Building the foundation on ‘The Mortal Instruments’ film franchise
Last week, the Los Angeles Times posted a great article about The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and how it’s building the foundation for the Mortal Instruments film franchise.
While The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones didn’t blow away people at the box office (it made roughly $14.1 million its first five days), it still did pretty well for the time it was released. August — especially this week — was not the best time to release a movie. Most kids and teachers were going back to school and overall it was a horrible weekend at the box office. One of the worst of the year. Though of the new releases this weekend, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones debuted at No. 1 (No. 3 overall for the weekend). And that’s just domestically, not taking into account any international numbers.
There seems to be a lot of stigmas on Young Adult movies. The ever-popular and annoying “It’s just like Twilight” comparisons (like seriously, just because it has supernatural elements (and creatures like vampires and werewolves) and a teenage female protagonist does not make it Twilight. Twilight does not own any of those.)
Another one is that a YA movie has to be a Hollywood blockbuster like Twilight or The Hunger Games, which isn’t the case, as evidenced by the article in the LA Times.
The Mortal Instruments is produced by Constantin Film (an independent production company) not Sony. Sony is the U.S. distributor not the production company.
If you remember, Constantin is the company behind Resident Evil, which wasn’t a box office sensation but spawned four sequels. Constantin is using that same plan when it comes to The Mortal Instruments. Producer Robert Kulzer explained in the interview:
“For us as an independent company, it’s more about managing expectations,” Kulzer said by phone from Berlin. “Even if the movie performs moderately, it will still warrant a sequel. Now that $60 million has been spent worldwide on prints and advertising, you can already see how the book sales are accelerating, the soundtrack is hitting the charts. Even if the first one doesn’t become a gigantic success, we will have a profitable track ahead of us.”
It’s more about The Mortal Instruments brand, but that doesn’t mean the box office isn’t important. Because it is. But The Mortal Instruments doesn’t need to pull a Twilight or Hunger Games to generate sequels.
Kulzer is hopeful that the film will not only sell tickets but also propel ancillary products associated with the movie (the soundtrack and merchandise), other chapters in the series and the prequel book series, which Constantin also owns. That would boost the overall “Mortal Instruments” brand — and improve sales for future “Mortal Instruments” movies.
We’re asking you to keep spreading the word about The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and keep seeing it until it bows out of theaters. We can do it, Shadowhunters! City of Bones can have a nice box office gross worldwide. The movie will be in theaters for awhile so there’s plenty of time! And we can make City of Ashes a huge box office success when it hits theaters.
TMI Source 
Reblogged this on Blog of an e-marketer by Main Uddin.
This is good news.
I also believe that the $14 million will rise a lot when the international ticket sales are taken into account.
I just hope the brand does well enough to at least complete the first trilogy. (So we aren’t left with a cliffhanger at the end of CoA movie)
Agreed. As much as I would love to see all six, I’d be okay if they only did the trilogy. I’d be heartbroken if the stopped after CoA
I still think they should do all the books. For me it’s just the first three are about Valentine and the other ones are about the aftermath of his life.
Thank you for this article, I can breathe now. I’m checking box office numbers from this morning and I saw that TMI is in third place in USA. But still, it opens in Germany, Spain and etc. this week, right? It can be a major sucess in Europe, Constantine is European company and I’m sure they did well while promoting it there. (I am from Europe, Bulgaria, and the studio wich distributes the movie here did an awfull job. There are no bilboards, no posters, just a couple of them in front of the theaters and they are not with the characters. I just hope that most of the fans have facebook, tumblr and twitter and they now that the movie is out now. I think I should write an email to Constantine…) So, in conclusion, I hope CoB will do well worldwide and we’ll have our CoA and the other books filmed too. You gyus did an excellent job promoting it too!
Thank you! We’ll at least have City of Ashes but we all want at least through City of Glass and Infernal Devices 🙂
So we WILL have City of Ashes? If so, I hope that they do at least City of Glass also, but split it into two parts, because it’s a huge book, and they did that for Twilight and Harry Potter, besides. And I defiantly want Some Infernal Devices movies!
I’m a semi-big fan but I”m not going to delude myself. It’s silly to use that article because it came out BEFORE the mortal instruments flopped/bombed, which is what Forbes, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly are all calling it.
The co-president said “moderate” results….but a 14 millionn 5 day opening weekend is NOT moderate results for a 60 million film, it’s a bomb.
Movie studios keep roughly half (55%) of box office revenue WORLDWIDE, this does not matter that Constantin that produced mortal instruments is in Germany. Marketing for this film was 60 million meaning the total cost of TMI was 120 million. Thus to BREAK EVEN this films needs to make 220 million worldwide.
