I think I had vaguely heard of the film some months ago and made a mental note about it. I saw my first preview for it during the Avengers: Age Of Ultron and thought it looked like a possible fun movie.
I went to see it tonight, thinking it might indeed be a fun film.
I was wrong.
It was a fun, fun film!
**SPOILERS**
The movie is perfectly cast with George Clooney, Hugh Laurie and Britt Robertson. One of the best, mind-blowing sequences has Robertson as Kacey, a girl with dreams for tomorrow and who can't understand why people can't fix the problems they see, makes an unexpected jump into a world where the Future has come to life. This sequence runs for a few minutes, and is the sort that may have actually run twice as long as you thought it did, but didn't run nearly long enough. It is spectacular, and is a vision of the Future as envisioned during the 30's through 60's come to vibrant life. It ends too soon, and Kacey wants nothing more desperately than to get back there.
Oh, my God! I want to go there!
The story pits Kacey, an optimist, and Frank (Clooney), a pessimist (who has already made his own journey to Tomorrowland and back), against the denizens of the Future city who want to shut everything down and bar all further entries... despite the efforts of the enigmatic Athena, who is busy recruiting dreamers to come to Tomorrowland.
There wasn't a scene in this film that I didn't enjoy, either for the endless ride of action sequences, futuristic marvels, the fun of the interactions between the characters... The only regret I have at all is that I didn't go see this in IMAX. This movie must be seen in IMAX!
I must go back and see it in IMAX!
Clooney does a nice turn as a bitterly disappointed dreamer turned recluse, playing against Robertson's stubborn optimism and Laurie's trademark dryness. I like, too, that Robertson's Kacey is a smart kid, always thinking during her scrapes -- not a perfect heroine, but, thankfully, not a stupid one.
The critics can dun this film all they want. All I know is that I got my money's worth, and then some! Brad Bird scores again. I give this film a visionary 10.
There wasn't a scene in this film that I didn't enjoy, either for the endless ride of action sequences, futuristic marvels, the fun of the interactions between the characters...
Kids wanted to see a movie Saturday and the only one for them was Tomorrowland. My wife took them and they thought it was "ok." Kids thought it was boring(although apparently my 8 year old son got sad when a character died) and my wife said it was ok but didn't think it was that great.
This morning, I finally saw Tomorrowland. I found the movie to be fresh and fun. Much of the criticism I've been reading (including a review by a local paper) accuses the movie as being a tad too preachy in the delivery of its message. I think there's some truth to that criticism, but in spite of that flaw, there was plenty of win. Non-stop action, two very strong female roles, and a story that went places few before it have ever tread made Tomorrowland and easy thumbs up for me.
It's probably safe to say there are quite a few Disney movies that are "preachy", especially vintage live action Disney films. I have to imagine that was very much a goal at times. I have no problem with that - especially the whole climate angle thing. Let's start the kids early! Haha.
I've been browsing through several reviews for the film and have been finding them to be a pretty sharp either-or... folks either loved it or else they found it incredibly boring. Being one of those who loved it, I find it difficult to imagine that anyone could have found it boring, and wonder if we were watching the same film. Or else we have different conceptions of what constitutes boredom.
I've been browsing through several reviews for the film and have been finding them to be a pretty sharp either-or... folks either loved it or else they found it incredibly boring. Being one of those who loved it, I find it difficult to imagine that anyone could have found it boring, and wonder if we were watching the same film. Or else we have different conceptions of what constitutes boredom.
Setting aside all of the rave reviews and the preachy politics, my original comment was not related to the content at all, just the marketing. Tomorrowland’s production & advertising budget was close to a quarter-billion dollars. After theater-owners take their share, for a film to just break even, it must gross at least twice its total budget. So that breakeven point for Tomorrowland is around $500 million.
After playing here in America and 88% of overseas, Box Office Mojo reports it's made only $134 million worldwide gross. Leaving Japan and Brazil left to save the film, so I'd be surprised if this movie ends up grossing even $200 million worldwide. Even if it does, it'll still mean a massive write off for Disney. Disc sales may help some, but that involves even more promotional costs in a home video market that seems to be dying.
