April 27, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
BYOB Weekend: Hop, An April Fool’s Gag?
| Friday | Screens | % Chg | Cume | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Gross | Thtr | % Chgn | Cume |
| Venom | 33 | 4250 | NEW | 33 |
| A Star is Born | 15.7 | 3686 | NEW | 15.7 |
| Smallfoot | 3.5 | 4131 | -46% | 31.3 |
| Night School | 3.5 | 3019 | -63% | 37.9 |
| The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls | 1.8 | 3463 | -43% | 49.5 |
| A Simple Favor | 1 | 2408 | -50% | 46.6 |
| The Nun | 0.75 | 2264 | -52% | 111.5 |
| Hell Fest | 0.6 | 2297 | -70% | 7.4 |
| Crazy Rich Asians | 0.6 | 1466 | -51% | 167.6 |
| The Predator | 0.25 | 1643 | -77% | 49.3 |
| Also Debuting | ||||
| The Hate U Give | 0.17 | 36 | ||
| Shine | 85,600 | 609 | ||
| Exes Baggage | 75,900 | 62 | ||
| NOTA | 71,300 | 138 | ||
| 96 | 61,600 | 62 | ||
| Andhadhun | 55,000 | 54 | ||
| Afsar | 45,400 | 33 | ||
| Project Gutenberg | 36,000 | 17 | ||
| Love Yatri | 22,300 | 41 | ||
| Hello, Mrs. Money | 22,200 | 37 | ||
| Studio 54 | 5,300 | 1 | ||
| Loving Pablo | 4,200 | 15 |
| 3-Day Estimates | Weekend | % Chg | Cume |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Good Dead | 24.4 (11,230) | NEW | 24.4 |
| Dolphin Tale 2 | 16.6 (4,540) | NEW | 16.6 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 7.9 (2,550) | -23% | 305.8 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 4.8 (1,630) | -26% | 181.1 |
| The Drop | 4.4 (5,480) | NEW | 4.4 |
| Let's Be Cops | 4.3 (1,570) | -22% | 73 |
| If I Stay | 4.0 (1,320) | -28% | 44.9 |
| The November Man | 2.8 (1,030) | -36% | 22.5 |
| The Giver | 2.5 (1,120) | -26% | 41.2 |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | 2.5 (1,270) | -21% | 49.4 |
Review: Little Women (no spoilers) - The Hot Blog
Box Office First Look - The Hot Blog
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree - The Hot Blog
Anyone else notice when they watch DVD special features on some ’70s, ’80s or ’90s “classic,” the formula is always the same. Like the studio didn’t know what it had, the youthful cast was just right because they were young and eager and at their charismatic best, the studio had some other big picture on its mind so rebel cast and crew of teen hit movie got to do it on their own terms, they screen it for the suits and nobody gets it…
Then at this point in EVERY DVD FEATURE EVER, everyone does this WIDE-EYED recounting of some TEST SCREENING where “It was like a rock concert! Kids were apeshit! They were laughing/screaming in all the right places! They were hopping up and down on chairs! They were doing cartwheels in the audience! They were having sex on the floors! They were high-fiving each other and dumping Gatorade over their heads!”
And of course suddenly everyone realizes what they’ve got and “the kids got the picture” and it goes on to be some classic.
I swear, there’s some variation of this anecdote on every youth movie ever, be it Fast Times, Halloween, Lost Boys, American Graffitti, Risky Business, Friday the 13th, Top Gun, the Hughes pictures etc etc etc ad infinitum.
In most cases, is this just rose-colored, colorful embellishment? Were the kids at the Sherman Oaks Galleria SERIOUSLY like fucking stage-diving in the aisles over Jason Patric in Lost Boys? Do preview screenings still go like this, or did they really ever?
And who would want to sit through a movie with that crowd anyway?
I finally got my government stimulus package today! That’s pretty much all I have to say.
Leah, do you guys in Zealand celebrate ANZAC day tomorrow or do you have a seperate date?
your govt stimulus package?! wassat? (mine would consist of a juicy photo of karl and a wee packet of jiffy lube, ba dum bum)
yeah, kam, saturday for all us ANZACs – here’s to those soldiers who gave their lives and those who have passed on, and to those survivors of the horrors of war still with us, may they live to see peace on earth
Indeed. I’ll be having a beer in their honour! I’ll be having three or four beers in their honour, as a matter of fact. 🙂 All paid for by the lovely $900 that was deposited into my bank account today curtesy of the Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd stimulated my package for the first (and, sadly, last) time. Basically Elmer Rudd gave us all $900 to spend willy nilly. A large chunk of mine is going to pay off my credit card bill. Such is life. Alas, I always have money for beer.
