Specialty releases pack sold-out theatres; 'Day the Earth Stood Still' earns $31 million

By Sarah Sluis

The $31 million earned by The Day the Earth Stood Still seems just about right for me.  The so-so
reviews drew disaster, alien, and special-effects fans (especially to see the film on IMAX) but didn't fool anyone into thinking they would be seeing something on par with Keanu Reeves' performance in The Matrix--this was more like a Constantine.

Four Christmases continued to do strong business (I need to see this film!), with the solid comedic team of Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn ensuring a pleasant repose after a long day of holiday shopping.  The storyline about endless, annoying relatives seems apt after the difficult task of finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

Much to my relief, no one showed up for Delgo.  Earning $424 per screen, that means roughly 40 people came to see the animated disaster (not to one showing...over the whole weekend).  I can believe that 40 people in a given area would have no better way to spend 88 minutes than at that movie, so I feel satisfied about its sub-$1 million performance.

Four awards-bait films opened this weekend, and all earned above $10k per screen, a great performance out of the gate (compare this with the winner of the week, The Day the Earth Stood Still, which posted only $8,708 per screen).

     Top Six Per-Screen Averages

1. Gran Torino: $47,333/per screen, 6 locations



2. Doubt: $35,000/per screen , 15 locations



3. Che: $30,050/per screen, 2 locations



4. The Reader: $30,050/per screen, 8 locations



5. Frost/Nixon: $16,154/per screen, 39 locations (2nd week)



6. Slumdog Millionaire: $13,154/per screen, 169 locations (5th week)

Not on this list is Milk.  Shut out of a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama, which drained the movie of some of its buzz, the Gus Van Sant film earned $8,037 per screen, finishing just below the per-screen average of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Riding its wave of Golden Globe nominations, Slumdog Millionaire boosted its per-screen average even as it increased the number of screens in its release, settling the film in that elusive sweet spot of awards material with commercial recognition.  Releasing so much earlier than other rewards fodder has paid off so far for the film.  I saw it over six weeks ago, and its unusual story and superb execution still bring a warm glow of appreciation to my mind.  Without any backlash ("sappy" will be the mud of choice), and growing box-office receipts to support its buzz, this film is my awards favorite so far.

Still, all of the award-baiting films in the top five have yet to expand their release, so the relative success of one film over another will play a part in the allotment of Oscar nominations, which won't be announced until January 22nd.  Also, Golden Globe nominees Revolutionary Road and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button have not yet been released, still making this a wide-open race.

Full studio estimates available here.

'Four Christmases' spends second week at the top

By Sarah Sluis

With the weekend's two new releases, Cadillac Records and Punisher: War Zone, failing to make an impact with their $3.5 and $4 million grosses, the post-Thanksgiving weekend saw a 50% drop in the box
office as a whole. 

Four Christmases remained at number one, earning $18.1 million and dropping a below-average 41%.  Twilight gave me a pleasant surprise by rising to number two, leveling out after last week's heavy drop and earning $13.1 million.  Director Catherine Hardwicke, who now holds the title of "highest opening weekend ever for a female director," will not return to direct the second project due to "timing" issues.  Unfortunate, given that this opening offers a woman a foothold into the male-dominated profession of film director, but, gender issues aside, the quality of the franchise could definitely be improved, and a change in leadership will be the most effective way to bolster the feeling and execution of the vampire romance.

Frost/Nixon opened on three screens, earning $60,000 per-screen.  The astounding number puts Milk's $50k and Slumdog's $30k per-screen to shame.  The excellent per-screen performance of the movie begs the question--why release on only three screens to begin with?  Given the volume of media and press for Frost/Nixon, the fact-based drama certainly could have opened on more screens while still selling out theatres.  Impressive openings help a film once it gets to the DVD market, but I wonder if Frost/Nixon might have rolled out the bulk of its "buzz" too soon.  Perhaps alluding to the $60k per-screen of Frost/Nixon, THR's Risky Business blog weighed in on the per-screen average metric, a "key indicator of a film's reception among early adopters [and] core audiences."  According to the theory they're using, specialty releases that roll out and expand while dropping less than 50% from a per-screen perspective can safely be called successes.  Slumdog Millionaire and Milk fall into that category (so far), will they be joined by Frost/Nixon?

Complete studio estimates available here.

