'Blue Valentine' and 'Another Year' make their end-of-the-year debut

By Sarah Sluis

Plenty of audiences should turn out for the final box-office weekend of the year, but that will still leave numbers for 2010 down as a whole. Blockbusters like Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and Iron Man 3 attracted audiences to the tune of $300-400 million, but the number one film of 2010 was a 2009 release: Avatar. James Cameron's blue-tinged alien film earned $476 million in the 2010 half of its release, putting it $50 million above Toy Story 3.

Yesterday, two specialty films bowed in order to qualify for consideration at this year's awards season. The English director Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky) turns out the thoughtful Another Year (six theatres), which shows him in a "mellow, seasonal mood," according to critic David Noh. This is the kind of film that requires a bit of effort to get through, but Leigh creates incredibly true-to-life characters with spot-on dialogue with psychological complexity.

One of my top ten films of 2010, Blue Valentine released yesterday in four theatres with an R rating, the result of a successful appeal of the MPAA's original decision to brand the movie with an NC-17. Critic Erica Abeel called the story of a couple falling out of love "remarkable for its honesty and power." Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling star opposite each other, and both were nominated for acting Golden Globes, a sign that they may also turn up in contention for Oscar statuettes.

With many out for winter holidays, the weekday box office has been strong. On Monday, many films dropped under 10%, compared to the 70-80% seen during non-holiday weeks. In fact, many kid-driven titles saw gains over Monday and Tuesday. The adult comedy Little Fockers is still in first place but has also dropped the most. There's a chance Tron: Legacy may take the lead over the weekend. True Grit has staked out third place, and specialty films like Black Swan, The Fighter, and The King's Speech have moved into the top ten.

Screener will be dark tomorrow, and resume for a box-office recap on Monday. See you in 2011!

Looking ahead to 2011: 'Water for Elephants,' 'Cedar Rapids'

By Sarah Sluis

The wave of end-of-the-year movies brings with it the release of a host of new trailers. I weigh in on the prospects of a couple of movies that actually look good (at least in their trailers).

Water for Elephants (April 22):

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz (in a love triangle!), this movie is based on a best-selling book (that I never managed to read past page twenty). But the trailer is another story, showing off a lush, period circus environment shot with shadowy and vibrant cinematography. Witherspoon wears her sparkly leotard with panache, and her graceful movements as a circus performer at the :51 mark made me a believer. Cons: The trailer music is a bit treacly--could this be a harbinger of the movie's tone as a whole?

Cedar Rapids (Feb. 11):

Could this be the rare comedy that's actually funny? The trailer's humor is part "The Office," part Office Space, and also could be called a more upbeat, blue collar version of Up in the Air (Though George Clooney's character would have sniffed disparagingly at Ed Helms' clueless navigation of business travel). I liked director's Miguel Arteta's overlooked teen comedy Youth in Revolt, and if Cedar Rapids avoids that brand of painfully over-the-top humor that makes the audience cringe (I'm looking at you, Due Date), I think it will be good for a quiet chuckle.

These two films are just a sampling of the many movies in the early part of 2011 that I'm excited about -- Hanna, Jane Eyre, and a smaterring of maybe-good comedies (Hall Pass, Paul, Just Go For It), and dramas (The Adjustment Bureau) should make the early part of 2011 an active one.

When what plays in Portugal doesn't play in Peoria

By Sarah Sluis

When the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded The Tourist multiple Golden Globe nominations, most American journalists cried foul. But the recognition of The Tourist reflects a larger trend in movies: what plays well overseas is different than what plays well at home.

Currently, The Tourist has earned $40 million at home and $37 million abroad--even with release in just a dozen foreign markets. The romantic thriller had stunning visuals, but received thumbs downs for its story--a more acceptable combination for a market watching the movie dubbed or with subtitles. Also popular abroad are big family-friendly blockbusters, but not necessarily the ones getting the best reviews. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is currently number one in six markets, and the Disney fairy tale Tangled in seven. While Tron: Legacy may have had just one weekend at number one in the U.S., it grabbed the first-place spot in seventeen markets last week. Among these films, Tangled is the only one with an overall positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes (though Legacy comes close with 49% positive).

