Viewers inundate theatres for ‘Noah’

Darren Aronofosky’s Noah has proven itself an unqualified success. Having bowed to $44 million domestically, Noah has already grossed more than Aronofsky’s first four films combined. It marks the most successful debut ever for a film in which Russell Crowe plays the lead role.

Noah’s audience was evenly split along gender lines, and skewed older: About 74 percent was over the age of 25. Though they showed up in droves, viewers did not leave feeling overly impressed with what they saw, awarding the film a fairly weak C CinemaScore grade. However, recent success The Wolf of Wall Street also earned the middling C and yet managed to hold well. Noah, of course, doesn’t have the advantage of that movie’s Oscar buzz, but it still has a good chance of reaping $110 million in total.

Last weekend’s champ Divergent clocked in at No. 2. The YA actioner dipped 52 percent, which is an impressive hold, considering The Hunger Games suffered a downturn of 62 percent its second weekend in theatres. Divergent added another $26.5 million to its cume that now stands at over $95 million.

Third and fourth place went to current family offerings Muppets Most Wanted and Mr. Peabody & Sherman, respectively. The former may have failed to match the debut of its predecessor when it opened last weekend, but it made up for that disappointment (somewhat) by out-earning The Muppets its second weekend out of the gate. Most Wanted grossed $11.4 million, while The Muppets earned a weaker $11.1 million over its sophomore outing in 2011. For its part, Mr. Peabody & Sherman wasn’t too far behind Kermit and company with a $9.4 million haul. The animated flick now stands at $94.9 million and is on track to cross $100 million within the next several days.

Surprise hit God’s Not Dead continued to chart a successful box-office course. The faith-based film earned $9.1 million to land the weekend’s No. 5 slot. The movie can now boast $22 million after 10 days in theatres.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is officially the highest-grossing movie ever for director Wes Anderson.  The film finally expanded wide this past weekend and earned $8.8 million. Hotel’s cume stands at an impressive $24.4 million, with more on the way following this weekend’s continued expansion.

In dismal seventh place, Sabotage bombed with just $5.3 million. That is the worst haul for a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in almost 30 years and is the actor’s third disappointment in a row. In other words, it might be time for Arnold to holster that gun.

Cesar Chavez raked in $3 million, which, although solid, yet fell short of expectation. The film will likely perform well on Monday, however, which is Cesar Chavez Day.

Finally, the weekend concluded on a considerable high note when Disney’s Frozen became the highest-grossing animated film of all time. The princess movie wrested the title from former record-holder Toy Story 3 when it opened strong in its final market, Japan. Where Toy Story 3 grossed $1.063 billion worldwide, Frozen has now earned $1.072 billion. Can it go on to beat The Dark Knight Rises ($1.084 billion)?

'Noah’ to flood theatres

Will all the controversy and all the press awarded the controversy reap dividends at the box office this weekend? That’s the question facing Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. The director’s Biblical epic (action movie? Disaster flick? Faith-based offering? The latter seems the most unlikely…) opens in 3,500 theatres today. The familiar story of a man, a flood, and a host of animals boasts a trio of recognizable names: Jennifer Connelly, who is aces at playing crazy Russell Crowe’s supportive wife; Emma Watson; and of course, Crowe himself. Aronofsky, who directed 2010’s Academy Award-winning Black Swan, also brings a formidable fanbase to the table. All told, Paramount is expecting returns to tally out to between $30 and $33 million. Noah is already performing well overseas, in South Korea and Mexico specifically, where it bowed last week. Even if the movie fails to gain traction in the United States, international sales should help keep it out of the red.

Cesar Chavez, about the life and work of the iconic Mexican civil-rights activist, and Sabotage, starring the iconic (of a different sort) Arnold Schwarzenegger, also open this weekend, though neither is expected to do boffo business. Playing in 2,486 locations, the latter is Schwarzenegger’s most recent attempt at a big-screen comeback. His last two efforts, 2013's The Last Stand and Escape Plan, barely made a splash at the box office and didn’t do much to revive his acting career. With poor reviews (21 percent rotten on Rotten Tomatoes) and a rote drug-cartel-and-kidnapping plotline, it would be surprising if Sabotage proved the hit Arnold has been waiting for. Expect an opening weekend gross of under $10 million.

