The Importance of Sausage Party

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We've seen a summer of box office let downs for the studios. In recent years studios have depended on the money brought in from sequels and remakes to carry their summer business. It's an idea that has drawn criticism for its lack of originality but an idea that no doubt has been very successful. This summer saw the success of those movies come to a quick stop. It's hard to say if it was just one bad summer or a sign audiences are tired of the same old remakes and sequels. But there was one movie that saw success that raised some eyebrows. That movie was Sausage Party. There's many reasons why the success of this film is important. The biggest reason is that it shows that original ideas can still be successful in Hollywood if done right and with an idea that interests audiences. Another reason is that not just kids enjoy animated movies but adults as well. I think studios have always had an idea about this since animated kids movies in recent years have seen subtle adult humor mixed in as well to make it more accessible to everyone. The final reason being that it was a no holds barred R rated comedy. The problem in recent years is that studios are afraid to commit to R rated comedies because they don't want to cut out the teenage business. This movie at no point planned to be PG-13. It went in fully committed to getting an R rating which gave them a tremendous amount of freedom and I think audiences appreciated that. It's hard to say right now but it feels like Sausage Party could be a game changer.

What is creating the buzz around Blair Witch?

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So here we are. It is nearly 20 years since The Blair Witch Project came out and there is a large amount of buzz for a sequel. It's hard to name just one reason for this and it may vary from person to person. Lets look at a couple reasons though. First people that were old enough to see the original film in theaters have very fond memories of it. The Blair Witch Project was a game changer when it came out. The marketing for the film was the first of it's kind. They made it feel real by making it the first mainstream found footage film. People left the theater wanting to know more. People felt like what they saw really happened. That movie completely changed the horror genre. Studios focused on making many "found footage" horror films after The Blair Witch Project became a huge hit. The problem became fans knew that it wasn't real after some time with The Blair Witch Project which started to make that form of movies die off. Here we are nearly 20 years later with Blair Witch creating that same sort of buzz. They are going back to the found footage style of the original in hopes of not only breathing new life into it but by also completely changing what we already know about it. I think the idea of that not only excites old fans of the series but new fans as well. Are you excited for the film?

What happened with Ben-Hur?

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This summer has seen studios scratching their heads as to why all box office numbers are down across the board. This all came to a head this past weekend with the release of Ben-Hur. Ben-Hur is a remake of the 1959 film with the same name starring Charlton Heston. Paramount put over 100 million into the budget for the remake with high expectations. But the film couldn't find it's footing opening weekend pulling in just 11.4 million in the states and 10.7 million overseas. Paramount stands to lose a large chunk of money from the film. This situation almost felt like it was coming on the lead up to the film. Despite the large budget their felt like almost no buzz around the film. It came just 2 weeks after the years most searched movie Suicide Squad. I think there are plenty of reasons for the lack of buzz. First I think film goers are fatigued on remakes. We saw yet another summer full of remakes and sequels and it all felt like more of the same. Very few new ideas came which I will get into later this week. Another problem with the film was it consisted of zero top Hollywood names. If a remake or sequel is going to have any sort of success including recognizable names is almost a must. What did you guys think of Ben-Hur? Or do you not plan on seeing it at all?

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The Suicide Squad Disconnect

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This weekend saw Suicide Squad open to record breaking numbers despite the scathing reviews from critics. Fans on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes were much more kind to the film. So what's the disconnect? That question receives different answers depending on who you ask and the situation as a whole has caused a great debate online. I'm not here to say one side or the other is wrong. Movies are subjective. What is enjoyable to one person is not enjoyable to the next. That is the part I think many forget when engaging in these sometimes heated debates. I am going to look at a few reasons I believe there is such a disconnect between critic and fan for Suicide Squad. I think the biggest thing is expectations. I think expectations between the two are different because of the fact that critics get paid to review these films objectively while fans are going in because it is something that interests them and they wanted to see. Fans go in only to have fun and be entertained while critics must account for some of the technical aspects of film making as well. Despite the outrage online both by critics against the film and fans against the critics it had no affect on the box office success of Suicide Squad in it's opening weekend. That should be the big take away from the story. Everyone should be allowed to have their own opinion about the movie. But everyone should go see it to form their own opinion and not attack others for theirs.