The Amazing Samey-Man, A Redundant Box Office Chart
Sunday, May 4, 2014 at 6:36PM Amir here, with the weekend’s box office report. For the past ten days, I have been drowning in a stack of Hot Docs screeners, missed deadlines and research for [shameless self-promotion!] the next episode of my podcast. As I recover from all of that, it is reassuring, in a perverse way, to look at the box office top ten and realize that all is the same in the world. Order is restored. The audiences are happy. A fucking superhero film has won the day.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out on top with a figure that is being labelled “disappointing” around the web despite being higher than the GDP of nine small countries combined. Sure, that number is lower than the earnings of previous Spidey outings, but none of the preceding films suffered from an Electro that looks like an early draft version of a bad 80s sci-fi villain, or a Harry Osborn that looks like an early draft version of a bad 90s Leo DiCaprio. All this despite tens of millions of dollars spent on the CGI budget...
LOLZ
THE TOP TEN
01 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 $92 *NEW*
02 THE OTHER WOMAN $14.2 (cum. $47.3)
03 HEAVEN IS FOR REAL $8.7 (cum. $65.6)
04 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER $7.7 (cum. $237.1) Review
05 RIO 2 $7.6 (cum. $106.4)
06 BRICK MANSIONS $3.5 (cum. $15.4)
07 DIVERGENT $2.1 (cum. $142.6) Review
08 THE QUIET ONES $2 (cum. $6.7)
09 GOD'S NOT DEAD $1.7 (cum. $55.5)
10 THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL $1.7 (cum. $51.5)
The rest of the top ten looks mostly similar to previous weeks. The Other Woman, a film led by three women that miraculously manages to fail the Bechdel test, is in second place, while Heaven Is For Real and God’s Not Dead continue to surpass all expectations as they hold on to the third and ninth positions, respectively.
On the limited end of things, Walk of Shame proved to be an aptly portentous title for the film's red carpet premiere, as it limped to a $745 per screen average on its opening weekend, but two smaller films did solid business. Belle, a historical drama about the true story of an illegitimate mixed-race child to a navy admiral received respectable reviews, while the Polish film Ida, Pawel Pawlikowski’s black and white, WWII drama has become one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. I saw this one at TIFF last year, and its meticulous, chilly design gained my admiration more than love, but I’d happily give it another shot.
What have you watched this weekend?
Belle, Ida, Spider-Man, Visual FX, bad movies, box office
Reader Comments (14)
I saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and thought it was pretty awful but kinda fun at the same time. I suspect that it won't hold up next week and will have quite a drop given its bad word of mouth.
Haha, tell us how you REALLY feel about Spider-man, Amir.
I remember seeing the trailer for Belle a while back and thinking
DracoTom Felton has really got to branch out from playing prejudiced a-holes.If studios don't want $92 million opening weekends to be deemed "disappointing", then perhaps they shouldn't make movies with $250 million budgets that have to be recouped, on top of another nine figures on marketing.
"A film led by three women that miraculously manages to fails the Bechdel test..."
LOL- I love it.
Against my better judgment, especially in light of my apathy toward the first one, I wasted $11 on "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and was consequently bored -- too long, too bloated, too unfocused, too many subplots, and too many villains for me enjoy it. And I don't care for Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man at all.
Watched a ton, including Spidey 2 (he's my favorite superhero by far), which was a mix of fun and awful. The real treat was spending an evening watching Only Lovers Left Alive, kind of a Midnight in Paris with vampires.
Watched But I'm a Cheerleader since the bf had never seen it. Cute and funny for a somewhat unpolished script, but remember when Natasha Lyonne was a consistent movie lead? She has such an interesting presence and energy. So glad she's back in Orange is the New Black.
Oh, and random Michelle Williams cameo as the kinda bitchy frenemy! Complete with bad, late-90's suburban mom hairstyle that easily made her look 20 going on 40.
BrianZ -- i love Spider-Man as a superhero too. Easily top 3... but i just have no time for these movies. They'll never top the first two Raimis but more depressingly they're like nowhere in the same zip code or, hell, continent in terms of quality.
I watched Tumbleweeds and Peggy Sue Got Married. Both of these films are so underrated. Janet McTeer is such a wonderful actress as is Kathleen Turner.
Eli -- so sad that Kathleen didn't win the Oscar :(
Nathaniel you have every right to be sad cause it's such a great performance in so many ways. I also would have loved seeing a Best Picture nod as the film was ( i assume) a box office hit and had to have some Academy members feeling nostalgic.
Eli -- i dont remember specifics but it was a hit (though only a modest one as i recall). we did that one for 'Best Shot' once and it was so fun to revisit. i love me some kathleen turner.
Watched The African Queen, which I hadn't seen since I was a kid. So much fun and just loved Kate and Bogie together. They really brought out a playfulness in each other I hadn't remembered. Also, What a Way to Go, with Shirley MacLaine in Cinemascope, so not a bad way to spend two hours. Paul Newman as the oh so tortured artist was the highlight.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" the best super hero movie since " The Avengers" great script, cast and action. I was surprised by the strong homoerotic subtext of the Captain-Bucky friendship- no this was not "Brokeback Marvel" but the Cap kept turning down dates with females...