Critics Consensus: Total Recall Isn't An Affair To Remember
SummaryThis week at the movies, we've got artificial memories (Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale) and summertime blues (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, starring Zachary Gordon and Steve Zahn). If you're going to remake a modern classic, you'd better bring something new to the table. Unfortunately, critics say this new Total Recall is visually impressive, but it swaps out the existential anxiety and eccentric panache of Paul Verhoeven's 1990 film for an overabundance of action set-pieces. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise has been nothing if not consistent; each movie chronicles the terrors of middle school with moderate wit and little elegance. Back to Article
Carlos Flores
Looks like DKR will three-peat at the B.O. I like Collin Farrell (he was great in Fright Night) but Total Recall looks like the most Generic Sci-Fi ever. The Wimpy Kid movies are okay family movies, but I think its audience is beggining to out grow it.
Aug 2 - 04:51 PM
Adam Jones
Actually I think its more likely that Total Recall beats DKR. DKR had a big drop last weekend, and it will probably have an equally if not steeper drop. Total Recall is a major film, and the RT meter is a little deceptive. Most critics are indeed panning it, but mostly in fairly mild terms. Calling a film "generic" is not the same as saying it outright horrible. I think Total Recall will appeal to men who just want to see some popcorn entertaiment, and it'll probably make around $35-$40 million which should be enough to beat the DKR in it's 3rd weekend unless Total Recall either bombs (which I don't expect) or DKR has a much stronger hold than last weekend (more likely but not by much).
Also I don't think the audience is growing out for The Wimpy Kids movies, considering how the first film was released only two years ago. It's just that these films are a modest hit for the 8-14 male crowd and their families and nothing more. It does seem that fatigue is setting in with the movie critics as while the 2nd film was only slightly worse than the second, this one is more than 10% less than the second film.
Aug 2 - 05:04 PM
Carlos Flores
I guess we'll see, but I would be surprised if Recall makes more than 25 Million. Also, I think DKR will start to have smaller drops as people start to feel safer about going to the movies.
Aug 2 - 05:20 PM
Carlos Flores
Also, I think most people who just want a fun popcorn action movie will wait for bourne.
Aug 2 - 05:31 PM
Adam Jones
The thing about the Bourne series is that it a very well received series: the previous film (Borne Ultimatum) is one of the highest rated straight action thriller flicks of the 21st century. Bourne will appeal to older male audiences (and the Expendables even older than Bourne) but Total Recall should appeal to the 13-24 young male crowd which likes hot women and flashy special affects that Total Recall gives that Bourne Legacy will not.
I think 20 million is too low for Total Recall, I think the least it will make is $30 million. It will only lose the weekend if TDKR over performs and has a stellar hold, but there is a since that the movie's audience is starting to burn out as it has more competition and less wide appeal compared to Avengers in May.
Aug 2 - 06:53 PM
Jay Young
I could be wrong, but I doubt Tony Gilroy will settle for 'fun popcorn action'. I"m not saying he can't make a bad movie, but I'm pretty certain Legacy will at least strive to be something a bit more.
Aug 3 - 12:10 AM
King Simba
Actually, the drop TDKR showed in its second weekend was pretty decent considered the massive hype the film had. Deathly Hallows Part 2 dropped 72% in its second weekend. Now that the fanboy effect has taken it's toll, though, word of mouth can finally catch on. For example, Hunger Games had a nearly identical second weekend drop and yet on its third weekend it dropped a mere 40%.
As for Total Recall, it's the kind of film that ever since its budget was revealed looked like a major bomb. These kind of science fiction films are incredibly risky. The Matrix, Minority Report and Inception managed big success, and yet they had stuff going for them that Total Recall doesn't. An appealing original premises (or at least one that seemed original to audiences, even if it had been done before), eye catching trailers and incredible word of mouth. Not to mention in the case of the latter two they were headlined by huge stars and featured A-list directors.
Total Recall, however, is a remake which by very defination makes its premises unoriginal, especially when the original is so well known. The trailers haven't been able to get it the kind of attention a 200 mil film needs, and reviews are meh at best, so there goes any chance at strong legs. Even a 35 mil OW will be a disaster for this film.
