Evidently, the lack of reviews — both the good and the not-so-much — had little effect on the opening weekend grosses for Ghost Rider, certainly good news for Sony Pictures and Marvel Comics.
Box Office Mojo and the Associated Press are reporting the silver screen debut of the Flaming Skull Guy earned an estimated $44.5 million this weekend, more than doubling the take of other newbies including Disney’s Bridge to Terabithia ($22 million) and Warner’s Music and Lyrics ($19.5 million over 5 days).
An interesting factoid #1: The last time Flaming Skull Guy’s Mark Steven Johnson directed a superhero movie, the once-was-obviously-enough Daredevil (back on the weekend of February 18, 2003) opened the weekend of February 18, 2003 with a $45 million gross on its way to slightly more than $100 million.
With a $110 million in production costs spent on the Flaming Skull Guy, however, it’s anyone’s guess whether Sony Pictures will make back its initial investment in the theatres, or on the soon-to-be-DVD release, and if Ghost Rider will be just another one-and-done superhero “tentpole” franchise.
Interesting factoid #2: The only superhero films released in the late winter/early spring period in recent memory (that is, if you don’t count The Matrix) that earned sequels were directed by Guillermo del Toro (Blade 2 and Hellboy).
February 18th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
You know, for all the crap Daredevil gets, I thought it was one of the better superhero flicks to have come out.
February 18th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Hey Rusty,
You know, I didn’t think DD was bad either, and Johnson made some good choices in squeezing as much of the DD canon as he did into the film. I didn’t see that same inventiveness in GR, however…
Thanks,
Wayne
February 19th, 2007 at 9:00 am
DD was quite good, especially the Director’s Cut, which did include a plot this time.
February 19th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Johnson and Miller didn’t have anything to do with writing Elektra. They get credit for characters (motion pictures characters in Johnson’s case, comic in Miller’s). Zak Penn, Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner wrote the movie itself.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I went into “GR” last Friday with little to no expectations, and would recommend anyone else to do the same.
The movie is visual bubblegum, not great drama, and IMO, anyone expecting something else (e.g. logic, reason) is kidding themselves.
Seen under this context, I enjoyed the movie. Great graphics, and Nic Cage obviously had fun with his role as Blaze.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Daredevil is the reasons I’m hesitant to see Ghost Rider.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Good God. I know it’s just a blog, but did you bother to check facts before writing? Johnson had absolutely nothing to with Elektra (he got an exec producer credit since he “created” the movie version in Daredevil) and Frank Miller has even less to do with it.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Hi Joseph and Joe,
Hey guys… don’t have a cow on this one. Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elektra/) and IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357277/fullcredits#writers) had varying sets of writing credits on their Elektra web pages.
For the official Writers Guild of America credits, Miller and Johnson get the credit as shown IMDB. If you hit the more tab — I didn’t — Zak Penn, Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner are also listed.
In advance, I already accept your apologies…
Wayne
February 19th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
No worries. I assume you never saw it, because if you did you would know automatically that Frank Miller could not have possibly had anything to do with that POS. Even Johnson has stated the film was a train wreck (not in so many words, I don’t think).
February 19th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I didn’t mean mine to sound harsh or anything, just pointing out the error.