Box Office: A Fantastic Woman, A Wrinkle in Time, and More...
Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 9:29PM by Nathaniel R
| Weekend Box Office (March 9th-11th) Estimates |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide |
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| 1. Black Panther $41.1 (cum. $562) PODCAST |
1. 🔺 Thoroughbreds $1.2 on 549 screens NEW REVIEW |
| 2. 🔺 A Wrinkle in Time (pictured) $33.3 NEW REVIEW | 2. 🔺 A Fantastic Woman (pictured) $287k on 166 screens (cum. $1.1) REVIEW | OSCAR WIN |
| 3.🔺 Strangers Prey at Night $10.4 NEW |
3.🔺 The Death of Stalin $181k on 4 screens NEW REVIEW |
| 4. Red Sparrow $8.1 (cum. $31.1) REVIEW | JENNIFER IN VERSACE |
4. 🔺 The Leisure Seeker $119k on 28 screens NEW |
| 5. Game Night $7.9 (cum. $45) REVIEW |
5. The Party $98k on 91 screens (cum. $483k) |
It's a history-making weekend at the box office. For the first time ever the two top grossers are both from African-American directors. Ryan Coogler's Black Panther continues its astonishing run. It's now the biggest non-Star Wars hit since Jurassic World three years ago and The Avengers before that six years ago and likely to outgross them both). It was also opening weekend for Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time. $33 million for a movie with no bankable stars that's not a sequel is good though people are calling it a failure due to its heavy price tag. How the Oscars affected the box office after the jump...
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| 6. Peter Rabbit $6.8 (cum. $93.4) | 6. 🔺 Loveless (pictured) $54k on 37 screens (cum. $303k) REVIEW |
| 7. Death Wish $6.6 (cum. $23.8) | 7. La Boda de Valentina $41k on 45 screens (cum. $2.7) |
| 8. 🔺 The Hurricane Heist $3.1 NEW |
8. Foxtrot $29k on 6 screens (cum. $112k) |
| 9. Annihilation (pictured) $3.1 (cum. $26) | 9. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool $21k on 41 screens (cum. $811k) INTERVIEW |
| 10. Jumanji $2.7 (cum. $397.2) | 10. The Insult $19k on 16 screens (cum. $904k) |
| 🔺 = new or expanding its theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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The Oscar ceremony last weekend was a huge boost to two films. Best Picture winner The Shape of Water was up 67% and grossed another 2.5 million (it's now at $148 million globally) while the Foreign Film winner A Fantastic Woman took the opportunity to expand and was rewarded with a 129% jump grossing over a quarter million and pushing its total domestic gross over the important million dollar mark. (Interestingly, director Sebastian Lelio's last Chilean feature, the amazing Gloria, was an even bigger hit at arthouse theaters, grossing $2.1 million in 2014 without Oscar's blessing. He's currently remaking it as an English language feature with Julianne Moore. Can A Fantastic Woman stay open long enough to beat Gloria and become his biggest hit?)
Three Billboards didn't get a bump but its double acting wins helped it nonetheless. It was off just 45% while nearly all the other Best Picture "losers" dropped by 60% or more and surely won't be in theaters next week since most of the titles are now on DVD or are about to be.
What did you see during the weekend? I caught A Wrinkle in Time (and agree with much of Chris Feil's review though I liked it much less). As you read this I'm closing my weekend out with Klute (1971), one of my all-time fav films. It's my first time seeing it on the big screen. Consider me ecstatic right now somewhere in the dark watching peak Fonda.
Reader Comments (21)
I am happy The Shape of Water is having a last gasp, along with The Post that is now over $150M global. We may need to save the footage of both of these films for the next era.
I saw Bombshell about Heddy Lamarr and it was really interesting. She was an accomplished inventor and an amazing actress. Unusual. Kudos to Susan Sarandon for producing.
