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Charlie’s Angels (2019)
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Started by zhamlau,

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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In the wake of Terminator: Dark Fate’s failure at the B.O., and Paramount’s recent decision to make Beverly Cops 4 for Netflix, we have the further breakdown of cinema IP in Sony’s Charlie’s Angels reboot which is tanking with a God-awful $8.2M opening, 3 Stars on Screen Engine-Comscore’s PostTrak and a B+ Cinemascore.

 

The Elizabeth Banks-directed-written and produced pic is also opening in 27 offshore markets, China being one where it’s also bombing with a $6M two-day take in second place behind local title Somewhere Winter ($8.8M). All of this is primed to further spur a WTF reaction and anxiety among film development executives in town in regards to what the hell exactly works in this have-and-have-not era of the theatrical marketplace. Many will make the hasty generalization that old, dusty IP doesn’t work, or is now deemed too risky when it’s not a superhero project. However, moviemaking is an art, not a science, and annoying as it might sound, good movies float to the top, and this Charlie’s Angels reboot didn’t have the goods going back to its -script.

 

When it comes to the bombing of Charlie’s Angels, the takeaway is this is what happens when you have IP, but there’s no reason for telling the story. In the walk-up to developing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and the wake of its near $1 billion success, a fever broke out at the Culver City lot in the post Amy Pascal era to reboot former Sony franchises or extend them, i.e. Zombieland: Double Tap (well over $103M at the global B.O. now), the upcoming Bad Boys 3, and of course Spider-Man, the latter electrified by Disney’s Marvel. Development studio executives define their being by getting films greenlit, and whenever that happens it’s 90% of the job. And the pressure is on to fill a 10-12 picture annual slate in a world where Disney vacuums up all the best IP.

 

A third Charlie’s Angels with McG directing and Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu starring wasn’t made immediately after the second chapter, 2003’s Full Throttle, as the sequel turned out to be 29% more expensive than the 2000 original at $120M and also made less worldwide, $259.1M to $264.1M. With Elizabeth Banks coming off her hot feature directorial debut with Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 (which over-indexed in its stateside opening at the B.O. going from $50M projections to $69.2M, and final global at $287.1M); after she expressed interest in September 2015 in taking on a Charlie’s Angels reboot with a modern feminist spin, there was no question in Sony’s mind that the project should move forward.

 

However, there were -script problems I hear that could never be resolved. A few months after Banks boarded, Evan Spiliotopoulos came on to write. By the time cast was assembled in July 2018, Banks had penned the latest draft off a -script by Jay Basu (The Girl in the Spider’s Web), and earlier drafts by Craig Mazin and Semi Chellas. Andrea Giannetti oversaw the project on the lot. However, I hear that the -script for Charlie’s Angels didn’t really attract top talent, i.e. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Margot Robbie (a trio that would have potentially jazzed up business), hence why the production opted to go with largely a fresh face cast outside of Kristen Stewart.

 

While we overwrite that stars mean nothing at the box office, they do sometimes when it comes to propping IP, and unfortunately and arguably no one in Middle America knows who British actress Ella Balinska is and they’ve only became recently acquainted with Naomi Scott from Disney’s Aladdin and Lionsgate’s Power Rangers. Stewart, who is hysterical in the movie and even needed more funny bits, is in a different place in her career professionally, publicly and privately. It’s unfair to think that she could delver her Twilight fans now. Had she done Charlie’s Angels promptly in the swell of the Twilight whirlwind (like Snow White and the Huntsmen) then maybe it would have popped. But she has largely been dormant from popcorn wide releases for the last seven years since 2012’s Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, busy excelling and wowing in specialty awards season and festival fare like Clouds of Sils Maria, Still Alice, and this year’s Seberg to name a few. Stewart needed to be paired with equal or bigger name actresses.

That's a shame. With a stronger -script and bigger name casting, this had potential.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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5 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

Just read some reviews, guess it’s a little preachy woke. Thats a shame, it was such a fun concept. I actually liked the last few movies, especially Sam Rockwells performance.

He is movie magic personified. His performance in Gentlemen Broncos makes that film so fun to watch.

 

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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1 minute ago, Bosco685 said:

He is movie magic personified. His performance in Gentlemen Broncos makes that film so fun to watch.

 

I really liked that movie, I’m amazed so many people hated it. He really was the best part of it. You ever see the heist?! God the dialogue in that one kills me.

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Gatsby77

Gatsby77

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19 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

I really liked that movie, I’m amazed so many people hated it. He really was the best part of it. You ever see the heist?! God the dialogue in that one kills me.

Heist is brilliant.

And yes - my introduction to Sam Rockwell was that film. I'll never forget the scene with him and Delroy Lindo in the car:

Bobby Blane: Sometimes adrenaline gives people the shakes, some might think it's cowardice, so maybe you'd want to pray about it.

Jimmy: I'm not a religious man.

Bobby Blane: There's nothing wrong with prayer. We knew this firefighter, this trooper, who always carried a bible next to his heart. We used to mock him, but one day, that Bible stopped a bullet.

Jimmy: No mess.

Bobby Blane: Hand of God, that Bible stopped a bullet; that bullet would of ruined that man's heart. And if he'd had another bible... in front of his face...that *spoon* would be alive today.

 

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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4 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

Heist is brilliant.

And yes - my introduction to Sam Rockwell was that film. I'll never forget the scene with him and Delroy Lindo in the car:

Bobby Blane: Sometimes adrenaline gives people the shakes, some might think it's cowardice, so maybe you'd want to pray about it.

Jimmy: I'm not a religious man.

Bobby Blane: There's nothing wrong with prayer. We knew this firefighter, this trooper, who always carried a bible next to his heart. We used to mock him, but one day, that Bible stopped a bullet.

Jimmy: No mess.

Bobby Blane: Hand of God, that Bible stopped a bullet; that bullet would of ruined that man's heart. And if he'd had another bible... in front of his face...that *spoon* would be alive today.

 

Heist is hands down a top 10 movie for me. It’s probably the best scripted movie of the last 30 years. 

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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24 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

I really liked that movie, I’m amazed so many people hated it. He really was the best part of it. You ever see the heist?! God the dialogue in that one kills me.

I really love watching Gentlemen Broncos because of those SCI-FI scenes telling the kid's story. Such kid-like humor! :roflmao:

Honestly, I have never seen Heist. Now I have something to add to my hit list. But even in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford his contributions make those films that much better.

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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45 minutes ago, Juno Beach said:

I don't remember seeing one preview for it on TV. It must not have had much of an advertising budget.

It appears it had an ok one. I don't have cable and watch very little broadcast but I saw multiple online and streaming ads for it, and on the few programs I watch. Usually studios don't spent over 50 million on a film that's designed for mainstream audiences without accompanying advertising. "Woke Angels" works about as well as "Woke Terminator" it seems.

 

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mattn792

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Per Banks:

“Look, people have to buy tickets to this movie too. This movie has to make money,” Banks told the Sun. “If this movie doesn’t make money it reinforces a stereotype in Hollywood that men don’t go see women do action movies.”

That should get the fellas racing to the AMC to drop $12.

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zhamlau

zhamlau

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Yeah I saw some of the comments she was making about this film and how bad it was for people to not see it. Very bizarre, almost as if people were obligated to see it. What’s weird is she made them right as the movie opened, like some sort of weird foreshadowing of the financial disaster this movie was.

This movie struck me as one that having a “woke” driving theme wouldn’t have hurt it, like say other reboots we have seen recently. By all accounts as an action film it was decent...just no one wanted to go see it. 

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