Box Office: Doctor Strange, A Man Called Ove, and More...
Sunday, November 6, 2016 at 2:36PM What did you see this weekend?
The bulk of the moviegoing nation went to either Doctor Strange (reviewed) or Trolls as expected. Doctor Strange's nearly 85 million is a major success for Marvel Studios, though weaker than the Guardians of the Galaxy launch it was quite a lot stronger than the Ant-Man launch. It's already earned over $325 million globally. When is Marvel going to have their first flop? It seems a long way off, doesn't it?
The top 10 wide and limited charts and notes on other pictures after the jump...
TOP TEN WIDE
800 screens +
01 Doctor Strange $84.9 NEW Review
02 Trolls $45.6 NEW
03 Hacksaw Ridge $14.7 NEW Review
04 Boo! A Madea Halloween $7.8 (cum. $64.9)
05 Inferno $6.2 (cum. $26)
06 The Accountant $5.9 (cum. $70.8)
07 Jack Reacher 2 $5.5 (cum. $49.2)
08 Ouija: Origin of Evil $3.9 (cum. $31.3)
09 Girl on the Train $2.7 (cum. $70.7) Review
10 Miss Peregrine's Home... $2.1 (cum. $83.3) Review
TOP DOZEN LIMITED
under 800 screens excluding previously wide releases
01 Moonlight $1.3 (cum. $3) 83 screens Review
02 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil $800K (cum. $3.6) 296 screens
03 A Man Called Ove $369K (cum. $1.8) 166 screens
04 Denial $288K (cum. $3.5) 218 screens Review
05 The Handmaiden $280K (cum. $908K) 99 screens
06 Loving $169K NEW 4 screens Review
07 Certain Women $169K (cum. $724K) 135 screens Review
08 Gimme Danger $119K (cum. $174K) 61 screens
09 I'm Not Ashamed $110K (cum. $1.9) 131 screens
10 American Pastoral $82K (cum. $418K) 70 screens
11 Mr Donkey $76K (cum. $211K) 24 screens
12 The Eagle Huntress $53K NEW 4 screens Review
A Few Thoughts:
Trolls proves for the bajillionth time in recent years that America's favorite genre by far is the CG animated family comedy. Almost anything that looks traditionally colorful and noisy and American in this genre does well.
Re: Potentially Major Oscar Players -- Moonlight nearly cracked the top ten releases with less than 100 screens. It's shaping up to be a major word of mouth arthouse hit. Loving, which looks to be employing the same start very small and expand each week strategy, started off quite but at least in its first weekend it's not the sensation that Moonlight was right out of the gate.
Re: Potentially Minor Oscar Players -- Sweden's Oscar submission A Man Called Ove, based on the bestseller of the same name about a crotchety old man and his neighbors, continues to do quite well in limited release - will it also strike a chord with Oscar voters? Meanwhile the documentary The Eagle Huntress (Reviewed) opened on just 4 screens and didn't quite hit the top ten for limited releases. Sony Pictures Classics has been working hard to promote it -- it's on the long list of eligible documentary Oscar players -- so we'll see if word of mouth rewards their efforts in the next couple of weeks.
The Handmaiden's second week experienced a small dip despite a growth in theaters. We're assuming this means its rather gonzo qualities caused a lot of divisive responses in moviegoers rather than easy "I loved it" recommendations.
Certain Women has been doing fairly well but it's starting to run out of steam... which means it won't top Meek's Cutoff or Wendy & Lucy to become Reichardt's biggest hit. Her movies have a pretty steady 'just under a million' domestic gross pattern of late. She has developed a devoted fanbase but how to get more of them?
Finally, Miss Peregrine's gross must be frustrating for Fox. It's not quite a hit or a flop. It's done solid business and stuck around for two months but with a budget of $110 million and a global gross of $253 million it's probably a hard call as to whether or not to invest in making it a franchise. In ye olden times it would be an easy call, a firm "no," given the lack of obvious profit margin. But in today's intensely sequel-friendly climate you can still potentially sequelize anything and people will turn out for it. The question is just how to budget it and whether or not its worth your while to invest or try a different franchise instead that's more successful right off the bat.