Aug 3 - 12:45 AM
Brad Hadfield
I expect TDKR to take the weekend again. Kids don't have an affinity for the original Recall (it seems they generally don't watch anything not made in their lifetime) and the older crowd, probably already suspicious of a re-do, will be further dissuaded by the negative reviews.
Side note, I found it amusing that the original Recall in 1990 opened with $25m, the biggest opening weekend of the entire year. Now that is considered a "modest opening."
Aug 3 - 06:23 AM
Mister Vile
The Fed not doing their jobs.
Aug 3 - 08:49 AM
Kai Zhang
I agree: Total Recall beats Dark Knight Rises. It wasn't a stellar movie, but both the plot and the visuals/action sequences are better than the shabby attempt at a plotline in DKR, with its convoluted loose ends, which makes a urinal out of your common sense.
Aug 5 - 05:24 AM
Gordon Terry
hey 30 30!!!!! a 30-30 rifle was used to assassinate JFK . . . its a definite code of some kind -- having two films each scoring an even 30%. People read everything into anything; a guy told me there are three triangles in a Bank of America logo. TOTAL RECALL is a crappy remake, we knew it going in and, now that the movie's out, we can almost guarantee that it will have crappy box-office numbers. Even The Wimpy Kid movie looks bad; like the producers are trying to kick life into a dead horse.
Aug 2 - 07:33 PM
Sean D
Ok. No one else is going to say it, so I am going to step up and just ask it.
What. The. Hell?
Aug 2 - 07:57 PM
Gordon Terry
People "Free-Associate" is what I'm saying. Like all the BULLSHIT about The Illuminati and the Rothchilds and the Pyramid-symbols on The Dollar bill. (EARLIER TODAY, both films scoring 30% on R-T reminded me of 30/30 (the 30-30 rifle used to kill John F. Kennedy)--so I drew a connection.//// At any rate, why hasn't anyone picked up that Colin Ferrell must be a hack-actor; he starred in Miami Vice (a tv-show based movie), Fright Night (a poorly directed, yet well-written remake), and now Total Recall (a poorly executed remake). Farrell stars in films that suck overall and therefore must suck himself as an actor.
Aug 2 - 08:30 PM
Bigbrother .
He also starred in Alexander, The New World, and Miami Vice. A Triumvirate of suck that would make Nic Cage blush. Also was horrible in Daredevil, I think the thing you can say about Ferrell is he's massively inconsistant. When he's good he's great En Brouges, Minority Report, Tigerland, but when he picks a stinker, man does it stink.
Aug 3 - 12:11 AM
Brad Hadfield
Gordon, maybe you're confusing Farrell with Ferrell?
Those needing proof of his acting ability need look no further than In Bruges.
Aug 3 - 06:29 AM
Lionel Lenoil
Gordon Terry is confusing reality with what's in his head. For example, President Kennedy was not killed by a 30-30 rifle, as any web-search will reveal.
Aug 3 - 04:06 PM
Janson Jinnistan
"People "Free-Associate" is what I'm saying."
Isn't this the basis of Manchurian-MKULTRA style brain-washing? That could be why it's slightly disturbing that some people associate rifles with RT ratings.
Aug 3 - 12:50 PM
Sean D
Manchurian? Manchurian Candidate. It was a movie starring Frank Sinatra. Frank Sinatra sang "Fly to the Moon." The moon flight was in 1969. 1969 was the year Woodstock happened. Woodstock is in New York. New York has a football team called the Jets. Jets are coached by Rex Ryan. Rex means King. King Kong was filmed in 1933. In 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
Holy shit, Janson. Using free-association, I just inferred that you might be Hitler.
I...I am sorry.
Aug 3 - 07:38 PM
Janson Jinnistan
No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you must suffer for the truth. Agent Cooper is far too clever for my subterfuge. Why? Why did I have to comment on Rotten Tomato, after all these years, after all these blood transfusions and plastic surgery? Why am I not shrugging it off like the ridiculous assertion it is instead of admitting my impossible feat?
Aug 3 - 08:41 PM
Gordon Terry
You are are very knowledgeable . . . I hope Colin Farrell is chosen to star in better movies very soon. (@lionel . . . the "magic bullet" is attributed to the .30-.30 rifle fired by Oswald . . . its a bad joke on my part deserving of your response, indeed) thanks.
Aug 4 - 07:02 AM