Green Book's Post-Oscar Bump and New Releases

What did you see this weekend? I only took in Greta before getting sick but I keep meaning to get to How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. It was, essentially, the last weekend of the 2018 film year, since most of the major Oscar winners got one last expansion before they depart theaters (almost of all of them are already on DVD). They're milking that golden cow, they are! So, we thought we'd share everything in wide release and the corresponding chart toppers in limited for a really full box office picture this weekend. Ready? Deep breath. Let's go.

Weekend Box Office (Actuals) (March 1st-3rd)
W I D E	PLATFORM / LIMITED
1 How to Train Your Dragon 3 $30 (cum. $97.6) on 4286 screens	1 🔺  Apollo 11 $1.6 on 120 screens *NEW*

2 🔺 A Madea Family Funeral  $27 on 2442 screens *NEW*	2 🔺  Everybody Knows $467k on 209 screens (cum. $1.2)

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Podcast: Reflecting on the big show. Plus "Greta"

with Nathaniel R, Murtada Elfadl and Nick Davis

 

A week after the Oscars we reflect on the big night. Which wins will age well? Was this a fluke year or telling for the future? Should actors speak out on their problematic films? As an after-dinner mint, we nibble on Neil Jordan's stalker thriller Greta with Isabelle Huppert and Chloe Moretz. 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Reflecting back on Oscar Night.

Tweetweek

curated by Nathaniel R 

If you want to see the psychological impact of release dates and marketing campaigns on how critics perceive a film’s merits, these two movies boast a very similar premise, are pitched to the same audience, and are equally dismissive of the communities they claim to represent. pic.twitter.com/NA0fFSsgEe

— Robert S. Hamer (@robsolonhamer) February 22, 2019

 Aint that just the truth? I think tweet above is a very important thought that all critics and audience members and awards voters should keep in mind every damn year. And it works whether or not a movie is any good. A lot of people don't like these two movies mentioned above but it's even true of great great movies, perceived and received differently depending on the release dates. It's a real shame.

After the jump tweets on making movies "for the fans," ascendant gay icon must-haves, "Shallow" ear worm, Ruth E Carter's destiny, and a few leftover Oscar tweets...

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"We Are the Champions" (on LGBT Representation at the Oscars)

by Deborah Lipp

2019 was a very LGBT Oscars. (Well, at least LGB.) And it was not merely the presence of LGB characters, although this was staggering in numbers. It was also that many were presented in a new way.

Consider Can You Ever Forgive Me? Melissa McCarthy was not nominated for playing a lesbian. She was nominated for playing a famous writer—a famous lesbian writer. I’m not particularly a fan of the “happens to be” formation—I think it erases the struggle and complexity of arriving at a queer identity. Let’s face it, no one “happens to be” queer. We get there through a process that is sometimes difficult, or even agonizing, sometimes complex and winding. There’s always a road to be taken, always an arrival that may or may not require yet more journeying. Despite that, our stories should be about more than how we got there...

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Why Green Book's win made me cringe. (It's not what you think.)

By Lynn Lee

I heaved a heavy sigh the moment Green Book won best picture.  But not for the reasons many of the rest of you probably did.

No, my heart sank because, dear readers, I like Green Book.  Liked it when I saw it, still like it now after all the controversies that failed to derail its path to Oscar.  Liked it enough to cringe at the thought of how exponentially the animus it’s already generated would grow following its victory, and how quickly it would be added to lists of the Academy’s Worst Decisions Ever...

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