What did you see this weekend?
Sunday, August 5, 2018 at 3:00PM by Nathaniel R
This weekend looked much the same as last weekend with Mission Impossible - Fallout still dominant and the same limited release hits going strong (Three Identical Strangers and Blindspotting and Eighth Grade... though the latter has now gone wide - yay!). Disney's Christopher Robin opened slightly below expectations but family friendly films sometimes have staying power and audiences reportedly like it...
| Weekend Box Office Estimates (August 3rd-5th) |
|
| W I D E 800+ screens |
L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide |
 Mission: Impossible - Fallout |
 Three Identical Strangers |
| 1. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT $35 (cum. $124.4) REVIEW |
1. THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS $1 on 405 screens (cum. $8.4) REVIEW |
| 2.🔺 CHRISTOPHER ROBIN $25 *NEW* REVIEW | 2. BLINDSPOTTING $660k on 523 screens (cum. $3.1) |
| 3.🔺 THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME $12.3 *NEW* |
3. 🔺 ALONG WITH THE GODS 2 $329k on 48 screens *NEW* |
| 4. MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN $9 (cum. $91.3) REVIEW |
4. LEAVE NO TRACE $266k on 169 screens (cum. $5.1) TRAILER DISCUSSION |
| 5. EQUALIZER 2 $8.8 (cum. $79.8) |
5. 🔺 MCQUEEN $181k on 34 screens (cum. $491) REVIEW |
The Young Adult Sci-Fi Dystopia subgenre isn't churning out blockbusters the way it used to. Hollywood rode that fad hard but... diminishing returns and all that. The Darkest Minds opened to a disappointing $5.8 million. Elsewhere in superpowered business the Ant-Man and Incredibles sequels both continue to have long legs.
 The Darkest Minds |
 The Miseducation of Cameron Post |
| 6. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 $8.2 (cum. $136.4) | 6. DON'T WORRY HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT $147k on 177 screens (cum. $1.2) |
| 7. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP $6.1 (cum. $195.4) CAPSULE REVIEW | 7. PUZZLE $128k on 5 screens (cum. $225k) |
| 8. THE DARKEST MINDS $5.8 *NEW* |
8. 🔺 MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST $53k on 2 screens *NEW* INTERVIEW |
| 9. INCREDIBLES 2 $5 (cum. $583.1) CAPSULE REVIEW | 9. 🔺SCOTTY & SECRET HISTORY... $43k on 5 screens (cum. $80k) REVIEW |
| 10. TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES $4.8 (cum. $20.7) | 10. 🔺 FAR FROM THE TREE $26k on 13 screens (cum. $72K) |
| 🔺 = new or expanding its theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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In other box office news that's not reflected on these charts...
-Eighth Grade went wide at 1084 theaters just missing the top 10 but upping its total to $6.5 million. Not bad for an indie with no stars.
-Black Panther earned another $35,000 finally crossing the $700 million mark after 25 weeks in theaters. It's only the third film ever to do so and now that it's reached that goal I expect Disney will pull it from theaters since it's already on DVD.
-Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom inched past $400 million right before the weekend began but it's rapidly losing theaters now (so it will fall fall short of its predecessors overall domestic gross $652)
- Dark Money, Kimberly Reed's new documentary, is inching toward a $100,000 gross in theaters. We're rooting for the trans filmmaker because her debut Prodigal Sons was so extraordinary.
WHAT DID YOU SEE THIS WEEKEND?
Reader Comments (28)
CUSTODY, by Xavier Legrand - I hope will be French nomination for Foreign Film 'cause boy... WHAT A MASTERPIECE!
TULLY, by Jason Reitman - Cry in the entire film. So human. So perfect. I want a Charlize - Jason - Diablo movie every 18 months from this date to the end. Charlize should be remember for nominations at the end of the year.
I feel like I had a worthy weekend of film watching to comment here!
