Will 'Inception' Save the Summer of 2010?
Is it too smart? Are the trailers too ambiguous? Can Nolan's name attract an audience on its own?
Photo: Warner Bros.
I have not seen Inception yet. That said, I think the film will be great. I think it will knock the popcorn right out of my hands and onto the floor. I really do.
2010 has been one of the worst summers for movies I can remember, and nearly everyone has said something similar. Several films have failed to satisfy at the box-office, under performing critically and with the fans. It's been a parade of stinkers so bad I haven't even been inclined to go to the two-dollar theater to see them, and I'll watch almost anything for two bucks. But not The A-Team. Not directed by Joe Carnahan.
There have been a handful of successes, but even those come with qualifications. Iron Man 2 wasn't as good as the first one and is still $9 million short of its predecessor. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse failed to catch on with a broader audience despite many calling it the "best of the franchise," which was just a kind way of saying "it's not as awful as the first two." Toy Story 3, The Karate Kid and now Despicable Me have primarily succeeded thanks to the sturdiest of all audiences. Families.
Now comes Christopher Nolan's opus and the pressure is on.
You've read the articles already. Is there too much pressure on this one film? Can Inception save the summer? Will Good 'N' Plenty sales go up? Etc.
Photo: Warner Bros.
I understand the doubters. Just having Christopher Nolan's name on the film will not guarantee success. Nolan is well known in film circles but he isn't James Cameron or Steven Spielberg – yet. He's made four studio films since Memento, his breakthrough indie. His two Batman flicks have done very, very well (no surprise), Insomnia did decent numbers when foreign sales are taken into consideration and The Prestige flat-out underperformed.
Next are the trailers for Inception. They're the kind of trailers that hardcore fans rave about. Personally I love them, but I was already sold on the film and don't need to know what it's about to be interested. But in terms of capturing the attention of the general audience they aren't very good.
A good trailer has a beginning, middle and end and gives the audience an idea what the film is about. The Inception trailer does very little of that – good thing for the legions of followers, bad for the uninitiated. The trailer confuses and confounds the audience. In these terms, it's a bad trailer. I could barely remember the Inception trailer the first few times I saw it in the theater. That's really the only thing a good trailer is supposed to do. Make it stick in your noggin like the Lady Gaga song you heard in the supermarket.
Stop callin', stop callin', I don't wanna think anymore… Oh, the lyrics couldn't be any more applicable, but even the movies that appeal to the lowest common denominator aren't scoring with general audiences this summer. Can a smart movie like Inception do any better?
Some friends of mine who worked on the film told me they don't think Inception will connect with mainstream audiences. According to them, the film is very dark and complex. This doesn't sound like typical summer blockbuster fare; something that no doubt has the suits at Warners worried or at the very least mildly concerned. With a $200+ million budget and a $50+ million advertising campaign the film needs to make a lot of dough to recoup that budget and get it's money back, and despite my nitpicking I'm convinced it will… Here's why.
Critical support will help. So far the critics are on board. Most of them spent as much time trying to explain the ideas behind the film as explaining why it was so darn good. Not that critics mean a whole lot these days. Let's face it, if 94% on the Tomatometer was a guarantee of success Michelle Williams would be a huge star and Sandra Bullock would be retired in Austin.
Most importantly, Inception will do well because it arrives at the perfect time. We need a good film fix and we need it bad. We're parched. Anything approaching quality will quench our thirst. Normally I would wait on a film like Inception, but I'm going to be there at one of those 12:01 screenings. I may even try and be filmed by one of those wacky news crews asking what you thought when you come out of the theater at three o'clock in the morning. I know I'm not the only one.
This is the first original concept film Nolan has made for a studio and I'm curious what he's conjured up. Something like this from a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan is one of the joys of going to the movies. Being dazzled by spectacle. Thrilled by the ride. Watching a film made by the very best Hollywood has to offer. The man made Memento, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. (He also made Insomnia, but everybody has a bad day.)
I'm going to be grateful when Inception comes out, and I think others will follow my lead even if they wait a weekend or two for word of mouth to build. That's why Christopher Nolan's flick will save the summer. Because we desperately need it to do so.
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The A-Team is definetly worth 2$ for a fun summer movie. Just sayin'.
Absolutely. It's easily one of highlights of the summer and maybe even the year.
i hate this summer-movie-wise…Its been the dullest and moswt uninteresting one in years..The only films Im looking forward to are Inception, The Expendables and Machete.
