Box Office: Ready Player Dogs
Monday, April 2, 2018 at 2:00PM by Nathaniel R
| Weekend Box Office (March 23rd-25th) |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide |
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| 1.🔺Ready Player One $41.2 (cum. $53.2) NEW REVIEW |
1. 🔺 Isle of Dogs $2.8 on 165 screens (cum. $5.9) CAPSULE | HOMAGE OR APPROPRIATION |
| 2. 🔺Tyler Perry's Acrimony $17.1 NEW | 2. 🔺 The Death of Stalin $1.4 on 484 screens (cum. $3.9) REVIEW |
| 3. Black Panther $ 11.2 (cum. $650.6) PODCAST |
3. 🔺 Baaghi 2 $580k on 123 screens NEW |
| 4. I Can Only Imagine $10.7 (cum. $55.5) NEW |
4. 🔺 The Leisure Seeker $248k on 38 screens (cum. $1) |
| 5. Pacific Rim Uprising $9.2 (cum. $45.6) REVIEW |
5. 🔺 Finding Your Feet $61k on 14 screens NEW |
Spielberg had his biggest opening in years with Ready Player One, though a lot of people (including our own Chris Feil) don't love the film. Black Panther just won't quit, now nearing the domestic totals of Titanic (unadjusted) and Jurassic World and only just starting to lose theaters in its 7th weekend. Meanwhile...
Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs expanded beautifully and will be in full wide release soon. Pacific Rim Uprising took a big drop in its second week, but as with the first film, it's tripled the domestic gross overseas. That's why the sequel got greenlit in the first place.
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| 6. Sherlock Gnomes $7 (cum. $22.8) | 6. 🔺 Flower $48k on 102 screens (cum. $278k) |
| 7. Love, Simon $4.8 (cum. $32.1) REVIEW | 7. Foxtrot $47k on 35 screens (cum. $342) |
| 8. Tomb Raider $4.7 (cum. $50.5) |
8. A Fantastic Woman $46k on 66 screens (cum. $1.8) REVIEW | OSCAR WIN |
| 9. A Wrinkle in Time $4.6 (cum. $83.2) REVIEW | 9. 🔺 Journey's End $46k on 35 screens (cum. $85k) |
| 10. Paul Apostle of Christ $3.5 (cum. $11.5) | 10. 🔺 Gemini $34k on 4 screens NEW |
| 🔺 = new or expanding its theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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What did you see this week? I was mostly doing theater and TV though I did catch Love, Simon a second time since a friend wanted to see it. It's still adorable ... and the frequent online complaints about the more femme gay in that high school just don't wash with me. They're not used as a punchline, as the implication seems to be. Ethan is seen as someone of strength, and gets a standout sympathetic moment and a POV in a crucial moment late in the film.
Reader Comments (19)
TOTALLY AGREE with your thoughts on Ethan in Love Simon - I don't get what people are projecting onto that character but I never felt like the movie was laughing at him when I was watching it. That last scene with him is so sweet!
I saw and loved "Love,Simon" a film I wish had existed when I was high school. Funny and touching with a terrific cast - I don't get the complaints about Ethan either- he is there to contrast Simon's experience. The character is very strong and positive in the end. I did have a couple of issues I really wanted Simon to punch the kid that outs him in the face. I like the way the movies teases us with the secret pen pal's identity- the final reveal was a bit too political correct but hey I will forgive this wonderful movie everything.
"Fox Trot" - this Israeli film really tested my patience. I maybe admired it from a distance, like an art film, but it's a hard film to sit through. The characters are largely angry and unlikable, there is no context provided, and it's often incoherent.
"Isle of Dogs" -- cute, but a bit too precious and droll for its own good? I really don't like how the influence of TV shows like The Office (character eyeballs the camera) have permeated everything from live action to animation.
"Black Panther" -- thrilling, never a dull moment; beautifully acted and crafted.
Saw TOMB RAIDER mostly because of the hotness that is Daniel Wu and in that regard I wasn't disappointed.
I saw Acrimony which has me more vexed with Hollywood than Tyler Perry. Taraji P Henson doing Streep levels of heavy lifting for subpar material looking to solidify her place as a genuine leading lady.
Acrimony, for Taraji P. Henson more than anything or anyone else, especially considering how much I'm not a Tyler Perry fan, though he has become a better film maker -- which isn't saying much. The movie is about half an hour too long with a bloated first act filled with too much backstory and, consequently, a payoff which feels rushed and forced. It actually could have been a better potboiler had he edited himself more and made the script more taut and focused on suspense instead of domestic drama.
For her part, Henson fully commits if nothing else can be said, and every time I thought I knew where she was going with her characterization she managed to surprise me. Jordan Peele needs to pen something for her stat. That's the thriller I'd want to see.
A wrinkle in time: pastime, could be great but had no strength, lacks a villain.
Ready player 1: fun, fun, fun, not great, but fun all the way.
I saw LOVE, SIMON, loved it! So cute, sweet, and I sobbed solidly all the way through the third act. It also had one of the best precision f-strikes I've seen in recent years (I always have my movie censors hat on when watching films).
