12 Rounds Falls Flat with $5.3m Boxoffice Draw
Posted by Rodneyon 30. 03. 2009in News Chat
Seems not even screaming droves of Wrestling fans wanted to see John Cena’s 12 Rounds this weekend. Perhaps they were all off watching Monsters vs Aliens with their mums. This left 12 Rounds to scavenge $5.3m landing in 7th on its opening weekend.
Yahoo News says:
Irish actor Gillen, who suggests a curious mix of Richard Gere and Gary Oldman, brings a devious sparkle to smirking sociopath Miles, who seems on the verge of breaking into a wee jig every time he sets Danny another apparently impossible task.If Cena were half as charismatic, Danny and Miles’ turbo-charged cat-and-mouse game would be a real blast. But Cena is no Jason Statham. His stolid seriousness sucks the life right out of any scene in which he’s required to speak.
The movie itself didn’t have much of a draw to me as most described the plot as a ripoff of another Cena film, but it turns out it was only vaguely paralleled. My issue was the lack of interest in seeing a movie staring a professional wrestler pretending to be an actor.
I don’t mind professional wrestlers getting parts in movies where they may be asked to play supporting roles, or just in a scene that requires a physically imposing person. Hands down the best reasons to get a tv wrestler personality to do it. But they rarely turn out to give good performances in lead roles. Dwayne Johnson being likely the only exception to that rule, but he quit wrestling and worked his way up the food chain.
With an estimated production budget of a modest $20million this isn’t an utter failure by any means, but it sure doesn’t shine a good light on Cena.
Gone are the days when tagging a wrestlers name on a movie would instantly attract his loyal fans to the seats.
I was actually surprised this went to theaters and not direct-to-video.
same here
I didn’t really think it would dominate at all, no suprise
Friend of mine and I watch the Marine from time to time…for laughs. We’ll probably do the same for this turd when it goes to DVD as well. Not everyone can be an actor i.e. Cena and pretty much most of the entire population of rappers.
“Not everyone can be an actor”
Then why put them in jobs where there should be ACTORS??
They got good agents Rod…that’s for damn sure
Thing is, not everyone is an actor right off hand. Maybe it can develop over time. But I think people like this who didn’t start as actors should at least start with supporting roles and eventually lead to a leading role. Don’t you think?
Even actors who have never been in a movie before are ACTORS. This guy was a wrestler, which at best is a half actor.
Very rarely can someone come out of no where and get an acting gig, but apparently its ok for wrestlers and rappers to pretend to be actors on a whim.
Aren’t these films made/funded by WWE because to me that would explain Cena being the lead.
I been a wrestling fan for a long time and i still think they dont need to be actting staring role. Like you said Rodney they will be good in a supporting role or a villain. One thing Cena has it that he is a funny guy if any watchings WWE RAW or his Mad TV sketches there funny as hell.
I’ve enjoyed the WWF films and I’m sure that this one is no worse than the fluff entertainment they’ve done before. I’m just surprised it cost so much. But I’m sure it will be a good seller on DVD.
I too am a wwe fan.and john cena is hand down one of the reasons wrestling still has entertainment.but both movies(the marine and 12 rounds) seemed destined to not add cena to the league that dwayne johnson is in.honestly when it comes to cenas acting career we’ve cenanuff.
As a big WWE fan and an even bigger fan of that hunk of sexy known as The Rock, I’m pretty tickled to see this tank. I hardly saw any ads for it outside of WWE tv. Cena can’t act, The Marine was awful, so of course this would bomb.
And another thought: the vast majority of Cena’s fans are little kids. A lot of adult WWE find him incredibly annoying, so these kids’ parents had to choose between a violent PG-13 action flick or a safe cartoon. They picked the cartoon.
WoW, not surpirsed one bit.
I actually think this is a lot…i was guessing it would make less then this
If there was a real actor in the trailers and not John Cena…I GUARANTEE you people would have gone to see it…If it was freaking anyone (Karl Urban) people would have been like “This might be a good movie…” but they saw John Cena in the trailer and said “So this is basically The Marine 2…..yeah ill just go and play backgammon instead…”
You got it!
I made the mistake of letting myself get roped into seeing “The Marine” in theaters. Cena doesn’t do it for me as an actor, I’ve seen better performances in High School plays and community theater. Even as an action star, Cena is missing charisma which is what has me revisiting Schwarzenneger and Stallone’s older romps from time to time.
