Best International Feature: China, India, Japan

by Cláudio Alves

The cultural hegemony of Hollywood can make it seem as if the American film industry were the biggest in the world. However, some nations produce even more cinema than the US, and, annually, there's a much greater number of non-English-speaking features than Anglophonic ones. Since the Oscars tend to relegate such films to the Best International Feature category, it's possible to get a skewed view of the global realities of movie-making from them. In truth, the Academy's very local in its choices. With that in mind, let's explore the submissions of three countries whose industries are as robust as America's…

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China submits "Leap" to the Oscars

by Nathaniel R

China has submitted the women's volleyball drama Leap to the Oscars, which is already streaming on Amazon Prime. Gong Li headlines but you'd barely recognize her she's so unglamorous this time. The 55 year old superstar has recently returned to the screen after taking a few years off, and its' going pretty well. She's the flashiest thing about Disney's Mulan and now she's headlining her seventh Oscar submission in the International category. We already discussed China's Oscar history but how about Gong Li's history starring in Oscar hopefuls? Here they are...

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What did you see this weekend?

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Aug 25th-27th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1. THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD $10 (cum. $39.6)	1. 🔺 T2 in 3D  $.5 on 386 screens ALL TIME FAV
2. ANNABELLE CREATION $7.3 (cum. $77.8)	2. 🔺  A GENTLEMAN $195k NEW 135 screens
3. 🔺 LEAP! $5 NEW	3. MENASHE $172k (cum. $973K) 103 screens REVIEW
4. 🔺 WIND RIVER  $4.4 (cum. $9.8) REVIEW	4. 🔺  THE TRIP TO SPAIN $132k (cum. $284K) 56 screens

5. LOGAN LUCKY $4.3 (cum. $15) REVIEW	5. 🔺 PATTI CAKE$  $105k  (cum. $197k) 59 screens
6. DUNKIRK $3.9 (cum. $172.4) PODCAST | TOM HARDY	6. MAUDIE $91K (cum. $5.7) 96 screens REVIEW
7. SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING $2.7 (cum. $318.8)  REVIEW	7. AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL  $80k  (cum. $3.3k) 127 screens  REVIEW
8. 🔺 BIRTH OF THE DRAGON $2.5 NEW	8. 🔺 GOOK $75k   (cum. $109k) 22 screens
9. THE EMOJI MOVIE $3.7 (cum. $76.4) REVIEW	9. 🔺 COLUMBUS  $68k (cum. $242k) 22 screens
10. GIRLS TRIP $2.2 (cum. $108) REVIEW | PODCAST	10. STEP $66k (cum. $972k) 118 screens
🔺 = new or significant expansion numbers from box office mojo

In a lame weekend All Saints, Leap, and Birth of the Dragon were the only new wide releases. To fill in that gap several films expanded including Ingrid Goes West, Good Time and Wind River though only the latter was sufficiently rewarded for doing so. The weekend was so dire that Wonder Woman and Despicable Me both took the opportunity to add back tons of theaters (earning $1.6 million each with that gambit). 

The most exciting indie release this weekend was the gay Sundance-winning drama Beach Rats (review coming soon). It opened in only 3 theaters (it would have been #11 in the limited release chart above) but to a strong per screen average so expect it to come to other cities soon.