Box Office: Caesar wasn't quite hailed
Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 4:48PM A somewhat quiet week for moviegoing as all eyes turn towards the Superbowl. Well, not all eyes. I don't know who's playing other than Beyoncé. Kung Fu Panda had no trouble fending off newcomers. Star Wars recently crossed the $2 billion mark worldwide (though it's still behind Titanic and Avatar globally) but the new movies didn't make enough of an impression for ticket buyers. Unfortunately Hail, Caesar! opened significantly below the gross of the last widescreen comedy from the Coen brothers Burn After Reading.
BOX OFFICE
01 Kung Fu Panda 2 $21 (cum. $69)
02 Hail, Caesar! $11.4 new Coen Brothers - 17 Films, Interview: Score
03 The Revenant $7.1 (cum. $149.7) Interview: Costumes, Interview: Production Design
04 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $6.9 (cum. $905.9) Review, Podcast
05 The Choice $6 new
06 Pride & Prejudice & Zombies $5.2 new Review
07 The Finest Hours $4.7 (cum. $18.3)
08 Ride Along 2 $4.5 (cum. $77.2)
09 The Boy $4 (cum $26.8)
10 Dirty Grandpa $4 (cum $29.3)
What did you see this weekend?
I rewatched Silence of the Lambs (for our 25th anniversary celebration which starts tomorrow!) and also hit Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Some friends asked me to wait for them for Hail, Caesar! and I agreed. This is always a bad decision because they are never in the hurry that I am to devour new movies
Reader Comments (25)
"Brooklyn" & I am VERY surprised at how much I loved it. I now have seen the 5 Actress competing for Oscar & my line up (in order of preference) now goes like this:
1-Larson
2-Rampling
3-Ronan
4-Lawrence
5-Blanchett
Although Rampling & Ronan could be switched (That's how much I loved "Brooklyn")
I am often wrong but the failure of Hail Caesar! means that the movie star era (at least for George Clooney) may really be over? Or maybe it's just bad execution, but he has had a lot of flops in a row. No one in that movie can sell it. I got into the Man in the High Castle. It takes 4 episodes to really get going, but I love the cast. Rufus Sewell. Amazing.
There's only one correct way to watch "The Silence of the Lambs": wearing "a good bag, cheap shoes" and enjoying "some fava beans and a nice chianti."
I went to see " The Finest Hour" which was good but very old fashion - Chris Pine underplays his good looks but the camera loves him and his co-star Holliday Grainger is equally gorgeous.
I'm going to "Hail Caesar" this week with friends. Maybe the slow opening is due to all of the other Oscar films others are trying to see, and Super Bowl weekend.
I watched "Our Brand is in Crisis" - which was pretty interesting. I would recommend to anyone with an interest in politics. There were too many other films when this came out, but it deserves to be seen. Bullock & Thornton have some great scenes together.
I have a copy of Silence of the Lambs somewhere, maybe I should re-watch it tonight.
Btw. Nathaniel - I don't hold it against you that you enjoyed that Zombie version of P&P, but it pains me that the book and movie exists. Desecration is the word that comes to mind.
Speaking of Beyonce at the Super Bowl, have you seen the Formation video Nathaniel? I know you're not a big fan of her but curious what you think about it.
I don't think HAIL, CAESAR was that expensive to make. Maybe the zaniness will make for good holds in the coming weeks. I know we ask for good movies all year 'round, but maybe Superbowl weekend wasn't the one to test that theory out on.
I saw Carol for the second time. I also saw Tangerine and Blue is the Warmest Colour for the first time. They were shown as a double bill on free to air tv here in Australia. What a double bill!
I saw the Sand Pebbles- which was good but overly long despite Steve McQueen and Come Back to The Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, which is oddly fascinating. I really liked Karen Black Why doesn't she get more attention?
One Hour With You: Not bad comic operetta from Lubitsch, but he's done much better
A Most Violent Year: First viewing. Quite floored by it, actually. Superb performances, immaculately visualized.
Christmas, Again: Solid little gem with a terrific performance from Kentucker Audley.
The Brood: Solid Cronenberg horror, but not as masterful as his best works, nor as lunatic as I was expecting. Some definite scares, though.
It's actually Kung Fu Panda 3, not 2. Will there was a fourth?
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts - the "A" program, with films about the Ebola crisis in Liberia, honor klllings in Pakistan, and the death sentence in the good ol' USA. All very strong films. The death row movie was the best of the three.
