Film, Box Office, and Stuff

It is a fairly easy winner this year. There were a few contenders ... Hugh Jackman for the ultimate bad ass Wolverine performance in Logan , Charlize Theron for the double bill of Atomic Blonde and Fast & Furious 8 , and even Jamie Foxx for his efforts in Sleepless and Baby Driver . There were some other honorable mentions this year, such as Wu Jing in Wolf Warriors 2 , a potential action star of the future, Dylan O'Brien, for American Assassin , and finally Frank Grillo for his appearances in Beyond Skyline and Wolf Warriors 2 (if it wasn't such a shit film it would have carried more weight) and his Netflix-produced auto-actioner, Wheelman (which is brilliant, by the way). While three action roles is impressive, it also shows the quality of the productions. Grillo needs to get in better action films to truly contend for this title. Anyway, none of them can hold a candle to Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter Two . Such a bad ass action hero, and this award goes some way...

47 Meters Down  could not replicate its US success in China.  It grossed just $6m and was out of the top ten after 7 days.  This was actually enough to become its second largest market, though.  It was one of the usual pack of last-minute, half-hearted December releases hoping to hit big in the world's second biggest market, and this year it arrived along with Schwarzenegger's Aftermath, Berg's latest Wahlberg-er,  Patriots Day , and firefighter melodrama,  Only the Brave . Anyway, I saw this statue/standee at Coastal City Cinema in Nanshan, Shenzhen.  Thought it was worthy of sharing just because of how bad it is.  It reminds me of a shoddily made fairground sculpture from North China rebranded with a 47 Meters Down plaque and presented as a legitimate cinema foyer attraction. I did not see it in Chinese cinemas.  Thankfully, because it's not worth seeing at the cinema.  Here is my review: It wasn't bad, but I am not sure ...

While the third Thor movie wipes the floor with the big DC team-up movie at the North American box office ($300m over $230m), it is a different picture in China.  As of this posting, Justice has amassed $104.2m in box office receipts in China, to Ragnarok 's $112m.  Justice holding its own against the much larger, much more popular Marvel outing, but it came at a cost.  I did not see any marketing for Thor: Ragnarok in China, but quite a bit for Justice League .  Is there a link between marketing coverage and box office receipts?  I guess it depends.  Marvel already has such a foundation of fans from Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, and Hulk, so when they release a new MCU film it does well by default.  DC had to work harder to get people interested.  But even with the exposure, the gross could not match that of Thor.  Anyway, I just thought it was interesting. Here is some of the marketing that I saw for Justice League : ...

A riveting wartime drama to mirror Nolan's masterpiece. Seeing it from the political side feels like a director's cut or television spin-off of Dunkirk . It's a great performance by Oldman, of course. The little mannerisms and patterns of speech stand out beyond just the prosthetic perfection to create a blinding realisation of Britain's greatest ever leader. Wright does an extraordinary job of maintaining engagement. It is not the most eye-catching of stories, and Darkest Hour could have done with more war/evacuation scenes, but the way it maneuvers through the key dates and decisions keeps the pulse and sentiment of the film alive, ending in that iconic motivational speech. B+

So I was visiting my local shopping mall, Raffles City, and outside I was surprised to see and confused to understand there had been a new building entirely built to promote Kingsman: The Golden Circle .  It is a replica of the tailor shop from the film.  Fans can walk inside and take photos, and also immerse themselves in a "bullet time" experience  I didn't try that.  It was guarded at the time I walked by.  I think they may have also been able to buy merchandise.  I just think this is one of the best examples of going above and beyond with movie marketing that I have seen.  Extreme confidence in a film, enough to build a whole new building to promote it!  It will be there for about a month.  It seems that this is a one-off, and other temporary buildings are not erected in other malls or cities around China, so I feel very lucky to catch it here in Shenzhen.  Let's hope this continues with future releases. Kingsman: The Golde...

Jackie Chan should be studied in media courses at university.  He is by far the biggest example of a downfall by a global star.  He made action masterpieces in the 80s and 90s. Now he is making absolute rubbish like his latest Spring Festival release, the Chinese-Indian adventure comedy Kung Fu Yoga .  Directed and written by Stanley Tong, a man once admired for action classics like Police Story 3: Supercop and Rumble in the Bronx , the film travels across China, the United Arab Emirates, and India, following Jackie (ingeniously named "Jack") and his group of archaeologist-explorers (including Indian Princesses played by the beauties Amyra Dastur and Disha Patani) to hunt down a jewel that will show them the path to the ancient treasure of Magadha.  Much like Chan's previous explorer flick, Chinese Zodiac (also written by Tong), this film is very, very silly.  And lazy.  So much of the film uses visual effects (the entire pre-opening-credits scene show...

