It appears “300” has been dislodged from its top slot courtesy of another comic book adaptation: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
This is one of those times I wish I could draw. I’d love to see a take off on the popular “300” image except we see Spartan soldiers being knocked off a cliff by the Turtles.
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Micha said:
“So it’s happened: 90s nostalgia. It seems like the distance between the actual event and the nostalgic yearnings is growing shorter and shorter.”
Actually, I argue on my blog (somewhere) that it’s now effectively zero; that because of DVD, trade paperbacks, and other archives, things no longer get buried to be revived by nostalgia, they’re kept around perpetually and new things just get added to the agglomeration of cool stuff. ‘Firefly’, for example, was only gone for four years before its revival; ‘Family Guy’ and ‘Futurama’ were gone less (IIRC.) Nostalgia is obsolete, because our past is so much more accessible than it used to be.
(And no, ‘300’ is not going to “take back” the number one spot. Movies don’t work that way anymore. Since everyone is about creating the opening-weekend gross, they don’t care about staying power. Two weeks at #1, in and of itself, was pretty impressive. But the theatergoers are already off to something new.)
(Like ‘Grindhouse’, which opens in a week and three and a half hours, and which I am literally quivering in anticipation over.)
The Turtles continue to thrive, despite a longing from a fan base (and I will continue to declare myself a fan base until some authority declares that a fan base must consist of more than one fan) for a movie or cartoon series based on ADOLESCENT RADIOACTIVE BLACK-BELT HAMSTERS.
Where, oh where, are my hamsters?
They’re at Dynamite Entertainment…
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=106994
Bill, it’s not that it’s a lost art, it’s just evolved into CGI. It’s much less arthritis-inducing now. I’m about to find out. I’m making my son a movie with his castle toys. Sort of a quasi-Goth Davey and Goliath go to Camelot.
Although, nothing beats those old Sinbad movies.
“And no, ‘300’ is not going to “take back” the number one spot. Movies don’t work that way anymore.”
Oh, I didn’t think it would take back the #1 spot. I just wanted it to place higher the TMNT next weekend.
🙂
“I thought they DID a revival of Shogun Warriors. I remember seing pictures of a new design for Mazinga somewhere.
There have been various revivals of the original Japanese Mazinger series–could you have seen something from one of those, perhaps? (The series “Mazinkaiser,” the most recent one, was released in the US a few years ago.)
Yeah, it wasn’t that long ago. There’s also been a few manga and the odd toys I’ve seen online that all tweek the design. They also did an update on the series Getter Robo (Dragun) that contains two or three robots that became Shoguns in the States.
(Like ‘Grindhouse’, which opens in a week and three and a half hours, and which I am literally quivering in anticipation over.)
You and me both, brother.
“This is one of those times I wish I could draw.”
Hate to nitpick, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’m good like that.
I am sure you can draw, Peter. What you meant to say “I wish I could draw well.”
🙂
Ahh, summer approaches with the Transformers, Spidey and Pirates 3, etc,; and suggestions of nostiglia abound with the Samauri Pizza Cats, Micronauts…
While I’m all for a Shogun Warriors revival (I still have the toys myself) or to see Rom back in action, is anyone aware that Hollywood IS working on live action versions of Speed Racer and VOLTRON!
Posted by: John Seavey at March 30, 2007 09:32 AM
“Actually, I argue on my blog (somewhere) that it’s now effectively zero; that because of DVD, trade paperbacks, and other archives, things no longer get buried to be revived by nostalgia, they’re kept around perpetually and new things just get added to the agglomeration of cool stuff. ‘Firefly’, for example, was only gone for four years before its revival; ‘Family Guy’ and ‘Futurama’ were gone less (IIRC.) Nostalgia is obsolete, because our past is so much more accessible than it used to be.”
You are talking about the suply of nostalgia, but what determines the demand? Does the quick suply of nostalgia material like DVD’s create the demand for nostalgia material? Or is it just a nostalgic time? Maybe its that people who are still in their 30s or early fourties have the economic power to create a demand for nostalgia?
It’s also interesting how this decade has seen such an increase in movies that take place in fantasy/sci fi/comics or quasi-historical settings. This is definitly because of the development of technology. This is a good time for geeky fans everywhere.
A good title for an essay or book in cultural studies about this time period in popular entertainment would be: ‘Fantasy Movies and Reality TV’.
(And no, ‘300’ is not going to “take back” the number one spot. Movies don’t work that way anymore. Since everyone is about creating the opening-weekend gross, they don’t care about staying power. Two weeks at #1, in and of itself, was pretty impressive. But the theatergoers are already off to something new.)
Well, according to Boxofficemojo.com and other sites, Turtles were only on top 4 days before 300 overtook the #1 spot again.
Anybody remember BLACKSTAR?
How about “PRE-TEEN DIRTY GENE KUNG FÙ KÃNGÃRØØS”
Just me then…
Ah….
This is small and petty of me, but what the heck.
Weekend Box Office Postions and Gross:
(3) 300 $11,155,000 Weekend/$179,662,000 Total
(4) TMNT $9,160,000 Weekend/$38,428,000 Total
Death to Turtles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s a big drop off for the Turtles and bodes ill for any sequel. Personally I wish they’d made it live action; it takes something special away to have ot be just another cartoon, albeit a better, more expensive one.
So 300 will be the first film of 2007 to reach 200 million?
All joking aside, that does suck for Turtle’s fans and for the franchise as a whole. Despite my “rabid fanboy” shtick from above, I figure that there’s room enough out there for lots of stuff and that any successful comic book based movie has only got to help the next along. Turtles being, for lack of a better word, a more “comic booky” feeling movie then something like 300 would have been a good success to have had to convince some of the studio brass that some of the more offbeat but cool stuff from the worlds of comic books and animation would have been bankable as a project to start up for next spring/summer.
Yeah, we’ve got Spider-Man and FF coming up, but they’re pretty much already considered bankable thanks to their previous outings and their “icon” status in pop culture. They’re “different” in the eyes of most people who aren’t a part of the fandom loop. Turtles having a success here would have opened a few doors for some of the other stuff out there that WE all know about but that the mainstream of pop culture hasn’t cottoned onto yet.
I would have still liked to see 300 kick Turtle’s box office butt, but I do wish that it had been a much closer race.
Thompur…I was reading Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung Fû Káņgárøøš just last week! (doesn’t really hold up). It was my second favorite of the animal titles (the titles only…my favorite series was Ex-Mutants which started with a silly title, before they decided it was better than the title.).
The best of the titles, though was Naive Interdimensional Commando Koalas!