34 Comments

• 1. mdean replies at 30th March 2007, 10:08 am :

  I don’t know John….
  My sister who is your average moviegoer, just asked me if she could take my daughter to see the film. Here is Seattle WA. they have billboards up advertising the movie. Guess we’ll see.

• 2. Slaader replies at 30th March 2007, 10:12 am :

  I’m going to disagree with lackluster marketing. I’ve seen a ton of commercials for this film down here in Dedham, MA (outside Boston). Way more then what I’ve seen for Blades of Glory. Not to mention Showcase cinemas here are running promos and previews for it on their lobby network.

  Everywhere I hear people say “I have a big heads, and little arms” … I haven’t heard a single quote from Blades.

• 3. Kneon Transitt replies at 30th March 2007, 10:55 am :

  They’re advertising the snot out of it on the kid’s channels — Nick, Disney (obviously), Cartoon Network. I think it’ll do OK. My son is pretty excited about it.

  I noticed Border’s also has a fairly large selection of tie-in merchandise in their kids’ section. It makes sense, since it was based on a children’s book by William Joyce (”A Day with Wilbur Robinson”).

• 4. tedward replies at 30th March 2007, 11:05 am :

  I don’t know where you’re getting your information from John, but everyone I talk to, wants to see Meet the Robinsons, but are kind of ‘iffy’ about Blades.

  From what I hear, the dino in Robinsons is already very popular among kids and adults alike.

  I run a theatre, and a lot of people I talk to outside of work have been bugging me about Robinsons and wether we’re opening it. No one has asked about Blades.

  Meet the Robinsons is going to kick Blades’ ass.

  True, I haven’t seen a lot of marketing for Robinsons, but then again, I’m also aware of the fact that I don’t watch kids programs.

  Just because I don’t see a lot of commercials for Robinsons while watching 24 or Rome (RIP) or Galactica doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

• 5. JOE replies at 30th March 2007, 11:31 am :

  i screened blades of glory and it was funny. jon heder is the same old jon heder, but Will picks it up. the movie does have one dumbass ending

• 6. Kneon Transitt replies at 30th March 2007, 11:33 am :

  A reviewer on AICN seems to dig it…
  http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32087

• 7. louman replies at 30th March 2007, 12:07 pm :

  Blades of Glory looks really dumb and unfunny. none of the commercials were even remotely funny. i can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch it. I also don’t want to watch Meet the Robinsons though.

• 8. Chip Chief replies at 30th March 2007, 3:35 pm :

  $12 million!? are you serious. That’s Ant Bully territory. I am tempted to put a squash’s life on the line here and bet that it makes at least $25 million. Disney isn’t what it used to be, but its still Disney.

• 9. Meli replies at 30th March 2007, 4:01 pm :

  There are TV spots for this movie running all the time! So unless you’re sticking to mostly cable, John, I’m not sure why you think this.

  My daughter and her friends have been chatting about this movie daily for the last month, so the kids are excited. I’m even looking forward to it - mostly because the T-Rex cracks me up.

  I definitely think this movie will come out on top this weekend. Will Ferrell has a good draw, but I’m not sure the parents are going to choose him over a Disney flick.

• 10. alfie replies at 31st March 2007, 2:35 am :

  i guess it depends where you are because this thing is advertised every time i turn my head…everywhere i go i am seeing ads for this thing…..
  I don’t think it so much the lack of advertising but the sudden explosion…it just seemed to come out of nowhere…..I mean there was a trailer on my cars dvd from last year but all of a sudden its everywhere..I have a kid and believe disney channel is going crazy on this thing……

  I am guessing it will be number 1 this week with more than 12 but i don;t think it will be a pixar type giant opening….

  I am sensing a real sense of unease about blades of glory - only from my friends who normally love will but I am picking up a little bit of ferrell fatigue out there … i am going to see as i fucking love the guy but most of friends hated talladega nights and are just not that fussed

• 11. Kaneda979 replies at 31st March 2007, 7:02 am :

  Same. I’ve been seeing tones of ads for Meet The Robinsons. I see a ad on it atleast once a day, depending how much TV I’ve watched, ever scense about the begining of March. I think it’s going to do really well. Much better then Blades of Glory.