It has been a tough year for action heroes. Sure, there was Ryan Reynolds with Deadpool , which was huge and very entertaining, but it's a superhero flick. There have been real action heroes; glimpses from Brad Pitt in Allied , Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , Gerard Butler in London Has Fallen , and Matt Damon in Jason Bourne . But none were able to push it beyond that one film (Damon also has The Great Wall but that's a 2017 release everywhere besides China, and Butler has Gods of Egypt , but no ... just no). Last year's winner, Dwayne Johnson, has really let it slip this year. Only Central Intelligence to show for, and that was lame. More of a comedy. Not worthy. So this year it is between two people: Jason Statham for the uber-action packed Mechanic: Resurrection , with Statham as the true action hero, and Mel Gibson for Blood Father , a film and role brimming with 80s and 90s action bad ass. Gibson also has more to support his case with Hacksaw Ridge ....

We have a repeat winner this year.  He won in 2003 with The Rundown , and contended well in 2013 when he had FOUR action roles, but lost out to the unstoppable Jason Statham (a five-time BAMHA winner) at his action-hero peak with Homefront, Hummingbird, Fast Six and Parker .  But he's back this year, and with the box office to back him up, so without further ado, the 2015 BAMHA goes to: DWAYNE JOHNSON - for Furious 7 and San Andreas . Runners-up: Jason Statham ( Furious 7, Spy, Wild Card ) Liam Neeson ( Taken 3, Run All Night ) ----------------- Here is a historical list of winners: 1970 : CLINT EASTWOOD (Kelly’s Heroes, Two Mules for Sister Sara) 1971 : CLINT EASTWOOD (Dirty Harry) 1972 : BRUCE LEE (Way of the Dragon, Fist of Fury) 1973 : CLINT EASTWOOD (High Plains Drifter, Magnum Force) 1974 : CHARLES BRONSON (Death Wish, Mr. Majestyk) 1975 : JOHN WAYNE (Brannigan) 1976 : CLINT EASTWOOD (The Enforcer, The Outlaw Josey Wales) 1977 : CLINT EASTWOOD (Th...

Released last week was the first glimpse of the fifth film in the Terminator franchise, Terminator Genisys . Due out next summer, it attempts right the wrongs of 2009’s Terminator Salvation and restore faith to a failing franchise. You can see it below, but how did the teaser trailer fare? Not well. Not well at all. Firstly, the marketing campaign is ruined. The first footage of the film is out and it’s a 2 minute and 30 second trailer. Where’s the teaser campaign? It’s a full blown theatrical trailer with action scenes, memorable quotes, run-through of the premise, who’s good and who’s bad, plus a glimpse at the money shots. What the hell is going on? Are teaser campaigns no longer in fashion? It pains me to watch studios fail to understand the concept of marketing as miserably as Paramount has with this latest Terminator film. You only get one shot at the ‘first footage’ angle, and they ruined it by releasing a full trailer. Where’s the slow build up to create momentum...

Don’t you just hate when you view a 3-minute trailer and end up feeling like you’ve seen the majority of the money shots, side-splitting one liners, and sometimes even major plot twists? Especially nowadays, it is not uncommon for a film to have many trailers released, all of which show different scenes and clips, and all of which are 2-3 minutes long. It’s not only trailers, Hollywood marketers also think it’s a good idea to release clips and featurettes, too. In what world does showing a potential customer too much make something more sought after? If a football fan was shown the goals being scored, would that encourage him/her to pay to see the rest of the game? (Even if the game was free to watch, after seeing the goals, is there much point in watching the rest of the game?). This want-it-right-now culture of showing too much is one of the reasons why cinema attendance is struggling (at least in the USA); experiencing a film is no longer exclusive to paying attendees. In the...

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , made by Sony, features many shots of Sony products. This is the usual product placement strategy, and it is expected. It’s not blatant. It’s subliminal, to a degree. But what’s happening now is that global brands are hi-jacking films and turning them into feature-length advertisements. There is no artistic or creative input behind the films Sex Tape and The Internship . They are not pushing boundaries. They are safely aligning with the principles and culture of their respective brands. These mainstream, four-quadrant summer comedies are about as dull as choosing beige as your bathroom colour scheme. If the product is jeopardised as a result of over-marketing your brand or because of negligence of creativity, the strategy will fail – audiences will reject the product and the goal of embedding the brand in the psyche of modern culture will have been wasted. Is it Apple’s dream to be attached to the bad taste in people’s mouths as they exit the cinema af...

Let's take a look at the recent release of The Expendables 3 . Now, while some may just write it off as "nobody wanted another movie about a team of action geriatrics", which would adhere to the franchise fatigue theory, there may be more to it than meets the eye. In order for a film sequel to do well or match/increase over its predecessor, the film must offer something fresh and different. The addition of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (in a meatier roles), Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Liam Hemsworth and Yu Nan to The Expendables 2 didn't add much to the box office performance in the US, so I don't know why Avi Lerner, Stallone and Millennium Films assumed that approach would work in this third outing by adding Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson etc. (which I admit are some big names from the action genre of the last 30 years). These stars are not box office draws anymore. It's cool to see these stars...