15 big movie questions for summer: 'Prometheus,' Dark Knight Rises,' Tyler Perry
Could this be the greatest movie summer in decades?
Could this be the greatest movie summer ever?
Many answers about the upcoming summer movie season are pretty easy to figure out or have already been leaked through the Hollywood grapevine. Yes, "The Avengers" is good and it's going to make a hell of a lot of money. Yes, the fans will return to see a new "Amazing Spider-Man" even though many of them wonder where Tobey Maguire went. Yes, solid franchises such as "Madagascar 3" and another "Ice Age" will do their thing. Moreover, the summer of 2012 looks well dated (not too many competing films vying for the same audience), has a good mix of familiar faces (Sandler, Smith, Streep) and some of the most anticipated and hyped films in years ("Dark Knight," "Prometheus"). That being said, there are still a lot of question marks about the upcoming May to August frame. Click on the tabs above and share your thoughts below as we ponder some of the greater mysteries of summer 2012.
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April 5, 2012 at 7:46AM EST Reply to CommentBody of Lies was actually pretty solid.
Tedd Agreed. But when "pretty solid" is the best that anyone says about your movie, then you probably aren't putting it on top of your resume.
April 6, 2012 at 12:59AM ESTStormshadow4life
April 5, 2012 at 8:19AM EST Reply to CommentTangled managed to crack 200mil (barely)...But that one also had Flynn Rider as a major character
Mike But that wasn't Pixar.
April 5, 2012 at 8:53AM ESTmmcb105 I don't think that was the point here Mike.
April 5, 2012 at 9:54AM ESTGeoffBerkshire I did think about "Tangled" as a positive recent example bucking animation's move away from female leads (and even with that they had to take steps to market it as "safe" for boys). It's telling that it took Pixar 13 movies to make one where the lead character is female.
April 5, 2012 at 1:52PM ESTHopefully once it opens we'll just be talking about how good the movie is.
Mike My bad. I thought he was saying that Tangled had already gotten Pixar back on track after Cars 2 failed to gross $200 million domestically. Being that Tangled was not a Pixar movie (and now that I think about it, came out the year before Cars 2), I was confused. I probably should have realized he was talking about the drawing power of female protagonists, but sometimes my fingers are quicker than my mind.
April 5, 2012 at 3:26PM ESTDavid D.
April 5, 2012 at 8:48AM EST Reply to CommentPeople laughing when the title "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" comes up is a problem? How are they supposed to react to a title like that?
greg Exactly...then to find it's serious seals the deal.
April 5, 2012 at 8:23PM ESTMike
April 5, 2012 at 8:54AM EST Reply to CommentWow, with that mustache, Zach Galifianakis looks a lot like Nick Offerman.
Ron Swanson Pfft, he wishes...
April 5, 2012 at 10:26AM ESTMae My thoughts exactly. Zack in that pic looks like a "younger" Nick Offerman in Parks and Recreation
April 15, 2012 at 4:44AM ESTjurassica
April 5, 2012 at 11:43AM EST Reply to CommentI think if Brave is as awesome as it appears to be, it will have no problem making its hundreds of millions.
Sanen85
April 5, 2012 at 12:11PM EST Reply to Comment"Considering Stewart is one of the more interesting actresses of her generation"
Tee hee. Surely you jest.
Anon Ditto -- I had to read that twice before I accepted that he was being serious ;)
April 5, 2012 at 7:06PM ESTMarcus
April 5, 2012 at 1:12PM EST Reply to CommentAbraham Lincoln vampire hunter looks amazing though if people seriously avoid a movie because of the title then they deserve a painful death.
Tedd There's no way I'd see that movie if it WEREN'T called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
April 6, 2012 at 12:58AM ESTtroopermsu
April 5, 2012 at 5:58PM EST Reply to CommentFor surprise bomb, I'd put my money on both "Dark Shadows" and "The Dictator". "Dark Shadows" looks horrible. I wonder if audiences have grown tired of Cohen's act. I make no claim of expertise. Just a movie fan making an observation.
Anon
April 5, 2012 at 7:12PM EST Reply to CommentIt hasn't gotten as much coverage as Pixar's Brave (probably since the trailer just came out a while back), but I think Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians could potentially reach How to Train Your Dragon-levels of awesomeness. Or, as every reviewer insisted on saying, "How to Train Your Dragon is so good, it feels like a Pixar film" -- that's gotta sting ;)
Still, Dreamworks could have trouble with the fact that the first thing everyone thinks of when they see their unfortunately-chosen movie title is "Oh god, it's that awful talking owl movie again!"
whistlingmtn I think Rise of Guardians faces the same problems as that Owls of Gahool or whatever. It appears to be taking itself too seriously.
April 6, 2012 at 11:27AM ESTThese are kids movies after all, they generally succeed when they have a sort of general light-hearted feel, even if the background plot is something as grand as the end of the world.
John Doe
April 6, 2012 at 10:13AM EST Reply to CommentI will not watch Snow White BECAUSE Kristin Stewart is in it. Any major actor from the Twilight movies automatically destroys a movie for me.
