I think its funny people are still comparing it to TDK. The ONLY reason why TDK did good was cause Ledger died, not because he was in the movie, or there are really that many batman fans in the world, and not because its really that good of a film,which it is. It was because he died. Just look at the numbers Begins did. Half the people who saw it only saw it to see ledger in his last full role. Thats its. That is my opinion on why TDK did so good.
so to compare any movie with the TDK on box office is ridiculous....because his death drew numbers that if he had not died would not of happened.
I seriously doubt TDK's overall performance can be attributed to Ledger's death. It was an anticipated summer movie and had very strong word of mouth combined with audiences going multiple times. The opening weekend? Sure, I'll accept that Heath's death factored into a percentage of that.
As for your comparison of
Batman Begins vs.
The Dark Knight, here's my take on it, and I think I'm hitting close to the mark.
Audiences loved the direction
Batman Begins took the franchise, loved the movie, and it was still fresh in their minds as last summer approached. Trailers for
The Dark Knight were showing audiences something even more epic with a terrifying glimpse at an iconic villain. Combine that anticipation with the goodwill it was riding thank to
Begins, and audiences swamped theaters on opening weekend.
When
Batman Begins was released, no one knew what to expect. It had been half a decade since a
Batman film was in theaters, and that last movie was the franchise-sinking
Batman and Robin. There was little anticipation from general audiences. It still made over $200 million thanks to word of mouth, but it didn't have that huge
oomph! on opening weekend.
I think the same thing is happening with
Revenge of the Fallen.
Transformers was a massive hit. Audiences loved it, so the sequel had a lot of goodwill it was riding for opening weekend. Previews showed more robots, more action, and what looked like a darker and more serious story (notice how they left out any trace of the truly crude and juvenile humor in the previews?). The result was the massive opening weekend it had.
Now we'll see if word of mouth will carry
Revenge of the Fallen as it did
The Dark Knight and if the audience will remain large and people see it multiple times. And because their running times are so similar, neither film will have the advantage of extra showings per day.
I know that I won't be re-attending or recommending it because it was a let-down for me.
AVP had the potential to be a much better movie. I actually took the time to try to re-edit it to make it more platable to me. Sadly never completed the project.
