The Whole Nine Links

Hollywood.com Frightening visual fusions of voice actor and cartoon characters
Stale Popcorn on Melissa McCarthy doing Divine for EW. He doesn't mention it but two Drag Race alums are in the ensemble photo. Go Pandora Boxx!
Boy Culture Madonna and Lola promote the new "Material Girl" contest. If I liked reality TV I would die from wishing they had one.
In Contention looks back at the Oscar glory of Titanic before it's 3D rerelease
Grantland interviews character actor Richard Jenkins (The Visitor, Rum Diary, Norman)
Film Studies For Free collects academic essays on the "philosophy of horror". I may definitely read some of the links offered if I can find the time because, as someone who has always been puzzled by the ardent love of this genre, I should look for answers to this question: "Why are those of us who enjoy the genre so attracted to watching things that, in real life, would be repellent to us?"
Gemma Correll "the neverending circle of creative woe" -- so perfect!

Bullett Mary Louise Parker is not ready to quit Nancy Botwin (Weeds). Writes a letter to her signature character instead. 

I hope you are doing better than the last time I saw you. I can't imagine you have changed much despite incarceration, fetching little recidivist that you are. You know I mean that with love. 

This is fun but I wish she was ready to quit her. Would love to see her do something new -- MLP not Nancy.

Indiewire honors Like Crazy with this top-grossing indie romance list in the US. Revealing. That'll be a tough list to crack, I think. Notice how 80% of them are Oscar nominees of some sort. I added the global gross since IndieWire didn't.

1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding - $241 (worldwide $368)
2. Brokeback Mountain - $83 (worldwide $178)
3. Atonement - $50 (worldwide $129)
4. Lost in Translation - $44 (worldwide $119)
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  - $34 (worldwide $72)
6. Amelie (2001) - $33 (worldwide $173)
7. (500) Days of Summer - $32 (worldwide $60)
8. Garden State - $26 (worldwide $35)
9. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - $23 (worldwide $96)
10. The Kids Are All Right (2010) - $20 (worldwide $34)

Ugh, I hate being reminded that Eternal Sunshine wasn't the #1 blockbuster of 2004!

Box Office: Familiar Spectrals

Proving once again that Paranormal Activity is the new Saw (i.e. the same movie over and over again as Halloween ritual) the third outing did better than anyone expected. I saw and sort-of enjoyed the first but figured that was enough since faux found-footage / surveillance type of movies tend to wear out their welcome (for me at least) by the end of the movie, let alone for sequel after sequel!  I recently saw Trollhunter, the Norwegian "documentary" about, well, troll hunting. And it was clever, well made and definitely fun... but even then I was like 'Please End!' 

Still, I would pay lots of money to see a Paranormal Activity 4: The Haunting of The Haunts in which famous ghosts from the movies are scared to undeath in their own homes by other famous ghosts from the movies! 

Then at least it would be believable that the residents don't leave once the shit starts going down; they can't!

Box Office (U.S.) Top Ten -Estimates
01 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 newish $54 
02 REAL STEEL $11.3  (cum. $67.2)
03 FOOTLOOSE $10.8  (cum. $30.8)
04 THE THREE MUSKETEERS newish $8.8 
05 IDES OF MARCH [capsule] $4.9 (cum. $29.1)
06 DOLPHIN TALE  $4.2 (cum. $64.3)
07 MONEYBALL [review] $4.0 (cum $63.7)
08 JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN newish  $3.8 
09 THE THING  $3.1 (cum. $14.1)
10 50/50 [review]  $2.8 (cum $28.8)

Talking Points
• It says quite a lot about the viability of The Three Musketeers 3D! that i hear more talk about Milla Jovovich's complaints about the lack of studio promotion than I did about the movie itself.

• In limited release world -- or what we call "major markets" -- spooky Martha Marcy May Marlene was the top draw. Next weekend it expands to 10 more cities so go see it. Fantastic movie. The other high profile limited release, the financial thriller Margin Call also fared well.

What did you see this weekend?
I meant to opt for a whole day of movie-going but checked the box beside "pathetic shut-in" instead. Good times.

