Shocking... absolutely shocking...

[mancalledpete]

So I'm a huge Superman fan... I live in 'London' and its the opening weekend of Superman Returns........ and guess what... its not showing in ANY of the big cinemas in Central London???? WHATS 'THAT' ALL ABOUT?!?!?!

Its gotta be some kind of conspiracy... no wonder the movies not making the right profits, they won't show it anyway!

[algertman]

That doesn't make much sense

[Beast]

They probably saw the poor box office returns in the U.S. and other countries and decided it wasn't worth showing in any of the major central London theaters.

[drwho]

How much does it cost to see a movie in London? Do they have dollar theatres there?

[Windbreaker]

Try these Google results (http://www.google.com/movies?hl=en&near=london&dq=%22superman+returns%22+london&sort=1&mid=11c9cce955cd4c89&sa=X&oi=showtimes&ct=movie-link&cd=1).

[Chad]

Try the Imax next to Waterloo station. I'm sure it's playing there.

[kel25]

I went to SR thought it was a rental at best. No on second thought I would rather have just borrowed it from a friend so it would be free. Eh but than I would want the time wasted back. I wish i could get the $5 bucks back for the ticket.

Seriously out of what I considered the big 3 (XM3, SR, Pirates) summer movies this was bar far and a way the worst. Which is amazing because they didn't need to do much to make it better than XM3.

[Ontir]

Where do you live, that you can see a film for $5?!? :eek:

[Ontir]

They probably saw the poor box office returns in the U.S. and other countries and decided it wasn't worth showing in any of the major central London theaters.

I can't recall the last time I saw someone working so very hard to be THE Wet Blanket! :rolleyes:

[Hellcow]

They probably saw the poor box office returns in the U.S. and other countries and decided it wasn't worth showing in any of the major central London theaters.

Sometimes if a films not doing enough sales, it becomes more economical to minimise the exhibition costs, such as advertising dollar, etc and pull the film early in an attempt to make up the $ with DVD sales.

But who knows why...

[J. Robb]

Where do you live, that you can see a film for $5?!? :eek:
I know of a theatre where I can see it for $5 Canadian. But I was happy to spend the extra nine bucks and see the Imax 3D version. :)

[DWEarhart]

The only theory I can conceive is that the theaters refused to bow down to Warner Bros. demands of having the film play in the largest auditoriums for a month, no matter its ticket sales.

George Lucas did the same with all 3 Star Wars prequels.

Some theaters over here told WB what they could do with themselves, and instead of four prints, they were only given two.

Considering the lackluster performance in America, WB is probably showing their teeth everywhere else.

[PatrickG]

There are two cinemas here by the same owners. One shows R-rated movies and action films. The other shows kids and teens comedies and action movies in the G to PG-13 range.

I was rather shocked that the latter never carried Superman given that it's the more accessible theatre in town.

If WB restricted where this movie played, all I can say is that they must be insane and I hope the less-than-anticipated box wakes someone up.

If you ignore the pre-Singer budget, the movie has almost broken even domestically. One albatross around the neck of this movie is that it's touted a $260 million dollar budget... but anywhere from $60 to $100 million of that figure was spent over fifteen years on versions prior to Singer's.

So ignoring that, the movie has broken even or so in around three weeks. Which is okay but underwhelming. The rumors of a sequel with a $150 million budget sound reasonable (and this movie likely could have been made for $150 million considering there's an hour complete with finished SFX that never made the screen -- Singer insisted on post-production and CGI for scenes not in the final cut -- and $60 to $100 million -- or more -- was spent before Singer turned up).

If there are screens where WB didn't show this, somebody deserves a good kick in the pants. Because those are screens that may NEVER show this film now.

[David Atkins]

Where do you live, that you can see a film for $5?!? :eek:

When I went to see it again this past Saturday, my buddy and I paid $10 total for our tickets.

[mancalledpete]

Well I'm a sadder man today... I found a cinema (don't get my original post wrong, it has been put on in 'some' cinemas, I was just shocked that none of the big ones in central London bothered to put it on!) - and - from a long term fanboys point of view, I came out of the picture house feeling kinda lost & cheated a bit. I just thought it was... well... average!? Nothing blew me away... nothing felt re-invented & I'm just getting SO SO SO SO SO SO angry with directors who make comic book adaptations & take such HUGE liberties with the original source material. It just makes no sense to me... it just annoys the fan community.

