Box Office: Crushed Cars, Ascendant Woody and Global Hits

We won't waste too much time on the American box office today as it's the usual stories: an animated film tops the charts (don't make me say the name), Bridesmaid barely dipped and Midnight in Paris is zooming up the "all time Woody Allen lists". On this last bit I wish we had "adjusted for inflation" charts at the ready. Those inevitable stories about it passing Hannah and Her Sisters at the box office are going to be annoying because $40 million in 1986 is a helluva lot more ticket-buying action than $41 million in 2011, you know? I'm guessing that Annie Hall, which really captured mainstream attention, would reign supreme if you adjusted for inflation. [updated: yep, ANNIE HALL is #1]

And yes I normally do a new drawing for the box office but I hate drawing cars and the only picture I'd like to conjure in that realm is Cars 2's "Mater" squished flat in a compactor.

U.S. Box-Office (Actuals)
figures via box office mojo

01 CARS 2 new $66.1 
02 BAD TEACHER new $31.6 
03 GREEN LANTERN $18 [review] (cum. $88.9)
04 SUPER 8 $12 [thoughts] (cum. $95.1)
05 MR POPPER'S PENGUINS  $10.1 (cum. $39.2)

the rest of the top twelve are now losing screens... 
X-MEN FIRST CLASS $6.6 [review, top ten X] THE HANGOVER PT II $5.5, BRIDESMAIDS $5.2, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES $4.9 [review], KUNG FU PANDA 2 $4.1, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS $4.1 [podcast] and TREE OF LIFE $1.3 [overheard & thoughts]

Worldwide Action
It's all about the 4th Pirates film worldwide unfortunately, reminding us that the US hardly has the strangehold on lemming-like sequel culture. Johnny Depp on loop nears another 1 billion gross. Crazine$$.

But let's talk about movies that never get any attention on movie blogs!
I looked at the global charts at box office mojo and thought it was worth sharing. Here are the top grossers that aren't Hollywood for 2011 (Please note: Bollywood does not give figures to B.O.M. so who knows with those films)

2011's Top Grossers (Non-English Language)

01 Hankyu densha 
This Japanese film is based on a best-selling novel about intersecting lives (it uses a public transport line as connecting backdrop). Starring Miki Nakatani and Erika Toda. It's nearly as big a hit as, say, Rango across the ocean but it's Japan only thus far. [Trailer]
02 Rien à déclarer (Nothing to Declare)
Directed and written by and stars (whew) Dany Boon who you might remember as the lead actor from last year's chaotic farce Mic-Macs (which was from Amélie's director). It's a comedy about customs officers during the elimination of the French-Belgium border in the 1990s. This is a bigger hit than True Grit or No Strings Attached overseas and has distributors in various markets but nothing for the US as far as I can tell. 
03 Che bella giornata (What a Beautiful Day)
A very complicated sounding comedy starring Checco Zalone (who also co-wrote the movie) as a security officer in Italy who gets mixed up with an Arabic girl posing as a French woman. Italy only thus far. [Official Site]

04 Kokowääh
German star Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds) co-wrote this family comedy and co-stars with his daughter. Warner Bros handled the very very successful German release. Will we see it... or some English language remake here?
05 SP The Motion Picture
Japanese film about Security Police that's based on a TV series.
06 Gantz
A genre film about two teenagers played by Ken'ichi Matsuyama and Kazunari Ninomiya hunting and killing aliens. This one has distributors in some European countries in addition to Asia but the only US plans (at the moment) is a spot in the New York Asian Film Festival which is just about to start (July 1st). 

Here's the trailer for the festival as a whole (cute). If you're in NYC are you seeing anything?

After that in the global charts when its not Hollywood films it's mostly Asian films (they have their own strong markets) but there's one film in particular that our actress-loving heart is thumping for longingly. That's Les Femmes du 6ème étage (Service Entrance) which is a French film about Spanish maids from director Jean-Philippe LeGuay. The Spanish cast includes Carmen Maura and Lola Dueñas (Volver reunion alert!) as the help and Fabrice Luchini and Sandrine Kiberlain as conservative wealthy French employers.

Service Entrance

Strand Releasing has US distribution rights but given that the film is the 79th most popular overseas for 2011 with a $15 million gross (thus far), we hope it gets a hearty US push.

Do you like hearing about foreign hits or did your eyes just glaze over?

Secret Messages: "I am a short timer..."

secret messages from the movies. new puzzle series!

Dear Johnny, I am a short timer on... I got a story... I done some armed robbery...

Can you guess the movie?

Check your answer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Ally Sheedy "We Were Under the Radar"

Gay pride week here in New York City has been eventful to say the least (see previous post) and the parade today was fun. But I thought what you'd most be interested in, given The Film Experience's leanings (actressexual), was a shared moment with Ally Sheedy!

I was on the guest list for Kiehl's Pride Party which was hosted by Dan Savage and his boyfriend Terry Miller of the awesome "It Gets Better" project (Can someone give them a Nobel Peace Prize already?). And so, to my utter delight, was Ally Sheedy. I had to reach out to her as she passed by me to tell her how much I loved her in High Art (1998). Once she'd stopped to chat, me being me, I had to then tell her I was rooting for her to win the Oscar but then she wasn't even nominated. Unspeakable Tragedy! Immediately after blurting that out, I worried I'd poured salt onto an old wound but instead she was all smiles, thank yous and bygones "We were under the radar!" she said cheerfully. We then swapped "Isn't Patty Clarkson awesome?" notes and to my surprise Ally introduced me to her lovely daughter. How is Ally Sheedy old enough to have a 17 year old daughter?!?  

