Trouble With The House at the End of Watched Curved Street
Sunday, September 23, 2012 at 3:07PM It was a photo finish this weekend with Clint Eastwood, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jake Gyllenhaal all struggling to land in first place. We won't really know who did until tomorrow. If you ask me that's a poor showing for Jennifer (given that horror is an easy cash grab on opening weekends) and Clint and a redemptive showing for Jakey who pundits always like to claim is over as a bankable leading man if he ever was. But maybe that's my bias spinning it since I have yet to seek treatment for the Gyllenhaalism. (Next up Maggie G in Won't Back Down!)
Box Office Fifteen
[TIE] 01 END OF WATCH $13 *NEW*
[TIE] 01 HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET $13 *NEW*
03 TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE $12.7 *NEW*
04 FINDING NEMO 3-D $9.4 (cum $29.9 this time 'round)
05 RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION $6.7 (cum $33.4)
06 DREDD $6.3 *NEW*
07 THE MASTER $5 (cum. $6.0)
08 POSSESSION $2.6 (cum. $45.6)
09 LAWLESS $2.3 (cum. $34.5) REVIEW
10 PARANORMAN $2.2 (cum. $52.5)
11 THE BOURNE LEGACY $1.6 (cum. $110.4)
12 THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN $1.5 (cum. $48.6) REVIEW
13 THE EXPENDABLES 2 $1.4 (cum. $82.9) Let's cast a female version
14 ARBITRAGE $1.2 (cum. $3.9)
15 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES $1.2 (cum. $443.1) REVIEW
The Master had the healthiest per screen average among the wide openings (though it's only just barely "wide" now) but P.T. Anderson movies have never made as much by the end of their run as The Odd Life of Timothy Green already has (approaching $50 million) which is totally why we can't have nice things. Adults with taste continue to destroy Hollywood by staying at home and watching their premium channels instead of supporting films made for them at the theaters. In limited release Perks of Being a Wallflower led the arthouse with a very healthy per screen average and a quarter million gross in its first weekend.
What did you see this weekend? And who is still going to Batman? He hung up his cowl, people!
In more timely news, are you watching the Emmys with us tonight? If so "see" you in the comments section.
Reader Comments (13)
I plead guilty to destroying Hollywood by staying home instead of going to the theaters to see the movies made for me. The reasons for doing this have changed and progressed as my life has changed and progressed. Here are the reasons (in chronological order):
1. The small town where I grew up had two theaters owned by the same person who played the same movies on all the screens.
2. In college I had no money. No, seriously. I was dirt poor.
3. After my undergraduate days, I had a nearly impossible time convincing my friends to go with me to see, say, "The Squid and the Whale" instead of "The Longest Yard." And I wasn't secure enough to go to the movie by myself.
4. Once I got a high-stress job, I had little spare time to go to the movies.
5. Now I'm chronically ill with a rare, incurable disease and I'm lucky to be well enough to make it to the movies a handful of times a year. This year? Two movies: "The Avengers" and "Moonrise Kingdom."
Don't ask me why I still try to keep up on new movies considering I don't get to see them much anymore, but when the love is there it's hard to shake.
But, yes, I've been destroying Hollywood all my life. But at least I know what movies I'm interested in watching when they are scheduled on my movie channels at home.
A lot of the adult-oriented movies end up making their profits from DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix, on-demand rentals, etc. It's not like these movies cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make. I agree with the general sentiment that it's a shame that people with more sophisticated taste tend to watch movies at home, but my point is that I don't think Hollywood is too concerned with it. Most of these movies still make a profit in the long run, especially after they win awards, and that's enough to keep them getting made.
