I've already gushed about this movie and how great it was. One of the aspects not really being talked about is what Inception's box office performance can mean for the future of summer movies. It killed on opening weekend, raking in $60+ mil. Of course it had almost nothing strong running against it (unless you count The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which you shouldn't), but that changed this week with the opening of Salt. This was more than just one big movie against another. Inception stands for everything that summer movies should be, visually intense but also extremely original, with creative control in the right hands and using great filmmaking to impress. Salt kind of represents everything summer movies are now, loud, mindless, unoriginal, and relying only on star power. Now I haven't seen Salt, but all the trailers, reviews, etc I've seen have done nothing to persuade me that my perception of the film is wrong. Not trying to bash it here, but it's obviously trying to be The Bourne Identity with a chick. I get annoyed when movies try too hard to make classic characters; even the name Salt sounds like a shitty, made up, action hero name. Now I'm also not saying every movie has to elevate the genre or be as mind blowing as Inception. Some movies are just there to sit back, unplug, and watch. From time to time that's great, look at Taken, it's the best example of a well-done action movie I can think of. Even that caught a rash of shit for being kind of simple, but the big difference is that it wasn't a tentpole. Taken wasn't put out thinking it was going to rake in a ton of money. It was just a cool little action movie that was different enough to get people into it. Of course it also happened to make lots of money. Summer tentpoles have evolved into unimaginative movies that never really blow you away. That's exactly what they shouldn't be.
Take a look at this summer's lineup of big movies. Twilight, Robin Hood, Clash of the Titans, Nightmare on Elm Street, Sex and the City, Toy Story, Iron Man, Shrek, Karate Kid, Predators; there's not an original idea in there. Kick-Ass and Inception were the only two bankable, non-remake/sequel movies so far. The Expendables is the only other one on the horizon and only time will tell how much that makes. Referring to the above list of movies, maybe 3 of them were necessary sequels and the rest could have and should have been replaced with original ideas. Why was Robin Hood remade? There's got to be a similar genre story that isn't something we've seen before. Hell it was such a departure from the character that with a few minor tweaks it could have been completely original. Yet the brand of Robin Hood had to be smacked on it and sold as a "reimagining". Same with any of those up there. Nightmare on Elm Street was barely passable and pretty boring as far as horror goes. Throw that $35 million dollars at an original idea and with the same press it'll probably do just as well in the box office, if not better. It was the only horror movie of the summer after all. There's a real trepidation to roll the dice on anything and it's kind of silly. What's the worst that could happen, the movie doesn't make back it's budget? That's an incredibly rare thing and only usually happens with really shit movies (I'm looking at you, Jonah Hex). Best case scenario you discover new talent, make tons of money, and have the big "it" movie of the summer. Minus the new talent, this is exactly what Inception did and it should be the mold for future projects.
This past weekend's box office performance could strongly indicate a new trend, and strangely enough a new trend that doesn't suck (*cough3d/remakescough*). The only thing studios really care about is money, and fair enough, since most really good movies tend not to do well in the box office so they need the mindless crowd pleasure to finance other projects. I get that. But if something like Inception can not only dominate the box office, but dominate other sure thing cash cows, it could really start to change thinking. While Avatar was both original (I know some would argue that) and made a record amount of money, the takeaway was wrong. The studio takeaway from Avatar was 3D = money. That's not why Avatar was huge. Avatar was huge because people really got into it, they loved the world that Cameron created. That's why the money came, not because it looked pretty. Look, I'm not trying to be all anti-studio, but when Paul Thomas Anderson (who just did There Will Be Blood) has to shop around his next script with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jeremey Renner interested, there is a real problem. Add to that the tinkering they did with Clash of the Titans and Robin Hood (which were reportedly castrated by the studio), you have to admit that something's kinda wrong. The money people should worry about the money and the creative people should worry about the creating. Inception can make studios realize that they can make a shitload of money with an original story and without Hollywood-izing the shit outta the movie.
Here's this weekend's box office numbers:
1. Inception - $43.5 million
2. Salt - $36.5 million
3. Despicable Me - $24.1 million
4. The Sorcerer's Apprentice - $9.7 million
5. Toy Story 3 - $9 million
This is a great thing to see. The only real game in town was Inception and Salt. Salt lost out to a far superior movie on it's 2nd week. That says a lot about Inception. Word-of-mouth was HUGE on this movie. Tons of people (including me) saw it last week and couldn't shut up about it. It started debates about the meaning of the ending and nearly everybody was tweeting/facebooking for their friends to see it. That's how a great movie is marketed and that's how you take advantage of social networking. It's been a trending topic on twitter since it came out, that's really really big and hard to do. Sure the trailers and genius billboards it had helped, but when people see it and start raving about it, that does more than any commercial can. Inception was the perfect summer movie and deserves every single dime it gets, and then some. Hopefully it will make studio execs see that original ideas not only make for great films, but can also rake in a ton of money.
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