DontBeThatGuy
Member
Yeah, I mean if you actually got the kids in the theater, they would probably have a great time.
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The BFG flops: Has Spielberg lost his blockbuster touch? (Variety)
- Thread starter Secret Fawful
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Yeah, I mean if you actually got the kids in the theater, they would probably have a great time.
Byakuya769
Member
Yep. Saccharin tale with little charm. No thanks.
andythinkpad
Member
Ready PLayer One is a garbage book. I guess it would be watchable in the hand of Michael Bay.
SchrodingerC
Member
I guess you could argue that his output during the 70's - 90's hasn't been match in recent years, but he's still putting out quality movies. Variety is just being overreacting with clickbait-y title. If Spielberg's next blockbusters become bombas THEN it'll be a concern.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
I feel like the author of the article had already decided on a narrative at some point and was waiting for BFG's numbers to come in to "prove" it, rather than actually reacting to BFG.
But yeah. If Ready Player One tanks, then it's definitely reasonable to at least propose this. And if Indy 5 tanks, then that's some extremely hard evidence.
MrMephistoX
Member
I also feel like Disney kind of stacked the deck with too many movies this year: Alice, BFG and Pete's Dragon should have had more breathing room.
Jungle Book, Captain America and fucking Zootopia are still in the top 20 for Christ's sake!
:lol
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
this is actually the more likely causal scenario. I've made a somewhat excessively long post on how we've moved away from 'dark' stories in kids movies in the BoxOffice thread though. I'm not going to repost it here, since I imagine both threads are read by the same people anyway.
MrMephistoX
Member
It's really fucking dumb to me: aside from Episode VIII and Thor what do they gave in 2017 really!? [edit]..,Oh yeah Guardians 2: you win. BFG was actually pretty good and probably would have done better if Disney delayed it till like October.
Reptars Revenge
Member
We were the only people in the theater. AMA.
Yes I put my feet up.
The movie was touching but kind of boring.
Yes I put my feet up.
The movie was touching but kind of boring.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
Um, a lot. Beauty and the Beast, Pirates 5, Cars 3, an unannounced live action fairytale film, Coco (Pixar), and Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
MrMephistoX
Member
It was one of my favorites in 4th grade...had my little mind blown when I realized dude also wrote " You Only Live Twice" the 007classic?
You're totally right! It's insane...I just kinda feel like amidst the sure fire hits Pete's Dragon and BFG were sent to die.
Mushroomer25
Member
It looked fine, but I felt like I saw too much of the giants by the time the actual film came out. The initial teaser with just a general sense of scale and mystery was super exciting for me - but the more I saw, the less I wanted to see more.
I know it won't, but I wonder if the performance of this will impact his pending Ready Player One adaptation at all. Very similar family-adventure vibe out of that one, combined with gratuitous 80s nostalgia.
I know it won't, but I wonder if the performance of this will impact his pending Ready Player One adaptation at all. Very similar family-adventure vibe out of that one, combined with gratuitous 80s nostalgia.
-MD-
Member
I probably wouldn't know about it if we hadn't read it in school.
I remember the book being pretty good though.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
Holy fuck, I didn't know that. That's crazy lol. I also just learned that Ian Fleming wrote Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (and that Roald Dahl also did that screenplay as well).
Saw the Secret Life of Pets on the Weekend
The Trailer for the BFG came on, two girls of the target Audience range about 7-8 said to their mum how they would have nightmares if they saw that. Over and over until the trailer ended.
Also before the movie a short minions movie played and not a single person laughed or made a noise throughout it (apart from my 33yr old girlfriend go figure)
There was just dead silence from about 60-80 people with kids aged 4-12yrs old, so maybe the age of the minions is dead too, also similar reaction to the main movie Secret Life of Pets too, except a odd chuckle maybe twice from one kid, so maybe kids are just bored of these types of films or the films are that boring.
The Trailer for the BFG came on, two girls of the target Audience range about 7-8 said to their mum how they would have nightmares if they saw that. Over and over until the trailer ended.
Also before the movie a short minions movie played and not a single person laughed or made a noise throughout it (apart from my 33yr old girlfriend go figure)
There was just dead silence from about 60-80 people with kids aged 4-12yrs old, so maybe the age of the minions is dead too, also similar reaction to the main movie Secret Life of Pets too, except a odd chuckle maybe twice from one kid, so maybe kids are just bored of these types of films or the films are that boring.
The marketing was a little bit anemic , it was basically "hey here's a movie called BFG, it's got a giant and uh.. Spielberg directed it with disney producing and ... uh well go see it I guess ? "
It had too much live action to be appealing to the usual kids film crowd and too much CG to appeal to adults and so... you get only Spielberg fans paying to see it which isn't that big of an audience despite the name recognition. People like his films when he makes sequels to things they've watched.