Still not liking the marketing campaign for Star Trek. Saw a new (to me) commercial proclaiming that this new flick “is not your father’s Star Trek”. Ugh. They’re right; it doesn’t look like anybody’s anything. If the movie is as good as the early reviews suggest, the marketing is doing its best to undermine its quality, imo.
That’s hilarious, Lex. The story worked with Jaws, so they wheeled it out about 40 more times in the next decade.
My favorite DVD cliche (usually for recent films) is when they interview the actresses involved. The actress may be playing a third world doctor, or she may be playing a orphan girl who spends the entire film kidnapped, locked in a basement, and constantly threatened and assaulted. No matter what, said female character is always ‘strong, independent, not just a damsel in distress’.
Scott
Scott: They do this for every Bond film, without fail. Every single new Bond actress interviewed since Jill St. John in 1971 will tell you they liked the part because the character was Bond’s equal, not like all the Bond girls of the past, which were just decorations on his arm.
Ironically, the earliest Bond flicks mostly had strong female roles. They were mostly weak in the 70s and 80s, but never mind the actual trends. Every single Bond movie has finally reversed the series’ backhanded dismissal of women.
“Working with this cast was wonderful. We’re all the best of friends” is perhaps the single most frustrating interview line.
This is the GOLD STANDARD of DVD interviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4FsBeLZhmk
Hoffman and Hackman. Hack is approaching 80. Hoff will be seventy-fuckin-two this year. Impossible to believe, but the greats from the new-golden-era are fading away.
Lex, you may notice that the theatrical experience for audiences has been fairly destroyed by the fragmented media culture. I have seen audiences stand up in their seats, screaming and applauding. STAR WARS for one obvious example. RAIDERS and TEMPLE OF DOOM for another. I’ve seen an audience of paperboys erupt during SUPERMAN 2. Even DIE HARD had a huge audience response. When I taught a 60’s film class, I showed THE GRADUATE and the jaded 19 year-olds were indeed roaring with approval.
I doubt you’ll get much of that these days because audiences are too far into their own heads…twittering.
And none of that happpened when I saw THE LOST BOYS opening night. I may have groaned aloud at the sheer neon stupidity of the film.
I see MCN Weekend died a swift death.
“I see MCN Weekend died a swift death.”
Too bad, if true. Me likey.
Right on the money mysteryperfecta.
ALSO let me add, re Star Trek, why isn’t the character of Spock in ANY of the trailers?? Does Nimoy instantly mean DEATH AT THE BOX OFFICE?? Never mind the fact that Nimoy IS fucking Star Trek. Without Spock there would be NO Star Trek. You get that, Paramount marketing assholes?
Not your father’s Star Trek? Fuck you my father never watched it. I did. And you better hope that PEOPLE LIKE ME show up to see your little Gossip Girl 2.0 re-imagining.
MY star trek was a classic – all the films except part 5 were awesome – light, fun, great use of PHYSICAL models, patient editing, 30 years of familiarity, good writing, great character, etc etc.
Condescending pricks.
Shhh…don’t tell that to Leah the Kiki, Aris P. According to her, just because she loved the movie we should all bow down to Paramount’s brilliant release strategy and we should all angrily denounce anyone who thinks this flick will underperform.
“I’ve seen an audience of paperboys erupt during SUPERMAN 2.”
My father took me to Superman 2 when I was a kid, back when you could enter the theatre at any time during the feature and stay for subsequent showings. We walked in just as Superman comes up to the window and says “General, would you care to step outside?”
The whole auditorium ROARED its approval.
But I think that is the movies themselves more than a fragmented media culture. Last time I was in a theatre that cheered was Lena Heady’s revenge in 300 during a Saturday matinee. Most Hollywood movies do not offer that kind of heroism anymore. To cheer is to share such an undying approval of the hero’s morality and reason for doing what he or she is doing at that time that you burst.
Can you think of any films that offer that type of heroism where you think people should be cheering but they do not?
Off the top of my head…I cannot. The new Superman sure didn’t get that. I think perhaps Iron Man did but I saw it late in its run in a near empty theatre so maybe not. The Dark Knight is brilliant but far too tense and morose to offer cheers.
People generally cheer for heroes…not anti-heroes which is what we more or less have today.
One of my favorite candid DVD doc moments is Warren Beatty talking about Bonnie & Clyde, basically saying that he doesn’t actually remember any of this stuff and that anyone who says they do probably doesn’t. Something along the lines of, “well, you know, it’s been a while since we actually made this movie, so a lot of what you’re gonna get here from everyone is looking back through rose-colored glasses.” Just struck me as an uncharacteristically honest moment.
