Box Office: War for the Planet of Spider-Man

By Nathaniel R

Spidey was only able to stay on the box office mountain-top for a single week. Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his army of intelligent ape friends came storming in on horseback to take over during the War For the Planet of the Apes. 

Weekend Box Office (July 14th-16th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1. PLANET OF APES (9) $56.5 NEW	1. THE HERO $343k (cum. $3.4) 341 screens BEST ACTORS
2. SPIDER-MAN (6) $45.2 (cum. $208.2) REVIEW	2. THE LITTLE HOURS $318K (cum. $689k) 105 screens REVIEW
3. DESPICABLE ME 3 $18.9 (cum. $187.9)	3. MAUDIE  $252K (cum. $3.5) 99 screens REVIEW
4. BABY DRIVER $8.7 (cum. $73.1) REVIEW | BEST OF | POSTERIZED	4. BEATRIZ AT DINNER $222k (cum. $6.4) 205 screens
5. THE BIG SICK $7.6 (cum. $16) REVIEW | HOLLY ♥︎ !!!	5. PARIS CAN WAIT $153k (cum. $5.3) 177 screens
6. WONDER WOMAN  $6.8 (cum. $380.6) REVIEW | TOP TEN | SPECIAL	6. A GHOST STORY  $146k (cum. $288k) 20 screens
7. WISH UPON $5.5 NEW	7. LOST IN PARIS $79K (cum. $138k) 38 screens
8. CARS 3 $3.1 (cum. $140)	8. LADY MACBETH $68k NEW 5 screens
9. TRANSFORMERS (5) $2.7 (cum. $124.8) REVIEWISH	9. THE EXCEPTION $67k (cum. $612k) 44 screens  REVIEW
10. THE HOUSE $1.7  (cum. $23.1)	10. ENDLESS POETRY  $28k NEW 2 screens
🔺 = new or added screens numbers from box office mojo

The Hero is doing well in limited release which is happy news. It's writer/director Brett Haley's follow up to his sleeper success I'll See You In My Dreams. He wrote it just for Sam Elliott, who turned in such good work in that breakthrough film. Elliott is excellent as a former movie star with cancer who is thrown by renewed interest in his career and a younger woman's (Laura Prepon) interest. 

In other important news, Wonder Woman will overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this coming week to become the year's second highest grosser (behind Disney's Beauty & The Beast karaoke) and the 3rd highest grosser in Warner Bros history just behind Chris Nolan's Batman movies and ahead of Harry Potter's finale!.

She's a wonder, Wonder Woman 🎵

What did you see this weekend? 

C O N S I D E R - Actresses of 2017, 2nd Qtr

With the year's second quarter over, here's a listicle of noteworthy performances we'll eventually compare to what's to come. These are my personal favorites from screenings and releases from April 1st through June 30th (if the film hasn't opened in theaters yet, it's marked with an asterisk). Herewith the 17 best from the year's second quarter, divvied up into three categories. (If you'd like to group them with the women from the first quarter, that list is here). Did these actresses speak to you with their turns?

Disclaimer: Key actress-focused films I missed that I'll have to catch up with later were Beatriz at Dinner, Manifesto, A Quiet Passion and Rough Night. If you've seen them give their MVPs a shout-out.

6 LEADING ACTRESSES

 

Gal Gadot as "Diana" in Wonder Woman

Nicole Kidman as "Miss Martha" in The Beguiled...

Click to read more ...

C O N S I D E R - Favorites of 2017, 2nd Qtr

THE YEAR'S FIRST HALF IS OVER! But rather than wait for this "halfway mark" for year in review listicles we started at the end of the 1st quarter so you'll have to combine those lists (movies / actresses / actors) with the highlights from your host's April through June screenings for a complete "halfway mark" take. Got it? Unlike many critics orgs and the Oscars, The Film Experience believes that moviegoing is a 12 month long activity and each month can hold worthy efforts.  Here are 4 or 5 highlights of what we've seen the past three months per Oscar category in alpha order. How will they measure up to what's still to come?

