Next Day Air Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Weekend Box Office: Consider 'Star Trek' Rebooted
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office »
Though I enjoyed Todd's post, I actually don't think much of the idea that J.J. Abrams needs to go around rebooting franchises, if only due to my vain hope that some Hollywood talent might ration out a little time for some original programming rather than endless prequels, sequels and remakes. But credit where credit is due. Seven years after Star Trek hit its box-office nadir with Nemesis, Abrams' reboot opened to $72.5 million ($76.5 million including Thursday night "sneaks") -- more than twice the gross of any previous franchise entry -- and, crucially, seems to be enjoying good word-of-mouth even among non-Trekkies. That falls shy of last weekend's $85 million opening for Wolverine, but I expect Star Trek to hold up better than the generally disliked superhero flick. Wolverine dropped nearly 70% in its second week of release, and will struggle to get to $200 million domestic. (Its drop to $27 million is actually slightly bigger, percentage-wise, than Watchmen's much-discussed deflation back in March.) On the other hand, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past held up well, as the weekend didn't bring any new anti-action counterprogramming.
Summit's Next Day Air, the only other opener, managed $4 million on just over 1000 screens, which isn't too bad -- though I'm hoping Summit can do a bit better with the difficult-to-market Brothers Bloom, opening on just a few theaters next weekend and expanding on the 22nd and 29th.
The full top 10 after the jump.
Review: Next Day Air
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Thrillers », Theatrical Reviews »
Some of us abhor vacuums, while others merely ignore them. Either way, those gaps tend to fill themselves, so that the willing world may indeed discover what a musical set to the tunes of ABBA must look like, or even how an urban answer to Guy Ritchie's twisty comic-violent crime capers would turn out.
Enter Benny Boom, a music video director with the most explosive name this side of Olivier Megaton and his sights set on transplanting one of those topsy-turvy capers from the underbelly of London to the shadier side of Philadelphia. It's a capable, if unremarkable relocation, because Next Day Air does exactly what a Snatch-savvy crowd would expect -- introduce maybe a dozen greedy criminals to one botched crime and let them fall all over each other to get the goods and get out alive -- and not much more.
Box Office: Beam Us Up, Scotty
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Box Office Predictions »
Marking Fox's best non-holiday opening weekend ever, X-Men Origins: Wolverine hacked and slashed its way to the number one position. The romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past made a reasonable if unremarkable amount of cash, landing it in second place and the animated science fiction epic Battle For Terra landed way back in twelfth place, just barely cracking the $1 million mark. Here's the top five:
1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: $85 million
2. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: $15.4 million
3. Obsessed: $12 million
4. 17 Again: $6.3 million
5. Monsters Vs. Aliens: $5.8 million
Two new releases this week, at least one of which will boldly go where no one has gone before.
Star Trek
What's It All About: The long-running science fiction franchise gets a reboot, recasting the characters of the original TV series and exploring the early adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise.
Why It Might Do Well: The trailers have been pretty amazing and the plan to market this film as Star Trek for people who aren't Star Trek fans seems to be working. I'm not sure I've ever seen this happen before, but Rottentomatoes.com is giving Trek a 100% fresh rating.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Only a massive dilithium crystal failure could keep this out of the number one spot.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $82 million
1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: $85 million
2. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: $15.4 million
3. Obsessed: $12 million
4. 17 Again: $6.3 million
5. Monsters Vs. Aliens: $5.8 million
Two new releases this week, at least one of which will boldly go where no one has gone before.
Star TrekWhat's It All About: The long-running science fiction franchise gets a reboot, recasting the characters of the original TV series and exploring the early adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise.
Why It Might Do Well: The trailers have been pretty amazing and the plan to market this film as Star Trek for people who aren't Star Trek fans seems to be working. I'm not sure I've ever seen this happen before, but Rottentomatoes.com is giving Trek a 100% fresh rating.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Only a massive dilithium crystal failure could keep this out of the number one spot.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $82 million
Weekend Box Office: 'Wolverine' Beheads McConaughey
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office »
It is of course impossible to say whether the much-discussed work print leak damaged Wolverine's box office take, nor whether Fox's cockamamie strategy of tacking on different mid-credits codas to different prints of the film helped matters. All we can conclude is that if piracy hurt, it didn't hurt that much (which really has been the refrain for the movie industry all along), since I don't think too many people will be unhappy with an $87 million first weekend. For those keeping score, that's well ahead of X-Men, marginally ahead of Bryan Singer's X2, and roughly $15 million behind Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand. Wolverine is not likely to hold up well, but it's hard to imagine a scenario where it doesn't get to $200 million domestic. And after all the angst, that's a victory. One thing to consider is what this means for the straight action model of the comic book movie. I didn't dislike Wolverine like a lot of people did, but it undoubtedly did away with the nuance, intricacy and character focus that we've gotten used to seeing in major comic book adaptations. I bet it's much easier to make a Wolverine than a Iron Man or an X2 or a Watchmen, and it seems not to be much less financially rewarding.
I very much enjoyed not watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past this weekend, and it seems so did a bunch of other people. The Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy picked up $15.3 million, which isn't bad, but puts the film way behind the last three identical Matthew McConaughey romantic comedies. And the 3D-animated Battle for Terra, while not a Delgo-level bust, couldn't break the top 10 and ended up with just over $1 million on around 1,200 screens. It's tough out there for animated features not bankrolled and marketed by huge studios.
The weekend's top 10 after the jump.
Discuss: The Action Flicks of 2009
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Disney », Paramount », Sony », Universal », Warner Brothers », Fandom », 20th Century Fox », The Weinstein Co. », Quentin Tarantino », Johnny Depp », Harry Potter », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), but the only problem is it may not hit theaters on time if 20th Century Fox has anything to say about it. Both Fox and Warner Brothers are fighting over who actually owns the rights, and if a judge favors Fox comes January 20th (when the court date is set), we're looking at a delayed release and a whole ton of angry fans. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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