cloverfield, beyonce joke avoided, jj abrams rules the world, monsters, movies

Cloverfield Monster Demolishes Japan

In a move that surprises only those who have seen the movie, Cloverfield has demolished the Japanese box office this past weekend, taking in 26.4 million yen and beating previous boffo box office movie Dreamgirls by 30.2% despite the musical's playing on more screens across the country.

As with the U.S. release, Cloverfield was subject to much pre-release marketing in Japan; in addition to the official manga, the cast and crew of the movie spent time in the country doing publicity, and Japan's own version of the internet - called "the internet" - was as full of viral marketing for the movie as the U.S.'s. Although it has to be seen whether Japanese audiences will get free party mixes with their DVD copies of the movie.

The only downside to the Japanese success of JJ Abrams' monster movie is for US critics who find themselves torn between wanting to make Beyonce versus Godzilla jokes and feeling the need for some semi-racist "those Japanese sure do like their monster movies walking around in highly-populated urban areas" reference.

Monster Japan bow for 'Cloverfield' [Variety]

11:31 AM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By Graeme McMillan
2,654 views
26 comments

Comments

Git Em SteveDave at 11:40 AM on 04/08/08
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I thought Dreamgirls was MUCH scarier than Cloverfield.
Project Thanatos at 11:41 AM on 04/08/08
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But did they like it?
BullfightsOnAcid at 11:44 AM on 04/08/08
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A much better headline would have been: "Cloverfield is ready for that Jelly"
Garrison Dean, King... at 11:52 AM on 04/08/08
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Man I hope the next time someone advertises a first person, experiential, loud, shakey cam monster movie starring pretty young people they don't deliver. I was so pissed when I saw Cloverfield and got exactly what they had advertised.
jomc at 11:53 AM on 04/08/08
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anyone who remembers the scene when 150ft beyonce headbutts the statue of liberty before getting gunned down by jennifer hudson, spontaneously combusting into sequins and powder knows this is just an outrage (sorry spoilers!!!!)
Git Em SteveDave at 12:00 PM on 04/08/08
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@jomc: Don't forget the parasitic Eddie Murphies.
jomc at 12:16 PM on 04/08/08
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@Git Em SteveDave: or when the dreamgirls dirigible caught on fire and they had to parachuet to safety using only duct tape, fishnets, and a bouffant hairweave -- scifi cinema at its finest
riotnrrd at 12:24 PM on 04/08/08
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Wait.. 26.4 million yen? At the current exchange rate that's less than $260,000. That's a MISERABLE box office take for a weekend. Variety must have their numbers wrong (they get the exchange rate wrong in the article, at the very least).
BlindKarma at 12:29 PM on 04/08/08
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Boy could that monster sing... too bad it's just a live action knock off of RahXephen that we just resold back to the Japanese.
Plague at 12:34 PM on 04/08/08
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@riotnrrd:
You are off by a zero.
GodofMonkeys at 01:14 PM on 04/08/08
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Maybe Japan's enjoying seeing Americans getting hosed by the giant monster for a change.

It's not like the American-remake of "Godzilla" counts.

Me? I'm waiting for Godzilla vs. Cloverfield Monster. It could top "Godzilla: Final Wars"!
btgoss at 01:21 PM on 04/08/08
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Wait... but don't the Japanese actually like Giant Monster movies?
Why is that racist? or Semi-racist? Did they sneak attack in? (now that WAS racist.)
riotnrrd at 01:39 PM on 04/08/08
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@Plague: Nope. The exchange rate is roughly 102 yen per dollar.
26,400,000 / 102 = 258,823.
DarkPlaces at 01:44 PM on 04/08/08
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Cloverfield was a good movie. There. I said it.
Macloserboy at 02:12 PM on 04/08/08
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@DarkPlaces: And you're wrong. There. I said that.
Simpsons-Movie-ruled at 02:23 PM on 04/08/08
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LEAVER CLOVERFIELD ALONE!!!!!!
ALL YOU PEOPLE WANT IS MORE MORE MORE MMMMOOOOOOOOREEEEE!!!!!
Plague at 02:24 PM on 04/08/08
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@riotnrrd:
I'm not saying your math is wrong, but Variety says it made 2.6 million US dollars. They got the figure wrong.

@Macloserboy:
And I join in the chorus that YOU are wrong.
Cacafuego at 02:31 PM on 04/08/08
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I liked Cloverfield. But then, I'm old enough to remember that the Godzilla movies really were piles of suck when they were new. I enjoyed going to them. Saw them all in the theater. But I was also, oh, between the ages of 5 and 13.
bitgod at 05:16 PM on 04/08/08
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I actually liked Cloverfield, more than I thought I would. On the fence on if I'd buy the DVD, dunno if it has replay value for me. On the other hand, I'm a big Blair Witch fan, I love watching that movie. I think it's because I can identify with it, because I totally remember going camping as a kid and hearing noises in the forest and being freaked out that Sasquatch was comin to git me! (damn you 6 Million Dollar Man)
Airport_Whiskey at 06:13 PM on 04/08/08
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@riotnrrd:

And at a average ticket price of 1800¥ per seat, it becomes even more dismal, with a whopping 14,500 people going out to actually see it.
njudah at 08:55 PM on 04/08/08
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um...ok....Not wearing my holier than thou sci fi hierarchy helmet here....um.....all I can say is WTF?

This movie was great. It was the perfect counterpunch to all those frakking monster movies in that it showed what life is like on the ground in said frakked up situation. The way they filmed this was great.

I won't go in to all the reason I like this in the theater with a crowd, but you can read it here

[njudah.vox.com]

more to the point, if you insist on your sci fi being a certain way, you will be more than pissed off most of the time. If on the other hand you allow for some other forms......well then!
bonedaddy667 at 10:35 PM on 04/08/08
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Cloverfield was an awesome movie. Or at least the parts with the giant monster, or the zerglings, or the part where HER HEAD EXPLODED! And aside from catering to the giant monster movie fans (myself included), it also catered to the conspiracy theorists, what with the whole Slusho! thing. Personally, the only thing I needed to see in the trailer was a blank screen with the words 'J.J. Abrams (Alias, LOST) made a monster movie. It comes out 1.18.08'. I'd have been there like a fat kid on a smartie.
tezby at 11:47 PM on 04/08/08
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To everyone who hated Cloverfield... Just because you are too stupid to UNDERSTAND the movie does NOT make it shit... It just shows your lack of intelligent thought processes. I'm sure in your gibbering ADD twitching 'need action NOW' brains the movie was probably boring, but here's a hint: the movie uses novel concepts like PLOT and CHARACTER INTERACTION and FORESHADOWING... something your underdeveloped brains probably can't handle, so it's okay, we forgive you. When you grow opposable thumbs and your cranial ridge diminishes a bit you'll probably be evolved enough to understand the movie, and then we can talk.
Seth L at 01:03 AM on 04/09/08
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@tezby:

That's a fantastic parody of an enraged sci-fi fan! Well done.

Cloverfield vs. Legion vs. Biollatine would make my head explode.
mikelotus at 08:44 PM on 04/09/08
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how so many could like this piece of excrement is beyond me. how come the camera's batteries never ran out? i why would anyone actually carry a camera around filming like that anyway? and why did i root for the monster to kill the humans in the movie?
saketini99 at 12:21 AM on 04/10/08
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OK, piping in from Japan... just saw it and I loved it! I've been avoiding all spoilers and reviews so I could see with a clean slate and yeah... it rocked. Great conceit for a giant monster movie. I totally bought it. Yay!