Based on it’s opening weekend it will be VERY LUCKY to hit about 100 million worldwide.
DVD sales for movies (doesn’t matter if it’s based on a popular book/franchise) that makes 100 million worldwide will be about 15 million, 20 million would be phenomenally lucky. Merchandising and syndication rights will not net more than another 20 million if super lucky, but mostly 15 million.
There’s no way this movie is turning a profit, but will represent a loss.
Also blaming critics, twilight comparisons, Wednesday opening, August opening is BS. The reason movies open in August is because the studio knows it will bomb since August has NO COMPETITION. If Mortal Instruments had opened in the popular November month, it would have made 5 million opening weekend since too many great movies would blow it away.
It opened on a Wednesday because again studios know it will bomb so they want to add in 2 days extra gross so their weekend figures don’t look as horrible.
Mortal instruments embargoed critics from publishing reviews until opening day, meaning studios knew it was terrible. Good movies have 90% of the reviews published 1 week in advance.
Finally some honesty regarding this fiasco! They can paint it any way they like, but for me who is not only a die-hard fan of TMI book series but was also a HUGE #TMImovie supporter in every possible way from the moment the movie rights were optioned off, this movie turned out to be a bitter disappointment. And personally, no amount of Hollywood excuses will change that fact. I desperately wanted to love this movie but I too agree that it was a bomb. This in no way intended to be disrespectful to Cassie or anyone from this wonderful fandom which I consider to be my extended family, but in a way I almost wish that they didn’t make any more TMI movies and just let this amazing book series be. I will be posting an honest – from the bottom of my heart – review of the movie in the near future and in the meantime I will go back to what matters to me most – focusing on Cassie’s wonderful books which for me are good enough on their own at this point. 🙂
I appreciate your honesty. I went to see the movie because despite the bad reviews, a lot of reviews said the core audience enjoyed. Well, I was part of the core audience and thought it was awful. Certainly not the worse movie I had seen, but it was bad enough that I couldn’t recommend it to anyone. So much of what I loved about the book had been distorted, there acting was awful for the most part, the plotting was ridiculous. It felt like a TV episode. I didn’t like the acting, I didn’t like Clary and Jace ( I didn’t feel any chemistry. I still think Jamie Bower is just wrong) but that aside, it wasn’t really the actors’ fault. They had a horrid script to work with. Unless the revamp EVERYTHING ( and even consider some recasting) I won’t see another movie in this franchise. I will just stick to the books and advise anyone new to the series to do so as well.
I have seen the movie twice and loved it. Some of the changes from the book I can see made sense because you don’t need a film that’s over 3 hours long. The one thing I am disappointed in is that there was no UK premiere especially as the majority of the main characters are British. Maybe next time. I would love to see all the books turned into movies.
the characters are from Idris. the actors are from britain.
Ahhh okay this has made me feel better ^_^ I agree though, it was not the best time to release a film. I mean I WAS IN SCHOOL.
I absolutely agree that last Wednesday was a REALLY bad time to release the film. Forgive me, TMI fans, but Eclipse was released on a Wednesday, and I think it did pretty well, and that might have encouraged the company to release it during the week. But CoB is the first movie of the series, and Eclipse had two predecessors.
However, I do think the movie did fairly well considering all the circumstances. And this article did a lot to ease some of my nervousness over potential sequels. So, thanks a lot, Alyssa. I feel much more confident about future TMI/TID projects:)
The movie was ok but for a 2 hour movie I was very upset that so much was different from the book. Things that didn’t even need to be changed OR added were. Important things were left out. And for people that saw the movie and read the book, did you catch the part between Hodge and Valentine that basically ruined part of City of Glass??? I guess I’m saying I would have liked this movie 100% more if I had not read the series multiple times.
I sort of agree about the conversation between Hodge and Valentine spoiling the third book but by the same token if I thought there was no hope of getting Clary and Jace together again I would have been devastated by the ending like I did when I read the first book and then had to read two more before the whole story was revealed. May be it will encourage more people to buy the books which can only be good for the franchise.
Very true. But I also feel they didn’t make people fall in love with Jace and Clary like they do in the book. I was kinda “meh” about them in the movie but I was so upset when the whole “We share parents” came out in the book. I’m curious (if the sequel is made) to see how Valentine gets the cup. He was supposed to have it at the end of City of Bones.
If they hadn’t of said they weren’t actually brother and sister though there would have been an uproar about incest and everything so I suppose they had to add that in.
I also agree that what Hodge said to Valentine should not have been in the movie. I went with my boyfriend though and after the movie was explaining to him the things that had been left out, while readers of young adult and paranormal books love this parts that were missing, average movie goers would find them far fetched and crazy. I explained to him the difference in the vampire hotel scene and he said he was glad it was change because to him that would seem crazy and completely impossible. So while we find things the authors write to be not so crazy, people just going to a movie would.
