Movie Fan Zone

In its opening weekend at the US Box Office, “Ghost Rider” was flaming hot, scorching its rivals with an impressive $44.5 million. With those numbers, it vaulted to the top and displaced previous tickets champ “Norbit”. It is also lead actor Nicolas Cage’s biggest opening performance.

However, does the opening weekend performance of this comic book film guarantees a franchise? I think not. Here’s why:

First of all, with his previous films being duds, Cage’s box office numbers had nowhere to go but up. I mean, give me a break! Did you think that this fim would really scare away audiences after his turns in “Lord Of War”, “The Weather Man”, “The Wicker Man” or even “World Trade Center”? (In fairness to the last film, it was still at par with expectations…) Something had to give, and the fanbase of this genre would surely come in droves in the opening week to catch their motorbike-riding hero in action at the silver screen.

That brings us to my next point: this is not a franchise because “Ghost Rider” is not exactly Spidey or the mutants of the X-Men. This hero is does not have as rabid a following as those people. It does not mean Johnny Blaze is not loved. It’s just that he is not obssessed upon by many.

Thirdly, the film has been disappointing a lot of people. Mind you, it is just not the critics but also some fanboys. This does not bode well for a film keen on making a franchise. If their target audience is not overwhelmed by it, chances are the sequel would suffer.

Plus, those who are not fans of the comic book would probably skip this one with the not-so-good word of mouth it has been getting. So, I bet its box office numbers would drop as the weeks go by. I’ll even go as far as to say “Ghost Rider” would not retain its Number One status next weekend and place as low as third. I foresee a path similar to the one threaded upon by director Mark Steven Johnson’s last foray in the genre, the much-derided “Daredevil”.

So, no, it is not a franchise.

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nicolas Cage, Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Lord Of War, The Weather Man, The Wicker Man, World Trade Center, Spider-Man, X-Men, Mark Steven Johnson, Daredevil

[image from winnipegsun.com]

[source centredaily.com]