Can the Captain break an April record?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier flies into 3,938 theatres today, by all indications readying itself for quite the stunt landing. This latest installment in the increasingly crowded Marvel cinematic universe has already broken the record for most advance tickets sold, according to Fandango. Overseas, the film has grossed more than $100 million.

Can Captain America break $100 million at the domestic box office this weekend? Between advance sales and positive reviews (87 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) it’s certainly possible, although most pundits are predicting slightly lower returns, in the still-magnificent $80-$90 million range. The Winter Soldier has a few things going for it: The return of Avengers crossover characters Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) as well as an association with the familiar S.H.I.E.L.D. organization (itself the subject of a TV series – media hybridity at its best), and the introduction of a new hero, Falcon (Anthony Mackie). The WWII period setting that dominated much of the first film has been swapped in favor of a contemporary Washington, D.C., backdrop. An ultra-modern conflict involving wiretapping, national security, and that thin line between necessary protection and unlawful invasion of privacy also lends the movie a topical boost. Critics certainly like it. All in all, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is poised to set a new April record. (Fast Five currently holds the title of Strongest April Debut, having opened to $86.2 million in 2011.)

The much delayed Halle Berry vehicle, Frankie and Alice, also opens this weekend in limited release. The movie has been ready and yet collecting dust on the shelves since 2010, even though Berry won an award for her portrayal of a woman suffering from multiple-personality disorder that year. From distributor Freestyle Releasing, Frankie and Alice changed hands to current distributor Code Black, which is a division of Lionsgate.  Even given the draw of Berry’s name, it’s unlikely Frankie and Alice will earn more than $500,000.

Holdovers Noah and Divergent should round out the weekend’s top three just behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

‘Need for Speed’ crashes at box office

Jesse Pinkman deserves better. Hollywood’s latest videogame adaptation undercut what were already modest expectations this weekend when Need for Speed failed to nab first (or second) place at the box office. Instead, the Aaron Paul-starrer earned a disappointing $17.8 million. Its debut haul secured the film third-place standing behind Mr. Peabody and Sherman ($21.2 million) and 300: Rise of an Empire ($19.1 million). The former enjoyed a solid hold from the previous weekend, dropping just 34 percent.  To compare, last year’s The Croods dropped 39 percent its second weekend in theatres, while How to Train Your Dragon also dipped 34 percent. Rise of an Empire took a fairly steep hit – suffering a downturn of 58 percent – but its overall cume remains respectable ($78.3 million to date).

With an “eh” CinemaScore rating of a B+, it looks as if Need for Speed will only continue to stall. Overall returns should tally out to south of $50 million. As for Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club, it’s unlikely the film will even reach that benchmark. The prolific Perry suffered his worst opening yet with Club, which grossed $8.3 million. Prior to this weekend, Daddy’s Little Girls was Perry’s least-successful outing, having opened to $11.2 million in 2007.

Perry’s last few features (Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, A Madea Christmas) have also been disappointments. The films’ distributor, Lionsgate, has had a rough time of it recently: The company suffered losses on both The Legend of Hercules and I, Frankenstein as well. Let’s hope this weekend’s Divergent changes its luck for the better.

No such wishes are needed for Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, which continues to do marvelous business. This past weekend saw the comedy rake in an additional $3.6 million from 66 locations. The film will enjoy its largest expansion yet this coming weekend, when it will screen in 275 theatres.

Despite some streaming troubles for those who opted to pay for a Web version of the film, Veronica Mars can be called a modest success. The movie earned $2 million from 291 locations. With the continued and concurrent availability of VOD, however, it will be interesting to see how the movie holds in the coming weeks.

Here’s hoping the weeks ahead are kinder to Jason Bateman’s Bad Words. The actor’s feature directorial debut hasn’t gotten off to a boffo start: The movie screened in six locations and grossed just $120,000. It will expand nationwide on Friday.

