
The movie industry doesn't adjust for inflation on purpose. Not adjusting for inflation means that movies will keep bringing in more and more money, allowing studios to say that such-and-such a movie broke lots of box office records in all their ads.
Mr. Spey
Cover your butt. Bernard is watching.
The contendors:
Anakin Skywalker
Strengths: Superfast reflexes, ability to move objects with the Force, ESP like reflexes, can jump really high.
Has a lightsaber.
Weaknesses:
While he's suppose to be a Jedi, he's as celibate as a Catholic Priest at a nude alter boy convention. Also, tends to get angry, then say really bad lines.
Spider-Man:
Strengths: Superfast reflexes, really strong, ESP like reflexes, can jump really high. Able to climb walls and shoot web from his wrists.
Weaknesses: Can't seem to make a decent business case, hangs around stupidly while people shoot "sleeping gas" into his face. Has a cute girl hot after his body, but can't seem to make the mind-penis connection and "go for the MJ".
Personally, I think Spider-Man could win it, but only if he got "The Rage" when Anakin threatens MJ. Seeing how Anakin has his own love muffin to worry about (unless he decides he likes women who actually have a chest), I think that we'll see Anakin just barely eek out a win.
Or, since Anakin is E-vile, Spider-Man should win, since Good always truimphs over Evil (just ask the folks who used to work for Enron.)
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
You have to note this: Spider-Man wa shown on more screens in their 3-day opening, than in Star Wars EP2 4-day opening. I think it was on 1500 more screens (if I remember correctly).
Given that fact and good math skill, EP2 did outdo Spider-Man. Either way.. I've seen them both twice anyways.. they both rock.
thelikesofwhich.com
There's a lot to be said for using films as an escape and not taking much at all from them, purely using them as an escapist medium to escape reality.
Star Wars is arguably to most succesful human escapist work ever created, empowering generations to live in a world they could hardly imagine.
That its success is rated in dollars is purely a side effect of todays money biased society.
Who cares about the money and who cares if the film doesn't impart human feelings. If you enjoy it, that's all that matters. A movie isn't _supposed_ to _do_ anything, it's the viewer that interprets things, not the film forcing anything on you.
Rys
- 'sup, G?
Unfortunately, you can't really use the tally of numbers of tickets sold comparing pre-1950 movies to post-1950 movies.
With the advent of television on a wide scale in the late 1940's and the advent of home video playback in the late 1970's, that tends to really skew the issue of movie viewership drastically.
Remember, up until around 1950 the movie theater was the primary form of visual entertainment; that of course meant huge numbers of tickets sold for movies like Gone with the Wind and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Today, television and home video playback tends to create a huge audience for movies outside of movie theaters, so we have to contend with the issue of people seeing the movie well after its theatrical first run on DVD/VHS, pay-per-view channels and premium cable channels.
Regardless of which one is deemed the "better" film of two, one thing I do like about Attack of the Clones is that its release date of May 16 was pretty much synchronised throughout the world. Living in Australia it can be quite frustrating to read about all these great films currently showing in America and having to wait a month or two till it starts showing here. Spiderman is an example, you people in the US have been able to see it since early May but those of us in Australia have to wait till June.
Out of curiousity does anyone know what factors determine whether a film gets a synchronised global release or not?
aus.music.scrapbook
Natalie versus Kirsten - who will win?
First of all, when I'm told a movie grossed the most $$$ ever, I cringe.
These stats are great for me knowing that yes, Spiderman sold more tickets than Star Wars at the box office this year... But don't tell me it's the best selling movie ever. It's probably not!
I mean, look at how much it costs to buy a ticket today.. What, $8.50 round about?
So what you're telling me that year after year, with inflation, there will always be a bigger and better blockbuster according to gross sales?
Why has no one EVER ajusted for inflation? For all I know the best and most watched movie way Ben Hur... hehe....
www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
I was watching CNN Headline News on Saturday morning when they interviewed the film critic for Entertainment Tonight. My attitude toward the $115 million box office mark is the same as his answer to the AOTC vs. Spider-Man question: Why should I care? I'm not getting a piece of the action.
The important thing is that, for the $9 I paid for my ticket, I got a comfortable seat and an a magical experience watching the film. I thought both movies were very entertaining and already watched Spider-Man twice. I'm going to watch AOTC again because I want to see the digital version (go Yoda!). Now, I couldn't care less about which movie made the more $$$ because I'm not among the people whose net worth was increased by the box office take.
Discussing this box office take rivalry is like arguing who is the coolest millionaire, Ellison or Gates? I don't really care. All I care is how their products perform and how they affect my business.
Cheers!
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
Mod Me down if you must, but ...