I comepletely agree with everything that is said here and I too hope that it will be a critical success as well as commercial but the masses are use to 'Transformers 2' and mindless crap like 'Sex in the City'. The combination of Nolan and DiCaprio is as close to a dream coming true for me as it ever will be (no pun intended) and I am certain that these two will not fail to deliver. 12:01 a.m showing.
I agree people have been setting ridiculously high box-office expectations for it for months. People are putting all their eggs in it's basket.
But it's not the only film that suffered (remember all the 'Toy Story 3 will do $500 million' buzz? Won't quite happen. Remember all the 'Iron Man 2 will beat The Dark Knight's opening weekend record? Didn't happen) from this new kind of affliction this year.
I don't expect a record opening – probably I think $70-$80 million is most probable but I believe it may have legs, and it may attract solid word of mouth. Which is more valuable than a huge frontloaded opening.
Is it going to be too smart for mainstream viewers? Well, I haven't seen it yet but we'll find out soon enough.
I agree. Toy STory 3 is on its way to 400mil domestic and to some jaded person that would be disappointing because it "should've" hit 500mil.
Personally I though Iron Man 2 was a good(not great) sequel but it did in some ways disppoint at the box office. Then its crazy how Twilight 3 did not pass Twilight 2's records, but those movies are awful anyways.
I think Toy Story 3 saved the summer in the sense of how it was well received by audiences and critics, but its not putting up the biggest numbers.
I thought A-Team deserved better than what it did. It was just a good summer flick to catch. Just for fun.
Now Inception will save the summer for me because its my #1 anticipated movie of the year. It has been well received so far, but we'll see how many people go see it. It looks like a movie you have to see more than once, which could benefit it. I'll be there opening weekend.
Toy Story 3 is putting up big numbers. It faced it's most direct competition this weekend and left virtually unscathed to a 27% drop. 400mil domestic is pretty much sewn up and 1bil worldwide is well in play.
Part of the disappointment this summer has been the quality of the movies, no doubt about that. But part of it is also the ridiculously high box office expectations of a lot of people. I guess Avatar's success warped everyone's sense of reality. Iron Man 2 opens to 120mil+ and people are disappointed. Toy Story 3 is at 340mil and chugging along to finish north of 400mil and people are still disappointed.
Going into the summer, Toy Story 3 and Inception are the 2 films that are really on my radar. Toy Story 3 was amazing. I'm liking what I'm hearing about Inception. If it is all that I hear it is. If early reviews are true, then I'm fine overall since the 2 films I was looking forward to this summer would've delivered.
I agree 100% with you, toy story 3 still has a long way in this summer, and Inception has created a big positive buzz, the summer started to be saved since ts3
$250 M+ is a huge negative cost to overcome.
I think, after the success of The Dark Knight, Warner decided to be 'kind' to Nolan.
"Okay, we've made one billion dollars with his movie, let's make this guy do whatever. He's good, there's a chance it might do something".
Maybe they're not thinking about huge profits, maybe a 500 million worldwide gross is enough for them. Then there's the 'bonus' DVD + BluRay sales, and TV sales too.
I'm just guessing, of course, but I think it's kind of stupid of them to expect such a complicated (and mature) movie to make Harry Potter or Batman's numbers. It might be summer, but this isn't a typical blockbuster.
I think Insomnia is very good!
Anyway, I'm not sure Inception will be the success Warner is probably expecting, but I just don't see it underperforming. It's either going to be a big hit like The Dark Knight or a bomb. No way this movie will be like "it did 150 million, it's okay". It's going to either be 300 million or 80 million. I hope for the former, obviously.
There has been smart and uncommercial movies being huge hits during summer. Like The Sixth Sense, which was HUGE ten years ago. Who would've thought it back then?
Personally, I think this summer has been much better than last year – with or without Inception. I'd take The A-Team, Iron Man 2 or Knight and Day over anything released last summer (sans Hangover).
The only thing that has been disappointing is the lazy attendance figures from audiences who only show up for 3D and/or family-oriented movies.
Just to add something:
Last summer's only saving grace was its abundance of quality indies… The Hurt Locker, Moon, Away We Go, (500) Days of Summer. I don't think I could have made it through that summer without them.
I respectfully disagree…How about district 9? Up? Inglourious Basterds? STAR TREK? PLUS the movies you mentioned. The best that this summer has offered so far (or even this entire year) is Toy Story 3…Iron man 2 was an acceptable sequel…and A-team was good…but point being is that this summer has a lot of work to do to catch up to the 2009 summer…and we have to consider the fact that Toy Story 3 and Iron Man 2 are SEQUELS…2009 was more of a fresher summer with all different kinds of movies that pretty much hit a high note in every genre. This summer is very much lack luster so far…but we'll see…If Inception is epic (which I'm hoping for)…it'll definitely save this summer…but it'll take more than Inception (imo) to top the 2009 summer.
