'The Grey' treks to first place

Is Liam Neeson the new Harrison Ford (circa Air Force One)? The 59-year-old star led Taken to success a couple of years ago, and with The Grey he's struck again. The man vs. nature survival flick earned $20 million to win the weekend, exceeding expectations. There aren't many convincing older action heroes out there, but I think Neeson proves there is a contingent of people, including baby boomers, who like to see one of their own in an adrenaline-filled adventure. The 60% male audience made this a moneymaker for Open Road Films, which spent just $25 million on production.

In third place, One for the Money did surprisingly well despite the fact that many saw this Katherine Heigl pic was a stinker a mile away. It earned $11.8 million, driven by older female ticket buyers. The adaptation of Janet Evanovich's popular book "resembles a failed television pilot," THR's Frank Scheck laments. Plus, as New York Magazine outlines, Heigl is considered a toxic asset right now thanks to gossip about her ungraceful conduct on set and off. Still, the  light detective picture had a couple of tricks up its sleeve. One, 11% of attendees bought discounted tickets through Groupon. 93% of them said they would not have seen the movie without the promotion. Two, Lionsgate did a decent job connecting with the movie's literary fan base. I saw prominent ads on Goodreads.com, a book-centered social networking site.

In fourth place, Man on a Ledge stumbled with $8.3 million. Summit also offered discounted tickets through Living Social, but it appeared not to pay off. When it came to man vs. ledge or man vs. nature, Neeson in Alaska fighting wolves appeared to be more appealing than a jumper who was seeking revenge, vindication, or covering for a heist, depending on which ad or review you saw.

In the wake of the Oscar nominations, a number of the selected films made expansions and drew more audiences. The Descendants made its widest expansion yet, playing in 2,001 theatres, and came up with $6.5 million. It's the dramedy's second highest weekend to date. Back in November, it managed to earn $7.3 million while playing in only 390 theatres. The George Clooney starrer has earned $58 million to date, making it one of the most successful films in the running. The per-screen average, $3,200, in on par with where The King's Speech was last February.

The Artist, which earned ten nominations, added more theatres and rose 40% to grab the twelfth-place spot with $3.3 million. Hugo, which led with eleven nominations, added 50% more screens and went up 142% to $2.2 million. Still, the expensive film has earned just $58 million to date in the U.S. 

This Friday, audiences can save the whales with The Big Miracle, grab some thrills with The Woman in Black, or check out some teens with superpowers in Chronicle.

 

Documentaries lead the pack at Toronto Film Festival

By Sarah Sluis
FJI critic and correspondent Erica Abeel concludes her report from the Toronto International Film Festival, which wrapped this weekend.

Telling the truth can be hazardous to your professional health. But here goes anyway. Maybe I just made exceptionally poor choices, but this year�with a few notable exceptions�the Toronto International Film Festival included too many lame features. A shout-out, first, for the exceptions: French-Canadian Denis Villeneuve's magisterial Incendies and South African Life, Above All by Oliver Schmitz, both due to travel stateside, and on the higher-profile end, Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, with its wicked, twisty humor, and Black Swan, the thrilling, over-the-top ride by Darren Aronofsky, which should prove a hot ticket once it bows in theatres here.

Among the duds, count two features from directors with great track records. The reliably kinetic John Cameron Mitchell stumbles with Rabbit Hole, top-lined by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart playing a couple whose toddler has been killed in an accident. But to follow them through the stages of mourning is about as electrifying as queuing up at Toronto's Lester Pearson Airport, where the embalmed indifference of the officials is a movie in itself. Adapting from the play by David Lindsay-Abaire, helmer John Cameron Mitchell has failed to open it up, and the only fun on hand is ogling Aaron Eckhart's ripped pecs. Amazingly, this dreary ride comes from the director of such hell-raisers as Shortbus and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

At least Rabbit Hole offers the charisma of its principals. Little, though, can rescue It's Kind of a Funny Story from the wonderful team of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. I loved their Half Nelson. But I wonder what prompted the pair to film the story of a depressive, suicidal teen checking himself into a mental ward. Nothing happens. The teen (Keir Gilchrist) learns the ropes of the ward, hangs with longtime resident Bobby (Zach Galifianakis) and meets a girlfriend. Hey, if Nerve.com doesn't work� The attitude toward the mentally ill, who are a sad lot�One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest this ain't�comes across as condescending.

