Oscar History
Film Bitch History
Welcome

The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)

Follow TFE on Substackd

Powered by Squarespace
COMMENTS

 

Keep TFE Strong

We're looking for 500... no 390 SubscribersIf you read us daily, please be one.  

I ♥ The Film Experience

THANKS IN ADVANCE

What'cha Looking For?
Subscribe
« Curio: Oscar Party Craftiness | Main | 13 Days Til Oscar: Matthew McConaughey... And the 2000 Best Actress Race? »
Monday
Feb172014

Box Office: Everything Is (Still) Awesome!

Amir here, with the long weekend’s box office report. It was Valentine’s so romantic flicks opened, one of which didn’t do too well financially. But enough about RoboCop! How about that About Last Night? It’s been a few weeks since the last time we were collectively surprised that a “black” film did well at the box office, so let’s go at it again: can you believe that a film with a non-white cast can sell tickets too? Unbelievable, no? It turns out Hollywood doesn’t need to cast white people in every role, not even in all romantic comedies. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the last rom-com to do this well, Think Like a Man, starred three of the actors in this quartet: Kevin Hart, Regina Hall and Michael Ealy.)

oh, wait. that's not right somehow

BOX OFFICE
THE LEGO MOVIE
$63.5m (cum. $143.8m)
ABOUT LAST NIGHT
$28.5 new
ROBOCOP
$25.6m (cum. $30.3m) new
THE MONUMENTS MEN
$18m (cum. $46.1m)
ENDLESS LOVE
$15m new
RIDE ALONG
$10m (cum. $117.4m)
WINTER’S TALE
$8.1m new
FROZEN
$8m (cum. $378.2m)
LONE SURVIVOR
$4.7m (cum. $119m)
THAT AWKWARD MOMENT
$3.8 (cum. $21.9m)

The other new release targeted to the lovey-dovey crowd was Endless Love – three 80s remakes in one weekend is a new low for the creatively constipated Hollywood – and according to Box Office Mojo, it nearly broke a record for the absurd title of “the most front-loaded release of all time”; 56% of the film’s gross was pocketed on Friday. The LEGO Movie held on to the throne, though, and after two weeks, is already a major contender for 2014's year-end top ten. I re-watched it and it was even funnier and smarter than I’d remembered --  we already have our first solid contender in the best animated film race. I also watched Blue Jasmine a second time and this one also improved significantly upon a revisit. Later tonight, I’ll be off to see Palestine’s Oscar nominee, Omar. (You can always follow everything I see here on this page.)

What did you watch this weekend?

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

References (1)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.

Reader Comments (10)

The Lego Movie.

Good, not great, not bad. Creative.

February 17, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterMarcelo - Brazil

Saw AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. So just NEBRASKA left to make sure I see every Oscar-nominated film in the top 8 categories.

Also saw STRANGERS BY THE LAKE, because I finally found the time.

February 17, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterRyan T.

Excited to hear what everyone thinks about Omar. Saw it back at NYFF and it was a sleeper favorite. Really snuck up on me.

February 17, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterTB

I saw The Lego Movie last week, and liked it mostly, but thought the third act became a bit muddled conceptually. Still, very funny, very inventive, strong thematically - so much better than this movie should have been.

Saturday I saw Jacque Rivette's first film, Paris Belongs to Us, on the big screen, in a beautiful 35mm print. I've been dying to see this one for years, and it's nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be, and shows that all of Rivette's career passions were there right from the start. It's a charming shaggy dog, and I suspect one that would deeply reward repeat viewings. Hopefully some adventurous US company (Criterion? Are you listening?) will finally get around to putting this (and some other Rivette flms please!) out on DVD.

Today I watched 20 Feet from Stardom and had a blast. Such an honest, funny, soulful film.

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterRoark

"About Last Night" was actually quite good and entertaining. Go see it before you outright dismiss it.

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterDorian

"Philomena". So this year I officially saw all 9 of the pictures nominated and here my ranking (if anyone's interested) :

1-Nebraska
2-Wolf (...)
3-Dallas (...)
4-12 years (...)
5-American (...)
6-Her
7-Philomena
8-Captain (...)
9-Gravity

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterstjeans

My rankings:

1. Twelve Years a Slave
2. Her
3. Dallas Buyers Club
4. Wolf of Wall Street
5. American Hustle
6. Gravity
7. Captain Phillips
8. Nebraska
9. Philomena

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

House of Cards, episodes 1-3. Wow. Also, Twenty Feet from Stardom, which I enjoyed so much, I watched it twice. I've seen 4 of the 5 nominated docs now, but I can't bring myself to see Act of Killing. I feel the same way about The Wolf of Wall Street, so I guess I'm 8 for 9 this year for Best Picture. Alas, another year without being an Oscar completist.

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterPam

TB- Working on my review today, but in short, I thought it was stellar.
A bit on the heavy-handed side in terms of direction, but the political richness of it without being partisan and the way it explores the effects of occupation on a micro-social level were superb. And a great love story to boot too!

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAmir

stjeans, always great to see a fellow Nebraskan! It's my second favorite of the year (12YaS is my No. 1). Can't wait to see it again--Payne really made a classic.

This remake of Endless Love makes me smile. I remember the original as being a real howlfest. It was so long ago, but at the time I was quite enamored of Martin Hewitt. And Shirley Knight's performance is so over the top...that scene where she tries to seduce her daughter's ex-boyfriend...good stuff! Shirley got a lot of fiber in her diet from the scenery working on this film. Seemed like she was channeling one of the Manson chicks.

February 18, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterbrookesboy
Member Account Required
You must have a member account to comment. It's free so register here.. IF YOU ARE ALREADY REGISTERED, JUST LOGIN.