More G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA reviews posted!
With thanks to Carlos from JoeBattleLines, I’ve finally got a few new reviews added to the Rise of COBRA Page. Reviews have been uploaded for:
More to come throughout the week.
Review posted for G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA for X-Box 360
I’ve had my mitts on this game for over a week now, but haven’t had more than an hour or two per night to hack at it…wanting to wait until I got through a solid chunk of it, I’m just getting to the review today.
I know video game websites have been slamming this game left and right, but trust me when I say, I think Joe fans will find a LOT to love, especially folks who enjoyed the Rise of COBRA. Characters from the film are pulled directly to your video game screen, plus a ton of cameos for characters that didn’t even get a sniff of screen time. Recondo, Snow Job, Dusty, Stalker, Dataframe, Wild Bill, Lift Ticket, Shipwreck, Kamakura, Flash, Helix, the list goes on and on. Firefly makes an appearence on the COBRA side, along with Night Creepers, Red Ninjas and other assorted baddies. I honestly think that folks who are into G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA will really enjoy this game, in spite of some questionable graphics and sketchy game play.
Not sure I’d recommend dropping sixty bucks on it, but it’s a very fun game, regardless. Check out the full review here.
International numbers are trickling in…Paramount jumping to conclusions?
“Channing Wayans” from HissTank.com has directed me to another LA Times article, this time with some estimated numbers for worldwide box office returns on opening weekend. According to the article, The Rise of COBRA will gross $100 million internationally this weekend, scoring $45 million dollars in international sales.
But where it gets really interesting is with the following quote:
“That’s certainly good enough for Paramount to claim victory, however, and start thinking about the future. The studio’s vice chairman, Rob Moore, confirmed that a sequel will soon go into development. The film’s lead actors are contractually obligated to return for another film, though director Stephen Sommers is not.”
While I certainly applaud Paramount’s optimism, and I hope nobody is jumping the gun, I’m going to wait a bit. Let’s see how Rise of COBRA performs in its critical second weekend against District 9, and then start figuring out chances for a sequel. Good to know it’s already on the radar, though!
Click here for the full story.
YoJoe on the Red Carpet at The Rise of COBRA Premier!
Coming through in a BIG way, Hollywood-style, the guys from YoJoe ended up in Los Angeles for the official red-carpet Premier at Mann’s Chinese Theater, and got the chance to stick their microphones in the faces of many folks in attendance. Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, Channing Tatum, and Rachel Nichols are only a few of the folks that spoke to the YoJoe staff!
Check out the YoJoe Magazine article about it right here, and also check out the incredible embedded video below.
Both videos are available on YoJoe’s YouTube Channel as well! Big kudos to the YoJoe guys for getting up close and personal on the red carpet in Hollywood. AWESOME.
More useless Box Office analysis
So with not much else to do on a Sunday (well…that’s a lie, I’m just wasting too much time beating this dead horse) I figured I’d do a little checking to Box Office trends and what expectations should be for this weekend, based on what we know already. Of course, much of this post will probably be defunct by this time tomorrow, but where’s the fun in that?
I’ve already reported that G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA actually dropped 16% in attendance from Friday to Saturday. I thought this was a bit distressing, and then I checked some film trends. Now, I’m actually still a little bit distressed about this, but not real upset. Looking at Box Office history this year, here are some big films, and the change in returns from Friday to Saturday of opening weekend, all based on numbers from Box Office Mojo:
- Watchmen – Total Domestic Gross $107 million, International Gross $183 million. Opening weekend gross $55.2 million. Keep in mind, Watchmen was considered a financial failure. Change from Friday to Saturday was -25%.
- Wolverine – Total Domestic Gross $179 million, International Gross $350 million. Opening weekend gross $85 million. Change from Friday to Saturday was -15%.
- Star Trek – Total Domestic Gross $255 million, International Gross $382 million. Opening weekend gross $75 million. Change from Friday to Saturday was +1.3%.
- Terminator: Salvation – Total Domestic Gross $124 million, International Gross $341 million. Opening weekend gross $42.5 million. Change from Friday to Saturday was -1.9%.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Total Domestic Gross $394 million, International Gross $818 million. Opening weekend gross $109 million. Change from Friday to Saturday was +9%.
In pretty much every case here, the Sunday Box Office also dropped from Saturday, although only 10-15%. Both Wolverine and Watchmen seem to be the benchmarks, since they both dropped double digits from Friday to Saturday. Wolverine dropped another 27% on Sunday, Watchmen dropped 33%. I think those are both excessive, compared to G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA. Just for the sake of argument, I’ll shoot for a 20% decline for The Rise of COBRA from Saturday to Sunday, that would put Sunday’s total gross at $14.4 million. With that 14.4, that then puts the three day total at $54.9 million, which isn’t a bad number. It’s not the $60 million I was hoping to see, but it’s nothing to sneeze at. Of course, if Sunday drops even more, there could be problems.
Looking at Wolverine’s numbers, that film did manage to make over $340 million internationally, while Watchmen floundered at about $182. Let’s hope The Rise of COBRA trends more towards Mutants and less towards Alan Moore…
An adendum to the previous Box Office report…
While Nikki Finke is a reliable source with some inside contacts, we also have a report from Reuters saying that G.I. Joe pretty much dominated the weekend box office, making an estimated $56.2 million in the three day span. Obviously these are all just estimates, something very important to understand.
So really, all of my yammering doesn’t mean squat until Monday, but it’s fun to talk about it, anyway… 🙂
In the end, it’s all out of our control, but I gotta admit, it’s been fun this year sitting back and enjoying the ride.