I myself go to the movies sometimes when it's for a movie I really want to see (I'll be seeing The Master this week), but I have to admit that I'm among those who typically prefer to stay home. It's not just ticket prices that are keeping me away either. It really has more to do with bad experiences with theater audiences becoming more and more frequent. Are moviegoers getting ruder? I think that's a worthy topic of discussion. I'm not even just talking about teenagers talking or texting during big-budget blockbusters and horror movies; that's always been expected. What I find more and more of lately is older people talking and complaining during smaller movies. I don't mean to stereotype, but you know, when people bitch about young people being rude during movies, no one seems to find that offensive to young people as a whole, so I won't be PC about it: old people are capable of being just as rude and sometimes even worse than young people at movie theaters. I know I kind of bring it on myself for going during the afternoon, but as soon as I walked into the theater to see Moonrise Kingdom and saw that it was almost all seniors in the crowd, I knew I was in for a bad time, and sure enough, the comments didn't cease. Plus on the way out, a good majority of them were complaining about how weird it was and how it was a waste of their time. You kind of wonder where they got the idea to see it in the first place.
Point being: it is a shame, but I can't say I fault anyone for not going to the movies. It's hard enough to find theaters that play the smaller movies when you're not in a major city, and it's not even worth it when you actually get one of those movies and it's filled with rude people when you go there.
Saw Perks of Being a Wallflower. Really liked the book when I read it a few years ago and really liked the film version as well. Logan Lerman's face... that is all.
And Emmy's tonight? I'm so there.
Ticket prices prevent me from frequent visits to the multiplex. The Master is the only film playing that I want to see again and again. It deserves our reverence. Nothing else is likely to come along this season to overwhelm as The Master does.
I love you Paul Thomas Anderson. Your genius is sexy. Not important—but he's gotten better looking with age. His children and Maya have brought him a sense of happiness he's never experienced in adulthood. It shows up in his face and the confidence he has as a filmmaker—not that he didn't have tons of bravado since he started.
I saw The Master this weekend. I loved it, especially the performances and PSH was definitely the standout. After the embarrassing performance by Eastwood at the GOP convention, I've decided to NOT support his films anymore. Trouble with Curve looks so predictable anyway.
I saw "End of Watch" which was intense. Jake should do more contemporary action dramas- not the disastrous " Prince of Persia" which was pretty but dull. This role could be a sort of sequel to "Jarrhead" the cop is an ex-marine. His bromance partner Miguel Pena is also very good .
Jaragon: That Prince of Persia movie edited itself all the way to oblivion.
how is that a poor showing for Jennifer?
its a crap movie, made even before she was cast in THG
everyone knows its bad, have virtually no promotion whatsoever , open in less theaters than the other 2
and still is in the TOP of BOX OFFICE, the only reason the movie is #1 is because of her
gimme a break
Saw Dredd 3D and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Both were pretty enjoyable. As for TDKR, I'm thinking about seeing it for a fifth time before it leaves theaters, so people like me are keeping it around (lol). I almost never watch the Emmys but since a few shows I watch are actually nominated, who knows.
Saw "The Master" and already I am planning on seeing it again next weekend. I hope Joaquin Phoenix wins the Oscar. He is magnificent here. Hoffman and Adams are also great and deserving of a nomination. But Phoenix is brilliant.
I saw Trouble With The Curve. This is Amy Adams' movie, and Clint is her co-star. Adams gives a beautiful naturalistic performance, pitch perfect in every moment. I kept looking at her and thinking, Amy, you are my kind of girl. This is the kind of part that would have been played in past decades by Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sally Field. You know, back when female focused naturalistic narrative was a more prevalent genre. Now, it seems refreshing. (For the cynical among us, think Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side).
Saw "The Master" - thought it was mostly great, beautiful (even though I couldn't see it in 70mm), a touch too long, and not nerely as obtuse as every review made it out to be (although I'm sure repeated vieweings will reveal new layers, it was much more accessible than reviews lead me to believe). All the actors were great (Laura Dern!) but yeah, expect Phoenix to be a major player for Best Actor. If they push Hoffman into Supporting (which, Nat, you could rightly claim is category fraud) then he'd have a chance, too. I'd have a hard time believing Adams could win over Hathaway, though. Adams is great but she's not singing live while bawling and chopping off all her hair.
I ended up seeing Robot and Frank and You May Not Kiss the Bride this weekend. I really loved the former, especially the performance of Frank Langella! As for the latter, I enjoyed it as well, and it was nice seeing Dave Annable either shirtless or in his underwear half the time.