Leonardo DiCaprio is, as an actor, inarguably most attracted to roles where he is mentally or physically suffering often while mourning a dead wife (His infamous "Dead Wives' Club," already quite extensive, got another member this weekend with the spectral presence of his Native American love, never named, in The Revenant). But Leo DiCaprio, the celebrity and movie star, is more tied in the real world to the wildly wealthy playboys that occasionally dot the dramatic resume (Celebrity, The Great Gatsby, Wolf of Wall Street). This is not just because he commands an astronomical fee for acting and has been known to enjoy the fruits of his labor, but because his films in turn attract even deeper pools of money. In other words: he's worth what they pay him. Enter The Revenant, a brutal, arduous, and arguably very quiet drama with brief but intense flashes of excitement, making a mint in its first weekend. It's something virtually no other star could pull off. DiCaprio is just about the only movie star that can convince moviegoers en masse to show up for straight dramas these days -- superheroic powers, franchise branding, or stylized action not required.
I have had issues with DiCaprio over the years you're aware. Why? Well his career can, roughly, be cleaved in half. First came the Versatile Gifted Prodigy years (Spring 1993's This Boy's Life through Christmas 2002 with Catch Me If You Can). And then the anguished, increasingly familiar, all caps OSCAR SEEKER of current renown (Christmas 2002 Gangs of New York through The Revenant). He's good in The Revenant, no mistake, but other than suffering the role asks almost nothing of him.
I want to be surprised and emotionally invested again and am exhausted by the reduction of his screen magnetism. I prefer Original DiCaprio but I freely admit it's a minority opinion, an endangered species opinion even. Inarguably the world at large prefers DiCaprio 2.0 ... I'll just be over here waiting for his third act. Hope it's unexpected, whatever it is.
BOX OFFICE WIDE
Estimates January 8th-10th
01 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $41.6 (cum. $812) Review & Podcast & BB-8
02 The Revenant $38 *new* The Costumes, The Production Design
03 Daddy's Home $15 (cum. $116.3)
04 The Forest $13 *new*
05 Sisters $7.1 (cum $74.8) Review
06 The Hateful Eight $6.3 (cum. $41.4) Hated It & Podcast
07 The Big Short $6.3 (cum. $42.8) Reviewish Review & SAG Ensemble
08 Alvin and the Chi--Oh God Make This Stop $5.5 (cum. $75.6)
09 Joy $8 (cum. $46.5) Reviewish & Serious Hair
09 Concussion $6.8 (cum. $30.9) Review
10 Point Break $4.6 (cum. $26.7)
BOX OFFICE LIMITED
excluding previously wide
01 Carol $1.4 (cum. $6.9) 525 screens Greatest Pick-Up Line, Production Design, Editing Best Actresses, Adapting Patricia Highsmith, FYC Sarah Paulson
02 The Danish Girl $.8 (cum. $7.5) 417 screens Podcast, Screenplay, & Eddie Interview
03 Wazir $.6 *new* 111 screens
04 Anomalisa $.2 (cum $.4) 17 screens Podcast & Review & Festival Capsule
05 Youth $.1 (cum. $2.0) 95 screens Reviewish, Campaign, & Podcast
Carol added hundreds more screen this weekend and though its box office is solid and growing, the per screen average (just under $3000 so...non-sensational) suggests they were right to nurture it so carefully. The Hateful Eight which had a strong opening wide weekend suffered brutally in its second weekend at the hands of the new violent fur-slathered manly man movie in town. But an honest tormented question from out of my cinephile soul: Who in their right mind wouldn't want to see Cate Blanchett costumed to the nines as a lesbian society wife?
How is Cate Blanchett at her mannered sexiest and making all kinds of lascivious eyes at a young blank-slate shopgirl NOT as big a draw as Leonardo DiCaprio grieving whilst foaming at the mouth (again) or another Tarantino shoot-em-up? And yet it isn't! And this is why we can only very rarely have nice things (aka Todd Haynes's femme-centric melodramas) and need to cherish them when they come along.