This news really shouldn’t surprise anyone. The new comic book movie Ghost Rider just hit it’s opening weekend with almost $45 Million. That’s a nice chunk of change. But a lot of people are acting surprised… when they really shouldn’t be. Keep a couple of things in mind:
1) It really wasn’t opening up against anything at all in it’s demographic targets
What else was there to see this weekend really for sci-fi/fantasy/comic book/action genre fans? Bridge to Terabithia? Music and Lyrics? Breach? Norbit? No, Ghost Rider was clearly the big kid in the park and had the sand box all to itself.
2) The reviews weren’t as bad as many thought they would be
Yes, it only has a terrible 23% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the fact of the matter is some key critics seemed to enjoy it, and it wasn’t universally panned as a lot of people expected it would. It was at least promising enough to make a lot of people take a “Let’s give it a shot” attitude.
3) Opening Weekend is not a reflection on how good or bad a movie is
Remember, when opening weekend comes, all people have to go on is the marketing. There is no real authentic word of mouth yet.
4) Like it or not, Nicolas Cage is still a decent draw
I personally don’t understand the Nicolas Cage hate out there. If I listed every great performance this guy has turned in, it would outnumber most other A-List actors out there today. The man is a solid performer (with some stinkers for sure) who still carries (deservedly so) a lot of credibility with the average movie fan.
So no, Ghost Rider making almost $45 Millions at the boxoffice this weekend doesn’t surprise me one bit. Te big question is if it will have any staying power now that word of mouth is going to get out. We’ll see next week.
As a side note, you can see my Ghost Rider review here.