While the international box office can often turn so-so big-budget productions into profitmakers, it can also give a truly good film an exponential boost. If a foreign films that plays "well" abroad usually earns at least half its total box office from overseas, megahits can go well beyond that number. Avatar earned $760,000,000 in the U.S. alone, but $2,000,000,0000 from markets outside the U.S. (count 'em, those are nine zeros). That means that the U.S. market contributed just 27% of the total earnings for the movie, an astonishingly tiny figure.

Muchhullabaloohas been made about declining DVD/Blu-ray sales impacting studios' calculations of expected revenue. It used to be said that a successful movie would make back its production budget at the box office, then start earning money once all the ancillary revenue streams (cable rights, DVD, etc.) kicked in. But more and more, I see movies that aren't flops fall well short of their production budget at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, Tangled's earned back just $140 million domestically on a $260 million production budget, Dawn Treader's earned $62 million on a reported $155 million production budget, and Tron: Legacy is only up to $87 million on a $170 million budget. The rule of thumb about domestic box office needing to equal production budget clearly no longer holds. That's where the international box office comes in. Increasing revenue from overseas may help fill in the gap created by declining home movie sales, but at what cost? Great blockbusters like Avatar will be able to reap their profits around the world, but will this formula also bring undue success to B-list big-budget films likeDawn Treader and the mildly disappointing Tron: Legacy? As studios tally up their successes and failure of 2011, the international box office is becoming an even bigger part of the box-office balance sheet.

'Little Fockers,' 'True Grit' lead in lackluster holiday box office

By Sarah Sluis

Moviegoers over the holiday weekend may have turned out for Little Fockers and True Grit, but missing under the Christmas tree was that one big-ticket item: a blockbuster. Without Avatar, box office receipts went down 44% from last year. The year-end box office also showed a lack of originality: seven of the top ten films were adaptations, remakes, or sequels.

Little Fockers, the second sequel to Meet the Parents, grabbed first place with $30.8 million. Including its midweek receipts, the comedy gathered up $45 million in less than a week. Audiences also showed excitement for True Grit, which came in second with $24.8 million and $36 million for the five-day holiday total.

Gulliver's Travels fell short, earning just $6.3 million in two days. The Jack Black riff on the classic novel opened on Christmas Day but failed to draw big audiences. A trio of films rated PG pulled in more audiences, like Tron: Legacy, which finished third with $19.1 million in its second weekend, fourth-place finished The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which dipped just 11%, and Yogi Bear, which settled into fifth place its second week with $7.8 million.

The holiday weekend also gave specialty movies a chance to shine. The Fighter and Black Swan both finished in the top ten after weeks playing to limited audiences. The Fighter earned $7.6 million in sixth place and Black Swan finished ninth with$6.2 million. The King's Speech rose three spots from last week and landed just outside of the top ten with $4.5 million, though it's still in just 700 theatres.

Focus' Somewhere opened to a $17,000 per-screen average playing on seven screens. The animated feature The Illusionist averaged $12,000 on three screens. Screen Gems' Country Strong had a soft $8,000 per-screen average on two screens. The studio will expand the drama in January but wanted to release it in 2010, perhaps for awards season reasons. According to a new metric on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has audience approval in the 80% range, compared to just 20% positive among critics, so this movie could bring in crowds with positive word-of-mouth.

This coming week should see higher-than-average weekday receipts as people take time off and students enjoy winter breaks.

Box office overflows with 'Tron: Legacy,' 'How Do You Know,' and 'Yogi Bear'

By Sarah Sluis

We're in the home stretch of the holiday box office season. Three films go into wide release today, and they'll have just five days in the sun before another trio of wide releases (Little Fockers, True Grit, and Gulliver's Travels) bombards holiday audiences.

Disney's been promoting TRON: Legacy (3,451 theatres, including 2,424 in 3D) for years at Comic-Con, and the studio is counting on its long-term marketing efforts to result in a $40 million+ payday over opening weekend. The attempt to "mature" the material from 1982's TRON "[turns] out to be goofier than the original's overeager earnestness," critic Ethan Alter notes. "In trying to make TRON matter to a new generation, Legacy winds up squandering the best thing about the original: its sense of fun." While the story may not be the movie's strong suit, the visuals "lightcycle" races are stunning, and Daft Punk's score sets a dark, techno mood.

