You obviously knew TDKR wouldn't be doing so great. Therefore you are a suspect in the killing. I'll call the police.

Might as well post this here, I suppose. I've been intentionally not commenting on the BO this weekend, partly because I felt any kind of discussion would be absolutely moot in the presence of such an unprecedented tragedy, but mostly because said tragedy had such a deep effect on me. I'll get some of the thoughts I've kept to myself down now:

The Aurora shooting's effect on the BO is likely impossible to fully gauge for the moment, but just looking at the holdovers, the effect was absolutely enormous, bigger than any other single event I can recall. On that note, I just want to say that I'm quite frustrated with how many users I saw talking about how "ridiculous" it was that people were afraid to go to the theaters, when that's not entirely what happened. I won't deny that some people were afraid (and to be honest, that's a completely reasonable reaction), but I think the biggest reason why audiences didn't show up was because of the same way I felt: films are supposed to be escapism from life for various reasons, and in this case, going to the movies was a stark reminder of the horrible act that happened in Aurora. It's absolutely understandable and not in the least bit "stupid."

In regards to just how much of an effect this had, again, I think it's completely unquantifiable, and may remain that way forever. Holdovers were annihilated in a way that doesn't even correspond to TDKR breaking the OW under "normal" circumstances, and whatever effect there was on the holdovers is even more pronounced for TDKR. But... it just seems so pointless to discuss it, especially in the context of saying "Well, of course it wouldn't break the OW record with these numbers!" That's so goddamned ridiculous, not just because of what I've stated prior, but (intentionally or not) you're trivializing the shooting AND using it to justify your predictions. I'm not going to make any claims that it would have broken the OW record or not, and no one else should.

Lastly, I'm not sure when the BO will recover (or even if it fully will for the films this weekend), but given TDKR's Sunday hold, it seems like that we're already on our way. Hopefully, we'll see some very positive things in the next weeks for all.

Looking it at, I do not think it was going to break the record but that is not important now.

There's definitely no way to really ever know what would have happened without the shooting. But I think it worked the same as 9/11, I'm sure on a smaller scale though. For a while so many people were terrified to get on a plane after that. Some people still are. After a while, some people will start to not worry so much and go again. As far as I know this is the only such incident, so as long as no one else gets some idea to kill people in a movie theater, the fear will fade. Also I think a lot of people didn't go, not out of fear, but just respect for the victims maybe? I mean, if I hadn't seen it at midnight already and learned the news before going to see it, it definitely would have effected my feelings about going. I think to some people, it feels wrong to go try to enjoy the same thing all the victims were trying to enjoy, but got murdered instead. Kind of like, "Oh well, they didn't get to see it because they got shot and killed instead, but at least I still can." Not saying that people should feel guilty about going when others died trying to do the same, but that many probably felt that way. If a friend of yours went skydiving, and died, you wouldn't be out the next day skydiving.

I think it had a huge impact on movie theaters in general. By the way, have they said anything about a possible motive yet?

Also, I think this could have an effect midnight grosses of future movies. I think for those that are litterally scared that this could happen again, they may also assume it would be at a midnight release. Porbably not a very noticeable one though.

Maybe short term. Eventually, things will return to normal.

Well yeah. I just know that my mom made comments immdeiately about her never liking us going to the midnight shows when we were teenagers, and if this had happened years ago, I would have missed a lot of the ones I did see then. She's not the only paranoid parent out there I'm sure. It will fade fast though, I agree.

Maybe it will help. Parents who in the past just dropped their t(w)eenage daughters at the theatre to see the new Twilight at midnight might now go in with them.

Maybe. Talked my dad into going with us to Spidey 3 at midnight. I will NEVER do that again. Most embarassing thing ever.

He liked it?

I was shocked to see that my mother went to see The Avengers with her friends.

yeah I was quite surprised to here my sister and all her friends went to watch it and a lot of females I know watched it.

I think Women were really into Thor, Loki and IM...


I remember many of us thought the film would not do well as it had no appeal to women.

No, he still hasn't seen it. He slept through 90% of it, snoring loud enough for everyone to hear. This was after sitting in the theater for an hour before it started, listening to him make fun of the lady sitting in the row in front of us because she was talking about the most stupid things imaginable. He kept making comments like "who cares dumbass?" and repeating what she said, purposely loud enough for her to hear. Then he snapped at some lady and told her to mind her own business when she offered to switch seats with him so that he didn't have to hear her. I kind of just sank in my seat and pretended I had no idea who he was. Of course every Thursday night is his night out at the bar with his friends and he couldn't make an exception to skip that, so the fact he was kinda drunk is mostly to blame. That was more embarassing than going to see Jarhead with him when I was 16, not realizing the R rating was for the very raw sex scenes and not violence. Not something you want your dad to know you're seeing!

Like you just ran into her at the theater or you heard about it? Sounds pretty cool.

yeah it was weird I went to the theater on Sunday expecting all guys mostly.

It was a lot of kids and famalies and guys and groups of girls going on about Thor lol

Well, to be fair, this IS the superior way to view Spider-Man 3.

My dad slept through Star Wars. My dad has never done all that at one showing. However, he has had issues with body functions, that have made me move to the other side of the theater. He has never been drunk at a showing so I thank him for that.

I think it is not that bad. It was B- at the time, but it is really more of a B when taken away from the exptectation of following SM2 and the end of the series hype. There are plenty of worse movies that people never criticize as harshly.

lol Spider Man 3 is seen as having the worst WOM for a major blockbuster in NA...

I think its not because it was the worst film or anything.

It was expected to be pretty good as Spidey 2 was good.

How much of that is due to Shrek 3 and POTC 3 opening right after it. How many movies could hold that well with $600m opening back to back on it.

All three had weak WOM, but it seemed much worse because of the other two. Everyone tends to forget that part.

haha not quite that shocked. I knew she was going to see a movie with friends but when I asked her what she saw - she mentioned The Avengers. In hindsight the alternatives were The Dictator, MIB, Prometheus - so its not that shocking.

She then saw Snow White and the Huntsman a week later. First films she'd seen in a theater for years I think.

May 2007 is really one of the most fascinating moments on BO history for me, not just for then but the repercussions for the future. The three biggest current franchises all releasing in the same month, disappointing in grosses and audience expectations, leading to the next iteration making ~$250m despite 3D? I feel confident in saying such a situation will never happen again.

It is.

I'd love to go back on the release date thread and have a look at our discussions on the matter. Its probably the most controversial release date strategy ever.

I still think Pirates should have moved to mid June, while Oceans 13 and perhaps Evan Almighty open over Memorial Day weekend.

Still the Big May Three probably also lost some money because none of them were well received. I'd say $350m was about the max each could do at the same quality level but with different release dates.

In the end the summer was still mega thanks to Transformers, Potter 5, Ratatouille and Bourne etc all doing well in the second half of the summer.

lol who would have thought it would TF that becomes the big well liked blockbuster of the summer in NA?

Blu-ray coming out on December 3rd

http://batman-news.com/2012/09/18/the-d ... d-release/