Box Office: The Battle of the Holiday Releases Part 2
Sunday, December 28, 2014 at 1:23PM
Manuel here offering up the sequel to last week’s Battle of the Holiday Releases you didn’t know you needed. Those Middle Earth dwellers are nothing if not resilient warriors and thus it comes as no surprise that The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies held on to #1 for the second week in a row despite some competition from a singing witch and a martyred soldier, both proving quite the challengers. That bodes well for the awards prospects for Rob Marshall’s big screen adaptation of Into the Woods and Angelina Jolie’s uplifting war drama Unbroken. Box office alone does not win awards (or nominations) but it surely doesn’t hurt. It was a busy Christmas week -- even embattled and corporate freedom of speech poster boy The Interview made a dent in a little over 300 screens.
Random Trivia: This is the first time since December 2007 when two live-action musicals have made it to the Top Ten. Can you name them? Hint: they also involved Disney & Sondheim.
TOP SIXTEEN
01 HOBBIT: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES $41.2 (cum. $168.5)
02 UNBROKEN $31.7 NEW (cum. $47.3)
03 INTO THE WOODS $31.02 NEW (cum. $46.1) Interview
04 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB $20.6 (cum. $55.3)
05 ANNIE $16.6 (cum. $45.8)
06 HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PT1 $10 (cum. $306.65) Review
07 THE GAMBLER $9.3 NEW (cum. $14.3) Review
08 THE IMITATION GAME $7.93 (cum. $14.6) Review, Glenn's take
09 EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS $6.75 (cum. $52.5) Review
10 WILD $5.4 (cum. $16.3) Review, interview, podcast
11 BIG HERO 6 $4.8 (cum. $199.9) Review, Brief take
12 TOP FIVE $3.8 (cum. $19.2) Brief take
13 THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR $3.2 (cum. $66.9) Review
14 INTERSTELLAR $3 (cum. $177.3) Review
15 BIG EYES $2.98 (cum. $4.4) Open Thread
16 THE INTERVIEW $1.8 (cum. $2.8)
There’s a fascinating discussion to be had about the way Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper (notching the highest limited box office for Christmas Day record) and James Franco/Seth Rogen’s The Interview (making history by well, being released?) were released the same day as Ava DuVernay’s Selma. Together they make quite the triptych on American politics, don’t you think? While Tim Burton's Big Eyes struggled, The Weinstein Company must be happy with the way The Imitation Game is expanding (cracking the Top Ten while being in less than 1000 screens; has it made it near you?).
PLATFORM (Under 100 screens)
01 AMERICAN SNIPER $0.61 4 locations NEW (cum. $0.85)
02 SELMA $0.59 19 locations NEW (cum. $0.91) Review, podcast, premiere
03 MR TURNER $0.25 24 locations (cum. $0.49) Review, Interview
04 INHERENT VICE $0.2 16 locations (cum. $0.96) Conversation, FYC Josh Brolin
05 WHIPLASH $0.18 87 locations (cum. $5.45) Review, JK Simmons
06 CITIZENFOUR $0.06 40 locations (cum. $2.1) Podcast, FYC Editing
07 THE HOMESMAN $0.059 61 locations (cum. $2.1) Review, brief take
08 THE BABADOOK $0.058 47 locations (cum. $0.6) Interview
Below these, two foreign language films bolstered by good reviews opened at two locations: Two Days One Night, featuring the luminous Marion Cotillard ($0.48 for the five-day frame) and Oscar-shortlisted Leviathan ($0.023 for the week).
What did you catch Christmas Day?
Reader Comments (17)
Sweeney Todd and Enchanted were those musicals in 2007
I saw "Inherent Vice" and "Into the Woods." I enjoyed "Inherent Vice" for its tripped out vibe and its portrait of Los Angeles in the 1970s, but story wise I was ambivalent. It's a trip but not one that will stick in my memory. I did love "Into the Woods" more than I was expecting considering it's a Rob Marshall film. Here's one film that would have been better had it been longer. The pacing was off feeling mostly rushed. They probably should not have cut "Ever After" as that would have eased the transition into Act 2. The characters also don't fully develop except in song. Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt were terrific, but the most delightful performance is from Chris Pine channeling William Shatner moreso here than in "Star Trek." Billy Magnussen is very dreamy but not given enough to do here.