Reader Comments (36)
I always vote for more Eva Green.
Moonlight finally came to my town. This wonderful marquee greeted me on my way in:
https://mobile.twitter.com/UptownTheatre/status/794358816393543685
Some films just don't need a sequal like the Snow White thing early this year or Now You See Me 2 or Ride Along plus many from years past Urban Legend 2,The Ring 2,The Grudge 2,Princess Diaries 2,The Exorcist II,Home Alone 2,Oceans 12,Basic Instinct 2,Miss Congeniality 2,Species II the list is endless
I saw Three Days Of The Condor,Redford looked better in 75 than I do now at 40 and Dunaway is a game leading lady as always,does she have the distinction of being the strangest Golden Globe Best Actress nominee ever for this movie.
Devin D -- i give you all the ballots.
Fences - special screening
I had seen the Broadway show so I knew what to expect. Viola is in 70% or so of the runtime. Definitely a lead role. She reached new heights in her two juicy scenes. The movie felt very Shakespearean language-wise and theme-wise. Denzel as a director chose not to open it up, which is ok, because there was a well-done time progression, which broadened it all. I feel this was Denzel's best acting work ever (I wasn't a fan of his work on Broadway - to one-note). Here he really understands the narcissist the character is and walks such an amazing line between sanity and insanity...
Also saw Gleason - great, great documentary/story. Really contemplative.
* Manchester by the Sea - a very powerful story, it moved me a lot, I cried and definitely laughed also! The Michelle Williams Casey Affleck scene towards the end is incredibly powerful!
* Complete Unknown - I semi-identify with the character. I'm really grateful that somebody is finally telling the story of a person who Does Not Wish To Have A Stagnant Sense of Belonging.
* Artificial Intelligence - not a great movie, but most of its parts are seriously great.
I think The Hulk was their first flop? And The Incredible Hulk certainly didn't do all that better. But they feel slightly before the Marvel era that we know now. Still, it's certainly stopped them from doing another Hulk standalone with Mark Ruffalo.
I saw Loving, which was well-done but curious. I respect the choice to focus solely on the people behind the case instead of the case itself, but despite excellent work from Edgerton and Negga, I don't think it really worked. I always felt about an arm's length away from the Lovings the whole time. It also felt a bit long, but was beautifully shot.
Oh yeah, and Nick Kroll was AWFUL. Do not understand that casting decision whatsoever.
I watched 'From Afar'....touching, dark and rather thought-provoking in terms of what turns us on. Just read the reaction to the first screening of Fences....oooh can't wait to watch that. And I'm rooting for Viola to get her Oscar after being robbed by the underserving Meryl Streep in that trash of a movie.
Pete: But a category fraud Oscar ain't no Oscar at all. :(
Glenn...Hulk was not a Marvel Studios film, which is what this article is referring to.
Mike in Canada: I share your sentiments. Some on this forum have been griping about category fraud in the last few years but when it comes to the performers they admire (like Viola), it's all quiet on the argumentative front. Don't get me wrong - I think Viola is a good actress but judging what I've read, she's obviously a ;lead.in Fences.
Pete: Meryl Streep was great in Iron Lady and the movie, while bland and messy, does not mean it's trashy.
I had a weekend of paying tribute to icons - watching the Stooges documentary Saturday and then visiting Bjork Digital today.
This week I'll see The Handmaiden, which will clear my slate for the November glut that's about to start opening up in Montreal.
Moonlight: Though I believe that each chapter would have worked better as a self-contained film, there's no denying the power of the story (as one complete narrative) as well as the storytelling. That a movie so specific to a certain type of intersectional experience also can be such a universal coming-of-age tale is a remarkable feat. As a gay black man myself, I nearly wept during the scene at the end of the first act and saw bits and pieces of my life throughtout, while my partner -- who's white -- said that he found much of the story very relatable. There's just so much to unpack. The acting is uniformly exceptional, but my personal favorites are Mahershala Ali as "Juan" and André Holland as adult "Kevin," both of whom really anchor their chapters with unexpectedly rich and textured performances.
Inferno: Exactly the kind of throwaway entertainment that I figured it would be.
