Overheard @ Box Office: "You can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss"

Overheard on Friday:

Woman#1: (Defeated sounding) I have to take my son to see The Lorax. 
Cheerful Female Friend: Ohhh, you can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss!"  

Cheerful Female Friend has clearly not registered the atrocities Hollywood has often made from the good doctor's work. And when one thinks of the colorful wit and profound whimsy of Dr. Seuss surely mainstream heartthrobs like Zac Efron and Taylor Swift pop immediately to mind! What a, uhhhh, perfect vocal match.

But Cheerful Female Friend speaks for all of America. So testifies the box office!

BAKERS DOZEN (Estimates)
01 THE LORAX  $70.7 new  
02 PROJECT X  $20.7 new  
03 ACT OF VALOR $13.7 (cum. $45.2)
04 SAFE HOUSE  $7.2 (cum. $108.2)
05 TYLER PERRY'S GOOD DEEDS $7 (cum. $25.7)
06 JOURNEY 2 THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND $6.9 (cum. $85.6)
07 THE VOW  $6.1 ($111.7)
08 THIS MEANS WAR  $5.6  (cum. $41.6)
09 GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE $4.7 (cum. $44.8)
10 THE ARTIST $3.9 (cum. $37)

11 WANDERLUST  $3.8 (cum. $12.4)
12 GONE $3 (cum. $8.9)
13 CHRONICLE  $1.9 (60.8)

Talking Points

Reese, Amanda, and Jen have seen better box office days

• BLONDE BUT BANKABLE? Reese Witherspoon's movies are generally expensive to make but that return on investment these days. Yikes. This Means War is still a long way from recouping its budget. Jennifer Aniston movies have always had schizophrenic box office performance but Wanderlust is definitely on the weak side of her ticket-selling. How on earth was that sperm-switching comedy more attractive to moviegoers than this one? Meanwhile Amanda Seyfried hasn't been able to scare up crowds from Gone which is weirder. It's a genre flick and can't those usually open even without a name? $8 million for a serial killer picture after two weeks? Ouch. I'm sure it doesn't help that the ads totally make it seem like something Ashley Judd was making in the early 90s.

• EXCUSE ME, BUT WHO IS PAYING TO SEE GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE? I mean, besides our masochistic Michael C. It's already made more money than 2011's "Best Picture"... which had a big uptick post Oscar of course (The Artist's co-nominees took falls but Hugo fell only 14% despite also debuting on DVD so maybe its constant name-checking on Sunday night convinced some holdouts?)

• A SEPARATION more than doubled its screen count and had its first million dollar weekend, bringing its total to $3.7 million at the US box office. That there is a big big number for a non-genre subtitled picture.

What did you see this weekend? Was it worth the money? I was having an offline recuperation weekend so I went to see a Norwegian band at The Bitter End that one of my friends recommended called Mhoo. They're so good. Have a listen! 

They told me they're going to SXSW so if you're heading to that festival check them out.

Even when I'm at non-film events I can't stop thinking of movies. While the girls were singing I kept thinking "Kiki Dunst and Leelee Sobieski should play them in a movie!" 

Oscar's 84th Year is a Wrap

We're getting some sleep this weekend -- what is this thing called sleep? -- but we'll be back to regular posting Monday night / Tuesday morning. If you'd like to relive this year's Oscar Experience it went like so...

