Box Office: Sci-fi Rules the Day
Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 9:15PM Amir here, reporting to box office duty. Finally, the day cinephiles have been waiting for all year has arrived. America gets the chance to see one of our greatest working directors bring his epic vision to the screen. I speak, of course, of Frederick Wiseman's National Gallery, which opened on one screen to respectable returns. Others were too busy checking out Big Hero 6 and Interstellar. Disney's animated film actually topped the charts – I did not expect it to overcome Nolan's juggernaut, if I'm being honest – but both film finished with more than $50 in the bank. This is an incredibly rare feat: even though it's happened for the third year in a row now, it's only the fourth time that two films open with 50+ numbers. On all three previous occasions, an animated film beat a live action one: Wall-E and Wanted, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Prometheus, and Monsters University and World War Z. All eight films are also more or less science-fiction, which calls for a poll:
TOP DOZEN
01 BIG HERO 6 $56.2 NEW Tim's Review / Nathaniel's Take
02 INTERSTELLAR $52.1 NEW Michael's Review
03 GONE GIRL $6.1 (cum. $145.4) The Podcast / Jason's Review
04 OUIJA $6 (cum. $43.4)
05 ST. VINCENT $5.7 (cum. $27.3) Michael's Review
06 NIGHTCRAWLER $5.5 (cum. $19.7) The Podcast / Nathaniel's Review
07 FURY $5.5 (cum. $69.2) Michael's Review
08 JOHN WICK $8 (cum. $27.5) Michael's Review
09 ALEXANDER... VERY BAD DAY $3.4 (cum. $59.2)
10 THE BOOK OF LIFE $2.8 (cum. $45.2) Interview
11 BIRDMAN $2.3 (cum. $8) The Podcast / Nathaniel's Review
12 THE JUDGE $1.7 (cum. $42.5)
PLATFORM
01 WHIPLASH $.3 88 locations (cum. $1.5) The Podcast / Michael's Review
02 CITIZEN FOUR $.2 59 locations (cum. $.6)
03 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING $.2 NEW 5 locations Nathaniel's Review
Aside from Wiseman's film, the other big limited release of the weekend was The Theory of Everything, which returned really solid numbers on five screens and will roll out next week in search of some Oscar gold. I haven't yet seen any of this weekend's films, but I did catch up with Birdman: Or the Unex... oh, stop this nonsense, which I mostly liked, even though I found it uneven and undermined by a) Lubezki's distracting and confusing cinematography and b) Keaton's incredibly boring performance. For a performance that is similarly meta without forgetting that there is an emotional connection to be made with the material, see: Rourke, Mickey.
What did you see this weekend?
Big Hero 6, Interstellar, box office
Reader Comments (21)
Mmm, I almost think Inarritu's point, which is more about action movie spectacle in general than superheroes in specific, might have been better served if it were called The Skyscraper Man (referencing Die Hard) and starred Bruce Willis (who, for all his faults, is kind of a better actor overall than Keaton).
Went to a screening of Dumb and Dumber To...really bad. I am a huge fan of the original and the magic is gone. Also, those of you expecting to see J-Law, she doesn't show her face. Really dumb, pun intended, all around.
I'm seeing Interstellar on Wednesday because it's cheap day at the theater where I live. lol
Damn... Gone Girl still Top 3! Major!
I saw Theory of Everything and Interstellar on the same day and in that order... which seemed like a perfect pairing actually in hindsight. I also saw Skeleton Twins.
I saw 'Birdman'. I was underwhelmed, but that tends to happen with wildly critically acclaimed movies that I read a lot about before I see them (see also: Boyhood), especially if much of the discussion is about how impressive some technical aspect of the film is (see also: Boyhood). I haven't heard many less-than-rapturous opinions on Keaton, interesting. I thought Keaton was fine, but the performance and the movie didn't grab me and not let go, like, say, Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.
Foxcatcher, a disappointment that I guess I will have the next few months to debate. In a word: airless.
The Imitation Game: B+ that would be A- if a) I had never seen an episode of Sherlock and b) it depicted a single adult interaction (not sex scene) between Turing and one of his male partners. Still, in the battle of the Brit biopics (seen thus far), it has the edge over The Theory of Everything in my book. Bonus points for being the first Keira performance where I was never distracted by her jaw.
Rebecca- Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler is the best male performance in an American film this year. A travesty that no one is mentioning him for the Oscar race and a classic case of the hype machine feeding the Academy's taste. (No, I'm not delusional. I'm not talking about bloggers, but the outlets and the PR outfits that put real muscle behind these awards.)
No one has talked about him as a contender, so no one will, so no one will even notice it, even though the film did reasonably well.
Amir-- this is not so. have faith. he's definitely being talked about out. we'll see if the campaign can catch fire.
