jekylljuice: Uh...did you follow my link and see who Turner D. Century actually
is? He's a supervillain whose primary defining trait is that he, uh, hates social change and young people. His supervillain weapons are a flamethrower umbrella and a flying tandem bike, which he rides on his own with a mannequin in a pink dress, presumably because he has no actual friends. His supervillain apparel consists of a straw boater, a green stripey jacket and a handlebar moustache. Now, I know Paul Newman is a legend, but I think even he'd struggle to pull this one off.
As for this summer's box office battle, I'm not sure there's enough money in the world to cover all of the absolutely massive releases coming in the next few months; after
Spidey comes
Shrek the Third, Pirates 3, Ocean's Thirteen, Fantastic Four 2, Die Hard 4, Harry Potter 5, Transformers, The Simpsons Movie, Ratatouille, The Bourne Ultimatum...I think we're going to see all sorts of records set this year. If we're talking in purely US box office terms, I reckon we're looking at, appropriately enough, a three-way fight between
Spider-Man 3, Pirates 3 and Shrek 3, simply based on box office pedigree so far. I think you all are
really underestimating
Shrek's domestic appeal;
Shrek 2 is the third highest grossing movie of all time in the US, ahead everything except
Titanic and
Star Wars, and it achieved that feat in direct competition with
Spider-Man 2. Worldwide I'd throw
Harry Potter into the mix, too, possibly ahead of
Spider-Man and
Shrek; not many current franchises match the mass global appeal of
HP and
Pirates, though the early success of
Spider-Man 3 might challenge that. Elsewhere, I'm expecting very solid but not record-breaking stuff from
Transformers, Simpsons, Ratatouille and
Bourne, whilst I have a hunch that
Ocean's,
Die Hard and
Fantastic Four might disappoint somewhat. Mark my words there; we'll see if I'm right!
As for what I'm actually looking forward to,
Ratatouille and
Harry Potter are the ones that I'm really desperate to see, whilst I'm optimistic about
Pirates,
Bourne and
Transformers (despite all the indications that I shouldn't be).
Shrek and
Simpsons I'll monitor, but they're really going to have to do a heck of a lot to convince me to shell out my money; the rest I can live without.