Double Feature: On the Basis of Sex & RBG

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

It’s not uncommon for documentaries and narrative features about the same subject to be released around the same time. In some cases, the impetus for a narrative film comes from the success of a documentary, as with recent Robert Zemeckis' movies the The Walk and Welcome to Marwen, which told the same stories as the hit docs Man on Wire  and Marwencol, respectively. 2010 saw concurrent releases of documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money and the feature Casino Jack.

This season's double feature is undeniably inspired by the need to champion strong women in the face of divisive times. Who better than civil rights icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female justice appointed to the Supreme Court, to serve as the figurehead for two very different movies in 2018?

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Top 30 Documentary Hits of 2018

Each day a different year in review topic. Here's Glenn Dunks...

Documentaries had one of their biggest years on record in 2018. In fact, the upper realms of non-fiction at the North American box office started to look like what the foreign-language charts once looked like. There was at least one major cross-over smash, several very impressive eight-figure grossers, a selection of not insignificant titles that did over one-million, and a long list of niche titles that did business anywhere from respectable to disappointing depending on expectations and release size. The year even started strong for docs with 2017 hits Bombshell the Hedy Lamarr Story and Faces/Places continuing to earn tidy sums buoyed by word of mouth and an Oscar nomination respectively.

My column Doc Corner will continue in 2019 so here’s hoping the new year offers just as bountiful a crop. It's been good to see documentaries reaching the mainstream, zeitgeist conversation.

TOP 30 DOCUMENTARIES FOR 2018
Domestic Box Office Grosses Only - Figures as of February 17th, 2019. 🔺 = the film is still in theaters

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Would you rather?

It's our silly aspirational daydream game. Thank you for indulging our curiosity about you relationship to celebrities. We went a little overboard today. Sorry it's called procrastination! Try it.

 Would you rather...

...choose between Pop! Funkos of yourself like David Dastmalchian?
...honor Stonewall and the LGBTQ movement with Madonna?
...hang in Brazil with Trevante Rhodes?
...babysit with Henry Golding?
...rehearse Veep's final episode with Julia Louis-Dreyfus?
...engage in locker room talk with Ronnie Kroell?
...face a new day in Hollywood with Ileanna Douglas?
...taste the rainbow in Hawaii with Woody Harrelson?
...fight Justin Theroux to be RBG's plus one?
...eat (?) snails with Sam Claflin?
...inspire the next generation whilst getting your hair did with Ellie Kemper?
...or humble-brag with show-runner TV creator Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies and Hannibal fame (note his coffee mug)?

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide...

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Middleburg Celebrates Diane Warren with the "Impact Award"

by Nathaniel R

Each year at the Middleburg Film Festival, TFE's favorite event is a live concert honoring a film composer. This year Sheila C Johnson, the co-founder of BET who created the Middleburg Festival opted to do things a bit differently. Though there was a composer honored at a smaller event (29 year-old rising talent Kris Bowers who scored both the likely Oscar smash Green Book and the critically acclaimed indie Monsters and Men this year) the main concert and "Impact Award" was reserved for hit-machine songwriter Diane Warren.

This year Warren co-wrote the much memed "Why'd You Do That?" from A Star is Born but her Oscar bid for 2018 will surely be the theme song from the documentary hit RBG, "I'll Fight"

More after the jump including a couple of song snippets...

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Box Office: RBG, Book Club, Saoirse x 2 and More...

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office Estimates (June 1-3)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
Adrift	First Reformed
1. Solo $29.2 (cum. $148.8)  REVIEW, BEHIND THE SCENES	1. 🔺 RBG $1.1 on 432 screens (cum. $7.8)  REVIEW
2. Deadpool 2 $23.3 (cum. $254.6)	2. 🔺 First Reformed $455k on 91 screens (cum. $1) REVIEW
3.🔺Adrift $11.5 *NEW* REVIEW	3. 🔺 The Rider $243k on 224 screens (cum. $1.7)  REVIEW
4. Avengers: Infinity War  $10.3 (cum. $642.8) REVIEW	4. Disobedience $211k on 158 screens (cum. $3k) REVIEW
5. Book Club $6.8 (cum. $47.3) REVIEW	5. How Long Will I Love U $170k on 32 screens (cum. $501k)

More bad news for Solo as it fell a terrible 65% in its second week and its also underperforming overseas where would be blockbuster "disappointments" often make up for their tepid reception at home. None of the new pictures got audiences revved up though Adrift did decent business and might eventually be profitable. But the studios were clearly scared of Solo's second weekend when they did their original summer scheduling. Little did they know!

The best hold in the top ten is Book Club which will hit $50 million domestic with ease...

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