With some big comic book, fantasy and science fiction movies coming out next year, I thought it would be interesting to talk about box office predictions, as well as looking back at some previous films that the new ones are connected. For example, today, this article is all about Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, so we talk about that (you guys share your thoughts in the comment section, of course) and we take a look back at the first film from 2007 and try to compare them. But, if we're discussing Marvel's
The Avengers, we'll talk about the solo films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe -
THOR,
Iron Man,
Captain America...
I'm not sure how many parts will there be, but I'll write about
John Carter,
The Avengers,
G.I. Joe: Retaliation,
The Amazing Spider-Man,
The Dark Knight Rises and more. So, let's get started.
In 2007, director
Mark Steven Johnson brought us the first big screen adaptation based on the character of
Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. It was a film that fans were looking forward to, even though Ghost Rider is not an A-list character in the Marvel library. But still, it was another comic book film that could open doors for more adaptations in the future. While the film received negative reviews from both critics and fans, it was still a solid box office success. On its opening day,
Ghost Rider made $15 million, and it went on to gross $52 million over the four-day President's Day weekend (February 16 - February 19). It had a 55% drop in the second weekend, grossing another $20 million. During its theatrical run,
Ghost Rider made $115.8 domestically and $112.9 million internationally for a total gross of $228.7 million. Budget was $110 million.
In February of 2012, Sony Pictures is bringing us a new Ghost Rider movie, titled
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Directed by
Mark Neveldine and
Brian Taylor (
Crank,
Gamer) and once again starring Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze. Film will have a different origin story and other things that are not connected to the 2007 adaptation, so it's not a direct sequel. Along Cage, we will also see Johnny Whitworth as Blackout, Ciarán Hinds as The Devil and Idris Elba as Moreau. Comic book films have become a lot more popular since the first movie, and
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was shot with a lower budget. Now, could Neveldine/Taylor's unique style of filming help this film make a solid profit? Well, maybe. Opening on February 17, it will go against two films:
McG's
This Means War, an action comedy starring Tom Hardy, Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon and
Act of Valor, a war film directed by
Mike McCoy.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is also in 3D, so it has a big chance to win that weekend with good numbers. I don't expect
Thor,
Captain America or
First Class numbers, but my prediction for opening weekend is around $35-40 million. Also, a lot of it depends on reviews, because if there is anything we have noticed this year, is that if the reviews for comic book films are not good, then people might not go see it. So, what do you think? Will the film be a success or a box office failure?
Next time, I'll be talking about Andrew Stanton's
John Carter, so stay tuned. And if you have some ideas on what else I could add to this new CBM feature, please let me know in the comment section.