Bit of a backhanded compliment, eh?

dispatch | December 17, 23:41 CET

Some thoughts on "The Cabin in the Woods" from /Film's Peter Sciretta...

“This is one of those movies that is worth seeing because its so batshit ridiculous. It seems like this movie was a favorite of most everyone at this year’s BNAT, and while I enjoyed it and will highly recommend it, but I still feel the film lacks an interesting story of arc for any of its characters. But the shock factor will have you rewatching and recommending this to all of your friends for years.”

http://www.slashfilm.com/bnat-13-recap-hobbit-cabin-woods-grey-ghost-rider-spirit-vengeance/

J Linc | December 18, 00:09 CET

dispatch: He also mentioned that Whedon isn't to his taste. So when someone is not a fan, and then says "Cabin in the Woods is great", that's a pretty good endorsement.

General Martok: "An ally and an enemy telling him the same thing; he'll have no other choice but to agree!"

OneTeV | December 18, 02:50 CET

Agreed with OneTeV, even if there's a little backhand in the actual comment, he's saying a very good thing about the movie itself. In this day and age people will write off good films almost immediately if they don't like a star/writer/director attached to said project all the time, so while I disagree with Quint on his Whedon take (he's otherwise one of the site's best writers) I am delighted to see that didn't reduce his enjoyment of the movie. Can't wait for this!

Unrelated to CITW but I do hope Marvel starts pumping out the Avengers hype soon, I'm seeing some of the Batman stuff getting out there and they can't let our man's superhero epic be overshadowed.

MrArg | December 18, 05:28 CET

I think it's fair to say Avengers will be getting a leeetle bit more hype over next few months.

gossi | December 18, 22:07 CET

What's the Avengers?

The One True b!X | December 18, 23:33 CET

It's a spy-fi TV series set in 1960s Britain, of course.

gossi | December 18, 23:53 CET

Well, it's that and a few other things too.

BreathesStory | December 19, 01:16 CET

Isn't it TDK's turn in the spotlight, after the mini-avalanche of Avengers news and leaks a few months ago? It's still months away from release, after all. What's I'm dying for is the completed film to screen and reading the (non-spoilery) reports. I just want an idea of what to expect, etc.

dottikin | December 19, 01:41 CET

I just want them to give this the marketing push it deserves--not just a cavalcade of the same commercial over and over two months prior to release a la Thor and Captain America, but strategic leaks and dribbles of awesome info from people like, say, the writer/director. No matter what they do with it I suspect the end product will be awesome, but I hope it doesn't get steamrolled by bat guano. Maybe I'm still bitter about Serenity making less money (and glory) than Episode III back in the day. Maybe I'm a tad delusional but maybe I'm still right that the Big Damn Movie deserved much better than it got. OK I'll stop now.

MrArg | December 19, 06:48 CET

Serenity (which I loved) and The Avengers are very different beasts, MrArg. Aside from one literally having a green beast in it, it also has Robert Downey Jr. And Captain America. All they need to do is show the same 3 TV spots recycled and the audience will turn up. Serenity had the first 10 minutes online, along with 20 minutes of clips... Which the fans watched, and nobody else.

gossi | December 19, 11:22 CET

I'm one of the five geeky people worldwide who isn't a fan of Nolan's Batman movies, and even I have come to see that there really is no contest between the two movies. They're both huge tentpole movies of the summer, and it's not like one movie has to do badly for the other to do well. The audience for both movies are very likely to overlap, and it'd be great if both movies were successful (though I'd like The Avengers to do a little better), to affirm the viability of the superhero genre.

There is also no comparison to Serenity, as The Avengers is one of the most anticipated movies of next year, so it's almost guaranteed to have a big opening weekend... all it has to do is be good/entertaining/a little bit awesome & people will keep coming. Cabin in the Woods, however, is going to have a bit of an uphill climb finding an audience.

dottikin | December 19, 12:55 CET

I'd be surprised if Cabin didn't make a bucket load. Kids love horror.

gossi | December 19, 13:55 CET

Curious, dottikin: what don't you like about Nolan's "Batman" movies?