Key movies I regret missing this quarter: Beatriz at Dinner, Hero, Gifted, Manifesto, and Their Finest

PICTURE and/or DIRECTOR and/or SCREENPLAY
(i couldn't decide which to cut so this first grouped selection is 6 wide)

BABY DRIVER (Edgar Wright)
THE BIG SICK (Michael Showalter)
THE LOVERS (Azazel Jacobs)
LOST CITY OF Z (James Gray)
THE WEDDING PLAN (Rama Burshtein)
WONDER WOMAN (Patty Jenkins)

Lots more after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Podcast: My Cousin Wonder Woman, The Beguiled

Well, that was quite a hiatus. The podcast is back though we might be a bit slow to rev up to weekly again and please excuse all our airconditioners and fans running in the background. We're melting here in NYC.

In this episode Nathaniel reunites with Joe and Nick to catch up and talk five newish movies.

Index (40 minutes)
00:01 "What's this lady for?" (Part 1)
02:20 The Beguiled
08:25 My Cousin Rachel
13:50 Wonder Woman
29:30 Beatriz at Dinner
33:30 It Comes at Night (*spoilers*)
37:45 "What's this lady for?" (Part 2)

Best Question I've ever been asked by a 3 1/2 year-old: "What's this lady for?" Where to even begin? #nicolekidman #babysitting #guncle

A post shared by Nathaniel R (@nathaniel_tfe) on Jun 24, 2017 at 9:14pm PDT

 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. 

Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

My Cousin Wonder Woman

Box Office: Beatriz at Dinner with Giant F***ing Robots

By Nathaniel R

The opening weekend for Transformers: The Last Knight was such a huge drop from the series past bows that they might want to use the last film's title The Age of Extinction rather than dumping more billions into keeping this franchise alive. Unless of course its overseas take continues to be ginormous. 

Weekend Box Office (June 23rd-25th)
W I D E	L I M I T E D
1. 🔺 TRANSFORMERS (5) $45.3 (cum. $69) NEW	1. 🔺 BEATRIZ AT DINNER $1.8 (cum. $3) 491 screens
2. CARS 3 $25.1 (cum. $99.8)	2.  PARIS CAN WAIT $612k (cum. $4.1)
3.  WONDER WOMAN $25.1 (cum. $318.3) Review | Top Ten |  Special	3. 🔺 THE BIG SICK $435k NEW 5 theaters
4. 🔺 47 METERS DOWN $7.4 (cum. $24.2)	4. 🔺 THE BEGUILED $240k NEW 4 theaters Sofia's Filmography | Cannes Bow
5. ALL EYEZ ON ME $5.8 (cum. $38.6)	5.  MY COUSIN RACHEL $200k (cum. $2.4) 163 screens On the 1952 version
6. THE MUMMY  $5.8 (cum. $68.5)	6. 🔺 THE EXCEPTION $138k (cum. $250) 48 screens  REVIEW
7. PIRATES (5) $5.2 (cum. $160)	7.🔺  MAUDIE $83k (cum. $???) 28 screens  REVIEW
8. ROUGH NIGHT $4.7 (cum. $16.6) Reviewish	8. 🔺  THE BAD BATCH $91k NEW 30 screens REVIEW
9. CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS $4.2 (cum. $65.7)	9. CHURCHILL $70k (cum. $1.1) 55 screens
10. GUARDIANS VOL. 2 $3 (cum. $380.2)  REVIEW	10. THE WEDDING PLAN $31k (cum. $1.3) 34 screens
🔺 = new or added screens numbers from box office mojo

In other box office news: Wonder Woman continues to show great legs... and before anyone calls us out for sexism, please know that that's common box office vernacular for insignificant percentage drops from week to week meaning the audience is really into you. This often happens with sleeper hits indicating that word of mouth is keeping them buzzing but it's much much rarer with films that open as big as Wonder Woman did. In fact, it's holding so well that it will beat the domestic grosses of DC stablemates Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman any day now which means only The Dark Knight films will have performed better for Warner Bros's DC family. 

In limited release Beatriz at Dinner starring Salma Hayek added 400+ screens to its tiny number and is performing quite well. Paris Can Wait, meanwhile has quietly made over $4 million now  -- impressive. The Big Sick, the new romantic comedy starring and written by Kumail Nanjiani, had the best weekend, though. Its reviews are spectacular and it now has the highest per screen average for any opener this year, taking in nearly half a million on just 5 screens. In a very crowded weekend for platforming films, the audience also showed some interest in The Beguiled but not much at all in The Bad Batch.

What did you see this weekend?