The eminently successful James L. Brooks falls short of achieving another masterpiece in How Do You Know (2,483 theatres), which stars Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and Jack Nicholson. His "faltering" hand, according to critic David Noh, results in a "particularly uncertain yet pushy and often tone-deaf romantic comedy." The actors (who reportedly accounted for close to $50 million of the talent budget) earn their keep, but to what end? "It is almost a criminal waste that both Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd give two of their most heartfelt, charming performances," Noh sighs.

If the idea of hearing Yogi Bear (Dan Aykroyd) and Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake) singing odes to "pic-a-nic baskets" sounds like punishment, not entertainment, you're not one of the many families expected to turn out this weekend for the spectacle, which will unspool in 3,515 theatres, including 2,011 in 3D. Alter pegs this film as about a 5 out of 10 "on the scale of live-action updates of old cartoons," which is to say it's a "relentlessly uninspired and proudly juvenile production," but "doesn't feature a trio of CGI-rodents singing bad pop songs at a pitch only dogs (and kids under the age of eight) can tolerate."

Rabbit Hole (5 theatres) stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as parents coping with the death of their child. Though the film has drawn raves for Kidman's performance, critic Frank Lovece wasn't one of those applauding. Except for one moment of "layered subtlety," Kidman's "performance [is] so controlled that even when [the couple] Becca and Howie have their inevitable shouting match, it feels forced and false."

Because we're in high season for movies, a number of released films are still gathering steam. The Fighter is making the biggest jump, expanding into 2,503 theatres after opening in just four last week. Black Swan, which already had a spot in the top ten with just 90 theatres, will expand to 959 theatres. The Tempest, which made a so-so debut last week, will stay specialty, spreading to just 21 theatres. For all of these films, success or failure will be determined in the final weeks of 2010.

Top Ten Movies of 2010

By Sarah Sluis

This year has been an odd one at the box office. Last year it was all about Avatar, the big, Hollywood crowd-pleaser that everyone could get behind. It was the kind of film all blockbusters should aspire to. In 2010, commercial fare has been much more disappointing. Even films angling for Oscars often didn't meet my expectations. Unlike others, I wasn't wowed by The Fighter and The Social Network didn't live up to my (perhaps unfairly high) expectations. What follows, in no particular order, are the films that got me excited this year. These are the films that didn't just do something well, they did it differently, and often with an uncommon eye for realism.

1. How to Train Your Dragon. Pixar may be the king of CG animation, but this DreamWorks Animation movie had the entire package: striking cinematography, a lovable male hero, and a unique world for audiences to explore. The dark, shadowy look of the film was very adult, but the movie's appeal was universal.

2. Tabloid. I saw this movie at the Doc NYC Fest, and it's yet to find a distributor. I may be jumping the gun, but I predict this documentary will be showing up on "Best Of" lists in 2011. Errol Morris' comedic turn tops even his early work on Gates of Heaven. The story of a beauty queen and her kidnapping of her Mormon ex-lover is so crazy, it could only be true. The third act twist that will leave your mouth agape.

3. The King's Speech. This feel-good awards movie is one I really can get behind. Directed by Tom Hooper ("John Adams"), this fact-based tale actually breathes, with quiet moments that delicately lead us through the lightly comedic story. At the end, I was rooting for King George's speech like it was a sports match (I hope I don't denigrate the film by comparing it to the stirring end of The Mighty Ducks). This may be a "traditional" Oscar film, but it's done so impeccably, it's hard not to like. Added bonus: It's gentle and inoffensive enough to bring the whole family to without embarrassment.

4. Tiny Furniture. Actress/director/writer Lena Dunham is one to watch. I may be biased: She's a just-out-of-college Oberlin grad, I'm a few-years-out-of-college Wesleyan grad, making us of the same ilk. In this semi-autobiographical film, the whole post-graduate experience becomes an opportunity to make fun of her character in an extremely naturalistic, painfully funny way. She has no fear, and not only makes herself look unflattering in front of the camera, she stages some truly cringe-worthy scenes--and did I mention she cast her mother and sister as her mother and sister?

