Zootopia Reigns
Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 5:15PM Animated films for the family remain the safest of original story bets, no pre-branding required. Disney's Zootopia was very strong out of the gate. The best Disney animated opening weekend strong, in fact. Meanwhile Deadpool crossed the $300 million mark. The Oscar Best Picture win helped Spotlight re-expand again adding 500 screens and nearly another $2 million (total gross $41.6) despite already being out on DVD.
I went to The Witch again and while leaving the theater this young guy with his date was like "that is the worst movie I've ever seen!" He doesn't get out much apparently!
What did you see this weekend?
WIDE BOX OFFICE
01 Zootopia $73.7 new
02 London Has Fallen $21.7 new
03 Deadpool $16.4 (cum. $311.1) Reviewish
04 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot $7.6 new Review
05 Gods of Egypt $5 (cum. $22.8) Review
06 Risen $3.8 (cum. $28.6)
07 Kung Fu Panda 3 $3.5 (cum. $133.8) Dreamworks
08 The Revenant $3.3 (cum. $175.9) Cinematography
09 Eddie the Eagle $3.1 (cum. $10.8) Review
10 The Witch $2.5 (cum. $20.9) Michael's, Nathaniel's, and Eric's Reviews
LIMITED RELEASE
excluding previously wide
01 Other Side of the Door $1.2 new 546 screens
02 Lady in The Van $.7 (cum. $7.1) 429 screens Review
03 The Mermaid $.3 (cum. $2.6) 106 screens
04 Where to Invade Next $.2 (cum. $2.9) 150 screens Review & 2nd Opinion
05 Neerja $.1 (cum. $1.5) 100 screens
06 Son of Saul $.1 (cum. $1.5) 180 screens Podcast, Interview, Review
07 45 Years $.1 (cum. $3.9) 100 screens Podcast
08 Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer $.07 (cum. $1.6) 79 screens
09 Embrace of the Serpent $.06 (cum. $.3) 23 screens Interview, Review
10 Knight of Cups $.05 new 4 screens Reviewish
Reader Comments (29)
Saw ZOOTOPIA and thought it was was really, really good. The world building is ridiculous and it just had so much substance and so very topical.
I saw The Witch last weekend and HOLY CRAP did it chill me to the bone.
This weekend I saw The Mermaid, a crazy fantasy/sci-fi/comedy/musical/melodrama with bonkers special effects and insane 3D that I had an absolute blast watching. In fact, I'd go so far to say that if I have a better time watching any movie in theaters this year, then 2016 will have been a very good year for film indeed!
The dismissive hate like that for THE WITCH boggles my mind. I'd meant to make it out to a 35MM screening of TAXI DRIVER this weekend but ran out of time...
Ryan T.: Absolutely. Zootopia is very good. On the one hand, it's charged against racism. On the other, it pilfers a lot of the instincts (good and bad) of the Dreamworks catalogue. The sense I got watching it is that the original idea, when it was primarily about Jason Bateman's fox Nick Wilde, would have primarily amounted to "Dreamworks Got Fingered" with the racism and sexism commentary as secondary material. It's probably way better for it.
I saw a 70mm print of "Cleopatra", but without realizing that it was the 4 hour, 8 minute cut instead of the more common 3 hours. How dare any movie be that long, let alone one with so little to say?
I would say Zootopia has a lot more heart and intelligence than a majority of the Dreamworks lot.
Saw Zootopia with the boyfriend. We both loved it. I have an endless list of reasons I loved it.
I saw Hail Caeser and ended up wishing I saw Zootopia instead.
I saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot which was actually pretty entertaining. Tina Fey has a lot of potentia.
tonytr: The cut we got has a lot more heart and intelligence than the majority of the DreamWorks catalogue. Not so sure the original cut would have. There's a reason I threw out the comparison that a Nick Wilde focused cut would, primarily, be to DreamWorks movies what Freddy Got Fingered was to late 90s-early 2000s Adam Sandler flicks. (The most obvious left over of that original focus is in the "Shrew Mafia" scenes. Different animal, but it's hard to not see them as a slam at Shark Tale.)
I saw The Witch and thought it was amazing. The pace, production values, cinematography, acting, bold choices in both what it shows us and when and what it doesn't built up to a really disturbing, creepy experience that we were talking about for hours afterward.
Also, finally saw Trumbo to catch up on the Oscars. Meh. An interesting story and an interesting man, but Cranston was trying so hard to replicate the man's voice and tics that he completely overshot and sometimes verged on cartoonish (and, to be fair, sometimes settled down and got the job done). And Mirren nominated for a SAG award for this? Actors must really love her no matter what.
Watched "The Seven Year Itch" on Netflix Streaming. Hadn't seen this famous '55 flick since I was a kid, on the afternoon movies.
On the plus side, Marilyn Monroe was never more beautiful, sexier, and funnier as the dream girl upstairs. When you consider the dumb blonde act was her creation, not reality, MM was brilliant and the life of this movie.
Have to say the film itself was a bit of a disappointment. Marilyn and a great supporting cast make it fun, and Billy Wilder's acerbic touch is in top form. But George Axlerod's stagey, locker room humor is dated and doesn't play well, on film, or in today's society. The intro with the Indians on Manhattan isle...blech!
