WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Up with UP!

People love to watch other people fail. It is especially more delicious when the one falling is finally doing it after a number of successes. And while the industry people around the world consistently admire and appreciate the Pixar pictures, they are all still waiting to watch them fall on their faces. The logic is that a streak of success ten pictures long is not sustainable but if there is one thing Pixar is good at (and realistically, there are a great number of things they are great at), it is making the impossible happen and proving everyone wrong.

The truth of it is that people may speculate when the first Pixar failure will come but these same people all LOVE the Pixar movies. UP! is no exception to any of this. It is universally adored by critics and audiences alike and now, it has overcome a vague advertising campaign to become Pixar’s biggest opening in years. As far as comparable summer Pixar releases go, UP! and its $68 million take is the biggest Pixar opening since FINDING NEMO pulled in $70 million in 2003. The fish movie went on to make close to $340 million in North America alone. WALL-E and RATATOUILLE both debuted to less ($63 million and $47 million respectively) and went on to make over $200 million each domestically so UP! is certainly off to a bold start. Now we just have to see where the wind carries it over time.


Universal’s attempt to counterprogram against UP! was only moderately successful. Sam Raimi’s return to the horror genre, DRAG ME TO HELL, only brought in about $16 million to narrowly beat out the second week of TERMINATOR SALVATION, which stumbled more than it should have (-62%). DRAG ME TO HELL is actually only slightly less praised than UP! is but audiences did not buy into the high concept approach to horror. That old lady in the movie couldn’t afford her mortgage payments and people couldn’t afford to pay to watch her not afford those payments. Or maybe they were just more interested in seeing the second frame of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN. The Ben Stiller McMovie dropped off a reasonable 52% considering it had intense competition from UP!.


Both EASY VIRTUE and THE BROTHERS BLOOM continued successful expansions this week. THE BROTHERS BLOOM nearly cracked the Top 10, coming in just behind OBSESSED with $652K on 148 screens. Perhaps by the time final figures come in tomorrow, it will have surpassed the Beyonce thriller. Though Black Sheep doesn’t believe Jessica Biel’s turn in EASY VIRTUE is that special, audiences are eating it up. The British farce added just 16 screens to its roster and saw its returns increase by nearly 70%. And although it has the third highest per screen average of any film playing, this year’s winner Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language film, DEPARTURES, did not do the kind of business befitted to an Academy Award winning film. $72K on 9 screens is respectable but hardly memorable. An earlier release would have helped significantly.


NEXT WEEK: Laugh it up, folks. Will Ferrell goes head to head with his former OLD SCHOOL director next week as LAND OF THE LOST (3300 screens) opens against the much buzzed about, THE HANGOVER (3200 screens). Oh, and if you’re a woman and want to laugh, well then you’ll be happy to hear that Nia Vardalos is back in theatres with MY LIFE IN RUINS (1100 screens). Or maybe laughing at people is much more your style. Mariah Carey returns to theatres in TENNESSEE (14 screens); she plays a waitress who wants to sing. It’s a big stretch. And finally, if you like your laughter with a little heart, Sam Mendes goes indie with AWAY WE GO. That’s where I’ll be.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Black Sheep's Summer Longin' (Part One)

It’s gotten off to quite the start. Sure, WOLVERINE was pretty dull but STAR TREK blew our minds into warp speed before the momentum could be lost. Even ANGELS & DEMONS isn’t all that bad really. All in all, it is a pretty great summer movie season already and we’re still a good few weeks away from it actually being summer. And I’m excited! This doesn’t usually happen to me. I feel like I want to see it all. I even want to see that Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds fake wedding movie. I’ve got summer fever apparently, which is better than swine flu, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve narrowed down the films I am most keyed up for down to 10 and the following is the first half …

UP! Written by Bob Peterson Directed by Pete Docter (MONSTERS INC) Co-Directed by Bob Peterson Voices by Edward Asner and Jordan Nagai Release Date 05/29
Don’t we love to watch people fail? Pixar has successfully released nine consecutive hits, both critically and financially and people are just waiting for them to trip up. At first, I thought the haters probably didn’t have much longer to wait with UP! Here you have a story about a 78-year-old man who wants nothing to do with society and decides it is high time he inflate the hundreds of balloons he’s got lying around with helium so he can leave it all on the ground. And who does this old man hang out with, albeit reluctantly, an 8-year-old boy scout. It all sounds potentially awkward and unfunny but the early reviews from Cannes are flying very high. If there’s one company I will always give the benefit of the doubt to, it’s Pixar. Bring on the old guy and his balloons already!



DEPARTURES Written by Kundo Kuyoma Directed by Yojiro Takita Starring Masahiro Motoki Release Date 05/29
I was concerned there would be WALTZ WITH BASHIR upset at the Oscars this year in the Foreign Language film category. Not that I didn’t like the animated documentary; I just really wanted to see THE CLASS take the Oscar home … that and I had THE CLASS on my Oscar poll. I was certainly surprised to hear that DEPARTURES would take the honour over both titles. And though I would likely never have noticed this film if it didn’t win the Oscar, I need to know why it won now. All I know about it is that an out of work cellist takes a job in funeral home preparing the dead for their viewings and that director, Takita, used to do porn. What more do you need to know though?



THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE Written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien Directed by Steven Soderbergh (CHE) Starring Sasha Grey and Chris Santos Release Date 05/22
To be honest, I can’t say that I am very excited about seeing this film but that’s pretty much because I already have seen it. I am actually just excited for everyone else to see it. I caught this film at the Tribeca Film Festival in a private press screening and had the privilege of meeting Mr. Soderbergh and Ms. Grey the next day for an interview. The interview itself will be published next week to coincide with the film’s release so you can soak it in all at once. Trust me, there is plenty to soak too in this behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a high priced escort in today’s crumbling economy. TGE is a very relevant, very timely picture that is not only fascinating but also sharp and brilliant to behold visually.



AWAY WE GO Written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida Directed by Sam Mendes (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph Release Date 06/05
After winning an Oscar for AMERICAN BEAUTY, Sam Mendes has only had mixed success with his films. Some have even suggested that his accomplishments were a total fluke. He returns to cinemas this summer though with a decidedly different approach that may just remind people why they felt he had such promise to begin with. In AWAY WE GO, John Krasinski (“The Office”) and Maya Rudolph (“Saturday Night Live”) play an unmarried couple in their early thirties who are expecting their first child. With the ultimate responsibility coming on quickly, they realize that they haven’t really gotten a strong hold on this game called life just yet. So they set out to find a new place to call home so that they can grow into the capable adults they know they can be if they just put their minds to it. Its unpolished look and fresh screenplay could mean that Mendes is looking for a new place to call home himself.



WHATEVER WORKS Written and Directed by Woody Allen (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA) Starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood Release Date 06/19
We all know that Woody Allen is often hit or miss. Still, I always look forward to seeing which way it’s going to go. In this case though, there is the Larry David factor. David stresses me out ordinarily. However, a friend bought me a complete season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for my birthday and, much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. He still stressed me out but I got over my reluctance to watch him in anything so now I am ready for more. I actually think that Allen and David will make a perfect match; their social anxieties may just compliment each other brilliantly. The prospect of an inappropriate relationship between David and Evan Rachel Wood, a good forty-year gap, may be a little trickier though.



Part 2 of Black Sheep's Summer Longin' will be here tomorrow. Will you?