MCN Originals Archive for May, 2017

Memorial Day Three-Day Estimates

Pirates are not all Dead Men with $76.8 million on 4,276, while Guardians Vol. 2 steams to $26.3 million on 3,871 for a $339.6 million cume. A quiet third, Baywatch proves not so biggle with its jiggle, $22.9 million on 3,647.

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Wrapping Cannes 70

The Square, though. I can’t wait for actual audiences to see it. I can’t wait to discuss its many possible interpretations. It’s one of the best Palme decisions in years.

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The DVD Wrapup: World Cinema Project 2, Obsession, Pelle the Conqueror, Jacques Rivette, Dark Angel and more

It would be difficult for most of us to sustain the level of affection and enthusiasm Martin Scorsese displays in his introductions to the half-dozen films collected in World Cinema Project: No. 2. They are his godchildren. Scorsese has always been a key player in the film preservation movement and this is the second batch of movies the World Cinema Project has rescued for future generations to enjoy. Established in 2007 under the auspices of the Film Foundation, which, in 1990, Scorsese founded and now chairs, the project has thus far restored 30 marginalized, infrequently screened films from 21 regions generally unequipped to preserve their own cinema history. They have been made available for exhibition on various platforms. For its part, the foundation has helped restore more than 750 films, accessible to the public through programming at festivals, museums and educational i.nstitutions around the world. It easily qualifies as God’s work and Scorsese has a right to be expect a few plenary indulgences.

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The Weekend Report

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales easily led the Memorial holiday with an estimated $61.9 million debut during the three-day portion of the weekend. (All figures reflect 3-day box office; chart will be updated on Monday). The session’s other national opener — and alternative ocean-splasher — Baywatch had a less auspicious beach experience at $18.1 million.

On Friday, Disney also became the first distributor to cross the $1 billion threshold domestically — it was also first to the mark in 2016 but 19 days earlier — with Beauty and the Beast passing $500 million on Sunday. Internationally, The Fate of the Furious became 2017’s first $1 billion box office behemoth.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

56, 43, 35, 23. See a pattern here?

Those are the opening days of the first four Pirates movies. The first film had a Wednesday open and a $14m first Friday.

Domestically, Pirates is over at this scale, what with a $40 million star in the lead. Internationally, Disney is hoping not to care what happened domestically.

Paramount had an ugly Baywatch launch.

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Cannes Review: KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

Humanity is exactly what’s on the chopping block in a Yorgos Lanthimos film.

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Review: Baywatch

I was so looking forward to some good, dumb summer fun.

And Baywatch has its moments.

But it is taken down by an undertow of overthinking, over-raunching, and generally a complete miss of what made this series so absurdly popular for so long.

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Cannes Reviews: REDOUBTABLE, 120 BPM

Beyond outlining just how much of an asshole Hazanavicius’ Godard is—including a stupid running joke that seems to suggest the man derives his snobbish power from his sunglasses, which he repeatedly breaks throughout the film—Redoubtable is little more than a series of regrettable decisions that began the moment Hazanavicius started his adaptation.

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The Weekend Report

Alien: Covenant edged ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with an estimated $36.1 million to make off with a wobbling weekend box office crown. Teen romantic drama Everything, Everything won a distant third with $11.8 million and the latest episode of the Wimpy Kid franchise, the appropriately-entitled The Long Haul, bowed with a limpy $7.1 million.

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Cannes Review: THE SQUARE

The Square is an equilateral triangle—a film with three sharp, pointed edges and a very long ending that’s too rigid for it to turn a corner and assume its final shape. But as the follow-up to a film about the social contract, as well and the bystander effect, Östlund has made something hilarious, frustrating and very clever.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

Alien: Covenant comes out of the gates a little slower than Prometheus… probably because of the reception for Prometheus. This more conventional Alien movie is paying the price. But what Fox needs is for audiences to like it and for the numbers to accelerate, suggesting that there may be a reason to make more prequels. International tell the story here. Everything, Everything has a nice open for the rare WB cheapie title. Fox’s franchise hits the wall with a cast change. Or maybe it’s just a victim of Fox opening three movies in eight days?

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Cannes Reviews: Okja, Jupiter’s Moon

The yelling started as soon as Okja’s Netflix presentation card appeared, muddying the matter more. This attitude fuels the ongoing debate on the Croisette: Can Netflix films win Palmes d’Or? Should they? The argument being Cannes is a festival where cinema is sacred—that films should be seen on big screens, not on small ones

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The DVD Wrapup: Space Between Us, xXx, Starlight, Operation Mekong, Serial Mom, Brain Damage and more

There are exteriors in the largely Mars-based The Space Between Us that look as if they might have been ported over from The Martian. Its lack of success commercially and critically, however, probably can be traced to issues unrelated to space fatigue. Absent any of the bells and whistles that helped launch other recent sci-fi extravaganzas — 3D, IMAX, 3D IMAX — even The Martian faced an uphill climb. Neither were its chances enhanced by three release-date changes and a marketing campaign hobbled by mixed messages.

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Cannes Review: Loveless, Wonderstruck

I’d take negativity over brimming positivity most any day, especially in the face of Todd Haynes’ young-adult drama Wonderstruck, the second film in competition.

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The Weekend Report

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 remained dominant in the marketplace with an estimated second weekend of $63.3 million. In the distance were the session’s two incoming national releases. Mother’s Day comedy adventure Snatched bowed to $17.4 million while King Arthur: Legend of the Sword put the morte in the fabled monarch with a $14.8 million debut.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

The Guardians of The Galaxy are heroes… but this week they are beating up on the weak. Solid second weekend, but hardly heroic. With Arthur, WB must have been hoping to pull off another Tarzan$39m opening, in spite of media lining up to kill it in the crib)… but alas, no. As for Snatched, well… it’s no Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. In an exclusive run (four screens), Paris Can Wait will be over $10k per screen.

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The DVD Wrapup: Fifty Shades Darker, Things to Come, Chef’s Wife, Alena, Kiju Yoshida, Streets of Fire, Beaches and more

In less time than it takes for most folks to decide between fake butter and plain popcorn, they reconnect and he’s agreed to Anastasia’s list of demands. In another blink of the eye, she’s peeling off her britches in elevators and restaurants, and submitting to the tortuous pleasure of inserting beads into her hoohah for a night out on the town.

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Review: King Arthur: The Lege…

Ritchie’s twist on King Arthur isn’t very complex. Take the original and add The Lion King. Add some Harry Potter effects (not as well done). Add quick editing that makes parts of this film dangerous for ticket buyers with epilepsy. And voila! You’ve got a crap movie.

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Review: Snatched (minimal spoilers)

Snatched is the movie that people feared Trainwreck might be. In Amy Schumer’s first feature, we were fortunate to get a coherent, quirky narrative with charming sidebars. Not so lucky here.

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The Weekend Report

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the only national opener, commanded roughly 74% of domestic moviegoing with an estimated $144.4 million haul. Guardians of the Galaxy’s set off a week earlier internationally and grossed $106 million from 37 territories. Its second international weekend added 18 markets and an additional $124 million box office. The foreign charge was led by a $48 million bow in China, with South Korea and Russia adding $13.3 million and $11.6 million, respectively. The only $10k-per-screen tallies aside from Guardians was A24’s The Lovers, which did $16,000 on four and the restoration of Stalker at Lincoln Center, grossing over $18,000 on a single journey.

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MCN Originals

Leonard Klady's Friday Estimates
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