Box Office: Ethan, Sherlock and Alvin Return
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 3:56PM The newish Sherlock Holmes franchise was down from its first go around and the news was even worse for The Chipmunks in their third attack on the box office. Those high pitched rodents were off 50% so maybe we can safely bury this franchise?
I could have put a picture of Alvin and the Chipmunks here. Thank me!
The big story was crowded houses in limited release for the return of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in Mission: Impossible 4. (The four is silent or pronounced "Gost Pro•toh•call".) I'm eager to see it myself, not because of that prologue to The Dark Knight Rises that's attached in some theaters but because... director BRAD BIRD! He hasn't let us down yet: Family Dog, The Incredibles, Iron Giant, Ratatouille! So curious to see how he handles flesh and blood actors instead of drawings and pixels.
Box Office Top Ten
01 SHERLOCK HOLMES A GAME OF SHADOWS new $40
02 ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED new $23.5
03 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL $13
04 NEW YEAR'S EVE new $7.4 (cum. $24.8)
05 THE SITTER new $4.4 (cum. $17.7)
06 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 $4.3 (cum $266.4)
07 YOUNG ADULT $3.6 (cum $4)
08 HUGO $3.6 (cum $39)
09 ARTHUR CHRISTMAS $3.6 (cum. $38.5)
10 THE MUPPETS $3.4 (cum $70.9)
Other Talking Points
Precursor Nominations Mean Nothing to Ticket Sales: The Descendants [Michael's review] didn't really get a boost from its week of precursor glories, off 23% from last week, but then neither did any of the other films. It's all white noise to general audiences... until Oscar nominations, one supposes. Meanwhile one wonders if the Weinstein Co is being too cautious. The Artist [Nathaniel's review] was off only 2% but they only added one screen. My Week With Marilyn [Nathaniel's review] is also losing heat without expansions. It's taking forever and what gives with that. Marilyn is a brand.
Jodie in Hiding: Carnage is the second Jodie Foster picture in a row to open in a tiny number of locations following The Beaver. While I realize she isn't the draw she once was, it seems like she'd still be enough of a draw in wide release to at least make some money on a wider opening, even if people don't end up liking the movie, instead of the torturous inching along which prevents revenue.
Indie Success: Shame crossed the $1 million mark with 30 screens added and Margin Call crossed the $5 million mark (on a $3.5 million budget) as it continues to lose theaters. Is Margin Call a sign that Zachary Quinto is going to be a real behind-the-scenes force? He really seems to be taking to the producer's role with several projects lined up.
What did you see this weekend? Was it worth your time?
Reader Comments (24)
Hysteria(forgettable but whatchable romcom)
Arthur Christmas(funny movie)
17 filles(a french movies on 17 pregnant teens in a school in the same time)
hysteria hasn't opened here. I just watched ARTHUR CHRISTMAS too. very cute.
My viewings: The Help (not a fan), Beginners (enjoyed it), Tree of Life (not a fan).
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy: The acting is strong and it's nicely shot but I found the plot - save for a few moments here and there - lifeless. B-/C+
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: The plot is thin and you'll forget most of it by time you leave the theater but the pacing and abundance of action make it a solid piece of entertainment. B-
Zachary Quinto creeps the piss out of me. That is all.
We Need to Talk About Kevin - haunting cinematography, phenomenal Swinton performance; Miller is solid, nothing more, until his last scene. Whew.
Carnage - Oh, I just found this hilarious! It's a pity it's not in more theaters; this was my most easily recommendable to friends and family this weekend. I thought all four were plenty strong, with Foster just edging the others out with her self-righteous hysteria. Loved it.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - second go-round has put this firmly in my Top Ten, though I'm not sure in what place yet.
W.E. - It's a terrible movie, but oh my GOD it's an amazing thing to behold. Any movie that cuts to three different angles of a ghost slapping someone while bellowing, "This is not a fairy taaaaale!" is aces by me. And that score! And that DANCE! I dare not spoil the pleasures of W.E. for you, but suffice it to say: Madonna has forever changed the Charleston for me.
"I could have put a picture of Alvin and the Chipmunks here. Thank me!"
LOL.
Thank you, Nathaniel!
I saw CARNAGE this weekend and like Walter, found it pretty hilarious. My friend and I couldn't agree who was Best in Show since we thought all of the actors were pretty good.
Also saw TAKE SHELTER and I was shocked at how much I was a little bored by it considering the critical response. Shannon was great and it's nice seeing Chastain as always, but the film itself was so-so.
"The Artist" which is lovely and "George Harrison: Living in the Material World". Scorsese is so good doing this sort of profiles. Dylan, Lebowitz now Harrison... a must see.
I decided long ago not to go see "Carnage" because I've already seen the play and I don't like the movie cast at all but now I'm having second thoughts.
I thought Tinker Tailoe Soldier Spy was excellent. Fine acting, production design, music. Maybe needed to be a bit longer to fill in some characters. Killer last 10 minutes or so. So different from the frantically edited films out there right now.
