Pacific Rim Looking Grim With $25 Million-$35 Million Opening.
 

Link to article.

Everything about this angers me. Hollywood no longer really has new IPs, they are just remakes or nostalgia banking so I really REALLY wanted Pacific Rim to do well, because if it flops it'll be quite a few years til we see something original on this scale again.

So surely the Pacific Rim marketeers would have taken this on board right? All the hairy neckbeards like myself are already going to see this, I mean giant monsters and robots! So you don't need to market this to us, make sure you get the figures out promptly because kids will LOVE this and the earlier you get them out the longer the kids will beg their parents. But don't forget to market to my Dad as well because he is the kind of person who won't bother to go see this. Also be careful what you release this against, don't run against guaranteed money making sequels or established family films.

Or you can just pour all your marketing money into aiming it at people who ARE ALREADY GOING TO SEE IT REGARDLESS. And then they release it alongside Grown Ups 2 and Despicable Me 2. Grr you fucking idiots. If you dare have the gall to ask why this flopped, when it may very end up doing so, then I'm so fucking done.

With this I have a bad feeling with Godzilla

Variety really seems to want Pacific Rim to fail. They're the ones who first started the "low tracking" story and now this article refers to Grown Ups 2 as a family film and strong alternative to viewers.

I'll do my part this weekend. We all should.

Pacific Rim, from the start, was a hard sell. No stars, a genre most people don't like, a director best known for making films which don't make a lot of money, and a packed summer release schedule.

If the film fails, it'll be a shame, but that won't impact my enjoyment of the film. Del Toro has never made a bad film in my estimation, so I have full faith in him.

Del Toro wants to make a sequel to it; and if Hellboy 2 showed us anything, its that if Del Toro wants to make a sequel, he will make it, it just might take a while.

What about Idris Elba, doesn't he count as a star? Also Paladin they meant Despicable Me 2 was a family alternative.

Idris Elba is known, but is not a star on the "anchoring a film" level. He's not Johnny Depp, Jamie Foxx, Brad Pitt, etc., just to name a few stars who also had bombs this summer.

Ron Pearlman is in it,so that should count for something.I know Angry Joe tweeted that "Its chock full of cliches and over the topness".Dont expect to go see a fantastic acting job,go expecting to see robots fighting monsters,and thats what I expect it to be anyway.

Hollywood nowadays dictates what is good and what isn't,but only in their eyes.If they think a film won't get at least 6-10 oscar nominations,they will bash it into the ground.I will be highly upset if The Lone Ranger,which should really be called Tonto starring Johnny Depp,does better.

I kind of figured this would happen. It's a beautiful movie and personally appeals to me on many levels. But to your average movie goer this just looks like a Transformers knock off with robots that don't transform. They see it generically when we all see it as a revitalization of the Daikaiju gener here in the west.

It's disappointing that this movie will most likely flop, but unfortunately it's not unexpected :(

And I have to agree with ljacone. There are no truly recognizable actors here for your average movie goers to be hooked by. Yes we have Idris Elba, Charlie Day, and Ron Pearlman. But unless you watch Luther, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, or Hellboy/Sons of Anarchy then you don't know who these people are.

There is a huge audience that watches Sons of Anarchy,but I see your point.I was reading some reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (which the movie is at 85%,which isnt bad at all),and it sums it up perfectly.

"A mesmerizing, if mindless, apocalyptic adventure that doesn't ask anything more of an audience than to enjoy the action and root heartily for the heroes while consuming a copious amount of popcorn."

Exactly, you have no idea how many people have asked me "Hey isnt that another transformers movie?" To which I reply, "No it is a completely different movie, (this is to keep me from ranting) they dont even transform." and they reply "But its got giant robots, of course its transformers." -facepalm-

Honestly, I'm blaming Bay.
Why?
Because a friend summed up the Transformers comparison perfectly. "The last 3 giant robot films I saw were total crap. I think I can skip this one."

It's not that some are thinking it's another Transformers movie, it's that some are thinking it's going to suck, like the Transformers movies.

List of people to blame for your toku stuff gettin ruined:

3- Micheal Bay
2- Saban
1- Decade

This.The problem nowadays is that if a film is just made for fun,to enjoy it instead of it being a super serious,deep film,people compare it to Bay and Transformers.

I'm going to watch this with the thinking that I want to see some giant robots kick some monster ass.Not Transformers.

Oh and to those that say it's too goofy and has too many cliches.....Army of Darkness.Nuff said.

The sad thing is, as nerd became mainstream, all the bad parts of being a nerd became mainstream as well.

Michael Bay's Transformers films may be bad adaptations which is frustrating but as far as blockbuster films go, they did their job in both entertaining the masses and making millions but as all the elitism that comes with nerdom has crossed over into the popular culture, so people hate films like Transformers, Battleship etc etc before they've actually seen them because that is the cool thing to do. And then otherwise fairly terrible popcorn flicks, like say The Avengers, become huge because the nerds deem it okay to like that popcorn flick.

I never thought we'd come to a point in cinema history where we'd have to remind mainstream audiences that liking a film just because it's fun is okay to do.

Yeah,I did when I noticed music,movie,and television tastes changing.People forgot movies were supposed to be viewed for the fun of it,not to go to it and tear every aspect of it apart.

People have seen great movies,and now think every movie that comes out must match that bar or come close.Transformers have been summer blockbusters,so when a movie comes out with giant robots,transforming or no,they compare it.It's wrong,but they do.

Isn't this the same site that made up the bullshit "Pacific Rim is tracking lower than Grown Ups 2" even when it wasn't?