Overall... I'd rate it a 5/10 at most... a good film(ish) just a rather ordinary superhero film. Very disappointed.

Wheres the escapsim in pretending something totally fantasy is reality???

[dancj]

How much does it cost to see a movie in London? Do they have dollar theatres there?

How would that make sense when we use pounds? Seriously though, I'm not aware of any cheap cinemas in England. The standard price is around £7 ($12.70 US) which is a rip-off. You'd pay a lot more in the big up-town cinemas.

Luckily if you've got an Orange mobile phone (which I have) most cinemas do a 2 for 1 deal on Wednesdays which is quite reasonable. Unfortunately I can't do this Wednesday so I'm going to have to wait til next Wednesday to see the film

Dan

[Tobias March]

Wheres the escapsim in pretending something totally fantasy is reality???

Bingo Bango! Hit it on the nail. One of the weirdest trends in these Hollywood superhero flicks is attempts to make men/women in capes and trunks with superpowers 'realistic', to mainstream audiences, for fear of alienating the paying public. See it's only us 'geek shut ins' that enjoy fantasy. Y'know the millions of nerds around the world with disposable incomes and an obsession with your product - they're the audience you choose to alienate for fear of missing out on the 'big bucks'. Pfft. I remember a quote from Lauren Shulen Donner after X-Men saying something to the effect of superheroes have to be brought into the real world. WHY!?!

Honestly there are only two directors I can think of that treat comic adaptations as fantasies - Sam Raimi and Guillermo Del Toro.

[Smarty Jones]

Exactly. Superheroes are by nature characters of fantasy and magic, flying and shooting energy from their eyes. Keep in mind these characters were created initially to appeal to children, and there is a sort of innocence in their appeal that creates the wonder.

Once creators understand it, then will comic book superheroes become more relevant. You're not telling me people went to a Superman movie with the expectation of seeing The Man of Steel involved in some uncomfortable love triangle where Lois Lane had a baby and MAY or MAY NOT have duped her fiance into thinking the child is his. That's the focus of the movie, along with some Christ analogies and an insistence on tying this movie to a 25-year-old flick.

Humor, romance and social tones may have some parts in a comic book, but so does action -- and instead of having a large-screen Superman taking on one of his villains in direct confrontation, we see Superman pursuing a woman engaged to (and at that time, presumably had a baby by) another man -- up to The Man of Steel eavesdropping and spying on them.

I feel that if you're going to change and warp the characters into something they're not, then leave the genre alone. "Superman Returns" comes across as a movie that seems less interested in appealing to the classic attributes of superheroes and more on appealing to a desensitized demographic that wants elements usually seen in a Lifetime TV movie or some superhuman version of "The Last Temptation of Christ."

[Mister Mets]

They probably saw the poor box office returns in the U.S. and other countries and decided it wasn't worth showing in any of the major central London theaters.

Yeah, but the poor box office was still better than any movie expect Pirates, Cars, and the Da Vinci Code.

[Beast]

Yeah, but the poor box office was still better than any movie expect Pirates, Cars, and the Da Vinci Code.
X-Men: The Last Stand performed better.

A lot of movies have performed better than Superman Returns has so far.

[cactusmaac]

So I'm a huge Superman fan... I live in 'London' and its the opening weekend of Superman Returns........ and guess what... its not showing in ANY of the big cinemas in Central London???? WHATS 'THAT' ALL ABOUT?!?!?!

Its gotta be some kind of conspiracy... no wonder the movies not making the right profits, they won't show it anyway!

It's on at the Odeon West End and the Odeon on Kensington High Street.

[Ontir]

I know of a theatre where I can see it for $5 Canadian. But I was happy to spend the extra nine bucks and see the Imax 3D version. :)


CANADIAN!!! that's even LESS than $5! :p
Mind you, not as much less as it used to be, which is part of the reason I always loved going to Canada. It's amazing what $5 Canadian can get you on Rue St. Catherine! :D

Vive "Campus," and tout les dancerurs nues!