Box Office: The Lost Cause of September
Monday, September 22, 2014 at 8:46AM Amir here, back to weekly box office reporting duty. Coming back from TIFF, I tried to catch up a bit today with all the sales numbers I’d missed since August. It turns out the biggest bit of news was... the release of Forrest Gump IMAX??? Really, September? Is that the best you can do? Turgid stuff.
On the bright side, with awards season now slowly getting into full gear, we can look forward to the highbrow films the studios have been withholding from all us all year, starting with this weekend’s... The Maze Runner and This Is Where I Leave You? Damn it September; get your act together!
big name casts don't always make big time movies
WIDE RELEASE BOX OFFICE
01 THE MAZE RUNNER $32.5 NEW Review
02 A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES $13.1 NEW
03 THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU $11.8 NEW
04 NO GOOD DEED $10.2 (cum. $40.1)
05 DOLPHIN TALE 2 $9 (cum. $27)
Maze Runner easily topped the weekend’s box office. Our very own Nathaniel didn’t think much of the film and he seems to be with the majority. This is Where I Leave You? premiered at TIFF and was met with something resembling vitriol. Post-festival reactions from the mainstream press are only slightly better. The ensemble comedy starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Adam Driver performed below expectations, as did the film that actually surpassed it to second place, A Walk among the Tombstones. The new entry in the “Liam Neeson as the Saviour in an Action Film” series failed most likely because its only hook was Liam Neeson as the Saviour in an Action Film, with no aid from planes or wolves.
Limited releases were more exciting.
have you seen Love is Strange yet?TOP TEN LIMITED (EXCLUDING WIDE RELEASES LOSING THEATERS)
01 TUSK $.8 NEW
02 MY OLD LADY $.4 (cum. $.6)
03 THE SKELETON TWINS $.4 (cum. $.9)
04 THE TRIP TO ITALY $.3 (cum. $2.1)
05 CANTINFLAS $.2 (cum. $6)
06 LOVE IS STRANGE $.2 (cum. $1.5) Review
07 THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY: THEM $.1 (cum. $.2) right way to watch? / review of him/her
08 THE GUEST $.08 (cum. $.1) Review
09 ZERO THEOREM $.08 NEW Review
10 CALVARY $.05 (cum. $3.4)
At least three films worthy of your time opened this weekend. Michael liked Tracks for the most part. I’ve been falling more and more in love with Stop the Pounding Heart, a modest, evocative film that blends fiction and documentary to study a religious community in Texas. It’s almost ethereal in its beauty and very challenging in its subtlety and frankness. There was also 20,000 Days on Earth (review forthcoming) which is a fictionalized documentary about the creation of Nick Cave’s latest album. It’s a very interesting film about the creative process and one that really delves into the psyche of the man at its centre to contextualize his work. None of these films passed the $100k mark and neither did Simon Pegg’s Hector and the Search for Happiness or Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem (reviewed), but here’s hoping they get a fair shake soon.
What have you watched this week?
Reader Comments (20)
I didn't see anything this weekend since I was at Fire Island getting some sunshine, pool time, and reading in. But since the book was "Five Came Back" i found myself desperate to watch MRS MINIVER and THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY
I saw (and genuinely liked) This is Where I Leave You-Adam Driver was comic gold in the movie, and has the charisma of a young...you know, I can't think of someone. Which is generally the sign of a potential great.
This weekend I watched Obvious Child and The One I Love on demand and a preview of Maps to the Stars at the cinema. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit. You can tell that it's a first feature for its director but it's funny, has more to it than your typical romcom and Jenny Slate's brilliant in it. Of The One I Love I particularly liked the performances my Moss and Duplass and the chemistry between them, although I don't think the movie exploits it's "magical realism" premise as much as it could. As for Maps , I quite liked it. It's certainly very "Cronenberg", satyrical and darkly funny (with emphasis on the *dark* :S). But the cast is great in it (I normally can't stand John Cusack, but at least here he's only part of the ensemble) and Moore is absolute dynamite. It must have been so much fun for her! It's definitely not an Oscar type role, so I think the fact this performance it's not being campaigned has actually turned out to be the best possible outcome, as it'll be in people's minds to support her Still Alice momentum without putting voters off due to its, let's say, extravagance.
Saw The Congress in theatres, which is really gorgeous and has an amazing central performance. It lets itself fall apart, so I can see why critics aren't so enthusiastic about it, but I didn't really mind. I think it's pretty fascinating.
And I watched Paris Is Burning at home, which is always a good choice.
I went to the Ritz to see the special re-release of Berolucci's THE CONFORMIST... absolutely beautiful!
David- So jealous! Would love to see that one on the big screen.
I saw Love is Strange and Whitey, Joe Berlinger's doc about Whitey Bulger.
