Box Office: Rise of the Change-Up of the Apes

The relaunch or prequel or whatever you'd like to call it to the 43 year old Planet of the Apes franchise was buoyed by... well, we're not sure what it was buoyed by exactly. The film is unexpectly good but given that neither reviews nor "quality" generally factor in to first weekend grosses, it must be the familiar brand appeal. Perhaps enough time has passed since Tim Burton's awful remake that people were interested again? Expect the prequel to hold really well next weekend. Second weekends are when quality or perceptions thereof are much more influential. Word of Mouth, you know. I'll demonstrate: Go see it!

box office top ten (actual grosses)
01 RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES new $54.8
02 THE SMURFS $20.7 (cum $75.9)
03 COWBOYS AND ALIENS $15.7 (cum $67.3)
04 THE CHANGE-UP new $13.5
05 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER [review] $13 (cumulative $143.2)
06 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART TWO [review] $12.4 (cum $343)
07 CRAZY STUPID LOVE [your take]  $12 (cum $42.1)
08 FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS $4.6 (cum $48.5)
09 HORRIBLE BOSSES $4.5 (cum $105.1)
10 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON $3 (cum $344.2)

Discussables: The Smurfs held fairly well reminding us once again that parents just don't read reviews and leave it up to the kids. That 56% drop for Cowboys & Aliens, though not uncommon for a film's second week, is not good news for a film that was supposed to be a very big deal this summer. The huge budget, nearly double the size of say Planet of the Ape's is more weight on its shoulders. (Here's some theorizing on what went wrong.) Crazy Stupid Love had the best legs of the top ten, barely taking a hit with only a 35% drop. In other words: people like the film. Ryan Reynolds continues to have a lackluster summer. Green Lantern underperformed and The Change-Up wasn't really packing them in either on opening weekend. That said, those two openings are still better than what he usually gets out of the gate, when it's his name as the principal draw. Not that he's actually been the principle player all that often. Time for a reteaming with Sandra Bullock, right?

Among this week's limited release big market happenings transgendered drama Gun Hill Road had the fullest houses with the reportedly epically misogynistic Bellflower just behind. Miranda July's The Future and Dominic Cooper objectification-fest The Devil's Double both added several theaters to their count. Are they open near you? I don't know why I haven't seen them yet but I keep falling further and further behind. Must spend entire day in theater soon.

What did you see this weekend?

The Link-Up

Ultra Culture "the stills photographer is here? fetch me my viewfinder at once!" HEE
Movie|Line on the weirdly surprising colors of the new EW issue featuring The Help. (More on this film right here very soon.)
Wet Asphalt "how to write a book in three days" regarding Michael Moorcock (of Elric of Melnibone fame. Weird that Hollywood's never managed to make that into a franchise)
Scott Feinberg thinks The Artist will be a good case study for Oscar. Will a silent film catch on in today's marketplace?
lemonwade doesn't mind the lack of Supes' spit curl but don't get him started on those cape pleats.
Show Blitz Game of Thrones director Brian Kirk in discussions to helm Thor 2. er... i worry about this. Thor's saving grace was its humor and Game of Thrones biggest problem as a series is its humorlessness (believe me the book has humor... admittedly of the gallows kind. But still)
Scene Stealers h-a-t-e-s on The Change-Up consider this opening bit about that trailer moment where infant poo flies at Justin Bateman's face. 

I know how Dave feels. In its opening moments “The Change-Up” took a dump in my mouth, and did not relent until the credits rolled.

Ouch. But then the film really does look terrible. Let me know if you see it and can verify.

Anomalous Material top ten movie roles Lady Gaga could have played. (I myself suspect she cannot act. But I'll hold my tongue.)
Socialite Life look i love Neil Patrick Harris but should he and David Burtka really be yachting with Elton John? Shouldn't NPH be doing penance for Beastly and The Smurfs? And by penance I mean: searching tirelessly for scripts that are actually worthy of his talent? Because, awards-show hosting aside, isn't it going to waste?

Unearned vacation! Find a good movie NPH.

Off Cinema
Daily What "Internet Filtration System" I'm lol'ing despite the fact that i've screwed this up myself in moments of speed typing. (sigh)
Tom Shone wonders if Sarah Palin is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It sounds far-fetched until you actually read what he has to say. 
The Onion "Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Opposition" hee. 

I'm loving this video called "Trim"

Trim from Petey Boy on Vimeo.

It's amazing how a change in hairstyles affects your perception about someone. People don't talk about this but that's the #1 thing that's most depressing about losing your hair -- if you're someone who is visually oriented that is -- it really cuts down on the number of ways you can modulate your own look and persona. I am my hair ♪

Judy Fest
Stirred, Straight Up With a Twist has a detailed look at The Pirate, which is one of the films I sadly missed at the current Judy Garland retrospective here in NYC. Weirdly I've never seen it despite the fact that Gene Kelly and Judy are both among my top dozen or so favorite movie stars of all time. I absolutely disagree with the comments about Gene Kelly's screen persona though since they directly contradict what I wrote in my For Me and My Gal review about his sexual allure. 
Enthusiasm has notes on the The Pirate and its camp value.
Towleroad In this week's column I wrote up a short bit about Presenting Lily Mars (1943) which is my new favorite that I hadn't yet seen from the Garland canon. Let's raise this film's profile, people. It's really funny and quite fresh. I was tempted to slap it in the face and then take it to bed like some prim but randy 40s heroine. Loved Van Heflin in it. 

Yes, No, Maybe So: "The Change-Up"

If Freaky Friday, 17 Again, Switch and Freaky Friday (again) are your four all time favorite movies, but they aren't quite manly enough for you, you're going to be so excited for the latest body switcheroo comedy. It's called The Change-Up and the people switching bodies are Green (as in Horny) Lantern Ryan Reynolds and straight man (as in comedy) MVP Jason Bateman.

How do you think this will fare against that other August comedy Crazy Stupid Love (see previous post)

YES, NO, MAYBE SO.

Let's break it down after the jump with the red band trailer. Warning: relatively mild nudity and a super classy urination sequence follow.

Click to read more ...