Movie News
Is The Incredible Hulk In Danger of Imminent Floppage?
Posted by Kevin Kelly (kevinkelly@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 24, 2008
This past Saturday I went to go see Forgetting Sarah Marhsall with a friend, and the theater was completely sold out. As we packed ourselves amongst the sardines and the previews started, a strange murmur rolled across the crowd when The Incredible Hulk trailer unspooled. A murmur of “Huh?!” and “What the?!” and one woman saying “Hey, didn’t this movie come out already?” It’s a reaction I’ve heard a few times from people who aren’t movie geeks (like me) when discussing the big upcoming summer flicks.
The problem is, it’s only been five years since the Ang Lee-directed, Eric Bana starring Hulk came out, and it’s still fairly fresh in people’s minds. You’d be hard-pressed to erase the previous appearance of the big green guy from the collective minds of audiences. While it was generally perceived to be a flop, and wasn’t loved by critics or audiences, it did gross $245 million dollars worldwide, which isn’t just a drop in the bucket.
This would be like releasing another Batman movie or another Superman flick just a few years after Batman Begins or Superman Returns, starring a new actor in the lead role, and with an entirely different director. Will people go see it, or just wait until it appears on home video? Don’t get me wrong, I love Ed Norton, and I’m extremely interested to see what he’s done with the script, and how Louis Leterrier has interpreted it. I don’t want the Jolly Green Giant to lose the box office battle, but I’m afraid he has an uphill battle to barrel through before he can get there.
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6 Comments
April 24th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Yeah I agree Kevin this could flop.
They would be smart to have an Iron Man apperance in the Hulk.
If Iron Man does huge biz, and then later the fans see a trailer that shows a quick shot of Iron Mans Cameo it will really help the film.
It could even make it a blockbuster.
The next month is going to be intense. Lets see how they handle this?
April 24th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Hey 790, I think that both Iron Man and Hulk will be making an appearance in each other’s movie. There’s been way too much rumors swirling around for it not to be true.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Hey Kevin, yeah I’ve heard that too but a lot of people outside the web have no idea.
Showing Hulk in a Iron Man trailer won’t matter. But having Iron Man briefly appear in a Hulk trailer, that could make that film a lot more money.
:-)
April 24th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
They showed a trailer of this during the Forbidden Kingdom and I remember several people laughing, because the end scene with Hulk and Abomination showed our very own iconic Zanzibar strip club and 18+ Loft (changed to Apollo) on Yonge Street in Toronto. The people behind me were well informed about the revision of the origin story of The Hulk and the rest of the theatre was indistinctly chattering after the trailer ended. Haha, if the film flops you may have Toronto to blame in the mix. XD
April 24th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
As long as 7-11 offers up s’more cool plastic cups and straws a’la their Iron Man promotion, I’ll check the thing out twice. Nothin’ says “my ass in the seat” more than a promotion where I can sip Slurpees outta The Incredible Hulk’s noggin.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:19 am
You know..
I finally figured out what is bothering me about the new Hulk.
When I go to see a Hulk movie, I’m going in there thinking two words:
“Hulk Smash” and generally speaking that’s a lot of what I want to see.
Watching the trailer I felt that the action was quite light on the ground, but the in between scenes were actually quite enjoyable and compelling. What I disliked was the CGI charge of Hulk and Abomination at the end. It looked (for want of a better word) crap. The Abomination especially looked like a 16bit wrap around from Doom II.
Maybe I’m being overly harsh, but I’m more excited about the acting than the smashing on this one.