Box Office Report: Performance Captured Edition

Dude here again. Halloween is now officially over, and the Chrismanzakuh holiday season has begun! I know this because the people on my street took down their Halloween decorations and put up Christmas decorations instead. Except for one guy who always leaves the Halloween stuff up until February. I'm sure he's making some sort of political/social statement by doing this.

Or he's even lazier than I am.

This weekend, four major releases duke it out, including our first Christmas movie of the season (which makes sense because it's early November! Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. A Christmas Carol (BV) - $31.0, 3683 screens, week 1, $31.0 total

2. Michael Jackson's This Is It (Sony)- $14.0, 3481 screens, week 2, $57.8 total

3. The Men Who Stare At Goats (Over) - $13.3, 2443 screens, week 1, $13.3 total

4. The Fourth Kind (Uni)- $12.5, 2527 screens, week 1, $12.5 total

5. Paranormal Activity (Par) - $8.6, 2558 screens, week 7, $97.4 total

6. The Box (WB)- $7.8, 2635 screens, week 1, $7.8 total

7. Couples Retreat (Uni) $6.4, 2587 screens, week 5, $95.9 total

8. Law Abiding Citizen (Over)- $6.1, 2474 screens, week 4, $60.8 total

9. Where The Wild Things Are (WB) - $4.2, 2756 screens, week 4, $69.2 total

10. Astro Boy (Sum) - $2.5, 1918 screens, week 3, $15.0 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Christmas reigns supreme, but again, not nearly as much as money counting people were probably hoping for, given the cost. Next week will be the true test of the film's strength, as it will probably play a lot of theaters until Christmas actually arrives, but this does probably put the kibosh on future Dickens' tales transformed with the magic of 3-D performance capture, which is a shame as I was looking forward to A Tale of Two Cities with Jim Carrey portraying everyone, including the two cities.

Surprising a lot of people is The Men Who Stare At Goats, a tale of goats and George Clooney, which once again proves my theory that Clooney can do no wrong, so long as he continues making interesting movies for adults. Some my say Fantastic Mr Fox, which opens next week, would prove the exception to the rule, but I say those people haven't paid attention to the amount of real estate jokes in the film.

The Fourth Kind opened up to HORRIBLE reviews, but managed to piggy-back on the Paranormal Activity phenomenon to pull in $12 million dollars. I don't know if this makes me happy or sad, but the movie does look ridiculous, which means I sort of can't wait to see it.

And poor Richard Kelly. The director of Donnie Darko and Southland Tales released his first studio effort, and while it made more than his previous films combined, it was still a disappointing first weekend for the film, losing out to the 7th week of Paranormal Activity, and the goats.

Below the radar, Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire made $1.8 million on 18 screens, which gives it a per screen average of roughly $100,000. Outstanding work for a film that's garnered a lot of buzz for awards, even if it depresses the living hell out of the audience. (Not to mention the grief that long title must give those who change marquees for a living).

There you have my amazing break down. Next week we get another Roland Emmerich world ending spectacle! (Sadly, this one involves no wooly mammoths, but it has John Cusack outrunning global destruction in a limo! And that aforementioned Mr. Fox opens up in limited release.

Until next weekend.......

This is it: Box Office Report. (Get it?)

Dude here again. I did some math, and figured out that if you add up all the money that all the top ten films have made, from the time I started doing this four years ago, it would be enough to put the entire world out of debt three times over, feed the starving, house the homeless, reverse global warming, and send every child to college.

Well, that might be exaggerating things a bit.

This weekend, a new challenger to the throne manages to succeed and disappoint, while Paranormal Activity continues to flip the bird to much more expensive fare. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. Michael Jackson's This Is It (Sony)- $21.3, 3481 screens, week 1, $32.5 total (Wed Open)

2. Paranormal Activity (Par) - $16.5, 2404 screens, week 6, $84.7 total

3. Law Abiding Citizen (Over)- $7.3, 2764 screens, week 3, $51.3 total

4. Couples Retreat (Uni) $6.0, 3026 screens, week 4, $86.2 total

5. Saw VI (LGF)- $5.5, 3036 screens, week 2, $22.8 total

6. Where The Wild Things Are (WB) - $5.0, 3645 screens, week 3, $61.8 total

7. The Stepfather (ScrGms) - $3.4, 2346 screens, week 3, $24.7 total

8. Astro Boy (Sum) - $3.0, 3020 screens, week 2, $10.8 total

9. Amelia (FoxS) - $3.0, 1070 screens, week 2, $8.3 total

10. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Uni)- $2.8, 2754 screens, week 2, $10.5 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Michael Jackson can still be a draw, but not as much as people were thinking. Opening on Wednesday to pretty much universal acclaim, the concert film event of the decade (I'm calling you out, Hannah Montana!) managed to take in $32 million in 5 days and simultaneously disappoint the money people who thought it would take in twice that. FUN FACT: This Is It makes a great double feature with What Is It?, Crispin Glover's directorial debut, but only for literal marquee value.

Oh, wow, that Michael Jackson movie was the only wide release. this is disappointing.

At this point Paranormal Activity is genuinely a phenomenon, and is almost at the threshold between popular acceptance and backlash. Now we play the guessing game of the possible directions the inevitable sequel can head in. Horrid and rushed retread? Complete series "reboot"? I vote for horribly meta film-within-the-film, where the director and the stars, and even the audiences (which are the only things I see in any of the TV ads) are suddenly plagued by demonic forces.

Take a long look at that total for Couples Retreat and Law Abiding Citizen and think about what you've done.

