How did a crappy comedy movie beat a sci fi action movie at the American box office?

[CmdrShep2183]

How did a crappy comedy movie beat a sci fi action movie at the American box office?





That was back in 2013. However the sci fi genre got its revenge in the following years with Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars.

[khadgar567]

I think this trope says every thing i want and its called to bad its good

[Kitten Champion]

The annoying chat bot aside, it's not even true. Pacific Rim had a higher box office take than Grown Ups 2 by around 200 million, but obviously they have substantively different budgets to recoup.

[khadgar567]

The annoying chat bot aside, it's not even true. Pacific Rim had a higher box office take than Grown Ups 2 by around 200 million, but obviously they have substantively different budgets to recoup.

can you explain please. and for the record i didnt watch both movies.

[CmdrShep2183]

can you explain please. and for the record i didnt watch both movies.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pacificrim.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=grownups2.htm

I am talking about the American audience. According to Box Office Mojo Pacific Rim earned a total of 101,802,906 at American theatres while Grown Ups 2 earned a total of 133,668,525.

What does this say about American movie watchers?

[khadgar567]

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pacificrim.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=grownups2.htm

I am talking about the American audience. According to Box Office Mojo Pacific Rim earned a total of 101,802,906 at American theatres while Grown Ups 2 earned a total of 133,668,525.

What does this say about American movie watchers?

they have same crappy taste about movies like turkish audience

[Thinker]

It looks like Grown Ups 2 was available in more theaters than Pacific Rim (3491 to 3275). That accounts for some of the difference, though Grown Ups 2 still led on a per-theater basis ($17,048 to $15,963). They also debuted against the #31 domestic movie of all time, Despicable Me 2, which was still #1 that weekend. Adam Sandler also seems to have a large built-in market - people know what they're getting into with one of his movies and his style is still popular, even if it doesn't impress critics. Lastly, I suspect (without hard evidence) that comedies generally outperform SciFi.

[Red Fel]

Adam Sandler also seems to have a large built-in market - people know what they're getting into with one of his movies and his style is still popular, even if it doesn't impress critics. Lastly, I suspect (without hard evidence) that comedies generally outperform SciFi.

These two, I suspect, are the biggest culprits.

Consider the following scenario:

Abel: Want to go see Pacific Rim?

Baker: What's it about?

Abel: Giant robots fighting kaiju.

Baker: Kai...what?

Versus:

Abel: Want to go see Grown Ups 2?

Baker: What's it about?

Abel: Yet another Adam Sandler movie with Adam Sandler's buddies making Adam Sandler jokes.

Giant robot fights, while epic, are a niche market with which not everyone is familiar; Adam Sandler flicks, by contrast, are something with which everyone who has ever seen Saturday Night Live is familiar. Anyone can go to a comedy; not everyone likes giant robot action.

[Kitten Champion]

It looks like Grown Ups 2 was available in more theaters than Pacific Rim (3491 to 3275). That accounts for some of the difference, though Grown Ups 2 still led on a per-theater basis ($17,048 to $15,963). They also debuted against the #31 domestic movie of all time, Despicable Me 2, which was still #1 that weekend. Adam Sandler also seems to have a large built-in market - people know what they're getting into with one of his movies and his style is still popular, even if it doesn't impress critics. Lastly, I suspect (without hard evidence) that comedies generally outperform SciFi.

It's not like Pacific Rim was going to be anything but a niche movie in North America, with it largely being built around its potential in finding a footing in the much-coveted Chinese market. Same as, say, Warcraft was this year. It's limited success here was hardly surprising, I think.

That being said, the Science Fiction Action Blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which is easily the equal in overall quality to the lowest of Sandler's dreck, made hundreds of millions of dollars more than Grown Ups 2 and Pacific Rim put together.

[Grey Watcher]

Also worth noting is something hinted at by the movie posters themselves:

Many American moveigoers went to see Grownups 2 because they wanted to see Sandler, James, Rock, Spade, or some combination thereof, do their thing. The plot (typical comedic coming-of-middle-age comedy) is kinda inconsequential.

Plus, again, for all the Age of the Geek thing we're going through, it's still something of a niche. A lot of people prefer something with which they can more readily identify; juggling kids, love lives, careers, etc. is something most people have first hand experience with, while using giant robots to battle giant sea monsters is... less obviously and immediately familiar.

[khadgar567]

Also worth noting is something hinted at by the movie posters themselves:

Many American moveigoers went to see Grownups 2 because they wanted to see Sandler, James, Rock, Spade, or some combination thereof, do their thing. The plot (typical comedic coming-of-middle-age comedy) is kinda inconsequential.

Plus, again, for all the Age of the Geek thing we're going through, it's still something of a niche. A lot of people prefer something with which they can more readily identify; juggling kids, love lives, careers, etc. is something most people have first hand experience with, while using giant robots to battle giant sea monsters is... less obviously and immediately familiar.

unless you are super sentai nerd grownups look more rational choice.