:)
:)
This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors,ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane...
but seriously, this whole "box office" rating thing is pointless.. the #1 box office movie should be rated on # of ticket sales, not # of $$$..
By the current rating standard, a movie with 2x the ticket price only has to sell half as many tickets to be rated as high as the inverse...
I'm not by any means saying that ATOC shouldn't be up there with the greats, but don't base your facts & reports on something variable (such as ticket prices... or even dynamic IP's)
ok, i'm done now *steps off soap box*
The majority of the plot development really didn't have anything to do with the 'Attack of the Clones". I think that "Anakin gets his groove on" would have been a more appropriate title.
At least star wars didn't have the oft repeated line "with great power comes great responsibility" :) But Star Wars did have a laughable love story...so I guess they're about even.
Keep in mind the first time that phrase was ever uttered was in a spider-man comic. And how is it worse then any of the idiotic cliches in SW? "He's not taking the hint?". Or just plain idiocy "I'm beside myself!"
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I have had people tell me that comparing AOTC to Spiderman is like comparing apples to oranges, but I beg to differ. I think that AOTC is a more durable film, in other words, you can go see it time again and it gets better as opposed to worse or indifferent. Spiderman is pretty nifty, but I think it will flop down there with the first Batman in that it won't stand the test of time. My kids will be pining for (the non-existent) 7 through 9 episodes based on the coolness of these three episodes and the mega coolness of the first three. They will not be pining to see Spiderman 7: Spidey vs the Hulk.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
I know you think you so cool cause you can refer back to some discussion you didn't take part in.
Except that was after the fact that the numbers were in for spiderman. It's really easy to make that sort of predicition when spiderman reported the most sucessful opening weekened ever. I doesn't suprise me that some thought of this a week ago, but what about a month ago.
It's interesting that when Episode I came out around the same time as the Matrix, the consensus was that the Matrix was the better movie. This time around it's Spider man and the winner is... not Star Wars.
Believe in things of which no person has ever learned
for the WEEKEND (not the first day in star wars ep 2's case)
it was shown in 3,161 theaters, for an avg of $27,254 PT.
For opening weekend of spiderman:
3,615 $31,769 (yes, the difference in theaters was 454.... screens might have been 1500 but theaters wasn't THAT different it seems)
all numbers from www.the-numbers.com
Just like Vladimir and Estragon, I will be waiting (for what I'm sure seems an eternity) for the video/dvd representation of this film. Why? Because I finally saw spider-man. And if AotC is not as good as spider-man, then AotC is not worth my money.
I was really quite disappointed with spider-man. The dialogue was really bad. The FX were fun and the premise was great, but the dialogue was so contrived as to make it impossible for me to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the good parts of the movie. Which is too bad, because for once, this was a movie that didn't lack in story. It lacked in execution. It could have been a really good movie, and after having read the reviews provided here, I expected a pretty good movie. But what I got was ho-hum and it left me really disappointed.
So if THAT is the standard which AotC fails to achieve, then I think I'll wait for it to be released in a form in which I can watch it for only $4 and if I wish to watch it again, I can (until I have to return it to the vid store).
Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.
My Star Wars strategy is along the lines of the quote:
"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
Yes, I will probably get flamed for saying this, but Episode 1 was a piss poor movie. Without the effects it would have been nothing except a cheap setup to explain Episode 2.
So, George Lucas has lost my trust. Movies are getting more and more expensive (2 people = $8 tickets x 2, popcorn = $4, 2 drinks = $7, candy = $4 = 16 + 4 + 7 + 4 = $31 just for the movie experience).
SO what I did this time around was to download a copy of the movie in VideoCD format off IRC. I watched it last night.
Many will say, "How can you spoil such a great movie by watching it off a burned CD?"
And they have a point - but I will not be fooled again. I have chosen to review the movie first, then if I deem it worthy, I will go see it. While one might think this would spoil the movie, it really doesn't. Divx/VideoCD is poor enough in quality that there is still plenty to catch the second time around, not to mention the much better audio in the theater.
So, will I go see it in the theater? Proably yes. It was much better than the first. But shame on George Lucas for hyping the first one so much and cashing in on it because it was the first new Star Wars movie in a long time.
Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
The first half of Spiderman is a redundant piece of shit to anyone who read the comic
So you think they should limit the movie's audience to only those who read the comic? Sounds like a good business strategy.
I mean, LOTR was pretty redundant, if you look at it that way. And something tells me I already know what's gonna happen in the next two in the series as well...
Lucas gives you no incentive to indentify with any of the characters, as in the first trilogy. It just becomes CG action scenes, that itself no spur for actors to act well.
