In a measure of just how brutal the economics of producing and releasing Hollywood tentpoles has become, pundits are already sneering at 'Justice' League because the superhero adventure failed to crack $US100 million in its opening weekend in the US and $US200 million internationally.
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Kenneth Branagh’s remake of 'Murder on the Orient Express' won the weekend derby at Australian cinemas, edging out the third outing of Taika Waititi’s blockbuster 'Thor: Ragnarok'.
If there was an element of risk when Disney/Marvel Studios hired Kiwi director Taika Waititi to helm the 'Thor' reboot – a massive jump in scale and ambition after his 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' – that now seems a very smart bet.
It’s rare to see three Hollywood films open wide and belly-flop on the same weekend at Australian cinemas but it was a near-disaster for 'Geostorm' and a total wipe-out for 'The Snowman' and 'Home Again'.
It was a grim weekend for Australian cinemas despite the launches of 'The Mountain Between Us', 'Happy Death Day' and several local films.
The 'Blade Runner' reboot posed two questions: Can Harrison Ford still open a movie at the at age of 75? And will Alcon Entertainment/Sony Pictures’ investment in the sci-fi– reportedly budgeted at $US155 million – pay off?
If a studio contemplates remaking a classic or cult movie of decades ago, by and large the reboot has to be superior and more compelling than the original. That truism evidently did not occur to the top brass at Columbia Pictures when they greenlit a reboot of 'Flatliners', Joel Schumacher’s 1990 horror movie which starred Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt and Billy Baldwin.
Critics the world over, including Australia, did not much like Matthew Vaughn’s 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle', objecting to the cartoonish violence and juvenile jokes, but what do they know?