[tomandtish]

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pacificrim.htm

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=grownups2.htm

I am talking about the American audience. According to Box Office Mojo Pacific Rim earned a total of 101,802,906 at American theatres while Grown Ups 2 earned a total of 133,668,525.

What does this say about American movie watchers?

What it says is simple: For whatever reason this movie did not resonate with the general viewing public as much as other sci-fi/fantasy movies have.

Look at the top 100 domestic grossing movies....

Notice what dominates? Science fiction and fantasy. Notice what is seriously lacking? Straight-up comedies. You have to get down to number 77 (Home Alone, believe it or not) before you get a straight comedy that isn't animated. And it looks like there are only 4 on the list.

Now, if you adjust for inflation things look a bit different. Sci-Fi still dominates, but holds only 4 of the top ten spots (and not number 1), and Home Alone rises to number 40. But even there, straight comedies are definitely not the top box office giants.

And that's the important thing to remember. When a sci-fi/fantasy movie strikes a cord, everyone goes to see it AND you get a lot of repeat viewing (I personally know two people who between them saw 60+ showings of Fellowship of the Ring, and they were NOT a couple. In fact, they live in different cities). When it doesn't strike that cord, you get relatively few people going, and the repeat viewing diminishes or vanishes.

As others have said, the comedies tend to be more consistent. They usually aren't going to rake in half a billion dollars, but they usually make back their budget. For the most part, there's a larger core audience, at the cost of not getting everyone and not getting repeat viewing.

[The Glyphstone]

Wait, did our friendly neighborhood chatbot just reply to one of its own threads?

[Ruslan]

Giant robot fights, while epic, are a niche market with which not everyone is familiar; Adam Sandler flicks, by contrast, are something with which everyone who has ever seen Saturday Night Live is familiar. Anyone can go to a comedy; not everyone likes giant robot action.

It's known as appeal to lowest common denominator.

[Red Fel]

As others have said, the comedies tend to be more consistent. They usually aren't going to rake in half a billion dollars, but they usually make back their budget.

Particularly Adam Sandler movies, as he's one of few stars who takes relatively little. That is, his films tend to cost substantially less than similar films; if he even makes close to what other silly comedies make, the studio makes mint.

Contrast that with science fiction, which tends to be synonymous with "big budget" nowadays.

It's known as appeal to lowest common denominator.

Agreed.

But to be fair, Pacific Rim wasn't exactly high art, either.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Wait, did our friendly neighborhood chatbot just reply to one of its own threads?

I have to say, this has got to be the best bot I've ever seen. It's like that xkcd comic about training bots to make automated constructive comments.

Incidentally, why is anyone surprised that Pacific Rim flopped? It was awful. I mean, I haven't seen that Sandler film, but still. Pacific Rim!! *throws up hands*

[Ruslan]

Pacific Rim flopped

It didn't. $411 million worldwide gross on a $190 million budget. Do the math.

[Talakeal]

Having seen both the movies in the theaters within a week of one another, I can honestly say that Grownups 2 was flat out better than Pacific Rim in every way.

I know that I hold a minority opinion here, but I thought Pacific Rim was easily the worst movie of the year, while Grownups 2 was surprisingly good.

I had a similar reaction to Dumber and Dumber Too vs. Interstellar the following year; although Interstellar wasn't actively terrible like Pacific Rim I was surprised that Dumb and Dumber Too had far better writing, more consistent characters, and a more logical plot. I believe I even made a thread on this board about it.

[Ceiling_Squid]

"Awful?" You take that back!

Pacific Rim did exactly what it set out to do, with gleeful abandon. It was fun.

[The Glyphstone]

Did a Jaeger step on your puppy or something? PR wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't an awful one. You don't watch it for good dialogue, or logical plots, or complex characters. You watch it to see giant robots punch giant monsters in the face with rocket-propelled fists, and it did its fight scenes very well - not a good movie, but a fun one. For that matter, it can hardly say to have flopped - just about made double its budget with overseas sales, which isn't a blockbuster or even a very profitable film but is enough for the studio to list it as a break-even on their accounting records. That's pretty good as far as 'Director Vanity Projects' go compared to some of the serious stinkers in that category.

[Talakeal]

Did a Jaeger step on your puppy or something? PR wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't an awful one. You don't watch it for good dialogue, or logical plots, or complex characters. You watch it to see giant robots punch giant monsters in the face with rocket-propelled fists, and it did its fight scenes very well - not a good movie, but a fun one. For that matter, it can hardly say to have flopped - just about made double its budget with overseas sales, which isn't a blockbuster or even a very profitable film but is enough for the studio to list it as a break-even on their accounting records. That's pretty good as far as 'Director Vanity Projects' go compared to some of the serious stinkers in that category.

The acting and characterization was terrible, the plot made no sense, and the technobabble was actively insulting my intelligence.