Cesar Chavez has also received poor reviews (37 percent rotten), however, a strong Hispanic turnout could propel the film to modest success. Opening in 644 locations, Chavez could pull in as much as, or even more than, $5 million.

Building momentum like a snowball racing down one of those mountains framing The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson’s specialty hit expands yet again this weekend, to 1,000 theatres. Jason Bateman’s Bad Words finally gets its wide release (800 theatres) today, but having disappointed in limited release the past two weekends, expectations for the movie’s broader national performance are low.

2010 Best Director nominees--where are they now?

Usually, an Oscar nomination--and especially an Oscar win--launches the honorees into a career stratosphere. The actors are cast in the next big projects, and the directors can afford to be picky about their next films. Although I've seen most of the 2010 acting nominees in a couple of movies since, only one of the 2010 directing nominees has released a new film. However, most of them are working on new projects, and two of them have films coming out this year. Let's check in: Where are they now?

Kathryn Bigelow (winner, Best Directing Oscar for The Hurt Locker). Bigelow beat her ex, James Cameron, for the Oscar and became the first female to win the directing honor. The Academy just can't pass up on creating a good story, can it? Bigelow's actually the furthest along of the bunch. Her film, Zero Dark Thirty, has a release date, December 19, 2012, and a distributor, Columbia. The military actioner centers on the Navy SEALS who take down Osama Bin Laden.

James Cameron (nominee, Avatar). Cameron went deep-sea diving. He converted Titanic to 3D. However, what audiences want most--a sequel to Avatar--may not be coming anytime soon. He and producer Jon Landau also just pushed back the release date of Avatar 2 from December 2014 to sometime in the future after that. That means there will be at least a six-year lag between the first film and its sequel, a bummer for fans who want to explore more of Pandora. (Word is the second film will dive down to the planet's oceans).

Darren Aronofsky (nominee, Black Swan). Since the success of his dark ballerina thriller, Aronofsky has mulled over three different biopics. He's currently casting Noah, with Russell Crowe in the lead role, so it appears the Biblical epic will go first. He's also considered directing Get Happy, a Judy Garland biopic with Anne Hathaway attached to star. Now comes word that Paramount may acquire The General, an Unforgiven-style biopic of our nation's first president, George Washington. He's obviously trying to find the most perfect follow-up project, but I hope he gets moving. Whatever he does, it's guaranteed to be original.

Jason Reitman (nominee, Up in the Air). Reitman is the only one of the group who has directed an original feature since his nomination. Young Adult, which came courtesy of screenwriter Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron, was fantastic (in my opinion), but it did so-so both at the box office and at the awards circuit. I applaud Reitman for churning out projects while maintaining his sensibility--he tends to mix dark comedy with poignant moments, and I like films like that. He just cast his child lead for his next project, Labor Day. The adaptation of a novel by Joyce Maynard centers on a single mom (Kate Winslet) who gives a convict (Josh Brolin) a ride, leading to a relationship. It's filming this summer, and it will probably be out before Aronofsky's film.

Lee Daniels (nominee, Precious). Daniels' next film is The Paperboy, which IMDB lists as having a November 21, 2012, release date, but no major distributor. However, the thriller may show up at the Cannes Film Festival, and everyone will find out if it packs the wallop of Precious. The story centers on a newspaper reporter who goes to Florida to try to free an inmate on death row. Things start getting complicated when his younger brother, who is also working on the case, develops a relationship with a woman who has been corresponding with the inmate. He also has The Butler in the works, the story of a black White House butler who served eight U.S. presidents.

Each of these directors has likely had their pick of projects. Will they all deliver?

