Monday, July 30, 2007

Maggie Simpson Speaks!

(Note: This isn't a spoiler. It's a suggestion to stick around and watch the credits rather than bolting from the theater.)



I think what Maggie says during the closing credits of The Simpsons Movie will prove to be prophetic.

LOS ANGELES -- Woo Hoo! "The Simpsons Movie" turned doughnuts into dollars over the weekend, raking in $71.9 million to debut as the top movie this week.

The big screen tale of the lovable, if dysfunctional, family rolled over the competition, sending last week's top movie, Universal Studio's "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," into second place with $19 million, a 44 percent drop.

...The film, which featured the antics of yellow-hued Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and a host of motley characters, grossed an average of $18,320 on 3,922 screens across the country and also opened strongly in 70 foreign markets.

"We are ecstatic," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox. "It far exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations."

Maggie knows what she's talking about.

What does Maggie say?

I'm not talking.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary,

This is one of those obscure facts that one would have to be a self-admitted dork to remember, but the word Maggie speaks during the credits was not actually her first word. Her first word came during the episode "Lisa's First Word" (10th episode, 4th season) in which Maggie speaks the word "Daddy" after being put to bed at the end of the episode.

I did see the movie over the weekend. I'm not going to say I was disappointed, but I am a huge fan from back in the day, when Conan was on the writing staff... and Phil Hartman was still doing voices... those were the vintage Simpsons years, in my opinion... hard to compare any of the new stuff with the irreverence of those early episodes.

Maybe the, ummm, what do you call those "follow-up movie thingies?"... well whatever you call it, maybe it will be funnier.

Mary said...

Yes, I know that Maggie uttered her first word long ago, though I couldn't have told you the season or title of the episode.

For the record, I don't think that being a Simpsons aficionado is dorky. :)

I hear what you're saying about the golden years of The Simpsons.

Generally speaking, I do think the series has been remarkably consistent in terms of quality during its long run.

As far as the movie goes, I think it would be a mistake to go into it with expectations other than that it's a long episode on a big screen. It's still worth the price of admission.

We'll have to wait and see what's in store for The Simpsons.

I haven't heard anything concrete about one of those "follow-up movie thingies." Have you?

Anonymous said...

As Homer says in the opening lines of the movie, "Who'd be dumb enough to pay for something they can get on television at home for free"?

Well, simply put: Me, I guess.
The irony is that I've been to three movies on the big screen in the past 10 years and this was one of the three; in this case, actually dragging myself to the theater the day after it opened. Almost unheard of in my household.

If there's going to be a sequel, as long as it doesn't take them another 10 years to produce it, perhaps I'll be less likely to walk out of the theater feeling "this wasn't quite worth the wait!"

Mary said...

If the decision is based on money, I don't think it will be a 10-year wait for the next one.

They are raking it in all over the world.