Box Office: Grandpa Debuts, Revenant Holds, Carol Falls
Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 5:00PM What did you see this weekend? Aside from three new films catering to three different audiences (adult comedy with Dirty Grandpa, horror with The Boy, YA sci-fi with The Fifth Wave) which grossed about the same this weekend, moviegoers stuck to the familiar. They were still enamored with Leo's bear fight and that galaxy far far away. Some people are still catching up with Oscar hopefuls as all the Best Picture nominees continued to do solid business or see new life (especially Room which had been fading to a whisper and now has finally lept into wide release adding another $1.4 million to its cumulative gross).
This could be a still from Neighbors really, outside the Abercrombie & Fitch store. How many movies will Zac Efron star in where the joke is how fit and sexy he is compared to his co-star?
Spotlight and Brooklyn, which didn't wait for Oscar love to expand were already word of mouth successes so their new energy is gravy for them. But as we discussed last weekend, the Best Picture snub has killed Carol's momentum and now it's losing theaters having never spread to even 800 (so if you haven't yet been, find it quick). The Danish Girl will also be dropping fast given its similar fate (decent nomination count, no Best Picture). That's the danger of resting your box office and release patterns on Oscar attention alone, if anything goes wrong, you collapse. Nevertheless Carol will love on forever as classics do and that's the best any movie can hope for really. A lot of classics were barely blips at the box office in their day.
BOX OFFICE WIDE
01 The Revenant $16 (cum. $119.1) Costumes, Production Design
02 The Force Awakens $14.2 (cum. $879.2) Review, Podcast, BB-8
03 Ride Along 2 $12.9 (cum. $59.1)
04 Dirty Grandpa $11.5 new
05 The Boy $11.2 new
BOX OFFICE LIMITED
01 Ip Man 3 $.7 new 103 screens
02 Carol $.6 (cum. $10.5) 692 screens Oscar Snub, Adapting Highsmith, First Impressions
03 The Danish Girl $.5 (cum. $9.7) 794 screens Podcast, Screenplay
04 Anomalisa $.3 (cum $1.4) 143 screens Podcast, Review, Festival Capsule
05 45 Years $.2 (cum $.7) 40 screens Capsule
Reader Comments (38)
I caught:
45 Years-Breathtaking and plays out like a subdued thriller in some parts. I know Rampling isn't the most popular actress at the moment, but damn if she doesn't kill in this part. Haigh has already won my ticket purchase for his next movie.
Son of Saul-Different than I expected (I didn't know about the almost "real-time" aspect to the film. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.
Maps to the Stars-Moore was superb, the film was a mess.
I was going to see Remember (Plummer/Landau) this evening, but I need to stay home and nurse this stupid cold. I finished my binge of Mr Robot, started binging UnReal and Angie Tribeca and am procrastinating watching Beasts of No Nation and re-watching Carol and 99 Homes.
Almost forgot—watched Bridge of Spies yesterday. Why did nobody warn me that Hanks' Golden Globe tribute to Denzel was a capsule version of his performance in this movie? I did not like it, but that was probably because the scenes in Berlin rang false to me, like a rehash of every wintry cliché about the horrors and deprivations of the Cold War. And as much as I like Mark Rylance, I'm at a loss as to how this performance merited a nomination. Certainly it's more subtle and skillful than Stallone's, but that category is such a mess this year that if I were voting, I'd be torn between Hardy and Bale.
I didn't expect to like it (I surely disliked the movie) but I found Christian Bale's performance superb in The Big Short? He's not been this unsettling in years?
I know I am not supposed to root for him since the movie sucks, but, maybe he is the best in his category. I mean not even Rylance had this disturbing effect.
Cal Roth: I agree, though I've yet to see The Revenant, and I think Stallone is pretty great, too.
These Zac Efron movies, man. I won't be watching them, but the stills make me glad they exist.
I saw the Revenant. Thoughts:
Heavy breathing.
Those landscapes! A++ location scouting. Those drowned trees at the start, that mossy forest, that copse of trees in the snow!