@Sid: To be fair to 2010, District 9 and Inglorious Basterds hadn't yet opened to this point in the summer of 2009. Up was matched by this years Toy Story 3, and while Star Trek was a lot of fun, it was pretty much the definition of "dumb fun". (It's definitely apparent that it was written by the same guys that write the Transformers movies). The second half of summer is where studios count less on the big dumb blockbuster and look instead for the possible break out film to carry them… we haven't really been treated to those films yet.
People tend to forget that last summer was filled with such things as Transformers 2, GI Joe, Terminator Salvation, Ice Age 3, Night at the Museum 2, Wolverine, Angels and Demons, G-Force, etc… Mainly because, as mediocre to bad as all of these major films were, audiences still showed up for them.
This is being called "the worst summer ever" mainly because audiences aren't showing up for such levels of films any longer, not because the quality is somehow worse than those released last year.
@ Sid:
I guess this all depends on how you define "summer movie" and where you place your bookends on the "summer" season. I've never really considered District 9 or Inglourious Basterds as "summer movies." They were released in mid to late August, which is a time when studios tend to release more adult-oriented fare since most of the kiddies are headed back to school by then. This year we get The Expendables and Eat Pray Love in similar placement. Again they are targeting an older audience than most summer movies, so I truthfully think that "summer movie season" is over by mid-August. That's obviously ambiguous though.
Either way, I really liked Up and thought Star Trek was decent but instantly forgettable. I'd still take any of the 2010 movies I mentioned over Star Trek. Public Enemies, Transformers 2, Wolverine, and even Terminator Salvation offered much more disappointment than anything from this year.
I see where you guys are coming from…and personally I do place Inglourious basterds and District 9 under the summer film category, because I categorize Fall to begin in September…and I do realize there is much of the summer left this year but I'm saying that personally I think there is much the 2010 summer has to yield to top the 2009 summer(imo)…but anyway…like I said…I do respect your opinion…I personally think 2009 in general was one of the better years for films…but I'm not imposing myself as a 2009 year fan boy…I really want Inception to be an epic film and I really hope the upcoming films for the rest of this summer and year will yield some gems.
btw…I do agree…transformers 2 and terminator salvation were pretty bad (and I didn't even bother to watch G.I. Joes)…and also as far as the dumb fun goes with star trek…I didn't go into star trek expecting some methodical/deep film…but either way…whether it's dumb fun or something profound and intelligent I appreciate them all as long as it does a good job of it without sucking…and star trek definitely did a good job in presenting this "dumb fun" without sucking…I guess the writers were sober when they wrote the star trek script (unlike transformers 2)
I think Inception will do fine. A lot of people doubted Avatar before it came out, because it was an original concept and they had two unknown leads. That was an even bigger gamble in some ways. Avatar also only made $70 million it's opening weekend at the box office. It was a word of mouth movie, and I expect Inception to be the same.
The saddest thing is that Entertainment Weekly reviewed it, and gave it a B+. They gave that same rating to Eclipse a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, but Eclipse is really more in line with EW's attention span level.
Plus they can put lots of 'Is Edward or Jacob Hotter?' style articles link to said Eclipse review.
Plus Eclipse was TEN times better than what you would have expected it to be.
I'm surprised you omitted Following from the article. It may have been his only feature before Memento, but it's something quite special, especially for a directoral debut.
Can't wait for Inception though, see it in Imax on Friday night – really looking forward to it.
I left Following out because only hard core Nolan fans have even seen it. Plus it was made for nothing and I wouldn't judge him on it one way or the other. I certainly wasn't going to criticize it in terms of box office and reception. It was basically a glorified student film. Albeit a very good one.
I disagree with you about the trailer for Inception. While the first two teasers were very cryptic and mysterious, the final trailer was pretty much perfect. It introduces all the actors (and the cast for this is a dream come true), who explain the whole premise of a movie without giving too much away, and a minute of some quite unique visuals follows. I mean, I don't understand how an average moviegoer doesn't get the idea after watching the trailer. "So these guys can steal ideas from people's minds… hmm, Di Caprio… from the director of TDK… wow, those visuals are fvckin cool!… Man, I gotta see this movie". That's it.
