On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 144/166 |
David Mumpower |
Ringu 2 was every bit as good as Ringu. The Ring 2 is every bit as bad as The Ring is good. Oddly, the sequels share the same director. |
It's always such a disappointment when you have an idea for what you think is a going to be brilliant joke, only to come face to face with the unpleasant realization that every entertainment writing bozo and his group of trained typewriting monkeys is going to arrive at the same obvious punchline. In this case, my joke was going to be some variant of "Dreamworks and Watts to go back to the well for Ring 2." *sigh*
Anyway, in light of the solid $125M+ domestic theatrical performance and phenomenal DVD/video sales of the original US version of The Ring, a sequel was pretty much inevitable. Of course, the price tag on this one is bound to be a lot higher, since returning director Gore Verbinski is now riding high from his turn at the helm of the very successful Pirates of the Carribean. Plus, Naomi Watts is hot off the box office juggernaut that is Le Divorce....errr...Ned Kelly, no wait, Plots With a View. In any event, after keeping herself busy with prestige pictures with limited box office potential, it's no surprise that Watts jumped at the chance to cash a big, fat sequel paycheck.
While Watts is the only acting talent to have signed so far, we're assuming that David Dorfman, the eerie looking 10-year old who played her son in the first movie, will be reprising his role. (Unless he plays hard ball and holds out for an on-set masseuse and a percentage of the back end.) We're also assuming that Davleigh Chase will return as the "still-haunting-my-nightmares-thank-you-very-much" Samara, although with that curtain of hair over her face, I suppose that you could pretty much cast Gary Busey in the role and it would be hard to tell the difference.
Although the original Japanese version was followed by both a prequel and a separate sequel, the producers have stated that this movie will contain alternating prequel and sequel storylines, with an original plot completely unrelated to those prior movies. Ehren Kruger is returning to writing duties (somewhere, BOP staffer Reagen Sulewski is doing his best impersonation of one of Samara's rictus-faced victims at the mention of Kruger's name.) (Calvin Trager/BOP)
November 4, 2003
Gore Verbinski is out (which is not too surprising, given that he now has a lot more attractive options after the rousing success of Pirates of the Carribean). The studio has tapped Noam Murro, an award winning director of commercials, to helm. (Murro directed the ad for Saturn which showed busy freeways full of people pretending to "drive" around without the actual cars.) Shooting is scheduled to begin in January 2004. (Jennifer Turnock/BOP)
March 9, 2004
And now Noam Murro has stepped aside due to the ever popular "creative differences" with the studio. No word yet as to who will replace him or the extent to which this will delay the filming schedule. (Jennifer Turnock/BOP)
March 11, 2004
A mere day or two after director Murro's departure was announced, word comes from Variety that Hideo Nakata, who helmed the original Japanese "Ringu" from which this series was derived, will be taking the reins as The Ring 2's new director. The Japanese director's work is proving to be very popular in Hollywood, as along with Ringu, his movies Dark Water and Chaos are also being remade as North American versions. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
Comparison films for The Ring Two |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl |
7/11/03 | 46.63 |
46.63 |
3269 |
14264.00 |
14264.0 |
305.41 |
305.41 |
0.00 |
| Freddy vs. Jason |
8/15/03 | 36.43 |
36.43 |
3014 |
12085.00 |
12085.0 |
82.49 |
82.49 |
2.26 |
| Scream 3 |
2/4/00 | 34.71 |
38.83 |
3465 |
10017.00 |
10779.0 |
88.36 |
98.84 |
2.55 |
| Scream 2 |
12/12/97 | 33.00 |
43.35 |
2663 |
12392.00 |
15658.7 |
101.36 |
133.15 |
3.07 |
| Ring, The |
10/18/02 | 15.02 |
15.61 |
1981 |
7580.00 |
7580.0 |
128.90 |
134.01 |
8.58 |
| Scream |
12/20/96 | 6.35 |
8.66 |
1413 |
4494.00 |
5897.1 |
103.03 |
140.56 |
16.23 |
| Mulholland Drive |
10/19/01 | 0.96 |
1.02 |
247 |
3889.00 |
3992.2 |
7.22 |
7.70 |
6.13 |
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