Box Office: Gone Girl Keeps Her Money
Sunday, October 12, 2014 at 9:34PM Amir here, returning to box office duty. I had to discard my long, passionate obituary for every cinephile’s favorite math-themed website, Box Office Mojo, because thankfully it’s back on air. The scare is (seemingly) over. We can all feast our eyes again on that old-school, colourless, eyesore of a design we know and love.
TOP TEN WIDE
01 GONE GIRL $26.8 (cum. $78.2) Jason's Review
02 DRACULA UNTOLD $23.4 NEW
03 ALEXANDER AND THE ... DAY $19.1 NEW
04 ANNABELLE $16.3 (cum. $62.1)
05 THE JUDGE $13.3 NEW
06 THE EQUALIZER $9.7 (cum. $79.8)
07 ADDICTED $7.6 NEW
08 THE MAZE RUNNER $7.5 (cum. $83.8) Review
09 THE BOXTROLLS $6.6 (cum. $41) In praise of Laika
10 LEFT BEHIND $2.9 (cum. $10.9)
Gone Girl kept her cool and slit Dracula’s throat to stay at number one. Dracula Untold – ugh, that title – was one of four new wide releases that failed to overcome Fincher’s film. There was also the children’s film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and the much maligned TIFF opening film, The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr. sans the lucrative iron man suit. If those titles sound unappealing, wait till you get a hold of Meet the Mormons, yet another Christian film entering the top ten, making this a truly exemplary year for the little genre. This one is a documentary financed by the church of LDS, so you know it’s going to be even-headed and nuanced.
Still, all isn’t lost. You’re not alone in thinking this year’s highbrow film season is off to an unusually slow start, but there are good things to see out there, as Nathaniel highlighted the other day. Pride, Whiplash, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, and if you’re a Canadian reader, Mommy, are all playing and doing relatively strong business on few screens. Entertain yourselves with those, or Bill Murray’s St. Vincent (with the weekend's highest per screen average), or this wonderful little documentary called The Overnighters.
Anyway, I’ve mostly been busy with screeners for next week’s films with hit or miss results. What did you watch this weekend?
Dracula, Gone Girl, box office
Reader Comments (23)
Just last night, I watched Begin Again.
That feeling of finally watching a really good movie (with the coolest soundtrack) after so many bad movies at the cinema lately. I'm constantly surprised by singer acting well and actor singing well, and I've got two in this movie: Keira Knightley sings really well and Adam Levine acts really well too. Next, I'm gonna find the soundtrack.
I saw:
--The Judge, which is a good movie that was buried alive in clichés, odd creative decisions (Bon Iver?), and offensively unnecessary characters.
--St. Vincent, which is hardly original stuff but had four worthwhile performances to build it up. I can't decide who was better- McCarthy, Watts, Murray, or the kid.
--Whiplash, which surprised me with how well directed it was. Such a jazzy flair to the camerawork!
Rocky Horror Picture Show. For the 1st time too. IFC had a showing hosted by Baz Luhrmann so i pretty much had to go. Baz was there, Catherine Martin was there and the cherry on top was Susan Sarandon joining Baz for a Q&A about the film afterwards.
At the end, I also managed to get a picture with Baz and got him to sign my Moulin Rouge DVD. Omg. I had no idea i could sound like Michael Jackson. I was so nervous talking to him, i couldn't elevate my voice above a soft whisper. I did manage a "this means the world to me" when he signed my DVD though.
I fanboyed so hard the whole night, I gave myself quite a headache.
Gasman and Morvern Callar- Lynne Ramsay double-shot of cinema as poetry excellence, for vastly different reasons.
Saw GONE GIRL. Thought it was great. Loved the female characters.
Also saw 80 minutes of PRIDE. The theater had to kick us out because of a water main break. I've never felt so emotionally unresolved in my entire life. Take two tomorrow hopefully, but LOVED what I've seen so far.
Derreck - Sounds wonderful.
I saw Wild Tales, which I've been wanting to see since reading Nathaniels excellent TIFF-review, and I loved it! :)
Derreck -- I wanted to be there but it was sold out by the time i heard about it. argh.
Mysjkin - good to hear.
