MCN Weekend Archive for September, 2016
The DVD Wrapup: Blood Simple, Cat People, Shallows, Neon Demon, Sirk X 2, Warcraft, Kamikaze ’89 and more
Before Blood Simple hit the festival circuit in September, 1984, at Deauville and Toronto, it’s safe to say that Joel and Ethan Coen couldn’t get arrested in this town. On the advice of Sam Raimi, they knocked on doors in Los Angeles, New York, the Twin Cities and Austin, hats in hand, trying to interest someone, anyone in checking out their two-minute teaser for the film. It’s what filmmakers did in the days before Kickstarter. Any money they raised went straight to their headquarters in Texas, where a cinema community was in its infancy and a few dollars went a long way.
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The Magnificent Seven prevailed as top choice in the marketplace with an estimated $34.8 million. The frame’s other national opener, the animated Storks, took second with $21.4 million. Limited and exclusive bows featured a toe-dipper for the African-set drama Queen of Katwe of $303,000 prior to next week’s national launch. The delayed release of Australia’s The Dressmaker arrived to a positive $183,000 at 36 shops. Its international gross has been around $23 million since its Down Under bow in November 2015.
Read the full article »Friday Box Office Estimates
Denzel looks to take back his month from Mr. Hanks, opening The Magnificent Seven to more than Sully on opening day. Storks doesn’t fly, unable to crack the $20 million barrier (perhaps because kids don’t really know about storks delivering babies anymore?). Nothing much in limited/exclusive, where the biggest titles will all be under $7k per-screen for the weekend.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Free State of Jones, Beauty & Beast, Bettie Page, Pele and more
At 139 minutes, Gary Ross’s frequently exhilarating, sometimes grueling Free State of Jones dramatizes one of the most unlikely and virtually unknown – outside Mississippi, anyway – chapters in Civil War history. Unlike Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave and the recent re-adaptation of “Roots,” viewers averse to sadistic violence and racial epithets weren’t required to gird their loins for what was to come.
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Sully was redeemed again with a strong estimated hold of $21.7 million. The anticipated horse race with Blair Witch didn’t happen, with the ghoster a distant second with $9.6 million. Also disappointing among national releases was the $8.2 million bow of Bridget Jones’ Baby, while Snowden was on target, tracking at $7.9 million.
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Sully holds well but movie resurrections don’t come close, as Blair Witch and the Bridget Jones don’t crash, but don’t get to their destinations. Another familiar name, Snowden, came with lower expectations and could float higher in weeks to come.
Read the full article »The DVD Weekend: Popstar, Civil War, Bigger Splash, King Jack, Standing Tall, Marguerite, Marauders, Tower Records, Vaxxed, Raising Cain and more
It’s possible that Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer — collectively known as Lonely Island – wrote their occasionally very funny music mockumentary, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, thinking it could re-create the commercial, critical and pop-cultural success accorded This Is Spinal Tap. If so, they probably should have set their sights on someone less prone to self-parody than the ever-ridiculous Justin Bieber, who is more worthy of a three-minute sketch on “Saturday Night Live.” The great thing about Rob Reiner’s 1984 comedy was that viewers couldn’t always be sure when the band was making fun of heavy metal music, the musicians themselves, their fans or the industry. They still can’t. It isn’t unusual to hear a cut from Spinal Tap’s fictional “Smell the Glove” album on SiriusXM’s Underground Garage channel, played alongside the Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, the Ramones and Patti Smith. Any memory of the songs on the Popstar soundtrack vaporizes within minutes of hearing them.
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Sully takes flight with a Friday fare of $12.1 million; When The Bough Breaks swings $5.1 million and Don’t Breathe‘s cume surpasses $61 million.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Now You See Me, Bodyguard, Tale of Tales, Equals, Genius, Hockney, Lamb, Night Manager, South Park and more
An audience’s communal willingness to suspend disbelief while watching an illusionist perform live is a far more entertaining exercise than suspending disbelief in the service of a large-budget, effects-dependent movie, if only because a trick might occasionally go haywire or a normally docile tiger could unexpectedly attack its handler. We exist at a time in cinematic history when blunders and missteps are freely shown during the closing credits of a feature or as part of a DVD’s bonus package. The industry’s dependency on green screen and CGI technology, to achieve economic and creative goals, has become so commonplace that it’s possible to long for the days when stuntmen made us believe that A-list stars routinely risked everything to make us laugh, cry or tingle with excitement. The conceit behind Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2 requires us to accept the unlikely, if thoroughly appealing premise that a quartet of superstar magicians could combines their individual talents to play Robin Hood or save the world from powerful forces beyond our control.
Read the full article »Labor Day Weekend Estimates
Don’t Breathe almost makes it to $20 million for the long weekend, while Suicide Squad closes out summer with a $300.2 million cume.
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With scant competition in the marketplace it was an easy second weekend topper for Don’t Breathe that grossed out an estimated $15.8 million for the three-day portion (all box office reflects three-day period) of the Labor Day fete. Retro tearjerker The Light Between Oceans charted sixth with $4.8 million and desperately-in-need-of-treatment sci-fi thriller Morgan eked only $1.9 million.
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Don’t Breathe scares up $4.1 million while Suicide Squad quietly slays $2.3 million on the slow holiday weekend.
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