Hello again, at long last, my fellow geeks!
As the title of the article suggests, I’ve finally found my way back to my computer and am able to write again!
Well, that is a great story but the truth of the matter is, life got in the way, as it has a habit of doing and week after week, I found myself neck-deep in both work and family drama and before I knew it, a couple of Months had gone by without my having written a single word. I’m very sorry that it happened, please know that I have missed you guys…
Now!
It’s been an interesting summer at the movies. The box office didn’t break the records, as some pundits had predicted, but regardless of what some of the entertainment writers and other blogs have said, this summer was a smashing success. Hollywood has always had a strange way of keeping score and keeping the books, so to speak, and for most studios, and by extension, most journalists who write about the film business, unless they make more money in a given year than they have ever made in all the years past, the year is a failure.
Or if not a failure, than at least the year wasn’t as good as they had hoped. When this happens, without fail someone will start saying that, this proves the theater business is dying and that the home viewing market is going to be the way of the future.
Don’t believe it. The box-office may not have broken all the records but it was, all in all, a very good year. Oh, and the year isn’t over yet. Some of the biggest guns haven’t been released yet.
Still to come, we have the final film in the Hunger Games series, MOCKINGJAY PT 2, The new James Bond film, SPECTRE and, of course, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.
This Summer has seen the dinosaurs of the Jurassic Park franchise, which most people had assumed was as extinct as the T-Rex, roar back to life and claim the top spot, not only of the summer but the top spot of ALL TIME.
JURASSIC WORLD has made 670 Million Dollars in the United States alone. It’s past a Billion Dollars worldwide and it’s still playing in theaters as I write this.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, which most people thought would be the biggest film of the year had to settle for second place. I wouldn’t feel too bad though, it’s made 457 Million Dollars in the States and over 953 Million in the rest of the world for a total of way over a Billion Dollars.
There were a few misfires this Summer, as there always are. I’ve touched on a couple of them in the past but they bear repeating. TOMORROWLAND was a massive misfire. Some have pointed to the film as proof that people don’t like or want original films. I don’t think that’s the case at all, I just think that when your trailers are a lot better than your film, that knowledge will get out via word of mouth pretty quickly.
TERMINATOR GENISYS is another misfire. Not as bad of a flop commercially, but not the massive hit the studio needed it to be to offset the massive price tag that comes with making a film like that. I didn’t hate the film like some people did, calling it names I can’t print here, I thought it was fine. I realize these are just movies. Don’t get me wrong, I love film. I love it and respect it more than a lot of people. I can go into a theater….a cathedral to dreams….and get lost in the worlds that are projected on that giant silver screen at 24 frames a second. However, I realize that these are just that: films. I find it hard to get caught up in the drama and the gnashing of teeth and tearing out of hair about Canon and what is and isn’t Canon.
There are people….I know this because I have had conversations with them…who were irritated about the ending of the new Terminator film. Irritated doesn’t actually cover it. Some people were mad about it. Mad because the events of the new film seemed to erase the events of the original film and T2. They couldn’t believe that the events in the made up film that didn’t happen…didn’t happen.
If you are one of the people who got upset, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to offend you further but life is just too short to get bent out of shape about something like that. I can (and have) watched and enjoyed my Blu-ray of T2 since I saw the new film and not one time did I stop and think “None of this happened after that one guy did that thing in Genisys“.
Okay, enough about the films of the past, lets say a thing or two about the films of the future….well, not the future so much as tomorrow.
The only real release this weekend is the long-awaited (by nobody) reboot/continuation, THE TRANSPORTER: REFUELED (PG-13 96 Minutes) which is being released, for reasons no one can comprehend, in IMAX.
It stars someone who isn’t Jason Statham as the titular character who, for the right price, will transport anything, anywhere. Unlike Ryan Goslings character in DRIVE who never got out of the car, this fella will get out of the car and kick people upside the head. A lot.
As far as big films go, that about does it for stuff coming this weekend.
My advice is to use this weekend to catch up on the films you haven’t seen yet. Ant Man. Man from U.N.C.L.E. . Inside Out. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. These are all good choices. Or just hang out at home and spend time with your friends and/or family.
As for me? Yeah, you guessed it. I’ll be working. Come by and say hello.
It’s nice to be back and to be able to put together a few hundred words for you to read again. With everything within me, I intend to be right back here next week. Same Bat time. Same Bat channel.
Until next time, Keep the Projector Threaded.