Fantastic Climb of "Rise of The Silver Surfer" to the Top of the Box Office

Don't take my word for it, look at the numbers. Early this week, Ocean's 13 earned some two and a half million dollars, while the Fantastic Four are worth just about over $5,5 million. I gotta admit, it's impressive.

It's impressive how so many people have seen or are about to see this movie. When it comes to a sequel, you depend very much on the value of the first movie. It all comes down to this: if the movie is good, people will want to see more of it, but if it sucks, you should get lower attendances for the sequel(s).

Which is why I don't get it. The first movie SUCKED. In recent years, Hollywood has seen the creation of a very large number of movies based on comic books superheroes, in a very short amount of time. There are a lot of choices for the public out there: Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Ghost Rider and of course The Fantastic Four.

Back to the first Fan Four movie. The storyline is appealing only to children (I would not be surprised if a child wrote it). The performance put in by the actors...wait a minute, was that acting? Jessica Alba looks good, I can tell you that right now, but this ain't a fashion show.

And yet, the opening gross of the "Rise of The Silver Surfer", in the region of $58 million, was $2 million higher than that of its predecessor. The only reasonable explanation for this might be the quality of this second installment, which is somewhat of an improvement. But it still sucks. When I go to see a movie like this I have some expectations, not too high, but still. After seeing Fan Four 2, my expectations were crushed to bits.

And yet, this lame movie is number 1 in the box office. Another possible explanation for this might be the hype around its release. If I'm right, it should cool down fast in the coming weeks. I don't think Fan Four 2 can stand the quality test of time. I'm actually relying on this because of movies that have grossed large sums of money in a long time. The third part of "Pirates of The Caribbean" approaches $280 million, "Shrek The Third" passed $300 million, while "Spider-Man 3" grossed $330 million so far.

Now we wait.