I saw "Red Sparrow" which I liked. The director seemed to be aiming for cold war Hitchcock thriller but he is not Brian DePalma who would at least have made the sex scenes sexier. Lawrence goes from ballerina to seductive spy school and uses her charms to snare Joel Edgerton who also struts around in speedos. There is a lot of sex in this movie but it's rather mechanical than erotic. Lawrence looks great changing costumes and hair styles . She is having a lot more fun than she did suffering in "Mother" An A list supporting cast adds to the film with Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Ramling who would have played the lead if the film had been made in 70s
I was hoodwinked into watching Murder on the Orient Express... I liked the original very much...
this version was an abomination for all concerned.... Kenneth was out to take over the film... he did .. poorly IMO
Veronica on NetFlix from Spain - very scary horror film and well done for that genre. It has some funny moments but is engrossing due to lead girl and genuinely scared me.
I saw Black Panther, and damn, way better than I expected. I kind of get the criticism but it really has some transportive elements that outweighs any detractors. And what a cast! Better than wonder woman imo
Klute is 1971, the same year as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which is...weird. How on earth did you see it on the big screen?!
It’s sad that Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon aren’t considered “bankable stars” (not to mention Mindy Kaling). A Wrinkle in Time looks terrible, but hope for its success for the sake of Ava DuVernay’s career!
Klute’s end theme is my ringtone
I saw two Joel Edgerton movies (two!), "Gringo" and "Red Sparrow".
Strangely enough, both seem to want to be twisty tales of betrayal, revenge, and double crosses. One is communist corruption in a caricatured Eastern bloc, the other capitalist corruption in a caricatured Mexico.
"Gringo" is more fun. The actors chew into their parts with great gusto (David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Sharlto Copley). Joel's brother, Nash Edgeton, who directed has a stuntwork background and the action scenes are sharp, sudden, and condensed. They're done in a professional way that makes its point and moves on.
Red Sparrow- I swear this movie was 5 hours long. It was just one durn thing after another, and none of the things important. The actors looked incurably glum, like not even their pay check could cheer them up. Lawrence is lovely, but she had to work very hard in this pointless movie, apparently made by groups of men with the deeply engrained notion that torture, porn, and female degradation are the edgy fun parts.
David Oyelowo in "Gringo" is an actor that I've really warmed up to. When I first saw him in Kenneth Branagh's "As You Like It", I thought he was awful. Later, I thought he was bland and empty. Then I thought he performed in standardized good taste.
But he made a decision to deliberately work with women directors as much as possible, and to me, it really improved his acting. He seems to have had time to learn how he works best with the camera. And he doesn't just have a broader range of the big emotions, he's got all kinds of little emotions that are often self-censored out. There's unexpected moments in his acting now that make him fun to watch.
Saw BLACK PANTHER which I liked and was glad to see although I’m not sure I’d see it again, plus STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI which I enjoyed a little more but kept wondering where they were trying to go with the story, and finally EVERY DAY which I think I liked the best out of all three this weekend, as it had a smaller scope of a story and I thought it managed to stand on its own separate from the book.
I saw A Wrinkle in Time yesterday which peculiarly was both not quite and precisely what I expected it to be for better and worse. More than anything it reiterated to me how much more I need to see of Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Every auteur should be chomping at the bit to create a vehicle specifically for her.
I also finally finished Luke Cage and The Get Down on Netflix. Despite the fact that the latter was canceled, the ultimate episode of the series surely felt like a proper ending to the entire story.
Nathaniel - I have an old Spanish Klute movie poster if you want it. Happy to send it your way. It's a great poster.
I saw Wrinkle in Time. I know it's gotten mixed reviews but as someone who hasn't read the book I enjoyed it a lot. Sure, it's not perfect, some of the editing is sloppy and Duvernay relies way too much on close-ups instead of establishing space in sets and between characters. But overall I thought it worked. And Storm Reid- holy cow is she great. That big scene with Chris Pine? Really fantastic work, and something that seems beyond just good direction. She's a natural.
Forgot to mention - I also saw All the King's Men. I was really worried for the first 30 minutes or so - stagey, corny, badly acted, sloppy editing, strange vocal dubbing, etc. But then it really gets it together and becomes very compelling. And of course, it's hard to ignore its parallels with a certain man in the White House today.
And McCambridge! So watchable, such an interesting role, really makes it work despite some tricky dialogue and character shifts.