The biggest debit was o-star Tom Ewell, as the horny husband whose wife is away that hot NYC summer. Ewell may have created the role on Broadway, but I kept thinking, where is Jack Lemmon?
I went retro and saw Of Human Bondage with Bette Davis. That film is a bad lifetime movie but with the roles gender reversed. Why does he stay?
I stayed in and spent the weekend getting caught up on TV, which meant two episodes each of The People vs. OJ Simpson, Better Call Saul, and The Shannara Chronicles, and single episodes of Agent Carter, Vikings, and Legends of Tomorrow. Tonight i'll watch the Downton Abbey finale and maybe The Walking Dead.
All the Light in the Sky: Jane Adams is lovely in this movie and it has a low-key charm
Frances Ha: Yeah, fell for it. That last half, in particular, just sneaks up on me.
We are the Best!: "Brezhnev, Reagan, fuck off!" will be stuck in my head for days.
I saw "Eddie the Eagle" this morning which is a really damn good film as it is conventional but so fun to watch.
Arkaan -- awwww. what a delightful triple feature. they're all great. I really wish more people could have seen ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY
rick gould -- it didn't win the poll on which movie i should write about but i kinda want to write about it anyway
eveyrone -- i actually tried to go ZOOTOPIA but sold out *sniffle* so i didn't get in.
I saw "Gods of Egypt" and loved every Cecil B Demented minute.
I actually didn't watch anything last weekend.
But, interesting to note that we've already for a foreign language film making $2.5mil - THE MERMAID.
I watched Swimming Pool, because Charlotte Rampling.
Wow. As slow paced as it is, I was gripped! I need to go and re watch to make sure it is what I think it is.
Les Mis was on tv, so I watched that. Ok, Russell Crowe aside, it's not actually that bad. I was able to go with it this time. (I hated it when I saw it at the cinema) Anne Hathaway acts her little heart out, God love her!
Saw a double bill of Time Out of Mind
Moverman's use of shallow focus and framing through windows with a rich soundscape increases the feeling of isolation from the real world, including us as an audience. Gere is great (although you never quite forget he's a movie star), but Ben Vereen gives a brilliant performance, possibly his best since All that Jazz. The scene in the vegan restaurant is heartbreaking.
Then on to Hail, Caesar!
Very silly and a lot of fun, although it may be minor Coen and not adding up to much more than a love-letter to the studio system. Someone needs to give Alden Ehrenreich more work (brilliant in Tetro and hilarious here and yet reduced to virtual cameo in Blue Jasmine and Stoker), Tatum was also a lot of fun.
In my own bit of queue eavesdropping I heard someone say that A Bigger Splash was the worst film they've ever seem. I do like a bit of cinematic hyperbole.
I watched Always on Netflix, looking to fill in one of the gaps in my viewing of Steven Spielberg's filmography. This is arguably his most obscure film, denied even the status of infamous failure (e.g., 1941, Hook). It's...forgettable. As a romantic drama it never takes off, in great part due to the miscasting of both Richard Dreyfuss (charming roguishness isn't in his wheelhouse) and Brad Johnson (straight-up dull). It never manages a true narrative arc either. Audrey Hepburn's last screen appearance is worth seeing, though; she looks quite dignified in her elder years.
Sean C.: So, would Roy Scheider have worked for the Dreyfuss part? And Hanks for the Brad Johnson role?
@Volvagia: I think Scheider would have been too old, since he was paired with Holly Hunter (frankly, Dreyfuss kind of looks too old, and he's only 11 years older than her, which is nothing by Hollywood standards). Hanks, I could maybe see, though he'd definitely bring a different physical type to the part.
Jaragon--funniest thing I've read all weekend!
I saw GRANDMA again--why the hell wasn't Tomlin nominated? And SECOND MOTHER. Both really great movies. And Downton Abbey finale--Maggie Smith's laughter while reading her butler's column was priceless. So many other great moments in the last episode, gonna miss it.
Zootopia was amazing, I especially liked that it was a cop/mystery film even though the racial commentary and humor were great as well.
Son of Saul was such a disappointment, maybe because I just loathe shaky cam and the film was so benefit of dialogue, characters and it was utterly predictable. If you want to make a film that lacks everything what is great about films except important subject matter, maybe you ought to be making documentaries.
@chinoiserie - you know, I normally hate shaky cam and I didn't even notice it in Son of Saul. I was just so amazed at the direction, the long takes and composition, that I just went with it. But yeah, I could see how that would be a problem.
On the other hand, I'm not sure at this point how a WWII movie could be unpredictable? And SPOILERS but did you really see that ending with the blonde boy coming?
Son of Saul has shaky cam? I need to watch this masterpiece again, I missed it the first two times...
I checked out the first two episodes of The Real O'Neals. I think I like it, as much as I have lost my taste for network sitcoms. But Martha Plympton, Jay Ferguson and a 2016 version of the teen coming out narrative have my attention...for now.
Oh, and The Walking Dead. As one does.
Assam Scholarship Online Application