5. Winter's Bone. In television, there's that "sitcom" living room and kitchen, which never seem to change no matter who the family is supposed to be. Film has the same problem, with the same glossed-over settings used again and again, and production designers that just can't help themselves from designing adorable spaces for supposedly average families. Winter's Bone changes all of that, filming in the Ozarks and using local actors to show outsiders what it's like to live in a rural, meth-infested world. I saw a part of America I'd never seen before.

6. Cyrus. Most romantic comedies are terrible, which is too bad, because I really like hearing funny stories about relationships. Cyrus was filled with moments that registered as funny because they were so close to real life, and didn't overplay its hand when it came to the battle between a woman's boyfriend and her son. Last year's (500) Days of Summer had the "rom-com" spot on my list, and this year it goes to Cyrus.

7. Somewhere. Sofia Coppola has the ability to slip you into this moody state of mind, and it's a pleasure to spend an hour and a half following a movie star with a mildly tragic case of ennui. His daughter (Elle Fanning) is charming, and even an "is-this-it?" ending didn't scratch this one off my top ten list.

8. Restrepo. This was a tough one, as Alex Gibney's Casino Jack and the United States of Money was also one of my favorites. But keeping to my theme, originality and reality won out. Like Winter's Bone, Restrepo presents a world that I never knew existed. The stakes of war feel so different here than on the evening news or in a war drama. I sensed that the filmmakers, Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, really cared for the soldiers I sensed that the movie's creators, Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, really cared for the soldiers they filmed in Afghanistan, but they aren't afraid to show moments that raise questions about their actions. The film offers a nuanced look at the impact of these Americans who are both making things worse and making things better. One thing's clear: it's time to bring our troops home.

9. Mother and Child. Weeks after leaving this movie, what I most wanted was to see more of Kerry Washington (she's currently in Night Catches Us), who plays a super-eager type-A wife who desperately wants to adopt a child. But she's just one part of the whole picture, with the cruelly cold Naomi Watts and sad Annette Bening offering three perspectives on mother-child relationships. A kind of modern melodrama, director Rodrigo Garca's sadly overlooked tale left a deep impression.

10. Blue Valentine. This Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams tale of an imploding romance made it to the list because of its intense realism. Screenwriters Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Kami Delavigne have this incredible ear for toxic conversations, and it's awe-inducing to hear this couple break each other down without even raising their voices (though there are plenty of screaming matches), through seemingly innocent requests and comments. The sad story has a scientific level of precision, able to capture in detail the seismic activity that precedes a volcanic eruption. For that, it's one of my favorite films this year, and one that I hope will be rewarded at the Oscars.

Kid 'Jeopardy' contestant lands lead role in 'Extremely Loud'

By Sarah Sluis

In a most creative casting decision, a thirteen-year-old winner of "Jeopardy" will star in Paramount and Warner Bros.' Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Thomas Horn will play a precocious, intelligent boy whose father died on 9/11. After finding a mysterious lock, he searches through New York City for the key, making some memorable encounters along the way. Though the boy is twelve, he can pass for younger, and the role seems quite challenging for such a young actor.

As written in Jonathan Safran Foer's novel, the boy has a college-level vocabulary and the inquiring mind and silly questions of a child. He also is so scientific, so unemotional, he seems like he might have some kind of borderline autism like Asperger's Syndrome. The dialogue is really hard to pull off (check out an excerpt here), and the boy in general (in my opinion) comes off as less than charming, though I'm not part of the majority of people who actually finished the book.

Now that the boy's been cast alongside Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, it's time to jump the gun: will this movie be groomed for an Oscar pedigree? Given that producer and Oscar winner Scott Rudin will be overseeing, three-time Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry will direct, and the script was penned by Oscar-winning writer Eric Roth, it seems like Extremely Loud wouldn't shoot for anything less. In the project's favor, Daldry directed (but did not write) Billy Elliot, which had a fantastic child actor matched with great dialogue and direction.

Could 9/11 be the new Holocaust, that historical tragedy that has yielded such Oscar winners/nominees as The Reader, Schindler's List, Sophie's Choice, Life is Beautiful, The Pianist, and Defiance? (That's just the shortlist). So far the subject has been rather unexplored, with just fact-based United 93 hitting theatres. They're going to have to start filming soon before this boy hits puberty, so it's only a matter of time before this movie hits theatres and tests audiences' willingness to see a film about our national tragedy.