> Discussing this box office take rivalry is like
> arguing who is the coolest millionaire, Ellison or
> Gates? I don't really care. All I care is how their
> products perform and how they affect my business.
Frankly, neither of them is very cool (pure evil and whatnot). My vote has to go for Mr. Buffet. You've got to respect a man who:
1. never got caught up in the tech buying spree
2. was eating a Dilly Bar one day and said, "Damn, this is good. I'm going to buy Dairy Queen."
3. only uses his computer for playing games (bridge) and slapping Bill Gates around (at bridge)
If Warren had a console out, it would cost $1,000, have the best games possible, and come with ice cream. He wouldn't lower the price (like his stock price) because it would actually be worth a grand.
----------
I am an expert in electricity. My father held the chair of applied electricity at the state prision.
With regards to the SW vs. Spider-Man, I'm reminded about what the Green Goblin tells Spidey in the movie. He basically tells him that it is no use being the good guy because everyone will try and tear you down anyway. People like building someone up and then tearing them down.
The new SW movies are evidence of that. Far too many of the "fans" are just out there to tear down SW with any nitpick they can come up with and build up a new "hero". Sure there are many problems with the new SW films. But there are many problems with the old ones as well (whiney Luke, bad dialog, etc).
I think people are too quick to tear down SW. It is a movie, not a religion. And it is a film for everyone, not just geeks. I think the general public likes the new SW films more than the hardcore geeks like to admit. I showed the Phantom Menace to my mother-in-law on Friday and she loved it. So much that our whole family saw AOTC on Sunday. The exit polls show people rating AOTC as a A-. I bet the minus comes from SW "fans".
In fact, the hardcore SW fans are hurting SW more than anything. By dressing up and standing in line and such they are threatening to reduce SW to simple geekdom (see Star Trek). Normal people generally avoid geekdom, and I bet alot of people are turned off on SW just because of the so-called-fans.
My final rant is that if Lucas was in it SOLELY for the money he would have made 10 SW films by now and 7 of them would be cheap crappy films (see Star Trek). Also he would have shown them on as many screens as possible instead of limiting them to the ones with digital sound.
Sure he likes a profit as much as anyone, but he is also SW's biggest and best fan.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see how much the Slashdot crowd turns on Spider-Man 2 and the Matrix Reloaded.
Brian Ellenberger
Just try to picture Jack Valenti rolling around naked in all those millions. That mental image has kept me out of theatres for over a year now.
Although it did almost put me head-first into the toilet a few times....
I went to see Spider-Man this weekend and, after I sat down, saw that my ticket said Attack of the Clones. I asked a couple of people around me and they said the same thing. I wonder if that was just a ticket seller who didn't know what she was doing or intentional to inflate the amount of money Star Wars took in, at my theater at least. Wonder if they got some kind of bonus for Star Wars ticket sales or another incentive.
When violence rules the world outside / And the headlines make me want to cry / It's not the time to just keep quiet
those who are true fans of the Star Wars Saga an Mythology, anbd those who want quick fix entertainment.
E1 and E2 are not good movies if all you are doing is judging them on their merrits as stand alone films, but as small parts of a HUGE saga, they are perfect.
when all is said and done, watch all 6 movies in one sitting, then judge the entire Saga as you would a single spiderman film..then tell me which is better.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Just a small note to warn fellow Slashdotters in Seattle. I had the disappointing experience of getting up at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday to catch the 8:00 digital showing of Episode II downtown at the Cinerama, only to find that it wasn't digital. Funny, because it's on the list. Don't waste your money on this theatre expecting digital. (Sad that we don't have any other digital theatres here.)
Cheers!
Directed by George Lucas, it stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen.
You don't say. I bet no-one here knew that.
--
E_NOSIG
Episode II (as your oh so well worded defense above shows) was a movie that was directed solely towards the fanboy base.
Why is there no villain? Because "Palpatine is hatching a plan". Well, big whoop. That's essential to the overall arc of the saga but weakens the storyline of this one because there is no payoff in this movie. It's all positioning and conniving that ultimately fits into its place in the big puzzle but, as a standalone effort, makes this movie seems directionless.
Why does Anakin fall in love with and marry Padme? Because (as you say so coherently above) it's "VERY VERY importent to the entire saga....how else is Luke and Leia supose to be born?" Again, the love story is a plot point that makes the saga makes sense, but as a one off event, makes no sense whatsoever. Fine, Anakin still has a schoolboy crush on Padme, I'll buy that. But why the hell does she fall in love with him? Seriously, give me one good reason any mature, self respecting woman would be attracted to this dolt. He's a whiny, brooding child whose favorite phrase is "It's not fair." There is absolutely no chemistry between these two characters. I watched a bit of Empire Strikes Back this weekend- and THERE is some chemistry. Han and Leia are a joy to watch... none of that is evident in Anakin and Padme's relationship. It happens because it has to. The end. Again, it makes for a good saga but a lousy movie.