I know many who are going to see Into the Woods again this week 😄
So far this weekend, I've seen Into the Woods and Tusk. I'm watching The Houses October Built and In Your Eyes tonight.
Into the Woods is as good of an adaptation of that show as we're going to get. Some too harsh for children editing aside, it really captured the essence of the show. Reorganizing the little stories of act one to be told in chunks, not broken up throughout, made sense for this film. The singing and design were gorgeous. I mean, the show is so driven by theatrical conventions that it would never translate 100%, but it worked in this version.
Tusk is what you would expect it to be: a better version of The Human Centipede with intentional humor. I liked it. It's a weird film that isn't afraid of being a weird film. Not a masterpiece, but good for what it is.
I also saw The Hobbit: Please End It Already a few nights ago and enjoyed it so much more than the second film. I buckled and let my friends convince me to see it in the IMAX 3D and it was like watching a stageplay because of the frame rate. That I loved.
Saw The Imitation Game on Christmas day and Into the Woods yesterday. Imitation Game is a safe, conventional biopic, but an extremely well-made safe, conventional biopic -- totally involving, solidly directed, marvelously acted, especially by Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightley.
I wasn't a fan of Into the Woods on Broadway, so I had lowered expectations, but even then it's still a blah film. Rob Marshall's lackluster pacing, the script's failure to re-imagine the film for the big screen, and Sondheim's tuneless dirges make for a movie that, while pretty to look at and featuring fine performances from Emily Blunt, James Corden, Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen (their "Agony" is the best moment in the film), is ultimately a bland, tedious experience.
Tuneless dirges....
On Christmas Eve I saw Foxcatcher and Wild. The acting is incredible in both (Channing Tatum... WTF. Amazing!), but Foxcatcher was too slow over the first two-thirds. The tension tightens like a vice in the third act, which caught me completely off-guard despite knowing the real-life story. Wild, on the other hand, was beautiful in just about every way. Loved the cinematography, the montage, the score, the performances... everything was unified to the central purpose in a way that I found completely satisfying, despite Cheryl's motivations remaining just a bit opaque.
Then yesterday I saw Whiplash, which I thought was quite good at playing its one note over and over. I'm not sure it was a good film, exactly, but I found it a bit better than its detractors give it credit for.
Today I caught Test on Netflix, and I am SO THANKFUL for Nathaniel's earlier coverage of this great little indie, which put it on my radar. LOVED every little bit of it. The dancing! My GOD, the dancing - so great, and SO well-shot. Love, love, love.
On Christmas Eve I saw Foxcatcher and Wild. The acting is incredible in both (Channing Tatum... WTF. Amazing!), but Foxcatcher was too slow over the first two-thirds. The tension tightens like a vice in the third act, which caught me completely off-guard despite knowing the real-life story. Wild, on the other hand, was beautiful in just about every way. Loved the cinematography, the montage, the score, the performances... everything was unified to the central purpose in a way that I found completely satisfying, despite Cheryl's motivations remaining just a bit opaque.
Then yesterday I saw Whiplash, which I thought was quite good at playing its one note over and over. I'm not sure it was a good film, exactly, but I found it a bit better than its detractors give it credit for.
Today I caught Test on Netflix, and I am SO THANKFUL for Nathaniel's earlier coverage of this great little indie, which put it on my radar. LOVED every little bit of it. The dancing! My GOD, the dancing - so great, and SO well-shot. Love, love, love.
I watched Theory of Everything again (this time at home). I had the same reaction as I did in the theater which is to say, while it has excellent performances and production values, it all felt more like a "very special episode of Masterpiece Classic" than a feature film. I kept expecting Inspector Lewis to come in and solve a murder.
