Sunday, December 25, 2011

New Year's Eve It's The Surprise Hit For Box-Office Dec.9 - Dec.11




          Last weekend, two new subpar comedies and a stale heap of Thanksgiving leftovers made multiplexes the last place audiences wanted to go to as the North American box office slumped to its worst performance of 2011. The all-star holiday pic New Year's Eve and the Jonah Hill-led raunchy laugher The Sitter both met with lackluster debuts topping a weak frame that saw the Top 20 tumble to only $71.8M in ticket sales falling behind the year's previous low of $74M during the September 9-11 frame. But a wide assortment of major tentpoles and sequels are about to attack theaters starting Friday which should bring the marketplace back to life in the final two weeks of the year.
         Warner Bros. claimed the number one spot but suffered a weak launch for its holiday ensemble comedy New Year's Eve which fell well below industry expectations to open with just $13M, according to final studio figures. The Garry Marshall-directed film was slammed by critics and ticket buyers seemed to listen as the PG-13 film went out very wide into 3,505 theaters but averaged a soft $3,714. By comparison its predecessor Valentine's Day - the director's last critically-panned, multi-star, ensemble date movie tied to a holiday theme - grossed more in its first day of release with $14.5M on its way to a stellar $56.3M three-day bow and eye-popping $63.1M four-day debut breaking the Presidents Day opening weekend record last year.
         Eve hoped that an abundance of popular and semi-popular faces would lure in audiences of all ages and ethnic backgrounds as the cast included Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Zac Efron, Josh Duhamel, Ludacris, Jon Bon Jovi, Jessica Biel, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hector Elizondo along with Oscar nominees Michelle Pfeiffer and Abigail Breslin plus Academy Award winners Robert De Niro, Hilary Swank, and Halle Berry. In fact, the posters and billboards featured the faces of no less than 18 stars. But audiences knew a bad film when they saw one and some may have been disappointed enough with the quality of Valentine's Day to skip this new installment. Certainly the marketplace had little direct competition to offer so it could have performed much better if moviegoers were genuinely excited. Holiday shopping in early December does pre-occupy the core audience of adult women but a handful of star-driven films in the past have debuted to solid results during this window.
         New Year's Eve continued a string of holiday season disappointments for Warner Bros. which has seen underwhelming results from November releases A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, J. Edgar, and Happy Feet Two. Things should change, however, with next weekend's launch of the highly anticipated sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows which led by a wide margin a recent poll by MovieTickets.com of the December films users were most excited to see. In addition to leading the worst box office weekend of the year, Eve also posted the lowest gross for a number one opener since September 2008's Bangkok Dangerous which led a weak session with just $7.8M.
          Moviegoers around the world were equally disinterested in New Year's Eve as the film debuted to $12.8M from 36 overseas markets including major territories like Germany, Brazil, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
         Opening in second place to weak results was the Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter with $9.9M from 2,750 playdates for a soft $3,582 average. The R-rated Fox release about a slacker that babysits a wealthy couple's three privileged kids met with bad reviews and tested Hill's starpower as a solo anchor, a position he had never been in before. The actor failed the test and even though December films have better legs than movies debuting in the other eleven months of the year, Sitter may have a hard time reaching more audiences as this weekend's crowd gave the film a disappointing C+ grade from CinemaScore. Studio research showed that 53% of the audience was 25 and up while males and females were evenly split.
         After joining The Help as the only films of 2011 to top the box office for three weeks, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 dropped a couple of spots to third place with $7.8M in its fourth lap. Down 53%, the Summit blockbuster has now smashed the quarter-billion domestic mark with $259.4M in 24 days and continues to run 3% behind the pace of New Moon, the last Twilight film to play in this same end-of-year period. That film dropped a similar 48% in its fourth round to $8M over the second session of December. A final North American total of $285-290M seems likely which would put it at number 48 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters. Breaking Dawn fell by half overseas too grossing an estimated $19.8M from 73 markets for a hefty $374M international and a towering $633M worldwide. The four-film franchise has now amassed $2.43 billion at the global box office.
          Disney's The Muppets held up well in its third weekend dipping 37% to $7M lifting the total to $65.7M. Rival kidpic Arthur Christmas enjoyed the smallest decline of any wide release easing just 12% to $6.5M for a cume to date of just $33.4M. The Sony release also grossed $14.3M from 63 overseas markets pushing the international sum to $57.5M and the global tally to $91M.
          A pair of expanding award winners followed. Martin Scorsese's Hugo went from 1,840 to 2,608 theaters in its third round and grossed $6.1M watching its average slip to a dull $2,320. Paramount's big-budget 3D offering has collected only $33.4M so far and will now face an avalanche of competition for both kids and adults starting Friday. Fox Searchlight's George Clooney vehicle The Descendants rose from 574 to 876 locations in its fourth frame and took in $4.4M for a decent $5,000 average which was tops for all wide releases this weekend. The total stands at $23.6M.
         Toon flop Happy Feet Two fell 38% to $3.7M for a cume to date of $56.8M which is a troubling 59% below the gross of its predecessor after the same number of days despite the sequel having higher ticket prices and 3D surcharges. Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill took in $3.1M, off 42%, giving Sony $68.5M so far. Rounding out the top ten was the 3D historical adventure Immortals which dropped 45% to $2.5M for a total of $79.9M for Relativity. It has now surpassed Limitless to become the top-grossing film ever for the young distributor.
         Two new films shined in their platform bows. The Cold War thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Gary Oldman bowed to $310,562 from only four houses in New York and Los Angeles for a scorching average of $77,641. Earning sensational reviews, the Focus release will expand slowly as it widens to San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Boston next weekend before reaching a wider release on December 23.
         Paramount's Charlize Theron pic Young Adult will expand faster after this weekend's limited debut which saw $310,263 from eight theaters in five markets for a strong $38,783 average. It was not as powerful as director Jason Reitman's last effort, 2009's Up in the Air starring George Clooney, which the studio also platformed in early December resulting in a hefty $1.2M bow from 15 locations for a much more impressive $78,763 average on its way to a $83.8M final after earning lots of kudos including Oscar nods for Picture and Director. Young Adult will widen to about 1,000 theaters next weekend when it faces considerable competition for adult audiences from Holmes which should play broadly and from Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked which will take many parents out of the picture. Plus Paramount will also steal other adults away with its special limited release of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which debuts in 400 IMAX and large-format screens and should pop into the top ten.