Then there's the hipper-than-thou Kaboom by Gregg Araki, who made the terrific Mysterious Skin. No point in trying to walk you through a plot. So far as I could tell, it concerns a sex-crazed, bisexual college boy plunging into a supernatural world of demons, cults and Armageddon. The film, I'm told, is about "existing in a borderline psychotic, psychosexually hyperactive imaginary universe that feels absolutely real and true." I want whatever that critic was smokin'. Sample oral-sex joke from hero's girlfriend: "It's a vagina, not a bowl of spaghetti." Most improbable line: "I have a huge paper due Friday." Uh, you do? I don't remember college being so much fun.

If there was any compensation for such bombs, it could be found in a trio of superb documentaries. Along with Charles Ferguson's Inside Job (a pick of the New York Film Festival), count the hugely entertaining doc Tabloid by Errol Morris. At the center of the story is Joyce McKinney, a former beauty pageant queen, who falls for a Mormon, pursues him�after his church forbids their union�to England, ends up kidnapping him�and it only gets weirder. In Joyce, Morris has nailed a true American original who may or may not be barking mad. He also grapples with the way tabloids massage the truth, so the real story lies forever buried. Innovative devices, such as amusing stills and weird cartoons of Mormon rituals, break up the talkiness. And Morris uses to great effect the Interrotron, a customized teleprompter that projects Morris' face in front of the camera so that his subjects must look simultaneously into his eyes and the lens.

A brilliant, essential documentary is Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer by Alex Gibney. Though he might have appended "and Rise." Hardly a broadside, the film is marked by a cool, objective tone, which should expand its demographic. A tough crusader against Wall Street, on course to become America's first Jewish president, Spitzer was famously derailed by the Justice Department's prosecution of the Emperors Club escort agency, which revealed that Client #9 was Spitzer. Though the New York Post and others had a ball, unanswered questions remain: Did politics play a role in the investigation?

Bringing fresh insight to Spitzer's story, Gibney and writer Peter Elkind reveal that the guv's main squeeze was not Ashley Dupre, but "Angelina," who (played by an actress) talked for the first time (and don't you love it that she's gone on to work on Wall Street?) Gibney also centers the film on statements from the charismatic, blue-eyed Spitzer, both politic and revealing. Though we never�and likely never will�get to the million-dollar question: Why the hell did he do it and what was he thinking? Politicians not being known for introspection, maybe Spitzer himself couldn't answer.

The film is plenty juicy. You can watch Spitzer admit that the escort agency caper was a form of hubris "which goes back to the Greeks," thanks for the attribution. You hear the agency's giggly madame reveal that Dupre has "a perfect cooch." You learn that these high-end hookers look like all-American coeds. Makes it less of a transgression? Or is it compensation for the horny freshmen with dandruff who couldn't get a date with a looker?

But after we get off on the prurience factor, let's face it: How does Spitzer's need to explore sex outside his marriage impact on my or anyone else's life? Hell, in France he would have been applauded for it! Testosterone, a real man, etc. Yeah, I know Spitzer did something illegal, but consider this: The Mann Act that he violated wasn't pursued in other cases.

Most crucially, Gibney's film reveals that the Wall Street titans he'd spent his career targeting were allied to choreograph Spitzer's downfall. And why wouldn't they be? He went after such a fellow as a certain Blodgett, who quipped that he once made what he called POS�i.e., piece of shit, or $12 million a year. He went after Goldman Sachs years before anyone else, and venture capitalist Ken Langone, the New York Stock Exchange board director who signed off on an outrageous pay package for its chairman and CEO, Richard Grasso. Gibney trots out convincing evidence that these men maneuvered behind the scenes to unseat Spitzer. With the notorious former guv about to assume a new role as talk-show host on CNN, and public interest in him high, Client 9 should find a substantial audience.

Noteworthy cinematography and the rise of 3D

By Sarah Sluis

You may think you know something about how movies are shot until you start surfing through the website for the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers). All of a sudden they're blogging about parallax problems in 3D and edge violation and cute videos Disney made to teach projectionists how to adjust for the floating window in their 3D films properly (this helps fix the 'edge violation,' a.k.a. the problem of the 3D effect going away or looking weird along the edge of the screen. It also means that during production, cinematographers have to shoot a specific way, like avoiding over-the-shoulder shots, in order to make the 3D look good). When you're caught up watching a movie, it's easy to forget how difficult it is to even accurately represent reality in a movie. Most amateur picture-takers have experienced the familiar problem of over or underexposure. The sun or window turns up abnormally bright in a picture, while the poor person standing in front of it has a dark, unrecognizable face. Or focus problems, like a crisp image of your friend against the blurry landmark in the background. But for professional cinematographers, correcting for these kind of problems is just the beginning of their job.