I think Episode III is going to kick ass simply because there is absolutely no way it can't. Every single detail of the plot has been set up, so no wasting time on trying to make it make sense. We know where it's going, so the suprise is not going to be what happens, but how it happens. If there is a shred of writing talent on Lucas's team, they can't screw it up.
Whether this is a multi-movie plot or not, a good writer could have made every individual episode stand alone as its own separate drama, and not leave its fanboys having to defend it (as you do) by saying "well of course it's no good by itself... it only makes sense as part of a multi-movie plot." Ok, yeah, whatever.
Why do people buy it? Particularly at those prices?
Disclaimer: my wife and I spent $120 on dinner before going to see AotC, so popcorn would have been a little excessive. But the Copper River King Salmon was excellent.
--
E_NOSIG
I wondered even more when I went to the local cinema on May 17th, and only 20 people watching the movie! I already experienced this with Episode I. Maybe all the people are so pessimistic. "Oh, I'm sure, it's sold out, so let's go in a few days".
A monkey is doing the real work for me.
What I'd like to see is a percentage of seats filled. Say a movie fills all of its 10,000 seats, I'd say it does better than another movie filling 12,000 of its 20,000 seats.
Mm.. i partially agree and partially disagree. [NOTE: SMALL SPOILERS AHEAD]
:)
The cloning facility.. while it did stylistically look a bit like the Matrix, this wasn't really that avoidable. The way the later books described "cloning cylenders" kind of would make it difficult to do anything that didn't kind of look matrix-ish. And you simply couldn't have come up with a realistic plot for episode 2 that didn't introduce clones being grown in a lab. But then again, the books implied that the clones were grown in the cylenders up until the point of being adults, and then some kind of memory transfer took place-- which would have meant that the image of exclusively fetuses in the clone-growing room was maybe taken from the Matrix. But perhaps this was a practice that didn't arise until the later years of the close wars; or perhaps i misread the books. I'm not sure.
As for "the gladiatorial style execution".. Well, to be honest, you know what that reminded me of? Think about it.. desert planet, jedi and friends are chained up and about to be executed by being eaten by a huge monster in a pit while hundreds of locals watch.. personally, this reminds me more of the beginning of The Return of the Jedi than anything. As such, maybe this was just one of the stylistic nods to the later Star Wars movies-- the tracking device on fett's ship, the image of obi-wan's ship clinging to the side of an asteroid while fett wanders off oblivious, Anakin's hand trapped under a plate of metal while pieces of a battle droid are slapped in place around him-- that pervaded the movie. But then again, all of the visual references that i noticed to specific events in later movies (I mean, as opposed to stormtrooper armor and such) referred to The Empire Strikes Back, and not either of the other two in the trilogy, so maybe this isn't good analisis.
As for the car chase scene.. yeah, i have to admit this was a little bit sketchy, if only for the moments where we get to see anakin plunge down the controls and swerve vertically through multiple lanes of traffic. That one moment, i'm pretty sure everyone in the theatre was thinking of The Fifth Element. And christopher lee, while he did a really great job, probably should not have been given that role in the interest of avoiding echoing LoTR. (You could have joined me, Obi-Wan.. but instead, you have chosen the way of.. PAIN!!!)
I don't know enough about martial arts to comment on the fight scenes
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
For obvious reasons, counting the amount of money a movie makes is pointless -- a movie that makes $200 million today might have been seen by fewer people than a movie that came out 50 years ago and made $50 million, because ticket prices were so much lower then. So a better metric would be to count the number of tickets sold.
Oops! There's still a problem: There are more people and more theaters than there used to be! So simply by virtue of that fact, a movie might be seen by more people today than 50 years ago, even if the old movie is, by all other accounts, "better". Another alternative -- to count the number of people who saw movies versus the number of people who experienced other forms of entertainment -- is infeasible because counting that many people is impossible to do accurately.
