Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[jvcarroll]

Obnoxious Articles and Box Office Estimates:

I can't stand how the authors of such articles sensationalize the facts beyond reason. Here we go with today's crop of entertainment's yellow journalism:

• Men in Black 3 Steals No. 1 Box Office Spot from The Avengers
• Memorial Day Box Office: 'Men in Black 3' Soft in U.S.
• 'MIB 3' Beats 'Avengers' With Solid Memorial Debut
• 'Men in Black' sequel powers past 'Avengers'

"The Avengers" is on its way to pass the last Harry Potter movie and becoming the 3rd largest grossing picture worldwide behind "Avatar" and "Titanic," but you wouldn't know that from these headlines or the articles. "The Avengers" has been out for nearly a month! Of course it wasn't going to maintain the number one spot forever. Nobody "stole" anything from them. And how can MIB3 "power past" that film and still open "soft" in America? I understand what they're saying, but it's twisted for the sake of sensationalism.

Something far more interesting is being lost here too - the fact that American films seem to be far more popular overseas than they are on our own soil. This is something new. The industry understands it. That's why half of "Iron Man 3" is being financed by interests in China! Will that create a precedent? Personally I don't much care, but a lot audience members would and it's a legitimate story. A very interesting one.

So, MIB3 reportedly cost $375 Million to make and market. Not all of this is seen on screen. There were countless costly production delays! It's worldwide estimate is $203 million. It'll be okay. MIB3 isn't quite a runaway hit, but it's an admirable success considering that most sequels crumble by this point and it could have easily gone the other way.

Here are this week's estimates:​

TWLWTitle StudioWeekend Gross% ChangeTheater Count / ChangeAverageTotal GrossBudget*Week #
1 N MIB 3 Sony $55,000,000 - 4,248 - $12,947 $55,000,000 - 1
2 1 Marvel's The Avengers BV $36,799,000 -33.9% 3,918 -331 $9,392 $513,484,000 $220 4
3 2 Battleship Uni. $10,902,000 -57.3% 3,702 +12 $2,945 $44,408,000 $209 2
4 3 The Dictator Par. $9,275,000 -46.8% 3,014 +6 $3,077 $41,123,000 $65 2
5 N Chernobyl Diaries WB $7,965,000 - 2,433 - $3,274 $7,965,000 - 1
6 4 Dark Shadows WB $7,460,000 -40.7% 3,404 -351 $2,192 $62,943,000 $150 3
7 5 What to Expect When You're Expecting LGF $7,110,000 -32.6% 3,021 - $2,354 $22,131,000 - 2
8 6 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel FoxS $6,365,000 +97.0% 1,233 +879 $5,162 $16,568,000 - 4
9 7 The Hunger Games LGF $2,268,000 -23.1% 1,421 -643 $1,596 $395,277,000 $78 10
10 8 Think Like a Man SGem $1,400,000 -47.2% 786 -936 $1,781 $88,272,000 $12 6

 

[jvcarroll]

Something else that disturbs me:




Quick, name 3 (non-actor) male film directors. Pretty easy, huh? Now do the same for female film directors. It’s 2012! Why is that still so difficult?

Sure, it's possible but not easy. I mean, it takes a minute and the first ones that come to my mind are Penny Marshall, Jodi Foster and Barbra Streisand. When I first think of male directors, none of them are actors and dozens come very quickly. I studied film so I can name several women in film. Not quickly. That is sad. <---angry piggy

 

[CensoredAlso]

Quick, name 3 (non-actor) male film directors. Pretty easy, huh? Now do the same for female film directors. It’s 2012! Why is that still so difficult?

We are still so behind in some ways. But, and forgive me males, when guys get together they do tend to form a pack in which it's very difficult for women to break in.

Not that women don't share some of the blame. It reminds me of High School when all the boys wanted to be filmmakers and the girls just wanted to act their movies. Girls aren't raised to have that kind of ambition.

