Ooooh, in quite alot of cases, HOUSE OF WAX beats KINGDOM OF HEAVEN in theatre count.

W00t!

$15M+ here we come.

Did I mention that I'm a huge sucker for historical epics? No, seriously, I don't think I've ever graded a movie like this one lower than a B (7/10). I thought this one was far from a masterpiece that many were hoping for, but I still found it entertaining throughout. The Gaugamela battle scene must be the one of the best ever filmed, almost on par with ROTK's Pelennor Fields. Very intense/bloody. Val Kilmer was good and Farell, I thought, was underrated.

Jolie and Hopkins are two of my absolute favorite actors, but I thought that Jolie was horrible in this one and Hopkins' role was useless. Most of the dialogue was horrible, but there were some remarkably good lines among the mess as well. The Alexander/Hephaistion relationship (or not?) was not well-done, but I liked all the effort put into the movie. The costumes, cinematography and the art direction were great and not any worse thsan Troy's.

Thanks. Looks like it is at the bottom end of your epic rating scale.

Studio Grand Rapids(20 screens)

New
Crash 1 screen
House of Wax 2 screens'
Kingdom of heaven 3 screens

A lot like Love 1
Amityille Horror 1
Fever Pitch 1
Guess Who 1
Hitchhiker 2
Intrepretor 2
IKung fu Hustle 1
Pacifier/Sin City share 1
Robots/Beauty Shop share1
Sahara 1
XXX 2

I know this has nothing to do with this week, but I was at a meeting at a theatre showing a trade screening for Episode 3 today, and well I walked in and saw about 30 mins while taking a break...all I can say is it looks amazing and everyone in there seemed to be enjoying it to its fullest....the part I saw the acting was good and the plot was moving nicely...

If it wasnt for the damn meeting i would have watched the whole thing...

damn meeting

Anywho, the most Ive seen for HOW is 3 screens and 4 for KOH

Awesome. \:D/

You are the first on KJ to see it, even it was for 30 min. Too bad you could not see the whole thing.

I know when i looked at my watch and had to go back I must say I was really upset ](*,)

Well, dunno if that helps, but I can give you the crowd reports from Austria (Kingdom of Heaven started here yesterday):

Now its 7pm here and the screenings for 8:00pm, 8:30pm and 8:30pm look like this right now:

8:00pm - 236 out of 285 (82.8%) - this will be SOLD OUT in about 30 minutes I guess
8:30pm - 209 out of 286 (73.1%) - will also be SOLD OUT soon
8:30pm - 284 out of 381 (74.5%) - also SOLD OUT


All three screenings will get a sold-out-report for sure!

I'm not surprised. Epics are huge overseas.

Crowd Report from Germany

Kingdom of Heaven:

4:30 PM 508-seater, about 30% full (good for that time)

Trailers:

Stealth
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the only one that got reaction and it was good reaction)
Fantastic Four

The movie won't have great legs. It's not a crowd pleaser. It fails at almost all things that Gladiator succeeded at. Vastly inferior to Gladiator.


Later showings:

7:45 PM: 400-seater, 40% full
8:15 PM: 508-seater, 65% full

Shows rarely ever sell out here, but it is a good performance, just slightly worse than Troy's, on par with Van Helsing.

What´s you're grade?

The film opended here yestarday

8:00 PM 400-seater 90% full (great for a thursday night)

Trailers:
War of the Worlds
Sin City

A quiet big line for the next show at 10:30pm
Overall, it was a great movie, just as good as Troy, great actions scenes and battles, beatiful CGI, good storyline, Orlando Bloom was great, at least far better than Troy. I easily give it an A. You should see this one!

B-

One of the worst epics I have seen...