Probably counting the number of tickets sold, versus the total population (taken from gubmint estimates) is probably the best metric.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
That's not fair either because there are things like tv and video games that weren't competition for the movies in the 30's. I don't think there can be just one metric.
i saw the movie 2x, the second time in a digital theater. all of the cg looked a lot better, it wasn't as dark and there was less artifacting. action sequences looked a lot better. it was wierd to not have flicker.
that being said, the movie suffered from what i call the "tron" effect. all of the live actors seemed to pop out ontop of the computer generated backgrounds or objects (look at people when they sat in chairs or interacted with other CG objects)
It wasn't super annoying, but at that point i think lucas would have been better off just doing CG humans. maybe he will for his next set of movies.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
According to CNN, "[In Quebec, Canada,] Fox is believed to be demanding 70 percent of box office receipts for the first three weeks and insisting that 'Attack of the Clones' stay in the biggest hall for 12 weeks. The studio-theater revenue split is more commonly 70-30 in favor of the studio for only the first week, dropping to 60-40 the second week, 50-50 the third week and 40-60 by the fourth week." That's why most of Quebec's independent theater owners refused to book AotC in their theaters. If Fox's demands were similar here in the States, it may also explain why fewer theaters are showing it vs. Spider-Man... regardless of how Fox tries to spin (no pun intended) the numbers in their favor.
George Lucas could've put a Rhino turd on the screen and the dimbots would still have waited in line for 8 months to get the first ticket.
Face it. Some things are like drugs for people too timid to take drugs. For people like that we have Star Wars.
Sometimes it's nice to get an idea of what's actually happening at average theaters and get away from the press-released sales figures.
I was AotC on Thursday night, & went & saw About a Boy on Sunday afternoon at a different theater. At both places, I asked the manager about AotC sales.
On Thursday, opening day, the manager for the popular 10-plex I went to said he had it on 2 screens and that it was selling OK, but not selling out at all, each showing at about 80% of capacity. In his words "good, but not earth-shattering". This, and only about 30 people were in line for the midnight opening show, with the theater ending up about 1/3 full.
At the 12-plex I was at on Sunday I was able to ask the manager what he thought of AotC's sales over the long opening weekend, and he said that it'd done well, but not great. He hadn't had an opening midnight show. It was continuing apace, but he said him and his division manager were generally not impressed with the sales.
So, at least where I asked, Lucas doesn't necessarily have the lustre he used to. In my own opinion, I think it's kind of ridiculous for Lucasfilm to compare AotC to Spider-man. I'd think that in a properly made Star Wars film there should be no comparison. No matter what you think of PM and AotC, the worst thing is that Star Wars is now just another stable pony in the movie race. Due mostly to PM, normal people really just aren't as excited or interested anymore about Star Wars.
As for as the film goes, I felt like I had to pay in two ways - first by shucking my bucks for the ticket, then sitting through an hour of laconic, truly horrendous dialogue and stilted acting before the lush CGI payoff. There used to be good dialogue - where's the "I know" from AotC? Who's quoting Count Dooku? Nobody, because all the lines were shit. And I never, ever want to watch Hayden Christensen masturbate again.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
The dialog in SW was some of the worst I've been subjected to. Ever. I've heard Ep II described as "a porno without the sex".
Yeah, that's about right.
>(whiney Luke, bad dialog, etc).
Bad dialogue? I think the dialogue from the "holy trilogy" is filled with gems. "Never tell me the odds", "I love you, I know", "sorry about the mess", and so forth.
But yes, that kid sure is a whiner.
Just wanted to thank and acknowledge your response to "the_2nd_coming", above -- your statement made my response moot. It is a shame that devotion to the whole saga would make someone blind to the single movie being dreadful...
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
Yeah, I just don't get it when people are so blindly devoted to the Star Wars franchise that they can't see the problems with it. And people who must resort to nasty name calling when they encounter people who disagree with them, well, I just don't understand those folks. If you've got a coherent position, state it and respect that some may agree, some may not. I'm a fan but as with any part of my life, I take an objective stance and
I went into the movie on Thursday intending to like it. Wanting to like it. And I'm sad (as I was after TPM) that I can't like it (although I can thankfully like parts of it, like the jedi battle and Yoda going all mofo.)
Ah well, as I said, I am totally looking forward to Episode III.
I seriously considered that possibility. Then I downloaded the script of Star Wars (aka "the first movie") and read it through. My reading confirmed my impression that it is far superior to AOTC. A few differences:
the tone of a very unrealistic movie in which the heroes would perform superhuman feats. And sure enough, the characters go through a lot of stuff that would surely have killed or maimed them, like jumping out of an aircraft in flight. In Star Wars, I think the closest thing is Luke and Leia swinging across the shaft. That was risky but believable.
I could write a lot more, but I think the movies are deeply different. Certainly there are some aspects that remain the same, and to that extent your remark about rose-colored glasses could be true. But on the whole, AOTC is a very inferior movie.
Bleah, went to see it last night, and I was completely disappointed.
CGI: not that impressive. i'm really pretty unable to name a specific scene that will lose out when converted to pan & scan. why see this movie in the theater?
Jar-Jar: around just enough to really set you on edge, but doesn't die so you don't know what scene he's going to pop up in next.
