April 19, 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
Mmmmmkay, can we stop categorizing Paramount as a major and Lionsgate as a mid now? I understand behemoth corporate structure, Lionsgate’s service deals, etc. But the idea of “six majors” is stone age thinking. It’s better to consider Lionsgate as the “utility player” of the majors.
In my world, I’m known as the hardest Star Wars geek in a group full of serious Star Wars and film Geeks. But I’ll say it; I’m way more stoked to see Thor Ragnarok than I am The Last Jedi. Marvel doing their version of 80’s Flash Gordon as a comedy? Yes, please. More.
Dave, I say this with love; if you don’t like this one and find it “meh”, then all hope for you on being critically objective about comic book films is lost. Everyone I know and read says this movie is fun and funny. I’m going to miss opening weekend to reserve a good seat, but I cannot wait.
Also, another blasphemous OT thing to say.
I went into Blade Runner 2049 really wanting to see some modern day Cyberpunk production design and visuals. While I appreciate the cinematography and the David Lean like scope, I was let down by the emptiness in every frame (And the Misogyny).
Finally caught Ghost in the Shell on 4K Dolby Vision, and say what you want about the movie, but if you want Cyberpunk visuals, the city shots and establishing shots destroy anything seen in BR:2049
Yep, I said that too.
Glad JIGSAW flopped. well, it was cheap so it’s not like disaster. I just hate those crap movies. I spent Saturday night with my girlfriend and we watched:
The Loved Ones
Creep 2
Rough Night (a change of pace,and I actually thought it was funny but I love Bell and Glazer)
The Witch (she liked it but didn’t like the ending. Grrrr….)
Blair Witch
Halloween (1978)
Inside (she says she liked it but that she will never ever watch it again. That’s probably the correct reaction but I will watch it many more times before I’m dead in the ground)
Lionsgate is not an MPAA member, therefore not a major. There is no “we” involved.
Stone age thinking? Are you 23?
Just on box office, Paramount has had 16 $100m domestic movies in the last 5 years. Lionsgate has had 6 and all those franchises are done now (La La Land the one standalone).
GdB… apparently you don’t follow me on Twitter. I love Ragnarok. It may be my favorite Marvel movie, right there with Dr Strange. And I think it may become a box office phenom, even beyond the opening. It’s enough fun for 2, 3 viewings in a a theater.
America’s love affair with Miles Teller continues.
1) If you are looking forward to Thor more than LUKE FUCKING SKYWALKER, then you must be one of those “EMPIRE FANS.” I am a Star Wars fan. GIVE ME LUKE AND REY AGAINST THE KNIGHTS OF REN ALREADY! I do love Flash Gordon, because who doesn’t love fucking FLASH GORDON? COME ON! IT’S AWESOME!
2) Emptiness and misogyny? Oh for the love of…
3) Right the fuck on about Ghost in the Shell. That movie, is the best FX ever done, by the folks at WETA/other teams involved. It’s some amazing shit. Absolutely stunning, and hopefully worthy of at least a nomination.
4) No one is looking for fucking “Thank You for Your Service,” in fucking October. It’s a December into January film, and I understand The Last Jedi is running shit til March. This shouldn’t keep, what looks like a lot more truthful and competent war film than fucking American Sniper, from finding an audience. Hollywood, really needs to get it into their thick fucking skull, that their release dates no longer run the entertainment schedule. They need to pick their spots, and run with them.
5) Dave likes two MSCU movies! WOOO!!!! I really need to watch Strange again.
6) Lionsgate needs to be offered membership.
Finally, 7) Dave, if you feel that strongly about Thor. How do you think that affects Justice League box office?
Dinovelvet for the win!
@DP, look at the past three years and the next two years’ schedules going forward. Am I 23? Ad hominem bullshit.
MPAA membership is required to be categorized as a major regardless of a studio’s performance? That’s nuts #1, and I strongly suggest you go back and look at how that stuff transpired in history before drop-quoting crap….”I’m very smart! I went to the Wharton Business School!!!”
The idea of Paramount continuing to be categorized as a major studio in regards to LionsGate… It’s not “another disappointment they could have re-marketed” or “they were in the hole from the get-go. Your argument is “they have more cache because they’re a massive conglomerate, and are better connected. The performance in actual reality is irrelevant.”
Give me a fucking break. This has to be the most slovenly, pathetic argument you’ve ever made. Grasping at 2012/2013 results. Pathetic. It reeks of industry nepotism, or just general laziness in willingness to re-categorize these two companies.
JS – god I am loathe to ask you this – but were Ghost In the Shell’s VFX better than 2001 too? or The Thing? Or any other 100 classics?
Who gives a fuck.
That was a garbage movie and BR 2049 was a great, albeit flawed, movie. You don’t need excessive overkill digital FX to make a film. Who cares.
Ethan, you’ve been here a long time. HOW DARE YOU FORGET THE LAZY AND SLOVENLY ARGUMENTS ABOUT:
– EVERY MSCU BOX OFFICE STORY!
– INCEPTION
– THE FORCE AWAKENS BOX OFFICE
– THE AVATAR BOX OFFICE
– I AM SURE THAT THERE’S MORE!
One of the reasons that I love the bastard, is his lazy ass arguments. Motherfucker has a bag, that he uses for this stuff. It’s a part of his charms, but Paramount is a non-entity, and it’s just so fucking depressing. They are just… there. Lionsgate, aren’t just there, and guess what? Who do you have more faith in, finding a new franchise for the next decade? It sure as shit isn’t fucking Paramount.
Arisp, take your glib fucking response, and shove it up your ass. In fairness to that response up your ass: the FX in GiTS are fucking amazing. If you haven’t seen it, then see it for the FX alone. Scarlett and the evil Greyjoy are good in it as well.
Unlike you, it seems, I can appreciate FX in any fucking medium. I love the Thing, but it’s no Return of the Living Dead. I love 2001, and it’s 2001.
And dude, I fucking love BR and 2049. GiTS, simply has better FX. They are just fucking seamless.
I agree JS, and I love him for his irrational biases as much as the next person. We all have them.
This one particularly struck my ire because it violates DPs other codes. He’s trying to keep his beloved 101 structure intact rather than adjusting to a world that now makes him look like it’s passed him by. It’s sad seeing him shill for Paramount excuses when even Paramount seems to have stopped caring.
Just got out of Thank You for your Service. Its not a more truthful and competent war film than fucking American Sniper.
“Suburbicon” doesn’t entirely work, but it didn’t deserve those toxic critical brickbats.
Just saying.
And Noah Jupe is a kid actor for the ages.
I liked “Service” OK, and the performances are uniformly strong. But does anyone else think, “I guess Jennifer Lawrence passed,” whenever they see Haley Bennett in a movie?
Who wants to guess which films are added to the day-before-Thanksgiving-wide-release-mix? I don’t think anyone really believes that “Coco” and (ick) “Polaroid” are the only two November 22nd nat’l releases.
I’m betting on Denzel’s lawyer pic (“limited” Nov. 17th) and “Three Billboards” (“limited” Nov. 10th).
American Sniper, was some made up bullshit. Did Thank You for Your Service, come across as some made up bullshit, MR. MOVIEGOER?
And why would any other film open on the 22nd? CoCo, is going to wipe the floor with everything, and you are looking at the second weekend of JL, the third for MoToE, and fourth for Thor. That’s plenty of shit for people to go see, and it’s not like anyone wants to see Denzel as a shitheel, in any movie.
Somebody needs to buy Paramount before the Redstones kill it.
The Redstones, already killed it. It’s just a husk, that’s rotting, and waiting for another Bob Evans to save it.
It always seems to me that no one at CBS, Viacom, or Paramount works past 3 o clock. They haven’t made a full schedule of films in years, and the cable channels and network have the same shows on them for decades at a time. Their two biggest movie franchises were first greenlit by Lucille Frickin Ball, not a ringing endorsement on their ability to innovate. Their corporate motto should be, “hey (shrug) people seem to like it”
Saw The Foreigner. Man, what a solid, no-nonsense film. Even the low key nature of the end credits of white letters on black screen with near morose music playing fit. I was thinking, ‘That was great. Definitely a good, solid 8.’ Then I thought, well, 8 of 10 reduces to 4/5, 80%. That film was definitely better than a low B. So, idk, 4 1/2 outa 5 stars seems about right for me. (Though 9/10 almost seems a bit high, so go figure). Not really sure what more that film needed to do to be 5/5 or 10/10, I didn’t find any of the performances, music, camera work lacking. I guess it’s more of the intangible being blown away, all time favorites, to get that score. Which it wasn’t but I have no complaints of it. Perhaps one too many twists at the end or some oversimplified explanations but that can’t be helped due to the nature of storytelling through a 2-hr film.
I did have to look up director Martin Campbell when I got home because his name didn’t immediately trigger any titles to mind. Quite the career that guy had. He did what I thought was one of the worst Bond films in Goldeneye and one of the best in Casino Royale. I saw Defenseless on video probably within a year or two of it coming out. Meh. Green Lantern was a bit on the lame side to me but I blame that more on a studio wanting to crank out anything with superhero in the title not a misguided director who didn’t respect the source material. Zorro didn’t do much for me but I could see why it would do well with multiple quadrants.
I didn’t see Vertical Limit nor Beyond Borders. Apparently, not too many did. I wanna say cool on him for taking on varied subjects and mediums. I’d be interested to know what makes him choose what he does. Was Edge of Darkness really a passion project?? I’m sure he’s been attached to other projects that never got made. No director’s going to be perfect from the batter’s box but I’m not getting why there’d be such ebbs & flow to the quality of his work.