I took my nieces to see "Trolls" which is a routine animated musical
Moonlight really needs to happen across the board especially its direction, acting, and cinematography.
I had an amazing Sunday watching Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond and Hitchcock/Truffaut.
I wish that there was an educating panel within the Academy that could rule on cases of category fraud. Everything I have read this morning points to Viola being a lead actress in Fences. She will be robbing another deserving actress of a nomination, and perhaps the a win. The whole situation really pisses me off!
Rant over.
I saw 'Our Brand is Crisis' this week. Yes, I am a year behind. I went in with low expectations, but I really liked it. Some genuine laugh out loud moments.
Glenn: Hulk is a very tough nut to crack for a solo movie. It needs to be much weightier and moodier than Incredible Hulk, but not as self-consciously meditative as Hulk 2003. In Marvel House Style, though? He's a side character, so our only hope for a Hulk focused solo film that works is probably a reboot.
Really fantastic week for me.
Loved A Man Called Ove, Handmaiden and Moonlight.
I also rewatched North by Northwest and saw Punch Drunk Love.
The only kinda bad movie I wached this week was New York New York where Scorsese seemed to think that a musical is the really bad second act of Funny Girl stretched on for 3 hours. Liza is a delight, of course.
I saw the top films on both of your list, MOONLIGHT and DOCTOR STRANGE.
I really loved Moonlight and I GET the power of the three storylines, but I REALLY wanted to stay a bit more on all three, especially the first and last arcs. As for Marvel's latest, way funnier than I expected! And the visuals really are worth the price of admission.
I saw The Handmaiden and Loving, which is really quite a double feature.
The Handmaiden is bonkers, convoluted and messy, but enjoyably so. It reminded me of the pulpiness of The Paperboy with the moodiness of Stoker, only Korean and with showier direction.
I fell in love with Loving. When I was a kid growing up, a family member told me that interracial marriage was best avoided because it just made things unnecessarily complicated for the couple and especially for the kids. Of course there's inherent racism in that belief, but there's also a level of practicality that I think a lesser film wouldn't have acknowledged. Loving, instead of hammering home the bigotry of anti-miscegenation laws (it knows that you know they're wrong), focuses on the nuances of the time: Grandma Loving caring for Mildred and the kids, but telling him her son that he never should have married a black woman; Richard feeling inadequate as a man because he couldn't bail his wife out of jail; and a black friend who tells Richard he's given up his white privilege. It was beautifully acted and directed and a surprisingly complex character study carved out from what could have been a very black and white (ba dum tss) civil rights tale.
I caught The Handmaiden and Moonlight and loved them both. Moonlight was especially touching since I related to it on several levels (black, gay, from Miami), but I really fell hard for it in the third act. I never wanted it to end!
At home I also caught My Best Friend's Wedding and the Japanese horror classic Kuroneko for the first time. Both excellent.
"The Handmaiden," very intriguing. I'm still thinking about Park's choices in production design and camerawork, and it's increasingly brilliant to me how he seems to have divested the movie almost entirely of phallic imagery, which is so unusual for a film with such domineering chauvinistic men. It really does function to wrest visual power from them and place it instead firmly in the hands of the subversive females. On the other side of the coin, he also doesn't employ the cliched monstrous-feminine vaginal imagery either. It's quite liberating. Feels like a perverse Asian version of "Carol."
Didn't go to the movies. Stayed at home and watched Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words and The African Queen.
@,,Jan's. I totally agree with you....
I saw The Handmaiden this weekend and it was amazing!!!! My favorite movie so far this year! I loved every minute of it. All 2 hours and 20 minutes of it. The two lead performances, Kim Tae-Ri and Kim Min-Hee were so incredibly layered and the direction by Park Chan-Wook was so pulsating and filled with energy. It shows just how alive movie making can be and make those who believe cinema is dead believe otherwise.
Doctor Strange - gawd I love Tilda Swinton. What a remarkable face. Liked this movie a bunch--though Mads'character had little to do but stomp into a room/dimension. Benedict is quite good though, very House-like. McAdams is a bit wasted, regulated to the sparkly, ex-girlfriend role, with her lovely, dimply smile and concerned looks.