I agree that a lot of films underperformed this summer, but Inception's very saving grace may be that its unique. This summer has been filled with all sorts of uninspired stuff that people weren't interested in… but Inception is of its own kind. It's not something that anyone has seen before. "From the director of The Dark Knight" alone will hook a lot of people. Furthermore, it's being marketed as an event film, the first in a month and the first live-action event film since Iron Man 2, if not Avatar. That'll help. It's got a helluva cast led by an actor whom everyone knows and almost everyone likes and respects, and who just 5 months ago had himself a nice hit with audiences AND critics. It's pretty much being released in a PERFECT time. The marketing has been outstanding, and aside from the movie being unique, EVERYTHING is pointing towards its huge financial success. Its originality will either be its blessing, or its curse. And personally, I can't wait to find out what it truly is when the Friday numbers come in. It could be an underperformer, and it could have bad legs. But I think there's a very good chance that this gamble will pay off. Opening weekend at least should be safe because nothing in the marketing painted Inception as a confusing movie. To what degree exactly it's confusing to general audiences, we'll find out in subsequent weekends. I don't think I've ever been this excited about seeing box-office numbers for a movie. It has equal chance to be an underwhelmer, or an absolute monster that will crush everything in its way.
And as far as quality goes, I'm certain it will deliver. There are actually 69 positive reviews now, and only 3 negative. I'm willing to trust in Nolan, and in this wonderful cast and crew. I very rarely am like that, but in this case, I'm 99.9% sure I will absolutely love this film. For all I know it could end up one of my all-time favourites, following the footsteps of Inglourious Basterds, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac and The Lives of Others in recent years. It's being released on 22nd here, so I'll have to wait even more, by the way. To be frank, it's a torture.
In short? Yeah. Inception will save the summer, or at least it will majorly help Toy Story 3 in saving it. Both box-office wise (though everything is slowly becoming better on that front) and quality-wise, though I disagree about this summer being the worst in a long time. Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood disappointed me, The Last Airbender was atrocious and Shrek 4, Prince of Persia and Knight & Day looked so uninspired, uninteresting and mediocre, I didn't even bother to go see them. But The A-Team was a wonderfully fun movie, Predators was a very good old-school R-rated action flick, Toy Story 3 was a masterpiece we all anticipated, and I really appreciated Splice. We also have The Expendables, Scott Pilgrim and Piranha 3-D on the horizon. For my money, 2006 and 2007 were both way worse. But I agree that Inception is THE film of the summer, and the whole year.
We also have Salt, The Switch, Going the Distance, and Eat Pray Love.
Which I personally don't give any crap about.
I think this Summer has been pretty much a lot of average to mediocre fare (A-Team, Shrek 4, Persia, Robin Hood etc) and some good solid crowd pleasers (Karate Kid, Greek, Despicable Me, and Iron Man 2).
Summer has only one great movie thus farimho and that is Toy Story 3. At this point last year, we've had a trio of greats such as Hangover, UP, and Trek. The year before that had Iron Man, Wall-E, and Dark Knight.
As for Inception, I think it'll be pretty good. However, It could be "too smart" for some people. I think a good example would be Blade Runner (a great sci-fi in my book). I showed that to some friends one time while they were at my place and they didn't get it didn't like it at all. For some, they want to be spoonfed everything and the idea of a movie demanding a degree of cognition on their part is just too much work for them.
Box-office wise, people should stop saying 300mil+ for Inception. This is not Batman 3. If things fall into place then I think 300mil would be the ceiling for this one. I'm hoping it will be good and I'm definitely buoyed by the reviews thus far. I don't mind a movie that challenges audiences to actually think instead of just sitting there like mindless zombies with their brains parked outside the theater. Toy Story 3 did it's part to save the summer, here's hoping Inception follows suit.
Absolutely – I think anything north of $250 million domestic would be an excellent result and I think that any mention of The Dark Knight style numbers is being ridiculously optimistic.
Tracking:
MTC – 48M
RS – 61M
When RS>MTC that means the movie will open under both.
That rull is correct 15 times for every 21 movies.
MTC is 77% of the times correct.
RS is 59% of the times correct.
You can't go based on tracking. Look at DESPICABLE ME- MTC had it tracking for 35 mil and it went on to make 56 mil.
MTC had 35M and RS had 21M. When MTC>RS that means that we will have a breakout. Despicable Me was a breakout.
Insomnia was a bad day?!? Insomnia was an excellent film. Highly underrated. Great story, good pacing, extremely well-acted. If Insomnia was a bad day then every other film he has made is nothing but sheer bliss.
Watch the original and then tell me what you think. I only watched Nolan's version once and was supremely disappointed. As was the friend who went with me to see it.
That's only my opinion of course, but I don't think Insomnia is considered a great film in very many circles. And it certainly wasn't a big hit at the time, especially considering who was in the film and the budget.
