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« Showbiz History: John Wayne's Oscar, Altman's Nashville, JLaw's Record | Main | Hello Linky »
Monday
Jun112018

Box Office: Oceans 8 nabs the loot. Audiences also move into Mr Rogers' Neighborhood.

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office Estimates
(June 8-10)

W I D E
800+ screens
L I M I T E D
excluding prev. wide
Oceans 8 Won't You Be My Neighbor?
1. 🔺 OCEANS 8 $41.5 *NEW* CATE'S PROMO SUITS 
1.  RBG $700K on 375 screens (cum. $9.1)  REVIEW
2. SOLO: $15.1 (cum. $176.1)   REVIEWBEHIND THE SCENES   2. 🔺FIRST REFORMED $558k on 334 screens (cum. $1.7) REVIEW, ETHAN HAWKE
3. DEADPOOL 2 $13.6 (cum. $278.6)
3. 🔺WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? $470k on 29 screens *NEW*  
4.🔺HEREDITARY  $13 *NEW* REVIEW
4. 🔺AMERICAN ANIMALS $234k on 42 screens (cum. $422K) 
5. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR $6.8 (cum. $654.7) REVIEW 
5.🔺BELIEVER $144k on 32 screens *NEW*

 

Adrift On Chesil Beach
6. ADRIFT $5 (cum. $21.7)  REVIEW 6. 🔺 ON CHESIL BEACH $121k on 203 screens (cum. $561k)  
7. BOOK CLUB $4.2 (cum. $56.8) REVIEW 7.  THE RIDER $120k on 188 screens (cum. $1.9) REVIEW
8. HOTEL ARTEMIS $3.1 *NEW*
8. 🔺 THE SEAGULL  $100k on 89 screens (cum. $672k) REVIEW 
9. UPGRADE $2.2 (cum. $9.2) 9. DISOBEDIENCE $92k on 101 screens (cum. $3.2)  REVIEW
10. LIFE OF THE PARTY  $2.1 (cum. $50.2) 10. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (rerelease) $91k on 5 screens (cum. $699k)
🔺 = new or expanding its theater count
numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo 

 

Oceans 8 delivered a good opening weekend for Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock, though it was less successful (if adjusted for inflation) than the previous Oceans films. It's been a long movie absence for this particular group heist franchise --  11 years since the last film (Oceans 13) arrived.

The horror flick Hereditary, predictably divided audiences (D+ CinemaScore) and critics (93% Rotten Tomatoes) as artful horror films usually do. A recent example of the same phenomenon is The Witch (C-/91%) and though I couldn't find CinemaScores for respected horror flicks like It Follows (97%) and The Babadook (98%) I imagine their scores were shockingly low, too. Mainstream audiences have a very narrow range of what they want/expect from horror and it usually amounts to traditional jump scares. But that's okay. Time is the ultimate arbiter of quality and horror films with brains do stand the test of time with far more ease than the more traditional efforts. The other problem might be that instantaneous reactions never take into account the fact that audiences of all kinds (yes even critics) can change their minds about a movie the next day if they find themselves still thinking about it. 

The weekend's other new wide release Hotel Artemis struggled to find an audience despite a cast full of names (Jodie Foster, Sterling K Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, etcetera).

Brett Haley and Kiersey Clemons on the set of "Hearts Beat Loud"

In limited release the best per-screen average went to the latest film from writer/director Brett Haley. He is making quite a nice little career for himself forging tiny heartful indies starring great actors who don't usually get leading roles. First Blythe Danner (I'll See You In My Dreams), then Sam Elliott (Hero). Now it's Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons in Hearts Beat Loud playing a father/daughter music duo (Blythe Danner is in this one, too!). Hopefully that will expand since it's only on 4 screens.

The Mr Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor opened well, too. It's actually been quite a strong year for docs at the box office thus far.

DOCUMENTARY HITS OF THE YEAR (THUS FAR) 

  1. RBG $9.1+ million
  2. Pandas $1.9+ million
  3. Pope Francis - A Man of His Word $1.7+ million
  4. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story $820k+ (technically last year but it made most of its money this year so let's include it because we like it so much and you can watch it on Netflix now!)
  5. Itzhak $482k+
  6. Leaning Into the Wind $394k+
  7. Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami $342k+

 What did you see this weekend? I was busy with birthday festivities and the Tony Awards but I WILL catch up this week. I will. I will. 

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Reader Comments (32)

I saw Ocean’s 8, which I enjoyed but not as much as I should have with this cast. It lacked zip and style, and the terrific cast aren’t given enough opportunities to interact with each other. What made the other Ocean films was the breezy and charming rapport between the actors. This should have been a lot better. I also rewatched Thor Ragnarok, which has become my favorite Marvel film. More directors like Taika Waititi please.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterRaul

I saw Solo: A Star Wars Story, which I thought was bright and breezy. Its story was lean and its set-pieces fun and exciting.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterEdward L.