Ryan T -- omg. yes go again. the last time that happened to me at the movies was way back when I was a kid and i was seeing BEN HUR with my parents at a revival house. I was so thrilled but something broke or went wrong in the theater and they sent us all home about an hour in. The theater only showed movies on certain nights so it was a big deal that we all got to come back like two days later to watch the rest of the movie.
I saw Gone Girl and I can't stop thinking about it.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I thought the Affleck portions of the film were outstanding - almost like a very dark Altman film with the great cast of fleshed-out characters, and the performances were sublime (Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry and Kim Dickens were my favorites). I didn't read the novel and found the story genuinely absorbing. I loved the gender diversity of the characters, which I don't think we would have necessarily gotten from a male writer (Margo in particular was really well-written).
But the Pike portions of the film sort of bored me. Amy didn't feel like a real person to me. I know others will disagree, but Pike's performance didn't help - it just felt robotic to me (the comparisons to Alex Forrest are something of a joke). This is partially Fincher's fault and partially Gillian Flynn's fault, but women have had to do a lot to make underwritten characters interesting, and it didn't happen here, at least not for me. (Also, the more you think about that ending, the less it works.)
That said, it was really well-made (of course) and thought-provoking, and how often does that come along in a major studio film?
Derreck--you lucky man! So in her autumn years, I guess Sarandon is embracing her participation in Rocky Horror.
Gone Girl, in a packed theater of mostly older singles, couples, and groups (i.e., no teens, no 20 somethings, kind of strange). Wasn't a fan of the book, thought the movie was well-crafted. Affleck and Pike were excellent; also loved Coons and Dickens. Did anyone else think the scenes with Neil Patrick Harris were weird? Like a cold reading?
I saw Gone Girl. I had a ball. I think it perfectly captures this era of craziness.
P.S. I know it's totally weird, but when Pike goes fat and ugly reminded me of Renée as Bridget Jones and that made me feel kind of nostalgic.
I imagine people are getting the same exhilaration from Gone Girl that audiences felt watching Basic Instinct. I've seen it twice and both times, you could really feel the excitement from the audience at what we all just saw.
Believe me, when it comes to audience excitment, nothing can't top the bathub scene in Fatal Attraction. God, I'm old!
P.S. As for the genitalia, in my experience, Sharon was more way celebrated than Ben.
"Skeleton Twin" Wiig & Hadler are AMAZING in it. The lipsync is officially one of my favorite scene so far this year.
Suzanne - I totally agree about Pike's performance. Wasn't she supposed to be the Cool Girl in all those flashbacks? Then why was she so stiff and chilly and off, and why did so much of her dialogue sound overdubbed? It takes away from her character's big reveal and transformation.
Ryan- OOF. I was watching The Tree of Life when the fire alarm in the theater went off. I eagerly returned when we got the 'all-clear'. Two-thirds of the audience did not.
The theater was packed when I saw "Gone Girl" too - it is well crafted major studio thriller. I had trouble with the "Marnie" turn of events but I did think the ending was properly chilling.
Technically, I did this Thursday and Friday but I finally got around to watching Snowpiercer on VOD. I wouldn't necessarily say it's my Favorite Film of the Year but it's certainly in the Top Five/Ten (and I regret missing it in theaters). Of the new releases, I saw Dracula Untold yesterday afternoon. It breezes by and it's not a completely awful film but it's painfully underdeveloped and devoid of originality. Luke Evans was solid in it, however, so I hope the film doesn't harm his career too much.
Saw Gone Girl. For a movie a liked (but not loved) I can't stop thinking about it. Strong performances by all, especially by the women...parts large and small. (Sela Ward looks AMAZING). I fell that NPH is everywhere these days and i wish his character was played by a newcomer or someone who isn't a household name. The bedroom scene with NPH left me shaking. One other thing....The scene near the end of the movie where Ben A is at his sisters house and she's balling her eyes sitting on the floor, I half expected them to kiss and I think it would have been a perfect shocking twist in such a dark movie. Thoughts?
MM -- i think the "too close" feeling is intentional given the twinned nature, which makes his betrayal of withholding information much worse.
and yeah that NPH scene was. i was terrified during that.
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