That's why it's interesting to see the results of an online poll ranking the best cinematography in films from 1998-2008. The experts belonging to the ASC picked the finalists, then the Internet at large picked its favorite. The winner? Amelie, which I remember most for its manipulation of color, infusing certain scenes with saturated colors, as well as its use of a Super 8 camera for its nostalgic opening sequence. Movies with dark, shadowy cinematography also turned up, like The Dark Knight or noir-ish Road to Perdition. Children of Men is known for its moving-camera sequences, Saving Private Ryan for the challenges of its shoot ( the camerawork in the D-Day sequence were pretty incredible). Way down on the list is The New World, one of my favorites, for its stunning depiction of the

natural world. Watching that movie was like going on a hike.

The list says more about what people recognize as good cinematography rather than what actually went into making the movie. Stylized cinematography wins over naturalistic cinematography, simply because it's more noticeable. Coloring and shadowing are among the most readily accessible parts of cinematography: they're meant to be noticed. Seamless moving camera shots that focus on multiple characters (like that famous Citizen Kane shot that moves from outside with the young Kane sledding to indoors) are more invisible than a shot that follows one person through a dynamic space--like Martin Scorsese's use of the shot in Raging Bull (YouTube clip) and Goodfellas. But is one better than the other?

While this list only goes until 2008, last year the 3D, CGI Avatar won for Best Cinematography. Even if cinematographers have already accepted and rewarded 3D as an art form, it can't "do" all the same things that cinematographers do with 2D films. As the ASC blogger states, "It has been suggested that in the 3-D world, a much reduced selection

of lenses (and wider ones at that) is advisable � that the longer focal

length lenses I often prefer, and the shallow depth of field I choose

for dramatic purposes, are elements that do not strongly support the

guidelines for effective 3-D cinema." That doesn't mean people won't come up with creative solutions to 3D's various challenges--everyone praised Avatar--but that also means some will be more interested in mounting the learning curve than others. Christoper Nolan isn't swayed by the hassle of shooting in 3D, saying he would prefer to add it in post-production, and also gripes about the darker images projected by 3D, which is particularly problematic for the dark, shadowy films he makes. I will happily go to see his 2D Inception this July. As far as I can tell, there are no James Cameron-level 3D movies in the works now. How many 3D movies will show up among the ASC's list ten years from now remains to be seen.

'The Final Destination' wins another week

By Sarah Sluis

Labor Day weekend proved to be another quiet one at the American box office, as kids headed back to school and lucky people motored out for one last weekend getaway. Since no studio wanted to release a winner on this dead weekend, the number one and two films were holdovers from last week. The grosses from 3D venues pushed The Final Destination to the top with $12.3 million from Friday to Sunday, despite a new offering for males, Gamer. The Gerard Butler sci-fi action movie opened at number four, with a $9.1 million weekend gross.

With no appealing new films at the box office, the second spot went to Inglorious Basterds, now in its third week. The Quentin Tarantino-directed movie added 193 locations and another $11.6 million to its gross, which should cross the $100 million mark next week.

All About Steve, the Sandra Bullock movie that received a unilateral pan, still drummed up $11.2 million in business. Those that saw the film, which I confirmed through a Twitter check, had nothing to say to their friends except "Don't see this!"

Lower down on the list, Extract grabbed the number nine spot with $4.3 million. Better than Idiocracy, and worse than Office Space, the comedy will probably make a bigger impact on DVD than in theatres, where people are more forgiving of a middling quality.

With few new offerings, the rest of the top ten held on to their audiences. District 9 crossed the $100 million mark and brought in $7.1 million. Julie & Julia, which didn't open strong, has turned into a long-tail success story. This week it dropped a slight 24%, the smallest drop in the top ten. If movies drop 50% each week, they will do 85% of their business in the first three weeks, which is considered the industry standard. Going below that number usually indicates a quality film and positive word-of-mouth: The Hangover, for example, only did 55% of its business in the first three weeks. Julie & Julia will likely approach (but not meet) that number. The first three weeks now count for only 73% of the movie's total five-week gross, a number that can only go down, since there are several weeks left in the film's run. With so much attention given to first week grosses, it's worth remembering that movies that appeal to certain demographics, such as older or female audiences, can only be judged a few weeks into their run. (500) Days of Summer, for example, has been hanging out just below the top ten for most of the summer, where it's earned $28.4 million to date.

This Wednesday, dark animated film 9 will open. On Friday, it will be joined by Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, along with sexy-horror flick Sorority Row and Antarctica-set chiller Whiteout.

