Box Office: Hotel Transylvania vs. Looper
Sunday, September 30, 2012 at 10:00PM The animation business is a good one to be in. Sure, the movies cost a lot to make but profit margins can be something else with global family appeal and franchising / merchandising opportunities. Hotel Transylvania took a bite out of Looper's grosses but one guess as to which film people will still talk about next year. (Perhaps Looper will be one of those rare films that doesn't drop much at all in its second weekend?)
But the weekend's big story might just be strong showings for Pitch Perfect at only 300+ locations and a promising 100 theater expansion for The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In very limited release Robot & Frank just crossed the $3 million mark... almost entirely on word of mouth. Have any of you seen it?
Box Office Dozen
01 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA $43 *NEW IN WIDE RELEASE*
01 LOOPER $21.2 *NEW IN WIDE RELEASE* REVIEW
03 END OF WATCH $8 (cum. $26.1)
04 TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE $7.5 (cum $23.7)
05 HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET $7.1 (cum $22.2)
06 PITCH PERFECT $5.2 *NEW IN LIMITED RELEASE*
07 FINDING NEMO 3D $4 (cum. $36.4 this time around)
08 RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION $3 (cum. $38.7)
09 THE MASTER $2.7 (cum. $9.6) Team Experience
10 WON'T BACK DOWN $2.7 *NEW IN WIDE RELEASE*
What did you see this weekend? Did you love it?
Hotel Transylvania, Looper, animated films, box office
Reader Comments (15)
Saw both LOOPER and PITCH PERFECT. And yup, had a great time at both of them.
Robot & Frank is a very bad movie inside which a very good Frank Langella performance is buried.
Poor Viola. Her narrative continues to upset and depress.
"Looper" is great and I'm glad it did better than 'track' suggested it would. I'm also very impressed by that number for "Pitch Perfect". Next week: chart domination?
Question: Would "Never Back Down" be as much of a disaster if Davis had won the Oscar or would it have been a depressing "oh..." moment when we realised that audiences probably just aren't responding to HER?
I was supposed to see Passion Saturday night at the NYFF, but there was a projector issue - something about the code to unlock the DCP not working. DePalma was in the house. He sat in the balcony for over an hour, glaring at the projection booth. By the time they called off the screening he looked like he was ready to reenact the elevator scene from Dressed to Kill with the projectionist.
Robot and Frank is a solid indie with great performances. Not a must see, but you will be happy you saw it. Definitely a more interesting film than you think.
Perks of Being a Wallflower is actually great.
Robot and Frank is a saccharine and crudely contrived piece of sh1t with the kind of sense of humour (and cloying-quirky-tinkly orchestral score) that only an audience aged 65 and over could conceivably eat up. Its emotional impact pivots on a thoroughly implausible, jarringly underdeveloped third act plot twist.
And I cannot describe to you how soul-crushing it was to see Susan Sarandon stuck playing the idealised supportive love interest with no discernible character attributes beyond the saintly unquestioning Madonna patience which Hollywood equates to womanhood beyond the age of 35. (And I know this is an 'indie' movie but that's only in terms of budget not sensibility.)
Give this woman a real role! Swipe one from Meryl if you must. (In fact, please do.)
I saw 'Berberian Sound Studio' (which I don't think is showing in the states yet). It was pretty incredible on just about every technical front (particularly the sound, as you would expect) and it was nice to see Toby Jones in a more challenging part than I've seen him in for a while. The 'crack-up' narrative feels a little familiar, but I doubt I'll see a more perfectly realised film all year.
"He sat in the balcony for over an hour, glaring at the projection booth. By the time they called off the screening he looked like he was ready to reenact the elevator scene from Dressed to Kill with the projectionist."
Except De Palma is certified Digital convert and, er, DCPs don't technically have projectionists that could have fixed the issue. I live with somebody who works in an old repertory cinema that plays 70mm, 35mm, as well as digital, 2K and 4K projection and, yeah, sometimes the key to "unlock" a DCP don't work and it can take a long time to get a new one. If DePalma was angry he has nobody to blame but himself for not using film. I can't even count how many more projection issues I have experienced with digital over celluloid. Sure, the visual quality of digital may be better (depending, of course, on various factors, although I've certainly seen some digital project that looks washed out and hollow) but I'd rather the historical grain and dirt of a old film reel that spins and can be fixed by a human rather than the soulless, computerised tech of a digital file if given the option.
Laika, I saw "Berberian" at the recent Melbourne International Film Festival. I was at the fest's first screening and about an hour after it ended it was the word of mouth surprise discovery of the festival. People were instantly trying to get into the later sessions so much that they sold out. Most people who saw it were raving. It's such a bold and technically immense film. David Lynch's favourite film of 2012, surely.
Sad that The Master is underperforming so much. I don't understand Harvey's release strategy here. He went wide too quickly, and now the film won't be around for more than two more weeks. It's not going to come anywhere close to making back its $40 million budget.
I saw Looper (which I discussed in the Looper thread), 21 Jump Street (very funny), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which I looooooved). I'd love to hear your take on the last one, Nathaniel-- I found it so unbelievably sincere.
Hope Springs - Got me interested at first, but failed my expectations at the end. You can tell by Tommy's performance that there's something deeper going on with that character. I love when Meryl plays regular women. Clearly, I'm not a member of the Academy.
Blancanieves - I didn't love it as much as I thought I would, although it's beautiful and a strong contender for your Best Shot series. Strongly reminded me of Madonna's "Oh Father". Remember?
We saw Looper, enjoyed it...though I had some nitpicks, the third act which threatened to derail the whole movie (and may have, kinda reminded me of Sunshine in that vein). Also, someone really should have toned down that actor that played Kid Blue. His performance was just...bothersome to me.
Saw Perks - loved the book, really liked the movie. Didn't love the movie, but really liked it, especially Ezra Miller.
Peggy Sue--
I totally agree about Hope Springs. I liked it, and I'm glad I watched it, but it just felt like something was missing in the end.