I agree with you completely. I took my husband to the movie, and to be completely honest I had to explain a lot of the movie, because toward the end it was complete chaos. Also, if demons can come into the Institute, then any scene in Mortal Instruments OR Infernal Devices with Camille in the special room for downworlders that cannot enter hallowed ground is useless. I honestly think the movie spoiled too much and shouldn’t even go on with any sequel and just try again with Infernal Devices.
If there’s not sequel, there’s no Infernal Devices movie XD The studio is waiting to see how TMI does before they start with TID.
I agree, it really as a bad time to release it, hopefully CoA will be released earlier in the summer somehow, though I don’t want them to rush it, but it would be a help.
THERE HAS TO BE A SEQUEL, there just has to be! Cassie’s books are amazing, and if Percy Jackson can have a sequel than so should City of Bones.
YEAH! And Percy Jackson was a terrible movie (compared to the books) and City of Bones wasn’t.
You are so right they totally ruined Percy Jackson finally someone agree’s with me 🙂 And yea im glad to know i am not the only one who thought the whole vampire scene was dumb. The book was a bestseller for a reason right? So why change it when you’re making the movie???
I nearly cried in relief from this article!
As a fan of the books, I am relieved to know this information. Yes, I had some issues with the movie version but I did enjoy the movie. I think this franchise deserves a chance.
i completely agree. the books..oh my goodness i was hooked. but the movie was not really what i was hoping for but hopefully they will learn from reading what fans have to say and see what they can do better in the second one because i really wanna see how they do with city of ashes
i have read all the books and love them. I loved the movie as well. but you have to remember a movie can not be word for word the same as the book. it would be a 8 hour movie if they did that and i didnt think the changes that they made hurt the story line plot or continuity of the series. I’m ecstatic that they made as good a quality movie as they did. I loved the hunger games books but hated the movie and it was almost word for word the same as the book.
I agree Beverly, and to be quite honest I wasn’t as big a fan of City of Bones as I was with City of Ashes. In fact, in the same way the first book elicited me to read ahead to the second, I feel the movie asks the same of it’s viewers. I think the next film will clear up a lot of the confusion movie go’ers had with the first film, like Luke’s relationship with Valentine (touched briefly in the film) and show a bit more of what the fans (like me) already know. Keep in mind the same amount of suspense you’ll find in a book can’t always be adapted into a movie. The whole “Lie to them” line from Hodge can be interpreted in several ways if you’re a fan of the book. We already know the truth about Clary and Jace, so I take Hodge’s meaning as just that… we as fans know Valentine is actually lying. I hold onto that reality because of a quote from Harald Zwart, the film really was meant “for the fans”.
Well I went with my friends yesterday and they kept asking me if they were brother and sister so obviously it was unclear which is how they wanted it, so not to creep people out who hadn’t read the booKs. Cause to be fair there are a lot of ‘Clace’ scenes in COA.
Hi there c: This article literally made me crie in relief. I saw the box office dates about the first week, and I was upset. Upset. I was hoping for the The Mortal Instruments to be a success in America,because the company did an amazing job promoting CoB and also you did. You really were fantastic, so proud of our fandom *-*
The problem is, and I must say that I don’t know much about the other countries,that here in Europe CoB isn’t promoted at all. I’m from Italy and here there are only some posters in the cinemas. I saw the trailer twice on Tv,and a few spots around 30 seconds each one. Moreover,the books here aren’t as famous as they are in America,Uk and Australia. There’s only a little people who has read them.
So,knowing that in America it didn’t have much success,I was very worried about the sequels and I still am.
But,as I said before, I have faith in you, you already did a great job!
*fingercrossed* I love you and this fantastic website c:
Ciao!
Oh I really hoped that the movie is well promoted in the rest of Europe… 😦
Yeah, I’m from New Zealand and I only saw the trailer once and posters twice! – I’m trying to spread the word though 😀 I really hope it does well in other countries because it hurts to see bad reviews and stuff! Thank goodness for this article 🙂
I know,it’s upsetting to see loads and loads of bad reviews.
Here in Italy YA movies are always hardly criticized, but CoB is picking a lot of good reviews from our crtitics. I’m so happy! 😀
I´m from germany. we`ve got many TV spots since last week, but only a few posters in cinemas.