# Title Dec 9 - 11


Weeks
Cumulative Distributor










1 New Year's Eve $ 13,019,180


1
$ 13,019,180 Warner Bros.
2 The Sitter 9,851,435


1
9,851,435 Fox
3 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 7,819,402


4
259,402,669 Summit
4 The Muppets 6,978,870


3
65,742,128 Disney
5 Arthur Christmas 6,510,486


3
33,400,598 Sony
6 Hugo 6,050,309


3
33,414,719 Paramount
7 The Descendants 4,380,138


4
23,630,561 Fox Searchlight
8 Happy Feet Two 3,690,304


4
56,790,405 Warner Bros.
9 Jack and Jill 3,085,098


5
68,527,385 Sony
10 Immortals 2,461,227


5
79,868,732 Relativity










11 Tower Heist 2,358,655


6
74,122,185 Universal
12 Puss in Boots 1,628,199


7
141,873,474 Paramount
13 J. Edgar 1,188,413


5
34,761,111 Warner Bros.
14 My Week With Marilyn 780,822


3
5,118,661 Weinstein Co.
15 A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas 474,749


6
33,986,208 Warner Bros.
16 In Time 347,020


7
36,405,892 Fox
17 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 310,562


1
310,562 Focus
18 Young Adult 310,263


1
310,263 Paramount
19 The Artist 295,361


3
888,741 Weinstein Co.
20 Shame 283,415


2
781,501 Fox Searchlight



















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Blu-ray 6th December Release

The Hangover Part II (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 102 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 06, 2011






Genres: Comedy
Starring: Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis
Director: Todd Philips

Plot Synopsis: Just when you were starting to sober up after The Hangover… along comes The Hangover Part II--a deft dose of hair of the dog that will keep fans of the original screaming with laughter once again. Director Todd Phillips brings back his great cast--Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ed Helms for another splendid exercise in debauchery--and its painful aftermath. And perhaps surprisingly, The Hangover Part II keeps the laugh levels high. While the element of surprise is not here in the sequel, writer Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong, and Phillips have upped the shock factor, resulting in humor that's sometimes not exactly politically correct, but is fall-down funny anyway. In The Hangover Part II, Stu (Helms) is marrying a Thai-American woman (Jamie Chung), and the entire wedding party is flying to Thailand for the ceremony. Quicker than you can say "bachelor brunch," the boys are off on some kind of mystery adventure that results in some pretty serious, and pretty hilarious repercussions. (There's an unfortunate tattoo incident, one not easily covered up; there's an unexplained monkey--in a Rolling Stones shirt--now added to the entourage; and one of the group is missing.) The setup is familiar, but the ensemble of actors is so confident, their chemistry so easy, that the viewer enjoys their long, strange trip with bust-out-loud laughs. And you can't ask for much more in a buddy comedy.