My Saturday was devoted to securing a seat for the six-thirty screening of INHERENT VICE. Which meant roaming the courtyard of the Egyptian before their programs began. The first being a Q&A with Michael Keaton and Edward Norton. Nathaniel Rogers was in line and I introduced myself. I made sure to show him my actress-sexual credentials flashing my pocket paperback of Shirley MacLaine's Don't Fall Off The Mountain.
I did make my screening which turned out to be the LA premiere of INHERENT VICE.
I had a very Lithgowesque weekend. I saw Love Is Strange and Interstellaaaaaaaa. The first one gave me everything I expect to find in a movie. Excellent. The second one, well, it's definitively not my type of film. I thought it was way too long, full of simplistic metaphors and really poor dialogue. It has great moments, but overall, I don't think it works and I don't get the general enthusiasm. I rather watch Gravity twice than sit through this one again.
And then I went to vote for the Catalan referendum and felt great about it.
P.S. I'm in awe of everyone involved with Olive Kitteridge. Bravo!
I saw Birdman, and I agree with Amir and Rebecca. Disappointing - and the female characters were all such cliches. The raves for Keaton seem to be more about his backstory and the "meta" aspect of the film than the actual performance.
I also saw Whiplash, and I absolutely loved it. A completely tense, energizing cinematic experience. Go, JK Simmons, go!
We were going to see NIGHTCRAWLER but BIRDMAN opened at a small neighborhood theater, which generally has a great movie lover vibe (e.g., no annoying talking, candy wrapper noise, and texting). Wow, Amir, I usually agree with you, but I really LOVED BIRDMAN. Fine acting all around; Emma Stone gets my MVP vote. And the cinematography and drumbeat score were so refreshing. Makes my top five list as of now.
We saw Nightcrawler. Intense, disturbing, shocking. Needed a shower afterwards. I definitely see an editing nod here. Gyllenhaal gets my tentative endorsement for a BA nom, but I haven't seen any of the frontrunners yet. Still sounding the drumbeat for Mr. Boseman--one of the best male performances I've seen so far.
I saw Interstellar, which I loved despite some major flaws, and The Way He Looks, which is the most adorable movie of the year.
I was *shocked* to learn after the movie that Ghilherme Lobo isn't actually blind. I've joked before about moviegoers who see a movie about disability and then rave, "It was like that actor really was X!" But this is the first time I've ever experienced that feeling myself. He had me absolutely convinced.
I saw 2 films this weekend first I saw 'Laggies' which was good Keira Knightly was great. Then I saw Big Hero 6 which was the best animated film I seen in years
I saw Interstellar just before the weekend, and loved it. Flawed - most definitely flawed - but great in spite of (and in some ways because of) that.
The rest of the weekend was split between the Fassbinder retro at Lincoln Center (I saw Chinese Roulette, The Marriage of Maria Braun, and Fox & His Friends, and holy fuck) and MOMA, where I saw a delightful 60s 3-D (IN SPACE VISION!) extravaganza called The Bubble, which, among other things, very clearly inspired Under the Dome.
All in all, a glorious, amazing weekend at the movies.
I did see Interstellar, but I commented on that in the other post.
The only other film I saw was St. Vincent, which was somewhat underwhelming. It wasn't awful; it was a relatively enjoyable watch, but it was very formulaic. Whenever something major happened in the plot, you realized that it was the most predictable thing which could have happened. As for acting, Bill Murray was OK, I liked Naomi Watts, and I found Melissa McCarthy nice in a more dramatic role than she usually plays. (Maybe she should do more of that sort of role and less of the broad comedy, for a change.)
I went foreign this weekend by watching "Force Majeure" and "We are the Best!" The latter was charming and nicely observed, but the former is brilliant. "Force Majeure" is the film version of a Seinfeld episode except that its characters are all too human. The film is hilarious and provokes a lot of discomfort. I hope it gets in for foreign film.
Gyllenhaal is amazing and truly Oscar worthy in "Nightcrawler"
Saw "Dracula Untold" last week which was entertaining but forgettable. Then I rented "Black Nativity" since it was leaving Redbox soon and that was pretty bland. Now finally getting around to "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" which I'm quite liking so far. I didn't realize Maggie Smith's voice has always been that pitch/tone and not due to age.
That TARS moment screencapped from INTERSTELLAR above happens during the film's best sequence, on the water planet, and it's raison d'être for being filmed in IMAX imo. It was stunning and I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards. Too bad the rest of the film kinda just went through the motions. I liked Hans Zimmer's score quite a bit this time around tho, I thought the organs were a genius touch actually.
I didn't love Big Hero 6 but I DID love it's basic FUCK YEAH SCIENCE undercurrent. We need more of that shit.