Sad that diCaprio will prob win the oscar for this. He did much better crawling along the ground and breathing in Wolf of Wall Street. Also Liam Neeson was better at snow trudging/dead wifing in The Grey/Seraphim Falls.
I loved that transition of Leo's breath on the camera, the clouds over the mountain, the smoke of Tom Hardy's pipe. It reminded me weirdly of Miami Vice.
I would love if Emmanuel Lubezki shot a martial arts film. (but only as long as Iñárritu isn't there trying to weigh everything down with MEANING).
I was eye-rolling at all the floating-dead-wife/dead-son-tree-hugging stuff. Is being buried alive not enough incentive for revenge?
Also a mini-trend between this and this year's Macbeth- add a dead child for extra motivation! Is dead son the new dead wife?
The blizzard kept me home but on Bluray I saw " Hello Dolly" which looks gorgeous and wow you can see all those millions on the screen- the sets and costumes alone really pop out and Carpenter's " The Thing" the first hour has a real sense of dread and those real make up fx still beat any of this current CGI crap.
I was stuck at home due to the blizzard. My partner and I watched two films:
* The Grifters--A favorite of mine, but my partner had never seen it. This is really a gem and holds up so well. Bening and Houston were on fire here.
* Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown--I had never seen this before! Really liked it, but my favorite remains All About My Mother
Earlier this week I saw and enjoyed 45 Years. That said, I disagree with the idea that Rampling is head-and-shoulders above her Best Actress cohort. I'd place Blanchett first. Larson and Rampling are neck-and-neck in second place for me.
The Revenant. Perhaps the most ambitiously pointless movie Innaritu ever made. I love Lubezeki, but really, he needs to ship his oscars to Sean Bobbitt and Dick Pope stat (but then go and steal the oscars from 2005 and 2006 that he lost).
Well at least Carol has made more than the Danish Girl now.
I watched A Star is Born (the 1937 version) it was on my DVR and I needed room. I enjoyed it but was drawn more to Fred March than Janet Gaynor.
Is Zachary playing a gay hustler? Because I don't know any straight guy who would try and rock those tight mustard pants without a shirt on.
The Lady in the Van. Terrific performance from Maggie Smith and the rest. It was neat to see cameos from the History Boys, but the film had a twee attitude that made it difficult to believe that this story actually happened. It also doesn't help that the story to me is nightmarish: a smelly, cantankerous old woman who leaves turds all over the place living in your driveway for 15 years!
Saw The Revenant. Pretty much everything svg said above. It's gorgeous to look at, but Iñárritu's pretentious attempts to transform a simple survivalist tale into something profound were, well, kind of eye-rolling (and the Dead Wife certainly didn't help). I kept thinking Spielberg might have actually done a better job with this. But in a way I prefer when directors shoot their arrows high and fail rather than not trying at all. I dunno. I thought ultimately it was worth seeing, and yeah, g'head and give DiCaprio his Oscar, so maybe he'll calm down already and do something a little lighter sometime. Maybe with a wife that's alive? That would be big stretch for him as an actor, but stretch he should. Also: Domhnall Gleason! What movie of note was he NOT in during 2015? Man, he must have a great agent.
In cinemas, I watched Spectre (for the second time) and Brooklyn (for the first time). Spectre was better than the first time I saw it, but that's because I knew in advance how daft it was going to be. Daft fun it is, too long, but with some great scenes (esp. Mexico City, and Bond's meeting with Mr. White). And I won't mind if the song wins, although part of me wants Diane Warren to get the Oscar she should have won in 1987 and 1998. Brooklyn was a delight, although I think I cried pretty much all the way through it. On my own. In a packed cinema. Not a good look. But Saoirse Ronan was excellent. And Emory Cohen - as this site has said - was so lovely, charming - such a development from his performance in The Place Beyond the Pines. I could entirely understand why she would fall for him.
At home, I watched Birdman, for the first time since I had seen (and not liked) it in cinemas a year ago. Felt pretty much the same about it this time as last time: Keaton excellent, the other actors doing some good work, but the film is all technical flourish and zero depth. Really, how can a film be so full of things to look at and things going on but be so lacking any lasting ideas? Such a baffling choice for Best Picture.