More in the GCT

Worse than Alexander? Mind you that I actually gave Alexander a B- and it wasnt too bad

Just like you, I am a sucker for historical epics, so a B- is pretty bad for one if I rate it

On a scale from 1 to 10 I rate the following "epics":

Gladiator - 9.5/10
Ben Hur - 9/10
The Last Samurai - 8.5/10
Braveheart - 8.5/10
Troy - 8.5/10
King Arthur - 7/10
Alexander - 7/10
Kingdom of Heaven - 6.5/10


Shall I post my long thoughts in Cinemania or the Reviews forum?

I am working midshift tomorrow. This should get interesting.

Review forum should be fine. I like to compare notes on how we look at historical epics, my grades for epics are little different than yours so we shall see how it goes

Braveheart 9.5/10
Gladiator 9.4/10
Last of the Mohicans 8.9/10
Count of Monte Crisco 9.0/10
Gangs of New York 7.6/10
King Arthur 5.0/10
Alexander 7.0/10
Troy 8.2/10
Last Samurai 8.0/10
Spartacus 9.0/10

Too late for the Review forum

I grade on the 20/20 system (so I can have only halves, like 8.5/10), you grade on the 100/100 system which is a bit too complicated for me, heh.

Actually, the ones I have graded, we mostly agree on.

You grade Alexander a 7, just like I did. Gladiator you give 9.4 vs. mine 9.5 and Troy you give 8.2 vs. mine 8.5. Also The Last Samurai I grade 8.5 and you 8. The big differences are King Arthur and Braveheart.

As for the others you've mentioned:

Gangs of New York - 8/10
The Count of Monte Cristo - 7/10 (they raped the novel, though)

I need to rewatch Last of the Mohicans and Spartacus.

I understand what you mean by that but I try not to focus too much on the novel and how they completely changed the story by making the wife one of the protaganist instead of the villian. I look at not based on the novel but how well it was being told and how well crafted the movie was. I can see why the people who read the novel would give it a low grade but I can also see people who have never read the novel give it a very high grade

Here are my grades

Gladiator - 9,5/10
The Last Samurai - 8,5/10
Braveheart - 10/10
Troy - 8,5/10
Gangs of New York - 8/10
King Arthur - 8,5/10
Alexander - 5/10 (one of the worst epics ever)

I think I'm going to love Kingdom of Heaven, just have the feeling I will.

I'm a sucker for historical epics as well. I've hardly seen any I didn't like. Although I usally like them before 1500; the closer to the present the modern viewpoints tend to influence it.

Gladiator - 9.7/10
Ben Hur - 7.6/10 - been a very long time. Might be higher if I saw it again
The Last Samurai - 8.7/10
Braveheart - 9.6/10
Troy - 7.5/10
King Arthur - 7.2/10
Kingdom of Heaven - I anticipate - 8.4/10
Last of the Mohicans 7.4/10 - Too much bias for me since it involves American history.
Count of Monte Crisco 7.0/10
Gangs of New York 7.9/10 - Still American, but I found less bias.
Last Samurai 8.0/10
Spartacus 8.2/10
The Four Feathers - 8.8/10
House of Flying Daggers - 9.4/10
Hero - 8.5/10
Alexander - 1.2/10

I like just about any historical TV movie more then Alexander. I thought it was easily one of the most inept movies ever made.

Oh yep...

The Four Feathers - 8,5/10

I'm seeing HOUSE OF WAX tonight at 6:45 and maybe CRASH at 1PM on Sunday

Just came back from Kingdom of Heaven

Crown Casino Melbourne, Australia
10.30pm (500 seater) - 90% capacity (The 9.30 showing was SOLD OUT)

Trailers: War of the Worlds, House of Wax, Fantastic Four.

The Film - I actually enjoyed this. A better film than Troy, and much much better than King Arthur or Alexander. Good performances, good battle scenes and the film just looks damn good. The film is however a bit let down by the script and being a little too politically correct. There seems very little conviction in Balian's (Bloom's) fight.

Grade: B+ (may move to an A- after i think about it a little more)

The crowd seemed to be into it - but its not necessarily a crownd pleaser. A strong opening followed by mediocre though not bad legs. It did feel like the official first film of the summer though - much like Gladiator in 2000.