Friday Estimates by He Better Hope There Isn’t A Recording Of the Box Office Before He Estimates Klady
Oh Guardians, my Guardians…
The second volume isn’t maintaining the “50% improved over the original” pace of the opening, but it is still well ahead of the first and internationally, it has already three-quarters of the way to the entire international gross for the first film ($326m going into this weekend vs 440m for the full run of the original). Given that, it is likely that V2 will come close to the total gross of V1 by the end of this worldwide weekend and it will pass it by next weekend (unless it somehow manages that feat by this Sunday).
Meanwhile, two new films arrived, neither encumbered in any way by Guardians’ haul this weekend… and both are as soft as a penis Amy Schumer would make into a gag about her not being attractive enough. (She is plenty attractive, but careeer-wise, should probably stop jumping between denying it and overstating it.) Ironically, the entire idea of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is that it is rock hard. (I know… pushing the metaphor too hard… damn, did it again by mistake!) The male gaze upon the male is the least of KA’s problems.
There is a legit difference between these films. King Arthur will, unless saved by international, lose a bunch of money. Snatched, which I assume stayed under $50 million, will be breakeven or lose just a little. So a tale of two grosses that don’t lead to the same sadness.
Meanwhile, the #4 and #5 in the box office are both billion-dollar worldwide movies.
Not an interesting weekend. Paris Can Wait will be the exclusive-release representative in the $10k per screen club. Have a lovely Saturday. Enjoy streaming something!
Kong Arthur! A surefire hit crossover. Quick let’s greenlight it for summer 2022
I kinda love that typo too. And the way things are going, Legendary might greenlight it.
I am beyond thrilled King Arthur tanked. More bombs will hopefully equal a little less IP raping.
Snatched, should have been, a Netflix exclusive movie. Seriously. Schumer, being a movie star, is an out of fashion idea, but her being a comedian, who occasionally does a fun little comedy on Netflix? Probably not.
There is a dimension, where King Arthur succeeded, and I’m wondering how excited that dimension is… With NINE MORE FUCKING KING ARTHUR MOVIES! Here’s hoping, that they find that idea, ponderous…. Fucking ponderous.
Logan is on Digital HD and streaming already. That’s crazy. The theatrical window for major studio blockbusters has been shrinking and shrinking for the last few years now – given this and the fact that Netflix’s model is now attracting major stars like Brad Pitt and Will Smith, is widespread day and date for home viewing and ownership now an inevitability?
I can’t wait to see STALKER on the big screen at AFI Silver, and have been wondering if the big screen might help me better engage with the always-difficult-for-me SOLARIS. I’ll make that call the week SOLARIS plays AFI Silver, but based on these first-night reissue numbers, I’m thinking I’m far from alone in struggling with SOLARIS. (The remake put me to sleep – and I’m a big Soderbergh fan. This story just hasn’t clicked for me.)
Blumhouse-Tilt looks like it finally got what it wanted with its targeted release strategy; a near $10,000 per screen average in 295 theatres is pretty uncommon, especially for urban fare. Kudos.
Roadside with THE WALL? Not so much.
That small window, Dr. Wally, is part of what keeps me away from the theaters. I go and see the big stuff that I want to see but otherwise I wait, unless I have money burning a hole in my pocket. Even Get Out, as highly praised as it is, I waited on. And I’m a horror geek (I was also kinda broke). But now it’s there for me any night I want to watch and I waited barely 2.5-3 months.
There was a gap between Logan and Guardians 2, the last 2 I saw in the theater. But I’ll see Alien, maybe Pirates and many others this Summer. Even so the Guardians 2 Blu Ray will probably be in my hands before my daughters go back to school in late August. It’s crazy. I remember waiting forever just to rent Gremlins on VHS.
Dave any word on the overseas numbers for Alien Covenant as of yet?
Does anyone know what’s happening w/ the New York Times film section?
Scott and Dargis barely review anything anymore (the former reviewed “Snatched” yesterday;” the latter did “King Arthur” and Netflix’s Roger Stone doc).
The rest was split up among their myriad (and largely interchangeable) freelancers. Come to think of it, I don’t even remember the last time I saw a Holden byline.
Very odd. Since I’m assuming Scott/Dargis/Holden are paid a flat salary (vs. a freelancer’s fee-per-review), it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, financial or otherwise.
Are they being phased out in favor of an all-freelancer-all-the-time film section? I know that seems inconceivable, but something very weird seems to be going on.
Any inside scoop, Ray Pride?
This has always been a puzzlement, Movieman. The Times hangs onto weird elitist assumptions about how hard its critics and columnists have to work, even as on the other hand they are laying people off. Scott and Dargis only review a couple of movies a week just as the op-ed columnists write only two columns a week. It makes no sense at all as a business model to employ 2.5 full-time film critics and then ALSO pay freelancers to review most of the movies.
Lujoc: Glad someone else has noticed the weirdness in the NYT’s film section these days.
Before 2017 Scott, Dargis and Holden reviewed a LOT more movies than they currently do.
Their current “workload” (or lack thereof) is mind-boggling.
Have to believe there’s a story there somewhere.