What Did You See This Weekend: Wolvie or Jasmine?
Monday, July 29, 2013 at 6:05AM Amir here, bringing you this weekend’s box office report. Hit by superhero fatigue (more specifically ‘X-Men fatigue’ or even more specifically ‘Hugh Jackman as Wolverine’ fatigue) and feeling generally uninterested in most of the weekend’s leftover offerings, I spent the past couple of days at home catching up with some classics. The rest of North America felt differently, rushing to see Jackman’s sixth outing as the adamantium-clawed hero to help it to a total gross of 55 million dollars. Box office analysts suggest this number is well below the expectations but considering that with the international gross, The Wolverine has already surpassed its entire production budget in three days, it is well beyond the limits of my understanding how that is not considered a success.
BOX OFFICE
01 THE WOLVERINE $55 *NEW*
02 THE CONJURING $22.1 (cum. $83.8)
03 DESPICABLE ME 2 $16 (cum. $306.4)
04 TURBO $13.3 (cum. $55.7)
05 GROWN UPS 2 $11.5 ($101.6)
06 RED 2 $9.4 (cum. $35)
07 PACIFIC RIM $7.5 (cum. $84)
08 THE HEAT $6.8 (cum. $141.2) Review
09 R.I.P.D. $5.8 (cum. $24.3)
10 FRUITVALE STATION $4.6 (cum. $6.3) Review
11 THE WAY WAY BACK $3.3 (cum. $8.9)
12 WORLD WAR Z $2.7 (cum. $192.6) Review
The weekend’s other wide release is the virginity comedy called The To-Do List. Not helped by the generally negative critical response, Aubrey Plaza and co. sold less than two million dollars worth of tickets and debuted outside the top ten, surely a failure by all measures. On the other hand, The Conjuring continued its strong run and proved once again that horror films are the most consistently profitable genre in today’s cinema. Meanwhile, Fruitvale Station added more than 1000 screens and The Way, Way Back nearly 600, and they were both rewarded with strong returns, allowing them to finish at 10th and 11th respectively.
The real story of the weekend, however, was in the tiny release of Blue Jasmine. Those of us not lucky enough to live in NY and LA will have to wait at least a week to see it, but Woody Allen’s latest opened to an astonishing 102k/screen average on six screens, surpassing the screen average of the widely successful Midnight in Paris. It’s probably a bit much to expect a similar final tally for Jasmine, but the signs are all good so far.
What did you see this weekend? (If you are as uninspired by the top ten as I am, may I suggest the acclaimed documentary The Act of Killing or Computer Chess? See them if they’re open near you!)
Blue Jasmine, Wolverine, box office
Reader Comments (34)
I don't live near a cinema that would show Blue Jasmine! Watched The Wolverine! Not a film I chose to watch (my date chose it!) - but I was entertained. Worth watching for the fun of it. Better than I expected.
I went with a friend who wanted to see The Wolverine but I bought a ticket for The Way Way Back, which was the only independent film showing at my theater. I've hit a wall on superhero movies. I won't spend money on them anymore, not unless they start providing substantial roles for people of color and for women.
The Wolverine, maybe unsurprisingly, had a lot of hangups regarding its Japanese setting and featured one of the most passive Princess Peach-y female leads I've ever seen. There was one good setpiece that called back to the climax of Spiderman 2, but it's a bloodlusty bore for the majority of the run.
Does To-Do List count as a wide release? It was on fewer screens than Fruitvale or Way, Way Back.
I didn't go out to the movies this weekend, but I saw It Happened One Night for the first time, and found it charming.
I saw Frutivale Station this weekend. And while I agree with much of your review, it is one of those movies that sticks with you - likely more because of the subject matter than the actual film. I have to say - I woke up still thinking about it today so that's got to mean something.
Terrence Malick's To the Wonder
I watched Jonathan Demme's remake of "The Manchurian Candidate" for the first time since it came to DVD. It holds up surprisingly well, though I'm not exactly certain of what Meryl Streep was aiming for with her depiction. I actually would like to have seen Don Cheadle in the Denzel Washington role.
Saw "The Way Way Back" and liked it a lot more than I expected. I wouldn't be surprised if the screenplay and Sam Rockwell got some awards traction later in the year.
Saw The Conjuring this weekend. Scary mileage may vary, but I thought it was a really effective chiller. I would love for the costuming and art direction to get some awards traction (that ruffled blouse that Vera Farmiga wears is AMAZING). I appreciated the grounded performances of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and Lili Taylor... I was impressed by the whole cast, really. The whole thing had a great retro feel to it that I appreciated - especially that title sequence (best of the year, easily). And the audience I saw it with was VERY into it, screaming and gasping and laughing together in equal measure; a reminder of why I love going to the movies!
Love meryl is TMC remake,i know exactly what she was going for,Hilary in Power.
