Mid-Year Report: Blockbuster Bombs - Why Did They Flop?

by Séan McGovern

If 2017 is showing any consistency in audience tastes over the last few years it's that no amount of star power, budget or marketing gimmicks can force audiences to buy tickets, with news that the US Memorial Weekend was the lowest grossing since 1999. I've been told variances of the rule that for every production budget on a bockbuster, you can expect the marketing budget to be half if not equal to that - meaning that managing to break even is still a loss.

The year is noticeable once again for some high profile box office casualties - King Arthur, Ghost in the Shell, Power Rangers, Baywatch, possibly Alien: Covenant and the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, which regardless of its #1 spot at the Box Office has a budget of $230m (!) to recoup and turn into profit.

There is plenty of speculation that the way we watch films is contributing to the losses, but how to explain Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and the Marvel Universe - huge financial successes that tick many of the same boxes as the recent failures? If we like to believe that audiences are more selective or that we truly consider the reviews, then why do the Transformers films keep getting made? (seriously please someone explain)

Full figures (and reader speculation welcome) after the jump...

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Wonder Women: Cheryl Strayed

Let's get Wild, everyone, and start cheering on "wonder women" in our lives! 

By Spencer Coile

As writers we are told to write about what we know. For many, this includes film, television, or anything pop culture related (hello, everyone). For Cheryl Strayed, what she knows best is her own life. Growing up in a home with her two siblings, mother, and abusive father might have been enough, but it was only after her mother's death in 1991 (as Strayed calls it, her "genesis story") and eventual spiral into drugs and promiscuous sex that she chose to trek from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, a journey of 1,100 miles. 

Fear not, for those wishing to experience this quest with Strayed! It is all detailed for us in her masterful 2012 memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and its 2014 film adaptation film starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern...

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Liam Neeson is Deep Throat

Add another title to increasingly busy September true life drama release schedule. Joining Battle of the Sexes, Victoria and Abdul and Stronger is The Silent Man. The film is based on the life of Mark Felt, the secret high-ranking FBI informant during the Watergate scandal who is famously known as “Deep Throat.”  That was of course the pseudonym given to the notorious whistleblower of that scandal. His true identity remained a mystery until, in 2005, Mark Felt revealed himself as the tipster.

Liam Neeson is playing Felt while Diane lane takes on the hopefully not thankless role of his wife. The writer and director is Peter Landesman who has shown an avid interest in these true life investigative stories with Concussion (2015) and Parkland (2013). This first released clip gets an added relevance because of the recent revelations of certain memos written by a certain FBI agent.

Do you document your important meetings in secret memos to use when the need arises?

YNMS: "Logan Lucky"

Chris here. Tucked away in late summer is Steven Soderbergh's Soderbergh's official return from cinematic retirement Logan Lucky. Why is this return so quiet with little fanfare? Well, probably because we always knew that retirement wasn't going to last long anyway - and maybe if Soderbergh is back, he'll stay low-key.

However, from the looks of the first trailer, Logan Lucky will be anything but a low-key romp. Soderbergh is back to the ensemble heist capers he turned into big hits with the Ocean's films, this time even more broadly idiosyncratic and silly. This film's heist seeks to pull one over on NASCAR, with the lovable thieves a set of goofy oddballs that sound more at home in the land of Coens than Soderbergh. Take a look at the first trailer, and we'll discuss the Yes No Maybe So after the jump...

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Part One: 70 Best Gowns of the 70th Cannes Festival

by Nathaniel R.

Monica Belluci, Mistress of Ceremonies, in her Opening Night Gown which just missed our list

It's a giant-sized edition of Beauty Break fused with our traditional Red Carpet Lineup today. But before we begin, can we get a final round of applause for Jose's wondrous work charting all the Kidmanifestations this past week?

Kidman aside, or alongside as the case will be in this post, we couldn't let Cannes wrap up without honoring how glamorous the event is in a big way. Kidman wasn't the only goddess just slaying that red carpet. There were so many of them working those premieres that we even had to leave some A listers off altogether (like Charlize Theron who showed up briefly in a sheer black gown but it wasn't quite a wow if she was just going to do drive by fly by fashion. Alas we've now time to photoshop all the looks with our usual minimalist showcased flare -- please forgive -- but you'll see why given the immense amount of gowns we must cover as we say au revoir to Cannes. 

70 BEST GOWNS OF CANNES 70 
35 red carpet wins are after the jump

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