It had too much live action to be appealing to the usual kids film crowd and too much CG to appeal to adults and so... you get only Spielberg fans paying to see it which isn't that big of an audience despite the name recognition. People like his films when he makes sequels to things they've watched.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
The advertising was kind of weak, so it's not crazy you missed it. Plus, all the marketing material put a stronger focus on it being "Disney's BFG", than it did being a Spielberg film. And no mention of screenplay writer Melissa Mathison at all. You would think "from the creative team behind E.T." would be prime marketing tagline material.
MrMephistoX
Member
I saw BFG with my daughter and I felt super self conscious (and OLD) because we were the only ones laughing at the Giant Speak like "Dumple Rumpus!" and "Human Beans".
kinoki
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
It's one of those movies that I'd love to watch on Netflix. It's really sad because Roald Dahl movies are among my favorites. Both The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are masterpieces in my opinion. Would really like to see more but I'm not seeing it in the theater.
Mushroomer25
Member
I saw some posters boasting about E.T, but I had no clue it was a Mathison script. I just assumed they went with a famous Speilberg film that would excite parents into bringing their kids.
Speilberg hasn't been amazing since Catch Me If You Can, and he is my favorite director. E.T. Is one of my favorite films and the fact that him, John Williams, and Melissa were back for this production make it all the more obvious that his prime is long over. His name hasn't had a huge draw on anything for a very long time now IMO.
It's like anything, you can't expect people to carry that same level of quality their whole life.
It's like anything, you can't expect people to carry that same level of quality their whole life.
Androidsleeps
Member
Where? Who? How? Where's this theater that has well-behaved people and kids who don't laugh loudly at the slightest lame excuse of a joke? #envy
I agree with the Minion crap thu, for a while now kids in general don't seem to care about them as much as adults for reasons beyond me.
I went back and rewatched ET at some point. A few years ago I also rewatched close encounters of the third kind. Compared to modern films, they feel slow and lacking plot.
I think he did well in part because of special effects, but that field has changed a lot. I'm not saying his new movies are substantially worse, but rather that what we consider a blockbuster has changed into very flashy fare.
momshotdad
Member
Disney sent this to die against Dory.
User 479360
Banned
Every time I hear the title, I think about the BFG gun in DOOM. Which is funny given that I never found it when I played that game as a kid.
Velcro Fly
Member
Do children still read Roald Dahl books? I read quite a few of them as a child BFG included so seeing this movie get made was kinda cool.
-ImaginaryInsider
Member
Ready Player One, regardless of GAF's opinion of the book, should be a much easier sell to audiences than BFG. It might not be a mega-hit, but if it's even remotely entertaining, it's going to be easy to market with the "Spielberg returns to his roots" angle, there's some money there.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
If you were a Roald Dahl fan and you saw what the giants looked like in this movie
you wouldn't watch this movie
you wouldn't watch this movie
Dirtyshubb
Member
For all the people hating on the shown footage, we're you not aware of this film before this version?
Maybe it's being from the UK but bfg is a really popular film (animated original) and book and everything I saw from the trailer looked really good in comparison. Bfg is once of those films families used to watch every Christmas and my mum has already asked me to take her to see it.
Just surprised at how many comments seem to be from people who have never heard of it.
Maybe it's being from the UK but bfg is a really popular film (animated original) and book and everything I saw from the trailer looked really good in comparison. Bfg is once of those films families used to watch every Christmas and my mum has already asked me to take her to see it.
Just surprised at how many comments seem to be from people who have never heard of it.
User 479360
Banned
I don't think I'd ever heard of the story or any of the movies before. It wasn't popular here in Canada, that I can remember.
I have nothing against it, but I don't feel like paying to see it. I'd rather go see something else I'm more interested in, then wait for this to hit The Movie Network.
Velcro Fly
Member
that makes me sad
part of the fun of wanting to see the movie is seeing what the Bloodbottler and Fleshlumpeater would look like
Sir_Crocodile
Member
As someone from the UK who has read the book and seen the cosgrove animation, I still dislike the film footage.
This is what the giants are supposed to be:
It's a bit sad that after Blake & Cosgrove's horrible and intimidating giants, they're now just big guys in the Spielberg film:
And they sound as bad as they look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1fZg0hhBX8
ZoltanXerxes
Member
Spielberg is human. Not every movie he's going to make is going to be well received.
User 479360
Banned
They look like stretched orcs.
I'll agree with you about Close Encounters, but ET is fantastic every time to me. The emotion, interactions, music, acting, and pacing is so well done it amazes me.
TheAbsolution
Member
It was squished in between Finding Dory and The Secret Life of Pets. It was like it was sent out to die.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
give the book a read, it's brilliant. (although, better to read it as a kid). Roald Dahl is quality all around though.
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