Box Office Three-Way and Dependable Dame Dench

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 29th-October 1st)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. KINGSMAN 2  $16.9 (cum. $66.6)	1.🔺 TIL DEATH DO US PART $1.5 on 562 screens
2. IT $16.9 (cum. $290.7) REVIEW | 5 TAKEAWAYS	2.🔺 VICTORIA AND ABDUL $1 on 77 screens (cum. $1.3)
3. 🔺 AMERICAN MADE $16.7	3.🔺 A QUESTION OF FAITH $1 on 661 screens
4. LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE $11.6 (cum. $35.2)	4. 🔺 STRONGER $922k on 645 screens (cum. $3.1) REVIEW
5. 🔺  FLATLINERS $6.5	5. 🔺 JUDWAA 2 $638k on 192 screens
6. 🔺 BATTLE OF THE SEXES $3.4 (cum. $4)	6. BRAD'S STATUS $400k on 453 screens (cum. $1.7) REVIEW
🔺 = new or significant expansion numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo

A bit late on the quickie box office chart this week but for a good reason. The race for #1 was so tight between three films that it took til Monday to clear it up with the Kingsman sequel topping and the new Tom Cruise actioner American Made on bottom....

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Tweetality

Two truths.

Is Jessica Chastain the New Jessica Chastain?

— FILM TWlTTER (@filmtwiter) August 17, 2017

Biggest fight in combat sports history, sorry Mayweather/McGregor #ThorRagnarok pic.twitter.com/BjsPvqYnRN

— Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) August 23, 2017

After the jump: cool cats, controversial fav Scorsese, eclipse jokes, Emmy jokes, niche actressexual polls, and much more...

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Beauty vs Beast: Who's The Maverick Now

Jason from MNPP here - I think that most of us have mixed (to put it mildly) feelings about Tom Cruise, who is celebrating his 55th birthday today (yes, he was Born on the Third of July). But there's no arguing that his radar for Big Mainstream Action Movie Success has seemed fairly fine tuned for all of the four decades that he's been batting in the major leagues. Well... until The Mummy this summer, which more than just being a bad movie (he's had plenty of those) felt like an actively bad choice for him particularly. The role didn't fit him and he didn't manage to make it fit him by the sheer force of smiling will that his stardom's been so foundationally built upon.

So perhaps that why now he's finally stepping back into the role that made him a star in the first place, and asking us to remember when something as simple as a jet plane and a pair of aviator glasses was all it took to throttle the box office - the Top Gun sequel, subtitled Maverick, was finally made official this week - it will be out in two years (July 2019) and it will be directed by Joseph Kosinski, who worked with Cruise on the (underrated, says me) sci-fi flick Oblivion. So let's look back ourselves, here on this Patriotic Eve, at the movie as American as American Military Might...

PREVIOUSLY I was about to say that we couldn't have made a more wild swing, celebrating Tom Cruise this week to having celebrated Peter Lorre last week, but you know... not really? Perhaps as Cruise grows older he can embrace his diminuitive weirdness to similar effect. Anyway as for last week's Maltese contest it was Bogart who won, but barely, with just 53% of the vote. Said Tom:

"I think both are lucky Mary Astor isn't here. But as it is I vote for Sam. He does such wild and unpredictable things."

Q&A: Best 'Best Actress' Decade? Gay for Play as Actorly Rite of Passage?

Four more reader questions to kick off the weekend. Wheeee. As ever, I'd love to hear your answers to these questions thrown my way.

MATT ST CLAIR: Is there an unseen awards contender this year that you are hoping doesn't fail?

NATHANIEL: My "please let this be successful" hopes reside with Blade Runner 2049 (because the original's reputation being tarnished would be such a pity), The Greatest Showman (because musicals MUST continue to thrive) and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (because it's infinitely annoying that Annette Bening doesn't have an Oscar yet and didn't even get nominated for such gorgeous work in 20th Century Women). While we're well- wishing please let Wonderstruck, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and The Florida Project could be bigger hits than usual for Todd Haynes, John Cameron Mitchell, and Sean Baker, since they're three of our most distinctive American auteurs. I could go on but I'll stop as no genie grants unlimited wishes.

CATBASKETS: I've been thinking a lot about straight actors getting their starts or big breaks playing gay roles--Hugh Grant in Maurice, Guy Pierce in Priscilla, DDL in Beautiful Launderette, Charlie Hunnam in Queer as Folk, Eddie Redmayne in Savage Grace, etc. etc. Do you think this was/is a major rite of passage for actors? Do you think this will slow down now that there's more awareness/active demand for gay actors to play these roles?

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Box Office: My "Secretary" Diana and My Cousin Rachel

By Nathaniel R

Universal's attempted monster movie franchise launch didn't go so well. The Mummy met scathing reviews and a disappointing opening weekend. Now, a $32 million launch would be major news for many films but not for a $125 million budgeted feature starring Tom Cruise that is intending to launch a whole "universe". Not everything can be Marvel's Cinematic Universe, Hollywood!

In the absence of a strong competitor and on terrific word of mouth (no small thing), Wonder Woman continued her reign at the box office. Given a relatively small second week drop (43% while DC's usual superhero sophomore frame drop is 67%) the Amazon princess is looking to join the $300 million club stateside which will put her right up there with Supes and Batman. DC's "Big Three" indeed.

Charts and further comments after the jump...

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