I don't know – the relative merits of the film itself and it being a remake aside, from a figures point of view $113 million global on a sub $50 million production budget isn't really a total disaster for the genre of film it was.
And neither Al Pacino nor Robin Williams were on a box-office hot streak at the time and a picture starring either of them was no longer any kind of 'event'. By the 2000s they were simply not big draws, I'm afraid.
They still aren't.
It's not an all time great, but I have to say I don't think that it's a bad film either.
But, to each their own, of course.
I guess my point is this. I doubt that Warners would fork over between 250 mil to 300 mil to a filmmaker with only Memento, Insomnia and the Prestige on his record. The reason he is even in the discussion with people like Bay and Speilberg is because of the two Batman flicks. Even the biggest Nolan fan has to admit that. Which is why Warners is selling the flick as "From the director of the Dark Knight" instead of of as "A Christopher Nolan film."
I just think that sometimes decision makers in Hollywood and hardcore film fans (myself included) forget there is a world out there that doesn't eat, drink and sleep movies. Those people don't even know who directors like Nolan and Fincher are. More importantly, they don't care. They just want to see an entertaining film.
I think you're right on every point – I think that's absolutely why The Dark Knight connection is there. He's not quite yet a marquee director to general audiences, even if he is to people who are more into cinema itself.
I just find that going back to Insomnia itself it isn't a bad thriller!
I also like The Prestige – but they may become the semi-forgotten films on his CV in the wake of Batman/Inception and some of his upcoming project attachments.
I dont think this film will be a huge blockbuster so it wont save the summer if thats what this article is about. Probably slightly higher then what Shutter Island got. 160 domestic maximum.
Just a guess.
My expectations are high. The other day I talked about movies with a friend who watches movies almost as much as I do. That's to say way more than average. I told her how psyched I am about Inception, her response "What Inception..? Nolan who..? Oh Leonardo … won't be seeing it, hate him." Yep, that's right.
I'm sure my expectations will be met but the general audience has me worried a bit.
This was so boring.
My biggest doubts for Inception come from the advertising… I don't believe that high concepts sell a film, and that's all they've given the general audience… no real hint of the narrative. Is there a bad guy? What's driving any of these characters to do what they're doing? They're all ciphers in an unrelatable situation.
I also fear that dream sequences don't excite an audience as much as "real life" action sequences. The city crumbling in the trailer doesn't make as much of an impact when you're not encouraged to think that it's a real city crumbling, full of living people, with consequences for the characters. "It was all a dream" is something audiences have grown to think of as the ultimate narrative cop-out. There's not even any assurance in the ads (that I've seen) that if you die in the dream, you die in real life… so the lack of danger isn't helped by the character calmly drinking coffee while things explode around him. Instead of the action in the ads rousing up the potential audience, it's just kind of there.
Also, everyone in the film looks the same… same style of dress, etc, to the point where you can't tell if there are sides to the flashes of conflict you see.
So I'd have to say that it's been poorly sold up to this point. I think it will have to make its opening on the backs of some flashy special effects (although I don't know that they have a show-stopper among them), star power and whatever value Nolan's reputation has at the box office. If reviews stay on the raving side that will definitely help to push people off to the right side of the fence, but I don't know how many are up there quite yet.
I'm not getting that vibe about it. Keep in mind that the people that are doubting this film are the same crybabies that thought Avatar was "too simple." Now we get something that is a little bit more complex and folks are wondering if it will connect? People need to just STFU.
#1 film of the year, coming up!
God, how I hope this doesn't under-perform. There is too much pressure on this film. It needs to break out in order to encourage studios to take on similar creative risks with their writers and directors in the future.
Well, Rex Reed just reviewed it and gave the film 1 out of 4 stars. All we need left is Armond White's negative review in order to have a seal of approval.
It's interesting, Nolan doesn't seem to do well with critics in New York (with the exception of Peter Travers). I remember most negative reviews of The Dark Knight were from those critics in New York, and Inception seems to be going the same route.
I truly believe Rex Reed passed away several years ago and his reviews are now being written by a pack of sea manatees hooked up to an algorithm machine.
As far as Armond White. While I don't take him seriously, I sure do love reading his reviews. They're priceless.
Warners agreed to make Inception to lock Nolan in; keep him happy enough to return to the bat. And I´m perfectly happy with that. In fact, we need more of those strategic decisions within the studio environment. Something good will emerge.
After watching The Last Airbender and having that fall WAYY short of my expectations, stakes are high on Inception for moviegoers like me. and I knew there are a lot of those people.