Punisher2 aka Punisher:War Zone moved back 3 months

[Captain Craig]

Haven't seen this posted but for those who might have interest it seems that this reboot has been moved. It had an origianl September 12 release date and has now been pushed back to Dec.5 of this year.

Any conclusions to draw from this piece of news?

• Early Fall isn't a strong season and perhaps PWZ could've had a decently modest performance there. Despite teens being back in school.
• Post Thanksgiving, heart of Holiday movie season is this counter programming or do they think its strong enough to survive there. Confidence in the project?

Marvel Comics' vigilante character The Punisher gets another big-screen chance in this third film incarnation of the character, this time from Hooligans director Lexi Alexander and Lionsgate Entertainment. Rome's Ray Stevenson dons the skull T-shirt in this outing, which sets the antihero in New York against the scarred villain Jigsaw (Dominic West) . Wayne Knight heads up the supporting cast as Microchip, The Punisher's trusted weapons expert, with Doug Hitchison appearing as Looney Bin Jim, a second-tier villain out of the Marvel Universe.

 

[Ethros]

Haven't really heard much about this. Saw the Thomas Jane version for the first time the other week... it was "ok" I guess. Travolta was pretty dodgy

Seems surprising they're doign a new version of it already. Is this like a whole new version from that film, or a semi-continuation but without Thomas Jane (ala Incredible Hulk for example)?

 

[benny]

Frankly, Daredevil and Ghost Rider did decent enough business in the February slot. Why not delay it a few more months and put it in theaters when theres nothing else to see? As is, I think this new version is going to get slaughtered in the family friendly stuff.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Haven't really heard much about this. Saw the Thomas Jane version for the first time the other week... it was "ok" I guess. Travolta was pretty dodgy

Seems surprising they're doign a new version of it already. Is this like a whole new version from that film, or a semi-continuation but without Thomas Jane (ala Incredible Hulk for example)?

The Incredible Hulk is a reboot. When the project was first conceived, it was designed as a quasi-continuation. Then when Edward Norton was brought onboard, he re-wrote the script to make it its own; a reboot.

The delay in release date for Punisher: Warzone is a tad discerning. How would an ultraviolent film do during the holiday season? Not that well, I would imagine. The month of December usually sees the releases of either big-budget blockbusters like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter or sentimental films like Catch Me If You Can. This film falls into neither category.

I would just say, push the film into spring 2009. It seems a lot of films have been doing that lately (first Wolverine, then Star Trek, now Valkyrie).

 

[Aragorn]

They're making the Oscar push!

 

[Captain Craig]

The directors commented:

They also moved our release date to December 5th, which is, according to my reps, a much, much better date. I myself would have thought that people will think twice about going to see an extremely violent movie the closer it gets to Jesus’ B-day, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever other holy holiday you’re celebrating. Well, the box office records prove different and instead, all you sick fucks get more blood thirsty that time of year. (And I say that with lovingly affection, cause I’m relying on all the sick fucks to show up).

So she's told its a better release date...but for this type film is it a better release date. I wonder if box office records they mean something like Aliens vs Predator:Requiem. Yeah that movie did decent but it didn't set the box office turnstiles on fire or anything. I wonder what other examples she might mean?

 

[JoeZhang]

I thought the first one was very odd - They had Castle involved in some convoluted plan to get the badguys to mistrust each other. That's not howFrank Castle deals with such matters.

This is how it's done:

 

[Aragorn]

So she's told its a better release date...but for this type film is it a better release date. I wonder if box office records they mean something like Aliens vs Predator:Requiem. Yeah that movie did decent but it didn't set the box office turnstiles on fire or anything. I wonder what other examples she might mean?

Well it is counterprogramming to all the family films and Oscar contenders where everyone speaks with proper British accents. Plus the second Pacino-DeNiro cop movie pairing Righteous Kill is also scheduled for Sept. 12.

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
Yeah I mentioned counterprogramming as a possible reason why in the OP.
Still, what is they word/hype on Righteous Kill? I've not felt any buzz on it really.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

None of the stills they've posted look as good as the image they've got on the official website.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Agreed. That's the single best image I've seen come out of the film.

 

[Captain Craig]

I agree the website homepage image is the best one and its likely not even a grab from the movie. Its probably a staged publicity image. I like it cause the skull is more prominent but that may be due to some photoshopping.

