Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” appears to be opening strong overseas–in India it premiered bigger than Marvel’s “The Avengers”–but this has to be tempered by the fact that other movies that appeared strong because of international profits have gone on to underperform at the American box office.
Like Peter Berg’s “Battleship,” for instance.
So at this point, Spidey’s reboot looks promising–if critical reception is any indicator–but I have to admit that my enthusiasm for this film is somewhat lacking (despite this I have every intention of seeing it because I have been living with these characters for at least 15 to 20 years of my life) and I haven’t heard from too many other people that are revved up to see it either.
image courtesy of IMDb
Guillermo Del Toro seems so concerned about Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” being similar to his (aborted?) version of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness,” that he appears to be considering abandoning what would be his passion project, a film that he has literally worked years to bring to the screen.
What I have to say is: DO NOT DO IT!
I haven’t seen “Prometheus” yet (a deficit I intend to remedy this Saturday), but I have read Lovecraft’s short, and the role that alien beings play in the development of humanity is a relatively minor point, though that’s not to say that the screenplay written by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins may not have played up those particular elements.
So, let’s say that now “At The Mountains Of Madness” is somewhat similar to “Prometheus.”
If that happens to be the case: So what, especially if Prometheus is as profitable as it appears that it might be.
Hollywood is notorious for capitalizing on successful films with imitators–which “At The Mountains Of Madness” isn’t since it has probably been some stage of development long before “Prometheus” was a glimmer in Scott’s eye–but I am sure that some will consider ‘Madness’ somewhat an also-ran.
While it’s not good form to revel in the misfortune of others (which pretty much means that I am about to do just that) I have to admit that hearing that Peter Berg’s “Battleship” is looking very John Carter-ish makes me feel a bit better than it should.
First, it means that “The Avengers” continues to run riot over the box office, which is good for anyone who wants Joss Whedon to return for the sequel (and the hope that he doesn’t feel the need to kill anyone else off).
Second, there’s Universal, the studio that released ‘Battleship,’ passing on Guillermo Del Toro’s passion project, “At The Mountains of Madness,” which would have cost somewhere in the ballpark of $150 million.
Which is significantly less than the studio will probably lose over “Battleship” (which is assuming that ATOM would have been unsuccessful, which I doubt).
I am not sure what it is that irritates me so much about the upcoming “Battleship,” though I think that I will give it a shot. First, the movie is budgeted somewhere in the ballpark of $200 million.
That’s $200 million dollars for a movie based upon a Hasbro board game.
Now, Transformers was hardly Oscar-caliber, but it at least had characters (sorta).
Edited 7/31 049
The trailer for Peter Berg’s “Battleship” is available via Yahoo! Movies, and, if I do say so myself, it’s looking very Transformerish (not too sure if that’s a good or bad thing yet).
What If Peter Berg Hadn’t Directed ‘Battleship,’ But ‘Dune?’
Image by Mark “Jock” Simpson
Does anyone recall the film Peter Berg was due to direct before he made the choice–in hindsight, perhaps not a bad decision–to direct Universal’s “Battleship?
It was Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel “Dune?”
A novel, by the way, that since his death seemed to have spawned more sequels than when he was alive.
Despite the few attempts to translate the property to the big screen–David Lynch’s some what steampunkish version of the novel was the first–and only version–to make it to theaters (though this was after Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s version was abandoned due to projected cost overuns), though according to Box Office Mojo it earned $30 million domestically, on a $40 million dollar budget.
The SciFi Channel, now known as SyFy (for reasons only their marketing department will ever know), created their own versions of Herbert’s “Dune,” as well as “Children of Dune.” I actually perferred “Children of Dune” to “Dune,” though both suffered from a lack of both budget and scale to create the worlds that Frank Herbert’s books required.
And would Berg have done “Dune” justice? It’s hard to tell, if only because he had never done anything on that scale before. That being said, from what I hear about “Battleship,” perhaps this is a question best left unanswered.
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