Box Office: Everybody Cut, Everybody Cut... Your Budgets
Monday, October 17, 2011 at 6:20PM In this battle of the 80s remakes weekend, Footloose vs. The Thing, it was actually a 1960s derivative, the rock-em sock-em'ish robot movie Real Steel that triumphed.
Box Office (U.S.) Baker's Dozen -Actual Grosses
01 REAL STEEL $16.2 (cum. $51.7)
02 FOOTLOOSE new-ish $15.5
03 THE THING new-ish $8.4
04 IDES OF MARCH [capsule] $7.1 (cum. $21.7)
05 DOLPHIN TALE $6.2 (cum. $58.5)
06 MONEYBALL [review] $5.4 (cum $57.6)
07 50/50 [review] $4.2 (cum $24.2)
08 COURAGEOUS $3.3 (cum $21.2)
09 THE BIG YEAR new $3.2
10 THE LION KING 3D [review] re-release $2.7 (cum. $90.5 for the rerelease)
11 DREAMHOUSE $2.4 (cum $18.3)
12 CONTAGION $1.8 (cum $71.9)
13 ABDUCTION [review] $1.4 (cum $25.7)
Talking Points
• Footloose's gross is far from spectacular but given the likelihood of solid word of mouth (I keep hearing "surprisingly good!" proving that basement level expectations can totally be a plus!) and considering they kept its budget down, it should turn a profit before it even leaves theaters. So don't expect the 80s remakes to stop.
• Speaking of turning a profit, 50/50 has already tripled its wisely wee budget. Well done.
• Pedro Almodóvar is the most dependable of foreign auteurs on the US box office charts, again opening with a fine per screen average; The Skin I Live In earned nearly a quarter million on just six screens. Whether or not it will hold well is another issue since it seems more divisive than recent Almodóvars. Skin... has alread earned over $19 million overseas. Pedro's biggest post Women on the Verge hit by a significant margin is Volver which earned over $85 million worldwide.
• Moneyball just entered the top 40 of the year, stealing past Midnight in Paris (which is incredibly STILL on over 100 screens). Don't you think both of them will be Best Picture nominated?
WHAT DID YOU SEE THIS WEEKEND?
As usual, we love to hear what you thought of the new releases. Especially on days when you're suspicously quiet (speak up!) And given the ever crucial budgets to profit equations, which movie have you seen recently that showed you every penny onscreen?
Footloose, Pedro Almodóvar, box office, remakes
Reader Comments (15)
I saw The Skin I Live In on Friday night. I really liked it but I had disturbing dreams for the rest of the weekend!
I saw two really good films this past weekend...and neither one was from Hollywood. (Neither one was in English, either.)
"La guerre est declarée," France's candidate for the Foreign-language Oscar, opened here, and it's well worth seeing. You know the outline of the plot, i.e. young couple find out their young child has a cancerous brain tumour, but this is not a weepie, nor is it a French version of "50/50." Rather, it's more about how the parents (and the rest of their families) get through something like this.
Valérie Donzelli's direction was particularly impressive. Throughout the film, I kept thinking of "127 Hours" because scenes would play out with a verve and inventiveness that you wouldn't normally expect. The music, from baroque to bossa nova to French love songs, was very well used. This is only the third candidate for the Foreign-language Oscar that I've seen, but I think that it might get nominated, and probably should.
I also saw a new Québécois film, "Marécages." A first feature from director Guy Édoin, It a hard and honest (it seems) look at rural life. It's set on a dairy farm in southern Québec, in a summer of drought, when things keep going from bad to worse, becoming almost a Greek tragedy.
Édoin fllmed on the farm where he himself grew up, so he knows just how hard farm life can be, and it really shows. The cast is particularly good, with Pascale Bussières and Luc Picard playing the farm couple. Gabriel Maillé plays their teenage son, and he's amazing in the role.