Go see Summer 1993.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterLaVona

I saw Hereditary on Saturday, First Reformed on Sunday, and I'm a bit beat up, exhilarated and dizzy tbh

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterDaniel23

I saw Ocean's 8. It's soooooooooooo bad, but I don't care. I needed a trifle, and that's what I got. It's destined to be a rainy TBS Sunday afternoon replay where you are tired, laying on the couch, flipping through channels and you come across it and wind up watching the whole thing. That's basically the Sandy Bullock special. And I approve.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterCharlieG

Ocean's 8 - Disappointing but just good enough.

Hereditary - I still can't come to terms with that ending, and I'm surprised the critical support has been so universally positive. I'm not saying everyone should agree with me that it's a little confused; it just seems like it would be more divisive.

How to talk to girls at Parties - Delightful! Elle Fanning is electric in this.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterDave S.

Ocean's 8. More more fun watching the various press tour videos, including the hilarious Cate and Sarah with Hoda on the Today Show. Now, THAT's the movie that should have been.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPam

Saw Ocean's 8 on Thursday and I enjoyed it but was also disappointed - all the actresses were great fun, but none of them outside of Sandy and Anne were given much to do (Mindy and Sarah especially), and the heist itself was kinda... perfunctory? Like, even the things that went wrong were solved WAY too easily and the "twist" part of the heist came out of NOWHERE, which made it feel like a cheat. I still had fun watching it, but it could have been so much better. Anne Hathaway was FAR AND AWAY best in show, although Cate had the best costumes.

Saw Hereditary on Saturday and I LOVED IT until the last ten minutes, which just felt like a completely different movie. I feel like there was a way to end it in a similar way that didn't make it feel so disconnected from the rest of it. But it was VERY well done, and seeing it with an audience was a LOT of fun. Definitely see it in a theater - it's a GREAT experience.

And on Sunday I saw Won't You Be My Neighbor?, which was the perfect antidote to Hereditary and I was basically in tears for the whole thing. What an amazing human being Fred Rogers was. We need more like him.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterDancin' Dan

Yeah, count me in on the slightly mixed reaction to OCEAN'S 8. Love the cast. Loved the heist (esp. the logistics of putting together a fake Met Gala with all those celebrities), but everything else felt meh. Still... I'd like a sequel. Someone online said it should be on a boat/yacht whatever and have Winslet as the villain. I'm in already.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterRyan T.

I also saw Hereditary this weekend. Still not sure of my final assessment. It's beautifully made, with fiercely committed performances by Toni Collette and Alex Wolff as her son, but yeah, it kind of goes all Exorcist/Rosemary's Baby near the end, where previously it was more like Ordinary People as filtered though a psychological suspense thriller. Not that a movie seeming to change gears like this is *necessarily* a bad thing - I'm thinking a re-watch will be in order to help me suss out my ultimate feelings about it. But I def recommend it, esp to fans of quality horror films: any movie that demands a second viewing in this way is already doing several things right.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterRob

Oceans 8 needed more personality and style and better writing, but the cast was obviously fun and the heist was clever. Anne Hathaway - mvp

I saw The Rider and liked it, but of the two "horse movies" this spring, I preferred Lean on Pete.

I plan to finally watch On Chesil Beach and Hereditary this week and I'm pretty excited for that.

My favorite thing this week was The Age of Innocence which is now streaming on Prime. That blew me away and it could easily become my favorite Scorsese. Just....wow.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterchasm301

I loved so much about Hereditary that I was THISCLOSE to calling it a masterpiece, but then that silly ending happened. Still, Toni Collette is in top form and the film is impressively crafted.

It feels like anything can happen with Oscar after surprises like Huppert's nomination, Moonlight's win, and Get Out's awards success, but I'd still be shocked if Toni ended up with a Best Actress nomination (it would be well deserved, though).

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterthefilmjunkie

Insaw Ocean’s 8. Also disappointing. Bot much interaction between the actresses and not enough (barely) character development. In my opinion MVP is Helena Bonham Carter. That felt like a complete character.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPedro

I had tickets to OCEAN'S 8 but didn't end up going since hubby got strep throat. Instead we watched his 2 Netflix, "Only the Brave" and the original "Papillon" (with Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman). I gotta say, even though both were well made movies and very different from each other, they both left me realizing that there's a certain type of movie that is very much for dudes, by dudes, that leaves me as a woman wondering "what's in this for me?"

Can they ever come up with a different marital dynamic in movies about soldiers, firefighters, cops, etc., than "why do you keep going back to the line of fire, why don't you put me/family first?" I understand that may be typical but it just gets tedious.

Papillon doesn't have this problem so much - it's about an all male prison, after all - but I did find it a little disheartening that the only female characters fall into the worst tropes: faithless wife, treacherous nun, and pliant, silent native woman. I hope/expect the remake will either drop or adjust these. (Also probably needs to adjust the gay male character subplot, too.)

