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« NYFF: Félicité, the Real and the Fanciful | Main | NYFF: Faces Places »
Sunday
Sep242017

Box Office: Golden Circle and Gold Prospecting

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 22nd-24th)
W I D E
800+ screens
L I M I T E D
excluding prev. wide
1.🔺 KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE  $39 new  1.🔺 STRONGER $1.7 on 574 screens new REVIEW
2. IT $30 (cum. $266.3) REVIEW | 5 TAKEAWAYS  2.🔺 BRAD'S STATUS $1 on 453 screens (cum. $1.1) REVIEW
3.🔺 LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE $21.2 new  3.🔺 BATTLE OF THE SEXES $525k on 4 screens new
4. AMERICAN ASSASSIN $6.2 (cum. $26.1) 4. 🔺 VICTORIA AND ABDUL $152k on 4 screens new 

 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle got off to a fast start with its all star cast and Looney Tunes broad violence (only I guess people die unlike Wile E. Coyote) while It continues to power on determined to be the biggest horror hit of all time right now trailing only The Sixth Sense (if you don't adjust for inflation) and that and The Exorcist (if you adjust for inflation).

Meanwhile since Fall has officially begun, so too has the Oscar-hopeful release cycle (FINALLY). All four of them that opened this weekend are off to great starts...

5. HOME AGAIN $3.3 (cum. $22.3) 5. COLUMBUS $80k on 57 screens (cum. $751k)
6. mother! $3.2 (cum. $13.4) REVIEW | DIVISIVE | MICHELLE 6.🔺  DOLORES $70k on 27 screens (cum. $257k)
7. 🔺 FRIEND REQUEST $2.4 new 7. DO IT LIKE AN HOMBRE  $52K on 50 screens (cum. $2.4k)
8. HITMAN'S BODYGUARD $1.8 (cum. $73.5) 8.🔺 LOVING VINCENT $24k on 1 screen new
9. WIND RIVER $1.2 (cum. $31.6) REVIEW 9. CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER $23k (cum. $162k) on 16 screens
10. SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING  $1.1 (cum. $331.8)  REVIEW | PODCAST 10. MAUDIE $23k (cum. $6.1) on 44 screens REVIEW

🔺 = new or significant expansion

numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo 

 

Battle of the Sexes, Victoria and Abdul, and even Loving Vincent - that painted animated feature -- all found eager audiences waiting for them with promising per screen averages in limited release. Stronger, Jake Gyllenhaal's Oscar bid, went nearly wide for week one and made the overall top ten despite being on one thousand (at least) less screens than the wide releases that made it. In short, adults have been starved for options at the movies for the past month or four.

Battle of the Sexes, which I'm so pleased to report is really good (!), goes wide next weekend. We hope the word of mouth is there for it because if Oscar is going to honor a sports movie this year let it be this one rather than I Tonya (which has scheduled it's one-week qualifying Oscar release in NY & LA for December 8th) since this one is actually well-made across the board and beautifully acted with Emma Stone making a strong case for herself in the gorgeously overstuffed Best Actress race

The sleeper hit status of Wind River -its gross has now tripled its budget - makes you wonder if we aren't underestimating the awards prospects of that one. Clearly adult audiences like it and the acting is indeed fine. Especially Gil Birmingham (hot off of Hell or High Water) as a grieving father.

What did you see this weekend? I took in some NYFF screenings (more reviews to come) and hit Battle of the Sexes and Victoria & Abdul both of which we'll say more about soon.

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Reader Comments (25)

I saw Battle of the Sexes, which I really enjoyed. Emma Stone, Steve Carrell, Andrea Riseborough, Bill Pullman and the great Elisabeth Shue were all fantastic. There were a lot of kids in the audience, which made me very happy.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterTom Ford

according to your predictions, you have 0 nominations for BOS. Outside Emma Stone's possible nom, which other nomination seems likely?

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterCris

I watched KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, which was flawed (think DARK KNIGHT RISES-levels of flaws), but I enjoyed nonetheless, because I love me some Taron Egerton.

