107 replies to this topic

[killkenny kid]

[killkenny kid]

Box Office MoJo weekend est.
Saw 2 - 30,500,000
Legend of Zorro - 16,500,000
Prime - 6,395,000
Dreamer - 6,300,000
Wallace & Gromit - 4,400,000

Wow, what happened to Doom?

[killkenny kid]

Saw 2, took in 30.5 mill. A record for a halloween opening. I hate this time of year. Horror movies And Doom had a 73% drop and fell to 6th place, with 4 mill.

[Pontevin]

This new Zorro movie was crap. Saw it yesterday and it stunk up the screen. Man, it was so bad. Roger Ebert gave it one and half stars. I give it 0 stars. The script writers and especially Martin Campbell should be punished by having them watch over and over the Ben Afflick pile "Surviving Christmas" which the was released in October of last year. No wonder Sony released this gawd awful Zorro film in late October. It wouldn't/couldn't compete with the summer releases nor with the Thanksgiving/Christmas releases. Aside from the time for releasing horror movies, October is also the junk yard for films.

[trumanlodge89]

first time in a while a film has opened at 30 million.

[Alessandra]

Seen it at the weekend. The film overall to me is quite silly, and I found it mediocre in general.
There are historical HORRORS in the movie which I won't even get into (not mistakes, that wouldn't be enough.. those are HORRORS!!). And after the first half, I simply wanted to walk out of the theater.
Still, after the second half, I can see that the movie does entertain the average crowd.
Most of the times, entertaining movies aren't exactly a work of art. And I think this is the case of this movie. (far from being a work of art)
I found it bad, but that doesn't mean other people do, and it doesn't mean, as well, that it cannot be good fun for family entertainment. And kids especially.

Edited by Alessandra, 31 October 2005 - 11:43 AM.

[Shrublands]

It

[luciusgore]

Some people relish in denial and say it's "negative" to look at the truth, but these are the facts, people:

Martin Campbell, the director of the forthcoming CASINO ROYALE, helmped LEGEND OF ZORRO for Sony Pictures, the same company that is releasing CASINO ROYALE.

LEGEND OF ZORRO was a critical and box office fiasco. It was panned by all the critics who matter, including Roger Ebert. Most feedback about the film from the general public is negative. Word of mouth is also terrible, which is why the film is a bomb at the box office. The pricey $75 million movie made $16 million over its opening weekend. Yes, folks. It is a stink bomb.

Michael G. Wilson and Babs were both apparently "ecstatic" when they saw LEGEND OF ZORRO, they thought it was so good.

This does not bode well for us.

[Bon-san]

Some people relish in denial and say it's "negative" to look at the truth, but these are the facts, people:

Martin Campbell, the director of the forthcoming CASINO ROYALE, helmped LEGEND OF ZORRO for Sony Pictures, the same company that is releasing CASINO ROYALE.

LEGEND OF ZORRO was a critical and box office fiasco. It was panned by all the critics who matter, including Roger Ebert. Most feedback about the film from the general public is negative. Word of mouth is also terrible, which is why the film is a bomb at the box office. The pricey $75 million movie made $16 million over its opening weekend. Yes, folks. It is a stink bomb.

Michael G. Wilson and Babs were both apparently "ecstatic" when they saw LEGEND OF ZORRO, they thought it was so good.

This does not bode well for us.

Finally, you've convinced me. And I'm truly frightened. I've just spoken with grand-dad, who's agreed to let me take my wife and daughter down in his bomb shelter when the threat is fully upon us.

Who could have conceived that the production and direction of a motion picture would wreak so much devastation and despair upon innnocents?

I wish Martin Campbell and Amy Pascal had never been born, that we were saved from their nefarious and tyrannical villainy.

God bless us all.

Things look dark and grim, and this could end up being my final transmission, so I'd just like to take a brief moment to express my gratitude for the dvd featurettes and commentaries.....

[luciusgore]

Hey, I'm just stressed for the health and continued survival of the franchise, that's all. They are really putting their necks out on this Bond, which is cool, but why with a mediocre director? Granted, he's the best one the series has had in 25 years, but why not go with a Tarantino or Nolan, particularly when both are making the offer?

[A Kristatos]

Some people relish in denial and say it's "negative" to look at the truth, but these are the facts, people:

Martin Campbell, the director of the forthcoming CASINO ROYALE, helmped LEGEND OF ZORRO for Sony Pictures, the same company that is releasing CASINO ROYALE.

LEGEND OF ZORRO was a critical and box office fiasco. It was panned by all the critics who matter, including Roger Ebert. Most feedback about the film from the general public is negative. Word of mouth is also terrible, which is why the film is a bomb at the box office. The pricey $75 million movie made $16 million over its opening weekend. Yes, folks. It is a stink bomb.

Michael G. Wilson and Babs were both apparently "ecstatic" when they saw LEGEND OF ZORRO, they thought it was so good.

This does not bode well for us.

Well, I would hardly call it a box office fiasco. A nearly $17 million opening weekend is not that bad. It will all depend on whether this movie has "legs" and can stay in the top five for a few weeks. Also, this film took in more in Europe in comparison to the original (something like $24 million). So there you go. It has taken in over half of its budget in the first weekend alone.

Secondly, you are 100% wrong about negative general public feedback. Almost 3700 users at Yahoo have given the movie a B rating, higher than the C+ rating than their list of 13 major critics have given it, and considerably higher than the likes of Roger Ebert have given it. I would not call that negative public feedback.

However, I will give you credit if word of mouth does not help the final box office figures. It's still too early to determine if word of mouth will attract more people to view this film, but it is off to a decent start, IMO.

[TheBritishEnd]

I finally caught a matinee of LOZ and found it to be a fairly entertaining film. It's nice to see something that doesn't reduce its action to a bunch of quick edits.

The pacing did seem off, but other than that, I'm really not sure what film critics were expecting. After all, it is 'Zorro'.

Not up to the first one, but entertaining nonetheless. It actually got a great audience reaction, with frequent clapping throughout.

Edited by TheBritishEnd, 06 November 2005 - 03:43 AM.

[J.B.]

Just got home from seeing this film. I had a great time watching it and I truly enjoyed it so I guess I would be considered "the average crowd". The chemistry between Banderas and Zeta Jones was as the first film and added a great deal to the enjoyment. It was a fun entertaining date film.

With that said, and from reading this forum, I would have concerns if EON liked this film because of what they are looking for in a different Bond film direction. I couldnt help thinking about DAD during this film in that the beginning of Zorro seemed realistic and real life and then by the end you could see the CGI stuff entering into the picture and it drew out the ending longer than it should have been.

If this type of film is what EON is thinking about for Bond then they definitely could have kept Brosnan. It would have been up his alley and wasnt much different than the last two Bond films.

Other than that, for an adventure film I liked it.

[TheBritishEnd]

LEGEND OF ZORRO was a critical and box office fiasco.

The film saw a drop of only 39% in its second week- which is hardly the sign of a box office flop. Apparently, word of mouth isn't as bad as the reviews would suggest, especially since Chicken Little had the family market cornered this weekend.

It's also doing much better internationally, with its worldwide total about to pass the 100 million mark.

When you consider the competition it has faced- a horror sequel on Halloween, an animated film targeted at kids- it's performed surprisingly well for such a poorly reviewed film. Had it opened in early August, the studio may have had a #1 film, if only for a weekend.

Of course, does this really have anything to do with the cost of tea in China or the outcome of Casino Royale? Not really. But I wouldn't mind seeing Campbell and Co. return for a third film.

Edited by TheBritishEnd, 07 November 2005 - 06:06 AM.

[Simon]

Saw it at the weekend, thought it was superlative entertainment.

Empire gave it just three stars but all the negatives they cited I just couldn't see. The kid was quite funny, the divorce element gave it 'the story', the drunkenness didn't last too long. The way Empire was depicting it, was that there was a pacey beginning and end, and all in between was flabby.

Couldn't disagree more.

As for what this means for Bond, probably not very much but the direction was inventive, the colours were all there and the editing 'were right tight'.

Great stuff.

[Roger Moore's Bad Facelift]

Just saw it. Thought it was overall pretty solid. It was a case of old-fashioned storytelling in that the film really takes it's time. It's not boring per se, it just doesn't feel the need to speed-ramp everything ala DAD. However, I must admit, like so many of Campbell's films, there is strange audience-disconnect at work here. I watch the film, I acknowledge what is on-screen to be all very exciting, however, I am never really immersed into the movie.
A problem I also share with Goldeneye.
I am also appauled that a seasoned film vet such as Campbell is unaware that a little kid in a film is guranteed cinematic poison (Phantom Menace, Blues Brothers 2000 etc etc). While tolerable at first, he really becomes annoying.
Also, just like in Goldeneye, Campbell doesn't seem content with merely killing his villains, he needs to invoke the cliche of doing a close-up on their face and watching them scream in horror as they face certain doom.
It's very cliched and risible.
He did it with 006 in Goldeneye (who screams as the Satellite collapses on top of him) and he does it in Zorro w/ both villains (Jacob & Armand).

The action was mostly good (some subpar CGI), the villains revel in their scene-chewing evil-ness, the quips were Bondian ("prison changes a man") and the scene at the ball with Banderas in a tux was also redolent of pure Bondness. If Campbell can just stop succumbing to cliche, CR might have a shot.

Edited by Roger Moore's Bad Facelift, 14 November 2005 - 01:27 AM.

[ACE]

I loved The Legend of Zorro.

Far from being off from the first film, I thought this matched it.
It was a proper sequel in that it took what had been set up by the first film and organically grew a second film from it.

The plot was wonderful - commenting on the spread of democrasy!

The leads (including the son) were wonderful. Banderas and CZJ had amazing chemistry, really grew into it and worked really well together.

Rufus Sewell was a good villain but looked his best here - so much a James Bond in waiting.

Basically, the critics were wrong. It is a great piece of film-making and superb entertainment. If you liked Mask, you'll love this.

As for Campbell, I am very pleased with this quasi-Bond film. His direction is assured and skillful. Baird's editing and Meheux's cinematography (did you spot his cameo?) are magnificent.

Now remember, Campbell began his career in character driven British TV. Edge of Darkness was a remarkable nuclear thriller (which he is trying bring to the big screen). While the Zorros are huge entertainments, it does not mean he will bring the same tone of wit and flair to the allegedly darker CR. But he will bring style to it.

Very good movie. See it. Judge for yourself.

BTW, I am the only person in the world who loved Ocean's 12!

ACE

[Double-Oh Agent]

After hearing and reading all the negative reviews about The Legend Of Zorro, I was at best cautiously optimistic about the film and at worst fearing a major disappointment. But after seeing the film, I was pleasantly surprised. No, LOZ is not a great film and is way too cartoonish in places but it is entertaining and the two leads (Antonio Banderas and the sexy Catherine Zeta-Jones) have definite chemistry.

LOZ is nowhere near as good as its predecessor, The Mask Of Zorro, and would have fared better had it been upgraded to PG-13 but for what it is, it succeeds. As a result, I give it a marginal thumbs up.