And yes, despite my rant, The Crown, episodes 1-4, which I liked more than I thought I would.
A Man Called Ove on the docket tonight. Actually playing at a cinema near me.
I checked out four movies from the library.
Irrational Man was a really subpar Woody Allen and a waste of Emma Stone.
Summer Hours didn't play after half way through, but what I saw I really liked. Man, there was a lot of smoking!
Then I saw the first 30 minutes of The Great Beauty and gave up.
Finally, I saw After The Wedding and was pleasantly surprised. The plot didn't go where I thought it would and that made all the difference. I've never seen the second leading man before, and now I see that he's the star of A Man Called Ove. Bizarre. I read the book and thought was okay, though not great, in the redeemed crotchety old man genre.
Mads Mikkelsen has an amazing face.
Well of course, I saw Doctor Strange!
I pretty much loved it, but I thought it had pacing problems like some of the other MCU origin films (Thor, Captain America: TFA) - much too fast zero-to-hero, and too fast climax and ending. Another scene between Strange and Christine was needed, not to mention providing a better sense of Strange's post-Ancient One life on Bleecker Street. It should have been 15 minutes longer.
And I keep reading that it's got a great score, but it made zero impression on me. This is also a less serious, far snarkier Doctor Strange than how he's usually portrayed. Sure, there were lots of changes from the comics, but most of them for the better in a film adaptation. And the cast was great top to bottom, the visuals are indeed appropriately mind-blowing.
The only thing that really bothered me as a 40-year Doctor Strange fan was that they didn't use ANY of Stan Lee's great spell incantations! I understand that having sorcerers just stand and declaim at each other obviously works better in comics than in film, and that they had to invent a more martial arts approach to spell-fighting. But would it have killed them to let Cumberbatch do just one
"By the Seven Rings of Raggadorr... In the Name of the Eternal Vishanti! I bid you HALT!"???
These incantations are much a signature Doctor Strange thing as the Eye of Agomotto and the Cloak of Levitation! (I guess they went the way of Thor's winged helm!)
I saw The Handmaiden and was thoroughly entertained. I guess I agree with Nick Davis that I didn't exactly "feel" anything but "fun" is a feeling, right? I was intrigued, enjoyed the visuals, acting and plot twists and just kind of went along for the ride.
Also finished the latest season of Please Like Me. So good! So sad that I burned through it so quickly and have to wait forever for the next season.
And staying caught up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and trying to get caught up on Westworld, which so far I like but don't love.
I watched Captain Fantastic this weekend and I thought it was excellent. Viggo is my top pick thus far for Best Actor. A near masterpiece in my eyes. I also rewatched the Lubitsch version of Heaven Can Wait which is always amusing and witty and i also rewatched The Bridge On The River Kwai which still holds up story and performance wise. i really wish Sessue Hayakawa could have won Supporting Actor that year.
Doctor Strange: That's Marvel House Style for ya. If I were in the board rooms and I heard they were keeping Strange white, I'd have told them to go for Jon Hamm first. The first suggestion I'd forward would be Daniel Dae Kim, of course, but...there ya go.
Volvagia: If Doctor Strange could be someone other than a white dude, i'd have gone with Riz Ahmed or even Oscar Isaac.
Matt St.Clair: I gotta say a hard NO on Oscar Isaac and a soft no on Riz Ahmed, at least if 2016 was always going to be the date. If Marvel were willing to hold off on Doctor Strange until, say, 2026/2027? I'd kind of be down for Riz Ahmed, but he is and READS too young now to play a character with a grey streak in his hair.
Caught up on some films I'd be putting off for the longest time.
TOP GUN - Ok, cool soundtrack, drags a bit on the last 3rd. Strange seeing Anthony Edwards with hair!
A LITTLE CHAOS - Nice looking film, but very quiet almost to point of being dull, but luckily picked up towards the end.
THE BOOK THIEF - Very moving adaptation, and I wondered how they'd handle the book's ending.
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS - It'd been a while since I read the book so it was nice to revisit the story and see some dazzling visuals. Cast was solid, although I kept thinking about the age difference between Pattinson and Witherspoon.