J Linc | December 19, 14:04 CET

The official marketing for The Avengers has been really poor. Beside's the good trailer all we've had is a bad photoshop magazine cover and posters where the main talking point is how ridiculous ScarJo's pose is.

Kaan | December 19, 14:19 CET

There was marketing at Comic-Con and Disney Expo as well.

Simon | December 19, 15:26 CET

Gossi, how much is a bucket load? I'd be surprised to see Cabin make more than 30 million total or Drag Me to Hell numbers and that movie was seen as a disappointment box office wise. Plus Cabin is rated R and those don't make much money these days unless its a comedy.

[ edited by eddy on 2011-12-19 15:30 ]

eddy | December 19, 15:28 CET

I suspect it will finish its domestic and foreign shy of $100m.

gossi | December 19, 15:29 CET

There was marketing at Comic-Con and Disney Expo as well.

Marketing at cons means little to a wider audience, despite how big some of them have gotten. Showing footage to 1000 people is pointless if you don't then release that footage to everyone else further on. How often have you heard about a film having great buzz coming out of Comic-Con only to have it die at the box-office? Now I'm not saying The Avengers has a chance of that happening (I'd be surprised if it didn't open to $100million+) but it does show how little cons can actually affect audience anticipation.

Kaan | December 19, 15:50 CET

In terms of media coverage, it didn't. The Disney Expo stuff got a lot of the press yacking about the movie.

Simon | December 19, 15:53 CET

eddy, with horror films, an R rating is actually a badge of credibility. I suspect "Cabin" will do well enough to make a profit. In Hollywood terms, it has a relatively small budget (not "Paranormal Activity" small, but compared to bigger-budget movies). I'm not sure if all the moving from MGM to Lionsgate is counted as part of the budget (acquisition costs), but for what it is, I think it should do decently in terms of box office.

Shapenew | December 19, 18:00 CET

With "Cabin in the Woods" the chief issue might be that it's being called, at least by some, a "horror comedy."

It's a weird thing, but movies that are basically comedies with horror elements, like "Shaun of the Dead" and "Zombieland" seem to have a shot at doing really well, but movies that are actually scary horror films but are also quite funny, "Slither," "Drag Me to Hell," etc. tend to do less well because horror fans tend to look down their noses at them for, I think, they same silly reasons they look down their noses at ones that aren't rated R. I'm convinced a lot of young male horror fans have this idea that they've wasted their money if they aren't literally traumatized by the film and really only want to experience one or two very simple emotions -- fear and revulsion. There's also a silly idea out there that humorous horror films are either "too funny to be scary or too scary to be funny."

On the other hand, having Chris Hemsworth on board won't hurt, and all the residual publicity from "The Avengers" could attract people who might not automatically go to horror films and who are outside the usual horror film base and lack these kind of prejudices. Me, I'm just hoping I can handle the gore I've been promised by the MPAA.

bobster | December 20, 04:57 CET

j linc, I could go on for almost forever detailing what I don't like about Nolan's Batman films, but short and to the point: I think he didn't make a superhero movie so much as a urban noir movie that happened to star Batman; the movies are more spectacle and intellectual postering rather than coherent storytelling and character development; and the actual action scenes are not particularly well-done either (blurry shots of hand-to-hand combat, sigh). The movies have great atmosphere, I will give them that.

bobster, I hope you realize that with the exception of Zombieland, none of the movies you mentioned were considered box office hits. Even Shaun of the Dead did poorly theatrically, only becaming a cult hit on DVD. Which is probably why the trailer for Cabin in the Woods emphasized the slasher aspect of the movie, as opposed to the humor. I too will be covering my eyes for the goriest bits; I've a delicate soul and have never been a slasher fan.

dottikin | December 20, 07:41 CET