<\/p>\n
It was recently announced that there is going to be another Austin Powers film made. You may be aware of this but when I found out I was very surprised. Usually a trilogy is a pretty good run for a single unique character, and outside of horror, we rarely get to a 4th installment. Besides, there is something about a trilogy that seems like an appropriate length of time to give to any idea. The first instalment may be a fluke. The second movie tests this but there is the possibility that the second one could be successful on the strength of the first while actually being a bad movie. The third movie determines if this idea was worth a franchise and hell, if you made it this far, that\u2019s not a bad run. From what I remember about discussing Goldmember with people I knew when it came out, the consensus was that 3 was plenty and it\u2019s time for Mike Myers to take his fake bad teeth and go home. Goldmember contained pretty much all the things you can expect from the third installation of a trilogy particularly when it\u2019s running low on ideas. It had the biggest budget of all, leaned pretty hard on self-parody and featured several high-profile cameos. If you don\u2019t remember (and you have no reason to, so don\u2019t worry), the film opens with the production of Austinpussy, a film about the ‘real-life’ adventures of Austin Powers. On the film set, we see Tom Cruise playing Powers, Gwyneth Paltrow as his latest sidekick (Dixie Normous), Kevin Spacey as Dr. Evil and Danny DeVito as Mini-Me. The film is being directed by Steven Spielberg who we see for a bit and there are 9 or 10 more celebrities playing themselves. It seemed like everyone involved called in all their favours or threw just enough money at this movie so the franchise could limp to the trilogy finish line. While the second part of the trilogy, The Spy Who Shagged Me, certainly didn\u2019t break a lot of new ground, Goldmember is stunningly formulaic, and you can set your watch by when Dr. Evil and his son Scott have a snippy, catch-phrase filled back and forth, the creepy introduction of the latest weird character also played by Myers and the shadows of 2 characters made to look sexual.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/themacguffinmen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/austin-shadow.jpg\" "\\"austin")
<\/a><\/p>\nFilm<\/strong><\/th>\n| Release date<\/strong><\/th>\n | Box office revenue<\/strong><\/th>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n | Budget<\/strong><\/th>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n | \u00a0<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery<\/em><\/em><\/td>\n | May 2, 1997<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $67,683,989<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $16,500,000<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me<\/em><\/em><\/td>\n | June 11, 1999<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $312,016,858<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $33,000,000<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Austin Powers in Goldmember<\/em><\/em><\/td>\n | July 26, 2002<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $296,655,431<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $63,000,000<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Total<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $676,356,278<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | \u00a0<\/td>\n | $112,500,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | As you can see, Goldmember still made almost 5 times its budget, despite how it was reviewed. That\u2019s a pretty good result to just walk away from. Sure, its predecessor almost had a return on investment twice as profitable, but even if the basic trend continued, Austin Powers 4 stands to make 2.5 times its budget back, which is still good. There\u2019s an answer to the question of why. Now the question of why now, which to me, is more difficult.<\/p>\n I suppose the simple answer that your mom never likes is that everyone else is doing it. People are making movies about anything name recognition. Comic books, video games, TV shows, toys, board games, anything that you\u2019ve already heard of is getting its chance in Hollywood lately. If they\u2019re going to make a Ouija movie, and that seems to be happening, continuing a decade old movie franchise doesn\u2019t sound so ludicrous. By the time Austin Powers 4 comes out, Goldmember will be 10 years old and the original will be 15 years old. This is similar to the timeline of the Scream franchise, and while its most recent entry wasn\u2019t extremely successful, the idea is not unprecedented. Also, it\u2019s been 3 years since The Love Guru and we\u2019ve forgiven Justin Timberlake to the point where we let him in the widely loved The Social Network, so we can forgive Myers too. His small role in Inglorious Basterds has also reminded people that he, in fact, still exists as something other than Shrek\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n So it wouldn\u2019t be the craziest thing that ever happened. Sure, IMDB ratings of the movies get worse with each instalment but the money looks like it could be there and the timeline isn\u2019t too crazy. Now comes the final question about Austin Powers 4: Should they? It\u2019s a broad question with lots of contributing factors so I will suggest some points and allow you to decide.<\/p>\n They should<\/strong> – Reason #1: They shouldn\u2019t\u00a0<\/strong>– Reason #1: They should<\/strong> – Reason #2: They shouldn\u2019t<\/strong> – Reason #2: They should<\/strong> – Reason #3: They shouldn\u2019t<\/strong> – Reason #3: They should<\/strong> – Reason #4: They shouldn\u2019t<\/strong> – Reason #4: They should<\/strong> – Reason #5: They shouldn\u2019t\u00a0<\/strong>– Reason #5: The Tangerine Knight. I can’t embed it\u00a0so please click the link. It’s probably the most important citrus-superhero collabo video on the net.<\/p>\n |
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