THE TO DO LIST (which I saw on Saturday) opened on just 591 screens and made back its tiny cost of $1.5 million, but you're right, its per screen average was not impressive. I saw COMPUTER CHESS, which is NOT a documentary, rather an original comedy set in the early 80s (but sometimes feels like a mockumentary). Also caught up with I'M SO EXCITED and THE HUNT.
speaking oh Hillary, did you see Diane Lane will play Hillary Clinton in an NBC miniseries? Sounds cool
Yibbet -- that was actually my mistake not Amir's. when editing i added the word "documentaries" in in case people hadn't heard of act of killing but unwittingly roped computer chess in :)
Demny -- i loved that ruffled stand up collar too. Vera looks SO good in fanned ruffles -- see alsd her Oscar dress.
Troy -- ugh. one of my all time least favorite Meryl performances. I thought she was nearly terrible in it. so broad and villainous where Angela Lansbury was precise and chilling.
Not sure that The To-Do List, which did not open in nationwide release, had a tiny budget of $1.5 million, and a score of 63 on Metacritic (56% on RT), should count as a total commercial or critical failure. Gotta stick up for me girl Aubrey! ;)
We are 3 episodes into Orange is the New Black and love it! So glad to see that's getting some coverage here.
Then last night I finally saw The Cabin in the Woods and for the most part I enjoyed it. "Horror comedy" is a tough genre for anyone to pull off but Whedon injected a lot of crazy, what-if scenarios and really developed his concept as far as it could go, as ridiculous as it was. Not everything worked, but for the most part it was entertaining.
Yibbet & Mike in Canada - I'm not quite sure what counts as a wide release anymore. Is 591 too little too count? Since it's been relentlessly advertised before any film I've seen this summer (Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, Frances Ha, etc.) and plays at every multiplex around these parts, I assumed that number is large enough to count as wide. Mike, to your point, Fruitvale Station is actually w die release now after the expansion.
"w die" release is the new term for "wide" release that I just invented.
I saw Fruitvale Station, and then I proceeded to get into an argument with a friend who revealed his true colors.
I watch A LOT this weekend. The best being Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy to which I say: MASTERPIECE. Also watched a charming, weird, if a little too self-consciously off-beat comedy Hot Rod. Then saw the a somewhat disappointing early sci-fi, newly minted Criterion Things to Come. Glad this was not one of my blind buys for the sale. It lulls. Saw Twixt which is Coppola going back to his Corman roots. I understand the hate but people seem to not recognize where Coppola came from as a filmmaker and only think of his work in the seventies. A real shame. It has its moments. Re-watched favorites Close-Up and 21 Jump Street but I am just burying the lead.
I saw Only God Forgives. I am not sure if it is bad or good but I understand those who were bored and hated it along with those who are giving spirited defenses of it. As expected, I come up on the 'this is a noble failure'/'a failed art-movie' side of things. Gosling was mostly a weak link to the movie. I know people like him but the strong silent type is not a good suit on him, though it is in other Refn movies. Give this role to Hardy or Mikkelsen and we might have had something really special. It has nothing to do with the lack of lines for me. Just the lack of carnal, animalistic, seething, inner-turmoil being repressed that I did not really find to be there in the performance. When Chang beats him up, I kind of was like, 'Oh, finally, he is not just some existential fly on the wall'. He gets a little better toward the end. The pregnant silence in this movie is laughable, especially during KST's infamous dinner table scene to the point that I was wondering if Refn was starting to get a little self-aware but it got much better after that moment. But anyway, I think the messages and symbolism of the movie is pretty basic (no different from a Noe movie) but the movie is pretty, well-choreographed, and well-scored enough that I sorta dug it. But that is only when Chang really gets to be the star of the movie. Vithaya Pansringarm and karaoke is its saving grace. In all honesty, aside from one, admittedly very long, scene it is not as squeamish as it has been suggested. There are more violent money-shots in Drive and possibly Bronson though the acts talked about in this movie are much seedier.
Troy H.- I like that remake. Demme's remakes, yes I am including The Truth About Charlie, work in their own little ways. He has a little too much faith in the audience separated his versions from the original since a lot of people cannot help themselves. Probably Meryl's best of the decade for me (Sorry, Nathaniel- It is like when I think Wahlberg is really good in The Truth About Charlie but I really do not want to compare it to Cary Grant), or in the running with Angels in America and Adaptation.
Friday - Pitch Perfect on HBO. Aside from some fun performances and numbers, it was terrible.
Saturday - The Wolverine. Fun, efficient, character driven storytelling until it devolves, as these movies inevitably do these days, into dull CG-driven spectacle. The crowd lost it's shit during the post-credits teaser.
Sunday - Blue Jasmine screenings were sold out for the night so I saw The Hunt instead. Sober, infuriating morality play, very good, but lacking something that I haven't been able to put my finger on yet.
Roark, may I suggest that the word you're looking for for The Hunt is "believability"? The characters behaved so illogically.