Toots Ya, it's really sad that the entire supporting cast of the movie is absolutely fabulous (Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Viggo Mortenson) but who's the leading lady? Kristen Stewart... Damnit.
April 8, 2012 at 8:36PM ESTLia I won't either. I've heard their "accents" are all over the place, and I personally believe that this movie was miscast with KS and SNow White. Charlize looks awesome though - I can wait for a DVD so I FF through Kristen's part.
April 20, 2012 at 9:18AM ESTMike
April 6, 2012 at 11:33AM EST Reply to CommentThe writer is forgetting one important fact. Ridley Scott has never screwed up a scifi movie. Alien and Blade Runner are in most people's top 5 scifi movies. Have a little faith in the man. Btw, Body of Lies was a good movie, Robin Hood is much better when you see the director's cut and A Good Year.. well.. they can't all be gems.
ScratStitch
April 6, 2012 at 12:12PM EST Reply to CommentI wish that people would SHUT UP about Pixar needing to "redeem themselves" after the release of Cars 2. So what if the movie didn't make $200 million? It made $190 million, and since when is THAT a bad thing? The merchandise made Disney millions. The DVD was one of the ten best selling titles in the country FOR OVER TWELVE WEEKS! Sure, critics may not have loved it, but it hardly seems like Pixar had a "failure" here.
Dave I Ditto. Pixar has one sequel that did well but was not as great as the rest of their stuff. ONE MOVIE! That was a sequel (those are almost never as good as the original anyway). And still made just under $200 MILLION! I do not see that as a sight to start jumping ship to be honest.
April 6, 2012 at 2:50PM EST-Cheers
Dave I
April 6, 2012 at 12:28PM EST Reply to CommentIf there is no direct tie in to Alien, is Prometheus really a prequel? If not (and apparently there is not, it just takes place in the same world) then stop calling it a prequel and get over it.
Kristen Stewart a "real movie star." I HATE titles like that. Twilight is not my thing, however it has made a ton of cash. She has been in some pretty well-received movies, garnering critical acclaim for The Runaways and doing great in Adventureland. The rest of her time has largely been taken up sucking face with a vampire and a werewolf (I'm guessing here, but that is hardly a stretch). As for The Huntsman being a label-maker? Who knows? For that matter, who cares? It's also (as noted) a movie starring Charlize Theron and Chris Helmsworth in a year of two Snow Whites. If it succeeds is it because of her or the rest of the cast? If it fails is it because of Stewart or the bizarre decision to release what is known to be the second Snow White movie in the same year? Regardless of how different they are, it is still not the brightest of ideas in my opinion. As for her being "a real movie star?" I know this site is about media including movies, but what does that mean? We've seen she can act when given material, and she has a successful movie series. Doesn't that already make her "real?" It is just kind of a strange question to even ask.
-Cheers
Brooklyn There is a direct tie. You see the dead space jockies in '79 and then again in the Prometheus trailer.
April 8, 2012 at 3:57AM ESTBrooklyn http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Mala'kak
April 8, 2012 at 3:59AM ESTCheck out the "Appearance in Film and Media" scetion.
Dave I
April 6, 2012 at 12:39PM EST Reply to CommentSpider-Man & Bourne? I'm still irritable they recast the main roles (or in Spider-Man at least, decided to reset everything, recast everybody, and do yet another origin story). I think they are cast well enough to get people to see them. However, I am not sure if the Bourne series is that popular enough to go what sounds like the spin-off/sequel route. Renner is solid, and at least they are not spitting in the face of continuity (cough**Spider-Man**cough) or rebooting (cough**Spider-Man**cough). Still, I'm not sure how much I care about a new spin-off character coming into it cold.
Spider-Man? Best of luck. I like the new cast, Emma Stone in particular is a great talent, Marc Webb seems like a good choice. Still, I have zero-interest in another rehash of the origins story, or Spider-Man: The High School Years. Maybe on video. I want to give it a chance, however I cannot really convince myself it is worth supporting what I see as such a terrible decision. Maybe next time when they do something a bit more original. After the last movie though, followed by another @#$%in' reboot/origins? I'll probably just buy a ticket to some indie film or take my kids to the park and watch it on TV.
-Cheers
cef_ramirez
April 6, 2012 at 7:40PM EST Reply to CommentBatman!
Sam
April 9, 2012 at 12:56PM EST Reply to CommentTwo good Allen films in a row for once? If this means within the last 10 years then I would understand, however, Woody went on an unbelievable string of films with positive reactions starting from Take the Money and Run in 1969 to September in 1987. In these years he made, Bananas, Play it Again Sam, Everything You Wanted To Know about Sex..., Sleeper, Love and Death, The Front, Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose and many more acclaimed movies.
Lex
April 11, 2012 at 4:22PM EST Reply to CommentThese descriptions are horribly written. I could barely read them.
darkeyes
April 14, 2012 at 3:34PM EST Reply to Comment"It sure would be nice to get two good Allen movies in a row. For once." Er, yeah like Bullets Over Broadway following Manhattan Murder Mystery. Or Manhattan Murder Mystery following Husbands And Wives. Or Hannah And Her Sisters following The Purple Rose Of Cairo. It would be nice, for once... Oh no, wait, you don't know what you're talking about
: )