Box Office: Christians Are For Real!

Amir here, with the weekend’s box office report. It’s Easter weekend and we have proof of it in the box office top ten. When was the last time three films with such strong religious overtones as Noah, God’s Not Dead and Heaven Is for Real were simultaneously in the top ten best selling pile?  The latter film was the new entry this weekend and shockingly grossed more than $20m, helping itself to the third spot behind holdovers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Rio 2. Can you think of any film with a more unappealingly on the nose title? The 3-minute trailer is an excruciating exercise in patience in its own right but I understand I’m not the target audience. I’m sure the people who saw it in droves enjoyed it. Right? Maybe. Possibly. Fuck, seriously? Is this film for real?

Yes, Greg Kinnear. Your son sees dead people (in the afterlife)

01 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER $26.6 (cum. $201.5) Review
02 RIO 2 $22.5 (cum. $75.3) 
03 HEAVEN IS FOR REAL $21.5 (cum. $28.5) 
04 TRANSCENDENCE $11.1 *new* 
05 A HAUNTED HOUSE 2 $9.1 *new*  
06 DRAFT DAY $5.9 (cum. $19.5)  
07 DIVERGENT $5.7 (cum. $133.9) Review
08 OCULUS $5.2 (cum. $21.1)
09 NOAH $5 (cum. $93.2) Podcast &  Jon Stewart on Noah - a must-see icymi
10 GOD’S NOT DEAD $4.8 (cum. $48.3) 

Transcendence was a failure of epic proportions and managed a 10% return on investment, which is disastrous in any industry. This is either due to the fact that the film’s title is only subtly religious or because Johnny Depp is no longer a draw. The latter is most likely the case and I can’t help but indulge in a bit of schadenfreude. In the 11 years that have passed since Depp delivered something resembling a performance, he’s made billions of dollars and the box office returns of Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger weren’t nearly dire enough to be considered punishment.

At the arthouse Under the Skin edged past the million dollar mark and The Grand Budapest Hotel is now a single day away from beating Moonrise Kingdom as the top grossing Wes Anderson. Only Lovers Left Alive, however, has failed to draw in audiences, though its screen average is the third best behind Heaven Is... and John Turturro’s weird, Woody Allen-starring passion project, Fading Gigolo.

I spent my weekend cozying up to some Cannes classics, but I will be out soon to catch Disneynature’s Bears, because those things look cute as buttons. What have you watched this weekend?

Children of the Link

EW lets you zoom in on details of Spidey's new suit from The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Cinema Blend Oscar winning cinematography Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence is already courting the Chinese audience 
Pajiba "the 12 most awesome sexually confident movie lines" Ha. I couldn't pull any of these off (TMI!) but I love the list
Coming Soon You can now watch the opening and closing credit sequences of Pacific Rim online. Though honestly they look fairly generic despite the hype for the film.
Playbill Theresa Rebeck of Smash-creation fame is trying another series. She's developing a "Bleak House" adaptation for Bravo 

Variety Whoa. Hunky Bollywood superstar Hrithink Roshan recently had brain surgery. Get well soon.
Awards Daily Rising writer/director Ava DuVernay, who made the excellent Middle of Nowhere last year, is taking on Selma, a true-life drama about MLK and the Civil Rights Act
In Contention will Philomena be TWC's secret Oscar weapon this year? I don't know how secret it can be after the reception of several minutes at Cannes but yes, it could be.
Final Girl is about to trace the evolution of the entire Children of the Corn series with a marathon blogging effort on Monday. But she's already surveyed the posters.
Natasha VC a perfect one sentence commentary on Mia Farrow and Philip Roth watching Sharknado together

Conversations with Link People

Two must reads
Monkey See a terrific insightful piece on the current state of the Romantic Comedy and what's wrong with it. Hint: It's not the common complaint that there aren't enough believable obstacles in modern romance. The most surprising bit -- but I totally was sold on it -- was how today's internet sport of actress-hating (see what's happening with Hathaway and what often happens) is part of the problem.
Antagony & Ecstacy picks the ten best Oscar winning performances in each of the categories. I've only previously done this with Supporting Actress and boy was that a hard list to make. Tim quadruples that challenge here.

More Stories to Visit/Discuss 
Huffington Post Jamie Lee Curtis speaks out against Seth MacFarlane's Oscar hosting in a new opinion piece
Towleroad Tom Cullen (Weekend) will be joining Downton Abbey. They do have to replenish the cast since everyone is f'in leaving. I don't get it. That show is hugely acclaimed and it can't be a big time commitment.
Awards Daily will the Olympics push the Oscars to March in 2014? Most people believe so but I wonder if Oscar might try January and really make the precursors wet themselves with fear. 
Empire Jesse L Martin, who has an a-ma-zing voice (he sang in both Rent and Ally McBeal) will play Marvin Gaye in a biopic
Studio Briefing Netflix ships its 4th billion disc. I'm so sad that this service will one day end. It's still the easiest way to get a great movie from a huge selection encompassing all eras... true cinephiles should not wish for its demise despite it becoming a media punching bag.
/Film a potential big get for Rebecca Hall who has landed the female lead opposite Johnny Depp and Paul Bettany in Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence. I say "potential" because it'll only be a big deal if Pfister is better with female characters than his frequent boss Chris Nolan
Exploding Kinetoscope takes up a real challenge. Figuring out what exactly is wrong with Buffy season seven by focusing on its best loved episode "Conversations with Dead People"
NPR looks back at the wider and wider screens in the 50s with the DVD release of This Is Cinerama