Disc Features: 

'The Hangover Part II' two disc edition includes about 40 minutes worth of special features, all of which are in high definition.
  • Unauthorized Documentary: the documentary about the documentary they don't want you to see about the making of The Hangover Part II (HD, 25 mins) -- This is a fun meta-premise. It's a documentary aimed to be expose the horrors behind the filming of 'The Hangover Part II'. It features interviews with the cast as well as Hollywood producers like Morgan Spurlock, J.J. Abrams, and Todd Black. You won't learn how they made the movies, but I love how these guys allow themselves to be the butt of the joke.
  • Behind The Story (HD, 16 mins). This section is made up of three separate featurettes. The Comedy Rhythm of Todd Phillips explores the director's creative and improvisational process. Not Your Everyday Monkey chronicles Crystal the Monkey and her onset adventures (and one romance). The Bangkok Tour with Chow is an in-character Ken Jeong special feature. A few laughs here.
  • Gag Reel (HD, 5 mins) -- Laughter is infectious. Looks like it's so fun on set that one of the hardest things to do for the actors is keep a straight face.
  • Action Mashup (HD, 1 min) -- All the action from the entire movie in 46 seconds.

The Help (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 146 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Overall Grade 3.5 out of 5 Recommended




Genres: Drama
Starring: Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: Tate Taylor


Plot Synopsis: There are male viewers who will enjoy The Help, but Mississippi native Tate Taylor aims his adaptation squarely at the female readers who made Kathryn Stockett's novel a bestseller. If the multi-character narrative revolves around race relations in the Kennedy-era South, the perspective belongs to the women. Veteran maid Aibileen (Doubt's Viola Davis in an Oscar-worthy performance) provides the heartfelt narration that brackets the story. A widow devastated by the death of her son, she takes pride in the 17 children she has helped to raise, but she's hardly fulfilled. That changes when Skeeter (Easy A's Emma Stone) returns home after college. Unlike her peers, Skeeter wants to work, so she gets a job as a newspaper columnist. But she really longs to write about Jackson's domestics, so she meets with Aibileen in secret--after much cajoling and the promise of anonymity. When Aibileen's smart-mouthed friend Minny (breakout star Octavia Spencer) breaches her uptight employer's protocol, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) gives her the boot, and she ends up in the employ of local outcast Celia (Jessica Chastain, hilarious and heartbreaking), who can't catch a break due to her dirt-poor origins. After the murder of Medgar Evers, even more maids, Minny among them, bring their stories to Skeeter, leading to a book that scandalizes the town--in a good way. Not since Steel Magnolias has Hollywood produced a Southern woman's picture more likely to produce buckets of tears (and almost as many laughs).

Disc Features: 

  • Deleted Scenes (HD, 3 minutes) – Director Tate Taylor introduces two excised scenes, one that's comedic and one that was supposed to close the film, but was cut because it was too much of a "downer" for such a hopeful movie.
  • Music Video: "The Living Proof" (HD, 3 minutes) – Mary J. Blige provides a souful, passionate reading of the movie's anthem in a straightforward video that mixes film clips with shots of Blige in the recording studio.
 

These are the meat-and-potato supplements, and they are all Blu-ray exclusives.
  • Additional Deleted Scenes (HD, 7 minutes) – Three more excised scenes are included here (bookended by the two described above) and further flesh out bits of character and random plot points.
  • Featurette: "The Making of 'The Help': From Friendship to Film" (HD, 23 minutes) – Not quite the same as most making-of featurettes, this absorbing behind-the-scenes chronicle looks at the lifelong friendship between director Tate Taylor and Kathryn Stockett, author of 'The Help' novel, and how their bond ultimately forged a major film. Stockett talks about how she based one of her characters on actress Octavia Spencer, a long-standing friend of Taylor, and we discover that actress Allison Janney is another pal of Taylor's and has appeared in almost all his movies. Taylor and Stockett both reminisce about their Southern childhoods and close relationship, we learn about Stockett's struggle to get her book published, and tour the various locations where the picture was shot. In addition, Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Bryce Dallas Howard​, among others, chime in with their views about the story and film, and their importance.
  • Featurette: "In Their Own Words: A Tribute to the Maids of Mississippi" (HD, 12 minutes) – This tender and moving featurette profiles several black maids (one of whom worked for director Taylor's family), who outline their duties, talk about their thwarted dreams and grueling schedules, address the issue of segregation, and share some personal memories. The daughters of a few of the maids also relate their impressions of the era and salute their mothers for the sacrifices they made on their behalf. A very worthwhile and interesting piece that enhances the film experience.


Cowboys & Aliens (Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy in Blu-ray Packaging)

Universal / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 06, 2011 

 Overall Grade 3.5 out of 5 Recommended

 

 

 

 

Genres: Action, adventure, sci-fi, western
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Abigail Spencer
Director: Jon Favreu


Plot Synopsis:  The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival. 

