Box Office: Jack and Jill Went Up the Till...
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 4:01PM Tarsem Singh's muscley superhero dieties may have topped the box office charts but you could say that the big stars of the weekend were Jack & Jill twice over. Perversely interpreted fairy tale "Jack & Jill" (as voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris) from Puss in Boots and twinned Jack and Jill as "acted" by Adam Sandler in Jack and Jill together grossed over $50 million. Jack & Jill is getting the maximum critical bile a movie can get but Sandler remains critic proof; his movies always open.
Jack & Jack and Jill & Jill
Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar (reviewed) opened fairly well for a long obviously dour drama -- DiCaprio & Eastwood both being bankable draws -- but it's true test will be in the next few weeks. Can it stick a landing after the non-emphatic box office and confusing critical reception, the latter which could be likened to a shakycam... it's all over the place!
Box Office (U.S.) Top Ten -Estimates
01 IMMORTALS new $32
02 JACK AND JILL new $26
03 PUSS IN BOOTS $25.5 (cum. $108.8)
04 TOWER HEIST $13.2 (cum. $43.9)
05 J EDGAR new $11.4 [review]
06 A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS new $5.9 (cum $23.2)
07 IN TIME $4.1 (cum. $30.6)
08 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 $3.6 (cum. $100.8)
09 FOOTLOOSE $2.7 (cum. $48.8)
10 REAL STEEL $2.0 (cum. $81.7)
11 MONEYBALL $1.1 (cum $71.8) [review]
12 COURAGEOUS $1 (cum $31.5)
13 THE IDES OF MARCH $.9 (cum $38.3)
Limited Release
Sundance darlings Martha Marcy May Marlene (which we've been obsessing over and riffing on) and Like Crazy both earned another ½ million each with sizeable expansions. The Brazilian Oscar submission Elite Squad the Enemy Within had the week's third highest per screen average.
The highest per screen average when to Lars von Trier's Melancholia which grossed a quarter of a million in its first real weekend though it's release strategy has been... bizarre (what with the Oscar qualifying -- we understand it had one? -- and then a VOD release preceeding this theatrical release.
What did you see this weekend?
If you saw Jack and Jill did you feel unclean afterwards?
If you saw Immortals do tell... I didn't get around to it but am curious... given the visuals in Tarsem's The Fall.
Adam Sandler, Immortals, J Edgar, box office
Reader Comments (25)
actually melancholia had the highest per theater average ;)
yeah, don't know how i missed that. fixed.
Saw Immortals today. Nice to look at but pretty hollow, overall. Also, although neither of her last two roles were particularly deep, I'm getting the feeling that Frieda Pinto can't act. She blew her big emotional scene in Immortals and her line readings in everything else I've seen her in so far have a hint of laziness to them. Again, her last two roles weren't the best written in the world but she does nothing to elevate them.
I wish we could know how Melancholia did on demand. All Good Things made $4 million so you'd think Melancholia did even better
To elaborate more on Immortals:
The visuals are enjoyable to look at, the costumes are quirky but fun and the action is decently shot (no shaky cam, ten million cuts, etc.). Unfortunately, the story is woefully underdeveloped. Everything about it feels cliche and forgone before it reaches the twenty-minute mark.
On the acting front, Mickey Rourke plays a good villain and seems to have fun with it. Henry Cavill plays the square-jawed hero as required but nothing more. Isabel Lucas and Frieda Pinto do ho-hum work reading lines but are excellent at looking pretty (well in the case of Lucas, she seems like a capable actress but the role didn't require much from her). As for everyone else, they don't really register at all.
Lastly, I saw the film in 3D and it was pointless.
In Time. I liked lots of things about it, but for me, Justin Timberlake will probably never be more than Adequate. Watching Timberlake us like watching someone's pet rat. You know some people like this kind of thing, but don't get the appeal yourself. As well, I could never quite shake the knowledge that he was a rich entertainer, playing this part of the common working man, because it was fashionable or a good part, not because he had any understanding or commitment.
I kept wishing the movie could switch and be about other people. I would have liked to look at Matt Bomer a lot more, and we could have switched over to Cillian Murphy as the main character any time. But there were a lot of clever bits. The design look for Amanda Seyfreid worked really well with the red hair and lashes so thick that her large eyes looked only average size. A good casting move for her.
I saw Martha Marcy...OMG, my heart was racing during that movie! It really reminded me of that Polanski movie Repulsion, you really feel Martha's paranoia.
