By Sarah Sluis
Going into the Fourth of July weekend, the two wide releases have already made their debut. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse earned $68.5 million on Wednesday, including $30 million from midnight screenings. In its
second day, it earned $24.2 million, playing on a an astonishing 4,468 screens. With legions of dedicated fans packing in to see the movie in its first few days, this movie may start to fall during the weekend, and will probably drop even more heavily next weekend. But the Wednesday release was smart: it caught its dedicated fans before they were dragged to family obligations or other get-togethers. Though the Twilight series counts not just young women, but also many moms among its fans, its fanbase is just that: a subset of women, with a few stray male fans. As critic Maitland McDonagh put it, "You either surrender to Stephenie Meyer's swoony tale of forbidden love, squeaky-clean teen style, or you just don't get it." Those that don't get it are unlikely to change their mind--but hey, the movie's already earned over $100 million worldwide.
The Last Airbender rolled out Thursday in 3,169 locations, earning $3 million in midnight screenings for a total of $16.9 million its opening day. But fans are not happy. The Twitter-sphere includes many slams
regarding the changes that were made from the popular Nickelodeon series, and there was even a protest because the Asian roles were cast with white actors. Critics gave the movie a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and for once critics and fans agree. Daniel Eagan speculated that "fans of the cartoon series may overlook The Last Airbender's flaw," but in fact they couldn't. His statement that the "slow and ponderous" movie is just a "watered-down Narnia with Lord of the Rings pretensions." hit the mark. It's frustrating for fans of director M. Night Shyamalan, too. Will he ever be able to give us another Sixth Sense? The movie could earn in the $50 million range over the long weekend, or it could drop even farther through the weekend due to negative word-of-mouth.
Film-buff audiences will delight in Great Directors (NYC), which "makes for a satisfying cinematic buffet," according to critic Doris Toumarkine. The documentary features interviews with some of cinema's greats, with everyone from David Lynch to Bernardo Bertolucci.
On the other end of the spectrum, the much-delayed Love Ranch (11 theatres), which dealt with Capitol Films' bankruptcy and other legal issues, turns out to have not been rescued for a reason. Starring Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci, "It's all a confused mess, flopping from faux-hard-boiled attitude to botched sentimentality in the blink of an eye," lamented critic Chris Barsanti. The movie also got a head start, opening on Wednesday, though figures have not yet been released.
After the long weekend, Screener will be back on Tuesday, ready to dissect the results of one of the bigger box office weekends of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment