Labor Day Weekend Didn't Fill Movie Theaters

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (4 Day Labor Day Weekend)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
WIND RIVER	DO IT LIKE AN HOMBRE
1. THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD $13.3 (cum. $58)	1. 🔺 INHUMANS  $1.5 new on 393 screens
2. ANNABELLE CREATION $9.3 (cum. $90.9)	2.  🔺 DO IT LIKE AN HOMBRE  $1.4 new on 382 screens
3. WIND RIVER $7.9 (cum. $20.3) REVIEW	3. 🔺  PATTI CAKE$  $315k (cum. $603k) on 295 screens
4. LEAP  $6.5 (cum. $13)	4.  TRIP TO SPAIN $301k (cum. $623K) on 140 screens

LOGAN LUCKY	I DO... UNTIL I DON'T
5. LOGAN LUCKY $5.6 (cum. $22.6) REVIEW	5. 🔺  MENASHE $272k (cum. $1.3) on 126 screens REVIEW
6. DUNKIRK $5.6 (cum. $180.2) PODCAST | TOM HARDY	6. 🔺 I DO... UNTIL I DON'T  $234k new on 165 screens
7. SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING $4.7 (cum. $325.1)  REVIEW	7. 🔺 VALLEY OF BONES $138K new on 300 screens
8. THE EMOJI MOVIE $3.3 (cum. $81.2) REVIEW	8. A GENTLEMAN  $110k (cum. $385k) on 130 screens
9. DESPICABLE ME 3 $3.3 (cum. $258.8)	9. MAUDIE $109k (cum. $5.9) on 106 screens REVIEW
10. NUT JOB 2 $2.9 (cum. $26.7)	10. 🔺 CROWN HEIGHTS $83k (cum. $167k) on 55 screens
🔺 = new or significant expansion numbers from box office mojo

This was the worst Labor Day weekend for the movie business in nearly two decades! Marvel's Inhumans, a tv series launched in movie theaters, didn't even excite people much. I went to a lakehouse with friends to enjoy the last bit of sun and water but we did rewatch Moana with friends' kids though. 

If you did get to the movies, which ones? If you saw Do it Like an Hombre, please report: was it as dated and homophobic-despite-being-about-how-homophobia-is-stupid as it looked? If you didn't, which films have you been thinking about? I have to admit that Wind River has been rustling around in my mind quite a bit after seeing it so I'm glad it's holding steady with audiences.

Happy New School Year!

Each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal."

Dancin' Dan here wishing you a happy start to the school year, on behalf of Team Experience.

Has there ever been a high school movie as universal as The Breakfast Club? It's not a surprise that it's (apparently) still shown in schools to middle and high school students, given how clear and needed its message is: We may seem different to each other, but deep down, we're all going through the same shit. And if we really listen, we can help each other get through it.

Who did you most want to be friends with the first time you saw The Breakfast Club? While I always related most to Anthony Michael Hall's good boy Brian, I always most wanted to befriend Ally Sheedy's Allison, because I loved how she playfully taunted the others when they stared at her freakish behavior. She seemed like the most fun. PLUS: Pixie Stix sandwich.

Beauty vs Beast: Super Cat Scratch Fever

Jason from MNPP here with today's new "Beauty vs Beast" -- I finally got my boyfriend to watch Wonder Woman this weekend (it's finally out on VOD) and he was as surprised as I was by how much he enjoyed it (I was skeptical given DC's lousy track-record and he was skeptical because he doesn't like superhero movies). But he had one complaint that I very much got - there are a couple of full-body CG shots where Diana's hopping around where the effects look pretty goony, or as my boyfriend put it, "That looked like Catwoman." 

Which got me thinking about Catwoman. The Halle Berry one, I mean. Which isn't as dire for me as it is for most - I actually enjoy the 2004 dud, albeit for camp value. But you kind of get the feeling that the film's director Pitof (whose career was, probably rightly, murdered by the film) intended the camp value, which then got me thinking about what a blessing it is that Patty Jenkins was able to give us a female superhero and take her (and her girly love for love) seriously - there's a long history of female superheroes being treated as less than serious by male directors, from Supergirl to Showgirls. 

Of course Tim Burton took Catwoman seriously once, and from that we got the Greatest Superhero Performance of All Time. And he also proved that taking something "seriously" doesn't mean you have to drain all the fun, or even the camp, from it - a lesson every DC movie not named Wonder Woman could stand to learn. So I hope we get a proper Catwoman movie some day, but until then, I'll make due with the camp of Halle Berry smashing the beauty magnate villanness Sharon Stone's cement face in. Which leads me to this week's purrfect poll...

PREVIOUSLY When I was out of town last week Nathaniel took y'all back to Disney's film Hercules (which sidenote I have never seen, whoopsie) and faced off its hero and hell-ward villain, and in a squeaker the titular ginger took the crown with just over 51% of your votes. Always bet on ginger. Said Emma:

"I consider Hercules the second dishiest Disney character (second only to Nick from ZOOTOPIA... don't judge me!), so had to vote for the eye candy."

The Furniture: Brazil's Pungent Pot of Duct Soup

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Hi there! I want to talk to you about ducts.

I mean that quite seriously, though I’m also quoting the opening lines of Terry Gilliam’s wacky and wonderful Brazil. It’s a film with a lot of unique production design, for which art director Norman Garwood and set decorator Maggie Gray received an Oscar nomination. They lost to Out of Africa, but I find it helpful to pretend that didn’t happen.

It’s nearly impossible to choose a single element to feature. I’ve half a mind to simply post all of the bleakly hilarious propaganda posters that clutter the walls of the film’s dystopian metropolis. Another option would be the design of the dream sequences, which become increasingly majestic as Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) loses touch with reality.

But I still want to talk to you about ducts...

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Difficult People S3 E3-4: John Cho, Rabbits, and A Dybbuk

Chris and Spencer are dishing this season of Difficult People!

In “Code Change”, Julie uses AA to fight her addiction to her mother, Arthur fails valiantly to satisfy Julie in bed, and Billy comes to the separate rescue of his brother and sister-in-law.

SPENCER: Why had I never thought of a church as a place to charge my phone, first of all? Let alone a Synagogue!

CHRIS: And there’s free coffee. I feel like we spoke too soon last time about the show's guest actors only being asked to just play wacky because Rosie O'Donnell was maybe the show's most straight-faced character ever.

S: I know, right? It was almost jarring — but definitely in a good way. Her reference to Billy being gay… she’s totally in on the joke.

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