Box Office: I, Failure
Sunday, January 26, 2014 at 5:00PM Amir here, with the weekend’s box office report.
It was a quiet weekend for new releases, with only one film opening wide, and it might as well have not bothered at all. I, Frankenstein opened to a catastrophic $8m on a $65m budget. By next weekend, it will most likely be out of the top ten and most definitely out of our collective memory. I really don’t have much to add the pile of ridicule that’s already been heaped on the film, chiefly because I can’t figure out what the hell it’s even about despite the good half an hour I spent this morning researching its advertisements. I will just leave you with this brilliant tweet instead:
Worst part of I, FRANKENSTEIN flopping is that we'll never get treated to @NickPinkerton's hilarious sequel title: II, FRANKENSTEIN.
— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) January 25, 2014Ride Along remained at the top of the chart after its strong opening weekend, though it’s sure to be dethroned when the bizarrely titled That Awkward Moment opens next week. Meanwhile, Frozen broke yet another record this week and became the highest grossing original animated film of all time. That is a fantastic feat for Disney and an indication that despite what the studios continue to believe, female protagonists can sell as many as tickets as their boy counterparts – though I don’t mean to insinuate in any way that Frozen’s appeal is limited to gender or age; it’s been successful precisely because it’s drawing everybody in. Next weekend it gets a sing-along version in theaters.
BOX OFFICE
RIDE ALONG $21.1m (cum. $75.4m)
LONE SURVIVOR $12.6 (cum. $93.6m)
THE NUT JOB $12.3m (cum. $40.2m)
FROZEN $9m (cum. $347.8m)
JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT $8.8m (cum. $30.1m)
I, FRANKENSTEIN $8.2m new
AMERICAN HUSTLE $7.1m (cum. $127m)
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY $5m (cum. $26.5m)
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET $5m (cum. $98m)
DEVIL’S DUE $2.7m (cum. $12.8m)
On the Oscar front, Hustle and Wolf are still going strong, while Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club and 12 Years a Slave all expanded (or re-expanded, as in the case of the latter) and did modest business. Not enough has been written about the box office success of Steve McQueen’s film, but I personally think $43 is a really solid number for a film that has been constantly dubbed 'brutal' and 'unwatchable' in the media. Irrespective of how well the nominees do in the remainder of their theatrical run, the sum total of their gross will remain the second lowest in the post-5 best picture era after 2011, when only one film (The Help) sold more than $100m.
I didn't hit the theatres this weekend but dedicated my time to some classics instead. What did you watch?
Reader Comments (10)
Aaron Eckhart was on Howard Stern to promote this and I have to say... the guy is a pill. Very odd and full of himself. I can now see why big success eludes him.
So far: Resolution, Stoker, Trance and The Bling Ring.
I watched I, Frankenstein because that is the only new movie this week. After that one of my friends asked me about it and whether he should watch it too, I told him if he likes Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (which I knew he hates, much like most of the people I know) then he should. Otherwise he can skip it.
I cannot help but thinking Aaron Eckhart is going the Gerard Butler way (or is he already there?), not just because they were both in Olympus Has Fallen (I can't even remember anything about that movie). It's just that I feel like he's always going for the action flicks leftovers that other actors might have been rejected. It's like the studio went: Oh, Channing Tatum rejected this, let's go talk to Gerard Butler or Aaron Eckhart.
That Lizzie Borden film on Lifetime. It ain't the Elizabeth Montgomery TV movie but it did play up Borden's supposed lesbianism, and of course her lady-friend was Clea Duvall so I couldn't stop watching.
All the Real Girls- How weird in seeing Baby Zooey Deschanel and Baby Danny McBride in this before they broke through and became such polarizing figures for their various kinds of comedy chops. Also, poor Paul Schneider. He is great in this and it is a total mystery why he is not some leading man or a constantly working character actor (He would've been a dream Little Charles in A:OC). Forever damned as the Chuck Cunningham in Parks & Rec as Mark.
The doc Mitt- Not too humanizing hagiography or an extended dancing on his political grave, but interesting enough. Tried to balance too much of inside baseball politics with family which at points were intertwined to justify it but other times it felt like spanning it so back into 2008 as if no time went by to 2012 or not really going into why Romney selected Paul Ryan happened ended up making the final product too rushed together.
Oddest scenes: The Romney family gather around the table to guffaw at a David Sedaris essay on This American Life that plays on a phone.
Mitt Romney irons his cuffs that he is wearing at that very moment.
The mock debates where Sen. Rob Portman plays Obama come off so natural, like he is actually the person saying it, looking calm and composed. Mitt, on the other hand, is tripping over himself in those mock debates. Almost like he is playing a role.
Finally Bruce Weber's doc Broken Noses. Elegant. Mixes black and white and color cinematography of scenes from a juvenile boxing gym to jazz music. Wish this was more widely seen.
That Awkward Moment isn't a bizarre title at all, just maybe 2-3 years ago.
"Blue Jasmine," on DVD. Nothing more can be said about Cate's best work to date, but I appreciated Sally's work in a new way. I am so happy she got nominated, and even without Cate's work I feel Sally would have been well rewarded on its own. Not a coat-tail nod in any way.
I saw:
Pacific Rim: Awesome effects, particularly Charlie Hunnan shirtless, but completely cliched.
I Frankenstein: Fun night out, terrible movie.
The Hunt: Chilling drama, what Prisoners could have been.
Remember when Aaron Eckhart was a great character actor? I guess he needs to pay the mortgage just like the rest of us ;)
I watched Mirror Mirror for the first time , it was on tv, I must admit I think Julia Roberts is pretty great and campy in it. The costumes are of course dazzling. But Lily Collins is just okay in it.
I re-watched Stranger by the Lake, a film that I would loooooove to hear talked about on the podcast.
Friday i finally caught up to The Great Beauty, which is so intoxicating in terms of scenery, atmosphere, and some of its sprawling episodes that it's easy to miss how half assed and unpersuasive the actual narrative arc of the piece is.
Saturday I saw a couple of Alain Guiraudie films at Lincoln Center - Time to Come, which was like a way too serious version of the "Help help I'm being repressed" scene from Monty Python's The Holy Grail stretched to feature length; and No Rest for the Brave, an entirely delightful, beautifully shot surrealist road trip/gangster comedy/drama. The matter of fact, natural, completely uncommented upon gayness of the main characters in both films was awesome.
Sunday I tried to watch Short Term 12 but didn't make it past the first 15 minutes. It wasn't really the movie's fault. I'll try again tonight.