• 12. tedward replies at 31st March 2007, 9:53 am :

  Well, I was definately wrong about Robinsons kicking Blades’ ass.

  It didn’t do too bad though. It will at least do 25 million. Not bad, but not as good as I thought it would do.

• 13. Kristina replies at 31st March 2007, 11:35 am :

  I saw Blades of Glory for free, praise the Lord. It’s funny, but it’s another Will Ferrell movie. That should tell you whether to see it or not.

• 14. Kristina replies at 31st March 2007, 11:44 am :

  And box office mojo has MTR on the way to a 21 million dollar opening. Should have reversed the numbers JOhn:)

• 15. JCIW replies at 31st March 2007, 4:10 pm :

  It’ll open to more than $21 million. It’s a family movie, and those have larger Fri-Sun multipliers than a normal movie. It made $7.6 Friday, and I would say it would be closer to $25 million than $21.

  This just shows for the 457th time that John has no clue about box office. My god, man, will you EVER learn? Honestly. Have you ever been right with one of these absurd predictions of yours? I just don’t get it. Do you TRY to be wrong?

• 16. Sean replies at 31st March 2007, 4:19 pm :

  Clearly JCIW has no idea what he’s taling about. John was pretty much correct with his prediction. $21 million is only $9 million off his prediction, and if you look at what other major studio animated films open with, $21 million is a pathetic failure.

  And to all those who said it would beat Blades, look again. Blades has made pretty much more than 2x the ammount of Robinsons

• 17. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 6:10 pm :

  based on friday numbers, boxofficeguru projects it to earn 25-27 million. So john was way off on this one. nearly 50% wrong actually.

• 18. Krintina replies at 31st March 2007, 6:17 pm :

  Sean is right. Gio/John was off by what? 10-12 million bucks? that’s not bad. I did a quick look at boxofficemojo, and compared to other big animated releases like happy feet and Ice age and Shrek 2 and stuff like that, it is a failure. Blades totally crushed it like he predicted

• 19. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 6:39 pm :

  krintina,

  “I’m predicting maybe $12 million tops… but even that might be pushing it.”-john.

  that meant 12 million was his maximum guess, meaning he thought it wouldn’t even reach 12 million, by MTR earning nearly 25-27 million it exceeded his estimates by a huge amount. Campea was very wrong in his prediction. Just like he’ll be very wrong about Transformers opening weekend. HAha, he thinks it’ll break POTC 2’s record, that’s just a ridiculous claim.

• 20. Krintina replies at 31st March 2007, 7:15 pm :

  Louman, I just stated the simple math. The estiamtes I read were about 22-23 million. Close enough. That still means Gio/John was only off by 10-11 million. Close enough.

  And the general idea held. Compared to other big animated movies, this is a failure. And it got smashed by Blades of Glory.

• 21. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 7:44 pm :

  I think one reason for his bad prediction was that john doesn’t have cable tv, which is probably why he said the marketing was lackluster. TV is still the main source of marketing for movies today, and for many people that is their only source of hearing about movies. There’s only a small number that gets their advertising from internet. and aside from tv and internet, there’s the print ads which are important but not nearly as much as the TV ads.

• 22. Krintina replies at 31st March 2007, 7:48 pm :

  Bad prediction? I think you’re being quite liberal with your definition of the term. Pretty much everything Gio/John said was correct. And his dollar number was only off 10-12 or so million. Interpret things as you will, but to me that’s a pretty darn good prediction.

  Don’t let that go to your sun tanning head though John, you’re still too hard on M. Night.

• 23. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 7:49 pm :

  i’ll even say that internet advertising/marketing/buzz is at the bottom of all the other ones, even lower than radio ads. I know for a fact that movie studios spend the least amount of money on internet advertising, in fact it’s almost non-existent compared to the others.

• 24. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 7:54 pm :

  sorry krintina,

  i won’t take anyone who actually liked Blades of Glory seriously.