But, yeah, put anyone else in the role and I’d probably give it a shot. (I say probably and not guarantee. money is tight, need to pick potential winners!)
Not once in my life have I paid for a movie ticket yet i go like every friday
The day I went to see it it was like the only good movie playing (that i havent seen)
But if Justin Long was in the role..people would be like “Oh shit its that one guy..damn hes in an intense movie…im going to check it out”
This guys expression has “EXPRESSIONLESS” written all over it
And its not the good expressionless…like Steven Segall…its the bad Keannu Reeves one that looks like hes stoned 24/7
I for one wanted to give Cena another chance. One thing that got my attention is that the film was directed by Renny Harlin, who can direct good action pictures, such as Cliffhanger or Die Hard 2 I’m also watched Deep Blue Sea countless times. Harlin, however, is hit and miss. In fact, I think since Sea he’s been fairly dry.
I’m not surprised to hear reports that actual actors are stealing scenes from someone like Cena left and right. Maybe we will see Aidan Gillen…in other, perhaps better films.
But I want to propose another theory, and I want to ask Rodney this, maybe even John this if he’s reading:
Find the 12 Rounds trailer and watch it. Pay strict attention to the last fourth of that trailer.
Now that you and/or the int’l friends done that…
Question #1:what do you understand the story of this film to be?
* Detective Fischer (Cena) must face a criminal terrorist mastermind who is avenging the death of his lover/partner. Said bad guy kidnaps Det. Fischer’s g/f and gives him a series of deadly endurance tests just to put the guy through hell.*
That’s the premise as I understand it. You? Okay. We’re good. Now, here it comes…duck while you can…
Question #2: What DID YOU SEE near the trailer’s end?
tick-tock, tick-tock tick-tock, tick-tock
tick-tock, tick-tock tick-tock, tick-tock
Time’s up! What’s the answer???
Did Det. Fischer pass all the tests? YES.
Did he rescue his pretty girlfriend? YES.
Did the helicopter clearly get blown up with the bad guy in it?
Naw…say it ain’t so!
TRUTH.
Watch the trailer, you watch the movie.
and that sum up a bad trailer editing.
John Cena is no better or worse than Arnold or Sly yet people are drooling over them. This is a pure 80′s throwback and The Marine and The Condemned worked very well on that level. I don’t understand what people are expecting from a WWE film in the first place.
Arnie and Sly were full of personality. Maybe not thespian masters or anything but they could at least act well enough. Every time there is a review for a Cena movie its the same thing. He has the personality and expression of lint.
Id take a Sly or Arnie in the same movie in a heartbeat.
C’mon “every time there is a review for a Cena movie”? Dude… he’s had 2 movies. He’s also starred on WWE TV as it’s top star for a number of years. He has obviously captured viewers attention on that TV show with his acting ability.
Much like Rock and Hogan before him, his ring work is nothing outstanding. His popularity comes largely from his persona, and ability to engage the audience. Physically, he’s not a lot different from many other wrestlers. It’s his acting ability that’s propelled him to wrestling stardom.
He’s taken bad movie roles, which were either not good roles for him or not good roles period. But his successful role on WWE TV shows he’s not a total acting dud.
Sure Arnie and Sly are awesome. I agree. But don’t tell me they both didn’t have some total duds too.
what do you expect from a movie that looks like a ripoff fusion of Speed and Die Hard? WWE Films got what they paid for throwing originality out the window!
i’d still add it to my “brainless ACTION movie” collection though. x:
Sorry, but Cena is a good actor, he’s got a lead role on WWE TV each week. While 12 Rounds and The Marine may have sucked, he’s playing roles that he hasn’t done well. Plenty of actors have some hits and misses. He’s also playing a totally different character to the one he plays on WWE TV each week. He is not a stoic, expressionless, dead serious guy on Raw each week. If the roles played more to his strengths, with charismatic, comedic and more happy-go-lucky action roles, his performance would probably be stronger. As the roles in both films were written, the parts would have been played just as serious and expressionless by any actor.
Cena is acting every week on WWE TV shows. His matches make up a mere fraction of his time on TV, he does plenty of other acting in vignettes, interviews and ‘backstage’ segments. The guy can act, if the role suits him.
And Rodney, as for not liking wrestlers in leading roles except “The Rock”, how many do you have for comparison? Hulk Hogan in a few low budget 80s flicks, Steve Austin in one WWE film, and Kane in another. (Dwayne Johnston hardly worked his way up the food chain either, his second film role was a starring role in The Scorpion King, which was arranged before his first role playing the same part in Mummy Returns).
