April 26, 2024
The Hot Blog
amit on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
Christian on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
YancySkancy on: Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Hcat on: Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: I Should Be Doing Box Office
Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
| 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
Here’s a tricky riddle for this upcoming weekend that I still haven’t been able to solve:
“Much like a Nascar race with infinitely wide lanes and only one driver, if an audience already knows from the very beginning that a tight rope walker has zero chance of falling to his death, what then is even the purpose of watching his film?”
Since the history of Hollywood films is overwhelmingly loaded with protagonists who do not die, as well as plenty of biopics about people who do, clearly the journey is more important than the destination. If the film is well written, well made, well acted, etc., our knowledge of the protagonist’s fate should be more or less moot.
I have family members who prefer to know the outcome of a movie ahead of time because they don’t like the suspense or stress of being in the moment, wondering whether certain characters will die. I argue against this with them all the time but it doesn’t matter. I have another family member who likes to read the last page or paragraph of a book and then she goes back and reads the whole thing for a similar reason. Says she can enjoy the book’s journey more that way. Again, not my personal style, but who am I to judge?
One of the biggest reasons I so loathe rom coms because you know the ending before you sit down to watch the film. When I watched Man on Wire I only vaguely remember hearing about some guy trying to tight rope across the towers and that wasn’t until a few years after when I saw King Kong. I was pretty young. I didn’t know whether he made it, even though the info was out there for me to find out. This film will prolly garner a larger audience than the doc so it’s fairly possible a large chunk won’t know heading in.
I’ve known a couple of people who don’t mind knowing spoilers to a film. If it’s a movie you’re almost positive you’re not going to get around to seeing I can kinda get being OK being given a recap but I remember one lady asking me a lot about Sixth Sense and Usual Suspects years prior to that and I was uncomfortable even hinting at the end even though she was perfectly fine, in fact, I’m sure she preferred to know. Yeah, those films were both great but why take away a great ending if it’s there for you?
They said that about Titanic too…that you already knew the ship was going to sink, but it still managed to be the biggest movie ever.
Can we talk about the logjam of films slated to open wide on October 23rd?
“Steve Jobs” (wide), “Burnt,” “Rock the Kasbah,” “Jem and the Holograms,” “Paranormal Activity Whatever” and “Vin Diesel Witch Hunter” (that’s the title, right?).
Surely something is gonna move.
Considering the dearth of advertising/buzz for Bradley Cooper’s chef movie, that seems like the most likely candidate.
Or perhaps Barry Levinson’s Afghan comedy?
Maybe the Diesel thing?
Any thoughts?
Strangely enough, IIRC, the only two of those movies to stake that date and stay there are “Jem” and “Witch Hunter.” I think “Jobs” was supposed to have gone wide originally on the 9th instead of limited. “Burnt” and “Kasbah” have bounced around a few times, and I think “Paranormal” was bumped back from January.
I think Jem and Vin stand their ground, Paranormal, Jobs and Burnt stay where they are and Kasbah gets scooted off to 2016.
“The Intern” is the most Nancy Meyers movie Nancy Meyers has ever made.
I actually found it to be Meyers’ most consistently enjoyable outing since “What Women Want,” Et.
“Gotta Give” and “Holiday” were both wildly uneven (and wildly overlong).
“Complicated” was pretty much destroyed by Streep’s too-cutesy-by-half performance.
And Hathaway hasn’t been this appealing onscreen since the first “Princess Diaries” movie.
At the end of the day, though, Meyers’ career highlights remain cowriting two films directed by her ex husband (“Irreconcilable Differences” and “Baby Boom”). Sorry if that sounds sexist.
It looks sweet and breezy but the trailer, jeesh, was there like three shots at the sloppy kids of today in the two minute trailer? And when Hatheway says that in a generation they had gone from Ford and Nicholson to these guys..c’mon, Wasnt Nicholson born in the depression, that guy is like three generations removed from the millenials that are being chastised. That was a huge problem with Myer’s holiday the narrative stops dead for Margolin to lament about the tragic state of entertainment.
Hcat: Who was “Margolin”? Was that Eli Wallach’s character? I saw the film, but it’s been nine years, so some of the details are fuzzy.
Fuzzy for me too since I confused Stuart Margolin for Eli Wallach.
Movieman, despite the complete lack of any buzz or advertising for Burnt, it’s definitely still coming out on Oct 23rd. I think they should move it, too, but unfortunately, it’s not up to me! Agree that there’s simply too much new product that weekend–and a lot of it (Jobs, Kasbah, and Burnt) is chasing broadly the same audience.
Totally agree about those 3 (adult) films chasing the same audience/demo Tracker.
Utterly ridiculous.
Which was kind of the point of my initial posting.
Come to think of it, aren’t the Diesel witch thing and the “Paranormal” movie kind of aimed at similar audiences (horror fans), too?
The only October 23rd release that really stands alone as its own thing is “Jem and the Holograms” which is clearly targeted at tweener girls.
“Much like a Nascar race with infinitely wide lanes and only one driver, if an audience already knows from the very beginning that a tight rope walker has zero chance of falling to his death, what then is even the purpose of watching his film?”
Because sometimes the suspension of belief is just as strong and necessary to the enjoyment of a film as the suspension of disbelief.
So there is a slate article linked on the mcn main page about A24. And while I am impressed with them as well the writer simply crawls up their ass and inquires about timeshare opportunities. They have out out some good films but do they really stand out above SPC or IFC in terms of quality? Wasn’t this same article written 13 years ago about Newmarket?
Economics have changed. There’s that aspect.
True, but the article didn’t get into that other to wildly praise success that frankly is not as barnburning as the author makes it out to be. For all the mentions on social media and gobs of columns championing it Obvious Child topped out under three million. That’s not a MOVIE EVENT. That’s a decent sized indie take. For all the praise for the end of the tour it isn’t close to catching love and mercy and that gross was seen as a bit of a disappointment.
Again I like A24, but a more realistic article that didn’t paint their arrival as a historic sea change in hollywood would have been much more interesting.
Agreed, yup.
Sadly tho, $3 million is indie gravy these days… check theatrical grosses on some IFC or Tribeca or Factory 25 releases.
A24 is a bit unique in that it almost singularly releases “edgy” fare that has a shot to go mainstream:
Spring Breakers
Bling Ring
Spectacular Now
Enemy
Under the Skin
Obvious Child
The Rover
Life After Beth
Tusk
Laggies
A Most Violent Year
While We’re Young
Ex Machina
Amy
End of the Tour
Mississippi Grind
Room
I think a connecting thread between most of these is they could be re-packaged and sold as a studio release if they were tweaked juuuust a bit.
Didn’t notice this before but there doesn’t seem to be any subtitles films on there. Even though indies are seen as young and hip that portion of the industry thrives on imports and merchant ivory type films. These guys seem to be making a go of it without chasing the Jane Austin crowd,
It does make one wonder if they’re chasing box office more than quality…but most of the movies they’ve distributed are pretty good.