By David Futrelle
Reactionary dinguses and #Gamergate leftovers have been raging against Captain Marvel for weeks (months?) now, claiming that the movie is little more than secret SJW propaganda designed to genocide white men or something. Now that the movie has hit theaters at last, you might be wondering how well their Captain Marvel boycott is going?
Not very, it turns out. Far from tanking, the film is actually racking up impressive numbers at the box office, with industry observers currently projecting a $150-$160 million weekend in North American theaters alone, way up from initial projections of $100 million.
So how is the angry mob responding? By declaring the box office numbers to be a big hoax, fake news, no collusion! (Oh, wait, they actually think there is collusion.)
Naturally, the positive reviews the film have gotten are supposedly fake as well:
As it turns out, there actually ARE some fake positive reviews of the movie out there. Namely 100 or so identically worded reviews up on Google. So of course the Captain Marvel foes — who only a few weeks ago bombarded Rotten Tomatoes with so many “don’t want to see” votes that the site disabled that feature — are now accusing SJWs and/or Disney of fraud.
Huh. So a huge multinational corporation pushing a major film is going to try to game the reviews by … hiring some troll to post 100 literally identical reviews on Google? Knowing that anyone who saw more than one of the reviews would instantly realize they were fake? I’d say the chance that Disney (or even freelance SJW “shills”) are behind this, rather than some anti-Captain Marvel troll trying to make Disney look bad, are probably about, well, one in 160 million.
Even Jack Posobiec, the Nazi-adjacent professional troll who’s been pushing for people to see Alita: Battle Angel instead of Captain Marvel, has been sounding a bit defensive today:
You know you’re WINNING when all you can offer is excuses.
UPDATE: The numbers from Saturday night are in:
Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson, shattered the glass ceiling in its box office debut with $455 million in worldwide ticket sales, including $153 million in North America.
The tentpole’s global launch reps the biggest ever for a female-fronted film — eclipsing Beauty and the Beast ($357 million) — as well as the second-largest for any superhero pic behind Avengers: Infinity War ($640.5 million). Overall, it’s the sixth-best worldwide bow of all time, and the international opening of $302 million is the fifth-biggest ever ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($281 million).
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Some “feminized” movies succeed (Wonder woman, Captain Marvel) some fail (ghostbusters remake, supergirl). My god, it’s as if what matters is if the movie is good/fun/cool or not, not the sex of the fictional characters…
@anonymous
Are you going to answer my question from the other thread?
It’s so true. Captain Marvel, the most recent film in an incredibly popular and profitable superhero franchise, is your archetypal Oscar bait, critics love it, audiences hate it kind of film. I just watched it today, and I’ve got to say my favourite bit was the 40 minute lecture on Sartre.
If anything, people should be boycotting it for being Air Force propaganda.
@kupo
I’m merely pseudonymous, but I will point out that production costs don’t include marketing costs, which could exceed 100 million. I don’t know if the true cost of a film is available to anyone who isn’t a big investor, though, so who knows.
Joining the Goose love here. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I have seen a quick scene where Fury crouches down and makes over Goose (it’s 0:07-0:12 in this IMDb video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXzXw8rstYw
Apparently even Nick Fury, professional badass, is not immune to the charms of a cute kitty.
tim gueguen:
Just wait till the anti-SJW cranks develop a routine of assuming that all of the big budget SJWhero films that Hollywood keeps cranking out must be secretly unprofitable. Eventually, some of them start asking who’s paying for it.
The reason these goobers pretend to like Alita is for plausible deniability. “See, we like this film with a feeeeeeeemale in it!”
Indeed – a $229 million gross from a $144 million budget most likely is loss-making. You’re right that it’s impossible to be certain of this outside the studio accounting department, but the generally accepted rule of thumb is that a big Hollywood film has to make between two and three times its production budget to break even – not just because of marketing but also distribution and exhibition (i.e. with cinemas quite rightly creaming off their own share).
By contrast, Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman only grossed $90 million but is a solid hit because it cost a mere $15 million to make – so even according to the 3x rule half that gross represents solid profit.
