What did you see this week... or are you waiting for Thanksgiving like Hollywood?
Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at 4:09PM By Nathaniel R
It was a strange weekend for moviegoers. Hollywood wanted to give Black Panther 2 ample room and it's not quite thanksgiving so only two new wide releases risked opening: The Menu and She Said. The former did okay and the latter struggled. In limited release a slightly similar story but just remove a few 0s as Bones and All and The Inspection both opened on a handful of screens. In both box office skirmishes, moviegoers tended to chose the violent option. Violent thrills are really what sells movie tickets these days, with or without vfx budgets. We wish the general moviegoer had wider taste, but it is what it is...
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) November 18th-20th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER |
 BONES AND ALL |
| 1 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $66.4 (cum. $287.1) | 1 TILL $228k (cum. $8.5) 656 screens |
| 2 🔺★ THE MENU $9 *NEW* | 2 ★ TÁR $184k (cum. $4.9) 205 screens |
| 3 BLACK ADAM $4.6 (cum. $157.1) | 3 ★ TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (sweden/uk) $170k (cum. $3.8) |
| 4 ★ TICKET TO PARADISE $3.1 (cum. $61.5) | 4 🔺 BONES AND ALL $121k *NEW* 5 screens |
| 5 🔺★ SHE SAID $2.2 *NEW* | 5 ★ DECISION TO LEAVE (south korea) $91k (cum. $1.7) 96 screens |
| 6 LYLE LYLE CROCODILE $1.9 (cum. $43.1) |
6 ★ THE FABELMANS $89k (cum. $309k) 4 screens |
 BANSHEES OF INISHERIN |
 AFTERSUN |
|
7 SMILE $1.1 (cum. $104.5) |
7 TERRIFIER 2 $75k (cum. $10.5) 180 screens |
| 8 PREY FOR THE DEVIL $919k (cum. $18.3) |
8 ★ AFTERSUN $75k (cum. $689k) 97 screens |
| 9 ★ THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN $729K (cum. $7.1) | 9 ★ THE INSPECTION $65k *NEW* 5 screens |
| There are only 9 movies currently in wide release | 10 MEET ME IN THE BATHROOM $24k (cum. $278k) 29 screens |
| ...that is way too few for a healthy film culture | 11 EO $24k *NEW* 2 screens |
| ...do better Hollywood | 12 BAD AXE (doc) $9k *NEW* 24 screens |
Hopefully with wider awareness of "awards season" and "best" conversations coming for the holidays the awards hopefuls will pick up some steam. Hollywood may think the industry can thrive on franchises alone but it really can't. Variety is needed for the health of the movies. They've conditioned people --as we've been warning readers about for 20 years now!!! -- to only think about films as art or as worthy to see even if they aren't "spectacles" for a short period of time each year (December-February). The results have been fairly catastrophic. But at least people do still tune in to what's considered "best" somewhat during these months, as the conditioning suggested.
ANYWAY... support things other than franchises in movie theaters. Please!
What have you watched this week? I hit two critics screenings for Devotion (the year's other aviation drama) and Babylon and also finally caught up with Aftersun which I should have jumped right on after the festival praise. It's enthralling while it's playing but even better once it's had time to linger.
THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND
The big new movie for the kids this holiday weekend is Disney's Strange World though we hope families with older kids who can handle adult themes will consider Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans which is about a family or the aviation drama Devotion. Since Thanksgiving is a big moviegoing time that's not all. The gory romantic drama Bones and All is expanding quickly, the Knives Out comic mystery sequel Glass Onion gets a one week only theatrical release timed to the holiday and other awards hopefuls do their Oscar qualifying or platform releases: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, The Nanny, The Son, The Corridors of Power, Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, and White Noise.
Reader Comments (6)
Saw THE MENU. I liked it well enough, but I wish it actually went... somewhere? The ensemble/performances are great though.
Already have my ticket to see GLASS ONION tomorrow!
The UK's bad weather kept me in so I saw
Ash Wednesday 1973 Elizabeth Taylor in Edith Head gowns.
Aftersun Mescal shines and that ending is one i can't stop thinking about
Rio Conchos bland 60's western
Marnie my favourtie film of 1964 and hats off to Louise Latham's 2 scene wonder
Causeway this dragged on to long,Henry the standout,Lawrence has nothing to play
Mike's Murder puzzling now forgotten Debra WInger thriller from 1984
From Russia With Love one of the better Bond films
I saw “Armageddon Time”, which I keep thinking about.
I often don’t understand why James Gray isn’t more recognized as a major American filmmaker. He makes excellent movies, with terrific actors, interesting plots, and difficult questions.
This isn’t a rosy view of the filmmaker as a kid. He’s hard to get along with, makes wrong decisions, and is ignorant. He’s not a charming naif, and this isn’t about how he became a great film director. It’s more about beginning to understand pervasive unfairness and feeling unequal to the task.
I can understand why Anthony Hopkins is in the Best Supporting Actor discussion. He makes me want to be a mensch too, although I understand I will fail and fail again.
What I saw this weekend were Tout va Bien that was co-directed by Jean-Luc Godard and co-starring Jane Fonda and Elton John's final U.S. concert on Disney+.
I caught up with PEARL over the weekend and loved it! X was enjoyable, but this was much more my type of horror and Mia Goth is just astounding in it. There are also a bunch of titles I'm interested in that just hit digital, so I'm lining those up for holiday viewing, starting with TILL, ARMAGEDDON TIME, & TRIANGLE OF SADNESS. May even revisit TÁR.
In terms of less recent content, I watched the Nora Ephron doc EVERYTHING IS COPY (wonderful) and finally knocked ANNA off the long list of Best Actress nominees I need to see. Sally Kirkland earned her place in that year's lineup!
I went to She Said and The Menu.
Much like Bombshell, it feels too soon for She Said - not enough opportunity for perspective and distance making it feel like a long wikipedia recap of events we all just lived through. The blend of fictionalization and real people playing themselves doesn't always work. But - it's powerful and has a strong ensemble. I really appreciated Ben Miller's piece on it as the way it placed so many of its pivotal scenes in the domestic space was really effective. Also - Carey Mulligan slapping on an American accent, dropping her voice an octave, and going after toxic men will always be a thrill.
The Menu was a lot of fun. It was way more straightforward than I anticipated and the satire was fairly shallow. Another delightful ensemble (Nicholas Hoult LOL, Hong Chau pronouncing tortilla) and there's a certain level of WTF shock as it progresses that plays really well with a crowd. My audience was having a great time - I think a 9 million open is actually a really great start compared to other titles. Hopefully it holds well for the holidays.