Pirates: Dead Man's Chest reviews

Sabin
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Post by Sabin »

Lousy film. Lousy, lousy film. The film hour is an absolute chore and the final stretch is a slog. Another entry in the 'Back to the Future II' school of filmmaking, wherein every obstacle in the first film is revisited for no other reason than the assumption that there's no other way to do it than incoroporating everything that's already worked -- assuming you felt that it worked the first time, and I did. Mostly.

However: 1) it's got pirates and pirates are cool, and 2) the effects pertaining to Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman are outstanding, truly special special effects. A pleasure to just sit and watch...when it bothers to show.

I think Dave Kehr wrote that this is less of a movie than an abstract stimuli button-pusher. And it is, but at least it's one with pirates and effects. Not as awful as it should be, and it should really be awful instead of "insulting, but with pirates and effects."
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Are you kidding me?? Chow Yun-Fat is in the third one?? YES! I finally saw it last night, and it was decent. It was entertaining, Johnny Depp appeared more (it seemed), or else his comedy was racheted up to another level. I felt some of the first movie's charm was lost with the high level of CGI animation, but it was entertaining, and never seemed as long as its two hours plus length. A near-perfect summer flick: fluffy, tasty, and dispensable.

Pirates fell 54% to $62.2M this weekend. This is quite a good number, considering it is a heavily hyped sequel, coming off the biggest opening weekend in history. If we compare it to other such sequels, we'd see X3's 67% drop, or Harry Potter III's 63%. As boxofficeprophets.com reports, the second weekend's internal multiplier was 3.3, slightly better than Spider-Man 2's 3.26. This could be an indication of better legs, but the difference is quite negligible in my opinion. The third weekend is the real test (especially with the bigger competition), but if we based it on this weekend alone, Pirates has a decent chance at reaching $400M.
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Post by VanHelsing »

apart from the abrupt but unexpected ending, the movie was a fun ride afterall. liked bill nighy (even though he's behind a squid facade), naomie harris (absolutely delightful as the "black widow") and jack davenport (thank god we have another guy called lord beckett to hate).

and of course, depp was funny as hell! bloom seems trying too hard to present his "manly" voice and knightley was sooooooo irritating and over-the-top with her absolutely strong british accent.

looking forward to Yun-Fat's presence in the threequel!
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Well, might as well complete the week's analysis of Pirates. On Thursday, it grossed another $12.4M (off 13% from Wednesday) to give it a seven-day opening record of $196M, above Spider-Man 2's $192.1M.
Slow drops, let the second week begin!
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Franz Ferdinand wrote:...but when a movie is showing such legs over weekdays (drops of 13.3% and 10% from a Monday gross of $18M, a figure most fall releases would love to have over the weekend), it shows - to me - very strong initial legs.
Wow, was that ever awkwardly written and redundant...my apologies!
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Agreed Sabin, Superman has been completely overshadowed by Jack Sparrow. Let's keep tallying the daily box office because this is something extraordinary, if you will all indulge me:
On Wednesday, Pirates grossed yet another $14.2M, off only 10% of its Tuesday tally, for a total of $183.7M. In six days, Pirates is/has:
- the fifth highest grossing movie of the year;
- set the six-day opening record (above Episode III's $182.7M and Spider-Man 2's $180.1M)
- grossed 60% of Black Pearl's entire six-month domestic run;
- and will assumedly outgross X3's $230M by Saturday, nine days after release.

I'm a pretty big box office nut, and with nothing to really occupy my mind these days anyway, watching this movie's grosses is exciting (yes, I know, I need a real life). We all agree that mid-week grosses are nothing to hang your hat on, but when a movie is showing such legs over weekdays (drops of 13.3% and 10% from a Monday gross of $18M, a figure most fall releases would love to have over the weekend), it shows - to me - very strong initial legs. I might even argue that it still has future viewers: not everyone wanted to rush out over the first weekend to watch it, simply to avoid the crowds.
And just my two cents, but I don't see Lady In The Water being much of a threat: The Village seemed to destroy any hope people had in Shyamalan (at least people I know), and if people share my thoughts on its trailer looking terrible, it won't be a big factor. Even so, by then, Pirates will have likely absorbed around 60-65% of its total gross anyway. "Better to burn out than fade away" for Captain Jack?
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Post by Sabin »

I know a few people. They're all leaning on both sides of the fence of indifference: either nothing special but fun, or nothing special and kind of long. Everybody I know who hasn't has said the same thing: "I don't know. I'll probably see it. I want to see it more than anything else this summer." Everybody. Nobody I know wants to see the new Mann or Shyamalan.