Disc Features: 

  • Audio Commentary
  • Finding the Story (HD, 5 min) — The very brief short piece discusses the origins of the story, the mixing of genres and capturing the right mood when translating it all to the big screen.
  • Outer-Space Icon (HD, 10 min) — Made mostly of great behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, this segment shows viewers the design of the alien creatures, the animatronics and filming a mix of live-action with digital effects.
  • The Scope of the Spectacle (HD, 7 min) 
  • U-Control
  • Igniting the Sky (HD, 18 min)
  • Conversations with Jon Favreau (HD, 80 min) — A great collection of interview-like conversations of the director. Each can only be watched separately and shows Favreau chatting with his cast and crew on a variety of topics. It features Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Steven Spielberg​, Ron Howard​, Brian Grazer, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof.
  • Second Screen
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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Breaking Dawn Breaking 3rd Week As Box Office Champ Dec.2 - Dec.4

 
          Last weekend the newest "Twilight" vampire movie ruled the domestic box office for a third time with $16.9 million in ticket sales over one of the slowest movie-going weekends of the year, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.
          "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1" from independent studio Summit Entertainment​ beat a pack of family films at U.S. and Canadian theaters. The fourth and second-to-last film in one of Hollywood's most lucrative franchises added $40.2 million at international locations.
         After three weekends in theaters, "Breaking Dawn" has soaked up $588.3 million in global ticket sales.
The "Twilight" movies are based on best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer​ about a human-vampire-werewolf love triangle.
         The third domestic win in a row for "Breaking Dawn" came during the post-Thanksgiving weekend, typically one of the bleakest of the year at movie theaters following big releases a week earlier.
         This year, total U.S. and Canadian ticket sales rang up at an estimated $82 million for the weekend, making it the year's second slowest, according to Hollywood.com Box Office. Overall sales only slightly edged the $81.5 million take from the September 9 weekend that followed Labor Day.
With no new films released nationwide, sales also slumped 4.8 percent below the same weekend last year.
After "Breaking Dawn," the rest of the weekend's top five belonged to family fare.
         Disney's "The Muppets​" starring Jason Segel​ and Amy Adams​ alongside Kermit, Miss Piggy​ and their puppet friends, rang up $11.2 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters. The movie represents a comeback for the Muppet characters, last seen in movie theaters in 1999. Worldwide sales for the new film have reached $60.1 million through Sunday.
        "Hugo," a 3D family movie about an orphaned boy who lives in a 1930s Paris train station, moved up to third place from its fifth place finish last weekend after expanding to more theaters. The film pulled in $7.6 million domestically, bringing its total after two weekends to $25.2 million.
         Animated 3D movie "Arthur Christmas," which explains how Santa delivers presents around the world in one night, pulled in $7.4 million domestically to finish in fourth place. To date, the movie has brought in $70.6 million worldwide.
         In fifth place, dancing penguin sequel "Happy Feet Two" earned $6.0 million at domestic theaters. Total global sales reached $85.8 million after three weekends of release.
         Walt Disney Co released "The Muppets." Privately held Summit Entertainment released "Breaking Dawn - Part 1." "Arthur Christmas" was distributed by Sony, and Hugo was released by Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc.. Time Warner​ unit Warner Bros​. distributed "Happy Feet Two." [Source from: reuters.com]


# Title Dec 2 - 4


Weeks
Cumulative Distributor










1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 $ 16,535,465


3
$ 246,926,409 Summit
2 The Muppets 11,082,755


2
56,357,170 Disney
3 Hugo 7,557,709


2
25,121,185 Paramount
4 Arthur Christmas 7,401,736


2
25,343,487 Sony
5 Happy Feet Two 5,919,390


3
51,704,566 Warner Bros.
6 Jack and Jill 5,356,973


4
64,165,454 Sony
7 The Descendants 4,789,741


3
17,677,071 Fox Searchlight
8 Immortals 4,464,889


4
75,659,174 Relativity
9 Tower Heist 3,953,925


5
70,598,755 Universal
10 Puss in Boots 3,042,241


6
139,514,442 Paramount










11 J. Edgar 2,308,411


4
32,569,492 Warner Bros.
12 My Week With Marilyn 1,179,545


2
3,860,751 Weinstein Co.
13 A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas 985,378


5
33,085,345 Warner Bros.
14 Moneyball 570,147


11
73,787,485 Sony
15 In Time 555,102


6
35,850,495 Fox
16 The Ides of March 515,897


9
40,123,590 Sony
17 Shame 349,519


1
349,519 Fox Searchlight
18 Dolphin Tale 315,278


11
70,714,876 Warner Bros.
19 Melancholia 270,335


4
1,601,918 Magnolia
20 Like Crazy 257,767


5
2,874,373 Paramount
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