Entertainment Today and Beyond

Never Met a Zombi I Didn’t Like…

WATCHMEN wait almost over and TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNER CHRONICLES sinks to ratings Low

watchmen-7With less than a week before it hits theaters, one has to wonder how big the opening will be for Warner Bros. Watchmen. While many of the movie blog sites such as Chud.com have given the film very positive reviews, the two big Hollywood trades, Variety and Hollywood Reporter, have panned the movie. The Hollywood Reporter even went out of its way to say “Looks like we have the first big flop of 2009”. Devin Faraci at Chud and Kirk Honeycutt at the Hollywood Reporter views are so far apart it appears they saw two different films.

While I’m not privy to the exact amount the studio has spent on its marketing campaign, I would estimate that it has to be in the $50 million dollar range. Even with the films reported $120 million dollar budget the studio should ultimately recoup its investment, even with many predicting the final product will divide general audiences. Considering the built up demand for a big studio film is high, and with little competition to offset it, I now believe Watchmen will open with at least $40 million in ticket-sales. It could do $70 million or more if the stars align just right. The big question for the studio will not only be whether Watchmen opens big but whether it will have legs. At this point that’s the $64,000 question that nobody really knows the answer too.

It appears the writing is on the wall for Fox’s Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles TV series. The program drew its weakest ratings to date, attracting a mere 3.42 million viewers on Friday night. While viewership on Friday nights is generally weak overall (except for the CBS show Ghost Whisperer which consistently pulls in 11.5 million viewers per episode), the show won’t survive the networks hatchet with ratings this low. As I reported a few weeks ago a final episode for the series has been written in order to wrap up the story’s loose ends. Unfortunately for fans of the terminator films, they’re missing a really good program which has respected the franchises main themes. The production values, acting and story arcs more than live up to the original vision of the concept.

March 1, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , | Leave a Comment

   

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