So, what we have here is a movie that people are going to rush to right away and watch (turning it into the fastest high-grossing movie of the year) and a lot of other people who are somewhat indifferent but want to see it more than anything else. That tells me that it's going to have legs. I don't see a dismal future at all. Star Wars is just a different kind of beast -- an ugly, unbeatable one, with whom reason has no domain. I see Pirates holding strong, whether it deserves to or not. If anything's sunk, it's Superman.
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Post by Damien »

kooyah wrote:Is it really? Almost everyone I know who has seen it says it's terrible, including people who just want to go to the movies for a fun ride.
You know, I just realized: Other than people on the board, I don't know a single person who's seen this movie.
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Post by OscarGuy »

I have to share your views, Kooyah. I've heard very few people outright praise it and most of these people, as I've mentioned before, love corny, cheeseball stuff.

I think the fact that it hasn't matched Episode II's take, despite the "good" week-day numbers isn't much of an optimistic approach. Sure, it's going to top $300 million, but I see a dismal future.

And while Little Man and You, Me and Dupree isn't much competition, the following weekend, I imagine it will drop from the top spot as Lady in the Water, Clerks II, Monster House and the super-hero-esque My Super Ex-Girlfriend should be more than enough of a force combined to bring the Pirates down.
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Post by kooyah »

Franz Ferdinand wrote:word-of-mouth in undeniably good

Is it really? Almost everyone I know who has seen it says it's terrible, including people who just want to go to the movies for a fun ride.
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Well, let's just clarify that it made a further $15.7M on Tuesday (the biggest Tuesday, in case you were wondering, handily beating The Omen's recent "record"), falling only 13.3%. This puts it nearly even with Episode III (which made $172M after five days, compared to Pirates' $169M). If it follows that trajectory, it will end up with Episode III's $380M total, but that movie was the tired (and heavy-handed) second sequel to an already tired second trilogy, whereas Pirates is adored by audiences as a fun, iconic (for some reason) "ride" if you excuse me. This is the ideal summer flick with an emphasis on FUN. The audience has spoken so far in Pirates' favor.
The Titanic number is way too ridiculous to even consider now, but the way it's holding up so far mid-week...word-of-mouth in undeniably good, and with almost no real competition next weekend (You, Me & Dupree, and Little Man?? Please!), or weekends to come, there is every chance it will at least break the sophomore record of $71M set by Peter Parker. That would require a drop of about 47%, which is a very optimistic number for its opening number.
Wes, to be fair, a 50-60% drop from such a massive number as $135M is almost expected, inevitable. 50% off would give Pirates a $67.5M weekend, and almost $260M in two weeks, way above Spider-Man's $229M after 10 days. So far Pirates has been holding very steady, but a huge drop is status quo for big openers these days (hell, even for medium openers). Let's just see on Saturday what the Friday figures are, and make some judgements. Keep in mind, I haven't seen it yet, and I am very anxious! :D
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Post by OscarGuy »

We'll have to wait until the weekend.

And it's not going to come close to Titanic's haul. I imagine next weekend it's going to drop (Monday's not necessarily a great barometer). If it drops less than 50%, then it's going the long haul. If it drops more than 60%, it's sunk.
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Post by Damien »

So much for possible bad word of mouth:

From ShowBiz Data:

PIRATES SETS ANOTHER RECORD

-----------------

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is no peg leg. The movie appeared to show sturdy legs Monday when it grossed an additional $18.1 million -- the most ever earned on a non-holiday Monday. The previous record of $14.4 million was set last year by Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith. The film has now raked in $153.8 million in four days. Several writers are now speculating that it could go on even to surpass the current domestic box-office record gross of $600.8 million set by Titanic in 1998.
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Post by OscarGuy »

I have a friend who adores some of the worst crap on celluloid. He adores movies like Fantastic Four while turning his nose up at Million Dollar Baby. Boy was I surprised this evening to hear him say how much he disliked Pirates 2. It was amazing and almost cathartic to hear him say such a thing.

He thinks that the record weekend will be it and it will crash on future weekends. his words to the box office's ears.
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Post by VanHelsing »

I think Knightley is naturally skinny. She does not have any boobs for sure. Makes me wonder why she likes to expose her "assets" in almost every single film of hers.

Also, I think Scarlett Johansson should share a lil' bit of chest meat with Knightley. Then instead of one, we can ogle at two hot chicks in the vanity fair mag. :p
With a Southern accent...
"Don't you dare lie to me!" and...
"You threaten my congeniality, you threaten me!"

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"You shouldn't be doing what you're doing. The truth is enough!"
"Are you and Perry?" ... "Please, Nelle."
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