I don't know if anybody will pick this up for US distribution, but if it hits a festival near you, be sure to see it.
My expectations were high for Footloose. I love the original film, but I don't think it's perfect. And I think Craig Brewer knocked it out of the park with Hustle & Flow AND Black Snake Moan. Basement level? Hardly, for me at least.
And it still surprised me with how fantastic it is. It's exciting and sexy, the dance scenes are lively, it doesn't lose any of the charm of the original but still makes the story relevant for today. It does mimic exactly two or three shots, but not in an annoying way. And I'll take a race with school buses over playing chicken with tractors any day.
Have you seen it yet? I feel like you'd enjoy it. I feel like most people would enjoy it.
Add me to the choir singing the "surprisingly good!" praises for Footloose. It was really enjoyable and well-choreographed. The only weak leak in the acting department was Julianne Hough (no one replaces Lori Singer and gets away with it!), and Kenny Wormald would make for a great movie star in this day and age.
Went to see Moneyball and was very pleasantly surprised. I wasn't against seeing it just indifferent since I'm not much of a baseball fan but it drew me in right from the beginning. A large part of the reason is Brad Pitt's terrific performance, one of his most lived in and natural he deserves a nomination and perhaps the win, but also it wasn't so ball centric that a non fan of the game couldn't become involved in the story. Perhaps it was just the way he was photographed but though a large portion of the picture I found myself wondering when did Brad Pitt turn into Robert Redford? Not as he is now but around the time of All the President's Men, I mean that in a positive way. Anyway a good film.
I stayed home and watched An Englishman Abroad, directed by John Schlesinger and starring Alan Bates, playing Guy Burgess, who is in exile in Russia and spends the afternoon with actress Coral Browne, played by the actress herself. The teleplay was written by Alan Bennett and is based on stores told to Bennett by Browne. Very entertaining and Bates is wonderful. I wish the program had been longer. This is included an Alan Bennett collection that came out this year.
Hee, thanks for that picture!
Crazy Stupid Love.
Found the ending was quite disappointing, imposed (?). I don't know, unnatural somehow. Liked the Gosling, Stone and Carrell. Moore needed more to do or a more solid character and I missed Stone most of the time in the movie, I don't count her storyline pre-Gosling because it was just a filler. As most people say, I didn't like the kids storyline. It was as annoying as the actors themselves and it repeated the hot girl who will surrender to the not very succesful, but insistent guy storyline which is so popular these days, but at school already! And if I were Marisa Tomei, I'd fire my agent. Seriously, can't she get better roles better? Yes, she gets the best out of these extended cameos, but common, give her something meatier.
Nicole Kidman and Nic Cage had the worst opening-weekend-per-screen-average of their career with Trespass (limited release) last weekend.
I saw Beginners. Ugh, so beautiful. Not often do I watch a film and immediately feel as though it could be one of my favorites, but that movie did it for me.
Footloose is really actually good, not just "surprisingly good"! And you need to add Miles Teller to your list of great young actors. Between Rabbit Hole and Footloose, he's proved that he's someone to watch.
Suzanne -- i loved him in RABBIT HOLE. I suppose i should see this but i don't want to pay and missed the critics screenings so i'll have to wait for DVD.
You shouldn't support the Hollywood remake machine.
I saw Trust (2010, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1529572/). Has anyone seen it? It's also surprisingly good; wouldn't have thought Ross could pull this off.
I saw "The Ides of March" and was disappointed. I thought it was boring and cliched, the scandals weren't very scandalous, and I didn't like the music, either (which I normally wouldn't comment on, but there's been a lot of talk on this blog about an Oscar nom for its score). I thought the supporting cast was solid, but as much I normally like Gosling and Wood, I didn't buy their character arcs at all.
I'm 1 for 3 with taking people to Gosling movies this year. My bf and I liked "Crazy, Stupid, Love," my bf hated but I really liked "Drive," and my brother and I both did not like "Ides."