Also watched IT, which wasn't as scary as it could have been and ~20 minutes too long, but still worth watching thanks to the young cast.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterEmma

PS, Sarah Silverman is also great in the movie. Very tart and funny.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterTom Ford

I saw:

Bjorg vs. McEnroe - which was excellent. Riveting!
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - which of course was pure magic.
Kingsman: Golden Circle - which was a colossal bore.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterAdam Lewis

Beatriz at Dinner Hayek gr8 but far too on the nose and right on,Lithgow a caricature.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered Commentermarkgordonuk

Poor Jake Gylenhaal. Audiences are still not into him.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJono

Had a Kubrick weekend, saw the great exhibition about his career, filled with movie props! See it if you haven't already!
And then on sunday (today) I got the chance to see 2001 in 70 MM, what a masterpiece it is and at nearly 50 yrs old it still shines in the VFX department.

@ home I saw It comes at night. Beautifully made and well acted but story-wise very thin.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterhaajen

Emma: Mmm I'm not sure I'd say that. It's not nearly as big a leap as Batman Begins to The Dark Knight (and I think this franchise's shelf life seems pretty much over at only two movies), but it somewhat redeems the original's final gag and refines that "The Roger Moore Bond Movies we Never Got" mission statement of the original to as fine a sheen as I think it can. Overall:

Kingsman 1 pre Kingsman 2: B-
Kingsman 1 post Kingsman 2: Low B
Kingsman 2: High B

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

Podcast time! Please. :) I need to hear you guys debate Mother! Plus now we have V&A, Stronger, Battle of the Sexes, It, Wind River and Brad's Status - so much to discuss. Pretty pretty please.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered Commentereurocheese

Just now, A Brighter Summer Day by the late Edward Yang. What a film. Truly one of the best films of the 20th Century.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterthevoid99

I saw "Mother!" which was interesting for about fifteen minutes but once I figured out what Aronofsky was up toI knew the where the film was headed. I felt sorry for Lawrence who is asked to play an impossible role. La Pfeiffer was amusing in her role. The problem with this sort of film is that it needs at least some semblance of logic- a murder is committed at one point but no police show up to investigate (?!). And I still don't understand why Lawrence stays with Barden who is a selfish prick. The over the top final act is way too much. I can understand why some people hate the movie specially if the were conned by trailer which made it seem like a scary horror movie.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJaragon

Jono,

Did you not read the article. 1.7mil is pretty good a September drama in 500 theaters and with almost zero marketing.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered Commentertonytr

Mother! Dropped 56% which surprised me. I thought it would've dropped much further

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterDAVID

Film Bitch FYC -- Best Limited or Cameo Role, Annette O'Toole in "Women who Kill".

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterDave S.

Tony - I hope it has legs but they were hoping for a bigger splash given the good reviews.

I am watching The Accountant with Ben Affleck as an autistic hitman. So bad it's good.

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJono

nathaniel, i concur on Battle of the Sexes. it's subtle, sophisticated, but also accessible and fun. emma is glorious in it!

September 24, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterEricB

I saw Mother! On Friday, five days after I saw It. This has NOT helped with my anxiety issues.

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterJakey

Every time i see BRAD'S STATUS written anywhere I assume it's an AIDS drama rather than a film about class structure.

I saw RIP TIDE (Aussie strictly Disney flick, cute for tweets but that's about it), Argento's DEEP RED (for the first time and on the big screen - was a gooey delight tripped up by the usual giallo issues), VICTORIA & ABDUL (odious and blandly crafted), and FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER (thankfully on the big screen since Anthony Dod Mantle's cinematography deserves it - the film is strong, even if Jolie is definitely not a subtle director).

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterGlenn Dunks

We saw It comes at Night - well made - but kinda slow -
The Hero - w/Sam Elliott - 70+ plus years and the man is still all kinds of sexy - nice movie with a great turn by Laura Prepon - plus how cool to see Katharine Ross after so many year...
Ended the weekend with Kingsman - Golden Circle - fun movie for what it is supposed to deliver...Elton John's cameo was a hoot! We thought parts of the sequel were much funnier then the original Kingsman....