I went with a friend to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (or "Ghostocol" as I hear the Twitterverse calling it) at an IMAX screening so we could also see The Dark Knight Rises prologue, and have to say that both were fantastic! I've never been a huge MI fan (I only barely remember the first two, and I skipped out on MI: III) but the action was never better as I can remember...and Paula Patton was never hotter ; )
Also, I want to buy my ticket for The Dark Knight Rises now, please. Granted, Bane was incredibly hard to understand during the 6 or so minutes, but I'm sold: can't wait until July 2012!
I also got the chance to revisit X-Men: First Class, as my grand-parents got me the Blu-ray for my birthday =D
Other than that, this week I'm planning on seeing Young Adult, and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a little later in the week with a friend: so excited for both!
Margin Call. I liked it, but...
- I was surprised at the few lines Demi Moore had. Not that I needed more, it was just weird. As a big name, you expect she'll have a big scene or something.
- I don't know if I was supposed to feel sorry for those guys. I didn't.
- I miss great endings in movies. The life goes on kind of ending is ok, but sometimes I miss the big closure. In general I think these days endings tend to be underdeveloped.
I saw "Le Havre," which I'm very sorry to say I kind of hated. It feels so mean, beating up on such a slight film, but really, there's "light" and then there's "insubstantial." This movie had so little weight that it has zero emotional resonance. Add to that stilted acting and poor characterization. I wish I would have seen "Tomboy" instead.
Also saw "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," which was very good. I think another fifteen minutes or so would have fleshed out the story a little more, and the mole's motivations are a little thin in the end, but still a compelling, well-acted film. Sorry to see that it's not catching on, award-wise, but at least its doing fairly well at the box office. (My screening was packed.) Keeping my fingers crossed for a production design nomination.
Just saw the prologue on Youtube and WOW. The bank scene in The Dark Knight was a bit longer, but I get the sense that it means there's more to that scene than the five minutes and something right before the given sample starts giving way too much of the plot away.
I saw My Week with Marilyn and Like Crazy this weekend. I agree about the expansion of Marilyn. As far as I can tell, in North Carolina, it is only playing on 1 screen. I had to drive 2.5 hours to Charlotte to see it and it's been out for a month. They needed to open it on more screens.
I hated - hated - Like Crazy.
I'm down in Miami, and not many of the limited releases have opened up down here yet. Now that I'm out of school I'm going into movie-watching overload. This week I'm planning on getting to Shame, Puss in Boots, MI:4, and Rango, which I missed the first time around.
I saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Young Adult this weekend. I never would have imagined I would prefer the former over the latter, but that's exactly what ended up happening. While I hope Charlize eventually secures an Oscar nomination for Young Adult (probably the performance of the year so far to me, although I have yet to see many of the supposed heavy hitters ala Fassbender, Clooney, Mara, etc.), to me this is the first miss for Reitman, feeling like a film without any real point other than to show a real nasty protagonist that does real nasty things. There was no character development, no plot, etc. Everything stayed static and I even found Oswalt to be overpraised.
While A Game of Shadows is certainly no masterpiece, it was a lot more fun than its predecessor, again showcasing Downey and Law's perfect chemistry, while also putting a much better film with more intriguing side characters around them. Reminding me a little of the first Pirates film in its fun, this is a film that I thought made a lot of interesting choices and was certainly worth the time.
That being said, the best thing I saw in theaters was The Dark Knight Rises trailer... holy cow.
Didn't see a thing, alas (not even on Netf**cks) but in answer to your question about Quinto? I'd say yes, definitely.
I don't get what they're doing with Marilyn either. It was advertised all over about a month ago and has been playing in one theater about an hour away from me since then. I've been waiting for it to expand out here to the suburbs, and this week, it finally did ... to one additional theater in my metro area. I suppose I'll see it this week, as I'm curious about Williams's performance, but my enthusiasm has really waned. They should have just gone wide back in November.
Anyway, I saw Young Adult this weekend and I liked it, but it was definitely much darker and more thought-provoking than the trailers might suggest. Charlize Theron was incredible.
That's a gorgeous photo of Zachary Quinto! Been meaning to check out the film but I've been MIA from seeing a movie in theaters since...um....."Weekend"? "Harry Potter 7, Part 2"? I just haven't had the time to go out lately, but I did see "Waiting For Forever" last night on video. I kinda liked it, but it was indeed an odd film/story.
George -- his face has such crazy structure!
Suzanne -- glad to hear it on Young Adult... and that's exactly what i mean about Marilyn. why spend so much on national advertising when the movie isn't actually going to open nationally for months?
Liz N -- agreed on the production design and the lenght of Tinker Tailor but i just had such trouble following/understanding.
Philip -- thanks for thanking me. LOL. glad someone reads picture captions ;)
@nathaniel R: i live in france
I saw 'Young Adult' and 'Shame' and loved them both. For 'young Adult', I thought it was very ballsy that the movie takes Mavis right to the brink of actually trying to change, and then has Matt's sister knock her back into her old patterns. (I loved the actress who played the sister, too). And 'Shame,' I haven't had time to properly organize my thoughts, but I found it haunting.