Wrestlers are actors, unlike other athlete’s or musicians. If chosen for the right parts, they could be good leading talent. I’ve just never seen a wrestler besides The Rock in a film that wouldn’t have sucked regardless of who the lead actor was. Seriously, name a film with a wrestler as the star, that actually had a great story, and a great lead character, that would not have still been as bland had another actor taken the lead role. A crappy film is still a crappy film.
No, I don’t like “The Rock” because that was Dwayne Johnsons name 5 years ago. He isn’t the Rock and even made a point to make a public statement saying so. Furthermore, I complained about a wrestler in a lead role with the Mummy spinoff suffered for it as well. His action was great, you can expect that from a wrestler, but his acting was horrible.
There is a difference between acting and a screen personality. Taking on a persona for a wrestling event is only half acting. Spouting some catch phrases and giving some “plot” to these WWE shows is an effort, but they are 10% trash talk, and 90% wrestling.
Great action, good choreography, and physically demanding. But not acting.
The range of emotion needed for an actor is trash talk, and reacting to trash talk. Kids on the playground playing pretend can do that.
I bet if Jason Statham was in this film it would have been a success. The reviewer gave Gillen rave reviews, and Cena he flinched when he had to speak.
Proof is in the pudding. Movies with wrestlers in lead roles fail.
Dwayne Johnson and “The Rock” are the same person. His acting career didn’t start the moment he started using his real name. By that time he was already an established actor, who started out with leading roles. So I don’t understand your above claim that the man “worked his way up the food chain”. He started out just like Cena, and as you agree, his first lead role was also bad.
Do movies with wrestlers in the lead fail BECAUSE the wrestlers are in the lead, or because they’re crappy movies? The plot and characters in films like 12 Rounds, Condemned, Mr Nanny, etc are rubbish. Name one WWE film with a compelling, interesting plot.
You must not have seen much WWE TV in the last decade Rodney, because the ratio is no where near 10% trash talk and 90% wrestling. Cena’s role on weekly TV usually consists of far more talk than action. I would wager Cena is involved in far more ‘action’ as opposed to ‘acting’ in 12 Rounds than an average month of WWE TV. By that rationale, he should do really well in a role like this.
There’s no proof that all movies with wrestlers in the lead roles fail. I’d say crappy, uninspired action films will be more likely to fail, regardless of the star.
No, Dwayne and the Rock WERE the same person. He dropped the name disassociating himself with pro wrestling and focused on becoming a better actor.
I have seen plenty of WWE (guilty pleasure) but I am not a devoted weekly watcher. But I watch it for the action. The “acting” is just as cheesey as it was in the 80s and there is no “plot” other than some thinly veiled trash talking and playground “he said this? I will take him in the ring and make him regret it” yelling that leads one wrestler into facing off against another wrestler.
Dwayne and The Rock are still the same person. A name change doesn’t mean he’s not the same guy from Scorpion King and Doom. I still fail to see how you rationalize that he in any way “climbed up the food chain”. He started out starring in crappy action films, and put in performances no more memorable than Cena. Were people raving about what a great actor Johnson was after Mummy Returns and Scorpion King? Nope.
I don’t disagree that Cena’s acting in his films so far is bad, but it’s nothing at all like his acting on WWE TV each week. Yes, WWE plots aren’t highly intelligent, and it’s all built around building up PPV matches. But it’s constantly changed up to keep the shows fresh; Cena has to do serious, he has to do comedy, he has to do sad, hurt, happy and a wide variety of acting. He’s not just doing the old match-hype interview to camera each week. Perhaps you’ve never seen much variety of what he does on WWE TV, but I assure you he has shown a diverse range, and he connects with the audience, hence his top role within WWE. He’s playing completely scripted roles on WWE TV, and mostly it’s done in front of a live audience in one take. Sure, the ability to act on a wrestling show is different than a film. But likewise, acting on a sitcom or in theater is different from acting in a film too.
So, Cena CAN act.
It’s just a shame he’s been cast twice now in near identical film roles that don’t play to his strengths as an actor. I personally see Cena doing really well in comedy, much like Johnson.
This movie was known to suck, just from the trailers. I’m actually surprised it’s getting this much attention/heat here!
One way to have made this movie infinitely better? Have the WWE girls naked in it. Then you have a draw. Cena is NOT a draw…
I do not think this looks very good.