Edward L.: I basically cried all through Brooklyn as well. What is it about that movie? I guess it's what Nathaniel said: Everyone Leaves Home. Anyway, a totally sweet movie. I would love for S. Ronan to win Best Actress for her performance. I also have to watch Birdman again. I remember liking it when I saw it a year ago, but I'm having a hard time remembering it now. Which gives me pause. Especially after seeing The Revenant, a movie with lots of razzle dazzle but a real lack of There there.
It is dangerous to bestow the title "Classic" on ANYTHING that was just released.
If I'd deem anything a "Classic" and by that I mean films that will get re-watched and what people will think of when they look back at 2016 10 years from now, I'd say we probably have two films with the potential for two more (below) but even they are not sure things.
Likely:
* Star Wars (due to it's impact)
* Mad Max (due to its balls to the walls crazy-ness)
Possibilities:
* Inside Out (beloved kids movie that adults love too)
* It Follows (very rewatchable horror film)
I got to see Carol last Sunday night in Augusta with the bf. Unfortunately, there were only 6 others with us in the theater. We accidentally scared off a lonely movie goer near us by looking in her direction. Carol left the area this weekend as well, while Brooklyn arrived (but I'll watch that on DVD maybe). The Danish Girl never came, but I didn't really want to see it in the theater.
Edward L.: To each his own, but I actually think Birdman is filled with depth and so much to talk about. Let me tell you what the film left me with, and that's the idea of chasing your own immortality. Since we only know this world with us in it, it's hard for us to imagine what this world would be like if we're no longer in it, so there are people who are constantly looking for where to leave their mark on the world so at least a piece of themselves will live on forever, and in this case, it's about a man who has probably already left his mark in movies, but he wants to leave it in a more "meaningful" place (all I'm saying may sound like pretentious BS, and it probably would be if the film weren't mocking it constantly, reminding us that life isn't really all that serious and our own egoes lead us to believe that we're worth more than we actually are). Another interesting point is that it's set in the Twitter age, where everyone has a chance to leave a mark somewhere and therefore no one has a chance to leave a real lasting impression, but people try anyway out of a fear of imagining a world where nothing of who they are exists (that may be the scariest thing about death).
Lady in the Van. I like the second half much more than the first, once it gets grounded with humanizing and explaining Maggie Smith's character. I haven't seen Joy, but I doubt Jennifer Lawrence was better than Maggie Smith (Academy ageism, etc.). The actor who plays the writer is also really good. I did not realize it until I looked him up to find out that he is 58. Quite good actor. Alex Jennings.
Hitchcock's last film, "Family Plot."
Mildly entertaining, most fascinating for Hitch's use of "realistic" actors like Bruce Dern, Karen Black, and William Devane, as opposed to the types he favored earlier, like Grace or Kim, or Cary or Connery. Between Devane and Dern, a real nasal twang contest. Karen Black in all-black and a platinum wig made me wonder when she was gonna whip out a big knife! Barbara Harris was fun in a shrill junior Shelley Winters kinda way. Otherwise, lightweight suspense and very '70s!
It's depressing to think that Carol would be even worse off if anyone besides Cate Blanchett had headlined it. I'm glad she did because she was perfection, but...Cate Blanchett in 2016 guarantees your movie as fair and honest a shot as ANY female-led movie is going to get. She's three or four different gold standards right now.
45 Years. Why wasn't Tom Courtenay in the Best Actor conversation? Loved Rampling, though. Only acting nominee I haven't seen is Lawrence in Joy. Don't really want to spend the coin on it...but will seek out bargain matinee on Tuesday.
Also want to watch Carol once more on the big screen. The colors are astounding.