What happened? The story has no handle to market it easily. Clooney shows up about an hour into the movie and the two leads are not romantically linked - nor should they be due to age difference. It's possible more people would be attending if the marketing dept had included the scene featuring the wild battle at the sci-fi collector store, but they chose not to go that route. A large portion of the audiences actually going to see the film do experience a story teeming with noble ambitions and big ideas that ultimately don’t work as a movie for them because they weren't given enough reason to care about the characters. Then there are those put off by preachy, global warming presupposition, etc, but if that argument actually had any merit, then you couldn't explain how the Day After Tomorrow raked in over half-a billion globally.
For perspective John Carter, the biggest box-office bomb of 2012, did better (so far), costing about $300 million and earning appx $284 million worldwide. This season, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 has sealed a likely sequel, already grossing triple it's original budget. More in step with this film, or at least it's premise about creating a better future, I see that Mad Max: Fury Road has earned $283 million worldwide and that's nearly twice its original budget. At least it's done better than San Andreas....
Shorter version? Tomorrowland = indeed a box-office bomb Reason = still not fully unknown
Comments
I went to see it tonight, thinking it might indeed be a fun film.
I was wrong.
It was a fun, fun film!
**SPOILERS**
The movie is perfectly cast with George Clooney, Hugh Laurie and Britt Robertson. One of the best, mind-blowing sequences has Robertson as Kacey, a girl with dreams for tomorrow and who can't understand why people can't fix the problems they see, makes an unexpected jump into a world where the Future has come to life. This sequence runs for a few minutes, and is the sort that may have actually run twice as long as you thought it did, but didn't run nearly long enough. It is spectacular, and is a vision of the Future as envisioned during the 30's through 60's come to vibrant life. It ends too soon, and Kacey wants nothing more desperately than to get back there.
Oh, my God! I want to go there!
The story pits Kacey, an optimist, and Frank (Clooney), a pessimist (who has already made his own journey to Tomorrowland and back), against the denizens of the Future city who want to shut everything down and bar all further entries... despite the efforts of the enigmatic Athena, who is busy recruiting dreamers to come to Tomorrowland.
There wasn't a scene in this film that I didn't enjoy, either for the endless ride of action sequences, futuristic marvels, the fun of the interactions between the characters... The only regret I have at all is that I didn't go see this in IMAX. This movie must be seen in IMAX!
I must go back and see it in IMAX!
Clooney does a nice turn as a bitterly disappointed dreamer turned recluse, playing against Robertson's stubborn optimism and Laurie's trademark dryness. I like, too, that Robertson's Kacey is a smart kid, always thinking during her scrapes -- not a perfect heroine, but, thankfully, not a stupid one.
The critics can dun this film all they want. All I know is that I got my money's worth, and then some! Brad Bird scores again. I give this film a visionary 10.
And I, too, want my damn T Pin.
http://io9.com/in-the-wake-of-tomorrowlands-failure-disney-kills-tron-1707849290
Maybe I'll watch it on Netflix or something.
And the guy in front is a time-traveller from 1973.
Still love it.
After playing here in America and 88% of overseas, Box Office Mojo reports it's made only $134 million worldwide gross. Leaving Japan and Brazil left to save the film, so I'd be surprised if this movie ends up grossing even $200 million worldwide. Even if it does, it'll still mean a massive write off for Disney. Disc sales may help some, but that involves even more promotional costs in a home video market that seems to be dying.
What happened? The story has no handle to market it easily. Clooney shows up about an hour into the movie and the two leads are not romantically linked - nor should they be due to age difference. It's possible more people would be attending if the marketing dept had included the scene featuring the wild battle at the sci-fi collector store, but they chose not to go that route. A large portion of the audiences actually going to see the film do experience a story teeming with noble ambitions and big ideas that ultimately don’t work as a movie for them because they weren't given enough reason to care about the characters. Then there are those put off by preachy, global warming presupposition, etc, but if that argument actually had any merit, then you couldn't explain how the Day After Tomorrow raked in over half-a billion globally.
For perspective John Carter, the biggest box-office bomb of 2012, did better (so far), costing about $300 million and earning appx $284 million worldwide. This season, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 has sealed a likely sequel, already grossing triple it's original budget. More in step with this film, or at least it's premise about creating a better future, I see that Mad Max: Fury Road has earned $283 million worldwide and that's nearly twice its original budget. At least it's done better than San Andreas....
Shorter version?
Tomorrowland = indeed a box-office bomb
Reason = still not fully unknown
And thanks, I feel great.
Nice new thread @WetRats :)
EDIT: Oh, wait, I did. Good catch @Fade2Black