Who wants to see a 'Slumdog Millionaire'?

By Sarah Sluis

Slumdog Millionaire releases today in NYC/LA, and Fox Searchlight has done an incredible job activating the
blogosphere with the well-deserved buzz over this film.  "Breathless" seems to be Slumdog's collective adjective, used variably to describe the editing, the story and pacing, and the cinematography.

The premise has a cheesy feel to it that requires reassurance of its quality: a boy on the Indian version of the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," suspected of cheating, must tell police investigators stories of his life experiences.  Each story, which cues a flashback, explains why he knew the answer to a particular question.  In the hands of Boyle, each story poses as many questions as it answers, surprising the viewer with the frenetic and poignant turns in the boy's life, as well as the stunning and grotesque images of a developing India.

As a director, Danny Boyle has assembled an impressive oeuvre of "genre" films that mix in conventions from other genres.  He made 28 Days Later, his "horror" film, entirely in digital, while still managing to make the film look better than the average horror film.  Nor was he afraid to give his characters dynamic relationships.  He even changed the film's enemy halfway through the story, making the story not so much about escaping the zombies as escaping the militaristic "refuge" established in the wake of the world's zombie infestation.

Slumdog Millionaire, generically a "coming-of-age drama," adds crime, romance, Bollywood, and comedy to the mix to make it sparkle.  Like many of his other films (Millions, The Beach, Trainspotting), Boyle plays with the idea of money, including a character's disavowal of money even as he constantly highlights its importance.  India, with its extreme poverty, juxtapositions of wealth, and dynamic growth, could not be a better backdrop to explore this subject.  In Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal (Dev Patel) cares little for money, going on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" only to find his lost love.  His older brother, however, understands the importance of money and propels the duo through an impressive array of hustling professions, each set in a hypnotizing intersection of rich and poor: the economy of foreign tourists visiting the Taj Mahal; an adult-led farm of child beggars; teens squatting in an abandoned luxury high-rise; a helicopter touching down in a cardboard slum.

The film should be noted for its use of music.  One long "hustling" montage (on a train) is accompanied by M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes."  Not only is M.I.A., born in former British colony Sri Lanka, a poster child for the political and economic implications of colonialism, the lyrics of the song include references to hustling, trains, and Third World democracy.  Rarely does a song fit so snugly into the narrative, mood, and thematic concern of a film.  If only American audiences hadn't heard the song first in the Pineapple Express trailer.  Besides "Paper Planes," M.I.A. collaborated with the film's composer, A.R. Rahman, on another one of the film's songs, and NYMag reports Fox Searchlight will push the soundtrack for an Oscar.

FJI profiled director Danny Boyle, and you can read Executive Editor Kevin Lally's review of the film here.

Fall Releases: 'The Reader' and 'Slumdog Millionaire'

By Sarah Sluis

While we are still several holidays away from the Oscars, Halloween costumes are already in stores, and studios are starting to make their programming chess moves for Oscar season. Documentaries have already made their move, quickly squeezing in a barely advertised week-long run in order to meet the documentary submission deadline of September 2, 2008.

The Weinstein Co. hopes to move up their film The Reader, starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, to a December release, in hopes that the film can rack up some nominations. The film, which covers that Oscar-friendly subject of World War II, war crimes, and the Holocaust, is also a high-profile literary adaptation (Translated from Swedish and featured on Oprah's Book Club). The whole package screams Oscar�but can it deliver?

Slumdog Millionaire, while not an Oscar contender, has also received a marketing boost through a
change in distribution. Previously planned as the last release of now-shuttered Warner Independent Pictures, the film is now being distributed by Fox Searchlight and Warner Bros.. The film centers around a Hindi boy hustler suspected of cheating on a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"-type show (pictured on the right). Director Danny Boyle, whose films encompass every genre imaginable (horror, romantic comedy, kid pictures), has had some hits and misses. I didn't care for his previous kid-oriented picture, Millions (which incidentally also covered a boy stumbling into wealth) but Slumdog Millionaire might be different�it was the buzz winner of the Telluride Film Festival.  The film will release in the United States on November 28, 2008.

In other topical news, photoshopped posters of last year's Oscar nominee for Best Picture, Juno (retitled as Juneau, get it?), have been circulating the internet, showing up on Cinematical, Defamer, and NYMag, so check them out for some mid-week entertainment/political commentary.