MCN Weekend Archive for October, 2017
The Weekend Report
There was no puzzling as the debut of Jigsaw ascended to the top of the weekend with an estimated $16.2 million. Two other films bowed nationally to dismal results in a depressed marketplace. Thank You for Your Service — a story of returning soldiers from Iraq — opened to $3.7 million while the Coens-penned comedy Suburbicon fled with $2.8 million.
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There are a lot of reasons why the Saw franchise didn’t resurrect itself this weekend. For one, its fanbase is out of college now, it’s been seven years since the last film, and maybe not quite ready for nostalgia. For another, the potential audience that might have been drawn in now may not be clear on what the marketing was selling, aside from cool, fast-cut shots of mayhem. Meanwhile, the other two releases (Thank You For Your Service, Suburbicon) felt – much as the films last week did – like their distributors were slow-playing them. One can’t tell from Los Angeles how U was selling their film to military families and the red states, but it didn’t connect there either. Suburbicon got slaughtered in Toronto and served up this weekend.
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Amid more tricks than treats the debut of Boo 2! A Madea Halloween emerged as box office leader with an estimated $21.6 million. Four other national releases struggled and sputtered for attention. Audiences were cool to Geostorm’s global warming maelstrom which grossed $13.3 million and were frigid to based-on-fact Only the Brave about doomed firefighters that opened to $5.9 million. It didn’t help that the director of The Snowman — based on the Jo Nesbø bestseller — disowned the film, which sank with $3.4 million. The faithful departed from Same Kind of Different from Me, with had a $2.6 million box office.
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The only movie with a shot at $20 million is Boo 2! A Madea Halloween while four other wide releases crash and burn. All kinds of excuses are flying, but the basics are: the marketing didn’t inspire. Another classic… titles that don’t mean anything. If you asked someone who doesn’t watch trailers what Geostorm, Only The Brave, and The Snowman were about based on those titles, no one would come close. People do know what to expect from Madea, though it doesn’t look like this Halloween comedy will come close to matching the first Boo.The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Wonderstruck, and Jane will all open with over $10k per screen in exclusives.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Lady Macbeth, Girls Trip, Moka, Chicago, American Gods and more
s as if a sympathetic visitor had left a copy of Gustave Flaubert’s recently published “Madame Bovary” within her reach, hoping it would spark Katherine’s desire for something more substantial than practicing her needlepoint and making sure the surfaces are being dusted. When their relationship becomes the subject of village gossip, Katherine concocts plans that would leave her the true head of the estate. Viewers may not be able to precisely identify the peril that looms just over the horizon, but we know it can’t possibly bode well for the weak-willed Sebastian. In an interesting decision, Oldroyd and screenwriter Alice Birch elected to make three key characters of African descent. The story practically ignores their race, leaving the audience to make of the casting what it will.
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The confluence of a Friday the 13th debut and the upcoming All Hallows Eve celebrations propelled Happy Death Day to the top of weekend viewing with an estimated $26.5 million. The session’s other wide release, actioner The Foreigner, slotted third with $12.8 million.
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Happy Death Day marks another big Blumhouse opener, their third original of 2017 (no sequels from Blum this year) to open over $25 million with Universal. Also landing better than expected, Jackie Chan’s The Foreigner. Open Road cautiously released Marshall into a real-life distracted marketplace to soft results, around $3250 per screen on 821. Blade Runner 2049 didn’t sink like a stone, but was not particularly buoyant either. And Annapurna launched Professor Marston & The Wonder Women to indifference, likely under $600 per screen.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Survivalist, Vampyr, Lure, Giallo, Dreamgirls and More
At a time when dystopian dramas are a dime a dozen, it bears noting when something out of the ordinary emerges. Filmed entirely in a lush forest, near Antrim, Northern Ireland, The Survivalist is just such a picture. After appearing at prominent festivals to rave reviews, Stephen Fingleton’s directorial debut was accorded only a tentative release before being sent to the video after-marketplace. It isn’t difficult to guess why. Set in an indeterminate time and place, after an unexplained energy-related catastrophe, The Survivalist chronicles one unnamed man’s struggle to survive in an environment devastated by famine, overpopulation and desperation. The survivalist (Martin McCann) appears to have prepared for all possible threats to his security, short of nuclear war.
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Blade Runner 2049 dominated weekend moviegoing, hovering at $31.4 million. Two other national releases opened as counterprogramming, with mountain survival drama The Mountain Between Us providing an effective $10.2 million. Less assured was a My Little Pony movie that whinnied up $8.7 million. In limited wide, inspirational canine The Stray impounded limited bow-wow with a $630,000 launch.
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Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Queen of the Desert, POTC 5, DeMille’s Lost City, Otherworld, Patsy Cline, Wanda and more
Herzog also allows time for coverage of her love affairs, which either were ill-advised or crushed by her domineering parents. But as fascinating a character as Bell is, the director’s longtime fans won’t find anything in Bell that recalls Klaus Kinski’s eccentric behavior in Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, or, for that matter, Nicolas Cage, in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Maybe, critics were hoping for a bit more craziness in Kidman’s portrayal of such an independent and driven soul as Bell. There’s nothing at all wrong with Peter Zeitlinger’s cinematography, which nicely captures the desert scenery and extremes of Jordan and Morocco.
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In the year’s biggest nail-biter, three films vied for top position in the weekend sweepstakes. Photo-finish results favor It with an estimated $17.2 million. In close proximity Kingsman: The Golden Circle and the debut of American Made follow with $17.1 million and $17 million.
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