As a fan of comics and comic films I want to be interested in this but so far I'm lukewarm. I mean it has one of my favorite genre actresses Julie Benz.

It took awhile for Universal to release us Incredible Hulk footage but I was excited for that pre-footage release. Perhaps some type of teaser will sway me for this film.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

December openings are rare for comic book films. The only other one in the last decade was Blade: Trinity in 2004, which opened to $16 million and ended up at $52.4 million domestic (compared to a $32.5 million opening and $82.3 million domestic gross for Blade II, which was released in March).

I'd say Punisher: War Zone stands to do better in December than in September, the latter month almost always being a graveyard for genre films in box office terms. But I agree with those who have said that a delay to early 2009 would likely be the better option.

That said, I think Punisher: WZ likely carries a low enough budget that it's not going to have to meet a particularly high box office threshold to be considered a success and to be sequelized. The Punisher had a budget of $33 million, and according to Jonathan Hensleigh just over half of that went to Thomas Jane and John Travolta, leaving him with about $15 million to actually make the film. Punisher: WZ has no big payday stars, so the overall budget may well be lower than that of The Punisher.

 

[benny]

I wonder what other examples she might mean?

Matrix Revolutions was November 5. Grossed $139 mill.
Return of the King was December 17. Grossed $377 mill.
Harry Potter 4 was November 18. Grossed $290 mill.

But all of those were parts of a franchise people were looking forward to. There was no way RotK wasn't going to set records. And even the third Matrix with the garbage that was #2 did respectably.

I'm thinking the date change cheerleading is just that: cheerleading. Punisher is either a summer movie or something to hold onto for February. Ghost Rider's domestic gross was $115 mill (2/16); Daredevil $102 mill (2/14); 300 $210 mill (3/9). There is a market for these types of movies in the dog days of winter.

Someone's going to rethink this and it'll be pushed one more time before the summer ends.

 

[Captain Craig]

I'm thinking the date change cheerleading is just that: cheerleading. Punisher is either a summer movie or something to hold onto for February. Ghost Rider's domestic gross was $115 mill (2/16); Daredevil $102 mill (2/14); 300 $210 mill (3/9). There is a market for these types of movies in the dog days of winter.

Someone's going to rethink this and it'll be pushed one more time before the summer ends.

I agree that while its budget is likely low and will dictate its success threshold as lower than the typical $100m I concur with a move to late winter '09.
The examples provided by benny bear that out. However, it seems studios know what we know and may have that area staked out already.
January 16, 2009 - The Spirit
February genre fare - Wolfman and Friday the 13th(reboot)
March 6, 2009 - Watchmen

Punisher War Zone could be a Februray release but it seems the genre crowd is largely covered in this area now of the 1stQ

 

[benny]

Wolfman

It's been moved to April 3.

But point taken on the other releases.

 

[exodus]

I loved Ray Stevenson in ROME, so I'm hoping the push back is to really work on this film and make it better than the one before it. Stevenson deserves a worthy film, as does the Punisher character.


BTW, nice avatar Benny.
Chad would be so jealous.

 

[benny]

I loved Ray Stevenson in ROME, so I'm hoping the push back is to really work on this film and make it better than the one before it. Stevenson deserves a worthy film, as does the Punisher character.

I'm not sure how much they can push it back to work on the film more. I thought it was already in post...?

BTW, nice avatar Benny.
Chad would be so jealous.

Thank you sir. I have to keep changing them up, don't ya know! I'll bring Chad back at some point...

 

[exodus]

I loved Ray Stevenson in ROME, so I'm hoping the push back is to really work on this film and make it better than the one before it. Stevenson deserves a worthy film, as does the Punisher character.

I'm not sure how much they can push it back to work on the film more. I thought it was already in post...?

I guess it is, I've just noticed the Marvel films that are given more time to make usually end up being the better money makers.


I like this avatar better than Chad.

 

[benny]

I guess it is, I've just noticed the Marvel films that are given more time to make usually end up being the better money makers.

But then, making money isn't always indicative of quality. I'd rather have a good movie than one which panders to the masses to make coin. (Like X-Men: The Last Stand...boat loads of money, but a really junky movie, IMHO).