What did you see this weekend? Here are the charts...
Weekend Box Office (Esimates)
(February 15th-17th )
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W I D E
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PLATFORM / LIMITED
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1 🔺 Alita: Battle Angel $27.8 on 3790 screens *NEW*
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1 They Shall Not Grow Old $985k on 626 screens (cum. $15.2) Review ★ |
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3 🔺 Isn't It Romantic $14.2 on 3444 screens *NEW*
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3 Stan & Ollie $260k on 210 screens (cum. $4.7) Review ★ |
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| 4 What Men Want $10.9 on 2912 screens (cum. $36.1) |
4 🔺 Arctic $256k on 63 screens (cum. $445k)
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9 The Prodigy $3.1 on 2530 screens (cum. $11.0)
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9 🔺 Fighting With My Family $131k on 4 screens *NEW* Review
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As it turns out this weekend was the worst President's Day Weekend at the box office in well over a decade, despite Alita: Battle Angel overperforming (versus expectations if not versus its own behemoth budget). 2019 has only produced two real hits so far (Glass & The Upside) though that's likely to change with How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World arriving next week and Captain Marvel arriving on March 8th.
All the Oscar titles are on their last legs except for the slow burns (aka the foreign films). In fact, every Oscar nominee (barring the shorts) that isn't already on streaming or DVD is scheduled to arrive between February 19th (A Star is Born) and April 9th (Mirai) with the exceptions of Vice, Mary Poppins Returns, and the foreign or doc titles Cold War, Hale County, Capernaum, and Never Look Away none of which have announced their video dates yet. But one assumes most of them will show up by late April if not sooner.
Though Pawel Pawlikowski's thrice-nominated romantic drama Cold War has begun to lose theaters, it will soon outgross his previous Oscar-winner Ida. In fact, Cold War is now the 5th biggest foreign language hit of 2018 and in the top twenty highest grossing foreign-nominated hits of this young century. By the end of its run we assume it will be the third highest grossing foreign film of 2018, behind only Bollywood titles (which rarely need media support to do well) and that's quite an accomplishment! One has to assume it would have been the Oscar frontrunner in its category in any year wherein Netflix hadn't poured bajillions of dollars into making sure Roma happened across the board.
Did any of you hit AMC's Best Picture showcase or other movies this weekend?
Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 5:12PM 
Reader Comments (18)
I caught Day 1 of the Best Picture Festival at Marcus Theaters. They had the Live Action Shorts (all five depressing), Green Book, A Star is Born and Blackkklansman. They will not be showing Roma because they said it was a tv movie, but the other four and the Live Action Animated Films will play next Saturday. I have been to the Short Film exhibitions before, but this seemed like a down year for that medium. If I had to pick, I would vote for Detainment.
I should really proofread. It should be Animated Short Films that will be playing in the festival next Saturday.
I saw "Isn't It Romantic" and liked it . I'm avoiding "Alita" who looks as fake as it's CGI star
If Beale Street Could Talk:
Beautifully directed, powerful score, excellent cinematography. Problems? Totally agree with Nathaniel - leading actress and screenplay.
Cold War:
A masterpiece in every sense. Loved it.
Saw Lego Movie. First one was so much better. And also Alita. It has great fight and action scenes but the movie does not amount to much. Needed a stronger story.
Wow, maybe Alita will actually make its money back, it’s already made 130 million WW. Although I still think films like that are moronic when they market themselves the same way an already established franchise would. They should try and offer you something new, I feel like other movie’s like this fail because they expect you to be interested in a world you know nothing of right off the bat.
I saw Alita and it was very average. Biggest problem was it acting like it would def have a Part 2, so it does not tell a self-contained story and hurts itself because of it.
"The Image Book" for me. Godard doing Godard.
Rewatched The Favourite. Damn, it holds up. Also saw Mama Mia 2, and was shocked at how much I loved it. Since I hated the original. Lily James is a star.
FYI: Hale County premiered on PBS this week as part of its Independent Lens series. They’ll probably show it again.
Saw Tully. First 30 minutes is straight up horror film for me. Thought Theron, Davis and Cody did terrific work.
Widows. Not a masterpiece but I’m a fan. First Debicki performance that I’ve absolutely loved. She was terrific.
I saw HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U which, while an inferior effort vis a vis the first entry, is still a gangbusters showcase for the fabulous Jessica Rothe.
Had a very busy weekend. The Oscar nominated live action shorts were all unimpressive, Skin downright repulsive. The animated shorts were hardly better. Animal Behaviour was my favorite but that's not saying much. They Shall Not Grow Old was dry and unspectacular history lesson, but that's what I liked about it. If a near sellout crowd will pay to see a pure history lesson (with 3D upcharge!) with no commercial compromises, there's hope. Stan and Ollie - I have very mixed feelings. On the plus side there were the performances of Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, neither of whom has ever been better. And combined with the superb makeup they completely disappear into their roles, And the film does get the essence of Laurel & Hardy exactly right. But as for the script, it's all too similar to Bohemian Rhapsody in its cavalier disregard for the truth. Just to stick to one of the biggest, Laurel & Hardy never had a problem filling the largest venues in England. Their popularity was enormous and they were never "forgotten". Just find newsreel footage. When they arrived tens of thousands of people came to the docks to welcome them. They toured the British Isles twice (1947 and 1953). Etc., etc., etc.
At Eternity's Gate is a real mixed bag with the whole being less than some of the parts, but some of those parts are extraordinary. Willem Dafoe is excellent if not spectacular. The musical score is the very best score of the year, the cinematography is outstanding. Rupert Friend and Oscar Isaac were fantastic. Mads Mikkelson's and Neils Asterup's cameos are excellent. And Vladimir Consigny is breathtaking to look at. But what the hell was going on with the slips and slides between speaking French and English?, just to name the largest annoyance.
Brooksboy - Welcome to the club, Mama Mia 2 is a shot of happiness, especially that final scene with the whole cast. Lily James is very impressive as the young Meryl.
brooksboy: felt the same thing about Lily James when I saw Cinderella.
Just saw Cold War. Fabulous.
I saw Isn’t It Romantic on Valentine’s Day with my fiancé and laughed the whole way through. Is it amazing? No, but it is wonderfully entertaining and it’s cast is just great.
I caught Alita today and I will say I had a blast. It’s visually stunning and I enjoyed it for what it was. It’s script is a little clunky, but I didn’t go see this for great writing. Alita herself is a wonderous creation in the film. I’m kind of hoping for the movie to become an unexpected hit just because I think I’d enjoy visiting that world again. I will say some of the violence was a little disturbing for PG-13.