The Universal Slump

Post by **LotsoA113** » March 19th, 2010, 11:00 pm

I've been reading about how Green Zone and The Wolfman bombing are putting Universal in a bad mood. I think quality is down mainly, none of their recent films are good and I dare say Repo Men! is the worst film since Disaster Movie. Hated it so MUCH!!! What do you guys think though?

Post by **LotsoA113** » March 20th, 2010, 10:45 am

Repo Men! made 2 million on Friday. It's likely only gonna hit 5.6 million over the weekend. Green Zone fell down to 1.6 million, meaning that's 4.5 million weekend and a 66% drop.

In other words, Universal's in trouble. Deep trouble.

Post by **Ben** » March 22nd, 2010, 8:54 am

Universal's been a funny company since the late 1990s, when it was subject to both corporate takeovers and the loss of long-time management.

The first thing they did wrong was to let Spielberg take DreamWorks Mach 1 to Paramount, which didn't work out for anyone, and the most recent wrong thing they did was to not take him back when he pulled together DreamWorks Mach 2, which has ended up at Disney's.

A series of bad decisions, problems marketing their films as anything special, a poor exploitation of their back catalog on DVD, and the merging of Uni-TV into NBC has led them into a place where, really, only the NBC/Uni-TV side has been doing anything right (and even then, some of their reboots have been out and out failures).

I'm glad they've been getting more and more into animation, but if there's one studio out there that doesn't have a solid identity it's Universal. Once one of my favorites (in the 1970s, 80s and 90s), the 2000s have been difficult times for the Globe.

Post by **LotsoA113** » March 28th, 2011, 8:42 pm

Universal's fortunes are starting to look up it seems. Though Paul dissapointed (fine flick though), Hop, Fast Five, Larry Crowne and Cowboys & Aliens show promise (particulaarly that last one) Perhaps Universal founds it "identity" after all.

Post by **estefan** » March 29th, 2011, 3:31 pm

Did Paul really disappoint? Okay, so it wasn't a big grosser in North America, but that was to be expected. But, it apparently did very well in Pegg and Frost's home country.

I also think Your Higness has the potential to do well, though I wonder if James Franco's poor Oscar hosting will lead people to not see one of his comedies. Then again, this was always going to be aimed more at the Pineapple Express crowd (who know Franco can do comedy) than the Oscar crowd.

Post by **estefan** » April 10th, 2011, 1:09 pm

Guess I was wrong. Your Highness appears to be the latest Universal flop. Lucky for them, they have Illumination saving their studio.

Post by **EricJ** » April 10th, 2011, 1:59 pm

And even Illumination seems to be struggling for a breakout identity--
As we can see from trailer studio icons, Disney has the Castle, Pixar has the Lamp, Dreamworks has the Balloons, and Illumination has.....the Minion.
(And hasn't DW already taught us the peril of putting all of one's audience-identification eggs in one basket?)

But enjoy April--After Easter, April is the cruelest Cannon-Fodder month, as Paul and Highness found out.

Post by **Dacey** » April 10th, 2011, 2:54 pm

And hasn't DW already taught us the peril of putting all of one's audience-identification eggs in one basket?

Um...not sure what you mean here. Again.

Also not sure what you mean about "Paul," as that movie came out last month. Besides, it already turned in a profit overseas before it even came to the US.

But, yeah, feel free to judge Illumination for not having an "image" after just two films. They have success. Live with it.

Post by **droosan** » April 10th, 2011, 3:14 pm

Besides which .. Pixar's 'image' -- even 25 years later -- features a character from their very first film.

Post by **Gligarman** » April 17th, 2011, 3:52 pm

I'm trying to remember the last movie I even saw that was from Universal. I remember not particularly caring for Tale of Desperaux.

Post by **Ben** » April 17th, 2011, 4:26 pm

Since Despereaux, Universal have released the animated features Coraline and 9, as well as a limited released Curious George sequel and, of course, Despicable Me.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » April 23rd, 2011, 11:45 pm

3 of those films are at least worth renting.

I've been meaning to buy 9 and Despicable Me and already own the original non-3D BD release of Coraline (the BD release with the traditional blue/red glasses).

9 and Despicable Me in particular got pretty good notices.
Despicable Me was the best Dr. Seuss adaptation I've seen in years and without a doubt the best Steven Carrell performance I've seen/heard.

(Yes, I know the DM story wasn't Dr. Seuss but the sensibilities are there...)

The Universal Slump

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