Beauty vs Beast: Float With Me

Jason from MNPP here - as Nathaniel mentioned in yesterday's box office rundown the latest version of Stephen King's It has officially become the highest grossing horror film of all time now. And what with tomorrow being Halloween this week seemed a great chance to face down the story's Good Guys (And Girl) versus its Bad Guy with our "Beauty vs Beast" contest. It has a great legendary Bad Guy, one of the best ever. But can you actually root for him against a bunch of damaged nerds? I mean if we were talking about the 1990 miniseries I would give this question an emphatic "Heck Yes" but it's a little bit tougher with the remake...

PREVIOUSLY Y'all were feeling more Sense than Sensibility last week, giving Emma Thompson a solid 67% of your vote in last week's tribute to Ang Lee's classic film. Said lylee:

"Yay for Emma leading! It helps that I've always found Elinor vastly more compelling than Marianne as a character. They're both wonderful, but this I think is my favorite Emma performance. And yes, bonus for penning the screenplay. I still go back to her screenplay diaries (which *everyone* should read) when I want a pick-me-up."

IT 2 Floats, Too

Chris here. IT simply won't stop making money, recently passing The Exorcist has the highest grossing horror film in history (not adjusted for inflation, that is - no way Pennywise gets close to threatening Pazuzu's reign there). You would think that an announcement for a Chapter Two follow-up would have arrived much faster in this age of pre-planned sequels, but Warner Bros. just made it official: the latter half of Stephen King's massive text will come to the screens on September 6, 2019.

Director Andres Muschietti is expected to return to the sequel, which features the same characters all grown-up and returning to Derry to combat Pennywise's fated return. We can also expect Bill Skargård to come back for more clown eleganza extravaganza for his (underpraised, in my estimation) turn as Pennywise. But who can we hope to take on the adult Losers from the lively teen cast?

One name that has been bandied about is Jessica Chastain to replace the breakout actress Sophia Lillis as Beverly. Chastain has already gotten spooky for Muschietti in Mama and has remained supportive of the director, so I wouldn't consider it out of the question. Surely with the massive box office haul major names like Chastain could be more likely to appear unlike your standard genre fare - this is the makings of a major blockbuster sequel. If the film takes place roughly 27 years after the events of the first film, what ~40 year old actors would you like to see take over the IT sequel?

Box Office: Golden Circle and Gold Prospecting

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 22nd-24th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1.🔺 KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE  $39 new	1.🔺 STRONGER $1.7 on 574 screens new REVIEW
2. IT $30 (cum. $266.3) REVIEW | 5 TAKEAWAYS	2.🔺 BRAD'S STATUS $1 on 453 screens (cum. $1.1) REVIEW
3.🔺 LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE $21.2 new	3.🔺 BATTLE OF THE SEXES $525k on 4 screens new
4. AMERICAN ASSASSIN $6.2 (cum. $26.1)	4. 🔺 VICTORIA AND ABDUL $152k on 4 screens new

Kingsman: The Golden Circle got off to a fast start with its all star cast and Looney Tunes broad violence (only I guess people die unlike Wile E. Coyote) while It continues to power on determined to be the biggest horror hit of all time right now trailing only The Sixth Sense (if you don't adjust for inflation) and that and The Exorcist (if you adjust for inflation).

Meanwhile since Fall has officially begun, so too has the Oscar-hopeful release cycle (FINALLY). All four of them that opened this weekend are off to great starts...

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5 Takeaways from the Success of "It"

By Spencer Coile 

After two short weeks and hundreds of millions of dollars later, It is nothing short of a 2017 phenomenon. I work part-time at a movie theater, and have never witnessed anything quite like It. For instance, in its first weekend alone, I worked through seventeen showings of It, where all seventeen sold out -- the last show selling out so quickly, there was still a line outside and wrapped around the building. And my little theater in Indiana is no outlier: Muschietti's dance with a devilish clown has already coughed up $218 million in its first two weeks (earning back its entire budget in one day). And considering the film's genre and its R-rating, this is wholly unprecedented.  

This has led many (myself included) to ask: what did Muschietti and the entire production team for It do right?

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Box office charts, Or, 'this is why we can't have nice things'

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 15th-17th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
mother!	BEACH RATS
1. IT $60 (cum. $218.7) REVIEW	1.🔺BEACH RATS  $320k on 67 screens* REVIEW
2.🔺AMERICAN ASSASSIN $14.8 new	2.  DO IT LIKE AN HOMBRE  $125k  on 226 screens (cum. $2.3)
3.🔺mother! $7.5 new REVIEW	3.🔺BRAD'S STATUS   $100k on 4 screens new REVIEW
4. HOME AGAIN  $5.3 (cum. $17.1)	4. 🔺 COLUMBUS $89k (cum. $637K) on 62 screens

As you've probably heard box office for 2017 is way down, the lowest in several years overall. I've read numerous reports blaming this on Hollywood's overreliance on event movies and franchises and the like but here's a depressing theory: I don't actually think that's the problem...

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