What's Wrong with the 2016 Movies?

No matter how much "fun" I had in the hot summer of 2016 with my loving family, the same can't be said for these blockbuster movies that had such promise. Why is it that the only films, besides Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets and Suicide Squad, that were very successful are mostly in the spring (Deadpool, Zootopia, Jungle Book)? What has happened to those that unfortunately didn't bring much excitement like they have before? Is it the poor marketing? Or is it the vaguely tiring storylines in franchises that either overstayed their welcome or they were not supposed to be from the very beginning? Right now, the only films that I'm glad/ok with that they lost money at the box office are the entirely unnecessary Ice Age: Collision Course and the Ben-Hur remake, as well as the expected-to-flop Gods of Egypt and the critically-divisive all-female Ghostbusters reboot. For Universal/Legendary/Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be a huge hit, except in international states like China, given its lack of box office draws and my unfamiliarity with the World of Warcraft video game concept. Here are the 2016 movies (some of which I enjoyed or thought I did enjoy, or never seen but heard of) that I didn't expect them to end up as critically and/or financially disappointing flops that could trigger possible consequences:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
RT: 38% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $135 million
Current Box Office Run: $242.5 million ($82 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: TMNT (2014) (Worldwide: $493.3 million/U.S.: $191.2 million; RT: 22%, CinemaScore: B)

The Divergent Series: Allegiant
RT: 13% / CinemaScore: B
Budget: $110 million
Current Box Office Run: $179.2 million ($66.2 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Divergent (Worldwide: $288.9 million/U.S.: $150.9 million; RT: 41%, CinemaScore: A) & Insurgent (Worldwide: $297.3 million/U.S.: $130.2 million; RT: 28%, CinemaScore: A-)

The Nice Guys
RT: 91% / CinemaScore: B-
Budget: $50 million
Current Box Office Run: $36.3 million (U.S. only)
Predecessor: n/a

Kubo and the Two Strings
RT: 96% / CinemaScore: A
Budget: $60 million
Current Box Office Run: $27.6 million ($24.9 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: n/a

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
RT: 50% / CinemaScore: A
Budget: $50 million
Current Box Office Run: $69.4 million ($52.9 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: n/a

X-Men: Apocalypse
RT: 48% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $178 million
Current Box Office Run: $541.1 million ($155.4 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: X-Men (Worldwide: $296.3 million/U.S.: $157.3 million; RT: 81%, CinemaScore: A-), X2 (Worldwide: $407.7 million/U.S.: $214.9 million; RT: 86%, CinemaScore: A), X-Men: The Last Stand (Worldwide: $459.4 million/U.S.: $234.4 million; RT: 58%, CinemaScore: A-), X-Men: First Class (Worldwide: $353.6 million/U.S.: $146.4 million; RT: 86%, CinemaScore: B+), & X-Men: Days of Future Past (Worldwide: $747.9 million/U.S.: $233.9 million; RT: 91%, CinemaScore: A)

Star Trek Beyond
RT: 83% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $185 million
Current Box Office Run: $243 million ($151 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Star Trek (Worldwide: $385.7 million/U.S.: $257.7 million; RT: 95%, CinemaScore: A) & Star Trek Into Darkness (Worldwide: $467.4 million/U.S.: $228.8 million; RT: 86%, CinemaScore: A)

Alice Through the Looking Glass
RT: 30% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $170 million
Current Box Office Run: $294.5 million ($77 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Alice in Wonderland (2010) (Worldwide: $1.025 billion/U.S.: $334.2 million; RT: 52%, CinemaScore: A-)

Independence Day: Resurgence
RT: 32% / CinemaScore: B
Budget: $165 million
Current Box Office Run: $382.4 million ($102.9 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Independence Day (Worldwide: $817.4 million/U.S.: $306.2 million; RT: 61%, CinemaScore: A)

Oh, what the heck. I think I'm glad that it didn't do well at the box office! Maybe Roland Emmerich should not have thought about making a sequel (or two) to Independence Day 20 years ago! At least Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World paid better respect to their long-time predecessors!




So in conclusion, I believe that this year would have probably gotten better movies if neither of them were sequels or remakes to movies that nobody's crazy about or are vastly underrated films that have intriguing originally-conceived concepts yet aren't heavily-marketed enough, based on these disappointing financial figures. Can't believe that this summer, while could have been more fun than last year, is coming to an end. But I hope that my new Fall Semester classes at George Mason will bring back the fun and happiness that I always had!

