Movie-related Twitters more bark than bite

By Sarah Sluis

Twitter has been this year's media darling, especially among influencers like media personalities, celebrities, and journalists. But the 140-character updates on whereabouts, opinions, and random thoughts haven't really changed how people choose what movies to see.

A recent survey of Movietickets.com customers who had just bought tickets online and were Twitter users revealed a modest effect. When asked, "Did Twitter affect your desire to see any of the following films in the past year?," New Moon ranked highest, with 52% responding yes.

According to Joel Cohen, VP of MovieTickets.com, Twitter added to the buzz of the New Moon campaign. The studio would release a new trailer, posters, or clips every few weeks, encouraging the Internet community to weigh in on the new information. "Twitter gives people the ability to share what they think, and let it spread quickly," he explained.

However, the second film on the list received half the amount of "yes" votes. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned just 23% of the vote. The much-hyped Bruno, which many said was felled by negative Twitter buzz? Only 8% said it influenced their desire to see the film one way or the other. Twitter, it turns out, has a fairly limited impact on box office, a view shared by Cohen. "I don't think you're going to have a change in moviegoing if people read something on Twitter that is the opposite of what they were going to do anyway or what they were feeling already." Instead, it reflects the general consensus of whether a film is "good" or "bad."

Cohen also gave Screener a sneak peak at how Avatar is doing. So far, 78% of the buyers have been male. The vast majority of ticket buyers fall into the over 25 range--though all this information reflects the people taking initiative and punching in their credit card numbers, and not any additional tickets they may have bought for friends, significant others, and children.

Over 90% of the tickets have been purchased for 3D screenings. "This will be the first time a lot of adults have seen 3D," Cohen explained, since most 3D titles have been animated films. Their embrace of the medium, sight unseen, bodes well for Avatar, especially given the premium prices on 3D and IMAX tickets.

However, the mega-budget tentpole hasn't even cracked their top ten of bestsellers, despite a lead time of over four months (tickets went on sale in August). "It just doesn't have the built-in fan base we see in a lot films in our top ten," Cohen explained, which include literary properties like Harry Potter and Twilight.

When Avatar hits theatres tomorrow, the Twitterati should not be feared. They're just another form of word-of-mouth--available to all the eyes on the Internet but mattering to very few.

'The Blind Side' goes to #1 its third time around

By Sarah Sluis

Borrowing the ascendancy story in its plot, The Blind Side made an unusual jump to #1 in its third week at the box office, earning $20.4 million. Uplifting and family-friendly, the story of a Christian Southerner who

took in a lost soul and turned him into an NFL superstar is the

heartland special, with a broader audience than New Moon. The teenage romance and The Blind Side have been coming in at 1-2 since the week before Thanksgiving, but the heavy 63% drop suffered by New Moon allowed the family-friendly drama to rise to the top. The movie's positive reception has drawn attention to Sandra Bullock, who has been discussed as an awards contender for Best Actress.

Among new movies, Brothers placed strongest. Debuting at #3 with $9.7 million, the war drama/romance received positive, but not glowing reviews. For a film trying to place itself within the critical bracket, it may have been hurt by failing to receive much "must-see in 2009" interest.

Up in the Air, which has received that "must-see" buzz, opened in just 15 locations and went on to earn $1.1 million, an auspicious start for a movie that will open wide over Christmas. I put it in the category of films that families of adults would enjoy together, or a couple of friends, but it will have a lot of competition to contend with in that category, from populist actioner Sherlock Holmes to adult romance It's Complicated.

Miramax's final release as a standalone company, Everybody's Fine, earned $4 million and the last spot in the top ten. The movie's lackluster performance can be attributed to mixed reviews and the state of its distributor--most of the staff has been laid off and are perhaps not so willing to declare disingenuously protest that "Everything's fine."

Of the new genre movies, Armored fared well, earning $6.6 million with its story of armored truck drivers who dip into their cargo. Transylmania, however, fared far, far worse. It earned $272 per location in its 1,000-screen debut, likely angering exhibitors who gave up screens that could have turned a much bigger profit. Hopefully the ticket-buyers bought popcorn.

Most of the returning films had a difficult time maintaining their audiences in the wake of so many new films, dropping 50-60%. Precious fell out of the top ten, falling 67% to $2.3 million in its third week in the 600-theatre range. Will expansion be the answer to maintaining box office?

This Friday, The Princess and the Frog will expand to wide release. The 2D film has been making a killing at the box office in limited release. This past weekend it added another $744,000 to its coffers from just two locations. It will be joined by Clint Eastwood's latest, Invictus, as well as Peter Jackson's literary adaptation The Lovely Bones. To round things out, the critically lauded A Single Man will roll out in seven theatres nationwide.