I brought along my friend Jon and we're pictured to your left with Kenneth in the (212) who offers up an amusing rundown of the event and a rather skewed version of my chat with Ally Sheedy ;)  It's not that I don't love The Breakfast Club, trust! I just wanted to use the few seconds I had with her to talk about more pressing matters. And Oscar is always the most pressing matter, don't you agree?

In addition to a great crowd, the event featured gourmet cups of macaroni & cheese (4 or 5 different flavors. Don't confuse me with options) which everyone tried to pretend they weren't into. Everyone pretended badly.

How was your weekend? More on the weekend movies, box office and the True Blood premiere tomorrow. G'night.

"Hit Me..." Last Three Episodes!

Hit Me With Your Best Shot, the series in which we look at pre-selected features and choose the best (okay our favorite) shot has gotten a bit wobbly this past month (queue problems, off-blog deadlines) for which you have our hearty apologies. Here is a revised Season 2 finale schedule. We promise to stick to this one since the holiday craziness (Gay Pride / 4th of July) will have passed. Just three more episodes...

• Wed July 6th: Luchino Visconti's ROCCO & BROTHERS (1960)
• Wed July 13th: ALIENS (1986)  25th anniversary spectacular theme week!
• Wed July 20th: REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) for Natalie Wood's bday

Please considering joining us. Spread the word to fans of Lt. Ellen Ripley or red jackets. Those weeks we did Beauty & The Beast and Moulin Rouge! were so fun. The more blogs, tumblrs and sites the merrier.

P.S. And a round of applause for all the previous participants this season. Please check out these blogs and add them to your reading queues if you like them: Movies Kick Ass, Awww the Movies, Film Actually, Antagony & Ecstasy, Stale Popcorn, Pussy Goes Grrr, Cinephilia & Sass, The Entertainment Junkie, Ahora, Victim of the Time, Film Misery, Amiresque, Encore Entertainment, His Eyes Were Watching Movies, Against the Hype, Serious Film, Tom Clift, Movies and Other Things, Okinawa Assault, Cheap Seat Reviews, Kyle Unscripted, Dial P For Popcorn, Intafada, Being Norma Jeane, Mosaical Musings, Derrek's Tumblr, Moved by a Screen Dream, Sketchy Details, Sorta That Guy, A Blog Next Door, Animation Revelation, Awards Nazi, The Red Headed Invasion, musicinephile, Melanie Lynskey, The Owls Are Not What They Seem and Missemmamm.

Movies are meant to be a communal experience. Thanks for getting that. If you've always meant to join in the screen-cap discussing fun, why not finish out the season with us battling acidic aliens or teen angst 1950s style? 

Madonna is a Member of AMPAS. Pixar Wears Kilts. And Other News

In Contention "No Refunds" sign posted outside The Tree of Life. It's the crazies.
Towleroad gay pride, Cars 2, Bad Teacher, James McAvoy, etcetera
Twitter Look, it's one of the most amusing Official Tweets of the weekend. 

I mean, who knew? Madonna votes on Oscars?!? They haven't even deigned her worthy of Best Song nominations even though she totally has been. 
Boy Culture reminds us that Madonna has good taste in movies. 

Cineuropa I hadn't been following the Cloud Atlas screen adaptation story but talk about complicated. It's got three directors: Germany's Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski (of The Matrix fame though I wish they were more thought of as the Bound duo); four Oscar winners: Berry, Broadbent, Hanks and Sarandon; six different stories all set in different eras with the actors playing multiple characters.
Wesley Morris if you're looking for a surprisingly strong defense of Cars 2. I love Wesley but Cars 2? Blech.
Everything I Know... reviews the stage to screen concert of Company with Neil Patrick Harris 
The Wrap Taylor Hackford will serve another term as President of the DGA. Congrats to Mr. Helen Mirren.
Filmes do Chico top 100 gay films. One may quibble with the order but how many have you seen? 

Oh, remember that movie The Rocketeer? Wonder why they haven't rebooted that? Here's a fanmade short celebrating it... well, the character more accurately.

The Rocketeer 20th anniversary from John Banana on Vimeo.

Off Cinema
Guardian I'd been wondering why we haven't received any Missy Elliott music in so long. Turns out she's been suffering from Graves disease. But "Block Party" is coming in the near future. Yay. And get well soon, Missy.
fourfour Rich's night out during the gayest of gay nights after NY's historic decision. 
The Daily What "Yahoo 'answer of the day'" in regards to the gay marriage decision. Hee.

Third Looks
I hope it doesn't disappoint y'all that I am not one to rush at every "exclusive" that's posted across 203,001 blogs at once whenever a new anything arrives. But here are three newish ones from the past few days that people seem to like and I do, too. From, respectively:  The Hobbit, The Raven and Pixar's Brave.

Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in "THE HOBBIT" coming December 2012John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in "THE RAVEN" coming March 2012Princess Merida in "BRAVE" coming June 2012

Final Fun Fact: The Pixar animation department is wearing kilts every Friday while working on Brave (2012). Isn't that adorbs? (I learned that here.)