“People generally cheer for heroes…not anti-heroes which is what we more or less have today.”
Nicol, you may be young enough to be my son, but you write old enough to be my grandfather. The above statement could have been cribbed from some grumpy old fart’s complaint during the ’70s that John Wayne wasn’t making Westerns anymore.
If cheering for Lena Headey in 300 is the kind of thing that’s increasingly rare in movies, then I’m very happy indeed. That kind of unquestioning visceral mindlessness belongs in a WWE match.
I should add, I have nothing against the WWE. But between any given TV match and The Wrestler, I’ll take the latter.
“Nicol, you may be young enough to be my son, but you write old enough to be my grandfather.”
Joe, that sort of statement may make you feel more young, and relevant but remember…with the exception of a few blips in the eighties, the anti-hero “counter-culture” era of Hollywood has lasted longer than the Western or supposed John Wayne era. And there were anti-heroes then too, (Bogart made a career out of them.)
Someone made a statement questioned that people did not cheer anymore. I offered a probable answer.
But hey…if it makes me seem like an old fart to occasionally want to go to a movie to cheer as opposed to feel morose and conflicted over someone performing date-rape…then I will gladly cop to being an old fart.
Are you really so “modern” Joe that you do not want or feel the need to ever cheer heroes in films. Are you that disconnected?
*[This space reserved for Lex to mention what Lena does to certain part of his body, maybe along the lines of giving a standing O]*
I’ve been to some movies, like opening night or advanced screenings where the audience is more susceptible to cheering and I’m not sure if it’s not tied into theater atmosphere that kinda visceral reaction to emotional movement on the screen. I saw Watchmen a little late in its run and there were still some parts some where the audience cheered. I can’t remember specifically but one time I thought, ‘eh, really?? That warrants a cheer?’ I don’t know if it’s jadedness or having some innate threshold for what in a movie deserves applause. But then, some people are more introverted or reserved than others.
I have noticed cheers more in regards to technical merit. I forget what the effect was in Watchmen was, maybe when some gun blows people into butcher scraps but I had to give it up for them as I heard others clap and cheer as well. The Omen remake *(Spoiler alert necessary???) with the one decapitation. That was like applause, cheers, and holding up judging scorecards like ice skaing compulsories.
I’m not sure if it’s just the actions having to meet our approval but also maybe the surprise or creativity behind it. Like some people cheered in some of the climatic scenes in various action movies over the past few years but it did seem more manufactured and the thing you’re supposed to do. The only clear example that comes to mind for me, though I’m sure there are others that just don’t come to mind at the moment, is from What’s Love Got to Do With It and Angela Bassett/Tina fights back. Small crowd in the theater and I think everyone held back wanting jump up and scream on that one. Oh, now I remember another film, the Italian film “The Unknown Woman.” Some big cheers for the heroines.
The last line in Batman Begins between Batman and Ra’s al Ghul got a big cheer from the audience I watched it with.
The last huge reaction I can remember to a movie from the audience was a midnight opening night show of Snakes on a Plane – I think most here can guess what line of dialogue got the huge cheer.
I heard cheers during last year’s Rambo – mostly my own.
I heard a heap of cheers at the end of the bathhouse fight in Eastern Promises.
You don’t get much more anti-hero than that.
On an equally passionate yet calmer note — is anyone else geeked out about GI Joe: Resolute? That looks like some kick ass anime goodness.
GI JOE is going to COMMAND LIKE THE MIGHTY ZOD.
That red-head FIRECROTCH HOT CHICK from P2, Alias, and Res-erect-ing the Camp = TOTAL RAGER.
Nicol, re: this conservative love of “300.” This is beating a two-year old drum, but it’s slightly amusing that you and your fellow “conservative movie lover” Dirty Harry (and his disciples) have embraced the most flamboyantly gay film of the decade as some sort of Republican Cinema Calling Card.
Also, I know you Mr. Nolte see things in ONLY in terms of BLACK AND WHITE when it comes to morality, with zero allowance for gray area, lest you accuse thoughtfulness or irony of being “MORAL EQUIVALENCY!”
But doesn’t it enter your mind, at least a little, that Snyder was just fucking around, being kind of intentionally camp and over-the-top, and the movie’s as much a parody of your Mighty Hero Worship as it is an embrace of it?
After all, Butler’s “hero” was one of those stubborn-tool righteous, humorless protagonists that just get tiresome. Even Jack Bauer (surely another idol of yours) gets one-note in his dogged morality and seriousness.
All I know is, Dominic West was the most AWESOME character in the movie. McNULTY RULES.