Action yoda: loses! So now we're left hoping to see him win a fight in ep 3, but i'm guessing we'll be left yearning to see him win a fight even after 3. Also, it was disappointingly obvious that yoda wasn't real since he at no point physically interacts with dokuu.
Dokuu: should have been a completely earnest good guy. Imagine how much better a place the storyline would be in right now if everything else had been left the same, but dokuu was earnestly good, and killed by yoda (personally or by his forces, or better yet by anakin).
Jedi sword fights: nothing comparable to ep1. Nothing really exciting. Decent battle with jango fett ends undecided, later jango is completely unable to do anything vs windu. Too obvious intent to have boba clone grow up to kill windu. Sadly, boba is the best actor in the whole movie.
Acting: awful all around except for kenobi, who was decently portrayed, and boba, who does a really pretty good job of being the kid of a bounty hunter. This kid could have said yahoo in ep 1 and made us believe it.
Love story development: just awful and unbelievable.
I'm sad to say, but i'm guessing that in the months ahead, people will ultimately wind up ranking this the lowest of the 5 movies.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
But I think I've got Clones nailed down into a single comment..."Attack of the Clones is Pearl Harbor in Space". Both have lame love stories and bad acting, and in the end...everything goes boom!
Can someone please explain to me why they called it attack of the clones? It implies that the clone army is being raised to attack the republic when in actuality it was used to defend it. The clones didn't attack anything. It's really more like "Defense of the Clones" or something. Or "Yoda and an Army of Clones Saves Mace Windu's Ass."
To sum up my comment, it seems almost like complaining about star wars is fashionable lately, and I hate it.
Frankly Episode II wasn't the best movie I've seen or even the best Star Wars movie i've seen, but it did not suck.
I think it's stupid to expect perfection in Star Wars. The originals weren't perfect, and the new movies won't be either, but perfect or not, they are still better than most of the movies coming out these days. Lucas is locked into the story no matter what does. He must follow the storyline because these movies already have prequels and sequels. IMHO this is something to take into account when critizing the movie.
Complaints about Jar-Jar and CGI are pathetic excuses. These are complaints merely for the sake of complaining. ILM's effects are still some of the best in the industry, and Jar-Jar was so small of a part that I can't believe anyone would focus on that rather than focusing on the myriad of other *GOOD* things.
The price we pay for immortality... is death. Narnia The Great Fall
Since the clones really only came to the rescue. I would usually consider an "attack" when someone does a preemptive strike-
Oh wait, Lucas was talking about Hayden Christenssen's acting!
Anakin: "Obi-wan... is... holding me #$#*@!"
Grip: "Oh no! The Hayden-bot is malfunctioning! Everybody... run!!!"
Spoilers and general insights
* The Yoda fight was cool.
* Jango being able to kill Jedi easily and then not was lame.
* When Boba picked up his father's helmet, Jango's head should have popped out.
* When lil' Boba and Jango were flying around was anyone else thinking of Bruce Spence in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome? ("Their ain't no Mara-Mara Land!")
* R2 having jets was stupid.
* Killing Tuskin Radiers, vicious nomadic peoples who just pillage and steal, doesn't seem to be that big of a "sin".
* How many outfits did Amadala take with her? "We are refugees... refugees with a full wardrobe!!!" She must have changed outfits forty times.
* Christopher Lee kicks ass. But the problem was that he made no appearance until the last 45 minutes. Also it just makes Darth Maul even that more lame: a minor character who should have either hung around or should have just been replaced with Darth Tyrannus in the first place. Scaramanga!!!
* When was Obi-wan just all about explaining the plot? "Let me go here so I can explain this and then make useless dialogue to explain the plot"
Final Verdict: I guess the background story to a good story isn't necessarily good nor interesting.
I was watching the latest Kurosawa documentary DVD (BTW: it kicks ass) and he says at the very beginning that he always hated expository dialogue and always tried to avoid it. He actually tries to view scenes as silent movies and see how they would work and then add any necessary dialogue. Lucas, who paid homage to Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress, now seems sidetracked with his own Hero Mythos crappola egoism and has forgotten the teachings of a true master.
Of course without Lucas's (and FF Coppola's) help, Kagamusha and Ran would have never been made. For that reason I can never hate Lucas. Although he may be hit and miss, he seems to recognize true genius.
What is music when you despise all sound?
I had a lot of problems with EP2, and, as is the usual disclaimer, I'm a long-time fan. Saw ANH when I was four, still have a good chunk of my toys from childhood (and buy new ones when they come out), and even instituted "Star Wars T-Shirt Friday" where I work (and am the only participant).
So, my fan credentials are squarely on the table.