 

Is Darren Aronofsky trying to create another 'Last Temptation of Christ' with 'Noah'?

By Sarah Sluis

I'm floored. Director Darren Aronofsky is turning to the Bible for his next movie? This is a director known for films that show off the brutalization of the body. They're graphic. There's blood and guts and sex. Okay, maybe at least part of that is a little Old Testament. The director has written a script that's a "re-telling" of the saga of Noah's Ark, which New Regency has committed to co-financing. I wonder if "re-telling" means he's taking liberties with the biblical story, or if he plans to go for a more straightforward tale. Either way, he's setting himself up for a world of controversy.

If I had to place the last time the country went gung-ho over a religious movie, I'd have to go with 1956's The Ten Commandments or 1959's Ben-Hur. In recent years, any attempt at recreating biblical stories has led to huge controversies. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ came from a religious viewpoint, but it seemed Christians and Jews alike took issue with the film. Then there's Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, surely one of the most (unfairly) maligned movies. The 1988 film explored the humanity of Jesus, but people just weren't prepared to see the Son of God sleeping with a woman and sinning. I imagine Aronofsky will go with a similarly controversial take, and it will be a miracle if religious audiences spark to his depiction.

At the same time, there's no reason that religious movies should be either lightning rods of controversy or marginalized. A number of religious-themed films have broken through in recent years, but these tend to be movies about Christians or those carrying religious themes. They're not trying to depict scenes from the actual Bible. In theatres now, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life cites passages from the Bible and explores both creation and the afterlife. The upcoming indie Higher Ground, based on a memoir, covers a woman's rising and waning fervor for religion. Then there are movies like The Blind Side and Fireproof, which have found enormous acceptance with people living by the Word. Maybe Darren Aronofsky's plan to create a film about Noah's Ark isn't so crazy after all. But I won't be surprised if a few religious groups condemn it along the way.

'Black Swan' director moves to 'Wolverine 2'

By Sarah Sluis

Director Darren Aronofsky has a thing for characters who physically self-destruct. The drug addicts in Requiem for a Dream, the aging competitive fighter in The Wrestler, the self-mutilating perfectionist ballerina in Black Swan. So where does a comic book action hero fit in that picture?

The director is in negotiations to helm his first big franchise film, the sequel to Wolverine. This is a property that's been around the block a few times, and word is Aronofsky actually was more interested in Spider-Man until Zack Snyder was selected for the re-boot. Sure, Wolverine was a blockbuster that earned over $300 million worldwide, enough to greenlight a sequel, but its buzz was nowhere near that of a Spider-Man or Dark Knight. Will Aronofsky be able to turn the franchise around, or will this just be a paycheck project before he jumps back into the indie world again?

Thinking more about Wolverine as a hero, however, Aronofsky could bring a dark sensibility to the franchise. As a refresher, the Wolverine character is a human who is given a metallic skeleton and Edward Scissorhands-like talons. Is that so different than the ballerina in Black Swan sprouting black feathers, or Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler prepping his body to bleed so his performance onstage becomes more captivating? On the other hand, Wolverine is blessed with a "healing factor" that protects him from germs and quick-cures his wounds--not the kind of extended suffering that Aronofsky is into.

The Vulture blog that reported the story also points out that Aronofsky may direct a Los Angeles-set 1940s organized crime film, Tales from the Gangster Squad. Ben Affleck has been named a frontrunner for that film as well. The movie centers on a group of mercenary police officers tasked with chasing mobster Micky Cohen out of town. This project seems like a better match with Aronofsky's knack at showing brutality, violence, and flawed characters.

Here's hoping that Aronofsky can move from tiny budgets to big budgets like Chris Nolan moved from Memento to Dark Knight and Inception.

Early Oscar Buzz: Natalie Portman for Best Actress in 'Black Swan'

By Sarah Sluis

Since Black Swan debuted at the Venice Film Festival, the movie has been getting pretty consistent raves. It's no Toy Story 3, with a 99% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating, but the divisiveness engendered by the film seems to mostly fall in the "quibble" category, or evidence of serious engagement with the movie. And five out of six reviewers gave it a positive review at the festival.