On Friday - i sas The Kindergarten Teacher which was great - but Maggie Gyllenhaal stole the show and is transcendent. She’s so so so good and so underrated - also such a movie star unconventional beauty - where is her Oscar? The film was a little on the nose at the end but very clever in how it unsettled you - 4/5 (Maggie 6/5).
Saturday was Cold War - which was beautiful, stunningly directed and well acted but a little simple for my taste and smacked you over the head at the end with a metaphor for the movie that was so unnecessary- I got it. (The Kindergarten teacher did the same thing! Why do these intelligent films feel the need to bash me over the head with the point? I got it already! 3/5
God’s Own Country was Saturday night - raw, beautiful and sexy - this was a great little gay love story - Wonderfully acted and stunning scenery - it just felt very authentic and both actors are so good! Side note the main character is going to be Prince Charles in the Crown which is going to be weird after some of the things he did in that movie! 4/5 (can we talk about the ending one day?)
Blockers - sweet, funny, gross and hilarious - I enjoyed the positive portrayal of teenage girls in this one and Leslie Mann was a total hit here (usually I find her a miss! Something totally fun to end the weekend on! 3/5
August 32nd on Earth by Denis Villeneuve (incredible), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (fucking awful), The Little Soldier by Jean-Luc Godard (excellent film), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (fun film though can we stop having Nick Jonas in films, he fucking sucks ass).
Morgan -wow lotsa movies. i'm dying to see the first two. I also really liked gods own country
Jon -- i keep hearing that that's great but you never know with France
We finished WILD, WILD COUNTRY on Netflix which was engrossing to the very end. So well paced for a 6-hour documentary.
On Saturday we saw THE WIFE, which has just opened in Aus. Glenn Close did not disappoint - she's very good in it - but I worry that her nomination chances are doomed unless the film finds an audience.
Yesterday I saw DISOBEDIENCE before it closed and thought it was really good. Lelio is such a talented filmmaker and Rachel McAdams was particularly good, playing against type. But Alessandro Nivola was fantastic. Recommended.
Finally, last night watched about an hour of BAD MOMS on Netflix. There were some laughs but it's pretty sloppily executed and I'm not sure I'll get round to finishing it.
@Nathaniel - it's the NZ Film Festival - only time we get movies like that! I almost went and saw Burning but it clashed with Cold War - in retrospect, I wish I had seen Burning - a friend would not stop talking about it...
It was a very good weekend:
FIRST REFORMED- Mesmerizingly poignant. One not to miss, it is an extremely challenging film, It asks important questions but does not give any easy answers. Ethan Hawke's performance at the epicenter of this film really is a towering achievement. It's the kind of performance that will do down as not only one of the best of the year, but this will be remembered as his career best.
TULLY- Loved it SO much. It's a daunting task to do this film justice with mere descriptions of what it may or may not be about. Reitman , Cody and Charlize Theron (I can't quite put into words how phenomenal she is in this.) reunite to create a simple yet visceral view on parenting and mental illness.
DISOBEDIENCE- Extraordinarily exquisite film, so beautiful crafted and no doubt this is an important film as for the story it tells. Rachel (s) Weisz and McAdams are at the top of their game ( especially McAdams), cutting so deep into their characters you can almost feel their nerve endings; also a terrific turn from Alessandro Nivola.
Trully hope OSCAR remembers these three ones.
Eighth Grade - Wow, so wonderful and true. The McNuggets scene still has me smiling. Can we please have an awards campaign for this lovely movie (Elsie Fisher especially)?
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again - Cher and Colin Firth were the highlights. The cinematography and the direction were much better than the first, but it felt like there were some weird continuity problems between the two films. I also kept doing math to figure out how old Meryl was supposed to be in the first one.
Red Sparrow - I think the critics shortchanged this, but I like pulpy, seedy spy thrillers. Some parts were very silly, true, but it was so fast-paced, and J.Law's presence is obvious.
Love After Love - ...and I think the critics were way too high on this one. It focuses far too much on the same toxic male character we've seen repeatedly in films while sidelining Andie MacDowell's far more interesting and complex character.
Following the 1943 smackdown, I've been catching up on work from the rest of the careers of the nominees.