Hail, Caesar! - maybe not top tier Coen brothers, but a very good, thought provoking movie. Funny, too. And Hobie is adorable. Oh my god. Beyond adorable. I would watch a spin off - or a dozen spin offs - about Hobie and Carlotta right now.
My Neighbor Totoro - saw this at the local Alamo Drafthouse with a packed house in a big theater. So much fun. Easily one of the most charming movies ever made.
And then lots of TV catchup - The People vs. OJ Simpson, American Crime, Agent Carter, The Chronicles of Shannara.
Hail Caesar is a $22M production. Uni spent an additional $21M on ads and media.
Though you're not saying it here, I usually hate reports of box office numbers on a film's opening weekend that automatically mark it as a "bomb" or "failure". It's really disingenuous to rate a movie on opening numbers because there are so many other things vying for our entertainment $$. Everyone I know who saw HAIL, CAESAR! this weekend (but unfortunately not me) loved it. We can't all go to every new movie when it opens, which doesn't and shouldn't mean it sucks or is a failure. Maybe the movie metrics folks should add +14 or +21, or even +30 (which should definitely be the case in places that are not NYC or LA)?
Saw two plays, one with Mark Rylance and the other, a production of Jeanine Tesori's Violet, so I got my theater fix.
Re P&P&Zombies--the book was hilarious. Sorry, LadyEdith.
I agree but would only caution people that D grade word of mouth usually means the film is not working for audiences. That kind of reporting I appreciate as a leading artist and film fan.
I saw Hail Caesar and liked it. A solid B from me but far from one of the Coen Brothers' best. The movies within the movie were far more interesting than the Communist meet ups with Clooney (I'd run to the bathroom during those). Hobie (Alden Ehrereich) was indeed adorable and I hope he finds more work soon. Tatum's No Dames routine was the highlight and I hope repeated at the Oscars next year.
Saw HAIL CAESAR. Liked it just fine. Though I pretty much just wanted to follow around Alden Ehrenreich's character. His interactions with Fiennes, his burgeoning romance, etc. All of it. And yes, give me that gay sailor musical starring Channing Tatum.
Hail, Caesar! was a lot of fun, and the affection for Old Hollywood is apparent. I loved all of the movies within the movie.
Speaking of Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I watched Gaspar Noë's Love. Karl Glusman is very blah when dressed.
Hail, Caesar: Silly. Fun. A welcomed break from Oscar movies.
Ginza Cosmetics: A Naruse from 1951. A slight snooze.
Holiday Affair: Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh are an odd pair, but it works. And Griff Barnett's monologue at the Christmas dinner table had me in tears. I think this is one of my favorite holiday movies now. The real question is ... why am I watching holiday movies in February?
I enjoyed Hail, Caesar! far more than I initially thought since I never cared for the Coen's other Hollywood flick, Barton Fink.
Did anyone really think Hail, Caesar! would top the box office chart over a hit kiddie flick on Super Bowl weekend? I think the real bombs are the low returns on the latest zombie and Nicholas Sparks flicks (kinda the same thing?).
I caught up with the Animated and Live Action shorts (my picks are World of Tomorrow and Everything Will Be Okay, respectively), and two failed Foreign Language submissions, Rams and The Club.
Nathaniel, I know your opinion of The Club, but please tell me you at least appreciated Antonia Zegers's performance! I thought she was channeling some Jacki Weaver/Animal Kingdom villainy.
Hail, Caesar! was mostly fun - whenever they drifted from the Capitol Pictures lot it dragged a bit. Enjoyed it overall, though. Weirdly, though, I came away from it wanting to see Alden Ehrenrich in a Sal Mineo biopic (the resemblance here is AMAZING) more than I did the Channing Tatum/Joseph Gordon-Levitt musical that's in the works (I loved the dance number, but not so much Tatum in it).
I've caught up with London Spy and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and fitting in Bob's Burgers whenever I have 25 minutes to spare.
The only film I saw this weekend was The Letter - finally! Simply gorgeous and Davis was great - so multi-dimensional, so complex.
Saw "Hail, Caesar," enjoyed all the tributes to classic Hollywood, but seemed fragmented as a result. Agree that Alden Ehrenrich is a find, can't wait to see what he does next.
Also meant to catch "Mustang" but didn't make it...a little worried it will leave theaters before I do!