‘Catching Fire’ does just that

As predicted, records were shattered this past weekend, thanks to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s fantastic bow. The sequel to 2012’s Hunger Games (and we thought that film was popular) earned $161.1 million domestically and $307.7 worldwide. Here’s how it stacks up against previous cinematic and pop culture phenoms:

• Catching Fire had the highest-grossing November opening of all time. The old record-holder, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, debuted to a paltry (it’s all relative) $148.2 million.


• Catching Fire had the fourth highest-grossing opening ever. Its cume ranks just behind The Avengers’ $207.4 million, Iron Man 3’s $174.1 million, and the last Harry Potter movie’s $169.2 million.


• Katniss & Co. just barely dethroned The Dark Knight Rises, which got bumped down a peg to the No. 5 slot on the list of most successful domestic opening weekends. Knight opened to $160.9 million back in 2012.

Catching Fire is also Lionsgate’s most successful release to date. It had the 12th most lucrative international opening ever.

Some other movies made some money this weekend, too, although their stories are less uplifting. Thor: The Dark World earned $14.1 million, the most money of any film that was not Catching Fire. As its total suggests, The Dark World suffered a freefall of a drop in sales, down 61% from last week. The Best Man Holiday, last weekend’s surprise success story, also staggered, falling 58% to gross $12.5 million. While reverberations from the revolution brewing in The Hunger Games' Panem have clearly hurt the cinema’s other offerings, neither The Dark World nor Holiday has been fatally wounded. The Thor sequel will likely finish out with a little over $200 million, while The Best Man Holiday will probably top out at $75 million.

Similar reassurances cannot be made on behalf of Vince Vaughn’s latest vehicle, Delivery Man. The comedian begat a bomb with his tale of a boy-man sperm donor whose contributions result in 500+ children. Delivery Man grossed $8.2 million, less than half of each of Vaughn’s last two films, The Internship and The Dilemma. At least Vaughn can take comfort in knowing other name stars, at least those who were not christened Jennifer Lawrence, have also seen their stock fall this season. Both Runner Runner, starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, and The Counselor, whose credits read like the guest list for Vanity Fair’s Oscar party (Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Michael Fassbender, and Brad Pitt) opened to less than $10 million. Times, they are a changin’.

One thing, however, remains constant: the undeniable appeal of Judi Dench. The grand dame’s Philomena opened in four locations and earned a respectable (how could it could have been anything other than?) $133,716, or $33,429 per theatre.

Neither has Tom Hanks lost his enduring appeal. The actor’s Oscar contender Captain Phillips sailed past the $100 million domestic mark this weekend, its seventh, with no sign of slowing pace.

Yet another self-help book turned movie: 'Eat, Sleep, Poop'

By Sarah Sluis

Okay, okay, the fictionalization of self-help book He's Just Not That Into You wasn't that bad. And Mean Girls was the best high school comedy to come out in a long time (based on nonfiction tale Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends...). But under no circumstances do I support a fictionalization of a self-help book with the word "poop" in the title. Yes, a well-connected doctor in Beverly Hills wrote a book about parenting babies called Eat, Sleep, Poop, and it's just a matter of time before it turns up in theatres, courtesy of DreamWorks.

Interestingly, this comes on the heels of another pickup, of the decades-old guide What to Expect When You're Expecting, which was acquired by Lionsgate just weeks ago. Are both companies going to develop them at the same time, to beat each other to the market? Or will one of them wait it out and see how the first mommy film does before beginning production? While parents of young children are better known as television watchers than moviegoers (those annoying people who bring their kids to R-rated movies with the hope that "they will fall asleep" notwithstanding), these two acquisitions show an interest in attracting a demographic neglected by Hollywood. Exhibitors have taken advantage of this market for years now by offering special services to young parents: midday showings of films with the sound turned down, lights dimmed, and babies welcomed. If there's a film specifically targeted at parenting, wouldn't young parents find a way to watch it? On a final note, the pickup of all these nesting titles seems tied to the emphasis on the home that has emerged in the recession. Better hope the focus on the home continues well after the recession recedes.