No one wants 'New Moon' to end

By Sarah Sluis

The success of New Moon has brought the Twilight franchise to a whole new level. Among franchises, there are the ones that do better the second time around (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) and then there are the ones that do worse. By amassing a two-week total that exceeds the gross of the first film, New Moon is firmly among the franchise winners. Predictably, Summit is trying to stretch out the amount of Twilight movies it can make, and supernatural romances are in hot demand.

Today, for example, Warner Bros. picked up a series of five books in the "supernatural romance" category--the first one was just released today. Richard LaGravanese (writer/director of P.S. I Love You) is set to write and direct the first in the series, entitled Beautiful Creatures. An extension of Harry Potter and Twilight, the novel is told from the perspective of a popular high school boy in the South who secretly wants to get out of his small town. He has dreams of a girl, who suddenly arrives as a transfer student. They go through all the usual motions of falling in love, but she is the heir to a terrible family curse (not revealed in synopses) that gets in the way of their love. It sounds like a winning plot, but the success of Twilight and Harry Potter over, say, The Golden Compass has to do with fanbase. Is this project going to remain in a holding pattern until it ignites among young adult audiences? Or will it be moved swiftly into production before (or even if) the series turns into a phenomenon?

The other news on the supernatural romance front is Summit's proposal to extend the success of the Twilight series by splitting Breaking Dawn, the 756-page finale to the series, into two movies. That would bring the total amount of movies to five. It's an expensive move that will require raises among cast and crew (the Harry Potter series went through the same series of renegotiations), but the payoff could be big. Summit has already made a smart move by releasing the movies in quick succession. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will come out not next Thanksgiving but this summer (June 30th). While the Twilight series, like the Harry Potter series, is strong enough to bring in new fans as older ones age out of the series, holding onto an audience is always a concern. Teen girls are only teen girls for so long. I've heard of kids who were into Star Wars but lost interest by the time the third film was released. As for myself, after seeing the first five Harry Potter movies on opening day, I missed the sixth one in theatres (though I'm anxiously awaiting its DVD release). It just wasn't as much of a priority anymore. Summit will be counting on the "Twihards" to retain their fanaticism for at least a few more years.

'New Moon' and 'Blind Side' gobble up a second helping

By Sarah Sluis

For the second week in a row, The Twilight Saga: New Moon took the top spot at the box office. Through the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, it earned $65.9 million, bringing its total gross to $230 million. The two-week total exceeds that of the entire run of the first Twilight movie, which never passed the $200 million mark. The blockbuster success of a franchise targeted almost exclusively to young teen girls should change the film landscape for years to come. Studios should be scurrying to replicate its success, especially given the comparative lack of female-driven blockbusters (Sex and the City and the slightly broader Mamma Mia! notwithstanding)

In second place, The Blind Side grabbed $40 million over the holiday weekend and even beat New Moon on Thanksgiving day because of its broader, family appeal. Many have compared the movie to Precious, but its heartwarming flavor is more reminiscent of last year's Christmas hit Marley & Me.

Old Dogs had a softer Thanksgiving open than a similar Disney comedy, Wild Hogs, opening at $24 million to Wild Hogs' $40 million. The first movie opened in a less competitive March timeslot, making the movie a bit of a scheduling victim, lost among the more appealing side dishes. The other male-oriented film, Ninja Assassin, opened two spots lower at $13.1 million.

As the holiday season kicks into high gear, A Christmas Carol was there to reap the seasonal cheer. The performance-capture tale went up 30% from last week, and 80% including the five-day weekend.

On the horizon, The Princess and the Frog had a promising debut in limited release, bringing in $1.1 million from just two screens thanks to high ticket prices because of a tie-in to character meet-and-greets and behind-the-scenes looks at the movie. When it opens wide on December 11th, girls who have grown up on the Disney "Princesses" merchandising line will have a chance to add another heroine to their princess collection.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, a rather different sort of children's movie, brought in $9.4 million over the five-day weekend. A quarter of the audience was under 19, suggesting the movie has greater appeal among adults and Wes Anderson fans.

The bleak The Road opened in the last spot in the top ten, earning $2 million from 111 theatres. Delayed for over a year, the movie has finally seen the light...but not much green. Unlike the last Cormac McCarthy book to be made into a movie, No Country For Old Men, this one will do considerably lighter business.

The next few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's will see a whole slate of quality, Academy-worthy films released and crowd-pleasing blockbusters (I can vouch for Up in the Air, but I'm still waiting to see Avatar like everyone else). Time to ring in the holiday season with some popcorn and egg nog.

