Summer of '07
Variety's Gabriel Snyder reports that three super tentpolers will be released within a four-week span next May -- Sony's Spider-Man 3(5.4.07) , Dreamamount's Shrek the Third (5.18.07) and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End (5.25).
Obviously, if any of these films are going to take a hit (i.e., be hurt) it'll be Shrek the Third, but then it's a family film and isn' really going mano e mano against the other two. Somewhat but not really.
After this comes a ten-week stretch in which a big-studio tentpole will launch every weekend from June to August: Warners' Ocean's Thirteen (6.8), Fox's Fantastic Four 2 (6.15), U's sequel Evan Almighty (6.22), Pixar /Disney's Ratatouille (6.29), Dreamamount's Transformers (7.4), WB's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (7.13), a Universal Adam Sandler comedy We Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry(7.20), Fox's long-awaited The Simpsons Movie (7.27), Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum (8.3) and New Line's Rush Hour 3 (8.10).
Of all these films, I am interested in seeing exactly two -- The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean's Thirteen. I am vaguely interested in Spider-Man 3 in Evan Almighty. I spit on all the rest of them, especially thePirates 3 (the prospect of seeing Keith Richards in pirate garb grabs me not), Rush Hour 3, the Harry Potter, the Michael Bay, etc. More of the same old crap.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 13, 2006 at 2:41 PM
comment #1
blythecummings
says ...
Don't forget LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD on June 29th.
Posted by blythecummings
at August 13, 2006 4:23 PM
comment #2
Cadavra
says ...
It's RATATOUILLE, POTTER and SIMPSONS for me. I might go to OCEAN just for Ellen Barkin; as for BOURNE--the last one gave me a headache, so this one probably would as well. And I'll swallow broken glass before seeing a Michael Bay film based on a shitty cartoon based on a line of toys. Think I'll take a very long cruise next summer.
Posted by Cadavra
at August 13, 2006 4:30 PM
comment #3
berg
says ...
new summer, SOS
Posted by berg
at August 13, 2006 4:54 PM
comment #4
le corbeau
says ...
Gad, what a ghastly-sounding summer, apart maybe from Bourne and Spiderman, which at least promise competency. Suddenly Nacho Libre, Talladega Nights and The Descent look like a golden age of summer moviegoing.
By the way, finally saw Talladega Nights, and had completely the opposite reaction to Jeffrey (who liked it fine but said he rarely outright laughed). I found the plot borderline tedious, and two Nascar movies in one summer is at least two too many if not four or five, but there were about ten places where I sent Coke out my nose. I mean, "Ees zat a catch-phrase... or epilepsy?"... the way-beyond-Karate Kid-like way that Cole plans for Ferrell to get over his fear... take those, and add in the fact that John C. Reilly's five best moments are all in the outtakes at the end, and I actually kind of want the DVD now, even if the movie was only fair.
Posted by le corbeau
at August 13, 2006 5:56 PM
comment #5
D.Z.
says ...
Since Pirates 3 is almost finished, I have a feeling Sony's gonna delayed Spider Man 3 so they can get more time to work out the kinks. Shrek 3 might also be delayed, so it doesn't have to compete with Pirates. I doubt it's gonna flop, but it's not gonna do Ice Age 2 numbers. And the Simpsons movie's gonna suck, because it got made 7 years too late. Will Fantastic Four 2 really be out any faster than the original? Who knows? And Transformers is gonna be dumped to an August slot, because not one thing about it looks ready to go.
Posted by D.Z.
at August 13, 2006 6:24 PM
comment #6
Gabriel
says ...
Jeff, you're going to spit on a Brad Bird/Pixar? The follow-up to your #3 film of 2004, no less? Really? That's a bit harsh no matter how unappetizing the movie may look.
Posted by Gabriel
at August 13, 2006 7:24 PM
comment #7
Liz
says ...
Sequels, crap, sequels *to* crap, adaptations of comic books and cartoons and theme park rides and action figures. Oh, for the relatively carefree days of Twister and Independence Day...
Seriously, Evan Almighty? What's next, a sequel to Bewitched focused entirely on Uncle Arthur (Steve Carell's character)?
That said, I'm looking forward to Ocean's 13. The second one didn't click with me at all in the theater, but HBO's constant repetition really benefits that one.
Posted by Liz
at August 13, 2006 8:34 PM
comment #8
goodvibe61
says ...
What a bunch of nonsense. Some people's breadth of genres they enjoy or take seriously says more about them than the films they're "covering".
Right now you can count me in for just about anything Steve Carell is involved in. Yeah, I know Jeffrey hated 40 Year Old Virgin; but that movie is a fabulous comedy, much better written than Wells ever gave it credit for.
Pirates 2 was far too entertaining to be blandly written off the way Wells brushed it aside. The effects work and several of the performances make me look forward to part three. I'll never forget the feeling in that theater when i saw part two on opening weekend, the place was just soaring. It was fun, it was communal, it was a big part of what the joy is you get from going to the movies in a big sold out theater. I know Wells prefers to sit alone in some private screening he can crow about, but I'll take seeing movies with a paying audience any time.
I can't wait for the next Pixar film, particularly since it's a Brad Bird film. I know Jeffrey can't stand anything animated, or comedic, or anything that tries to entertain, but Iron Giant is one of the best films of the past decade, and Incredibles was just a sheer joy. Way to go Jeffrey, write off one of the best filmmakers of recent memory.
Ocean's 13 and Bourne will be two of the big hopefuls for me next summer. It looks like there will be a shot at a pretty decent run next summer, and the box office sure is going to look good.
Posted by goodvibe61
at August 13, 2006 9:31 PM
comment #9
fnt
says ...
I spit on the rest of them.
Jesus.
Summer is full of big popcorn movies? What a surprise.
Posted by fnt
at August 14, 2006 12:56 AM
comment #10
NYCBusybody
says ...
Jeff's a snob, in aesthetics, art, life, name it. He fundamentally believes that his taste is superior, and that anyone who likes something he doesn't must have something WRONG with them, as opposed to there simply being different strokes for different folks.
There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but it's pretty pointless to ever try and argue against it.
Posted by NYCBusybody
at August 14, 2006 10:37 AM
comment #11
actionman
says ...
Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS will be super-sized fun next summer...anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.
Posted by actionman
at August 14, 2006 11:13 AM
comment #12
Kim Voynar
says ...
Well, I for one am hopped up for Spidey-3, as long as they don't screw it up. Spidey-2 is one of my fave films ever. I'll be there to see PotC as well, just because I want to see what Rossio and Elliot do with the script.
Evan Almighty could actually be really good. After seeing Carell in Little Miss Sunshine (in which I think he was even better than he was in 40-Year-Old Virgin -- and how the hell could you NOT like that film, Jeff? Seriously.) I'll see him in just about anything. But in the role of a politician called on by God to build an ark? That has great potential.
The rest of it, yeah, it's summer popcorn fare. What do you expect? There'll be some good indies in there to balance the sugar and fat of the studio summer lineup.
Posted by Kim Voynar
at August 14, 2006 4:10 PM