I saw Immortals... worlds away from Tarsem's previous films, which are batshit visual feasts. Not only was this boringly plotted, it was also visually dull - faded golden brown colour scheme like 300, with only Freida Pinto's red dress shining through it. And no, Freida quite clearly can't act, but she's ridiculously beautiful and that'll get her far. I'm of the homosexual persuasion and yet I still came away more attracted to her than Henry Cavill (who did enough to prove his leading man credentials), and he's not exactly unstimulating.
Saw the Immortals, I thought it was okay, mindlessly entertaining but needlessly violent, and the cast was certainly sensational to look at. Some of the costumes were eyecatching in a ridiculous over the top way with John Hurt lending a little dignity to the proceedings but it was all rather forgettable. My friend that I saw it with liked it much more than I did though, so maybe it's just my preferences.
Immortals? The visuals are visually visual. Henry Cavill is sexy. The movie is ludicrous. The end.
I saw Like Crazy and Martha Marcy May Marlene. The former will play into my righteous indignation of Best Original Score snubbing and the latter I don't see playing to the Oscars at all for being so darn unpleasant and unsettling.
@David:
How can you be of "that" presuasion and not fall over your feet for Cavill? Something must be really wrong.
Can't speak to Pinto's acting skills in Immortals, but she's outstanding in Michael Winterbottom's upcoming film Trishna. Don't write her off entirely just yet, folks.
I skipped the new releases for the weekend and saw The Gambler (with James Toback in attendance) at Lincoln Center instead. It was awesome and, I'm almost positive, better than any of the new release options.
I also saw MMMM for a second time late last week. It's still quite a fine movie and I appreciated Olsen's performance even more knowing the entirety of her experience, but the movie itself didn't really grow or expand or whatever on a second viewing - it is what it is. And within that it's quite accomplished, but I wish there were slightly more meat on its bones, so to speak...
IMMORTALS is better than PRINCE OF PERSIA, CLASH OF THE TITANS and THOR...thanks, of course, to Tarsem's so visual direction
I saw MMMM, which was chilling and I was a big fan of the ending. I am wondering whether or not Hawkes gets a second shot here-it has all the makings of a nominated performance, and it'd be nice if he wasn't a one-and-done sort of character actor. I can't fathom him winning though (for a film it seems very few people saw, Christopher Plummer sure has taken that frontrunner status far-and-away).
I inadvertently had a Kiersten Dunst weekend by watching Kiki's Delivery Service on Saturday (loved it) and seeing Melancholia yesterday. I'm quite over the moon about Melancholia, or over the planet next to the moon or something like that.
@ Seisgrados - I said he wasn't unstimulating! I merely found Pinto more striking. Perhaps I'm further towards the middle of the Kinsey scale than I thought.
John T, that's how I feel. Hawkes is brilliant in MMMM, but will he get any attention? Even the blogs are almost all focusing on Olsen above everything else. Me? I'd be focusing on screenplay.
@David - Don't worry, I was just messing with you. With Angelina Jolie my Kinsey scale goes crazy too. It's just that Cavil is soooo hot!
Oh brother Freida Pinto cannot act worth shit . I knew from the moment I saw her SDM that she would get roles because of her looks(another thing I don't understand) but her acting is crap. Now people know she can't act and she will be back india doing indian movies most likely. I am not even indian but we should be treating her fairly , her looks don't make up for her shitty acting in movies. If y'all can agree that stars like Megan Fox and Jessica Alsba are pretty but can't act , why so light on Freida Pinto ? She is getting pity treatment from the critics and from the fellow audiences it seems.
Immortals was okay but why is Freida Pinto even mentioned here ? she hardly had any proper lines in the movie and she isn't even that hot ."ridicously beatiful" ? wow you guys don' get out much do you ? The only hot indian woman I have seen is Aishwarya Rai Bahchan , now thats a ridicusoly beautiful woman. I would put her in the same catagory as Angelina Jolie or Nicole Kidman.
yuck farida pinto is sooo ugly ! looks like cheap maid! my gf is more pretty than her and you goras think she is a godess ? I guess they have low standerds in the united states.
Oh my god now you people are blaming the script writng for Freida Pinto's terrible performences ? It's not the fault of the script writer if she has zero acting ability. It's like James Franco and Anne Hatheway blaming the script writers for the Oscars for their horrible performences. Quit blaming people , Freida is the cause for her own actions , not other people. You can have a great script but if you have the worst actor/actress reading them and performing them , then obviously it's going to look bad !
these people are hypocrites , they diss and say outwordly if some sucks at acting but freida pinto being an immigrant and a lousy acrtress they don't say anything. in hollywood land looks do not matter , as long as you have the right skills and the will to do better you will last.
Freida Pinto as phaedrea , She doesn't even look greek . she looks like she came from india or something like that .