MCN Weekend Archive for September, 2013
The Weekend Report
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 supped on an estimated opening salvo of $34.4 million to easily take top spot with weekend moviegoers. Three other films debuted nationally and, like Meatballs, none had quite the spice that had been anticipated. Following last week’s teaser opening, Formula 1 racing saga Rush slotted third with $10.3 million while urban romantic comedy Baggage Claim grossed $9.4 million. The naughty but nice Don Jon trailed with $9 million.
Read the full article » 5 Comments »Friday Estimates
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 opens about 12% better than the first of the fledgling series, but the key number for the film, with kids back to school, will be Saturday’s. Meanwhile, the two sex romp comedies—one from New Jersey and one traveling from Los Angeles— romanced the same estimated opening number… which suggests that Don Jon will likely do slightly better over the weekend run. But it also suggests that both films probably would have been better off not opening against one another, even if all answers to opening weekend are not black-and-white.
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The East, Gimme the Loot, Iron Man, Room 237, Augustine, Rosselli/Bergman, Fill the Void, In the House, Foyle’s War… and more.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Wilmington on DVD: Iron Man Three
In Iron Man Three—capstone of the trilogy of films in which Robert Downey, Jr. plays brainy CEO Tony Stark a.k.a. the robo-suited super-hero Iron ManDowney spends far more time out of his Iron Man suit than in it. But that’s okay.
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It was definitely a case of take all Prisoners as the gripping child abduction drama ascended to the top in its debut with an estimated $21.2 million. The weekend’s other incoming wide release saw dancing but no stars as Battle of the Year grossed $4.8 million to slot fifth overall. Exclusive newcomers also provided a couple of potent entries starting with the adult rom-com Enough Said that sparked $240,000 from four screens. Just a lap behind, Formula 1 nail-biter Rush revved up $198,000 from five tracks.
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Jackman & Gyllenhaal & WB classic thriller marketing lead to a solid opening for Prisoners. How big the movie ends up being will depend on how much audiences enjoy the creamy metaphoric filling once they’ve bitten in and word-of-mouth begins.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Bling Ring, Someday Up There Likes Me, Tim Buckley, Two Men in Manhattan, World War Z, Hidden in Woods, Shanghai Calling, Simon Killer, Arrow … More
The Bling Ring: Blu-ray Although Sofia Coppola’s profile of a gang of juvenile delinquents from the right side of the tracks is entirely watchable, often funny and sometimes alarming, its existence is as difficult to justify as most reality shows in which human oddities are put on parade for our amusement. For 15 minutes, anyway,…
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Wilmington on DVDs: World War Z; The Bling Ring
Pitt doesn’t usually take the Tom Cruise stud-hero route; he’s done a lot of interesting projects. And though he’s wearing a strange hairdo for this type of role, he makes for a likable hero, if not a plausibly written one.
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War Witch, Star Trek, Friday 13th, Love Is All You Need, Strong Language, Ruby, American Hippie in Israel… and so much more.
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To no great surprise, the debut of Riddick shot to the top of the weekend charts with an estimated $18.6 million. It was the sole new national release in what is traditionally one of the lowest attended movie periods of the year. There was a tidal wave of exclusive openings but only doc portrait Salingerposted big numbers of $89,200 with a mere four carbons.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Winged Serpent (Q), The Iceman, Now You See Me
A sleazy little semi-classic from the more daffily glorious times when horror movies had less gore, smaller budgets and more personality, The Winged Serpent (or Q, as it was called when I caught it in New York City on its first release) is a delightfully cheesy monster movie from Larry Cohen in his heyday.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Great Gatsby
This is Luhrmann’s Gatsby (yet Fitzgerald’s also). But the novel’s original qualities shine though as well. It becomes not only a beautiful movie and the best Gatsby film adaptation of the several made so far, but for me, an instant classic.
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Iceman, Now You See Me, Blancanieves, Poppy Hill, Winnie the Pooh, LSD, Allmans, DaVinci’s Demons, Spartacus and more.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report (3-Day)
Civil Rights conquers raging hormones as One Direction does about what was expected after Friday while The Butler reports a remarkably strong hold for the 3 days. Instructions Not Included remains the top story of the weekend, as the Spanish language film racks up an estimated $7.4 million on 347 screens for Lionsgate. And Blue Jasmine passes Love & Death to become Woody Allen’s fifth-highest grossing film domestically with more $ to come.
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