Beauty and the Box Office. Plus Iron Fist.
Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 6:00PM 
What did you see this weekend besides Emma Watson twirling in that yellow gown? Disney spent $160 million making the movie and probably another huge chunk of millions promoting it but they were rewarded with stacks and stacks of gold. It nearly became the top grossing movie of the year (thus far) in a single weekend!
Since I'd already seen the Disney musical, I spent the weekend with a revisit of Grease 2 (more on that soon) as well as some DVR catch up (I will miss you when you're gone Real O'Neals - especially you Martha Plimpton and Matt Oberg). And yes I also tried with Iron Fist but it became white noise in the background as it was too dull to focus sole attention on. Identity politics aside, Finn Jones + the script are the biggest problems as there is so much filler and the hero is the least likeable character on the show, insufferably selfish and quite dumb. Shut up about your chi already, we get it! I found myself actually rooting for the douchey pseudo brother Ward Beachum (Tom Pelphrey). The Netflix series only comes alive when it focuses on side characters, whether they're good (Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing), evil (Wai Ching Ho reprising her delicious Daredevil villain Madame Gao) or somewhere on the what-are-they-up-to spectrum (the always reliable David Wenham as Harold Meachum)
TOP WIDE
01 Beauty & The Beast $170 NEW Review
02 Kong Skull Island $28.8 (cum. $110.1) Review
03 Logan $17.5 (cum. $184) Review
04 Get Out $13.2 (cum. $133.1) Review
05 The Shack $6.1 (cum. $42.6)
TOP LIMITED
01 The Sense of an Ending $475K (cum. $527K) 282 theaters Interview
02 Badrinath Ki Dulhania $420K (cum. $1.5) 156 theaters
03 A United Kingdom $320K (cum. $3.1) 257 theaters
04 Kedi $275K (cum. $1.4) 120 theaters Review
05 The Last Word $191K (cum. $345K) 94 theaters
06 T2: Trainspotting $180K NEW 5 theaters
07 Personal Shopper $158K (cum. $269K) 35 theaters Review
08 The Salesman $105K (cum. $2.2) 72 theaters Review, Interview
09 Song to Song $53K NEW 4 theaters
10 Land of Mine $41K (cum. $245K) 38 theaters Interview
Reader Comments (20)
I watched 'Network' for the first time. Mind-blowing.
I caught B&tB at Downtown Disney while visiting family. Disappointed by the "openly gay character" (hardly) and "gay moment" (typical Disney innuendo). Surprised to learn that there are many actual adult humans (not just random Alabama theaters) that really do care enough about this (more than beastiality) to not see the movie. Just another friendly reminder that toxicity and ignorance are somehow mainstream badges of honor now. :/
I am on a Bridget Fonda binge so watched The Assassin it's UK title and Scandal,I had forgotten how John Hurt is so good in it too.
Saw "Logan", a.k.a. "The Passion of the Wolverine" and agree w/Nathaniel that I don't understand why it had to be so brutally violent. The movie never seems to have a clear point or opinion about it. Overall: good enough, but I'm not into the faulty Hollywood math where people equate being taken seriously with humorlessness.
Only Angels Have Wings and His Girl Friday. Had me a Cary Grant-Howard Hawks weekend.
Also The Jungle Book remake. Which... whatever. I think it would be interesting to see which animated Disney movie's live action remakes outgross the original after inflation.
I watched 'Song to Song' and it was a mess. It lacked Malick's typical beautiful poetic images, which often keep me interested even if his films are meandering (as they almost always are). I expected more from the setting--the film barely captures Austin's music scene. I should have caught up with 'The Salesman' or 'Paterson,' or saw one of the new ones like 'Raw' or 'Personal Shopper' or 'After the Storm.' I hate to say it, but I may be done with Malick until his next film gets great reviews and practically forces me to see it. Very disappointing.
Having said that, finally caught up with 'The Americans' and it's still my favorite show on TV and the only hour long drama I manage to make time for.
I finally saw Get Out.
Watched "The Hours" and "Adaptation." Why I waited almost 15 years to watch the latter movie I'll never know.
I saw "Seed Money" a light but good documentary about the man behind Falcon studios and how he used his gay porn fortune to buy his way into respectability.
I watched "I am not your Negro" which was incredibly effective. Also made the trip to New York to watch "The Present". Cate Blanchett in person is even more captivating than on screen. What a woman and what an actress! Sat right in front of Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater who were cheering and screaming "Brava! brava!" at the end of the performance.
Caught Joao Pedro Rodrigues's The Ornithologist as part of the Chicago European Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center every March (featuring some of the best European releases of the past year). Thought-provoking, metaphysical, sensual, queer -- a dreamlike, fever-pitched journey of discovery through the wilds of northern Portugal, reimagining the life of St. Anthony of Padua. And did I say I really enjoyed it?
Saw BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and liked it well enough. Would've done a few thing differently if I had been in charged.
I also ended up seeing ELLE on DVD. The film itself was fine, but Huppert is great.
I took my sister to see King Barry's Moonlight on its last night playing, Thursday And in celebration of Queen Isabelle's birthday, I finally watched Story of Women. My goodness! It's just brilliant. I'm not at all surprised by this being one of John Waters' favourites. Isabelle is magnificent, often hilarious.
Friday, I went and saw Pickup on South Street in 35mm. It was pretty good. Thelma Ritter is wonderful.
Saturday, I took my friends to a 35mm screening of Pink Flamingos, which I just adore.
Oh! And I watched Almodóvar's Law of Desire. I'm writing an essay on Pedro in regards to film noir, comparing this and Bad Education, and maybe Matador... we'll see.
"Tale as old as time/Disney prints money..."
No trips to the theatre for me this weekend. I've been rewatching the Before Trilogy on my new Criterion set, as well as a lot of TV (including the first two hours of the CBC/Netflix Anne of Green Gables adaptation that isn't out in America yet).
Ended up seeing THE FAMILY FANG, which I thought was effective, and pretty true to the book. However, it felt a bit slow at times and some scenes were too dark to see anything. I enjoyed Nicole and Jason's performances though.
I've seen Darjeeling Limited on Saturday and BP winner Gigi on Sunday.
I just love Wes Anderson movies. They have that special something...
Gigi was a nice musical, with nice songs, great costumes and production design. Not sure I'd give it BP, but I can see why the Academy did.
I saw Personal Shopper and really enjoyed it. Stewart has like zero range but she's really grown as an actress and when a role fits her, like this one, she's very effective and watchable. The film itself is so unpredictable and I love how it barely uses any music so when it does it really heightens the moment. The final scene, in that one long take, was stunning.
Night of the Iguana at the A.R.T. Decent production; Dana Delaney still looks great and did her best channeling Ava Gardner (but no one, NO ONE can do that successfully). Bill Heck was fine, Amanda Plummer was MVP as Hannah. But have to agree with hubby, too much acting with an "A".
Also, Train to Busan (South Korean zombie movie) - LOVED it.
I also finally saw GET OUT - worth the wait, and on the whole, as someone who can't stand the stress of watching scary movies, I'm glad I knew all the plot spoilers (i.e., when to look away so's not to be freaked or grossed out). It really does operate brilliantly as a satire, almost better than as a horror movie.
Also saw THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, which I reviewed. Some nice moments and acting, but on the whole, disappointing.