If any one had any doubt movie reviews mean nothing when it comes to a movie performing well and making millions of in the box office. After receiving raving reviews and a “A-” minus CinemaScore, Scott Pilgrim vs the The World disappointed this weekend, ranking 5th with 11 million dollars cashed in, running way behind The Expandables, which topped the box office, despite its poor reviews claiming it has no real story.
Only two days after its release, the movie also has a high 8.0 score on IMDb, with over 2000 voters, yet it seems to be lacking the ability to get money out of people’s pockets. While 11 million might not seem little, bear in mind that this production of director Edgar Wright cost about 60 million to make.
An odd but innovative movie, Scott Pilgrim vs the The World addresses teenagers and the young crowd in general. It’s a known fact people under 25 rarely read movie reviews, and that might explain why they ended up choosing different movies this weekend. In the opposite corner we have winner “Expendables”, a typical action movie packed with superstars with little story to it and a lot of special effects and raw combat.
Is Scott Pilgrim vs the The World a movie too odd for the youngsters to relax over the weekend? Or do they simply don’t care about the film’s quality? The other option is that Universal has done a poor job at promoting the movie. The Expendables didn’t need much. Just the list of name made public made fans of the action superheroes wait impatiently for the movie to be our rolling to take over theaters and see it for themselves.
Universal’s reaction to the box office numbers was quite stunning. They tried a cool approach stating they actually had no idea how much money the movie could make, implying somehow that Scott Pilgrim vs the The World was art for the love of art. Hard to believe when this statement comes from a profit seeking big time movie making group!
About Alina Popescu
Shane, I agree, the promotional failure weighs more than the film quality, unfortunately. Glad you enjoyed it though!
Kurtis, glad you enjoyed it. I assume you’ll also get the DVD once it comes out :D
David, Mihaela already explained it. When it comes to reviews of movies which do not appeal to very limited niches, but to mass audiences, good reviews might lead most to expect it to be a smashing success. The numbers told a different story about the movie’s success, not its quality!
“Proving reviewers wrong”?
So you’re saying that because a film does not sell a lot of tickets, it isn’t good? Fantastic logic.
David, I think you should read the complete article and not just the title, before throwing the nasty stones. The author states clearly that the film has impeccable quality. It’s the PR machine that failed promoting it versus The Expendables, which toped the box office. The reviewers expected Scott Pilgrim vs The World to top the box office. They were OBVIOUSLY wrong, pretty much as wrong as you are in your comment.
This was one of the best movies ive seen, going to see it again soom
Just watched this movie at the cinema, I must say BLOODY FANTASTIC FILM!!!!
But who ever promoted the film promoted it to fail…
Could not have picked a worst week to start, BOTH The Expendables and Tomorrow When the War began came out.
PLUS there was NO WHERE enough screenings for the film which completely suggests they knew they have not done enough work to make this succeed.
Great film but a major promotion fail…