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered Commenterceebee

Volvagia:
The final gag of KINGSMAN 1 never bothered me as much as it seemed to everyone else. Whereas the sequence in KINGSMAN 2 where *SPOILER ALERT* Cara Delevingne's sister has to get fingered *END SPOILER* seemed like it was knowingly pushing the audience's buttons, sort of like 'oh, you didn't like the gag from the first film? Well, that THIS!'

That's how it felt to me, anyway.

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterEmma

I had a week off so I caught up on a bunch of movies:

Spellbound - a merely fine Hitchcock film. What made it worthwhile were 1) the dream sequence designed by Dali 2) the Oscar-nominated performance by acting legend Michael Chekov and 3) Bergman and Peck - 2 utterly gorgeous stars and, interestingly, it felt like Peck had the stereotypical "woman" role as he was flighty, hyterical, prone to dizzy spells and passing out, while Bergman had the "man" role of the cool, calm, intellectual doctor who has to save him.

Into Great Silence - a nearly 3-hour, dialogue-free documentary about Catholic monks in the French Alps. The director edited it to resemble the experience of being there, how time stretches and dissipates, focusing on the minutiae of the present moment, etc. While this had its rewards, that also meant it barely contained any information. Once you research the monks, you realize how fascinating their schedules, routines and lives really are.

Beach Rats - basically what others have said. Well shot, well acted (Dickinson is a real find - so natural and that face is made for the camera), but it ends just as it starts to get going and the story is nothing new.

Logan - I was prepared for the graphic violence (which I normally don't like) so it only kind of bothered me. Otherwise this was a mostly well done film. Jackman is of course great (and damn does he still look good in a tank top) and the story was surprisingly moving even if the plot got a little unwieldy.

The Lost City of Z - I was expecting more of a straightforward action film (why, I have no idea - I should've known better based on the director) but once I got on the film's groove it became really enjoyable. The ending is haunting. And why do I never recognize Sienna Miller even though I've seen her in a ton of films?

Bright Star - I wanted to like this more than I did. It was merely fine. Beautiful to look at, of course, and Cornish and Schneider were great (Whishaw was...fine?) but a little...boring.

mother! - I still have no idea what I think of this. I didn't know the allegory before seeing it so it felt like 2 separate movies. The first half with Harris and Pfeiffer (who was great) and then the second half of non-stop chaos which started to feel like a slog. But MAJOR props to Lawrence for taking on such a difficult, aggressively provocative film like this at the peak of her career. This is a pretty brave film and character for her to take on.

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterDJDeeJay

I saw Brad's Status and I loved it. The portrayal of the title character struck me as entirely accurate because it reminded me very much of someone I'm close to. Austin Abrams, who plays Stiller's son, is a find as well.

I also caught up on The Deuce and I think I like it so far...? I didn't think I would watch it but the reviews swayed me, and it at least seems to go beyond objectifying women and looking at the financial reasons many women turn to prostitution and porn. Maggie Gyllenhaal's character seems to be the best part of the show at this point. The production design is really good - it's interesting to see that the porn theaters used to be side-by-side with the arthouse theaters in Times Square.

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterSuzanne

Mostly new TV episodes on streaming channels, including American Vandal (Netflix), Marvel's The Defenders (Netflix) and W1A (can't say, cuz I'm not in the U.K.), and finally catching up with GoT (HBO, and OMG why did I wait so long).

Plus The Big Sick (charming--the Zo(e,ooey)s--Kazan and Deschanel--are certainly manic pixie dream girls).

Caught another NT Live production of Twelfth Night with Tamsin Greig (delightful) and seeing Yerma with Billie Piper later this week.

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterPam

I watched Battle of the Sexes and thought it might be surprisingly too subtle and fair minded to find an audience. Emma is best in show, though there are three women who could have been contenders with just a bit more screen time: Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Silverman, and mostly Andrea Riseborough. If Steve Carrell went Supporting Actor (borderline fraudulent), I could see that happening.

September 25, 2017 | Unregistered CommenterDave in Hollywood
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