Tag Archives: revenge

Episode 11: Ghost Rider

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Sometimes a movie comes along that’s so obviously pitched at a specific demographic, you wonder if the studio did a headcount during pre-production to make sure there were enough possible ticket buyers to make it profitable. If so, the producers may have overestimated the appeal of Ghost Rider, the only movie ever made entirely on location on the side of a guy’s van.

Ghost Rider has motorcycles, black leather jackets, chains and flames, skulls, daredevil jumps, heavy metal music and cowboys, and if they’d only included stock car racing and an American flag and made the lead character 100 pounds overweight, it would have been the perfect movie for that demographic.

This week on the podcast, I’m joined by my friend Sloane, the creator of the Hauntwares clothing line, to discuss this Nicolas Cage-infused epic of love, revenge and slow-talking demons. It is a crack-ass crazy film and I’m certain you will want to hear all about it.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible, Stitcher and lots of other places. Come check it out!

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Superman II 2.55: One Hundred and Eight Million Dollars

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Okay, we’ve spent eleven weeks talking about this double-headed hydra of a sequel, and here’s the bottom line:

On its first weekend in June 1981, Superman II earned the highest opening-weekend box office in history: $14 million, which was twice the opening gross for the first movie. It actually knocked Raiders of the Lost Ark out of the #1 spot, which had launched just a week before with a relatively small opening haul of $8 million.

This state of affairs didn’t last, of course. Superman II held on to the #1 spot for three weeks, but then Raiders came back even stronger, taking #1 back and holding onto it for nine more weeks. Raiders continued to perform well all the way through March 1982, ultimately earning $212 million. The Katharine Hepburn/Henry Fonda family drama On Golden Pond came in second for the year with $119 million, and Superman II came in third, with $108 million.

Superman II‘s take was a bit below the first movie, which made $134 million in 1978/79, but it performed very well. The comparable films in its weight class didn’t do nearly as well (besides Raiders, obviously): the year’s James Bond installment For Your Eyes Only made $55 million, Greek myth fantasy adventure Clash of the Titans got $41 million, and the pulp fiction inspired Tarzan the Ape Man earned $36 million.

But as successful as the Superman movies were, they were always overshadowed by the breakout hits that were even bigger: Jaws, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Return of the Jedi. The Superman movies could have been the iconic blockbusters of the late 70s/early 80s, if only George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had never been born.

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