Cloverfield (my review) declined almost 70 percent in its second weekend, which I think is actually a good thing. If the film had become a super sensation and made more money than religion we’d see a sequel in a year and the whole thing would’ve collapsed under its own weight.
Plentiful and somewhat unfair comparisons to The Blair Witch Project have been coming from all angles in regards to Matt Reeves’ movie [though they share a few obvious traits] but a good cautionary tale exists in how that film rushed a sequel out of the gates and thusly ended the franchise. The fact Cloverfield is going to turn a tidy profit but not remain too present in the public psyche is a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario.
The film will mop up on video, end up a huge cash cow for its global theatrical take, and ride away into the sunset having spent its hype and moved onto new pastures where its conceit may or may not hold up on repeat viewings.
We certainly don’t need another Cloverfield movie any time soon. If at all. But, the fact the film did its business in the first week and slithered off into the sea for a later date seems the right way to go. If it had stuck around too long or become a $150,000,000 film domestically, it’d be harder to not soon wish the film had never been made. Plus, it was such a divisive movie I think it had to make its mark last weekend. Most of the “regular” people I know who went to see it hated it, feeling gypped that they paid to see what is quite simply a monster movie. I had one lady tell me that it wasn’t realistic. A guy whose taste tends to be pretty good told me that the marketing indicated that aliens were attacking New York.
Baffling. So, now everything’s out in the open and people can go back to knowing everything about every movie that’s coming out. Whatever.
Note: If the Meet the Spartans people spoof this in their next movie you legally have the right to kill them.