Hulk smash box office? Probably not.
April 10th, 2008 at 09:53am Will Pfeifer
There’s trouble in Hulk-land, according to this article from the New York Times.
For one thing, the recently unveiled trailer got a decidedly mixed reaction from fans and critics. As the article says, “The look of the new Hulk — meaner and greener — won praise from some fans online, but several influential tastemakers held their noses. Entertainment Weekly pronounced the computer-generated effects ‘totally fake-looking,’ while obsessedwithfilm.com deemed the project ‘just hideous.’ “
To add to the troubles, the movie stars Edward Norton — a very talented actor, but apparently not the easiest guy to work with when the movie isn’t what he wants it to be. (See also AMERICAN HISTORY X and THE ITALIAN JOB). Asked to respond to reports of friction between the studio and Norton (who is also working on the script), the Times article quotes Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel, then offers a helpful explanantion of Hollywood-ese:
“When you get to this point in the process, there are always lots of passionate discussions,” he said. “Edward is very passionate. He is as passionate about the Hulk as we are.” (For those unaccustomed to Hollywood speak, “very passionate” roughly translates to a seven on the “he’s a difficult person” scale.)
THE INCREDIBLE HULK is set to open on June 13, and it’s far from the only game in town. THE DARK KNIGHT (the new Batman movie), IRON MAN (also based on a Marvel Comics character), SPEED RACER (from the Matrix boys, the Wachowski brothers), HANCOCK (Will Smith’s movie about a down-and-out superhero) and, of course, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL will all be competing for the same audience, and bad word of mouth combined with the lackluster reception to Ang Lee’s 2003 HULK movie could spell Doom for this Marvel movie, and I’m not talking about Dr. Doom.
Here’s the trailer. What do you think?
Entry Filed under: Controversy, Movie news, New movies, hype
8 Comments Add your own
1. elDizzle | April 10th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Early prediction: Dark Night > Iron Man > Hancock > Speed Racer > Hulk
Crystal Skull is in a category of it’s own, so I’m not including it. The early verdict from George Lucas himself was, “meh”.
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0326/lucasg.html
2. John N | April 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
The trailer makes the movie look better than I thought it would. The Hulk was one of my favorite comic books when I used to collect it in the late 1970s to late 1980s. I like the look of The Abomination. And though he may be a pain in the ass, Norton is a terrific actor. I’m in on the sequel.
By the way, Roger Ebert picked HULK to be in this year’s Ebertfest and I think Ang Lee will be there to talk about it.
3. hokumboy | April 10th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
So, elDizzle,
is Lucas subtly forewarning us that Jar Jar Binks will be in CRYSTAL SKULL ?
4. Will Pfeifer | April 10th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Jar Jar….
He wouldn’t….
He wouldn’t dare….
5. elDizzle | April 11th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Hokum, who knows what we have in store? I think we can all conclude from Jar Jar that Lucas has no clue these days what is considered good or bad. So if he says CRYSTAL SKULL is not very good, it could very well be outstanding!
6. John N | April 11th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
You know, if Jar Jar met the same fate as Satipo (the Alfred Molina character) did in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, it might be worth it!
7. Brian | April 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Lucas’ comments are repeatedly being taken out of context and misinterpreted. He is simply saying people need to temper their expectations and not expect this movie to be the Second Coming, because then it can only disappoint. He learned his lesson with Episode I, where people anticipated it with such outlandish expectations, NO film could live up to them. (granted, TPM had major flaws, so it wasn’t all about expectations, but a “not great” film seems far worse than it is when you’re expecting greatness.)
Besides, Spielberg was far more hands-on than Lucas with Indy, and I have faith in Spielberg.
8. Brian | April 12th, 2008 at 11:34 am
…and I’ll add my predicitons to the mix.
Indy > Iron Man > Batman > Hulk > Hancock
…then WAY down the is the horrid-looking Speed Racer.
Now this is predictions on quality of entertainment, not box office, as Batman will make more than Iron Man based on familiarity alone, and (sadly) Speed Racer will probably be big with young kids and masochistic viewers.
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