OT: Dear feeeemale I went on a date with, here are some tips for you. I. Can’t. Even.
My daughter and I saw this yesterday. It’s a typical formulaic MCU movie, but that’s not a bad thing. We both liked it.
@Cat Mara
This… this is a joke, right? Someone thought “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun if I wrote a satirical piece about some asshole writing a negative movie-review-style about their date!”. This isn’t real! PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN’T REAL!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
MUST END SPECIES!
I love how the guy gives a huge list of the reasons he finds her unattractive and then says she needs more confidence.
I also took note of the fact that he’s upset she offered to pay. All the men who whine about how oppressed they are because they pay for dates never believe women when we say a lot of men hang their masculinity on paying for dates and feel threatened when women pay or offer to. Well, there’s the receipts.
So if the box office returns are bad, it’s proof of how powerful the Fashys are, but if the returns are good, it’s proof of cheating?
In an unrelated story, some flat-Earthers got a high precision gyroscope to show how the Earth is flat. The gyro wobbled, exactly like previous experiments showing the motion of the Earth, so they concluded it was broken.
Totally unrelated
I’m also kinda surprised they’re trying to drive a wedge between Captain Marvel and Alita. They’re fairly similar films-both feature superpowered amnesiac women trying to discover their pasts and fight oppressive forces (though, ironically, Alita is *way* more overt about it).
Personally, I liked Alita better, but then again I’m deeply attached to the source material, so I’m a bit biased. Captain Marvel *was* good, though, really enjoyable. I do wish they’d done a little more with her character, though Nick Fury chewing scenery didn’t help (though, I’ll admit it, I loved every second of it).
@TheKND, @weirwoodtreehugger:
AGENDA FOR OUR NEXT DATE
– You need to smile more
– The blockchain explained (with slides)
On top of the fragile masculinity, I suspect that for a lot of these dudes want to pay for the date so that they can have the woman “owe” them, so that they can have a “debt” they can leverage for sex/kisses/etc.
@Catalpa: I suspect that’s totally it. The guy perceives a bargaining chip has been taken from him though, of course, he can’t come right out and admit it. It explains the peevish tone of his message.
Nah, those guys are just so cucked that they are imagining that they are asserting their masculinity, while playing into the hands of their oppressors. You know, like Engels’s concept of false consciousness.
(/s, please don’t kill me @Bakunin, @Dalilama, @Jane Done et al. for butchering Engels)
Honestly (not really; actually “sarcastically”), I envy the igno-right. As a former debate team member, I can see how incredibly easy it would be to prove your point when “all the evidence against my point is faked and all the experts who oppose me are lying” is considered a valid argument….
On Alita versus Captain Marvel:
Alita is a standalone property, whereas Captain Marvel is part of the MCU, a huge franchise juggernaut which might continue to dominate cinema for years to come. If MCU becomes essjewy, that represents a much bigger threat to these guys’ world.
Annnd… the dumpster fire has called Ann Coulter a “wacky nut job” for saying he wimped on funding The Wall….
She tweeted “the only national emergency is our president is an idiot”. While I’m pleased she’s noticed, I gotta say, you elect a clown, you get a circus.
Let the frending feezy begin!
Popcorn?
@Cat Mara:
Oh God, that date!
Get a fake tan, dye your hair, get hair extensions, plump up your lips, emphasise your cleavage… oh, and look more natural!
Be more self-confident, like me, but don’t talk about your life, only about me and my bank balance, because I need to be complimented all the time.
If you don’t laugh at my jokes, one of us doesn’t have a good sense of humour, and it can’t possibly be me!
In summary: you suck. Have a good day, and keep in touch!
Re: Kimberly’s date
I… uhhh… awk*squeek
Lemme explain the concept of human interaction to you, my brother… cuz you ain’t gettin’ it.
@Bakunin
Yeah ever since Netflix released the documentary “Behind the curve” the flat earth community has been scrambling to do damage control . Right now those featured in the documentary are being accused of being payed opposition shills for NASA by other flat earthers.