But don`t forget: https://tmisource.com/2013/08/16/a-world-hidden-within-our-own-in-munich-germany/
this makes me so much better. I really hope to see it again nxt week so i’ll c if anyone wants to go. i know my friend who loved infernal devices and just read city of bones and liked it wanted to s to see the movie. . she goes back to england soon, so i have to see if i can get her before she leaves. i loved the movie version and yes there were chances, but i feel that the very esscence and context was the story was faitfhuful. sure, it would have been awesome if they kept simon as as a rat, but peraps that wouldn’t have translated well on screen. i think jessica was trying to find a way to appease the fans and please the nonreaders who needed explaning. i think its helfpful if it was explained(though it kind of was) why the shadowhunters had accents and that the thing they were using to mark the runes were the to mark the runes were steles. nonreaders clued in what the runes did. i understand why some of the order of the scenes were changed around. and i think city of ashes will be even more faithful with raplhel in there. perhaps we’ll also see valentines more mannipulative sigh and this will defnitely mess poor jace and clary up even more.i think the movie doings good consdering the cirumstances, oen the timing where some are going back to school, its still summer and the the facts thereres the bulter movie as a huge contender. i understand that so many people many be seeing it as it appeals ot an older audience though tmi h does too besdies the younger audience, many americans are extremly proud of their history and opraphs in it. i’m not saying that the bulter isn’t a good movie but i if i were to ever watch it, i’d much rather rent it.
. we can still depend on the international market and its budget will increase as time goes on. also cirtics, some of you needd to stop comariparing it and sayys it’s the smae as twilight which isn’t nor it it hp. also, i think the fans who didn’t like it, the movie would have gottte bettr recetipnion e.g. for the valtine part, in which hodge could have said something like, if you teell them what i think you’re going to tell them, y’ll break their hearts. of course, the nonreaders may have been put off by the “incest.” many of us know that its not actually incest. however there wer still amny who loved it, including the fans, who liked, liek the nonreadres and fans and there were nonreaders who loved it. there were fans who didn’t like the movie. also for the next sequel, which was also a cirumstance, more marketing! and
granted, there are those who start back to school in September, including th in the states, so it can be hard to deecie the date
I think it would help if movie theaters would decide how to advertise the name of the movie in the actual theater itself. The movie is called “City of Bones” so when I went to the theater, I did not see the movie listed and was like “what? I know it is out!” then I saw The Mortal Instruments- I’m like OK- there it is as I have read the books. However, if you did not read the books and were looking for the title “City of Bones”, you may thought to yourself, the movie was not playing at that particular theater. This needs to be fixed ASAP. When the Twlight Franchise was in the theaters- they movie was listed under each individual title, not under the franchise itself! Also, not good timing- opening on a Wed night when half the kids are already back in school and the other half on summer vacation. By the way, I LOVED LOVED the movie and I have read all the book!!!!!!
Yay, I was very nervous that it won’t continue the movie series. But also the TMI line has clothes, books, a makeup line, jewelry, posters, also the tmi books and the prequils .
Thx for the article I can breathe alot better now. I have been checking on the box office numbers everyday since the movie opened. Even though the movie wasn’t what I expected, I still enjoyed it. I’m glad to now know that TMI have future. I can go through the day happy now. Thx 😘
THANK YOU regarding the reference to the “just like Twilight” trope. I just wrote a long and angered post about that very topic, and I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way.
The Studio already confirmed they are doing COA and with that im Pretty sure they will do COG too just to end the first part od the books and if it doesnt go well with the first 3 movies they are not going to do the other 3 books… It can work for it they just easily can kill Sebastian as it Happen in COG and people who hasnt read the book not gonna know that Sebantian Lives and that could be a propper ending! Valentine Out and Sebastian Out…. no need to do the other 3
Here in Belgium (Europe) the release is not until october 2013, so that might clarify the lower sales rates.
Surely October it’s a better time to release a movie,because there’s more people going to the theatres than in summer. But TMI’s still not very popular in Europe,I think you noticed it too. Is there more promoting in Belgium? In Italy,and also in Bulgaria,a girl said to me,it’s not promoted at all.
I hope european fans like us will repick the rates,I’m so worried.
I was lucky enough to able to see this with my both my daughters who didnt read the books ( i have and LOVE THEM )all we have to say is KEEP THE MOVIES COMING !!!!!! So impressed with the detail …amazing job guys keep up the great work .. I went to all of the twilight movies and hats of to them as well but there is NO comparison to the “MORTAL INSTRUMENTS ” AGAIN THANK YOU .
I agree you can not compare the two films. I too have read 5 of the 6 books and all three of the prequel and intend to read the bane chronicles. KEEP THEM COMING FOR SURE!!! I went with my 8 yr old son who was amazed with it. and my 17 yr old cousin who also has read everything I have read. We were very happy with the movie. (:
I thought this movie was very good. Idk why it didn’t do as well as I thought it was going to. I loved it and plan on seeing it again.
My daughter and I saw it twice – picked up soo many things the second time around that we missed on the first viewing!! LOVED the movie! It’s been about 5 years since we’ve read the stories but the movie stayed true to most of the major points except for the big one! Haven’t been a fan of Jamie in the past but thought he was great as Jace! It was a really bizarre weekend – there was literally no one at any of the movies. We even talked to the theater manager and he said it was very strange, but he did recognize us when we came back the second time! The mall was jammed with back to school shopping – but Saturday night still should have been date night – it was in our household! Sure hope things pick up as we can’t wait for the next installment!!!
I loved all the books and when they said that Jamie was going to be Jace I could totally see him as that character. Having now seen the movie twice he just nailed it for me. Can’t wait for next year for the next one and also the DVD to come out. 🙂
Jonathan Rhys Meyers – loved loved loved him as Valentine!!
I find myself nervous in the middle of the night about the future of these movies, and this has made me feel a lot better. I just really loved the movie, and it makes me so angry when all the critics insult Jamie or Lily or say it’s just like twilight. The review in my area even called it the Mortal Elements (!!) and said that Clary finds an alternate New York called Downworld. And I was like, are you joking.
Wow are they stupid or what. They’re not critiquing now they ate just acting like immature teenagers. If One more person says another thing like that I will put them in a timeout
honestly, i think it was one of the best movie adaptations done so far. ok, there were some differences, but we have to thank god it didnt turn out as percy jackson, in which they changed practically the whole story. i really liked the movie, but i do agree that it might have been confusing for those who hadnt read the book, but again TMI is not as famous as THG and HP for example, so i think the movie will serve as a way to encourage people who didnt understand the story to read it. and honestly, i am done with all those Twilight comparisons I read in the movie reviews, come on, is the world really that desperate to have “the new Twilight”?? shouldnt all stories be different? after all isnt the variety which is really interesting? i am sure no one involved in the movie franchise is actually interesting on making TMI comparable to Twilight, and I as a fan wouldnt particularly like it if they were, because i think they have two completely different plots. but regarding the movie, i think all the changes they made were understandable, and i was really glad they didnt left things such as alecs sexuality and jace and clary being brother and sister (even though yeah, hodge kinda spoiled it, but still. i just think the demons in the institute were indeed a little over the top, i think they were trying to manage as much as action as they could. but above all the thing that irritated me the most WERE VALENTINES BRAIDS!!!! i couldnt take him seriously, really what was with that? he was also kinda of too psycho for my taste, but thats fine because it made him look scarier than i imagined in the books.
Today I asked my mother about what she liked best about the film since we went yesterday and she told me that she liked the fact that the story was very unpredictable and that there were constant twist and turns that come out if nowhere ill add on that she didn’t read the books and was confused but that’s what made it interesting and she said that when she watched it she did not see it as another twilight at all. It didn’t exist she saw it as a different film and thinks that all those comparisons are a waste of time and that there’s no point going on about it just let it be. God bless her my mother she’s The best.
I totally agree with everything in your comment hahaa! But I purposefully took three of my friends who’d had no idea what the books were about, they only knew that I’d been freaking out over them for the past four years, just to see how none-fans thought and to see if they could understand it. And they freaking loved it! They jumped at the demons, they cried, they laughed. They’re planning on reading the books, and it was really reassuring to me to see that people who had no clue could become even more emersed and in love with the movie than I was 🙂
I agree I actually was happy they left out the whole rat thing and flying motor bike I thought they were both lame ideas in the book. I too thought Valantines braids were bloody annoying! I thought they tried to force a mood with the over the top orchestral music in some bits. Happy with the actors playing the characters particularly Jamie as Jace. They need to put just a tad more bulk on him nothing over the top but just a tad so he doesn’t look skeletal. I thought the sets were amazing! Totally looking forward to another movie. I’m new to this following and have just finished CoG. Get rid of those dam braids! Saw the movie twice.
Does this mean the sequel is a definite? Or could they pull the plug on it at any given moment? Saw it 3x and although there were changes, I still loved it. I need the sequel, like I need oxygen.
QuestionHey Harald! Thanks so much for creating such a great adaption of City if Bones. The things you had to change really worked so well and made me really excited for City of Ashes! I’ve seen the movie 5 times in 5 days, and each time it was as amazing to watch as the first! I don’t understand the critic reviews, I really don’t.
The fans have been worried about getting CoA but we have a LOT of faith in you and the cast and crew for the next movie! 😉 We can’t wait! 🙂 x
Answer
Thanks. I can’t wait to get started on Ashes.
Harald Z
QuestionHi, I absolutely loved City of Bones, and I’m really looking forward to hopefully seeing the future books as movies. I know City of Ashes is in the works, but City of Bones only made 15 million since it opened, does this mean that the futures movies might be canceled because the first one didn’t do so well? I’m really concerned about this because I love this movie and series so much. I’m crying right now just thinking of the possibility of there not being more movies.
Answer
15 is a good opening this time of year. No need to worry. HZ
http://haraldzwart.tumblr.com/
I was happy that schools were gearing up again when this came out. I also went to the midnight showing. It cut down on crowding & loud, disrespectful teenagers in the theater that way.
I made sure not to start reading the books until after seeing the movie so I wouldn’t have any comparisons to complain about. As a stand alone movie (ignoring the books) it was really good! I am 85% through book one & I see a lot of differences though. But I expected that.
yea it really was a horrible time to release the movie. It came out the day i was moving in to college, and i still haven’t been able see it:/ my sisters also started school that week so they weren’t able to either
I thought the movie was extremely awesome and cool, despite all the stupid reviews online about the movie not being good. Screw those reviews
The reviews are just a waste of time and they seriously need to just go and wear diapers and have some Candy to calm down
At the end of the day it’s only people’s opinions. Everyone should go and see the movie for themselves and then comment not the other way around. Half of the reviewers in the press are commenting on the movie before they’ve sat in the theatre with an audience and seen their reaction first.
Thank you so much for this. I really cannot take it if there would be no City of Ashes. From the very first time I read the book I started waiting in vain for the movie adaptation. TMI: City of Bones is a dream come true. This is the first time in my life that I’d really participated anywhere online for a great book that I read.
I am really glad they are doing COA! I was nervous to see this movie as I really like the books and didn’t want to be disappointed with the movie. I don’t think it was like Twilight or HP either, that’s just stupid. Some of the things in the movie were different and scenes in different places than they were in the book. The part of the US I live in went back to school right before the release last week, but since I’m in college I was able to get to see it opening day unlike some children who may have had to wait till the weekend. It’s the end of the summer for a lot of us Americans still so families tend to go on vacations or like some of my friends that wanted to see it, had to work. I’m really hoping with all the releases overseas help, esp. since someone posted that they can’t see it till October. I think they casted well and Jamie and Lily did a great job as did the guy that played Valentine, he really got into that character. Can’t wait for the next movie…:)
I love the books, and was disappointed in the movie, though I will stick it out and see the sequels. My only specific complaint is that the motorcycle didn’t fly. If they had maintained that, I would have felt the producers had redeemed themselves.
City of bones will have a nice numbers when the movie goes out of theaters. People stills think that this is the new Twilight, and there’s when they wrong. But even about that, they will have a nice numbers.
And we don’t want just city of crystal, we all want the whole books adaptation.So, let’s trust!
God I hope the author of this article is right.
I’m just presenting the facts 🙂
First of all, people who are going to criticizes this movie should first read the book. “It’s like TWILIGHT”? That’s like saying Underworld is like Twilight. The hell kind of comparison is that. In all honesty, as someone who has read and loved the books, the movie was a real let down. We fans were promised a movie that would stick as close as it could to the book and we got the total opposite. It was choppy and rushed and vital things were not explained. I am hoping City of Ashes is not going to be like that but from how much they left out of City of Bones, I have a feeling it will be. They really could of done a much better job seeing as they’ve had more than enough time. Then again, I took my Partner to see it and he enjoyed it, purly becauae he has never read the books. I can assure you, anyone who says they liked it most likely did not read the book. Heres hoping they do a better job with the next one.
One problem with showing a movie these days is that people will watch the pirated movie of it online to avoid going to the theatres and paying for it. Some don’t even realize how much that hurts a movie financially and that really bugs me to no end.
I’ll be 100% honest… I liked and disliked the movie, the thing is that, there’s a lot of things that where changed from the story; I didn’t quite got the end, some of the actors just nailed it with the character, but others didn’t… And I’ll remark it again, the end… It was, like chaos, a lot of stuff was going on at the same time, and Valentine hitting Jace like that…
And the music at the action scenes, it wasn’t the best option… I really was looking forward to see the fight scene at the Hotel Dumort, and it really was good, but the music!! ooh, god… that really sucked…
Despite all, I’m looking forward to see the next movie. In this one it felt like the story was edited for a really young audience, and the books aren’t so, yeah, I got a little dissapointed… but the next book it has more action, more drama, so, I’ll be waiting to see if the producers can improve the story little more.
thank you!!!!!!!I WILL DIE IF THEY DONT CONTINUE TO MAKE THE SERIES! please, I’ve already seen it twice and love it, please continue to make them, I love the series! give it time please at least make the next two because I will buy so many tickets to see the movie, I LOVE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS!!!!
Sorry guys, but just like Harry Potter, there’s no way you can just do three movies/books -triology- and that’s it. I am sure a lot of fans would be disappointed. myself included. I liked Twilight and all, but not as much as CoB and the rest of the books. My favorite being CoLost Souls.
I feel like I can breath now. I hate the response the movie is getting, from both the negative readers and critics. Rotten Tomato’s rating is not only unfair, but also fucked up. I’m not saying give it 80%-90%, but it so does not deserve such a low score. As a fan of the book, I was bothered by many things, but I was also happy about many of the additions also. I hate some of the songs that were put in, and I really hated the cheesy pop song playing at the Greenhouse scene(just WTF?) As a whole, the movie was great! The only part I had a problem with was the last scene(it dragged on for way too long). I loved the movie, I think it was well made and deeply cared for. I just hope the actors and crew don’t get discouraged, and I wish they would continue doing the second movie.
Everyone should all go to IMDb and give it a 10!! (I know I was just being a totall know-it-all, but the fangirl in me wants it to be the best!)
Sorry, but the movie was horrible. I love the books too much to ever say that the movie was a good in anyway apart from the effects were pretty good… but that’s about it…
I would also like to ask TMISource to make an announcement to fans about going on all kinds of different sites and give it a high rating.
Great idea!
Unfortunately we have to wait for 14 September for the movie to start in South Africa… But me and my girls are planning to see it a few times 🙂
I’m a semi-big fan but I”m not going to delude myself. It’s silly to use that article because it came out BEFORE the mortal instruments flopped/bombed, which is what Forbes, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly are all calling it.
The co-president said “moderate” results….but a 14 millionn 5 day opening weekend is NOT moderate results for a 60 million film, it’s a bomb.
Movie studios keep roughly half (55%) of box office revenue WORLDWIDE, this does not matter that Constantin that produced mortal instruments is in Germany. Marketing for this film was 60 million meaning the total cost of TMI was 120 million. Thus to BREAK EVEN this films needs to make 220 million worldwide.
Based on it’s opening weekend it will be VERY LUCKY to hit about 100 million worldwide.
DVD sales for movies (doesn’t matter if it’s based on a popular book/franchise) that makes 100 million worldwide will be about 15 million, 20 million would be phenomenally lucky. Merchandising and syndication rights will not net more than another 20 million if super lucky, but mostly 15 million.
There’s no way this movie is turning a profit, but will represent a loss.
Also blaming critics, twilight comparisons, Wednesday opening, August opening is BS. The reason movies open in August is because the studio knows it will bomb since August has NO COMPETITION. If Mortal Instruments had opened in the popular November month, it would have made 5 million opening weekend since too many great movies would blow it away.
It opened on a Wednesday because again studios know it will bomb so they want to add in 2 days extra gross so their weekend figures don’t look as horrible.
Mortal instruments embargoed critics from publishing reviews until opening day, meaning studios knew it was terrible. Good movies have 90% of the reviews published 1 week in advance.
Love this movie,I already watched 3 times,love Lily Collins too,she act very well,hope Mortal Instruments can continue,have been posting in my facebook,Mortal fans please support!They did a great job,the action is good so you won’t feel boring,I am from Singapore,City Of Bones open in 22 August in Singapore.
I really like City of Bones to the fact that I have watched it with my friends because I badly want so. 🙂
PS. it’s a really good news to hear that the whole series itself is franchised. And City of Bones is actually a hit here in the Philippines.
I havent seen it but i want to support it otherwise i may have to face the alternative of them not making the sequel 🙂
Is it just me or are people who have apparently actually read the books saying the movie was amazing? This confuses me. Did you actually read the books or are you just saying you did? It was a horrible adaptation of the book, how could you think it did the book justice when the storyline was all over the place? I mean they completely ruined the personalities of the charaters… I honestly don’t see how THAT makes it a good movie…
It was still nice to see the book come to life even at least in part. I’m a fan of the books and I’m very dedicated and believe in the franchise and will support it however it adapted. I never go into movie expecting it to be “just like the book” because its a movie…. Based on a book, and when you realize that, it’s much easier to enjoy the movie adaptations of any book. I want to tell everyone complaining to just lighten up and enjoy the ride….
I agree Crystal. How can people say that they passionately loved the book and then at the same time say that they LOVED this movie?!?? I just don’t get it! Have we been so brainwashed by Hollywood that we have become completely blind to its shortcomings and are willing to just readily eat up any BS with a spoon without a question? How can people love a movie that blatantly disregards the book’s mythology to the point that it goes against almost everything those books stand for? I am so sick of the automatic assumptions that I didn’t like this movie because I “didn’t like the actors” or that I expected the movie to be “exactly like the book” because neither are right! The simple reasons for this being a terrible adaptation are a subpar script and bad screenwriting.
