Top Movies of Summer (2011) (old and broken!)

[JasonEvans]

We have talked about it and now it is time! You will have almost two weeks to vote. The poll for the Top 5 movies of the summer will close on May 6th, the date Thor opens.

Remember, you will vote for 5 films in the poll. Do not vote for less or more than 5 or you will have no chance of winning. We are yet to have anyone get all 5 movies right for a summer contest.

The films in the poll will be listed in order of their release date. Here are the 14 nominees... we leave one space blank for "other" and you must explain in a post what you voted for if you vote other.

Thor
Pirates of the Carib 4
Hangover II
Kung Fu Panda II
Super 8
Green Lantern
Cars II
Transformers 3
Zookeeper
Harry Potter 7.2
Captain America
Cowboys and Aliens
Smurfs
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Good luck. Please post explanations of your votes and feel free to discuss/converse with other about your votes.

-Jason "Top 5 is determined by Boxoffice (aka: ticket sales)" Evans

[Jarhead]

Jason, when will you cover the films for the more mature audiences? No offense intended. Mrs. Jarhead will definitely see the Harry Potter film, but for the rest of them, I stopped reading comic books when I turned 17. Why would I be interested in filmed comic books now?

[DevilAlumna]

Jason, when will you cover the films for the more mature audiences? No offense intended. Mrs. Jarhead will definitely see the Harry Potter film, but for the rest of them, I stopped reading comic books when I turned 17. Why would I be interested in filmed comic books now?

The thread is "Top Movies of Summer," not "sleeper hits," or "most likely to get oscar nods."

Check out the similar thread wrap-ups of the past two years -- harry potter, comic book themes, animated kid/adult flicks -- those will be the box office rainmakers.

That said, I agree with you -- will I go see any of them in the theater? Not likely, if only because Future DevilAlumna is due to make her arrival in 7 days,... but most will eventually end up on my netflix queue.

Well, maybe I'll go see Transformers 3, but only because I know the screenwriter, and only if it gets better reviews than 2. :)

[bjornolf]

I think POTC4, Transformers 3, Cars 2, and Harry Potter 7.2 are mortal locks. The hard one is the last one in my book. Will Hangover 2 pull a Hangover? Will Kung Fu Panda 2 build on the first's success and bring in the kiddies? Kids movies usually do really well in the summer. I haven't seen the buzz for Thor, Green Lantern, or Captain America. The problem with those is that it's hard to pick between them. I've heard interesting things about Super 8, but top 5? I'm going to have to think about this some more.

I also think NovaScotian voted for six.

[Deslok]

I think POTC4, Transformers 3, Cars 2, and Harry Potter 7.2 are mortal locks. The hard one is the last one in my book. Will Hangover 2 pull a Hangover? Will Kung Fu Panda 2 build on the first's success and bring in the kiddies? Kids movies usually do really well in the summer. I haven't seen the buzz for Thor, Green Lantern, or Captain America. The problem with those is that it's hard to pick between them. I've heard interesting things about Super 8, but top 5? I'm going to have to think about this some more.

I also think NovaScotian voted for six.

Cars 2 and Harry Potter are the only guaranteed locks to me. They could be abysmal, but given history and previous films, will be $300+ films. Transformers 3 has to overcome a lot of blah feelings resulting from Transformers 2, so if 3 gets the same kind of wretched reviews, it will take a significant box office hit(as in, it will "only" garner $200 or so in receipts, making its money overseas, since theirs no dialog to worry about translation issues ;) ). Pirates of the Caribbean has been out of sight, out of mind for awhile now(really.. it was only 4 years ago?), and the sequels to the original also didn't garner a huge longing for a return of that franchise. And Depp's star has faded a touch(as in, 5 years ago, he could have starred in utter dreck and people would have flocked to it, now, it does need to be of some quality), so for both Transformers 3 and Pirates 4, its likely they'll be in the top 5, but not a guarantee.
Thor and Kung Fu II are 2 other likely contenders(I like the position of the first launch of the summer season, and animation, particularly sequels to popular animation always does well if it finds an audience beyond 10 year olds).
Part of it may also come down to the schedule of things, which films will get to stay in theatres longest, which will have direct competitors stealing business, etc. I definitely need to look some more before choosing(and being wrong... again).

[NashvilleDevil]

Only the trailer for Super 8 has piqued my interest and the rest of the summer fare seems rather lame. Because of that there will probably be a couple of surprises in the top 5. I think the top 5 will be Harry Potter (the only no brainer), Super 8 (the trailer), Cowboys and Aliens (Favreau has a great track record), Cars II (Pixar even though the trailers are lackluster) and Kung Fu Panda II (kids movie, repeat viewings).

My guess is Transformers comes in big but I just cannot pick the Bay/LeBeouf combo.

[bjornolf]

Hey Jason, or anyone else... do you have or know of a place to easily find the release schedules for these movies? I think in the past you listed them with the names of the movies.

Thanks.

[JasonEvans]

I also think NovaScotian voted for six.

Yup-- if NovaScotian wants to be eligible for the prize (there's a prize??), he/she needs to post and delete one of their choices.

Also, I will post all the release dates later today.

-Jason

[Olympic Fan]

Jason, when will you cover the films for the more mature audiences? No offense intended. Mrs. Jarhead will definitely see the Harry Potter film, but for the rest of them, I stopped reading comic books when I turned 17. Why would I be interested in filmed comic books now?

One of the reasons that I always do so lousy in these polls is that I let my personal taste interfer with my judgement. I HATE most comic book films -- including the so-called good ones (Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man etc.). I'm not a big fan of animation (never enjoyed Toy Story or its sequels ... Up and Ratatoille, etc., left me cold).

But you have to recognize reality. Pixar movies are (usually) box office gold. Comic book movies rope in the geeks (who will see the ones the like over and over) and the teen ager date movie crowd. Thoughtful and adult movies are released in the fall.

I'm okay with a movie just for fun ... I'm looking forward to Harry Potter and I'll probably go so Cowboys vs. Aliens and maybe Super 8. I just hope my interest in the Cowboys vs. Aliens movie (which IS based on a comic book ... or "graphic novel" I think they call it), doesn't skew my vote. Maybe I should have gone for Cars II.

[JasonEvans]

Argh!!!

I made a terrible mistake... terrible! Somehow, I missed one of the leading contenders for Top Movie of the summer, X-Men: First Class. Given the strength of the previous X-Men films, this has to be one of the films under consideration. I cannot believe I missed it!

So, I am creating a new thread with a new poll. All previous votes are rendered null and void. If you already voted, please vote again (only vote for 5!!!).

I am so sorry. Dunno how I missed that.

I will be dropping Smurfs from the list of choices -- if you want to vote for it, just vote for 'other' and then post something saying that your 'other' vote counts for Smurfs.

--Jason "I am sure lots of folks were going to vote for Smurfs... not!!" Evans

[Duvall]

The poll must be broken, because it looks like there are three people that didn't vote for Cars 2. Very puzzling.