I saw Blue Jasmine. Haunting.
"Friday - Pitch Perfect on HBO. Aside from some fun performances and numbers, it was terrible."
Hated it the first time I saw it. I enjoyed the performances but the pieces and most of the characters that in the movie were forgettable, terrible, and not nearly multidimensional as the characters in movies it clearly owes something to like Bring It On. I thought at first that my reservations had something to do with the hype that surrounded it (Warning: If you pitch a movie to me on the premise that you say is a lot like Bring It On or any major Kirsten Dunst movie, then it better be good or at least not contain puking as an ongoing gag) and that now with distance I would enjoy it more. I ended up liking it a lot less. I am sure there is a cut of just the performances on some corner of the internet. If people ever find that cut, link it to me because that is the only way I can watch Pitch Perfect.
I saw Blue Jasmine...psych! I live in Miami so lol-no (how depressing). The Conjuring and Fruitvale Station, the two films I actually saw, weren't too shabby though. I was surprised by how effective the former was, seeing as how I'm not generally a fan of James Wan's work ( I didn't like Insidious). The cast was excellent (Farmiga really grounded the film for me) and I ended up way more invested in the lives of those characters than I expected to be. Fruitvale's shortcomings are as apparent and annoying as Nat's review said they were (the text messages OMG), but I still found it to be a rewarding experience. The fact that I knew what was going to happen and was even shown what would happen at the beginning of the film didn't stop me from being overcome with grief when the tragedy occurs at the end.
I also saw The Devil's Backbone at home for the first time. It wasn't what I was expecting but it grew on me as it went along. It's like a gender-swapped Pan's Labyrinth, though I prefer that film wholeheartedly.
Mark and CMG: I *sort of* got what Streep was going for, and though it looks like she had a ball with the role, I agree with Nathaniel that the performance is indeed a mess. For all of the effort that she puts into the performance -- and, boy, is there a whole lotta effort -- I never get a good sense of who the woman is. Sometimes she's like three people at once, and not in an effective way. When compared with Angela Lansbury's portrayal, it isn't even in the same country.
Pacific Rim- Very entertaining and brought back that sense of wonder that I remember experiencing as a kid. After stepping out of the theater I stared up at the LA skyline and marveled at how big the robots in the film must be. "Pacific Rim" isn't as deliriously entertaining as "Fast and Furious 6," which for my money is the silliest and most entertaining film of the summer so far.
CMG - yup, I watched it because I heard it was "like Bring It On." what those people neglected to add is that it's "like Bring It On... if Bring It On sucked." Very disappointing. I like most of the actors and the performances were ok, but almost everything else about it was strained and unfunny. Made me want to watch Bring It On.
Oh, and GUN CRAZY power! I love that movie.
The Wolverine, which was predictably meh. Hugh Jackman was as solid as usual however.
I saw BLUE JASMINE, which was fantastic, and Johnnie To's DRUG WAR, which has some exhilarating, no mercy action sequences and is generally quite a smartly constructed action thriller.
I stayed in and watched a slew of old-ish movies Sunday. Nothing at the megaplex really demanded my $8-12 this weekend. I had the opportunity to see Fruitvale Station, but I took a pass and went to the beach with friends instead. I may try to catch it while it's still here, but it looks like the kind of film that won't suffer any from a TV screening.
Instead, I saw: Broadway Danny Rose (still wonderful), Woody Allen: A Documentary (softball, but not bad), Bachelorette (fun and irreverent, but descended into conventional territory toward the end), The House on Telegraph Hill (surprisingly touching film noir about a concentration camp survivor) and A New Leaf (so, so great--I'm glad it's out on DVD again).
W.J. --crap, i ALMOST watched "A New Leaf" yesterday! and i missed my chance for now.
CMG & ROARK -- i love Gun Crazy too. so good and surely influential too
I saw "Pacific Rim" in IMAX 3=D and it's truly a spectacular film but I wish I had like it more.
I saw "I Remember Mama," for the first time, Was expecting shucks of corn, and did it ever provide it. But the supporting actresses were wonderful, especially Ellen Corby, who should have won that year, imo. Irene Dunne surprised me as well.
I saw The Deer Hunter on some cable channel, for the umpteenth time. Always a great watch, such a movie. One of the best ever. The acting was superb, the final scene was too much.
The To-Do List was heavily marketed, even down to that cringe-worthy MTV Awards shameless plug. The tepid opening is not a success.
I saw The Wolverine and Pacific Rim. I wasn't offended by either. Pacific Rim is solid popcorn action and The Wolverine is a huge step up from Origins (except for combining dozens of mutants into new characters again, having a nonsensical plot, and making Wolverine unimportant in his own story). I'm getting to The Way, Way Back tonight since it's playing at my local movie palace and they so rarely get to afford a week of a nice little indie playing there. The last one was The Sessions. Every other week is the new blockbuster or 3D family film to keep the doors open.