"Pan" Sinks. "Steve Jobs" Sizzles.

It's your weekend box office report. Both The Martian and The Intern experienced small drops from their previous weekends, reminding everyone that Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, who co-starred in Interstellar just last year, have always been fairly bankable. Their takes also indicate good word of mouth and leggy runs ahead in future weeks. The news was not good for Hugh Jackman and Pan however, perhaps reminding us that not every movie star can remain bankable when they're buried in silly makeup and made to look unlike themselves - not everyone can be Johnny Depp who people (for whatever reason) like to see buried in cartoonish makeup. Curiously Johnny Depp also once made a bad Peter Pan picture but that's another story...

BOX OFFICE WIDE
800+ screens (Oct 9th-11th)
01 The Martian $37 (cum. $108.7) Podcast, Matt's foot-in-mouth tour
02 Hotel Transylvania 2 $20.3 (cum. $116.8) Tim on the director Genny Tartakovsky
03 Pan $15.5 NEW Peter Pan Movies
04 The Intern $8.6 (cum. $49.5) Review
05 Sicario $7.3 (cum. $26.7) Podcast, Emily Blunt
06 Maze Runner: Scorch Trials $5.2 (cum. $70.6)
07 The Walk $3.6 (cum. $6.3) Review
08 Black Mass $3.1 (cum. $57.5)
09 Everest $3 (cum. $38.2)
10 The Visit $2.4 (cum. $61)

Jason reminds us, with sound reasoning, not to cry for Garrett Hedlund despite another massive flop (Pan) on his hands.

BOX OFFICE LIMITED (excluding prev. wide)
(Oct 9th-11th)
01 Ladrones (375 screens) $1.3 NEW 
02 He Named Me Malala (689 screens) $.6 (cum. $.7) 
03 99 Homes (689 screens) $.6 (cum. $.8)  The return of Andrew Garfield  Review
04 Steve Jobs (4 screens) $.5 NEW Review
05 Goodbye Mr Loser (51 screens) $.3 NEW  
06 Grandma (205 screens) $.2 (cum. $6.2)  Poster Blurb, Lily Tomlin's Filmography, Review 
07 Goodnight Mommy (86 screens) $.1 (cum. $.6)  Interview, Oscar Submission
08 Freeheld (51 screens) $.1 (cum. $.1)
09 Learning to Drive (71 screens) $.06 (cum. $3.2)
10 Labyrinth of Lies (16 screens) $.05 (cum. $.09) Interview, Review, Beauty Break

Meanwhile in select cities, business was solid for the heavily promoted human rights documentary He Named Me Malala and crazy robust for the Oscar Best Picture hopeful Steve Jobs which racked up some of the highest per screen averages ever in extremely limited release. The Michael Fassbender led drama goes wide next week.

Sadly, there continued to be a lack of interest in Julianne Moore & Ellen Page's lesbian drama Freeheld. It's grossed a tiny $140,00ish to date, despite four very well liked actors (Michael Shannon & Steve Carell are in the supporting roles). In truth the buzz hasn't been good on it (apart from a few vocal supporters) but still... I feel the guilt about not having seen it yet. In my defense, I have been totally sick as previously documented, so what little leave the house energy I've had has gone to the NYFF.   

What did you see this weekend? Was it money well spent? 

Cheers, Frannie. And Other Links

Awards Daily pays tribute to Jane Fonda (Youth) and Lily Tomlin (Grandma) as we all should. Weekly. (Daily? Hourly?)
People introduces new princess 14 year old Auli'i Cravalho who voices Disney's Moana
Jezebel "Today we are all Frances McDormand drinking wine on a toilet" Amen!

Interview Magazine has really been really topping itself lately. Now they've got Jeff Bridges talking to the iconic cinematographer Roger Deakins (Sicario). Thus begins the hard push to get him his long overdue Oscar I suppose. We interviewed him for True Grit and he was a good chat!
The Bitter Script Reader thinks The Martian screenplay is a great example of how to write obstacles for characters that engage the viewer in the same "oh shit" living of them as plans fall apart
Film School Rejects tears up over Room and appreciates the Mother & Child thread running through many films this year
i09 is (rightly) horrified by what Frank Miller has done to Superman in a new comic book cover
Variety thinks its time Oscar voters caught up to Love and Mercy and Straight Outta Compton

Taylor (left) and Rodriguez (right) the stars of TANGERINEP.S. First Trans Actress Oscar Campaign
You may have heard (from everywhere) that Magnolia Pictures is launching the first ever Oscar campaign for transgender actresses - the spirited girls from the awesome Tangerine (a film which we've recommended often). TFE actually broke this news first (albeit in early "we might do this" planning stages) but we were asked to remove the reference to it, post publication, from our James Ransome interview since he wasn't supposed to talk about just yet. We get no respect I tell you -- even when we heartily support a film from its first screening!

Anyway, if you haven't seen the film yet do so the first chance you get. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (who plays vengeful hot-tempered Sin-Dee) will be pushed for Best Actress and Mya Taylor (her much calmer best friend Alexandra) will be campaigned as a Supporting Actress but... you know how these same gender movies go, that's total Category Fraud bullshit since you can't have one without the other. They're like a trans Thelma & Louise only with less of a crime spree and no wheels of their own; these girls have to settle for the indignities of public transport (those bus scenes. LOL) and walking in L.A.