Box Office: Everybody Cut, Everybody Cut... Your Budgets

In this battle of the 80s remakes weekend, Footloose vs. The Thing, it was actually a 1960s derivative, the rock-em sock-em'ish robot movie Real Steel that triumphed.

Box Office (U.S.) Baker's Dozen -Actual Grosses
01 REAL STEEL $16.2  (cum. $51.7)
02 FOOTLOOSE new-ish $15.5 
03 THE THING new-ish $8.4 
04 IDES OF MARCH [capsule] $7.1 (cum. $21.7)
05 DOLPHIN TALE  $6.2 (cum. $58.5)
06 MONEYBALL [review] $5.4 (cum $57.6)
07 50/50 [review]  $4.2 (cum $24.2)
08 COURAGEOUS  $3.3 (cum $21.2)
09 THE BIG YEAR new $3.2 
10 THE LION KING 3D [review] re-release $2.7 (cum. $90.5 for the rerelease)
11 DREAMHOUSE  $2.4 (cum $18.3)
12 CONTAGION $1.8 (cum $71.9)
13 ABDUCTION [review] $1.4 (cum $25.7)

Talking Points
• Footloose's gross is far from spectacular but given the likelihood of solid word of mouth (I keep hearing "surprisingly good!" proving that basement level expectations can totally be a plus!) and considering they kept its budget down, it should turn a profit before it even leaves theaters. So don't expect the 80s remakes to stop.

• Speaking of turning a profit, 50/50 has already tripled its wisely wee budget. Well done.

• Pedro Almodóvar is the most dependable of foreign auteurs on the US box office charts, again opening with a fine per screen average; The Skin I Live In earned nearly a quarter million on just six screens. Whether or not it will hold well is another issue since it seems more divisive than recent Almodóvars. Skin... has alread earned over $19 million overseas. Pedro's biggest post Women on the Verge hit by a significant margin is Volver which earned over $85 million worldwide. 

• Moneyball just entered the top 40 of the year, stealing past Midnight in Paris (which is incredibly STILL on over 100 screens). Don't you think both of them will be Best Picture nominated?

WHAT DID YOU SEE THIS WEEKEND?
As usual, we love to hear what you thought of the new releases. Especially on days when you're suspicously quiet (speak up!)  And given the ever crucial budgets to profit equations, which movie have you seen recently that showed you every penny onscreen?

Box Office: Hugh Jackman Punches In At #1

I'm sorry I've been away today -- couldn't be helped -- but tomorrow I'll share my thoughts on My Week With Marilyn and update the Oscar charts.

For now, the weekend box office. It's unfortunate and bizarre to recall this or to type it out loud but the surprisingly solid opening to Hugh Jackman's ridiculous-looking Real Steel is actually not his top non-mutant opening weekend. That honor belongs to Van Helsing of all things. 

Box Office (U.S.) Baker's Dozen -actuals
01 REAL STEEL new $27.3 
02 IDES OF MARCH new [capsule] $10.4 
03 DOLPHIN TALE  $9.1 (cum $49)
04 MONEYBALL [review] $7.4 (cum $49.2)
05 50/50 [review]  $5.6 (cum $17.4)
06 COURAGEOUS  $4.8 (cum $16.1)
07 THE LION KING 3D [review] re-release $4.5 (cum $414.5... $85.9 of that in this rerelease)
08 DREAMHOUSE  $4.4 (cum $14.4)
09 WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? $3.1 (cum $10.3)
10 ABDUCTION [review] $2.8 (cum $23.3)
11 CONTAGION $2.9 (cum $69)
12 KILLER ELITE $2.2 (cum $21.6)
13 THE HELP [review] $2.9 (cum $162.6)

King of the Box Office JungleTalking Points
• The Help is on its last legs with a low per screen average now. But what strong legs those were. 

• You can tell it's October because the grosses are way down. Despite the typical fall dip family fare is still impervious to seasonal recessions; Real Steel opened big, Dolphin Tale is a hit, and wasn't this Lion King Redux only supposed to play for two weeks? 