• 25. Krintina replies at 31st March 2007, 8:02 pm :

  Sorry louman, my mistake. I didn’t realize you were one of those “I only listen to people who already think exactly like I do” ghetto thinkers. My mistake.

• 26. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 8:09 pm :

  i was just making a cute remark. to be honest, i haven’t seen the movie and was just judging from the moronic commercials.

• 27. Bruxy replies at 31st March 2007, 8:10 pm :

  “i’ll even say that internet advertising/marketing/buzz is at the bottom of all the other ones, even lower than radio ads. I know for a fact that movie studios spend the least amount of money on internet advertising, in fact it’s almost non-existent compared to the others.”

  Lou, I’d like to recommend the article on CNN’s website the other day that sited the web marketing of 300 for it’s impressive success.

• 28. louman replies at 31st March 2007, 8:36 pm :

  haven’t seen it yet, but i don’t believe that CNN article. commercials played on the internet are usually unremarkable, because 1. the screens can only fit in a small tiny screen (usually on the top of a webpage) and it’s usually on silent until you click on the ’sound’ button 2. people aren’t guaranteed to watch the whole commercial, usually it’s just considered a nuisance while you’re on that site 3. I think web marketing is too hard to quantify as the source of its success.
  other web marketing would web the movie’s own webpage, which we all know is basically worthless and very few people go to.
  other than that, it would have to be viral marketing which is just useless.

  on the other hand, TV marketing lets you watch the whole trailer on your TV. it’s even more important now since people have huge HDTV sets at home, which makes even almost like theatrical trailers.

• 29. Alic replies at 1st April 2007, 2:34 am :

  Saw the screener a year ago… it sucked then, and it sucks even more now since they edited it even more!

• 30. louman replies at 1st April 2007, 5:01 pm :

  hey bruxy,

  you didn’t respond with what i said. did i prove to you that internet marketing for movies don’t have a large impact?

  All i’ll say is that it’s true that studios spend little to nothing on internet advertising. as much as you don’t believe that, it’s true.

  take your 300 example, if I watched a 300 advertisement playing in a large HDTV in a sports bar or at a friend’s home theater, it would be most impressive.

  when you’re on Yahoo and there’s a small box that’s playing 300 in the background, not so impressive. in fact, you probably think it’s annoying when you cross your arrow over the trailer and it plays the audio. so not only is internet advertising ineffective it’s a nuisance as well.

  that’s why most studios spend their most money on TV advertising, because it gets the point across easier.

• 31. 12 Monkeys replies at 2nd April 2007, 11:36 am :

  Wow John, you were really off on this one. I don’t know what you been watching but every kid’s program had this movie’s adverts in overdrive. It was even on during the Final Four on Saturday night.

  If TMNT isn’t out, I think it challenges Blades for the #1 spot.

• 32. John Campea replies at 2nd April 2007, 11:53 am :

  Hey 12 Monkeys,

  No, I actually wasn’t that far off. I was out by $13 million… not bad. But as others have pointed out before me… I was right about everything else.

  The whole TMNT thing was exactly what I said. I did say it would be one of the factors keeping this movie down… and I was right.

• 33. 12 Monkeys replies at 2nd April 2007, 7:50 pm :

  John

  The movie made double what you said it was going to make. It’s ok to be wrong and then my main point was they were pumpin’ this movie. I’m in Philly and it was all over the TV and billboards. So the marketing for the film must have been lackluster only in your area.

  Thx

• 34. John Campea replies at 2nd April 2007, 7:55 pm :

  Hey 12 monkeys,

  Oh no doubt I was wrong. I said 12 million… it came in at 25. I was incorect. HOWEVER… I know I’m hardly ever wrong, so people like to rub it in a bit when the stars align a certain way and I’m off by a bit… BUT… I was only off by 13 million, and everything else I said was correct. I wasn’t “WAY” off like some people said. But meh, either or.

  And yes, i think you’re right… from what I’m told, the marketing centered pretty heavily in a bunch of areas… and not so much in others. Mine must have been one of the “others”.

  Cheers.

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