Beauty vs Beast: Marriage Among the Ruins

Jason here, taking a little break between New York Film Festival screenings to give you this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" -- this past weekend Danny Boyle's film Steve Jobs screened at NYFF to sold-out crowds and from what I gathered very good notices (stay tuned for TFE's take soon; I took that picture to the left myself at the press conference), and I heard that on Saturday night Danny Boyle led the crowd in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" to birthday girl, beloved actress, Oscar winner, and icon Kate Winslet.

Kate turns 40 today! We have been worshipping Kate ever since she helped bash in her girlfriend's mother's head with a brick in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, and we've never wavered... well okay we had no idea what anybody was thinking with Labor Day either, but other than that, not ever. Here on her 40th birthday let's give love to one of her best recent performances, one that just happened to coincide with a reunion with the Bogie to her Bacall, Leonardo DiCaprio, who was doing very fine work right across from her.

PREVIOUSLY Last week in anticipation of Ridley Scott's The Martian's looming box office boom we faced off our favorite pair of Red Planet invaders -- well it was Tim Burton's little green men that zapped their way into our hearts, to the tune of nearly 80% of your vote. Sorry Tripods, better luck next invasion. Said Denny:

"ACKACKACKACKLOLOLOLOL The martians from Mars Attacks win for their Frankenstein-ian experiments ALONE. "

Podcast: Carol Aird of Manhattan, Mark Watney of Mars.

Katey, Joe, Nathaniel and Nick, get stranded on Mars with Astronaut Matt Damon. After rescuing each other they fall for shopgirl Rooney Mara with Cate Blanchett. Yes, we're discussing Ridley Scott's The Martian (now playing at a theater near you) and Todd Haynes's Carol (opening November 20th but surely already playing in your head).

Nathaniel is sick -- apologies for the vocal germs! --  so Katey hosts this one. 

43 minutes 
00:01-14:30  The Martian. How often must mankind save Matt Damon? 
14:31-40:00  The miraculous healing powers of Carol. Struggling with/loving on Rooney's remoteness and Blanchett's range and roll. 
40:01-43:00 Oscar fanfare / Sign-offs

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments won't you? Especially those two prompt questions: What did you think of The Martian and when were you most turned on by Cate Blanchett?

Carol and The Martian

Box Office: Hit Missions to Mars & Mexico

The Martian is attempting to beat Gravity's October record this weekend. The charts only reflect studio Estimates so we'll see tomorrow for sure. At any rate the all star space adventure (yes, there is much more than Matt Damon therein) is an immediate big hit. Can something this light and fun -- we'll talk about it on the podcast tonight but it doesn't exactly run deep -- make inroads to awards glory? 

In other box office news Sicario continues to perform well surviving its wide expansion with ease. Word of mouth should continue to bolster it because hotdamn it's intense. It's also quite a strange double feature with The Martian (though both are good times at the movies) since  Blunt feels like she's in consistently more danger than Damon even though she's wearing body armor and fully armed and people are rarely firing at her while he's stuck alone on an inhospitable planet without breathable air, lasting supplies, or food.

Finally Grandma, a movie we've been rooting for since January is starting to lose theaters after a totally respectable run. While it never quite crossed over (which is harder and harder to do these days with shorter theatrical windows - see also the similar grossing word of mouth gem I'll See You In My Dreams) it'll end its theatrical run with over $6 million theatrical which is plenty to keep it in play for Best Actress honors (people have been nominated with a lot less) if the campaign is strong and especially if The Globes are there for Lily in Musical or Comedy actress. Do you think they will be?

BOX OFFICE WIDE
800+ screens (Oct 2nd-4th)
01 The Martian $55 NEW Matt's foot-in-mouth tour
02 Hotel Transylvania 2 $33 (cum. $90.5)  Tim on the director Genny Tartakovsky
03 Sicario $12 (cum. $15) Podcast, Emily Blunt
04 The Intern $11.6 (cum. $36.5) Review
05 Maze: Runner: The Scorch Trials $7.6 (cum. $63.2)
06 Black Mass $5.9 (cum. $52.5)
07 Everest $5.5 (cum. $33.1)
08 The Visit $3.9 (cum. $57.6)
09 War Room $2.8 (cum. $60.5)
10 The Perfect Guy $2.4 (cum. $52.6) Review

BOX OFFICE LIMITED
(Oct 2nd-4th)
01 The Walk (448 screens) $1.5 NEW (cum. $1.9) Review
02 Grandma (315 screens) $.4 (cum. $5.8) Poster Blurb, Lily Tomlin's Filmography, Review 
03 Sleeping with Other People (392 screens) $.2 (cum. $.6)  Review
04 Meet the Patels (78 screens) $.1 (cum. $.7) 
05 Talvar (51 screens) $.1 NEW
06 Goodnight Mommy (43 screens) $.4 Interview, Oscar Submission
07 Learning To Drive (115 screens) $.1 (cum. $3.1)
08 99 Homes (19 screens) $.1 (cum. $.1) The return of Andrew Garfield
09 Southpaw (303 screens) Re-Release $.07 (cum. $52.2)
10 Un Gallo con Muchose Huevos (112 screens) $.07 (cum. $8.9)

WHAT DID YOU SEE THIS WEEKEND?

I came down with a brutal cold after waiting in line in the cold for an hour for Steve Jobs (and being turned away roughly 15 people before making it inside) so it looks like I'll be emptying my DVR instead of moviegoing *sniffle*