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Los Angeles Times finally gives The Rise of Cobra and Paramount some props

Over the past week or so, it seems every article I’ve read on the Los Angeles Times website has been roasting the film, harassing Paramount, or making other snide or scoffing comments about recent decisions and process regarding G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA.  Today, the LA Times posted another online article, about the Box Office Returns, and actually gave Paramount and G.I. Joe some credit:

“Given the movie’s $175-million production budget, that would be a solid start and, assuming audience word-of-mouth is strong, put it on track for a healthy box office run. According to market research firm CinemaScore, opening day moviegoers gave “G.I. Joe” a grade of B+, once again contradicting the view of critics, as they did on Paramount’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” That would seem to validate the studio’s strategy to not screen the picture for print and broadcast critics before it opened and to focus much of the marketing at blue-collar audiences in smaller markets.”

Good to see at least a slight shift in perspective.  Hopefully G.I. Joe’s final tallies are enough to make a lot of the pundits rethink their slamming of Paramount.  But I doubt it.

REMINDER – Toys “R” Us 2 for $9.99 sale starts tomorrow!

Just wanted to post a reminder to folks that Toys “R” Us is re-launching their 2 figures for $9.99 deal tomorrow!  Here’s the original post.

Now, considering I have ZERO Toys “R” Us’ within 65 miles of me, if anyone wants to help out with a couple Pit Commandos, Eels, or anything of the sort, I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from tossing me a hook up…  :shifty:

Go celebrate the movie by buying some toys!

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More details on G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA opening weekend

Thanks to Mysterious Stranger for pointing out Hollywood insider Nikki Finke, who has a VERY detailed report about G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA’s opening weekend on her website here.

She seems quite optimistic about the returns for the film financially (though she trends at about $55 million rather than the $60 million that Steve Mason reported on his blog just recently.  I think Nikki’s got the inside track.  Interesting quotes are as follows:

“Now, despite all the sniping and snarking, it looks to open for a $55M North American weekend after earning $22M today from a huge release into 4,007 theaters. The pic even made a ” B+” CinemaScore (“A-” for under 18).”

That sounds pretty good…she also talks about the international numbers.

G.I. Joe also opened day and date in 75% of its foreign territories. Although I’ve heard reports from rival studios that ticket sales were “disappointing” in Australia (where the pic opened #2 to the Sony romantic comedy Ugly Truth), early numbers from Asia are said to be “huge”. One projection for overseas grosses this weekend is $35M…”

She also brings up some great points about royalties from toy sales and DVD sales.  So far, things are sounding at least somewhat promising, but I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes on this throughout the weekend and going forward.  Again, check out her entire article right here.