But either way, I also think we romanticize the role of the director far too much. Without the writers the director would be sitting on an empty set with nowhere to go.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

The only female director that I can ever name is Penelope Spheeris :/

 

[jvcarroll]

Here are the first ones that popped into my mind before looking:
(spoilers, click down)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Nora Ephron - Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Julie & Julia
Jane Campion - The Piano
Julie Taymor - Across the Universe, Frida (also the infamous Spider-Man Broadway musical)
Kathryn Bigelow - Point Break, Strange Days, Hurt Locker
Mary Harron - American Psycho (I had to look up her name, but remembered her)
Mary Lambert - Pet Sematary II (also several of Madonna’s early, iconic videos)

 

[charlietheowl]

The only other one I could think of was Sofia Coppola, who did Marie Antionette.

 

[jvcarroll]

The only other one I could think of was Sofia Coppola, who did Marie Antionette.

Yep, but she's an actress. I eliminated that as an option from the experiment. Catherine Hardwicke, director of the first Twilight film, is another one.

 

[charlietheowl]

Yep, but she's an actress. I eliminated that as an option from the experiment. Catherine Hardwicke, director of the first Twilight film, is another one.

Darn it! I forgot about Godfather III.

 

[Drtooth]

Obnoxious Articles and Box Office Estimates:

I can't stand how the authors of such articles sensationalize the facts beyond reason. Here we go with today's crop of entertainment's yellow journalism:

• Men in Black 3 Steals No. 1 Box Office Spot from The Avengers
• Memorial Day Box Office: 'Men in Black 3' Soft in U.S.
• 'MIB 3' Beats 'Avengers' With Solid Memorial Debut
• 'Men in Black' sequel powers past 'Avengers'

"The Avengers" is on its way to pass the last Harry Potter movie and becoming the 3rd largest grossing picture worldwide behind "Avatar" and "Titanic," but you wouldn't know that from these headlines or the articles. "The Avengers" has been out for nearly a month! Of course it wasn't going to maintain the number one spot forever. Nobody "stole" anything from them. And how can MIB3 "power past" that film and still open "soft" in America? I understand what they're saying, but it's twisted for the sake of sensationalism.

Something far more interesting is being lost here too - the fact that American films seem to be far more popular overseas than they are on our own soil. This is something new. The industry understands it. That's why half of "Iron Man 3" is being financed by interests in China! Will that create a precedent? Personally I don't much care, but a lot audience members would and it's a legitimate story. A very interesting one.

So, MIB3 reportedly cost $375 Million to make and market. Not all of this is seen on screen. There were countless costly production delays! It's worldwide estimate is $203 million. It'll be okay. MIB3 isn't quite a runaway hit, but it's an admirable success considering that most sequels crumble by this point and it could have easily gone the other way.

I hate the way they condense that sort of news for the masses that don't understand how things run. I mean, believe me. A Top Spot opening doesn't always mean runaway success. I've seen movies that manage to completely flop after the first week.

The only reason something didn't "dethrone" Avengers before that was because there was nothing worthy to dethrone it. People are still seeing Avengers, but now we finally have a film that people actually want to see, even though it's a mild number of them. Battleship, while it's unfortunately getting its due overseas, was such a disaster, Hasbro and Paramount pulled G.I. Joe 2 until next March to make it 3-D.

Also, I wonder when the family films are going to start to affect the box office draws of these larger action based movies. The last family movie, Pirates, came and went with much notice... Madagascar 3, the season's first PG CGI film comes out Friday of Next week. It's strange that no family films have came out in May.

Still... I can't believe that Iron Man even needs foreign funding. The first 2 movies and Avengers have proven strong. Marvel's characters have never been more profitable, Disney has their hand in the pie as well. Heck, the Avengers merchandising take alone could fund China's half.

 

[Hayley B]

Me and my mom finally saw Dark Shadows this weekend. My thoughts are, it was really good at times. But then again, I thought it could really stupid at times too.

My mother's thoughts were, "It's not like the old show. But still enjoyable".

I'm too young to know Dark Shadows. I've only tried to watch one episode a longtime ago and I knew it was like a soap. During and before seeing this movie. I have been only hearing bits and bits from my mother's memory.