Universally Weak

Studios plan their movie releases well in advance. They try to make it a mix, but generally it's the summer where they put out the ones with the highest expectation of grosses.

This summer is almost over and we can see the results. Certain franchises did well, as expected: Tranformers from Paramount and DreamWorks, Harry Potter from Warner Brothers, Ice Age from Fox. Some did better than expected, or were sleeper hits: Up and The Proposal from Disney, Star Trek from Paramount, The Hangover from Warner Brothers.

I'm sure Universal looked to this summer and figured their slate was as good as any: Land Of The Lost, starring reliable Will Ferrell in a name-recognizable new franchise. Drag Me To Hell, where Sam Raimi returns to his roots with a low budget. Bruno--Borat 2. Public Enemies, a Johnny Depp actioner from Michael Mann. And now Judd Apatow's latest, starring Adam Sandler--two guys who don't fail--Funny People.

Some of these films got good reviews. Every one had serious commercial potential. But each has underperformced. Looks like not a single one will gross $100 million domestic.

How did this happen? I don't know, but it happens. Every film is a roll of the dice. (And the less chance you take, the more the film costs--if you want to make a Harry Potter or Transformers sequel, you gotta start with $200 million.)

Heads will roll to appease the stockholders, but I'm not sure anyone's to blame.

Except for Land Of The Lost. That was just awful.