Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Take an Umbrella

There was plenty of action in the Top 5 this week at the box office with four new titles taking up four of the five spots. Only one of these titles was actually successful though. Breaking Sony Animation’s record for best opening day on Friday with $8.1 million, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS went on to capture the weekend and the honour of third largest September opening ever (behind SWEET HOME ALABAMA and RUSH HOUR). Audiences were starved for family entertainment and they certainly filled up on this one. I would expect many second helpings in the weeks to come.


Toronto International Film Festival titles, THE INFORMANT! and JENNIFER’S BODY went wide this week. Steven Soderbergh’s second picture this year has earned some serious Oscar buzz for star, Matt Damon, and rightfully so. Sadly, this was not enough to drum up a lot of interest at the box office with a tepid $10 million start. Megan Fox tried to break past her TRANSFORMER association and as it turns out, people don’t really care about her unless she is surrounded by metal – even when the film title specifically refers to her most intriguing asset. The only other festival title to hit general theatres was Jane Campion’s BRIGHT STAR, starring Oscar hopeful, Abbie Cornish. It too saw a similar reception to THE INFORMANT!, pulling in an average of only $10K per screen – solid but not stellar.


In other box office news, Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Echkart fizzled in fourth with LOVE HAPPENS. Tyler Perry’s I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF stumbled 57% in its second week, pretty much on par with all of Perry’s previous directorial efforts. And Quentin Tarantino’s INGLORIOUS BASTERDS surpassed PULP FICTION in terms of gross to become the biggest domestic hit of his career.

NEXT WEEK: They’re hoping you remember their name as FAME remakes its way onto 3000+ screens. Bruce Willis goes sci-fi with SURROGATES (2700 screens). PANDORUM will try to scare the crap out of everyone on 2500 screens. And two more TIFF titles, Michael Moore’s CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY and Steve Hicks’s THE BOYS ARE BACK with Oscar hopeful, Clive Owen have their platform debuts.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Black Sheep Previews: TIFF 2009

First of all, I am loving the new TIFF logo. The Toronto based film festival is rebranding itself and taking on its acronym as its actual name and intends to encapsulate the commitment to film that TIFF promotes all year round and not just during the festival. With the construction of the Bell Lightbox theatre, specially designed for the festival itself, underway, TIFF is looking to the future like never before. And speaking of the TIFF future, they have announced a handful of galas and special presentations for this year's programme and they have got this sheep very excited for what's in store. Now, all they have to do is let me in! Here is a peak of what's in store ...


TIFF has decided to open their festival with the world premiere of a controversial film, CREATION, from director, Jon Amiel. Paul Bettany stars as Charles Darwin and Jennifer Connelly co-stars as his devoted but deeply religious wife. Creationism is not a popular topic and therefore this is certain to draw attention. Meanwhile, TIFF is drawing a different kind of controversy for their decision. The opening film is ordinarily a Canadian production and I can see no Canadian tie to this film, especially if you compare it to last year's opener, Paul Gross's PASSCHENDAELE. Still, I don't mind one way or the other; I just want to see what the fuss is about.


Three of the announced galas are highly anticipated works, one of which is making its world premiere at TIFF. Steven Soderbergh's THE INFORMANT! stars Matt Damon as the aforementioned informant himself. After exploring the high class sex trade in his last film, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, Soderbergh takes on the agricultural monopolies in this awards season hopeful. Jane Campion, (the Academy Award winning writer and nominated director of THE PIANO) brings her Cannes success, BRIGHT STAR, to North America. The film stars Ben Wishaw (I'M NOT THERE) as 19th century poet, John Keats, and explores his relationship with girlfriend, Fanny Brawn (Abbie Cornish) that was cut short by his early death at 25. And, after receiving the Audience Award, Grand Jury Prize and Special Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year, the Oprah Winfrey/Tyler Perry backed PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE makes its way from Cannes to TIFF for its Canadian debut. A gala presentation at TIFF certainly puts this downer of a picture on track as a potentially serious contender at this year's Oscars.


And here's an intriguing selection ... French Nouvel Vague director, Alain Resnais, most famous for the classics, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959) and THE LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961), brings us his latest, LES HERBES FOLLES (WILD GRASS), as part of TIFF's Masters series. The film stars Mathieu Almaric (THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) and centers around a wallet that is lost and then found. The one who lost it and the one who found it are now intrinsically linked.

More TIFF titles are to be announced shortly. For more information, be sure to check out the TIFF wesbite.