Natalie Portman's acting in the movie has received the most buzz. Her "bravura performance," according to Kirk Honeycutt at The Hollywood Reporter, serves the kind of intensely psychological role that the Oscars love to reward. She has delusions, scratches nervously until she bleeds, and deals with a creepy, domineering mother (Barbara Hershey, who I'll always remember for her role in Boxcar Bertha). She also studied ballet for months for the part, which is almost enough to put her in that "physical alteration for-the-win" category. It worked for the fattened, uglied Charlize Theron in Monster and Nicole Kidman with a fake nose piece in The Hours!

It's also worth noting that the director, Darren Aronofsky, helped both Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei land acting nominations for his last film, The Wrestler. At this point, no one is screaming "Oscar" for the film itself, although it could be a contender depending on the competition.

As an actress, Portman has received one nomination before, for Closer--a so-so movie, in my opinion. She's shied away from light,

poufy roles (the closest she's come to a romantic comedy is Garden State and Where the Heart Is, both of which are more romance-comedy-dramas). Besides Closer, she starred in last year's Brothers, a would-be awards film that never took off. She may be getting to the point where an Oscar is due to her if she keeps making such serious, well-acted films.

If Portman doesn't win an Oscar for Black Swan, it looks as if her performance may line up other Oscar-worthy roles for her. Alfonso Cuaron reportedly wants her to replace Angelina Jolie in Gravity, a 3D space movie that would involve her spending long periods of time on screen alone, like Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

Black Swan opens December 1st through Fox Searchlight.

A 'Black Swan' and a DiCaprio-led poker game

By Sarah Sluis

A rare occurrence: not one, but two projects that I'll look forward to seeing at the multiplex were announced today:

The star/director package of Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky will take on Black Swan, a supernatural thriller set in the New York dance world--think The Others' Red Shoes. Portman will play a ballet dancer lost in a competition with a rival--but she may or may not exist, a twist which has drawn comparisons to The Others. One hopes that Aronoksky is a fan of The Red Shoes (1948), the famous dance-focused drama that gave dancing an almost supernatural power, tying it back to the drama of the story. With a character dancing to her suicide, it's a shivery mix of dark and light that I hope the director will turn to as he develops the project.

As for the talent:
-Natalie Portman already looks like a dancer. She's done just about every genre, but I don't see a supernatural thriller in her IMDB history, so we'd get to see her take on something a bit different. She shaved her head in V for Vendetta, and wore that weird head gear in Star Wars, so she's willing to change herself physically for her roles--I imagine her being able to look even more ballerina-esque.
-Darren Aronofsky knows how to work and direct actors physically. He's exceptional at highlighting physical pain, whether it's Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler or all the various addicts in Requiem for a Dream.
-There's a dearth of good supernatural thrillers, movies that are creepy without being horror films. I loved The Others, The Orphanage (a Spanish film), What Lies Beneath, Ghost, and even The Skeleton Key. The problem is, without going to straight horror, you have to work a lot harder to create quality suspense, my guess as to why there aren't more Rosemary's Baby-type films out there.

In the other big announcement of today, Leonardo DiCaprio will star in an online poker film. The offshore casino, which figures into the plot, is in Costa Rica. The writing team behind Rounders and Ocean's 13, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, penned the project, so it comes from people experienced at writing pages about card sharks. I'm always interested in projects that pivot around the Internet, because the act of staring at a screen is so unexciting directors and screenwriters have to be quite creative. How many times have you watched a character who is himself watching a computer screen loading? It tends to inspire either total boredom or complete slickness. Somehow, I'm seeing this project as having more of a Miami Vice slickness rather than a Vegas polish, perhaps because of the Costa Rica location. While I'd prefer not to see Don Johnson-inspired wardrobing, DiCaprio can sell me on just about everything--except maybe the clunker Body of Lies.