Box Office: Hair-Raising Franchise Battles
Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 6:47PM One could argue, and some did, that we didn't need another Alien movie after four regular features and Alien vs. Predator mash-ups. One could argue, though no one bothered to, that we didn't need another Madagascar. Yet both films had robust attention from audiences for their opening weekend. When all the new entries are crowd-interest family films always win since they have better legs at the box office. Their target audience doesn't even require legs to get to them since they're carried to or wheeled to the movie theaters question via their parental units.
an unlikely franchise showdown: Aliens vs. Madagascar
THE DIRTY (BOX OFFICE) DOZEN
01 MADAGASCAR 3 new $603
02 PROMETHEUS new $50.0
03 SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN $23 (cum $98.5) Review & Sequel Plans
04 MIB 3 $13.5 (cum $135.5)
05 THE AVENGERS $10.8 (cum $571.8) Review
06 THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL $3.2 (cum. $31) Review
07 WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING $2.7 (cum. $35.7)
08 BATTLESHIP $2.2 (cum $59.8)
09 THE DICTATOR $2.1 (cum $55.1)
10 MOONRISE KINGDOM $1.5 (cum $3.7) (Wes Anderson's Dark Side)
11 DARK SHADOWS $1.3 (cum. $73.7) Review
12 THE HUNGER GAMES $1.0 (cum. $400.2) Review
What did you see this week? I was busy taking in the musical Rock of Ages, the buzzy poetic Beast of the Southern Wild (ohmgod. Do not miss it when it opens... but lower those Oscar expectations. Not that kind of movie), the Italian coming out comedy Loose Cannons (2010), and Prometheus (more on that as soon as I can manage).
Aliens, Madagascar, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, animated films, box office
Reader Comments (22)
Desperately wanted to see Prometheus and Moonrise Kingdom, but ended up spending the weekend up to my eyeballs in spaghetti westerns at Film Forum. Don't regret the decision, really, because spaghetti westerns are wonderful, but I'm going to have to get to Prometheus soon - I can't even tell you how many spoilers I've stumbled across already since Friday. People seem eager to discuss the film, and aren't shying away from doing so in public forums, alas. At this point, I'm basically boycotting twitter until I've seen the film.
I saw Prometheus on Friday night and kind of fell in love. It's not a great film. I accept that. It just does so many things I like in sci-fi/horror movies that I was bound to walk away happy.
I've been to see Prometheus a few times now since it released here a week and a half ago. Far from flawless, but there are so many complex ideas in there, and the plotting is so intricate, that it does warrant multiple viewings. Hoping to make it to Moonrise Kingdom this week though, I've heard nothing but good things about it so far...
Marigold crossed the 30 mil mark!!!!
Saw Prometheus. Hated te screenplay, but the visual/auditory work was remarkable. Really hated the screenplay.
I went to see Cosmopolis and...I really wanted to like it but... I don't know.
Robert Pattinson was too languid at the centre of it, I thought. The words (and it's very wordy) didn't feel convincing coming out of him. I felt like it could have been fun with someone sharper in the lead, maybe more of a comedian? I did like Sarah Gadon as his wife though- arch with an accent.
I saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel...it was alright. How did you like Loose Canons? I loved that movie.
Omg. Did Loose Cannons get a release? I missed that two yrs ago at an Italian FF and have kicked myself ever since. It's not in ideo and I never saw that was release either. Such cute actors.
I saw Prometheus and liked it (not enough Theron!). The second half of my Sunday double feature was The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas! The two complimented each other perfectly :)
Disagree on Beasts. I *LOVED* it as well but I could even see it taking Best Picture. If nothing else, I certainly expect a well-deserved Best Actress nod, and I could even see her winning. One of the best child performances in ages.
BTW just saw Brave tonight and it is mouthwateringly good. Pixar is back. No idea if it will pull a BP nod but it is among their best. (Thank you Seattle International Film Festival!)
Hi Nat, will you be reviewing true blood again? I just watched it, am very happy with it and would love to know your thoughts.