I saw Isle of Dogs and Ready Player One, both of which I liked enough but did not love. I just didn’t connect much with Isle of Dogs but I admired the animation and the sweet-natured humor. I had no problems with the cultural qualms others have discussed. It’s what you would expect from a bit of a cultural fetishist like Anderson. Darjeeling Limited was more problematic. Ready Player One was stupid and used the pop cultural references as nothing more than touchpoints. I wish it had done something more clever with it. That said it was not as annoying as the novel and I got swept up by the end. I thought the CGI world would look stupid but it’s actually well done. Mark Rylance is great in his role, and I would have rather watched a movie about his character.
Saw LOVE, SIMON as it just came out here this weekend and I liked it. It was cute and sweet and all the kids look like college students. I would have loved it if I were a teenager like I did with stuff like GET REAL. Pretty harmless and although I think some of the critiques have definite merit, the Ethan stuff does not. They'd never actually make a movie *about* Ethan, but what's there of him in this movie is good and he has clear agency as a character and isn't just a prop. I had more annoyance for Simon's "Game of Thrones" sight-gag.
Ready Player One was Minor League Spielberg but still fun. Since so much was CGI, it didn't quite feel like it had his signature touches. Best parts were the really immersive parts of the 80's Pop Culture angle, and one funny / scary sequence in the middle based on something I won't spoil. It's fun, but nowhere in the league of his own 80's output.
I saw READY PLAYER ONE and mostly enjoyed it, though what's the point of casting the marvelous Clare Higgins if you're going to give her two mins of screen time and zilch to do?
I saw Ready Player One. It's fun popcorn fare but literally not much else. Little character development and it does go a tad overboard with its nostalgia. The MVP among the cast I would say is, like with everything he's in, Ben Mendelsohn.
Raul: I kind of resent that Spielberg doing this means we probably won't get someone to do this who is better at comedy (even if Spielberg is great, comedy has always been his big blind spot) and understands the push-pull of toxic & pure that exist in all fandom. James Gunn's Ready Player One? That might have been AMAZING. I mean, it would also be arguably kind of a waste (Snow Crash exists...), but as a, less, "superhero" run through a similar theme/statement as Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2? Hollywood's always pursuing MUCH worse ideas than that.
Matt St.Clair: Nolan Sorrento is such a NOTHING of a character, and that goes both for the book and in the film script, that Mendelsohn being able to do ANYTHING with it is a testament to how good he is. I'd say Rylance is the best, with Mendelsohn being second, but Rylance also had, y'know, actual material, which is a bit more than you can say of the entire rest of the cast.
Um, Ethan's femininity is the literal punchline of several jokes in the film, including the "fake shock" of his friends when he comes out.
Ethan might be used as a punchline- but he also punches back
Jaragon : exactly.
Jaragon & Michael R -- see i don't even think he's used as a punchline.
AlexD -- which other punchlines? Surely you don't mean the bullies insulting him? Those are not jokes we're meant to laugh at. Those are portrayed as stupid ignorant bullying that we're meant to cringe at (a staple of high school comedies really in which you're almost never expected to find the bullies *actually* funny even though they think they are...
The coming out joke is the only one (at least that I can think of after seeing the film twice) that can be argued to be 'a punchline about his femininity'. And even that joke has a counterbalance in the straight kids coming out joke with neither joke being at all mean-spirited and both jokes focused not on the person coming out but the stupid reactions of the people who are hearing the coming out. Both of those twin jokes are, at least to me, about the way society makes coming out such a weird rite-of-passage / ritual when it should be such a non-issue. The "too much" from one of Ethan's friends to another of his friend's is perfect and the true punchline of the scene.
I remain confused at people finding objections to that character. I think the movie is so inoffensive. Ethan is never looked down at by either the script or the visual storytelling. Notice how he's nearly always pictured with friends right next to him who clearly like him - not remotely portrayed as an weirdo/loser. The only people who give him trouble in the movie are bullies and, arguably, the principle who also clearly has a bit of learning to do with gay kids since he treats Simon the same awkward way once he realizes he's also gay.
Ethan's coming out scene happens a lot in real life, with friends already knowing by the time their gay friend comes out. If that's "at his expense," it's incredibly mild and, considering they don't reject him, still pretty sweet that they try to react the way they think they're supposed to to be nice to him.
I've entered the 1950's phase of catching up on old films: All About Eve (stone-cold classic), Sunset Boulevard (fantastically creepy, Swanson should've won) and Caged (fun, nice to see Agnes Moorehead in a different kind of role).
Also saw Wings, the very first Best Picture winner, which is surprisingly great. Beautifully restored, very pretty and appealing leading actors (although the "hero" is kind of a jerk), great action scenes and absolutely hilarious sequence in Paris where the ace pilot gets drunk on champagne and can't stop seeing bubbles all around him. When the dialogue card popped up saying "No war - jus' bubbles!" I burst out laughing. Jus' bubbles indeed, dude.