Anyone Going To See Amazing Spiderman 2?

[key2win]

Comes out this Friday. Anyone going to see it?

[key2win]

Saw Spidey 2 last night. It was okay. In my opinion on par with Man of Steel, I would not buy the DVD to watch again but wanted to see it at least once. Too much of this movie is recycled plots, themes, and storyline from the original Tobey Maguire Spiderman Trilogy. Electro is similar to The Sandman in how he moves and fights. Green Goblin and Spidey fight on top of a clock tower instead of a building. The girlfriend gets kidnapped only to be tossed from a high distance. Spidey contemplating quitting and hanging it up. It was like seeing the same movie but with different actors.

[key2win]

Weekend Report: Franchise Fatigue Weighs Down 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' - Box Office Mojo

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 scored one of the best debuts of the year, but wasn't nearly as amazing as past outings in the Spider-Man franchise.

Of course, the movie is doing significantly stronger business overseas. So far, it's earned $277 million, and has a good chance of matching its predecessor's $490 million total.

At the domestic box office, the sequel to the 2012 reboot opened to an estimated $92 million. That's a bit lower than Captain America: The Winter Soldier's $95 million debut last month. It is higher than Thor: The Dark World ($85.7 million), and is also above 2009 summer kick-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($85.1 million).

Compared to other outings in the Spider-Man series, though, this is a disappointing debut. It's tough to compare this to the first Amazing Spider-Man, which opened on a Tuesday ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. The best comparable titles are the first and third movie in Sam Raimi's original trilogy, which also debuted on the first weekend of May. Those opened to $114.8 million and $151.1 million, respectively, with much lower average ticket prices and no 3D premiums.

The Spider-Man character clearly remains very popular—if that weren't the case, it couldn't have possibly reached $90 million. It's abundantly clear, though, that this franchise has to some extent worn out its welcome with moviegoers.

To justify its existence so soon after the Raimi series, the 2012 reboot needed to be great; unfortunately, reactions were generally mixed. It was also the lowest-grossing entry yet at the domestic box office with $262 million (down 22 percent from the last entry).

To stop the bleeding, the second outing threw a ton of villains at Spider-Man, though that approach had its pros and cons (Electro looked silly, while Green Goblin felt redundant). Marketing wasn't quite able to overcome the "been there, done that" feeling that's accompanied this reboot series.

There was also an expectation that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would be propped up by its Summer kick-off release date. Unfortunately, Captain America: The Winter Soldier seems to have stolen some of its thunder there. Reviews didn't help either, as it wound up being the worst-reviewed Spider-Man movie yet.

According to Sony, the audience was 61 percent male and 51 percent under the age of 25. That's younger than the typical audience for a superhero movie, and family attendance (33 percent) likely had something to do with this.

The long-term prospects at the domestic box office aren't great. The movie received a so-so "B+" CinemaScore, which suggests word-of-mouth will be only a bit better than the reviews. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will likely fall off quickly in the coming weeks, and is essentially guaranteed to be the lowest-grossing entry yet in the franchise. Based on the pattern of other May openers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 should finish with around $230 million.