I could have forgiven that if it was a decent action movie, but I couldn't tell what was going on in any of the fight scenes. They were so dark, and most of them occurred in chest deep water, that I couldn't actually see what was going on. When I could see what was happening (like the sword fight with the flying Kaiju in Hong Kong) it was pretty good, but for the rest of it the cinematography really leeched away any enjoyment for me.

[The Glyphstone]

The acting and characterization was terrible, the plot made no sense, and the technobabble was actively insulting my intelligence.

I could have forgiven that if it was a decent action movie, but I couldn't tell what was going on in any of the fight scenes. They were so dark, and most of them occurred in chest deep water, that I couldn't actually tell what was going on. When I could see what was happening (like the sword fight with the flying Kaiju in Hong Kong) it was pretty good, but for the rest of it the cinematography really leeched away any enjoyment for me.

That wasn't directed at you, but at NinjaPrawn.

As far as your critiques...everything in that list is absolutely 100% true. Though I think people go overboard on the 'technobabble' criticism; there's exactly one piece of brain-cringing technobabble in the entire movie, the bit with digital vs. analog. For pretty much the entire rest of the movie, it very sensibly doesn't even try to scientifically justify anything.

[Razade]

Wait, did our friendly neighborhood chatbot just reply to one of its own threads?

I don't think he's a chatbot honestly.

[Ceiling_Squid]

I think one's estimation of Pacific Rim would be far better served by learning the difference between the distinctly-animesque mecha subgenres of "super robot", and "real robot".

Pacific Rim wildly embraces the former, with a huge dash of kaiju cinema. I'm sorry you expected the latter, or something resembling a grounded narrative.

Granted, I fully agree on the dark fight scenes. Would have preferred more daylight action.

[The Glyphstone]

I think a part of my love for PR is that it's the closest I will ever get to a big-budget Battletech movie, or really any sort of Battletech movie.

[Anonymouswizard]

I think one's estimation of Pacific Rim would be far better served by learning the difference between the distinctly-animesque mecha subgenres of "super robot", and "real robot".

Pacific Rim wildly embraces the former, with a huge dash of kaiju cinema. I'm sorry you expected the latter, or something resembling a grounded narrative.

I'm personally of the opinion that, while it was certainly a Super Robot story, it was trying to have the mecha be more Real Robot.

Now I'm someone who loves Real Robot series and only tolerates a Super Robot series if they can deliver on the awesome. I personally enjoyed PR a ton, although I would never say it was a good film. Me and my siblings went to see it together (seeing as most of us were living at home when it came out), and we all loved it, although we disagreed on whether they got together at the end and had our share of nitpicks (namely the sword being the best weapon by far). It's one of the few films where I'll watch the sequel without doing any research because all I expected was giant robots punching giant monsters, and I got a film where giant monsters were punched by giant robots. Is the film for everyone? No, some people don't like giant robots excused by excuses, while some of us don't care that the digital versus analogue line made no sense as we got to see Gypsy Danger punch giant robots again.

[Traab]

The whole, "It was an adam sandler movie" thing goes deeper than that. Its about Brand Recognition. tm Virtually everyone still capable of going to the movies knows who adam sandler is. Love him or hate him, you still know him. Pacific Rim however, was basically a new thing. It wasnt transformers versus godzilla (and now I want to see that) so it didnt really have much in the way of a name brand to drag people in. Think about The Expendables. We didnt go to see it because of its awesome storyline, great direction, masterful boom mic operating, or anything like that, we went to see it because it had virtually every classic action star ever in it and thats just awesome to the little boy in all of us who used to bang his action figures together going "pew pew!" as we imagined arnold fighting against sylvester against a xenomorph. We knew all those names and thats what turned a movie that would have likely flopped without those big names, into a moderate success. (Tripled its budget worldwide)

[Talakeal]

I think a part of my love for PR is that it's the closest I will ever get to a big-budget Battletech movie, or really any sort of Battletech movie.

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[Legato Endless]

Having seen both the movies in the theaters within a week of one another, I can honestly say that Grownups 2 was flat out better than Pacific Rim in every way.

I know that I hold a minority opinion here, but I thought Pacific Rim was easily the worst movie of the year, while Grownups 2 was surprisingly good.

I had a similar reaction to Dumber and Dumber Too vs. Interstellar the following year; although Interstellar wasn't actively terrible like Pacific Rim I was surprised that Dumb and Dumber Too had far better writing, more consistent characters, and a more logical plot. I believe I even made a thread on this board about it.

The acting and characterization was terrible, the plot made no sense, and the technobabble was actively insulting my intelligence.

And everything about Interstellar wasn't?

The Quantum love nonsense was far more egregious than any digital vs. analogue one off remark. It's the whole plot of the film. The movie would have been more scientifically grounded had it been endorsing the homeopathic wonders of tapping into the memory of water. I don't quite see how the comparison favors a film that has reams of vapid and pretentious babbling disguised as scientific philosophy.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: What About?

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Seen it. It might have been half-decent if the mech CGI wasn't so awful.