Having said that, EP2 was a pile of crap. Story-wise, it was great, really. It was complex, it opened just as many doors as it closed, and it gave us more peeks into the future that was solidified in episodes 4-6. But the execution of that story, the telling of it, the directing of it, well, sucked balls.
In a review I had written for some coworkers, I stated that Anakin had all the charm and personality of a date rapist. That might have been a bit strong, but it isn't totally without merit. Anakin had essentially been fantasizing about Amidala for 10 years by the time they were reunited, so his level of obsession was pretty deep. He was going to do whatever it took to win her over, but his way of doing it is just damn creepy - questioning her authority, saying he's been dreaming of her, launching into speeches about his burning desire for her. The only genuine thing he does is protect her, but it comes across as just a calculated means to an end of getting into her pants. This makes sense - he's obsessed, he's arrogant, and he feels there's no reason why Amidala shouldn't be his. Great. But then, how exactly does Amidala take this to be anything other than having a Jedi stalker? How does she actually fall in love with him when he's being a freak about everything? And yes, it's awfully tragic to lose your mother after, um, not seeing her for 10 years (next time, at least send a card!), but when you come back from retrieving your mother and say, "I killed them like animals", you know, I'll feel all sorry for your loss and stuff, but I'm going to be pretty freaked out that you went all barbarian on a bunch of kids. It seems to me like any self-respecting senator/former queen would recognize that guys who slaughter kids are bad news. But no, she falls in love with him. Go figure.
So, we spend over half the movie on this 'love story' that really contains no love and little story. Seems to me that it would have been better if Amidala had just been all gushy over Anakin from the start, because it would have made just as much sense and would have saved us 45 minutes of unbearable acting. But hey, at least Christensen got an eyeful during the first kiss scene.
And while that whole thing was going on, we've got Obi-Wan following up on the assassination attempt. He's lucky he's alive, really. First, an assassin takes out her own droid instead of just shooting the jedi hanging from it. And then a bounty hunter, who went completely undetected by two jedi, shoots a dart right past their heads to take out the assassin - instead of just shooting the jedi. Did I mention the assassin was a changeling? It's okay if I didn't, it's not like it made any bit of difference in the movie (talk about unused premise). Anyway, Obi-Wan finds out that some jedi 10 years ago put in a massive order for a clone army and also likely erased data from the jedi archives. "Curious," the Jedi Council responds - and then THEY FORGET ALL ABOUT IT! As soon as it looks like the clone army could come in handy, they seem to be not at all concerned about the conspiracy behind the creation of the clones and the removal of data from the archives! Oh well, it's not really important that somebody has been manipulating the Jedi and the Senate for 10 years as long as we have a ready army.
But you know, even gaping holes like those are sometimes easily overlooked when a film is so well acted and told that you don't have time to consider such things. But that wasn't the case with EP2. I think McGregor put in a passable performance (with the exception of the chuckle in the elevator regarding gundarks... that was very forced). I think Portman was slightly less stiff than in EP1, but didn't have a single natural moment until her flash of rebellion when leaving Tatooine to rescue Obi-Wan. Ahmed Best and Anthony Daniels certainly played their parts as silent extras in the bar scene rather well, but that doesn't do much for making the film enjoyable. I did enjoy Morrison's role, but felt that Jackson could have taken Mace Windu up a notch. Poor acting has been a hallmark of Star Wars films, but there was always at least Harrison Ford to save the day with a bit of charm. Nobody in eps 1 or 2 has any charm. McGregor is starting to develop it in Obi-Wan, but it's not there yet.
Then there were the things that made you say, "WTF??" The 50's diner on Coruscant. Jar Jar somehow being influential. C-3PO using puns ("What a drag!", "I'm beside myself!").
After those items were the "wow, you ruined that moment" moments. Showing the Death Star for a split second was cool - shoving it center frame and showing it for 20 seconds ruined the novelty of the first glimpse. Switching from physical C-3PO to CGI C-3PO on Geonosis - it was an obvious switch and a disservice to C-3PO. Having Yoda strike the kung-fu pose.
Did I like parts? Sure. I loved all the stuff on Kamino. I loved the Jango/Boba relationship (the fact that a bounty hunter's kid/clone takes pride in his father's abilities). I was amazed and pleased with the fact that Anakin went ballistic on the Tusken camp - that was a crucial event that showed, instantly, the evil he was capable of regardless of how many times he may have said "Yippee" as a child.
But those were very small parts of a much larger, longer, less compelling piece of work.
Did Lucas do it? YES. Was it worth doing? YES.
Yes he achieved his goals but sadly there are poorly done elements which undermine his achievement.
I think Lucas is good with the big picture. The epic sweep of his fantasy world's history is great. The basic fairytale story and epic myth with a dose of political intrigue is all well done.