Lex, I think you misunderstood. Aris wasn’t talking about the GI Joe live action movie made for kids (the one you want to see), but aboutn the GI Joe cartoon made for adults(the one grown-ups want to see).
Ironically, Predator pt1 was one of the movies that I remember the audience really in to, and cheering for. It remains one of the biggest box office hits here in Trinidad. the ironic part is that there is a remake schedule for release in July 2010.
Predator just seems like one of those perfect action flicks and even fewer have blended action with an element of scifi so well. Along with other action flicks like Lethal Weapon 1 and Die Hard 1, it represented the best of the genre. Almost every note was hit perfectly in my opinion. Not sure you can recreate that. What next, The Breakfast Club? Midnight Run?
Why would anyone waste their time making a GI Joe movie for adults? Worse, who would go see it? “Shit, honey, the Weeble screening is sold out. Looks like our choice is either Hungry Hungry Hippos or G.I. Joe.”
I’m thinking about writing a screenplay called FIRECROTCH.
Lou, you know any money men?
Anyone got the hookup with Lohan? Now that she’s on the market again, I’m thinking maybe I have a chance.
In a very sparsely attended showing of Rocky Balboa, a couple of the older gents in the audience (who did not come to the movie together) cheered Rocky on a bit during the big match at the end. I just had to smile, these guys were into it so fuck it, just made the movie better for me.
I don’t know what Nicol means by “few blips on the radar,” but I recall a good third of the movies in the 80s being dedicated to cops and/or vigilantes who went on a crusade to kill the drug dealers/gang members, and no matter what methods they used were clearly portrayed in the right due to the witty bantering they constantly indulged in.
“I’m thinking about writing a screenplay called FIRECROTCH.”
Lex, have you seen Lucky McKee’s THE WOODS? “Firecrotch” is practically an alternate title for the movie.
And if I knew money men, I’d have sold my second screenplay by now (first was back in ’97; never got made).
Oh, Jesus, Nicol. You still beating that “counter-culture” drum again? Christ, you’re tedious. And, wosre, predictable.
Just so you’ll know: I cheer good guys in movies all the time. Just a few weeks ago, I was with a preview audience that cheered for Dwayne Johnson in Race to Witch Mountain. Hell, I’ve been known to cheer while watching a DVD in the privacy of my home. A few nights ago, while watching Stagecoach for the zillionth time, I even toasted John Wayne after he plugged the bad guys. Yes, that’s right Nicol, John Wayne. The guy whose movie career I celebrated in Cowboys & Indians and MovieMaker magazines a couple years back, to commemorate the centennial of his birth. Two of The Duke’s kids actually complemented me on the C&I piece. And by sheer coincidence, I’m talking to them again Monday, because I’m doing another Wayne piece. So there. Write me back when you publish a tribute to Sean Penn.
LYT, thanks for the tip: I see the aforementioned F.C. in question, RACHEL NICHOLS, is in it.
It won’t be called The WOODs for nothing when I rent it this weekend.
LexG: Hey, isn’t Patricia Clarkson in that one? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowl!
Y’all are crazy. The only time people should be clapping in movie theatres is if it’s a festival or a premiere. And even then it should be at the end. Over the credits. Where you remain seated.
No wonder you guys all criticise going to the cinema over there. People don’t seem to have any understanding of cinema etiquette.
The only non-festival clapping I’ve ever witnessed was during Moulin Rouge! on opening night, a brief spattering during the first Harry Potter when Hogworts first came on and during the final Lord of the Rings, but that was because whenever people clapped they thought it was the end when in actual fact it was not.
Maybe we’re just more reserved, but I don’t understand the big macho cheering idea. Like, who are you cheering to? It’s a movie screen. The actors aren’t really there. Really, Eastern Promises? How bizarre.
Wreck, at least Leah has seen the movie. My boss saw it last night and said it was pretty great. But he sort of recoils at movies that don’t have things blowing up, so….
Oh and if The Woods you’re talking about is the one my Lucky McKee then… it’s not very good. May was far better.
Kami, did you happen to catch a flick in Manhattan with a packed NYC crowd when you were in the States? Just wondered if you discerned any differences in etiquette. Doubtful anyone would waste vacation time stuck in a theater instead of sightseeing, but just curious.
Also, for those who’ve lived on both coasts, is it true New York audiences are EVEN WORSE than L.A.? Anyone who’s ever seen something like “The Grudge” or “The Ring” or “Wanted” at a sold-out Universal Citywalk or Burbank 10:35 showing might beg to differ.