Yesterday I watched 'Mourning Becomes Electra' with Katina Paxinou going head to head with Rosalind Russell. They both shamelessly try to steal every shot from each other to the extent that whilst Paxinou is still over acting, it feels completely natural in the context.
Finally saw Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr story, which played in DC for approximately 21 seconds. It didn't really answer many specific questions, partly because it is based on an old unearthed interview. But it is still a fascinating portrait of an interesting person.
I reluctantly saw Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot. It was fine. A little too long. Jonah Hill has a big scene near the end that, if the movie had been wide-released, would get him another Oscar nom. Joaquin Phoenix is good, but not at his best. Rooney Mara is essentially a non-entity in this one. Wait for Netflix release.
Nico, 1988. Trine Dyrholm does all the vocals and she's fantastic. She should be up for awards.
I've decided Meryl was meant to die at age 45 in Mamma Mia 2 as she had Sophie at 20 in the first one and Sophie is 25 in this one.
Then I realised I had just put more thought into the timeline of Mamma Mia 2 than the storywriters had!
I watched Verónica on Netflix, a possession horror film from Spain, not to be confused with Verónica on Netlix, a psychological horror homage to Hitchcock from Mexico. Both are excellent. The former actually finds some new scares and flourishes in the over-saturated possession sub-genre. I don't quite buy the "we can prove that this film is SO scary people stop watching after a certain scene" hype, but it is very good.
I saw...:
Eighth Grade: Beautiful, engrossing. The plot is pretty similar to every other high school movie, but the writing is sharp and observational, and both leads are terrific. That last monologue from Hamilton is the stuff that awards campaigns are made of.
Blindspotting: Still processing, but overall loved it. Diggs is great (as is Casal), and it's just enough magical realism to feel a bit lifted while also then coming down to earth. Fascinating look at racism, gentrification, and the criminal justice system.
Mission:Impossibe-Fallout. The blockbuster of the summer. Great stunts and a lot of fun but with more emotional heft. It’s probably my favorite of the series.
M:I 6 was terrific. Also saw Searching and it was even better. Highly recommend checking it out in theaters later this month.
I saw Wings of Desire in a beautiful Baroque theater in Auckland for the NZIFF. It is even more beautiful than I remembered. Some of the dialogues were a bit stilted and a tad long but those are negligible concerns to the beauty of Bruno Ganz's delineation of an earth-bound angel. Plus a few small moments remain etched in memory: Otto Sander lounging in the library observing people, Solveig Dommartin singing a French resistance song; the beautiful shifts between color and b&w. Ageless movie.
Also saw Mary Shelley -- I like the strongly feminist reading of the back story of this complex writer; well-acted by the principals; I was drawn to Bel Powley (reminds me of The Phantom of the Opera-era Sarah Brightman) and her vivid characterisation of Mary's stepsister. There are parts that can be trimmed to present the story cogently but I still like the little detours the film made. I wonder why Saudi director Haifaa Al-Mansour did not get notice for directing a film a bit outside of her social milieu.
I also saw Holy Camp! -- a Spanish film about two errant young adults and their identity realisations. A bit over the top but still has a lot of moments. Anna Castillo is particularly good and I wondered how much potential can be tapped from her if she worked with Almodovar, Julio Medem and Isabel Coixet. Plus God as a singer who sings Whitney Houston songs is a campy highlight.
I was meaning to watch Burning at the NZIFF but I got sidelined by a medical emergency, so I instead watched Daughters of the Dust on Netflix. It like the staginess of it that highlights its otherwordliness. It is a beautiful poem about matriarchy, prodigal daughters, magic, mobilities, and about a troubled Eden. The late Cora Lee Day is a standout.
We saw Christopher Robin and it had me laughing out loud. The human story is pretty basic, but the enchanted critters are a complete riot. The melancholy of Pooh is so pitch perfect, and Eeyore (voiced by Brad Garrett!) had me cackling. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did, but it’s honestly a gem.
