4 sold out shows at midnight!?!? Holy crap!! I lowered my prediction after seeing it on Tuesday, too. It's funny because everyone at the screening I saw it at seemed to really hate it, but it was definitely an older crowd as well as critics, so maybe the people who really wanted to see it (those under 18) weren't affected by those who saw it early. But still...that many people going to see a movie at midnight on a Friday night!? I'd have fallen asleep if I tried staying up to watch it that late! (Granted, I'm rather ollllllddddd. I'm like the crypt keeper. <G>)

If it makes more than $50 million, I probably piss myself, because I shorted it on HSX...I'm thinking with that many midnight shows selling out, that has to be frontloaded. Dawn of the Dead had a 2.4 mult this time last year, and I don't see Ring 2 being a better movie.

I don't think that Ice Princess would necesarily play well across the board, although i still think anything less than $10m for it is a server dissapointment.

I need to call my theater. Apparently, I got the shitty version of The Ring II since A LOT of you seem to love the movie.

The Poltergiest factor is one of a dozen or so glaring issues with The Ring II.

At least the family in Poltergiest were bright enough to ditch tvs for a while when they escaped the house. The hotel scene (pushing the tv outside) made perfect sense.

Why on Earth would Watts' character keep tvs in her house if was the preferred mode of travel for Samara?

There are way too many other instances like the above that bog down the movie.

It's just a really dumb film.

I never expected it to as good as The Ring. I just wanted a film that was watchable.

Yeah, I think the Poltergeist 2 analogy really works... I guess all the teens who rushed out to see it yesterday weren't old enough to remember how bad Poltergeist 2 was to the original. I think it will be hard for it to maintain any of that business from yesterday...horror movie, sequel, big opening...not a long-term type of movie.

:laugh: Poltergeist II was another film that wasn't needed and the 3rd one was Godawful.. This movie earned it's own "E" True Hollywood Story for all the spookiness that went on while Spielberg was making that film..

I actually wasn't comparing it to Poltergiest II. What I was saying is that in the context of the story laid out, I find it unbelievable that the family would own televisions so soon after the events of the first film (hence what happened in Poltergiest at the hotel).

There are many instances like that in Ring II that make it very hard to suspend disbelief. You can be a great film or even just a good one and things can be overlooked. But when you're fairly shitty, they become

I certainly think a RING sequel was a good idea; im not usually a sequel kind of guy but entertainment like The Ring and The Grudge needs to be extended ! I Like insomnia!

BKB smacked all our asses this week.


Ring 2 aint shit!what a godawful film it was,i found the first film not scary and average.The second one is almost as bad as the grudge,Truly awful.

Wow, did I call this opening number or what. My faith in my theater representing the country is still in tact. Go Regal, lol! They definitely made a dent in the Ring 2, that goes to show when you piss off the country's biggest chain :wink:

Regal is the biggest chain? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was AMC.

Yep, since Regal took over Hoyts, and I'm counting Regal Entertainment Group, which has control over Edwards Theaters and United Artists theaters :wink:

I never go to Regal, I also go to AMC or Arclight. I thought that AMC was the biggest too.

What he means is that Regal has the most theaters. AMC's are still the highest grossing theater, even though we don't have a much theaters as they do.

Zing:
I'm very upset at you!

http://www.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/asia/0 ... acker.biz/

Yes, Scott may be right about AMC making more money, but that article say it all. It's old news, folks :wink:

Actually I would have bet my life on it that the biggest grossing theatre was a Loews in NYC...at least all the big blockbusters have the biggest opening weekend there anywho...

Oh and Regal pulls in about 15%-20% more profit each year than AMC due to the fact they spend an arm and a leg on rent/leases on the buildings, they never buy thier own land etc


edit : my bad read it wrong thought you said AMC had the highest grossing theatre :razz:

I know the Regal in Union Square does huge business most of the time with only about 14 theatres or so. They played Spider-Man on about half of them and they were sold out for most of the day...also ran the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc.

The Regal down in Battery Park does really awful business most of the time because it's too far out of the way except for those who live downtown that far. Not sure if those who work on Wall Street and in Tribeca bother to stay in town to see movies there at night.

The AMC theatre in NYC (the only one as far as I know) is in Times Square and it also does tons of business but it also has at least 20 theatres, maybe more. I haven't even been in half the theatres because I usually go to Regal or Loews where I have passes. Only go to AMC for free preview screenings...it has absolutely one of the WORST exits I've ever seen in a building and I'm surprised that the fire marshal doesn't close them down. (A sly hint to the Loews across the street if they want to increase their business <G>)

Oh, and I'm floored by the discrepancy in business between theatres...how does Scott's sell out dozens of shows including interlocked and JM's theatre barely sell out a handful? I guess that's why we saw such a low Friday because it all averages out and there must have been a few theatres running it that lost business to the bigger stadium seating places.

The Ring Two
AMC Marple 10
7:30pm, 500 seats, Sold Out

Trailers
The Skeleton Key (nothin'; looks okay)
Red Eye (whispering; looks great)
Fever Pitch (laughs; looks funny)
War of the Worlds (whispers; can't wait)
The Island (nothin'; can't wait)

The crowd was enjoying the movie throughout. Laughing at the extra cheesy moments. Naomi's famous line was the moment of the night. Had everyone cracking up. Literally. I heard mixed reactions going out. Most said good, but the first was better.

Movie
After such a long wait, I can't say that I didn't love it. I guess it's not what I expected, and I wasn't as dissapointed as I could have been because I was warned ahead of time about it. It's definently not a horror movie. I don't think they really even tried to scare the audience (except, maybe, once). It's definently a drama with some freaky moments thrown in. I loved the story. I'm surprised, because I thought the story would be the weak part about the movie, but it was it's strong point, in my opinion. Naomi Watts's performance was good, though it doesn't match up to her performance in the first. As for The Ring vs. The Ring Two... well, it's a no contest. The Ring was the best horror movie I've ever seen. It brought a great premise, and scares. The Ring Two brought a great premise and answered a lot of the unanswered questions in the first. It definently doesn't meet up to the first, but I never expected it to. The one thing I noticed was that they didn't really focus too much on the actual tape in this movie, but more Aden and Samara. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, especially since I expected to be a little dissapointed. A-

I wonder if the Friday estimates count all of the midnight shows from Thursday night? While I don't expect them to be anywhere near the $11 million (?) of The Matrix Reloaded or the $8 million of Return of the King, they easily could have been $2-$3 million. Also, the midnight Friday shows will be added to Saturday's numbers which could mean the increase could be better then expected?

That's an interesting question. do shows after midnight on Friday night go towards Saturday's total??

I would assume so since techincally they are not Friday shows.

I'm almost positive midnight shows count for Friday, despite falling on Saturday.

Well just don't say that Friday was inflated by Thursday night Midnight shows. For one, no Regal theater had them, and really, besides there not being many of them, I don't think many people even knew or cared enough.

I'm anxious to see what your REAL grade is for this movie in the next week or so after your restrained enthusiasm has died down for this and you can really look at the big picture and realize the movie blew.. You gave this movie an "A-" But for a movie that you gave an "A" for which techincally would make it damn near perfect, you still seem somewhat bummed about it from your brief review for giving this such a high grade as though your mind was made up ahead of time before seeing it to give it this grade....

Talk about making your mind up about a movie before you see it. If there is anyone on these boards who does that the most, it's you BKB. :wink: