The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Page 12

I thought Plague had a bigger part in the later movies, especially the last one.

Oh, maybe that's it. I saw all three of the originals, so maybe I accidentally unstuck him in time or something. But I think that even in the first one, there was more going on, right?

daryl zero makes a good point. I have the Extended Edition BDs of the Swedish trilogy, so I tend to think of them as a single story. Plague is at his most interesting in the third film, which tells a story Fincher has not yet reached.

Count me among those that think the Swedish version is much better ... and I mean WAAAAY better. This is a rare case where I actually like the movies (Swedish version) better than the books.

Is it the plan for Fincher to make an American-version franchise here? Did it do well enough to justify book-related sequels?

According to this site, yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Trilogy

"Yellow Bird and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer partnered with Columbia Pictures to produce an English-language adaptation of the first novel. The film is written by Steven Zaillian, directed by David Fincher and produced by Scott Rudin, with Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Along with Dragon Tattoo, Fincher and Zaillian have signed a two picture deal to adapt The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, which may be shot back to back. In January 2012, it was announced that Sony was "moving forward" with the adaptation of The Girl Who Played with Fire, with Zaillian in the early stage of scripting it for a planned release in late 2013."

and here:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/02/dragon-tattoo-sequel-girl-who-played-with-fire/

"According to Sony, the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is still moving forward despite the lingering perception that Dragon Tattoo has underperformed. “[Dragon Tattoo] continues to do strong business and nothing has changed with respect to development of the next book,” a Sony rep tells EW. In November, Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal told us that The Girl Who Played With Fire was definitely a go, with a targeted late-2013 release date. But Dragon Tattoo, which has grossed $60 million in the U.S. since its release on Dec. 20, is being perceived as something of a box-office disappointment (although moviegoers are enthusiastic — it received an A from audience-survey firm CinemaScore — and it seems to be holding up well over time as it chugs toward the $100 million mark)"


Neither link is very recent.

News in the past week has not been good for HORNETS NEST and FIRE. I am thinking they are not made.

Spending so much money on a film that isn't as good as the far cheaper original production it was based on is just silly Hollywood nonsense.

Ultimately, it will come down to Sony's opinion whether or not the sequels will make enough $$$ to justify production.
Anyone taking bets?

box office mojo says domestic gross approx $100 mil and foreign at $130 mil.

if the 2 sequels get done, it'll be on a much smaller budget. can't see sony sinking $90 mil into each of them.

I agree that the Extended Edition of the Swedish trilogy is superior to Stieg Larsson's novels. I just hope that Fincher gets to make movies of the rest of the trilogy, for only that way will we be able to fairly judge what kind of job he does on secondary characters, such as Plague and Lisbeth's father and half brother. For example, in both the books and the Swedish movies, Plague comes into his own only in the third one and the father and brother don't really show up at all until the second and third ones..

Agreed.
The english translations of the novels are nothing to get excited about.
Watch the Extended Swedish Trilogy....it is the best experience of the story available.

It depends on how much money they make in total profit, BO is not the only thing that generates money. The BO plus DVD sales may very well greenlight a sequel.

But Í dont think they gonna aim for christmas for any sequel.

Releasing the first one when they did certainly killed potential BO. It got great reviews, and high scores from viewers as well. It just wasn't a "holiday" movie.

I've always wondered if the ponderous pace of the English versions was a translation issue. They seem a bit clinical or sterile for long stretches, which is out of synch with the plot/subject/characterizations.

Personally, I prefer the theatrical cut of GWTDT over the extended cut. I have yet to see the extended cuts of NEST and FIRE.

Your take is the same as mine.

I am not sure what the deal was, but It's actually surprising to me the novels were giant hits in the english-speaking world.

I always equate that to reading grade level ..

Hunger Games = Lord of the Flies + Soilent Green + 10 other books, written at a 5th grade level. Not an original sentence in the book (caveat that I couldn't get past about 60 pages, one of the worst books I've tried to read in 10 years).

The Dan Brown books are basically really cheesy watered down grammar school versions of Umberto Eco books + some rehash spy novel drivel. I read them as they weren't exactly bad, they were just simplistic and not very original. So, a good easy throw away read.

Yet those books sold zillions for no reason I can identify.