• Speech! analyzing the hierarchies of Oscar speeches. It was fun to see the Oscars so shortly after doing this and watching the speeches conform/change
• Final Oscar Predix Overestimated The Artist. Underestimated Iron Lady & Hugo.
• It's Oscar Day Are you prepared for guests/festivities?
• Live Tweeting while watching the big show
• The Morning After famous post-Oscar photos
• Prediction Stats and Billy Crystal
• Streep's Third Win and Internal Conflict
• Oscar Takeaways Part 1 Fincher Films, Dance Direction, Iran's Win
• Oscar Takeaways Part 2 Lubezki still Oscarless, Stone still Hilarious, Oscar still Nostalgic
• Curio: Oscar Foods yummy clever party dishes
• Favorite Press Room Photo -Meryl & Jean
• Fashion Review Glenn's consistency, Gwynnie's cape, Michelle's coral
• The Year In... Jessica Chastain. All the gowns. All the evenings up to and including Oscar
• Podcast Part 1 Spread the Wealth, Worship the Leg, End the War
• Podcast Part 2 'The Hottest Guy in the Room' is not 'The Boy Who Lived'

Podcast: 'Hottest Guy in the Room' (Not 'The Boy Who Lived')

Post Oscar Podcast Part 2! We left off talking about Meryl Streep's win in Part One. We pick that back up for a wee bit before a grab bag of shiny golden goodies to send you on your way.

Topics include but are not limited to...

• "the hottest guy in the room"
• Christopher Plummer and the best 'Best Supporting Actor' run ever
• Busy Phillips ♥ Michelle Williams
• Who will be the holdover nominee this year to next?
• Brad Pitt. Nathaniel tries to let go. Everyone else resists
• Best Original Song Death Watch
• Oscar Hosting & Oscar Blogging
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Shunning Part 3
• Goodbyes

You can download the podcast on iTunes or listen right here at the bottom of the post.

And that's a wrap on this Oscar year. We hope you enjoyed the coverage. I want to give a shout out to everyone who helped out during The Film Experience's biggest year ever. In addition to these podcast pals, big love to Michael, Kurt, Amir, Alexandra, Jason, Joanna, Robert, Jose and all of you reading whose passion for the site helps keep it going even when movies go sour or finances and times are tight.

Mwah! Now some sleep.

Regularly scheduled blogging resumes on Tuesday. Until then enjoy the podcasts and any pieces you might have missed along the way. Click around.

Oscar Post-Mortem Part 2

Podcast: Spread the Wealth, End the War

I couldn't let the postmortem on Oscar's 84th close without inviting my ol' podcast pals Katey, Nick and Joe to join me for one last conversation of the season. We ended up talking for over an hour. See we all share this "can't stop talking Oscar!" addiction and none of us will ever go to rehab. So you get the podcast in two parts. Part two late tonight.

Here's part one where we start goofy with Octavia Spencer's ubiquity and end all serious like (well, mostly) with Viola and Meryl. Join the conversation in the comments.

Topics include but are not limited to...

• Octavia Spencer, Angelina Jolie
• "Cut To Camera 3. No, Camera 4. Wait, Back to 2!"
• Spreading the Wealth. What Did They Actually Love?
• Billy Crystal's 9th Go-Round
• Emma Stone vs. Anne Hathaway with a side of Jonah Hill
• Red Carpet Reveals and Lead Actor Presentations
• CLIPS! Commercial Breaks
• Meryl & Viola and the Narrative vs. Performance Problem

You can download the podcast on iTunes or listen right here at the bottom of the post.
UPDATE: PART TWO NOW AVAILABLE AS WELL.

Post Oscar Part One

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Bernie" and "Frankenweenie"

Andreas here with a pair of trailers from beloved directors -- and both death-centric comedies, at that. First up, Richard Linklater's Bernie:

YES

• The most obvious reasons: Slacker, Dazed & Confused, Waking Life, etc., etc.
• Black and McConaughey both seem to be doing offbeat, atypical work here. I'm curious to see where their performances lead.
• And of course, the legendary Shirley MacLaine!

NO

• But judging from the trailer, her role looks awfully one-dimensional -- "shrill old lady who dies." Here's hoping it's more fun in the finished film.
• This isn't the movie's fault, but wow, that trailer goes for every musical and editing cliché in the book. I'm surprised they didn't use a record scratch instead of a gunshot.

More "Bernie" and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie trailer after the jump.

Click to read more ...