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterlylee

Ocean’s 8

Just as bad as the other films.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMarcelo - Brazil

Book Club, which met my expectations exactly as I thought it would as a frothy, fun trifle with each actress exploiting some familiar aspect of her persona, both on and off screen. My biggest gripe is that for the type of movie it was aiming to be it didn't go nearly far enough.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterTroy H.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? is the best film I've seen this year (out of 23 so far) and one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. Do yourself a favor and GO. It's the movie our culture desperately needs right now. I'm not kidding.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commentereurocheese

I saw Ocean's 8. It was fun.

I was glad there weren't directorial flourishes. I was glad there wasn't extended mechanics of the heist sequences. The fun of these films are the cast and characters, and what a great cast.

When I saw Sarah Paulson all dressed up for the Met gala, I thought I could watch a whole movie of Sarah Paulson in glamourous outfits. I don't think I even need a story (but that would be an awesome plus).

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenteradri

I wasn't expecting much when I caught Madame by Amanda Sthers. The story is predictable but I am easy: I can still enjoy fresh new spins on familiar yarns, or retreads of old themes. This one decided to pull a Forces of Nature ending (anyone remembered that Ben Affleck-Sandra Bullock vehicle in the late 1990s?), only this time Madame worked for me because the resolution seems possible within the characters' lifeworlds (my friend didn't like the ending and hated the latter third of the film in general).

Rossy De Palma is beguiling all throughout especially towards the ending when the film almost felt like an Almodovar-meets-Bergmann. Toni Collette has quite an unlikable character (friend says "despicable" but I won't go that far) but I thought she was so committed to her role even if her character was a bit one-note. It was written with very little moments of introspection that would have allowed Collette to go to delicious depths from her inexhaustible supply of thespic expressiveness had it been fleshed out better by Sthers. I am interested in the power dynamics between the ladies. What started out as a cotton-candy premise ended with a variant of food that is a bit bitter despite the cloying sweetness. But I can't explain why I loved the story overall, the ending and the chemistry between Collette and De Palma.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterOwl

Went old school and finally saw The Big Chill. Typical film noir stuff one sees elsewhere (though the plot doesn’t make a lick of sense half the time).

Best part was when Bogie acts gay the first time in the bookseller’s. Gay! I swear, I’ve never seen him act any way other than Humphrey Bogart, first of all, then to throw this in floored me. It was just a one-minute scene but definitely the most notable of the movie.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJames from Ames

Caught up with Deadpool 2. Its weird "earnest but crude" sensibility is...I can understand people hating it. I absolutely can. But I can't. A Juggernaut that DOESN'T spout a cringey meme! Stoic Russian Colossus! Domino! It was pretty good. Not a total Black Panther style home run (which I guess the people tired of this genre want every one of these to be now...?), but pretty good.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

Saw Hereditary and loved it, even though I have a quibble with the the ending. Otherwise is was scary, unpredictable and incredibly well-acted all around. Collette should indeed be included in the Best Actress conversation but Alex Wolff was also excellent and Milly Shapiro was quite the find.

Also saw Oceans 8 and agree with most of the sentiments here. Fun but should've been better. Felt like they didn't capitalize on the cast they got. What do we even know about Blanchett's character and she's supposedly the co-lead? Hathaway is easily best in show. If they make a sequel I'd love to see what a woman would do writing and directing it.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterDJDeeJay

James from Ames: You had me very confused when you referred to The Big Chill as a "film noir" Then I realized you meant The Big Sleep.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterken s.

I saw "Werewolf of London" (1935) which has strong gay subtext

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJaragon

Saw Hereditary and can't stop thinking about it. Great blend of psychological drama and supernatural elements. The ending confused me but in a good way. Lots to ruminate over. Toni absolutely should be nommed for Best Actress.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterbrookesboy

@ken s — Thanks! You’re right, of course.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJames from Ames

Thanks everyone for seeing Oceans 8 so I don't have to. What was the point of spending upwards of $150m for a mediocre movie? No wrinkles equals no authenticity

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJono

"The Babadook" is a horror masterpiece . You should also check out "Absentia"(2011) a micro budget horror with some effective scares and good performances.

June 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterjaragon

@Owl: I saw "Madame" with a friend too. I sent her some negative comments from reviews first, so she wouldn't expect too much, but she said she'd been doing taxes and would welcome anything lighter as a relief.

We both delighted in Rossy De Palma's unusual look, so painterly, Modigliani and Picasso. I loved all the careful touches, such as Toni Colette's wardrobe.

We both liked it, although I had more ambivalence than my friend. The last scene where she serves them tea, really cut me. It seemed so quick, to her renunciation and freedom. I was still suffering from her humiliation.

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