People, fans, why oh why have we allowed for our standards to get so low that we are willing to lie to ourselves? Is it easier to deal with disappointment that way?
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/q-a-cassandra-clare-talks-about-the-mortal-instruments/?_r=0
First big mistake coming out in August. People are getting ready to go back to school so the movie profit slow down from August through October. It doesn’t start picking up again till November. Secondly not highlighting what the movie main plot is about. The love story was a subplot so it should have not been the focus of all the movie trailers.
The reason highlighting the love story worked for Twlight is because that is what is was about. If you will notice Harry Potter and the Hunger Games even young adult films from back in the day like the Breakfast Club did not highlight the romance unless that is what the story is about. If you want people to come to the movie you need to appeal to everyone so your trailers for your movie need to appeal to everyone. If your marketing team was good they could have made sure the trailers could get people interested in the story while hinting at romance.
Trailers are supposed to get people to come to the movie. The movie’s job is to make people want to come again or get their friends to come to the movie, because they enjoyed it so much. This movie has to make 120 mil in order to get the sequel. I think the DVD sales will do well, but that doesn’t get you a sequel it’s the theatre run that does.
They are valid points however I think that the distributors should have made more of an effort in getting the moviegoers’ attention before it hit the cinemas. In the UK I think I only twice saw a TV trailer and even less posters around my home town. I hope this can be rectified before the next one is released.
I agree with you on that over here in the US I didn’t really see any movie trailers or posters. If it were me and I was in charge first I would see if I could get my movie trailer to be one of the ones playing before Iron Man 3 movie or any big blockbuster movie played you are not going to find and bigger and better audience to see your trailer then people that are at the movies. Then I would make sure it was a good trailer the kind that would get people to go watch the film. Looking at the numbers it doesn’t look good.
We will know for the US how things are going to be when we see Friday’s numbers. One thing I think is that they think of this movie as one of their blow off films. We all know that networks and studios have certain projects that they agree to and then they don’t really stand behind it because they don’t believe in it. If this movie would have made a lot of money at the box office on opening weekend I can promise you the next one they would not release it in August, but since they don’t believe in the film or maybe they have been reading all the stuff that is being said about the Author either way this movie was doomed before it was release.
How can you fix something like this before or after it’s been released? Well I would take to twitter, facebook, and youtube to get the word out about the movie and how great it is. (Do damage control you can fix that) Stop comparing your movie to other movies and when someone else does it make sure to let people know that the person saying it is wrong about that. It is very important that you let people know that your movie has its own identity. If you have the money to spend on playing your trailer on TV then first make sure they are good and play them heavy in very popular programs you never know where you will get new fans. Never limit yourself to one type of fan. You can’t really tell what might make someone go and see a film so this is why you should never limit yourself.
Movie studios at least big one get usually only 15% of what they make overseas, but it still counts so let’s say they make in the first four weeks of the release of the film they get 120 mil overseas then they will make the sequel even though they will get back so little still it will get made. And about the first four weeks I believe that is the standard can’t remember the specific though. Anyway I hope that this holiday weekend helps it to pick up.
does anyone remember The Host considering that Stephenie Meyer is a household name now it didn’t even seem like it was at the cinema’s the success of Twilight has even blighted its creator likesome Frankenstein- i really enjoyed The Mortal Instruments yes there was some cringy bits and Hodge Valentine plan thing got me P.O but i could still see that a lot was kept from the books which is rare. I wish that Jace was more snarky and less love struck as in the book his a little man-whore in the making and arrogant very much so I hope the next film does better as the series of books is brill. Sidebar- even though Jonathan Rhys Meyers isn’t the books Valentine- the dude has been on the run he isn’t going to go to Macy’s and get a Tom Ford suit now- yes his hair was distracting but his intensity was real for the character that has driven himself mad on power and superiority i liked it.
Love the movie and the books. Read all of them, and clockwork series and Magnus Bane too.
I hope they make them all into movies. I think that the first one wasn’t so big in theaters, but as each one comes out, I see them grossing more and more.
First of all, let me tell everyone that I absolutely loved the books..all of them and am looking forward to Book 6 in May of next year. The movie however, was not great and seemed to deviate so far from the book that it was distracting. Now I know that this happens a lot in movies and the books are almost always better but the TMI movie based on book 1 cut so much out that I wondered what were the makers thinking. I guess that they were trying to cut corners and the movie felt like some movie execs cut many of the action scenes in order to save money. Just a guess. I hope they make Movie 2 but please stick closer to the book.