Originally posted by Lyle Romer
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That's something I don't understand about the monarchy. First, how did that family get to be the monarchs? Was there a big war and they came out on top? And, if the queen has very little power, then why is she still .... the queen? I mean, if she is just a figurehead, then why does everyone worship that family and what is the actual point of her (and them) even being there?
I realize this is a typical American post by a guy who should probably know more about "the old country" and could probably find the answers to my questions by reading Wikipedia.... I just decided to make a list of the questions I've always had, but haven't felt enough of the urge to go look for the answers, yet. Clearly (and sadly), I didn't pay attention in world history class.
By the way... how about that second-week drop on Lightyear, eh?!
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Did any of you drop lightyear for week 3? We were approved on Monday to drop it after only 2 weeks and we're bringing back Top Gun for a week.
We're also opening Minions the same day on Friday. I'm loving what our new second screen is doing for us by allowing us to have 2 different movies at once, even with only 9 seats. Our customers think it's pretty cool so far.
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At most smaller cinemas around here, Lightyear left the building already last week, while Elvis entered...
Originally posted by Mike Blakesley View PostThat's something I don't understand about the monarchy. First, how did that family get to be the monarchs? Was there a big war and they came out on top? And, if the queen has very little power, then why is she still .... the queen? I mean, if she is just a figurehead, then why does everyone worship that family and what is the actual point of her (and them) even being there?
Most of the old countries were established as "kingdoms", where one quasi dictator, aka "the King" and/or "the Queen" was the lord supreme of the land he/she conquered and/or inherited. Control over this land was usually passed down the family tree, because nepotism was such a success formula...
If you were lucky, your local ruler was somewhat benign and you could mostly do your thing, without too much interference, but if that wasn't the case, well... bummer...
Over the years, many citizens of many countries realized that dictatorial powers handed out by nepotism and other corrupt formulas may not be the most ideal form of government for most of the people living in the country, so they decided to take matters in their own hands. How that materialized, varied between countries. France, for example, decided they don't needed their ruling class anymore and got rid of them quite efficiently by the way of the guillotine. As a result, France now is a republic and not a kingdom anymore.
Other countries decided to go a less drastic route in dismantling the quasi-dictatorial powers of many of their local rulers and demoted them to more or less ceremonial functions, where they still have a representative function for the country, but little to no power in the actual decision making. That's what essentially happened in countries like the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Spain, Luxemburg, Belgium, Denmark but also the Netherlands.
Originally posted by Lyle Romer View PostIt is what it is. Heck, the UK still has a monarch (I know with very little power). Talk about "outdated."
Originally posted by Lyle Romer View PostI can't remember which but one of the US founding fathers said that the ideal government was a benevolent dictatorship and that since that wasn't likely in reality, what they came up with was the next best thing.
Originally posted by Lyle Romer View PostIt was a "more perfect union" between the individual states. It's managed to last almost 250 years. Whether it lasts another 250 I can't predict but I won't likely be around to see if/when it ends.
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Originally posted by Mike BlakesleyThat's something I don't understand about the monarchy. First, how did that family get to be the monarchs? Was there a big war and they came out on top?
Originally posted by Mike BlakesleyAnd, if the queen has very little power, then why is she still .... the queen? I mean, if she is just a figurehead, then why does everyone worship that family and what is the actual point of her (and them) even being there?
Apart from a few slightly unhinged royal nerds, I don't think anybody worships them, but would venture to suggest that most Brits accept that, most of the time at least, they operate as a pretty effective and good value national PR outfit.
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Originally posted by Darin Steffl View PostDid any of you drop lightyear for week 3? We were approved on Monday to drop it after only 2 weeks and we're bringing back Top Gun for a week.
We're also opening Minions the same day on Friday. I'm loving what our new second screen is doing for us by allowing us to have 2 different movies at once, even with only 9 seats. Our customers think it's pretty cool so far.
Thankfully Universal is letting us drop Jurassic World for Minions.
We couldn't pick up Elvis due to Thor coming in next week.
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Elvis is doing pretty fine around here, but obviously, if you have to choose between Elvis and Thor, I'd go for the latter, even though I'm not convinced this female Thor thing will be the same box office hit as previous Thor movies...
Originally posted by Leo Enticknap View PostApart from a few slightly unhinged royal nerds, I don't think anybody worships them, but would venture to suggest that most Brits accept that, most of the time at least, they operate as a pretty effective and good value national PR outfit.
My grandmother used to be a "royal freak", no idea where that came from, but she knew all the ins and outs and went into frenzy mode for weeks on-end when Princess Diana died back in 1997... Otherwise, I know not a single person that really bothers about the entire show at all. Personally, I think we'd do ourselves a favor with bringing the thing to an end... which is actually a constitutional option.
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We have Lightyear booked for after Minions. We are required to take it for two weeks but considered the lack of movies to show, two weeks was acceptable.
I asked our Disney rep why it is doing poorly at the box office.. she said there is a lot of talk as to why the "movie didn't work". She gave us the option of canceling the booking or to show it one week and if it did not work for us, she would let us out of our agreement to show it the second week.