I didn't like Love is Strange at all. A sitcom premise that we're asked to take seriously, and just to make sure, here's some tasteful Chopin music and some overly telegraphed tragedy to drive that home. There are some lovely touches around the margins (the last scene with Molina and the kid suggested a much different, better movie than the one I saw), but otherwise a total botch.
Whitey tells a hell of a story in a pretty conventional talking heads style, but it's very smartly structured and really picks up steam after the first half hour.
I saw "This Is Where I Leave You." I could not wait for it to end. It was often irritating and it wasted very talented actors in nothing roles.
I can't believe I even did this, but I watched Nashville a third time. I STILL don't get it. An utter misfire. The entire movie is personified by Geraldine Chaplin's irritating, mindless, abrasive bore of a character--someone who's constantly struggling to say something original and intelligent, but failing at every turn, all the while bugging the hell out of you. Sorry.
Three very good things though: Ronee Blakely's performance; Barbara Harris at the end; and Julie Christie as Julie Christie.
Well, I saw Mommy on Saturday, and it kind of spoiled my Sunday movie-going, it was so good. It's the best thing that Dolan has done so far, and I certainly hope that it gets nominated in the Foreign-language category.
I also saw This Is Where I Leave You, and sort of come down in the middle of the other comments about it. It was a popcorn sort of movie, IMHO; nothing particularly spectacular, with a VERY formulaic script. Jason Bateman, bearded, is always worth seeing, though.
Finally, The Trip to Italy was basically a go-for-the-scenery movie. At least Coogan and Brydon got the Michael Caine imitations out of the way very early, so we didn't have to suffer through that all the way through.
P.S.: Nat, I'm also in the middle of reading Five Came Back. Great book!
I saw Maps to the Stars and I agree with Carlos in that Julianne is great fun in it, but there's no way in hell that movie could get any Oscar nominations and it's for the best that it will simply help to strengthen her campaign for Still Alice among the more adventurous voters. I was let down by the film itself, though - there are some good scenes and funny moments/name-droppings, but I felt that the Julianne storyline and the Mia & Co. storyline were fighting against each other and never came together in a satisfying way. I wish the whole movie had been about Julianne's character, because the other half is way too messy. I mean, did they really have to cram a pyromaniac, a teen star, a self-help guru AND incest all in there?
I have NEVER heard of "The Maze Runner." Ever.
Roark -- whoa! you're the first person i've heard come down that negative on it. But I bought the premise. In the big coastal cities, real estate can often be traumatic and when you get an apartment you like, you hang on for dear life.
Brookesboy -- whoa again. three times and you still don't like it. It's easily in my top 25 ever and as my dear friend Nick likes to say about it "I want to rub that movie all over me"
Troy - apparently it is a best seller and the opening weekend suggests that a lot of people had (though i hadn't either until they began making the movie).
1. The Skeleton Twins. It was fine. Darker than advertised.
2. The Model and The Marriage Broker with Thelma Ritter and Jeanne Crain. What a sweet movie. Thelma Ritter really hit it out of the park almost every time.
3. Finished the weekend with Fun in Acapulco. When it comes to bad acting and corny plots, nothing beats an Elvis movie. But the production values are always so good ... why? Everyone is so pretty. The costumes are always lovely. It's like a cookie ... a sometimes food.
I spent the whole week at the cabin with no cellphones or internet access. There is a library however and you can get oldish movies for free, so I watched:
Gomorrah - I gave up after an hour of it going not very far, and being kind of sub-par to City Of God (sorry).
Australia - it was as dull as I remember though Hugh looked great and Nicole irritated me and what was up with her ugly costumes? Baz's lowest point?
The Class - I liked it okay I guess as a kind of faux documentary but this should not have won the Cannes film festival, right? I'm sure there are fans out there.
A History Of Violence - this was terrific. The worst thing about it is the title. Viggo and Maria Bello had great chemistry, and the kid was good - I wonder whatever became of him? I didn't even hate William Hurt and that's really saying something.
I'm with Roark on "Love Is Strange."
I really liked The Skeleton Twins, I thought it was very funny but with some bite. I thought the actors had a genuine lived in chemistry. While it is definitely a dark comedy, I am surprised they didn't go for a wider opening with the SNL connection.
I saw Mommy & I am still recovering ... BRILLIANT!
Nathaniel - for sure, real estate in NYC is no joke. had sachs dealt in any kind of realistic way with the scenario he set up, i might have felt differently, but the whole thing felt contrived in order to set up the parade of second half tragic complications. i'm afraid i just didn't buy a second of it, and i wanted to. this is not an unfamiliar feeling for me when it comes to Sachs' films, unfortunately.
Nathan, I tried, LORD how I tried. I wanted to like it. I admire what Altman was trying to do, I just don't think it came off. And I adore Barbara Harris and Karen Black, so the film is that much more disappointing to me.
I will say this: I cannot stop humming It Don't Worry Me. LOL