Below the radar, Boondock Saints II: Strictly For The Cult of Fans opened up on 68 screens and took in $462,000 on its way to achieving a secondary cult status on DVD, which would beg a third in the series because trilogies are all the rage these days. Also opening is Gentlemen Broncos, a film which only I seem to have liked, which opened up on 2 screens and took in $10,000.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week is the first week in November which means a Christmas movie is going to be released. And a mainstream film from Richard Kelly. And a movie about "real life" alien abductions that will sadly fall aside to the Paranormal Activity wave. And a movie with the word goat in the title.

Until next weekend.......

FRIDAY!!! EVEN MORE REVIEWS!!!

I've been on a kick this week! A lot of reviews, and a lot of screenings of movies. (And a lot of nonsense dealing with my medical insurance, but that's neither here nor there).

Here's a Gentlemen Broncos review I wrote, and I can finally go ahead and say that I love this movie, but I'm fast realizing I'm in a minority on this one. But I don't care, I loved this movie.

And here's a Boondock Saints II review that's nowhere near as favorable.

(I didn't like the movie enough to find a picture, so instead here's what happened when I Black Dynamite-ed my Facebook profile picture. It's more entertaining than the Boondock Saints II)

The site's mainpage has had a facelift, and all the pages will soon follow, but I think it's a lot nicer. It's sleek, streamlined, not as hectic, and easier to navigate to all my brilliant writings. Soon, I'm gonna get a few video interviews up, as well as the aforementioned surprise that Brady and I are working on, which I'm still working on and will hopefully have done by the end of the weekend.

(That was more to Brady, and probably should have been included in an email, but whatever).

More new reviews?!?! What is this, bacon day?

I have one for Ong Bak 2 AND one for Antichrist! Check them out! Remember, they're the kind of infectious that's good to spread!

And the House of The Devil review I wrote was finally approved, too! I added it below, but you may as well check it out in this post, too!

To make matters even more awesome, I'll have two new reviews this week, as well! Finally been catching up with my reviews, and seeing far too many movies, but it's times like this that I truly embrace being the movie nerd I am. Very exciting times!

Some reviews and funny things I've written

Hola-ween, everybody!

So I came up with some pieces that they posted over at the site. One is about good Halloween double features.

The other is about how super excited I was about Saw VI, and how I treated myself to a marathon of the Saw movies.



I find them funny. Hope you do, too. And if you like these, then why not spread the word on your facebooks? I know I will.



Also, a little later today there should be a review of House Of The Devil.



This is Rob, giving a spooky tour in Newport.

And Brady and I are cooking up a surprise for all of you soon, keep your eyes peeled.

Box Office Report: Saw ___ Edition

Dude here again. I'm kind of amazed. It seems that a movie shot on a home video camera that's been out for 5 weeks and slowly expanding has taken on the Goliath that is the Saw franchise. And defeated it! I'm so shocked by this, that it needed to be discussed right away, instead of the usual esoteric nonsense greeting paragraph I'm accustomed to writing.

Ducks, bananas, and popcorn! (Had to do something weird, c'mon).

This weekend, up is down, black is white, dogs and cats live together! Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. Paranormal Activity (Par) - $22.0, 1945 screens, week 5, $62.4 total

2. Saw VI (LGF)- $14.8, 3036 screens, week 1, $14.8 total

3. Where The Wild Things Are (WB) - $14.4, 3735 screens, week 2, $53.9 total

4. Law Abiding Citizen (Over)- $12.7, 2890 screens, week 2, $40.3 total

5. Couples Retreat (Uni) $11.0, 3074 screens, week 3, $78.2 total

6. Astro Boy (Sum) - $7.0, 3014 screens, week 1, $7.0 total

7. The Stepfather (ScrGms) - $6.5, 2734 screens, week 2, $20.3 total

8. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Uni)- $6.3, 2754 screens, week 1, $6.3 total

9. Cloudy With A Change Of Meatballs (Sony) - $5.6, 2741 screens, week 6, $115.2 total

10. Zombieland (Sony)- $4.3, 2447 screens, week 4, $67.3 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Paranormal Activity followed the Blair Witch model one better, as it climbed to number one, a feat the Blair Witch was never able to do, despite the former film's enormous success. Still waiting for the backlash of "It's not that scary" that immediately followed Blair Witch, as well as a bizarre sequel.

Saw, we knew that this day would come sometime. We had a really great run, since October '04! I remember it well. But there are only so many homemade killing devices and traps that one can spring before people start to want other things. I'm not saying we can't be friends, Saw, but I think we should see other people.

Astro Boy is a movie about a boy robot, and like most movies about boy robots, not a lot of people saw it. Even fewer people went to see The Vampire's Assistant, which proves my maxim that Robots Trump Vampires. ALWAYS. (Take That Twilight!).

Sadly, in a disturbing metaphor for life, Robots, vampires, law abiding citizens, wild things, couples, saws, meatballs, and zombies ALL trump history, as Amelia, the story of Amelia Earhart, opened up in 11th place with just over $4 million. Insert "public schooling" joke here.

Below the radar, Antichrist, the divisive latest film from Lars Von Trier opened up on 6 screens and took in $73,000. Cult status soon to follow. Sadly, there are no numbers to report for Ong Bak 2, and this makes me sad.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, a Michael Jackson cash cow (too soon?) and the Gentlemen Broncos, the latest from the director of Napoleon Dynamite tries to take it on in limited release. Watch for records to be broken and sadness to be caused by one of these films.

Until next weekend.......

(Bisontenniel, by Dr. Ronald Chevalier)

Mos Eisley Spaceport...UPDATED!

(Courtesy of the man who voiced Darth Maul, and played Shaun's roommate that wasn't Nick Frost).

Then later in the day, I stumbled upon this! Joyous day, indeed!