I've seen the BP winner of 2015, Spotlight. I don't know how "good" or "bad" it is as a winner, I found it very a reasonable win, better than Room and much better than The Revenant.
On Friday I've seen The World's end-the last film of Edgar Wright's "Three Flavours Cornetto"-triology. It was awesomely bonkers. Shaun of the dead is still my favorite, Maybe I might pick The World's end by a Tiny hair over Hot Fuzz, but honestly it's a great triology.
I watched The Shape of Water again on DVD. It holds up fairly well at home though it's easy to get distracted. I told my fellow movie watcher that Michael Shannon was the one NOT nominated from the cast and he was pretty surprised.
I saw a twee British movie called This Beautiful Fantastic or something like that. I'm glad they called it a fairy tale because otherwise it would be ridiculous. In a lot of ways, I thought it wasn't ridiculous enough. I think Jessica Brown-Findlay (is that correct?) is lovely, but kind of a charisma suck really.
But anyway, they were both dwarfed by the fact I finally saw BPM. My fellow movie watcher kept asking if it was a documentary, and I had to say that no, they did NOT have slick movie cameras following them around in the early 90s. ;-) Still, that seems like a compliment, no? I thought it was extremely well done considering those kind of ensemble movies, and in a foreign language, are usually difficult to follow. This was pretty haunting.
MI 6: One of the best of this franchise, but I like it when Ethan and gang use clever deceptions and cool gadgets rather than straight out punches. But boy, Ving and Simon are looking OLD, and Tom never ages.
Blockers: Oi. Wanted it to be funnier, but I enjoyed the fact it was two dads and a mom, with no romantic entanglements between them. I laughed way more at Game Night though.
Castle Rock: Ooh, this is another good TV pick. That other Skarsgard is creepy AF in this. But Melanie Lynskey is back on our screens. Yay! And Terry O'Quinn seems to be in everything these days. Just finished Season 1 of Patriot (more GREAT TV).
Class Divide: A new HBO documentary about the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan. Very interesting. Gentrification has effing ruined NYC for more than a million reasons, most importantly, the displacement of people who are now shut out of a ridiculous rental market.
Tom has extensive plastic surgery, but I am only pointing out the obvious. Why people want to support him when he is a despicable cult leader is a mystery to me.
I saw McQueen. It's both very sad and very inspiring. His visual aesthetic was extraordinary, and it does make you understand how his demons may have fueled that level of intense and beautiful -- but short-lived -- creative output.
@Tom Ford - I get it about Cruise. But he seems so tame compared to the despicable cult leader who is now POTUS 45, and also someone who can actually do REAL damage.
I saw the first Deadpool this weekend. I had never seen it before and wasn't particularly curious about it ... and I thought it was a blast. So much fun, with some sweet moments, too. .
suzanne -- i am still so curious about RED SPARROW but it costs so much to rent. Hope it goes to streaming soon.
and i do think eighth grade will get a good campaign. Yay!
Saw Fat City to start gearing up for the next Smackdown. Boxing movies are just not my thing, although this one was a little more unpredictable, but also kinda depressing. Tyrrell was fantastic though.
Happy to see THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS is going to make a hat-trick of documentaries earning over $10mil this summer. And so good to see LEAVE NO TRACE over $5mil. WINTER'S BONE only got to around $6mil, I believe.
I saw 11 films at the local film festival. The best were easily Chloe Zhao's THE RIDER (could it be a stealth screenplay contender ala something like Frozen River?), Gabrielle Brady's ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS about an asylum seeker detention centre on an island that has a giant red crab migration, Alice Rohrwacher's HAPPY AS LAZZARO, which does such interesting and unexpected things, and Jia Zhang-ke's ASH IS PUREST WHITE which just continues his incredible role. He and Zhao Tao are a better director-actor pairing than Scorsese and any of his muses.
Nat - I've still held on to my Netflix DVD plan. You live in NYC so you have access to all the foreign and tiny independent releases. Most of them only play for a day or so here at my local university's film society, which isn't always convenient. I am jealous of all of your great repertory theaters, too.