'New Moon' to bring fangirls to the box office

By Sarah Sluis

The Twilight Saga: New Moon will open in over 4,000 theatres at midnight, 600 more screens than the first Twilight. Movietickets.com reported that over 2,150 screenings of the vampire romance have sold out, and the film has surpassed franchise films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to become their #1 advance seller of all time. The reviews are coming in, but it's doubtful the fan base will even care. This movie is all about reliving the book with the added visuals of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, and the swoons and shrieks of your friends and fellow audience members. Plus, the sequel combines Vampire-mania with Werewolf-mania, throwing heroine Bella into a love triangle between the two man-creatures.

The Blind Side, which many have called Precious with a white, Republican savior (and thus appealing to that demographic) will open in 3,100 theatres. Sandra Bullock is in top form, but critic Michael Rechtshaffen wished that "Oher [the black homeless teen Bullock's character and her husband took in] had been presented as something other than essentially a large prop." Further separating itself from a movie like Precious, The Blind Side sticks to "proven inspirational sports-movie/fish-out-of-water

formulas while holding the inherent sociological issues to the

sidelines," despite the fact that "there also was room for more thought-provoking substance."

Planet 51 (2,600 theatres), a kind of E.T. in reverse, revolves around an astronaut who has landed in a suburban alien town. Grade-school joke: they think he's the one who's funny looking. The "Sci-Fi Lite" movie, according to critic Kirk Honeycutt, has "gentle jokes and cornball battles," and is geared more towards children than the adult-children mix more frequently seen in today's animated movies.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans opens in 27 theatres, and if you are near one--you need to see it. Genre-wise, it's a story of a corrupt cop (Nicolas Cage) in love with a prostitute (Eva Mendes), but director Werner Herzog takes this story places you have never even imagined. The screening I was in prompted several moments where everyone broke out in shocked laughter--whether it was because Cage was so outrageously bad, mad-scientist crazy, or because the movie did things you just aren't supposed to do on film, including alligator point-of-view shots.

Also moving into theatres on Friday is Red Cliff. Directed by John Woo, the American version compresses the two-film arc into one historical epic critic Daniel Eagan called "teeming with characters and plot twists," but "told in such a direct and vigorous style that it is never confusing."

New Moon is the hands-down winner for this weekend, but its narrower fan base is always a liability. Everyone will be watching to see how much the film drops Saturday and Sunday after its Friday open. Precious and Fantastic Mr. Fox will be expanding this runs, and Planet 51 needs to bring in audiences before The Princess and the Frog opens over Thanksgiving (though, thankfully, in a limited run).

Glimpses of 'New Moon'

By Sarah Sluis

The most anticipated fantasy movie of the fall is undoubtedly New Moon. The official trailer recently appeared online, and there's also a featurette with additional clips circulating on the Internet. The footage of the second film, which releases November 20th, looks promising. Both the Twilight and New Moon trailers center on a moment where heartthrob vampire Edward saves his beloved Bella from danger, but in New Moon there's an additional "save" scene that reveals a big plot point of the second movie: Jake's a werewolf!! The trailer also shows off New Moon's bigger budget: there's sweeping helicopter shots, a CGI transformation that's quite impressive, and a glimpse of Dakota Fanning, whose star status certainly added to production costs. I'm willing to put some faith in director Chris Weitz, who basically ruined another fantasy franchise, The Golden Compass. The big-budget movie was stiff, failed to convey the uniqueness of the book's fantasy world, and nixed any chance for the sequels. Weitz is only directing, not writing, which might improve the odds of the film's success. Plus, he's working with a fantasy world that's already been architected in the first film, which leaves less to chance. I loved About a Boy, and I hope he can extract some of that charm from the actors in New Moon. While this is a movie for the fans, not the critics, New Moon also looks like a fun time for those that are interested in the franchise but find the books to be subliterate. To entice fans and get them excited about the release, Summit is putting on a roadshow convention, which will feature star appearances, exclusive footage, and a gamut of parties, trivia contests, panel discussions and more. Considering Twilight fans have created Beatlemania-type situations in their quest to catch a glimpse of star Robert Pattinson, which initially seemed to surprise Summit, this move is a complete 180 degrees into the right direction.

In the meantime, there's plenty of other fantasy literary adaptations in the works, though none with the romance that female viewers seem to crave. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, which is helmed by Weitz's brother, Paul Weitz, hits theatres a month before New Moon, on October 23. The movie focuses on a restless young boy who sees an elaborate circus presentation. He befriends the leader (John C. Reilly) and becomes a vampire himself to star in the show--but in the process, breaks a truce between two warring factions of vampires. Also, Salma Hayek appears as a bearded lady. For Twilight fans that are old enough to see R-rated movies (and there's plenty of them) Jennifer's Body releases on September 18th. Seeing Megan Fox, a possessed soul, prey on her male classmates sounds like an empowering break from Bella's brushes with death that always seem to require rescue from her male companions. All of these movies appeal to wider audiences (namely, males) than Twilight, but they just might help scratch that Bella-Edward itch for fans.