And considering all the talk in the last few years about category fraud, the film's lead was nominated in supporting actor. There's is no good argument for that - Jack is the film's center, it's all told from his perspective, he's in almost every scene. How did they get away with that placement?
I saw four movies this weekend.
I started with Love, Simon which was old fashioned in a good way and I'm very glad it exists. If you can transport yourself back to your teens, and if you're lucky enough to have been one in the 80s or 90s, this will feel like the film you should have seen then. I'll probably see it again with friends.
Then I saw The Florida Project. I liked it the most of the group I saw it with. They saw it strictly as a horror/freak show, but I thought it was mostly comedy, and strangely life-affirming. Though I'll admit I think the "tragedy" of separation at the end is the best thing that could have happened to the characters. This is a "once and done" kind of film though.
Then I saw Victoria and Abdul and I liked it and can recommend it. There's nothing unexpected in it really, but the filmmakers respect the two title characters and it's fun to watch the pageantry and the class/race divide. This is a movie you could see again after a few years.
Then I saw Game Night. I laughed the most in the audience, and yet, I didn't think it was nearly funny enough. I wish they'd dropped some of the convoluted plot to throw in a few more comic situations. Both lead actors have great comic timing. I can't really recommend this one.
I rewatched The Shape of Water, this time at the Castro Theatre, the legendary art deco movie palace. It was the perfect way to see it -- the film seemed to bleed right into the room when Eliza finds the Asset watching an old movie in an old movie palace, and it was like being immersed in it.
I liked The Shape of Water the first time I saw it but I really loved it the second time through. Does that ever happen to you? Sometimes the initial viewing is overhyped by expectation, but then later you can see it clearly and really take it in. I think this film is going to be appreciated even more as time goes by.
I saw Game Night which was pretty funny primarily due to a great cast. The story gets too convoluted for its own good, but at the same time I wanted more of Jesse Plemons and Billy Magnussen's brewing relationship with his co-worker. Rachel McAdams should do more comedies. She's great at them.
I saw A Wrinkle in Time. It is very inconsistent. It had such great scenes, and then, the next one is such a bummer. Sometimes I thought I was watching The Never Ending Story (a better movie) and other times I thought I was in Pandora (Avatar).
Also, the choice of having Oprah's character be a giant for part of the movie did not pay off. Reese Witherspoon's was, in my opinion, the best of the three mrs., and she was not given enough screen time.
I finally saw LADY BIRD and ROMAN J ISRAEL, ESQ. which rounded out my Oscar nomination viewing. LADY BIRD lived up to the months of hype, I'm pleased to say.
I really wanted to like ISRAEL but I found it a struggle to sit through. Colin Farrell was great though, and Carmen Ejogo registered in what felt like an underwritten part.
I know to many people he's a bona fide legend, and I respect his career and status in the industry, but I think I'm allergic to Denzel Washington. There isn't a single Oscar-nominated performance of his I've liked, except (embarrassingly) CRY FREEDOM, but I was 15 at the time and would probably find the film tedious now.
Like Meryl, Denzel's often good in otherwise forgettable films. MALCOLM X is probably his best but I remember the film being overlong and standard-biopic-dull. And I don't get the love for GLORY either. I'd be interested in seeing him on stage though.
I also saw the very strange "The Untamed" ( La Region Salvaje) the director is David Cronneberg/David Lynch fan- a couple having marital problems and their bisexual friends have a close encounter of the sexual kind with a horny squid from outer space. The Spanish title makes more sense- it is about the savage region . I hope the director Amat Escalante makes another movie
Two other things on Netflix before they go out of my head: Manhunt: Unabomber (excellent for education about criminal and linguistic forensics, and a great performance by Paul Bettany), and Collateral with the always great Carey Mulligan, written by David Hare (I just started this, but it seems like a good criminal procedural with a commentary on immigrants in the U.K.). I don't own Netflix stock, so I am not hawking them, but they do have great programming at the moment, especially when the March cinemas are slender as far as interesting choices.
As a huge Bette Davis fanboy, I had never watched The Catered Affair. This little movie really blew me away. All of the actors really connected to each other, and had some amazing dialogue to play at. Simply wonderful. I don't know why this film is so forgotten.