Saw prometheus, it was decent, not quite the level I expected, but good,
No Tonys?
I saw "The Women on the 6th Floor". Delicious!
I went to a gorgeous local repertory cinema and saw "The Artist" and "Me Week With Marilyn" with some friends who hadn't seen them. "The Artist" is still lovely (Oscar backlash be damned) and "Marilyn" was still was ordinarily watchable as before. I then watched "Yentl" and it was amazing.
I saw prometheus and was so thoroughly underwhelmed by the script. I mean it looked amazing and showed how 3D can be used well but the plot meandered so many times that it was hard to keep track of the various random ideas that were thrown in and then just abandoned.
I don't want to give away too many spoilers so won't get too specific and I think this comment would go on for miles if I were to point out the things in it that I disliked.
I wanted to see "Cosmopolis," but got the timings mixed up. I did, however, see "Bernie," and that was a lot of fun! Nat, if you haven't caught it yet, you should...you'd enjoy Shirley MacLaine.
No live blog for the Tonys? Or even a winners posting? Tsk, tsk. Lots of ish went down last night.
SVG: Michael Cera? He's young (though, considering Colin Farrell was initially cast, maybe too young?), languid, but not too much so, thin, able to pull off wordy dialogue, willing to break typecasting (see: the Sebastian Silvas) and likely available in Cosmpolis's shooting period.
The Hunger Games passed 400 million, making 2012 the second year in history to have two 400+ grossing movies. With The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Hobbit that number is sure to increase at least one.
Boo! No Tony live blogging!?
I'm bummed about no Tony love, especially considering the goddess Audra McDonald won Number 5. Hopefully there will be a write-up! :)
eurocheese: Pan's Labyrinth got six nominations, but couldn't get a Best Picture or Director nomination and that had 1. A way more high-profile director (Guillermo had done it coming off Hellboy and Blade 2) 2. The same feverish reviews this is getting. Those probably secured the six nominations, but the big reasons it couldn't go all the way to Best Picture or Director: A blatant child lead with no distancing co-lead (see also: True Grit) scares all of the Academy's actors away (I mentioned, way, way back, a weird belief that if the currently widely held belief that watching film = voyeurism is true (read: I don't believe in its truth at all, but directors have still managed to drain a lot of meat out of the question) than awardage is the nearest equivalent to sex and nominating a child for an acting award amounts to Awards Pedophilia. See why I think the film = voyeurism argument can fall under it's own colossally haphazard weight?), the lack of real name stars scares away all of the producers and directors are scared away by the simple, un-inventive story. Actors, Directors and Producers are just over half the Academy, so, without the "we've got to honour this respected director now" hook that Guillermo had with Pan's, I doubt we'll see even a single Academy Award nom for this.
I just got back from seeing Prometheus and I really really liked it. Possibly loved it. I must say, having lowered expectations may have helped, but I honestly don't get all the gripes about the screenplay. I think it probably warrants a couple of viewings, but everything seems to fit together thematically. Sometimes what was happening wasn't too obvious and you had to harken back to a half an hour ago, like "oh, this is happening because of that random thing that happend something-minutes ago" but it all worked. And I sort of enjoyed all the mythical/biblical/lit and art references (check out that Slate article! It's very entertaining).
Also, I just loved Michael Fassbender in it. To be honest, I've always felt a bit ambiguous about Fassbender in the past. I sort of felt towards him what I feel about Christian Bale at times - they're both dynamic and exciting actors but I can get a little uncomfortable watching them occasionally - moments will feel a little off or stiff, or I just become too aware of the fact that they're acting. But Fassbender completely drew me in this time and within the first minute, I ceased to think of him as "blond Michael Fassbender" and simply David, the ambiguous, superintelligent robot with an oddly reassuring yet freakishly disconcerting presence. And Noomi Rapace? Kicked. Ass. (without any kind of fetishistic macho-woman scenario, too).
The movie is growing on me the more and more I think about it. Dunno. I think I may like it more than I did Inception, which I didn't even like that much, to be honest. (I am glad I am not saying this on IMDB.)