Apologies for the tardy entry… was out strawberry picking with an Oscar nominee… not a euphemism…

The quick abandonment of The Other Woman (shouldn’t it be The Other Women?) would suggest that the only long legs likely for this film belong to the leads. On the other hand, as noted yesterday, there is nothing else there for women. Or maybe there is. Belle is actually quite exceptional as Jane Austen meets a more deeply layered context than usual. Neighbors features a couple really strong female characters… though the ads don’t seem anxious for you to know that. Heck, even Amazing Spider-Man offers up a woman who can keep up with the web-slinger in most ways. But while Belle should become the next Bridget Jones… but probably won’t until after theatrical, and Neighbors is very funny, but will not be seen as a girls’ night out film… women may feel compelled to check out the apparently not good (I haven’t seen it… but I have heard the same thing from everyone I know who has) The Other Woman, if for nothing else but the two much-liked actresses.

Disney made their last push for Captain America 2, throwing $20 million or so in 4th weekend TV spots at the last pre-Spidey weekend. And they got a 38% drop out of it, which is okay, if not cost-efficient. My guess is that Disney really wants the $700 million worldwide number and Cap had a little over $65 million to go, going in to this weekend.

Heaven remains for real for the filmmakers. The film seems sure now to push past both of the other small-scare God movies of this year and while Noah seems out of reach… if it’s God’s will…

The most interesting thing to me on Heaven Is For Real is that its Jewish producer, Joe Roth, who gets a ton of industry press when he stubs his toe, is not getting a ton for this hit. Moreover, the film ended up getting distributed by Sony, not by Roth’s current “home studio,” Disney… and it does seem that Screen Gems put some cash into the pot. (It’s distributed by the little-used TriStar arm, which will be Tom Rothman’s brand as soon as he starts pushing out movies.)

Rio 2 is not a breakout, but it is tracking along side the original Rio pretty well… about $8 million behind as of this weekend. I imagine that Fox is more than a little frustrated by this result. And I imagine DreamWorks Animation is even more frustrated, as Rio 2 will pass Mr. Peabody & Sherman pretty soon.

There are a lot of really good indies out there, working their butts off to chase the $1m mark in domestic box office. And mostly failing.

Searchlight saw an opportunity and stoked the Grand Budapest fires a bit with some marketing dollars and got a 29% drop. Now it’s looking like the film can push aside the Tenenbaums for the top domestic spot for Wes Anderson films. It already owns the worldwide.

Sony Classics is doing a nice job getting The Lunchbox out there and the elders are starting to buzz more loudly about it. They are being really slow in the expansion, but the numbers look good.

Le Week-end has quietly pushed to $1.8 million, which it deserves. Some beautiful writing and great acting in Roger Michel’s talker.

The big per-screen film of the weekend was Locke, though as noted yesterday, not a really great number in the context of A24’s other films. Still, in a tough arena for small films, it’s something.

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