And while I like Redmayne, I felt Jones did far more of the heavy lifting than he did. What I got mostly from him was physical mimicry and charm, not a great deal of emotional depth and few layers. She, on the other hand (as well as the wonderful Charlie Cox) were playing a particular type of upper middle class educated English person who are epitomized by the stiff upper lip--soldier on regardless---and "above all, don't make a scene" mind set etc. I saw so much behind their eyes in every scene and really feel it is as much Jane's story as it is Stephen's if not more. I really like that they are still friends. But, the script is pretty thin. I think it could have benefited from narrowing the time period and fleshing out (or cutting out) peripheral characters.
Poor Emily Watson. At least she got the best laugh line.
I saw "Strangers by the Lake" which is interesting- it works better as naturalistic character study than as a thriller...
In theaters I saw hobbit 3 again (I liked it better the second time) and the penguins of Madagascar because it was, no joke, the only other movie my adult sister was interested in seeing. It's a manic, gag-a-minute amusement park ride, which was fine. I went with three other people and we all had fun enough.
At home, I've rewatched the grand Budapest hotel and muppets most wanted, and watched monuments men (I liked it) and the directors cut of nymphomaniac volume 1, which I thought was much, much better than the theatrical cut, for the first time.
The Interview: A pretty average comedy burdened with expectations it was clearly never prepared for. It's smart in places, and has some very funny moments, but it's not nearly as good as The Is The End.
Into the Woods: I quite liked this on the whole. It's clearly straining against its budget in a few places, and there are a few awkward moments, but the core of the material is strong and the cast is very consistently top notch. Chris Pine was the biggest surprise of the bunch.
Unbroken: The sequence of them adrift at sea is really good, and the prison camp sequences are appropriately grueling, but all the prewar flashbacks are unnecessary, and a bunch of character stuff that sounds way more interesting than what was dramatized in the film itself is dumped into a text epilogue about Zamperini's postwar life.
Saw "Beyond the Lights" for the 3rd time plus "Birdman." Also saw the Lifetime movies "Aaliyah: Princess of R&B" and "An En Vogue Christmas."
I saw Imitation Game, which I liked more than I thought I would. Big Eyes, which I agree has a very slight story, but I liked it too.
At home, We Are The Best! and A Royal Affair (Mads Mikkelson is great as a man of the Enlightenment among greedy and unpleasant people. He's beautiful, he's smart, and he moves like a dream, like the dancer he was).
On the plane out I saw Lucy (again) and on the plane back I saw Captain America: Winter Soldier (again).
I finally got around to seeing Mockigjay. I don't know why anyone wants to campaign for donald Sutherland for supporting actor. He is owed one, is in the biggest movie of the year, and is actually good in the role (it's hard to be so charismatically menacing). I don't get it, especially when everyone seems to be ok throwing another nomination at duvall for the Judge.
This weekend I saw Exodus which I believe is gonna be better when the directors cut is coming out next year. Bale did a good job and Ridley Scott did vision Moses as the warrior/ general. I agree with the ones saying that Weaver was not used enough
I also saw The Hobbit and I really liked that one. It was so frickin great to see dark Lady Galadriel when she was fighting against my favorite Nazguls!!!
Thranduil is in my jerk off bank now for ever
News is, that The Interview might just became the most important film in film history, and the one that could kill the theater-experience. Its clever and clearly not clean marketing campaign (I think the hacking and threats have been conveniently overblown by the media, some of it, Sony-related, and embraced by an Obama government that loved some distraction from way more important issues, as say, the reports of torture in America) has resulted in a b.o. that is 5 times bigger in online viewings, than in theaters.
Really cleverly, Sony avoided showing it, on Playstation Network, giving some air to the theaters that dared to show the film despite the less than believable threats, and have made millions, "break the ice" and start watching releases of "event" films, directly online. It hasn't reached 3 millions in theaters, but online sales have climbed over 15 million.
In years in the future, this last weekend will be seen as the real beginning of the end of cinema as we know it.
On the film itself... Randall Park is awesome. Some laughs here and there, but it's basically more a puppy than a bulldog... still, the joke isn't on North Korea, but on the USA.