Box Office: Divergent's Not Dead
Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 3:18PM Amir here, with the weekend's box office report. As expected by every single person not living under a rock, Divergent took the top spot, affirming the unfortunate bankability of YA adaptations. Critically and commercially, it fell somewhere much closer to Twilight than The Hunger Games, but the target demographic seems content and that's all that matters to the studio. I'm sure a sequel is already underway, though my level of interest in finding out whether the source novel actually has sequels or not also falls somewhere much closer to my interest in Twilight than The Hunger Games, no. Sorry. I’ll pass on all of them.
BOX OFFICE
01 DIVERGENT $56 *new*
02 MUPPETS MOST WANTED $16.5 *new*
03 MR PEABODY & SHERMAN $11.7 (cum. $81) this franchise's history
04 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE $8.6 (cum. $93.7)
05 GOD'S NOT DEAD $8.5 *new*
06 NEED FOR SPEED $7.7 (cum. $34)
07 GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL $6.7 (cum. $12.9)
08 NON-STOP $6.3 (cum. $78.6) Amir's Review
09 THE LEGO MOVIE $4.1 (cum. $243.3) Nathaniel's Review
10 TYLER PERRY'S SINGLE MOM'S CLUB $3.1 (cum. $12.9)
Muppets Most Wanted turned out to be an ironic title for a film with such a tepid reaction. It’s a shame considering what a real delight the last Muppets outing was and that the reviews for this aren’t half bad. This one will probably just make a profit because I suspect it will have the legs to stick around for a few weeks without massive drops. You know what will definitely make a profit though and probably already has? God’s Not Dead ! Like you, dear reader, I had not heard of it until this weekend and, like you, I have not rushed to see it. The box office numbers have been astounding though, with $8m already in the bank in three days for the indie on less than 1000 screens, so someone somewhere must have heard about it. Agree or disagree with the film’s beliefs/mythology, we have to concede that no film since 12 Years a Slave had managed to so succinctly describe its entire plotline in the title.
The critical darling of the hour, The Grand Budapest Hotel, earned $6.7m, a weekend gross that Moonrise Kingdom never achieved throughout its run. It’s still a very real possibility that it will end up as Wes Anderson’s most successful hit. On the limited release side, six new films opened on Friday, the buzziest of which are Jodorowsky’s Dune and It Felt Like Love. If you are one of the extremely lucky people who live near those theatres, you might want to keep an eye out.
My weekend consisted of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Arabian Nights, Majid Majidi’s Baduk and George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story, and I’m happy to report I have nothing to complain about with that trio.
What did you watch this weekend?
Divergent, Muppets, box office, religiosity
Reader Comments (16)
I saw Blood Brother. It was an very moving experience. I'm sure it will stay with me for days.
I saw Grand Budapest Hotel and really enjoyed it.
I saw a piece of essential cinema -- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
I saw "300; Rise of the Empire" - a live action cartoon with dreary video game visuals and gallons of very fake CGI blood.
In two weeks Divergent will probably gross more than all of Winslet's non-Titanic movies combined.
/3rtful -- ooh, that's a goodie.
tyler -- GROSS. don't be mean.
I watched WHITE HOUSE DOWN and DON JON on DVD, and finally caught ALL IS LOST in theatres (only opened in Australia in March). All three were disappointing for different reasons, but ScarJo was fantastic in DON JON.
/ 3rtful - THE COOK, THE THIEF is *awesome*. Saw it twice in the cinema when it came out, but not sure I've seen it since. Must revisit.
I caught It Felt Like Love at a festival last year. It's tender, textured, immersive and just generally excellent. Because it's such a small film I was worried it would just disappear without a trace. Delighted it got a release!
I saw Grand Budapest, but it seemed like the audience I saw it with was kind thrown by the dark aspects of it. I loved it!
I finally watched American Hustle. I'm seriously baffled by all the awards show love Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper received for this. Adams seemed to not even care, and Cooper was just awful (to be fair, I've never thought much of him as an actor). If it weren't for Jeremy Renner (who deserved accolades over Cooper) and Jennifer Lawrence, this movie would have been unwatchable.
Inside Llewyn Davis. Loved the music (because of course T Bone Burnett had something to do with it) but this film was sadly lacking in...something. Even Oscar Isaac and all his woolly-ness didn't do much for me. I would have enjoyed seeing more of Adam Driver and Justin Timberlake, or more scenes with the cat(s) and Upper West Side couple. One of the rare instances that the Academy got it right in terms of Best Pic/Screenplay noms. This movie didn't get either and didn't deserve them. Also wished I saw this before the hype. It does tend to color opinions.
I FINALLY caught up with The Lego Movie this weekend and, despite all the good things I've heard about it from people of all stripes, I was SHOCKED at how good it was. And at how meta it was - it took the concept of the whole thing being made out of Legos as far as it could possibly go, which resulted in some really hilarious and clever ideas. About halfway through I said to myself, "If this doesn't end with a scene revealing that this whole thing took place in some kid's playroom with millions of lego sets, I'll be disappointed." What they actually did was possibly even better than that.
Saw both JODOROWSKY'S DUNE and IT FELT LIKE LOVE. Liked both, although I worry the somewhat narratively unfulfilling ending of the latter will dampen my feelings towards it in the long run.
"affirming the unfortunate bankability of YA adaptations" - really? I mean, this is from boxofficemojo.com: "[Divergent] also earned more in its first three days than the combined totals of YA flops Beautiful Creatures, The Host and Vampire Academy." I think people know they aren't sure things, even if they keep getting made.
I saw Grand Budapest Hotel and although it great surface charms (acting, cinematography, humor, adventure) I don't think they added up to much and it felt too long. I also get disappointed when men assemble large casts for these type of comedies but only fit in female characters as love interests with a few lines (Saoirse Ronan at least had something to do, even if with little dialogue, and Tilda Swinton was given an entertaining cameo, but a cameo was all it was). Like, c'mon guys, women can indulge in all the quirky, greedy, desperate, lovable, curious behavior that men do...ugh, I can't believe sentences like that still have to even be written at all in 2014.
Murder My Sweet and To Have and Have Not this afternoon. Loved them both.