I knew there was a scene in it before booking the movie and I knew we would alienate a few customers but I grew up around the Free Love Generation. I watched Star Trek and saw the first interracial kiss, and same sex couples holding hands, I watched the sitcom SOAP because the church told me not to. I laughed at Archie Bunker. We watched Willow Kiss her female partner during prime time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.. We watched lesbian subtle hints on one Saturday mornings during Xena Warrior Princes.. no one cared, so I did not think it would have much of an impact on this movie. It has always been a part of the television I watched.
I still question if this one scene is the reason the "movie did not work". I am sure it played a part but I would think the tightening of budgets also plays a part in this movie's box office failure. Adults will run out to see their movies on opening weekend but the kids can wait six weeks and watch it on Disney Plus.
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"The Kiss" does factor in somewhat, as I've explicitly heard a few people state that as a reason. But that's not all
Lightyear is like a perfect storm of little things that combined together to make a bit of a flop.
The movie isn't all that great. It's entertaining in a disposable way, like "Chicken Little" or "Shark Tale" or "Robots" or any of the interchangeable CGI cartoons that nobody really remembers today. In a crowded season with Doctor Strange, Jurassic World and Top Gun it just doesn't stand out. A favorite reviewer of mine said it was "generic sci-fi plot #2" and he's right.
Trying to make a fragile connection to the Toy Story universe that is completely irrelevant to anything that happens was probably a mistake as well. Replace Buzz and Zurg with Awesome Ranger Dude and Evil Dude and nothing about the film changes.
The whole thing feels so conventional. Pixar used to have a wonderful gift of taking scenarios and putting a unique spin on them ("You sly dog! You got me monologuing!"), combined with an infectious irreverence, like "The Simpsons" in it's prime. Lightyear doesn't have that attitude. Instead, it has traditional comic relief in the form of wacky sidekicks. Buzz himself is completely straight laced, without any of the absurd, pompous ass overtones that made Tim Allen so endearing.
And then there's "The Kiss". In an ideal world, nobody would give two hoots, and it's hard to state just how nondescript the whole moment is. But we live in the real world, and Disney had to be aware that the moment would perfectly play into the fringe's "Woke Disney is indoctrinating your kids!" bullhorn. Maybe they realized the movie itself wasn't all that compelling so they needed something to get people talking, to get them to come and see for themselves what the fuss was about. If that's the case, then they screwed up, and if not, then they are truly blind to how they're perceived by a sizeable part of the population. Either way, it was a mistake in my opinion. Lightyear would've struggled even without the controversy, but at the end of the day I believe it did cost them some box office.
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Our booker told me he thinks the biggest reason it didn't do so well is "the kids just don't like it that much." It's actually a pretty impressive list of things that this movie has working against it.
- Jurassic World 3 was still pulling in families, who might not have two movies this month in their budget
- The kids .... just don't like it that much
- "The Kiss" causing negative publicity (and whether it's justified or not is another argument, but you can't deny it's impacting ticket sales)
- Top Gun 2 still pulling a lot of people in, too
- They don't have Tim Allen
- The movie isn't all that funny and the story isn't all that original
- They don't have the rest of the Toy Story characters
- Disney's conditioned people over the past two years that Pixar movies are straight-to-video product (the saddest item on this list, I think)
- They won't commit to a long window, they want to stick to their "one movie at a time" thing, which makes theaters less eager to promote their movies
- They wanted a 3 week commitment, causing many of us (including me) to say no-thanks. I'm actually surprised they're letting some people out of the third week. In this day and age of "insta-home-video," the three week commitment needs to go. We'll play an extra week if it's justified but let us make the call.
Besides all of the above, Minions 2 looks pretty funny, so a lot of people might be just waiting for that instead
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Originally posted by Marcel Birgelen...but she knew all the ins and outs and went into frenzy mode for weeks on-end when Princess Diana died back in 1997...
The other memory I have of that is the manager of the cinema I was working in at the time demanding that the national anthem be played at the first show when we reopened after the funeral (we were closed for the afternoon shows, but reopened in the evening). In order to do this we had to buy a CD box set of all the world's national anthems, with rights cleared for public playback, published by the International Olympic Committee for use at sports tournaments, and sold for a staggering sum (well into three figures of GBP). That night after the shows finished, all of us had a bit of fun in the bar, giggling over the lyrics to the anthems of the tinpot dictatorships, and especially those that glorified the dictators. I couldn't imagine anybody being able to sing them with a straight face.
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Originally posted by Leo Enticknap View PostHa! My grandmother had an intense, visceral hatred for Princess Di, which my father and I could not figure out, because she was a sensible, rational person in pretty much all other respects. The weekend after her "accident," my father and I were due to have Sunday lunch with her. A couple of days beforehand, Dad called me about an unrelated matter, and just as we were about to end the conversation, he asked, "...so, are you going to bring the Champagne, or shall I?"Last edited by Marcel Birgelen; 07-02-2022, 12:30 PM.
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