Audiences swoon for 'The Proposal'

By Sarah Sluis

Sandra Bullock had her best opening ever with The Proposal. It's been nearly two months since a romantic comedy debuted in theatres, and audiences turned out in force. The film made $34.1 million, $11,000 per theatre, a sign the showings were packed with laughing audiences.

Even with The Proposal's strong performance, The Hangover held strong, slipping just 16.1% from last weekend, an even smaller drop than last week's 27% dip. It brought in $26.8 million and grabbed the #2 spot. The jackpot film (especially for the studio, since none of the stars receive back-end profits) has coolly raked up $152 million. How the male-bonding film holds when the machine-bonding film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen releases this Friday is almost irrelevant. I've no doubt that any drop in performance will be a blip in its total box office, given its stellar results so far.

Up held onto its #3 spot, dipping 30% from last week. With a cumulative gross of $224 million, it already has surpassed the box office of last year's Wall-E, which finished 2008 at $223 million. Pixar always surprises: who would have thought the story about an old man, a boy scout, and a balloon-propelled house would beat the environmentally friendly, sci-fi comedy-action film? The studio's films are so original they defy comparison.

Opening at #4, Year One was the second primordial comedy to be received indifferently by audiences. Still, its $20.2 million gross surpassed Land of the Lost's $18.8 opening weekend. The Will Ferrell comedy has dropped 50% each weekend, now holding the #8 spot by bringing in $3.9 million. This summer, the teen comedy A-listers--Jack Black, Michael Cera, and Will Ferrell--just don't seem to be opening movies.

Despite its scathing reviews, Whatever Works ruled the specialty circuit this weekend. It brought in a stunning $31,000 per location, its nine theatres well-chosen for their proximity to Woody Allen fans.

This week, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen jumps the starting gun by opening Wednesday in 4,000 theatres. Interest for the sequel appears to be greater than for the first film. At MovieTickets.com, presales are outpacing all films with the top opening weekends. Transformers is going to open big. As a counterpoint, My Sister's Keeper will keep audiences in need of a good cry happy.

'Quantum of Solace' finds plenty of viewers

By Sarah Sluis

Exceeding all previous Bond openings, Quantum of Solace vaulted to $70.4 million at the weekend box office.  Overseas, it earned over $50 million in its third weekend, bringing the worldwide cumulative to
$322 million. 

At least in the United States, Quantum's success has much to do with its spy-like maneuvering to secure near-perfect, competition-free placement.  Rescheduling drama early this fall led to some aligned stars for Sony and MGM: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moved to next summer, and Twilight rushed into the vacated spot, prompting kid picture Bolt to shift its release date. Quantum of Solace then moved up its release date to that of Australia , which jumped ship and moved its release date two weeks later (although now, with talks of production delays and changed endings, they were probably only too happy to give up their spot).  While the British audience usually sees their native-born spy before American audiences, the United States switches gave the European market an unusually long two-week lead in the release, and briefly left the Australian market to release duo blockbusters Quantum of Solace and Australia on the same weekend, before the Bond film conceded and moved forward its Australian release to this weekend.  Quite the chess game.

While critical reception was not as strong for the film, this had little influence on the box office.  I also think audiences have warmed up to Daniel Craig as James Bond.  Seeing another actor taking on the Pierce Brosnan role (the one I grew up with, although I've seen my share of Connery) was a bit of a transition, and I remember viewing Casino Royale with a skeptical eye, uncertain how Craig would inhabit the Bond character.  With two films under his belt, Craig has proven himself as a Bond with a remarkable and believable physicality, a man who, according to FJI critic Daniel Eagan, "looks like he could break the nearest neck without a second thought."

Below Bond, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ($36.1 million) and Role Models ($11.7 million) held up the number two and three spots respectably, each dropping less than 50%.  Second-weeker Soul Men ($2.4 million) did not fare as well, dropping 55%, the soul train chugging into the seventh spot.  HSM3: Senior Year finished between Role Models and Soul Men, its $5.8 million bringing the film's cumulative total to $84.3 million.  Zack and Miri has held on, its $3.2 million pushing the film's total above boxofficemojo's reported production cost of $24 million (a figure that does not include marketing costs).  Hopefully, the Weinstein Company can sleep a little easier.

At number eight, The Secret Life of Bees ($2.4 million) n its fifth week of release, is the oldest film in the top ten.  Specialty picture Changeling ($4.2 million), which finished fifth in its fourth week of release, will likely follow a similar trajectory.

Horror pictures Saw V ($1.7 million) and The Haunting of Molly Hartley ($1.6 million) continue to hang on in the bottom five spots, each shifting down two spots to finish at number nine and ten.

Full weekend results available here.