Anonny: I'd say three are almost certain to spread to the gen pop, (Ex Machina, Fury Road, Inside Out), with another couple (Tangerine, Brooklyn) as possible, but not guaranteed. It Follows is probably a little too weird in the wrong ways to move beyond it's cult and The Force Awakens is, like Avatar, a little too recycled to get the "classic" word to stick for that long. (Not that it'll exactly pick up the mediocre/forgettable rep Avatar (Bloated white saviour narrative + Sam Worthington = no duh!) wound up getting, but it won't be especially loved for too long either.) Episode VIII, aka The Rian Johnson one, is almost certain to overshadow it.
Cate is indeed perfection in Carol. I can't think of any actress, dead or living, who can move me the way she does in that role. I know this site started lauding her since Blue Jasmine but I think she was brilliant as early as in Little Fish and Veronica Guerin. Wished I'd seen all her stage performances.
Yeah someone really needs to write an extensive overview of Zac Efron's shirtlessography.
I saw The Hateful Eight. It was a painful experience and not in the good dancer-in-the-dark way.
I saw Spotlight and while I understand the criticism for its flatness, I found it refreshing, especially after having just seen The Revenant. No gimmicky flourishes, no distracting indulgences - I loved that McCarthy got out of the way and trusted that the story and actors would be enough. Not sure I liked what Ruffalo was doing, but maybe that was what that person is actually like in real life? Another character does tell him he's a pain in the ass, so I guess he's supposed to be kind of annoying?
But McAdams' nomination...oof. That's a head-scratcher, especially when we have possibilities like Joan Allen and Angela Bassett.
DJDeeJAY: I know what you mean about McAdams' nomination for Spotlight. She's perfectly fine in it, but any number of actresses could have played that role. There's nothing about it that would present a challenge any decent thespian. So many other far more worthy performances could have taken that slot.
Cate Blanchett is just PERFECT in Little Fish.
Hayden W - Sandra Bullock?
I saw 45 Years this weekend and now I'm just sitting outside of my classroom, quietly devastated.
I saw Mustang over the weekend and I loved it. Such a great movie! Why are not people talking about it more ? I know Son of Saul is supposed to win the foreign Oscar as the important film , but Mustang was such a great discovery! I
adelutza --i prefer both Mustang and Embrace of the Serpent to son of saul so i'm hoping for an impossible upset.
But McAdams' nomination...oof. That's a head-scratcher, especially when we have possibilities like Joan Allen and Angela Bassett.
Did you see Allen's face in Room? Hideous.
Bassett is never getting near Oscar again. 1995 was her last great year as a film actress with nomination worthy work.
@3rtful - Allen's face is hideous in Room? What does that even mean?
She had bad plastic surgery work done. Charlotte Rampling is what someone looks like when they allow themselves to age without cosmetic surgery.
I finally saw Joy and it is my favorite David O Russell movie since Three Kings. The beginning is very sloppy (typical O. Russell), and the last act of movie almost falls apart (mainly because of the weird editing). I understand why there is so much negativity towards it (it is a flawed movie, for sure), but I found the middle chunk to be riveting and Jennifer Lawrence gives her best performance since Winter's Bone. I would not have nominated her, but then again, I only agree with her first nom. She does carry the movie and has some truly great scenes in it. Best in show were Diane Ladd, in a quiet and lovely way, and Elizabeth Rohm, who is given a cartoon character to play, but manages to squeeze in some unexpected humanity into it.
Rob: Thanks, and yes - Brooklyn touched me so unexpectedly, but yes, it hits on the idea that leaving home is hard for everyone but doable (which makes it even sadder, I suppose). The film also does the push-and-pull very well - should she stay or should she go, etc. I haven't seem Room yet, and so I can't assess Ronan against Larson, but I certainly thought that Ronan would make a very worthy winner in her own right, based on that outstanding performance.
Richter Scale: Thanks for your thoughts re: Birdman. Believe me, I'm trying - I want to like it! And I will give it another go. (I'm a re-watcher and a re-re-watcher.) I can understand in theory the themes people ascribe to it; it's just that when I'm actually watching it, I'm not feeling any of them. But I will persist!
Saw 45 Years, and every single terrific thing I had read about it is true. Rampling and Courtenay are revelations. One of my faves of the year. Haigh might turn out to be one of the all-time greats.