The name "Ben-Hur" wasn't enough of a brand on its own to lure moviegoers to theaters this weekend for the remake. My guess: Those who know of Ben-Hur love the 1959 version too much to care about a 2016 version. I have zero desire to see it so if you dared the movie theater this weekend to do so, tell me this: did any of the 1925 sensuality or the 1959 homoeroticism survive in the 2016 version. Or is this just all antiseptic generic blockbuster action mode?
Ben Hur in 1959, 2016, and 1925If you didn't see Ben-Hur, what did you see? Did you like it? More after the jump including the fate of Kubo and the Two Strings and the best thing I saw this weekend...
I finally managed to see Suicide Squad (As terrible as advertised. So sorry for giving it $8 more dollars but I had my reasons of desperately needing a two hour distraction and it being the thing starting right then at the only theater I can walk to from my apartment).
The highlight of my weekend was catching four-time Oscar nominated Sudden Fear (1952) at Film Forum. Somehow I'd never seen it and it was such a fun mix of melodrama, noir, mystery and romance. Crawford was spectacular (no surprise there) and the young Jack Palance had a kind of "Off" handsomeness as a young man that made him perfect for this shady suitor role. They were both nominated but Gloria Grahame serves it up way more potently than she did in her Oscar winning role that same year as a naughty side piece. The terrific performances and clever filmmaking (especially sound and editing) serve a plot that's hilariously rigid and then totally upheaved. I'm telling you it was so good. See it if you haven't.
TOP TEN WIDE
(800 + screens)
01 Suicide Squad $20 (cum. $261.5) Review
02 Sausage Party $16.4 (cum. $66.4) Review
03 War Dogs $15 NEW
04 Kubo and the Two Strings $12.5 NEW
05 Ben-Hur $12 NEW
06 Pete's Dragon $10.6 (cum $42.1) Review
07 Bad Moms $8.1 (cum. $85.8)
08 Jason Bourne $8 (cum. $140.9) Review
09 The Secret Life of Pets $5.4 (cum. $346.3)
10 Florence Foster Jenkins $4.3 (cum $14.4) Review
Scott Renshaw, a critic I enjoy, had this to say about the performance of family films this summer and I think it's worth sharing because solutions to this problem seem weirdly hard to come by.
TOP DOZEN LIMITED
(excluding previously wide releases)
01 Hell or High Water $2.4 (cum $3.2) 472 screens
02 Indignation $553K (cum. $2.3) 317 screens Review
03 Anthropoid $546K (cum. $2.3) 441 screens
04 Cafe Society $520K (cum $9.4) 271 screens Review
05 Don't Think Twice $400K (cum $1.7) 100 screens Review
06 Captain Fantastic $230K (cum $4.7) 153 screens Review
07 Hunt for the Wilderpeople $163K (cum $4.1) 125 screens Review
08 Equity $142K (cum. $.5) 43 screens
09 Kingslaive: Final Fantasy: XV $114K NEW 24 screens
10 AbFab: The Movie $58K (cum. $4.5) 52 screens Review
11 A Tale of Love and Darkness $36K NEW 2 screens Posterized: Natalie Portman
12 Gleason $34K (cum. $.5) 56 screens
You can feel the summer winding down, can't you? On a scale of 1-10 how excited are you for the fall film season? I'm somewhere around 9, 10, or 11.