He had directed the British Television series that Darkness was based on. He was apparently the BBC’s go to directer for a decade which explains why they gave Goldeneye to the director of No Escape. Wasn’t that impressed with Goldeneye but I thought Casino wasnt just the best Bond but the best action film period since the original Die Hard. Was actually thinking about Campbell earlier this evening while finally getting around to watching The Mummy. It had some good ideas for set pieces and almost knew what emotional journey its characters should take, but this second time director couldn’t tie the pieces together or keep any momentum going in either the individual scenes or the larger narrative. When I was thinking of a list of workingman directors that would have been an improvement, Campbell’s name popped into my head, and thought it was odd that the director who loves to use the same shot of actors running next across the field of vision while bullets somehow only hit the guardrail of the walkway has never worked with the actor who loves to run more than any other movie star.
DP! I do not follow you, actually. I don’t use Twitter much at all. Maybe this is my come to Jesus moment?
Very happy to be corrected! Hope to see you write about it here!
‘escape from absolom’ is still my fave campbell
Ironic to see your front page lead article to be about criticisms about Kevin Spacey’s half-assed apology when your apology for being part of the Hollywood machine that swept stories of abuse under the carpet is far from acceptable. What did you get, back in the day, for attacking the story of sexual abuse from a major film company?
I’ll never forgive Campbell for “Beyond Borders.” Truly execrable.
(I’d completely forgotten he directed “The Green Lantern.” Ewww.)
The first “Zorro” was a lot of fun, though.
None of his Bonds did much for me.
And Sam Mendes directed my two favorite 007 movies.
Sort of the trouble with being a director for hire, there is a template for Bond and Zorro but when you get something like Green Lantern where it didn’t seem like anybody was all that passionate about the project other than it was the next comic in line to be adapted.
Never saw Beyond Borders but I remember that started as an Oliver Stone movie that was to star Costner and Meg Ryan, which would have made it one of the big hits of 1992. Unfortunately they were pitching it in 2002, it was likely doomed from the beginning.
No discussion of Martin Campbell is complete without mentioning 1994’s No Escape, an amazingly bonkers and spectacular riff on The Most Dangerous Game. Ray Liotta, Lance Henricksen, Stuart Wilson, Kevin Dillon, Kevin J. O’Connor, Ernie Hudson, Michael Lerner. It is pure B-movie bliss and a total blast.
you mean like i did above? (‘escape from absolom’ is the movie’s title everywhere but the US)
As it happens I live in the U.S. leah so pardon me for not knowing the international title. Never heard that title before. I’m sure many haven’t.
Not curious enough to look it up but has Lionsgate ever held the one and two spots before? This is just sad, the studios have given up way too much ground to these guys, they should be releasing enough stuff to crowd out the upstarts. Its not like this is twilight and Hunger Games, these are creaky decades old franchises. How is there not a screen gems horror film? Isn’t that the whole reason they have that division, to pick up some easy money on a slow weekend? So far this year Lionsgate has taken the top slot 5 times, while Sony has only had two and Paramount a whopping once.
So Kevin Spacey’s creep ass, gets what was coming to him. The stories you find about him… are fucking horrific. I have no idea, why people with that level of talent, stoop to such bullshit, but it seems to happen time and time and time again. Good on Anthony Rapp, for going full on Crossfit Jesus on Spacey.
Now, I guess it’s on the HoC cast and crew, to finally come out against their star. They won’t, but someone should… because come on.
i just assumed everyone knew it was called ‘escape from absolom’ (and that ‘no escape’ was the shitty alternate) but yeah you’re making sense there in milwaukee, why you don’t know this haha
ETA re JSP why is everyone so disappointing
also ETA since when is DP ‘David Charles Poland’ this is freaking me out.
Leah, I have no fucking idea. I can’t even wrap my head around that fucking mindset. You have power and privilege, and that shouldn’t fucking mean you fucking do whatever you want… yet… human beings are complicated fucks, and there you go. Kevin Spacey, literally, came out on the same night someone fucking accused him of assault. If that’s not as fucked up as it gets…
And now Ratner, can’t say that one was a surprise he oozes that exact type of vibe that suggests this behavior. I consider him a bit of a benchmark. Weinstein star had faded, Toback was never a major Hollywood figure, but Ratner controls one of the major money spigots for Hollywood. If the industry rejects him for this it will really be a sign of change.
Yes, Ratner will be the real question, as he’s a major producer at the top of his power, whereas most of the others, as Ronan Farrow said, had lost their power to hurt the victims.
Director of Hercules might be in trouble.
We are living in dark, strange times. The president is a psycho. Kevin Spacey is a sexual predator. Every morning I wake up and wonder “who’s been accused of rape today?”
The escape into movies is as important as ever for me. I have my tickets for THOR on Saturday. I bury my nose in a book every night rather than skim Twitter and FB. I’m loving the new South Park video game.
The real world is oppressive and depressing right now. Hope you all are doing ok, too.
‘Hey Moritz, its me Tyrese. Look I have had it either he goes or I g- Hello? Hello?”