Why do some badly rated feature films do so well in the box office, and have sequels?

A

AmateurFilmmaker

If viewers panned a feature film during it's opening weekend, how would it live on to earn hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide? Spawn a sequel?

Some feature films like "Clash of the Titans" were panned, but it made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide and spawned "Wrath of the Titans" which did equally as well. Do reviews by critics and audiences matter at all when it comes to a feature films performance? After a feature films opening weekend, wouldn't the feature film see a stark drop in ticket sales and not earn much more than its opening weekend sales? Some feature films have experienced that -- that meaning a feature film having a huge opening weekend due to lets say curiosity, and then a stark drop in ticket sales until they are in oblivion. The feature film also experiences getting pulled out of theaters earlier than expected most times.

Here's a trailer for "Clash of the Titans":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXttqg0RWU8
Link if video doesn't show: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXttqg0RWU8

Here's a trailer for "Wrath of the Titans"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs7fzOrUopc
Link if video doesn't show: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs7fzOrUopc

Here's information on the movies box office performance. I ask that you to take a look at their worldwide totals:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/showdowns/chart/?id=clashwrath.htm

Edit: Can someone move this to "The Lobby"?
 
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Because unfortunately, people still went to see them. That's the problem with summer blockbusters. Everyone knows they're going to suck (except the occasional good ones) but most people go see them anyway. I saw 10 minutes of one of the Transformers movies and was smart enough to stay away, but all of my friends have seen and hated every minute of each film in the series.

Maybe people just like to make fun of most of them.
 
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AmateurFilmmaker said:
After a feature films opening weekend, wouldn't the feature film see a stark drop in ticket sales and not earn much more than its opening weekend sales?
Click to expand...
They do - “Clash of the Titans” did.

Each day it earned less money dropping 18% then 35% then 54%
then 21% but by the end of the week it still had made $90million.
It had a 57% drop from its first week numbers and then 42% the
next two and another 34% drop on it's fourth week. But still
managed to bring in $150 million in one month. It did double that
outside of the US.

So it dropped off quickly but people still went to see it. There are
several reasons; not everyone agrees with the critics or even their
friends, not everyone reads reviews or what other viewers say and
some people actually like movies other viewers don't.

AmateurFilmmaker said:
Some feature films have experienced that -- that meaning a feature film having a huge opening weekend due to lets say curiosity, and then a stark drop in ticket sales until they are in oblivion.
Click to expand...
Not some - most. It's rare that a film maintains it's opening weekend
numbers. Almost all films experience a stark drop in ticket sales.

In 1983 screenwriter wrote a book on movie making. He said "Nobody
knows anything." Meaning that no one (even highly paid execs) knows
what makes a success, what makes people pay to see a movie. They make
educated guesses. The makers of the "Titans" remake took a gamble.
Critics hated it. Seems a lot of movie goers hated it. But a lot paid to see
in during that first month even though each week (and each day) fewer
and fewer did.
 
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Well here is the thing .. You can't trust any reviews by anyone.
I'm 31 years old now, I have yet to find a person that shares my taste in film.

And it's not like have exotic or niche taste, some of my favorite films are mainstream like the matrix or lord of the rings. But then you hear all these people rave about bird man and it wins best film of the year… and bored me to death. 20 minutes in I said out loud .. god i hope this is not going to be what the rest of the movie is like.
 
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AmateurFilmmaker said:
If viewers panned a feature film during it's opening weekend, how would it live on to earn hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide? Spawn a sequel?

Some feature films like "Clash of the Titans" were panned, but it made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide and spawned "Wrath of the Titans" which did equally as well. Do reviews by critics and audiences matter at all when it comes to a feature films performance?
Click to expand...

Reviews and word of mouth matter most of the time. Just ask the makers of CHAPPIE, EXODUS, JUPITER ASCENDING, CLOUD ATLAS, etc.

I didn't think CLASH OF THE TITANS was that bad. It had some fun scenes. On its side it is family friendly adventure, has giant monsters, has Liam Neeson and Sam Worthington (who was hot off of the highest grossing movie made - AVATAR). However, SEVENTH SON seems similarly themed, but didn't have as good of a cast or the history that CLASH had (being a remake). I loved that the new CLASH dissed that stupid R2 D2 rip-off of the owl. :yes:

On the other hand, I thought KINGSMAN was going to be awful, but it has turned out to be my fave movie of the year, so far. Thankfully, word of mouth has kept it in the top 10, since opening a couple of months ago. It was poorly marketed and I only saw it, because a good friend was going. Thank goodness, he dragged me to it.
 
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My friends are the same way, it seems that they always want to go to see the biggest action and special effects movies of the summer. Not all of them a bad, but A LOT are.

I showed my friends the Skin I Live In, which in my opinion, is one of the best, and emotionally provoking movies I have ever seen. But they hated it, and all said it was way too long, and they couldn't get into it, even though it was only 2 hours. There was the one scene that was kind of long but the rest I thought flowed just fine. (shrug).
 
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My only response I can think to put to this thread is this....

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