Here you go folks.

A huge number of websites all reporting Pacific Rim's predicted failure.

What was the point of that dig?

From what I read on reviews,it's not really a flop more then it is half and half.Most of the bad reviews end up talking about character development.Like I said,people nowadays go to the movies to tear apart the movie bit by bit,not enjoy it.

Because it still angers me, as a film fan, that at best Avengers was praised for the same criticisms they give to every other film of its ilk, or at worst people are so insecure about liking the film that they have to make up shit to try and validate it. And that because nerd has taken over pop culture, we know have 'allowed opinions'.

Avengers, have to love it.
Transformers, have to hate it.

Different opinion to that? You're a troll.

I'm surprised the nerd high lords allowed us to get excited for this but then consistency was never their strong suit.

I think Pacific Rim is going to have a lackluster opening but then have somewhat strong following weeks due to word of mouth.

What I think is killing this movie is a severe lack of advertising. If I wasn't a member of this site, I'd have no idea what it is.

Coming from someone who works in the comic book industry I can firmly tell you that Avengers is possibly the best comic book film ever. It was well received by comic fans and general audiences. You don't have to love it, but the numbers don't lie about it the same way they do about Transformers. It's a genuinely good movie.

It's genuinely a good movie if you're able to ignore Whedon knows nothing about the language of film, that the film had poor pacing, a lack of clear direction, flat characters and lack of any convincing arcs or that the film had no real villain and instead climaxed as soon as the Avengers sorted out their hierarchy but then included a tacked on, bloated and artificial action sequence (which included the closest thing to a focused villain being taken down in a gag) that if done by Michael Bay would currently be the target on the proverbial dartboard of the internet everywhere.

that the Soul Reason why a Really good Live Action Gundam film cant Be made

I liked Transformers (the first live action one) and The Avengers. Am I a walking contradiction?

In any event I agree with conundrum, I think Pacific Rim will not do great opening numbers but will stick around the box office for a while, and gain very strong word of mouth... not unlike Hellboy, which had a total domestic gross of $59m (about $72m adjusted for inflation). Of course, Hellboy cost a lot less than Pacific Rim, but that's another discussion.

That is a big reason why Pacific Rim should have been marketed well, they put a lot of money behind this without that safety net of nostalgia or it being an existing property so if this flops, it may well be quite some time until we see something like this again.

I actually forgot about the lack of marketing because I spend so long on this forum. I wonder what the decision over the weak marketing campaign was.

If people think it's a Transformers movie, then it should do extremely well. All of those movies made a fortune. The fourth one next year will as well.

But Pacific Rim isn't on track to open like a Transformers film, so I don't think that's it. They've botched the advertising for PR. Emphasized the cgi and the action. Which is enough for some people but if you actually look at the way the Transformers films were advertised, they emphasized the human story as well, at least with the first film. They put Shia Lebeouf and Megan Fox out front. And though people really hate those two actors now, at the time it made them both stars. It gave people who don't automatically see every movie with giant robots a reason to go see the movie. Because that latter audience is much bigger.

I know who all the actors in Pacific Rim are because I pay attention to that kind of thing. I've picked up on their storylines in the movie, but only from closely examining all the marketing materials. It's not terribly obvious what's going on with the humans in the movie. And that's a problem. And since none of them are famous they need to put them out there even more.

Even Idris Elba, whose most visible role in the US was a recurring role on the american The Office - the Wire was a critical darling but low rated. Charlie Hunnam's the star of a hit cable show, but the standards for cable shows are lower(Sons of Anarchy is usually below five million viewers, which sounds like a lot but doesn't translate to much box office, even if every single one went to see PR).

Here's a quoted link from TFW. He also points out this little bit:

And somebody else followed up with this:

Basically all this "predicted failure" is hogwash. The movie is getting positive reviews, people who are aware of it are spreading the noise, and as said while it may have a weaker opening, word of mouth will deffinitely get more views in the following weeks.

Let us hope than that word of mouth picks up the slack, as the marketing certainly isn't. We need this film to succeed!

I don't like going to the theater. I'd much rather wait until it shows up on Netflix or OnDemand and watch it then. Comfortably in my apartment enjoying some Hot Pockets.

As God intended.

It may be corny but I'm a firm believer in the 'cinema experience' I absolutely LOVE going to the cinema and when I was at Uni I'd go a few times a week.

Yes. Sitting surrounded by strangers as your feet stick to the floor while you eat some rubbery popcorn or overpriced candy. Love it.
(In all honesty, I do love the cinema experience :lol)

No thank you. I don't like people, I don't like paying 6 bucks for buck popcorn and I certainly don't like people. ... Wait I said that twice.

Why not just take sweets in? The cinema I go to doesn't give a fuck, I used to take Chinese in with me.

I don't mind a decent theater trip.Just keep me away from the theaters that have people screaming "Oh shit!" at a screen when something amazingly good or bad happens.

Best cinema ever.

I'll admit that a growing problem I have with going to see things in theaters is noise bleed from adjacent theaters.

Nothing like a nice, quiet scene punctuated by the rumble of an action scene next door. And then the theaters around here think the answer to the solution is just to turn up the loudness on all the movies.

Back when I lived in Georgia, I was banned from a theater for sneaking candy in :lol
Granted, the ban only seemed to last about 6 months (I was never officially "Unbanned" but no one stopped me from going in), but it was still odd.

Legally they have no right to search your bag so even if it isn't allowed as long as you're quiet about it, it should be fine.

People bring the smelliest food into theaters. I don't know why people have to eat a meat lovers pizza while they watch Iron Man.