Lucas is also very good with the fine visual details. The exotic, fantastic worlds are spectacular visual creations. Some of the little establishing scenes like the strange aquatic flying creature soaring past the clone factory on Kamino are capable of standing on their own as little works of art. They had the same effect on me that some of the better sci-fi or fantasy cover art did when I was a kid, they are beautiful, exotic, filled with mysterious portent.
Unfortunately between the grand sweep of the storyline and the fine details Lucas' failings as a storyteller emerge. The bulk of the problem in this film is the dialogue. The romance between Anakin and Amidala is fine, even excellent as a story. The actors even seem capable of pulling off the *telling* of that story - until they open their mouths and jabber on (and on) about it. The love story could have been told twice as effectively in half the time. Any chance feeling any "chemistry" is killed under a deluge of mostly unnecessary and entirely poorly written dialogue.
Then there are a whole slew of little details unnecessary to the larger story which only served to undermine that story. The comic relief was often ham handed (to match the dialogue?) and some of the action (Ok. really just all the jumping out of speeders) was so improbable as to strain my already tattered credulity beyond the bounds of my tattered suspended disbelief.
Finally, it's a minor point but it bugged me that Amidala was an *elected* queen, we even find out in AotC that she is term limited! Please, this is a fairytale with beautiful princesses (& Queens) emperilled by ugly villains & monsters and rescued by brave knights (& occasionally doing a little rescuing themselves as every plucky fairytale princess should) Let it be what it is without apologising for it. Perhaps this one little detail bugged me so much because it is emblamatic of the other failures - a storyteller intent on telling his story and concerned only with telling it well would not have included this little detail - or overexplained his characters motives - or beat us over the head with lame attempts at comic relief.
What, would you rather have her run around naked?
Oh, wait...
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
Watch AotC again, there is lots of that sort of humorous dialouge going on. But it's all missed if you sit there going
"Where is the deep and moving conversations and where is the quality acting and where are the quality sex inducing romance scenes."
If you go looking for the above, you will miss the rest of the moive and you'll hate it.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Haven't watched the originals in a while have you?
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Episode 2 reminds me a lot of porn movies that are out there. Not a lot of content, but both have really cool midgets that do tricks and entertain audiences.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
I don't think so. If you've ever seen any BBC costume drama (I think some of it gets shown on PBS for the Americans in the audience) such as Pride and Prejudice, the characters discuss their feelings at great length in a somewhat similar way. The difference is, of course, that Jane Austen was one of the best writers of her era. Lucas, well, isn't.
Opinions?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
It is a movie, not a religion
It is a religion.
In fact, it's even listed as a religion on Britian's national census. Because over 10,000 fans listed "Jedi Knight" as their religion on the 2001 census, the government cannot consider it statistically insignificant.
Lest I get heavily flamed, let me just acknowledge that this fact does not grant the Jedi any legal religious status.
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
So why should they ever bother getting out of their armchairs and racing around in spaceships? Why not 1) sense the danger and 2) manipulate relevant minds to defuse the danger? Because, as I'm sure you know, all such fictional powers must be limited if the story is to be interesting. Even AOTC recognizes some limitation in the form of a collective force-myopia among the Jedi brought about by an imbalance in the force.
I think we're discussing a subjective preference. I prefer protagonists like those in Star Wars - essentially human beings. You prefer or at least like protagonists amply endowed with superhuman powers, ala Superman.
Agreed. But you seem to imply that since the protagonists of AOTC are (inevitably) Jedi they must (inevitably) act like Superman. I disagree with the inevitability of both those things. The makers of AOTC had a great deal of freedom. Rather than emphasizing familiar characters and tying up loose ends, they could have penned a completely fresh story with only tangential connection to the rest of the "series". As for the second idea, in Star Wars Obi-Wan is a Jedi and the portrayal of his powers is restrained and tasteful.
I don't think any of the sequels measure up to the original. I think that the scenes you mention cheapened the Jedi knight, who was at core a Zen Buddhist. One aspect of the problem, but by no means its heart, is the inability of the writers to think through the plot implications of increased superpowers. The viewer is frequently left with the question "Why didn't $HERO just use $POWER?".
For some reason, "whiny" is not an adjective I'd apply to Darth Vader, and Anakin remains unconvincing as a proto-Darth. Here's how I'd imagine a young Darth Vader: disciplined, precocious, tough and idealistic. He would have a fiery temper, but it wouldn't express itself in the childish tirades of Anakin. He would hold himself and others to unrealistically high standards. And obviously, he would be a fairly big guy. Only a few inches of Darth Vader can be accounted fro by boots and helmet. Anakin comes up short in more ways than one.