Well, I've been convinced by the comments here, and by other reviews, including a gushing one by the BBC this morning, that I should, at the very least, see this, and that I must watch it in a cinema. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll get the time. I am surprised that only
@MontyCircus dislikes it after having seen it. Either it really, really is as good as the BBC thinks, or people are too afraid to say anything about the Emperor's New Clothes. I'm hoping it is the former, if I do go.
The critics loved it, as according to RottenTomatoes scores it should end up in the top 5 or 10 critically acclaimed films of the year.
First night audiences gave it a CinemaScore "A-" which is what I'd call "very good" (though keep in mind, the 2 other wide-releases of the weekend also received an "A-" from their audiences, for
The Mountain Between Us and
My Little Pony: The Movie).
Finally, there's the IMDB score, which currently places it as the 50th best movie of all-time.
Those are the metrics that I follow, and all signs are positive. It's true, I'm not a fan. But I didn't like the original either (so what do I know?). Therefore I would only recommend that if you didn't like the original that you probably won't like
2049.
Apparently, the producers and studio are very disappointed with the first weekend figures. Very few women and few young people are going to see this. It is mainly older men who have seen the original film. Some people are blaming the depiction of women within the film, but I really can't see how you would know that before you had watched it?? So, surely the blame, if any, can only be placed upon the promotion of the film. As far as I can see, it is getting great reviews and critical acclaim from all corners. It is also difficult for me to say more without having watched it myself, but I thought it just seems odd.
My sister recently saw the original. She's decidedly not a science fiction fan. Her reaction was something like: "Darryl Hannah's doing flips? What the hell? Are they serious?"
I think they assumed Gosling would bring in some women, as he's a huge heart-throb. I've heard that he actually turned down the opportunity to be named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive", on multiple occasions.
At any rate, it didn't work, as the headlines were "Blade Runner Bombs", "Struggles", "Flops", etc. I went to the first showing on the opening night Thursday IMAX showing in my city. There were only 2 other people in our row. That's like 30 empty seats, per row, in the very place and time you would expect that the die-hard fans would congregate. It seems very unlikely that it will break-even. I've heard its production costs are between $150-170 million, so it would need around $300 worldwide, and it looks doubtful.