My Favorite Movies of Summer 2016

My Top 10 favorite movies of Summer 2016:

1. Captain America: Civil War - 91% (CinemaScore: A)
2. Finding Dory - 94% (CinemaScore: A)
3. Suicide Squad - 27% (CinemaScore: B+)
4. X-Men: Apocalypse - 48% (CinemaScore: A-)
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - 36% (CinemaScore: A-)
6. The Angry Birds Movie - 44% (CinemaScore: B+)
7. The Secret Life of Pets - 74% (CinemaScore: A-)
8. Star Trek Beyond - 85% (CinemaScore: A-)
9. Jason Bourne - 54% (CinemaScore: A-)
10. Ghostbusters - 74% (CinemaScore: B+)




Note: These percentages indicate how positive the critical reviews are, according to rottentomatoes.com. To learn more about CinemaScore, enter http://www.cinemascore.com/.

Quick Review of 'Suicide Squad'

You know what? Forget what everybody thinks. I think Suicide Squad is actually quite entertaining, better than Batman v Superman! When I looked at the 26% Rotten Tomatoes rating and the reviews stating that this suffered too much editing problems or a "muddled plot", I almost feared that it was gonna be like Green Lantern/Fant4stic-bad as one review would state. But when I finally got to see it last night with my sister, almost everything in that film actually got me quite satisfied even with some things that Warner Bros. and DC still needs to absolutely work on. So there we have in a world where Superman died from the Doomsday battle, and the government including the big boss of "Task Force X" herself Amanda Waller (better than the utterly-wasted Angela Bassett in the Ryan Reynolds GL film) are considering the alternatives of who they should use to defend the world from any possible off-world threat since the events of the first two DCEU starters. And that's when the Suicide Squad was born when some ancient supernatural force like the oh-so-sexy-but-weird-looking Enchantress threatens to bring total annihilation upon our world. The supervillains introduced in the Squad, minus Slipknot, have some brilliant chemistry amongst each other and are actually more fleshed out than ever instead of us seeing them as cheap evil villains. At least that it doesn't always take itself way too seriously when there's some parts where the added humor is necessary instead of awkwardly forced like the Iron Man sequels or Thor 2. The songs included made it look like it's Guardians of the Galaxy, except in a more twisted way when it comes to a supervillain-only movie. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, El Diablo, and Killer Croc are the biggest standouts of the Suicide Squad movie! But my favorite out of all of them are of course Harley Quinn, because Margot Robbie - she's hot and really acted like she had fun playing the character who dearly loves the Joker (A.K.A. Mr. J or "Puddin'") so much! I'm not even sure who's the hottest babe in this film? Her, the Enchantress, or the sword-wielding Japanese newbie Katana? Sometimes, I feel like I can't help but think to myself that the Enchantress (Cara Delvingne) is extremely hot due to her seductive bare-nakedness! And I believe that Will Smith really pulled off his Deadshot character, delivering some entertaining one-liners and having a tragic backstory of him trying to be with his daughter before getting arrested for the murders he committed as a hired hitman. He probably should have signed up and starred in the Independence Day sequel. But by the end of the movie as the Suicide Squad faces off with the Enchantress, things got a little interesting when El Diablo unleashes his true power by enlarging himself into some giant behemoth on fire! What really works and saved most of Suicide Squad from suffering from the studio-meddling problems was probably the music score composed by Academy Award-winner of Gravity Steven Price. For example, the part when Deadshot was about to fire his gun at the explosives to destroy Enchantress while conflicted by his daughter begging him not to pull the trigger and turn into the man she might be scared of. How emotional can you be? If they didn't hype up some stuff like the presence of Jared Leto's Joker, then this movie would have actually gotten some decent reviews instead of bad ones that make it out like it was a movie not worth seeing which I don't believe. But I would definitely kill (figure of speech) for some extended scenes that will really develop some stuff that should have been anything but cheap exposition like Harleen Quinzel's transformation into Harley Quinn. But at least we have the Batman: TAS "Mad Love" episode to better understand the Joker/Harley Quinn relationship. Heck, I would be happy to see what scenes, originally seen in trailers and TV spots, that have the Joker were cut out just to make us care about the Jared Leto version! I'm glad that the Batman we see in Suicide Squad is none other than Ben Affleck, who eventually tells Amanda Waller in the mid-credits scene to cease her Task Force X activities to let the Justice League handle the situations. Oh, and did I forget to mention about the Ezra Miller Flash cameo in the Capt. Boomerang flashback? Let's pray that the hiring of Geoff Johns & Jon Berg post-BvS/SS will mean that the DC Extended Universe will be just as good as the now-too-formulaic Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cue the Bohemian Rhapsody/Ballroom Blitz/Sucker for Pain, etc. song, evildoers! Glad that I'm not as underwhelmed as my first viewing of the theatrical version of BvS! I just think this summer could have been better if only it wasn't so full of financially-disappointing and critically-reviled films.