The Dragon Tattoo books at least seemed like their was content or at least the promise of just missed content. Nice that someone else go that "missing words/context" vibe.

I just helped my son read the Hunger Games and I have read the Millennium Trilogy. I thought the Hunger Games was poorly written and I guess you can say that the Millennium Trilogy wasn't anything special but the deal is that the story is pretty engaging for each of them. That's the ticket.

I would think that the Millenium trilogy wasnt written for the international market in the first place.

That was my understanding....

Don't misread (or maybe I screwed up my explanation), I thought the conceptual story of the Millennium was great. I thought the characters were excellent. I was just wondering if the English translation was responsible for the long stretches of disconnected writing. Or, maybe there is no direct way to translate some of the descriptive transitional portions of the book. The 2nd book was particularly weird in stretches. Like a good movie that was poorly edited. I think at least one person understands what I was getting at.

I was just wondering why they were so popular, when "easy reads" seem to be the order of the day. These are anything but easy to read from a continuity standpoint.

Its not how easy a book is to read, but what everybody else is reading.

For me. its all about Salander. One of the most intriging, fascinating characters to appear in fiction in years. The plot and storyline might not be original or great-the "mystery" in the first book is surely nothing special. The writing might be longwinded and awkward. But the turmoil and self contradictions of Lisbeth, her intensity and passion as well as her almost superhuman capability to handle whatever life throws at her is what makes the books special. For me she is undeniably real and what happens to her at the end of the 2nd book hit me harder than almost anything I've ever read...course, by that time I was hopelessly in love with the character so maybe I'm not thinking too clearly.

You are not alone.
When asked to explain their affection for the trilogy, most fans appear to feel the same way.

Its not just about Lisbeth but also about Mikael. About them together and then apart. The thing I thought was most interesting is that they are together only for part of the first book and then at the end of the second book briefly. They make a connection and each stay committed as friends to each other in their own way throughout even though Lisbeth stays aloof from Mikael from the end of the first book on. That was a very different plot device -- especially for male/female leads. My favorite part is when Mikael first barges into Lisbeth's apartment. I think both movies handles this really important part really well.

I couldn't agree more. It is Lisbeth Salander who makes The Millennium Trilogy unique. She is utterly unforgettable. She alternates between reminding me of a Perils of Pauline type heroine and Bonny Parker. She is a survivor for the ages. Oh, did I mention it? I love the girl.

Finally saw this (American version) last night via Netflix BD. Ms. archi & I really enjoyed it. (Haven't either read the original novel(s) or seen the original movies.) The overall plot about the evil psychopath living in plain sight has been done a million times, as well as the Cayman Island rip-off, but seldom as stylishly. Why do the One-Percenters stash their cash in those places when it's so easy to steal? .

I thought the original frame-up where Mikael is the victim of a forged document was inspired. Wonder if Stieg Larsson got his "ripped from the headlines" inspiration for that subplot from the "Rathergate" incident? Poor ol' Dan got hoodwinked in a similar fashion, and the maleficence he was investigating was completely forgotten in the resulting kerfuffle, just like in this movie. In my humble opinion, there was only one guy in the country who had the motive, access, Machiavellian instincts, and brass gonads to pull that caper off. And he got away with it clean, unlike this film where righteous justice was ultimately served to the evildoer. That's why we love movies, I guess. The bad guys always get their just desserts, which rarely resembles real life.

Considering Larsson died just 2 months after Rathergate, I seriously doubt if there is any correlation at all. Larsson was very political and his writing is full of his take on events in Sweden during his lifetime.

If you have a chance I would suggest that you give the swedish version a try (extended while you're at it). The ending, I think, is a bit more "rewarding" regarding Lisbeth's actions. I've said numerous times that I prefer the swedish films but I'll second what gwsat said 2 posts above. These movies are in fact all about the Lisbeth character. I think she's more complex in her swedish iteration, at times Rooney Mara just looked like an angry teenager so to speak, while Noomi Rapace was a wounded, albeit very "strong", fascinating, woman from beginning to end. Noomi's lisbeth is a person I would like to know, Rooney's is a cool movie character nothing more. YMMV

On the off chance Lisbeth magically steps off the page and comes looking to thank the avs member who praised her, I must point out I said it first.

sorry gwsat, I've got dibs;)