MovieChat Forums > Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) Discussion > Did Michael Cera hurt the Box Office for...

Did Michael Cera hurt the Box Office for this great script?

posted 12 years ago by Those_Are_My_Balloons
19 replies | jump to latest

This is a phenomenal script and features phenomenal actors. I am wondering if Michael Cera, however, weighed things down. He has been in too many movies since 2007 and I wonder if people were already tired of him by the time this came out. I know that I delayed seeing it because of him. I like him, don't get me wrong, and he's a good actor but he is in WAY too many films and furthermore films where he plays roughly the same character (himself).

Just wondering if the B.O. would have been better with a different male lead.

[–] sethmorganworks-368-887598 12 years ago

Not at all. A lot of people don't like Michael Cera, but a lot of people do. The film was hurt by opening the same weekend as The Expendables (mainstream crap) and shoddy marketing where the TV spots didn't even explain the story.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] sethmorganworks-368-887598 12 years ago

They flopped because either people didn't know about it, bad marketing or not a strong enough story. Seriously. I wouldn't not watch a movie because I don't like the leading man. I watch it for the story. If that's good and you have a strong marketing campaign, people will see it.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] sethmorganworks-368-887598 12 years ago

You, sir, have no argument. Troll.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Room_On_Fire 12 years ago

Baldhead, you are a hater.

Superbad was a huge hit, as was Juno, and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist made $33.5m on a $10m budget.

"Oh, my God. Bear is driving! How can that be?!"

[–] omoxus 12 years ago

Cera wasn't the reason it flopped. It catered to a specific audience.

Im the Alpha and the Omoxus. The Omoxus and the Omega

[–] puck-man 12 years ago

I agree with the above two posters. While I think Cera might have slightly contributed to the film's B.O. failure, I think it's more to do with the fact that (a) it was marketed badly (the same unfortunate thing happened to The Cabin in the Woods, (b) it opened to fierce competition (I'll have you know The Expendables made $34.8 mil in the opening weekend, Eat Pray Love made $23.1 mil whereas Scott Pilgrim only made $10.6), and (c) it catered to a specific audience (It also didn't help that the marketing was horrible).

Silent House: 5/10
American Reunion: 6/10
Being Flynn: 5/10

[–] abomination21 12 years ago

Adding to c), I think the location for the release was the main contributing factor. They targeted the wrong market entirely. It was release in America & Europe first before Asia... but Asia theatre release was cancel completely after it didn't do well in the States, went straight to DVD. The kicker is that the theme/style/concept of the film will do very well in Asia market, it suited Otaku culture (which has a sizeable market)... if they release it in Asia, thing should be very different. (My friend & I waited for the bloody release that never came)

[–] James_Tolkans_Baldhead 11 years ago

Yes.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Ithilfaen 11 years ago

Honestly, I couldn't stand the guy mostly because he keeps playing the same thing over and over and he was way overexposed at the time so I wasn't sure about the movie. A friend got me the comics and told me the movie was brilliant so I tried reluctantly but I actually ended up changing my mind about Cera. I think he's great in that part. Not that I'll go running to see his movies now or since but he did well, imo.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

[–] giantpanther 11 years ago

cera isn't a great actor, but i don't avoid a film because of him.

i think this was held down because the direction was poor and the tone was way off, this could have been a fantastic high grossing film but it was just all wrong.

[–] Jo_Mama 10 years ago

I think he did.

[–] mcgill_j 10 years ago

It was a toughly competitive opening.. but beyond that as others point out. I think this is just a film they had no idea how to market. Another poster mentioned "Cabin in the Woods" another film that wasn't quite easy to market. As it wasn't exactly what you thought it was, the basic almost Evil Dead like film, although that was definitely a large part of it. I think the same happened here. How do you market this almost teen-like rom-com full of 80s pop culture and video game-like fights with the odd visual nature? So I do feel kind of bad for Universal in not quite knowing how to handle what they had.