Posted on 07/20/2012 12:59:42 PM PDT by Jyotishi
High box office expectations for The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Warner Bros' Batman franchise, were clouded on Friday by a shooting at a Colorado midnight screening of the film which killed 12 people.
The incident, in which a masked gunman opened fire on moviegoers, including children, brings a tragic conclusion to one of Hollywood's most-enduring franchises, as Warner Bros bids to find a new movie franchise capable of matching Batman's box office success.
The Time Warner-owned studio has been Hollywood's King of Franchises for years. Over the last decade, it generated worldwide ticket sales of $12 billion from its Lord of the Rings, Batman, and Harry Potter films.
Eight of the 20 highest-grossing films of all time come from one of those franchises, according to website Box Office Mojo. The Dark Knight Rises will be the last of the Batman series that began in 2005, director Christopher Nolan said.
Harry Potter, Warner Bros.'s biggest franchise, ended last summer with the largest of eight films, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2," that generated $1.3 billion worldwide.
Franchise films are especially important to studios, which amplify their revenue by using the big-budget movies to create theme park rides, sell toys and spawn TV shows.
Warner Bros is counting on a pair of Hobbit movies to rekindle the magic of Lord of the Rings, the first installment of which hits theaters in December.
A reboot of the Superman franchise is also scheduled for next summer - Man of Steel, made by Dark Knight producer, Legendary Pictures. Nolan, one of Hollywood's hottest directors, is a producer on that film.
The films could pave the way for Warner to unite Batman, Superman and other characters from its DC Comics stable in a Justice League movie, said Gitesh Pandya, editor of website Box Office Guru.
That would follow the strategy that brought staggering success to Walt Disney Co with The Avengers, a movie that brought together a handful of Marvel superheroes and generated nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide sales.
One problem for Warner Bros is that not every DC Comics character has been a phenomenal hit, Pandya said. Last summer's Green Lantern didn't work very well, he said, grossing $219.8 million. Some industry watchers said the movie cost $200 million to produce, though Warner has disputed that figure. Studios receive about half of box office sales.
The 2006 Superman Returns also disappointed, Pandya said.
The aim is to create another series like Batman, which won critical acclaim, fan devotion and $1.4 billion in ticket sales for Batman Begins in 2005 and 2008's The Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight grabbed $158 million in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend in 2008, a record at the time, and still the highest debut for a movie that wasn't boosted by higher-priced 3D tickets.
Opening weekend ticket sales for Dark Knight Rises, which cost $250 million to produce, were expected to at least match the last Batman film, according to box office forecasters, and possibily reach as high as $198 million, just shy of the $207 million record set by Avengers in May, some industry analysts say.
But that was before a midnight showing Friday in Colorado erupted in violence, when a masked gunman in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, opened fire on an unsuspecting audience, killing 12 people and wounding dozens of others.
Beyond superheroes and the Hobbit, Warner also intends to bring The Hangover 3 to theaters next summer, the next installment in the adult comedy series that has grossed $1 billion. "We are well on the road to quite a number of franchises," said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros. "We are in great shape."
Oh those poor bean counters in Hollywood. Right now they are estimating how many millions of dollars this will cost them as opening weekend ticket revenues are going to crash.
~sob~
I can’t help wondering how somebody dressed in full riot gear and packing an arsenal can walk into a crowded multiplex without someone noticing, attempting to intervene or calling police. I’m guessing theater personnel are not allowed to be armed.
I am seriously considering going to the movie tonight so the terrorist will not have won.
I’m waiting for that dumbass New Yawk mayor to demand that all Batman/Dark Knight movies be banned. Bloomberg is a retard. The perfect politician!
[ I can’t help wondering how somebody dressed in full riot gear and packing an arsenal can walk into a crowded multiplex without someone noticing, attempting to intervene or calling police. I’m guessing theater personnel are not allowed to be armed. ]
I heard that he entered the theatre through the emergency EXIT door.
That 20-somethings think that franchise is remotely entertaining or amusing is sad. It's not witty, smart, satirical, innovative, clever, novel...just banal stunts. Kids today!
News report have it he broke in through the exit door.
In reality it will probably draw more people. I would guess the copycat risk is high right now however; probably for any movie for awhile.
I may be the first to say this...
BATH SALTS.
The gunman was a grad student in neurology...supposedly working on a phd.
DRUGS.
Won’t be suprised if during the investigation finds he was eating someone’s face.
I read that he entered the theater through the entrance, THEN, according to someone IN the theater, another man propped the exit door so it wouldn’t close, THEN Holmes exited the theater where he dressed up in his car then came back into the theater through the exit door and began his rampage.
Kinda silly not to go see the movie now. The shooter is no longer at large. He’s behind bars thus it is now SAFE to go back into theaters.
I seriously doubt this will end the Batman franchise.
That flying rodent has been making movies, TV series, funny books, cartoons and any other media that I cannot think of since what? 1938? with the first movie in 1943. (a serial)
Naa that will not end the franchise. It may just lay low for a few years, but just like in 1989 when it exploded on the modern scene, the damn rat will be back.
WB, bring back the westerns...and Looney Tunes (animated, not pixelated)
A few things:
1. Costumes were allowed (you can even see a victim dressed as Batman in some of the coverage)
2. He didn’t walk through the front door - rather went through an emergency exit, which he had previously left open/unlocked.
3. I don’t know about security; but, police were there as part of crowd control.
“I read that he entered the theater through the entrance, THEN, according to someone IN the theater, another man propped the exit door so it wouldn’t close, THEN Holmes exited the theater where he dressed up in his car then came back into the theater through the exit door and began his rampage.”
Do you have a source for this? If so, this would be the first evidence he did not act alone.
Stop spreading rumors...1 interview said somebody propped the door open...the perp could have easily done that himself and then donned protective garb...thereby not appearing the same as when he left the theater
Another witness that I read somewhere said that he (the shooter) propped open the exit door, went out and came back in shooting.
I wasn’t there so I have no idea, and probably even the people who were there don’t have much of an idea of what happened. But it does seem as if he did this by himself, unless the “Mohammed Alam” whose name was released earlier was somehow involved with him. But I suspect this may have been an ID that James Holmes himself had, possibly his “name in religion,” or possibly simply something he had gotten his hands on.
Holmes was in a neuroscience program and, like Ted Kaczinsky, was extremely intelligent - and, like Ted, crazy as a loon. So we shall see what comes out.
Bats aren’t rodents.
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