Sure, it may have been a box-office field devoid of any huge players, but the $35 million that put The Expendables at the top this past weekend was certainly no joke. Sylvester Stallone's starring and directorial effort offered a clear alternative for moviegoers to self-centered "chick-flick" hedonism (Eat Pray Love) and the latest attempt to take niche films aimed toward "hipster geeks" (which would be us, I suppose) and aim them at the mass market (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.) The performance of Sly Stallone's throwback/love letter to the mindless, but satisfying 80's genre of muscled-up dudes shooting the s**t out of bad guys while making bad puns proved that there may indeed a viable market for films of its ilk. (Of course, the ridiculously loaded cast full of some of the best badasses of action movies past and present didn't exactly hurt the promotional blitz, either.)
Immediate analysis of The Expendables' performance have been evoking comparisons to the slightly larger numbers for Inglourious Basterds' $38.1 million opening weekend last year. However, one could argue that this week's competition, light as it may have been, likely served to split the weekend's take more so than Basterds' underwhelming competition with Shorts and Post Grad. The Julia Roberts vehicle Eat Pray Love arguably dragged more hapless, girlfriend/wife-towing guys away from the film than any of those efforts. While Quentin Tarantino's World War II action epic was itself a take on a long dormant genre similar to the old "ragtag team" war flicks like The Dirty Dozen, The Expendables may possibly end up being more of a watershed moment. Besides hints of a sequel, it served as an excellent showcase to remind us exactly what was so endearing about the old-school era of action flicks. For instance, Dolph Lundgren actually had a -- pretty decent performance in the film. (Huh?) One could easily see his career being revived from the straight-to-DVD purgatory in which his work has resided for the past few decades. I Come in Peace part 2, anyone?
Was it an avante-garde masterpiece? Of course not! In fact, the irony, is that this film was explicitly marketed for its status as mindless, old-school fun. It was a straight-up, no bones about it, "guy flick" of the purest type that has not seen big box-office exposure probably since perhaps the waning days of Jean-Claude Van Damme's last mainstream box-office run towards the end of the 90's. (Who, interestingly enough, passed on an offer to appear in the film.) However, its staying power at the box-office for the next few weeks may end up being the real test to see if moviegoers are ready to once again fully embrace the action badass style of days gone by. It's likely that The Expendables' biggest enemy this coming weekend won't be Eric Roberts's rogue CIA Agent, but rather Piranha 3D.
What say you? Did you catch The Expendables this past weekend? Should we go ahead and call it a comeback? Did you emerge from the theater with a freakish amount of chest hair and an inability to pass tests for performance-enhancing substances?
Source: BoxOfficeMojo
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Displaying 1–19 of 19
Uldum
I hope Sly continues his plan to make Expendables 2, cheesy manly men brutal killing action flicks are just a fun time once in a while. In these types of film plot doesnt matter its about the action and the testosterone. For example Shoot 'em Up - most retarded plot ever but it was still a fun movie
Tommytsunami
Maybe its because I read the comics and found them amazing, but I have already seen Scott Pilgrim twice. Even though I plan on seeing The Expendables, I will most likely see Scott pilgrim more before its out of theaters.
X02
Why is 'Prostate Health' one of this story's tags?
g4fan247
I saw the Expendibles on Friday and it is awesome! One of the best action movies Ive ever seen. I'll go see the Scott Pilgrim movie this week.
aztecyankee
Of course this movie is filled with blood,guts,one liners and some awesome use of explosives. Who ever goes to see this movie looking for a plot or a good story should maybe go see eclipse for the 4th time!! I love reminising of my childhood and watching moves on VHS and betamax( yes i said betamax)and at least for 90 minutes Stallone gave me that.
Canid117
I am offended that you have associated me with hipsters. I actually know what the word Irony means first off all and I like to think that I do not have a sense of undeserved arrogance.
ww2_honor
Horrible movie. Extremely cheesy one liners. Whenever they didn't feel like getting stuntmen they just used CGI (which was used for most of the kills). Over half of the outdated actors they advertised for the film were only in it for a few mins of cameos. Arnold was in it just for the cheesy unfunny president remark, along with Bruce Willis who I think gave them a mission that I think they completed but the concept was terrible.
Spoiler Alert, although it is a common plot:
"Oh here is a mission in some unknown made up country on an island in South America, go there extract or kill a guy and that's it". Ok sounds simple, go to the island to find a girl who helps us find our man, oh wait she turns out to be his daughter that he disowned and now she wants to get her country back to normal and kill her father. They do a boring recon mission and then get chased out of the country by the military and the girl stays to help her country. Blah blah blah she gets caught, Stallone goes back to rescue her alone and his whole team joins him. They take out the building rescue the girl and the country and people who live there can now live a better life. Oh yeah and they get some great pep talks from Mickey Rourke, which I don't understand why he was even in the film. Overall horrible movie and wish I could have seen Scott Pilgrim instead, but I was dragged to this.
mistico5656
Went To See The Expandables Best $5 Dollars I've Spent In My Life.
That Movie Was Pure Action and I left THe Movie Theater Wanting Too Punch Somebody lol It got Me So Pumped
GatsuBlackSword
I saw The Expendables yesterday and it was AWESOME! On top of that went to an AMC matinee for $6. I'm going to see Scott Pilgrim tomorrow because it's half price day so I only have to pay $4.20! That's how I see movies cheap days and it's great!
However I'm very sad to see Scott Pilgrim only doing 10.5 Million; that's not good for more independent comics to get made. Maybe it should have been named after the first book only Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. Maybe the versus in the title turned people off???
DreamingDarklyRobin
I had to go see a movie with my father so we chose to see Expendables, plus I really don't see why Scott Pilgrim is so good. Expendables was good though. Next week I'll check out Pilgrim since it's either that or a jennifer anniston film.
Nub Salad
I saw scott pilgrim instead and it was awesome. I might see expendables today.
BONERJAM
IMO nothing in the theater really looks like its worth the price of a ticket.
weejifiend
Scott Pilgrim was much better than the Expendables, and I was looking forward to both. Although, I disagree slightly with the "hipster" moniker, although I can see where you would come to that conclusion with the kind of movies Michael Cera is typically in.
gmhl10
Saw both Scott Pilgrim and Expendables. Scott Pilgrim was awesome, more so because I've read the comic. The movie followed it closely.
The Expendables was a great movie too. Good to see some of the great action stars all in one flick. Plus, I just wanted to see stuff blow up.
thePcgamer
I wanted scott pilgrim to do well, it was an amazing movie :(
wrestlingmachine
I saw this movie and it was Epic! It was nice to see Dolph Lundgren do a good job acting.
flyingkneebar
Love the tag of "Prostate Health"
bayon88
@asthmagasm
i agree wit u completely, i saw this movie thrusday at 12:03am (weird timing lol) and i loved every bit of it, i hesitated at first but once i saw 2 or 3 more trailers, it just felt natural to see it as a gamer and a movie watcher, plus the guy from Shawn of the Dead directed it, so it had to be seen, sadly enough it didnt do as well as expected, i will definitely will be seeing this again this week
asthmagasm
Debated between this and Scott Pilgrim. Ended up going with Scott Pilgrim and don't regret it at all as I have two more viewing scheduled with my friends in an attempt to drag as many people to see Scott Pilgrim as possible. What's funny (sad) is that I think the theater may possibly stop showing the movie before all the movie dates I have lined up are filled.
Displaying 1–19 of 19