• Cowboys and Aliens is probably in agony over its gross. Even though the would be blockbuster was a failure in relation to its (very large) budget there's a certain general bragging-rights allowance for all films that crack the magic $100 million mark. C&A's gross currently stands at $99,766,000. But that $244,000 will be hard to bridge when it's only earning $17,000 on weekdays and down to 206 theaters already. Tragedy!

• Drive crossed the $30 million mark so at least it doubled its production budget in theaters, despite not truly catching on. I'm not happy to say that we predicted this but at least the prediction came with a silver lining.

What did you see this weekend? I'm sort of dying to know if anyone of you went ringside for Hugh Jackman... or if most of you campaigned with Clooney & Co in the Oscar Primaries.

Box Office: Family Fare Wins Again

Given the ease with which family fare always tops the charts whether animated or live action -- this time the story of a dolphin with a prosthetic tale (?) flipper (?) fin (?) I don't know these terms -- you'd think taking the family to the movies didn't cost as much as people always claim it costs when they complain about how much it costs (whew): parking, food, multiple tickets.

Also: Dolphins are cute and all but I'm only seeing Dolphin Tale if you can promise me that it contains a musical sequence in which Olivia Newton-John reprises her treacly "Promise (The Dolphin Song)" from the 80s.

With Morgan Freeman on back-up.

Anyway, don't mind me. I'm just bitter because I'd prefer it if adults went to movies for adults in droves. That way TV wouldn't be able to hog all the entertainment intended for adults. (Moneyball is doing well but people really should be queuing up in droves, you know?)

Box Office (U.S.) Baker's Dozen -estimates
01 DOLPHIN TALE  $14.2 (cum $37.5)
02 MONEYBALL [review] $12.5 (cum $38.4)
03 THE LION KING 3D [review] re-release $11 (cum $408.1)
04 50/50 [review] new $8.8 
05 COURAGEOUS new $8.8 
06 DREAMHOUSE new $8.2 
07 ABDUCTION [review] $5.6 (cum $19.1)
08 WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? new $5.6 
09 CONTAGION $5 (cum $64.7)
10 KILLER ELITE $4.8 (cum $17.4)
11 DRIVE [review] $3.3 (cum $27)
12 THE HELP [review] $3.0 (cum $159.3)

Michael Shannon Sees Storms ComingTalking Points
• In limited release land the apocalyptic visions of Michael Shannon in TAKE SHELTER had the best opening weekend at just 3 theaters but with a sturdy $18,000 per screen (in other words the houses were four times as full as those of the top films in wide release). The extremely well reviewed gay romance WEEKEND did a tiny expansion from 1 theater to 6. It also became available On Demand so one suspects it'll make a hefty percentage of its revenue there.

• The Help finally left the gold-lined interior of the top ten list in its 8th week, falling just short of Bridesmaids staying power (which fell the same distance in its 9th week). The sole advantage of The Help (#12 of the year right now) if it hopes to topple Bridesmaids (#10 of the year) for bragging rights of "Highest Grossing Non-Franchise Film of 2011" is that it's in more theaters than Bridesmaids was at this point. The Help is still $10 million behind. It might be a squeaker or it might be all over if Real Steel and The Ides of March rip most of its screens away next Friday.

•Somehow Dream House opened to $8.2 million even though you can see the whole movie from start to finish in the trailer. If people keep buying tickets to movies whose trailers reveal every detail, Hollywood will keep making trailers filled with more egregious spoilers than even the laziest and most bitter critics would dare type. Sigh. At least Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz found each other in the process. 

•I don't want to make too much of a point about what could merely be a coincidence but Contagion's numbers week to week are very similar to Crazy, Stupid, Love.'s numbers (to the point where they both hit $64 million on the 4th weekend!) Will their twin performance be the new standard for what happens when you just cram your movie full of multiple well-liked stars who aren't always bankable on their own?

What did you see over the weekend?
If it wasn't Dolphin Tale, what could convince you to see that movie?
If it wasn't Moneyball what are you waiting for?