“Y’all are crazy. The only time people should be clapping in movie theatres is if it’s a festival or a premiere. And even then it should be at the end. Over the credits. Where you remain seated.
No wonder you guys all criticise going to the cinema over there. People don’t seem to have any understanding of cinema etiquette.”
Dude, there is a HUUUUUUUGE difference between what we’re talking about and bad etiquette. Mainly in that when people cheer and clap, they’re WATCHING the movie and the audience is joined together in a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm.
When people text message with their klieg light IPhones and gossip and throw their fucking food at each other while wandering in an out of the room as loud as people_pretending_to_be_quiet can be, while treating the movie like its nothing but ocean noise at a beach, THAT is bad cinema etiquette.
The last time I experienced anything like the good kind of outburst was in “Observe and Report” when Ronnie, umm, stepped between the flasher and Brandy. It was just me and another guy in the entire theater, but we were howling.
Oh crap – were you being sarcastic, Kam?
Kamikaze can’t help it if he comes from a prissy, thumb-in-the-ass culture that can’t enjoy itself during movies. It’s just The Aussie Way.
Nicol, seriously, as per the 80’s, do you consider Indiana Jones, Rocky, James Bond, Rambo, Commando, John McClane, Marty Mcfly, Mad Max, Batman, Maverick and others all anti-heroes?
“Can you think of any films that offer that type of heroism where you think people should be cheering but they do not? ”
Most any action/adventure film should have that, but they usually don’t work, thus the audience doesn’t bring the vocal enthusiasm.
“The only time people should be clapping in movie theatres is if it’s a festival or a premiere. And even then it should be at the end. Over the credits.”
That’s what ruined STAR WARS for all of us. The audience was booing Darth Vader and I’m like, Shut Up! And they didn’t stop through the whole film! I was pissed that I couldn’t even hear the the Death Star blowing up over the wall of cheers from the crowd. I had to see the movie seven more times that summer to finally puzzle together the plot…Damn communal experience!
There were some cheers when I saw “Taken.”
Joe: Keep us posted on when and where your next Wayne piece will appear. I’ve always liked him, but his work looks even more solid to me as time goes by. In the past couple of years I’ve watched or revisited She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Sands of Iwo Jima, Hondo, Island in the Sky, The Long Voyage Home, Trouble Along the Way and The Sons of Katie Elder, and he’s just a helluva movie actor.
Another Halloween is coming in Sept. How sad is this!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1311067/
There’s also another Saw…
Yancy: Consider this odd coincidence: 2009 is the 30th anniversary of John Wayne’s death, the 40th anniversary of True Grit, the 50th anniversary of Rio Bravo, the 60th anniversary of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and the 70th anniversary of Stagecoach.
Another oddity: This is the 50th anniversary of the opening of The 400 Blows at the Cannes Film Festival. But it is also the 25th anniversary of Francois Truffaut’s death. That’s right: He had a career spanning less than a quarter-century. Has there been another filmmaker, ever, who died so young, yet accomplished so much in such little time?
Wreck, I guess it’s not our fault we don’t like disrupting a movie just to clap to nobody.
Lex, I did not. I kinda wanted to to test what it would be like, but we ended up either being too exhausted or busy.
Random anecdote… my friend and I took in a midnight Return of the King back on opening night/day/etc. Point being, the enthusiastic audience was (politely) clapping and cheering at every major crowd pleasing moment. It got to the point where, when Theodon was crushed to death by the giant dragon thingy, the audience started applauding as he finished his last speech and died. To this day, I’m not sure if it was several people being sarcastic, or they just weren’t paying attention. It was one of those ‘you had to be there’ moment, but I laughed pretty hard.
Christian – your point to Nicol is the same as to what he was making; those characters weren’t anti-heroes and were a “blip” between ’68-’76 to roughly ’87-present where anti-heroes dominated.
The movie that makes Nicol’s point is actually Independence Day. Smith and Pullman were mosaic’s of heroes from 80’s action films which the audience loved – but the loudest cheer I remember was for the White House exploding. ID4 is a watershed movie for a number of sad reasons when it comes to what the genital audience has become. We want Pullman/Smith to win, but we’ll cheer the aliens for destroying their world. Is it cyncism? Audience desensitization? Whatever label, it’s quintessential 90’s fantasy societal annihilation; one that wrecks everything and rightly so, because you’ll survive it anyway. Why? Because you’re that kewl.
Aris – I caught the first twenty minutes of GI Joe: Resolute. Very surprising. Now I know why IO is no longer with us; he must have had to martyr himself ala Alien3 for the gods to turn a 10&under toyline into a Tom Clancy cartoon.
There’s no way Sommers can top that.