'Insidious: Chapter 2' posts best horror opening in September

Earning four times the opening of the original, Insidious: Chapter 2 got off to a great start with $41 million, the best debut ever for a horror movie in September. It's also just $1 million off the best September opening, which was set last year by Hotel Transylvania, a rare animated offering during what's usually a quieter month. Adding to the list of records, the opening makes director James Wan only the second person ever (to the Matrix series' Wachowskis) to open two movies that high in the same year. Just a couple of months ago, Wan's The Conjuring also started off with over $40 million in a weekend. But what did audiences think? Viewers gave it a "B+" in exit polls, which is pretty good for a horror movie, which often receive poor grades. Insidious: Chapter 2 also benefited from topicality: Half the weekend take came from Friday the 13th. Based on the first three days, I think it's also safe to guess that there will be an Insidious: Chapter 3 headed to theatres sometime next year.

The spy action-comedy The Family had a stronger debut than expected, opening to $14.5 million, director Luc Besson's second-best opening weekend. Older audiences in particular turned out to see Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer as mobsters in witness protection: 83% of audiences clocked in over the age of 25.

In four weeks of release, The Butler has limited its decline to roughly a third a week. This week, it dipped another 33% to $5.5 million, which pushed it over the $100 million mark. For the Weinstein Co., this is a big milestone, only the fifth time the distributor has gone into nine-figure territory. Another movie that's been holding particularly well has been We're the Millers. The comedy has earned $131 million to date. This week it finished right behind The Butler, with $5.4 million and a 30% decrease from the previous week.

On Wednesday, Nicole Holofcener's romantic comedy Enough Said, featuring a final performance from the late James Gandolfini, will begin its release. On Friday, action thriller Prisoners will go against a smaller wide release of the b-boy dance film Battle of the Year, a 3D re-release of The Wizard of Oz, and a limited opening of Rush.

'Butler' returns to win in mixed bag Labor Day weekend

During a quiet Labor Day weekend, The Butler made a splash, becoming the first 2013 release to stay at the top spot for three weekends in a row. The Civil Rights-movement drama starring Forest Whitaker and, of course, Oprah, earned $14.8 million from Friday to Sunday and $20 million

over the four-day period. Its Monday total was enough to push it ahead of One Direction: This Is Us, which earned $15 million over the normal weekend period, and $18 million through Monday. Concert movies have been popular ever since tween singer Miley Cyrus (you know, the star that performed at the VMAs last weekend) took the sleepy Super Bowl weekend by storm and opened Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour to $31 million. Since then, concert movies have been a bit hit-or-miss, with the Jonas Brothers completely bombing their debut, and Katy Perry not doing much better last year. But Sony was quick to point out that the One Direction movie cost just $10 million, making it an inexpensive win for the studio.

A Spanish-language underdog of a movie, Instructions Not Included, made it to fifth place over the long weekend with a total haul of $10 million. It marks the biggest hit yet for Pantelion Films,
the Lionsgate arm devoted to distributing films targeted at Hispanic audiences. The family-focused narrative, a mixture of comedy and heart, wowed audiences, who gave the movie an "A+" in exit polls. Popular Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez plays a man who takes in his daughter after her birth mother abandons her, then fights to keep her when the mother shows up after they've formed a close bond. In release in just over 300 theatres, it had the best location average of the week, $28,000 per screen.

The car-set thriller Getaway lived up to its 2% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a four-day total of $5.5 million. Still, that was better than the thriller Closed Circuit, which earned $2.5 million over the weekend. Focus Features has used this time slot before for adult thrillers like The American and The Debt, but this opening was markedly worse than those two releases, coming in with just a fraction of the take of those movies' opening weekends.

While the long weekend was poor for new releases, other returning releases posted lower-than-average drops. Blue Jasmine, in its second weekend on over 1,000 screens, had a four-day total of $5.3 million, matching last week's performance day for day. The Grandmaster, which expanded onto over 700 screens, earned $3.1 million, an excellent showing for the martial arts feature.

This Friday will be a light in major releases, with only Riddick opening in over 2,000 theatres.

 

'Butler' and 'We're the Millers' stay on top of new releases

Despite three new releases hitting theatres, the top two films were returning releases. In week two, The Butler led with $17 million, a scant 30% drop from opening weekend. In second place, the comedy We're the Millers dipped 25% to $13.5 million in its third week, a sign that audiences are connecting with this drug smuggling caper.

The World's End had the best relative performance of the three new offerings. Generating $8.9 million on 1,549 screens, fans of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg clearly turned out. Devotees of the so-called "Cornetto Trilogy" (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are the first two genre-skewering comedies) gave the final installment its best opening yet, drawing an audience that skewed male, with the majority of attendees under 30.

Many in the industry expected that the horror feature You're Next would top the box office, but
instead this tale of a family under siege was the worst of the lot, opening to just $7 million. Just when you think horror is a sure thing, a movie like this falls flat. In fact, it was the worst horror movie opening yet in 2013. Still, its budget was likely fairly low, unlike this week's biggest loser: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

Lily Collins stars in this adaptaion of a young adult novel, which was made for $60 million in hopes that it would launch a trilogy. No dice. Instead, the feature had a weekend total of $9.3 million,
and a five-day opening of $16 million. The audience was 68% female, with 46% of those turning out under 21. Even this bulls'-eye demographic turnout didn't prevent them from giving it a CinemaScore rating of "B+," when the same audience likely would have given Twilight an "A++!++!"

Blue Jasmine expanded into over 1,200 theatres this weekend, and it held on to its audience. The per-screen average dropped two-thirds, which is actually a fairly strong hold for such an aggressive expansion. That meant the Woody Allen comedy finished ninth with $4.3 million. That's a bit off Midnight in Paris, but the strength of the figures suggests that this story of a rich housewife married to Madoff-like villian could approach the $30-40 million range, compared to Paris' $56 million total.

 

'2 Guns' on top as animation fatigue continues with 'Smurfs 2'

Too much competition in the animated market has been hurting the kid-friendly selections unlucky enough to choose a late summer release. The Smurfs 2 opened to just $18.2 million over the weekend, which is half of the original's three-day total. Even with its Wednesday start, the five-day total of $27 million is $8 million less than the original's three-day total. Not good news for the blue creatures, or Sony either. And just two weeks ago, DreamWorks Animation's Turbo opened to a scant $21 million. What's going on?

Last year, just two animated movies opened during the summer: Brave and Madagascar 3. This year, there are six movies coming out in the May-August period. It's fair to say there were going to be some casualties. May's Epic did okay, topping out just over the $100 million mark, while Despicable Me 2 ($326 million) and Monsters University ($258 million) are in the top four movies this year, period, losing out only to Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, respectively. The success of these two features is the reason so many studios want to get in the animation game, but it appears family audiences may have seen one or both of these better-regarded features, then taken a pass on Turbo and The Smurfs 2. Disney is likely nervous, because animated Cars spin-off Planes is coming out this Friday. Originally planned as a direct-to-video release, the upside is that the studio doesn't have too much riding on this feature financially compared to expensive Pixar originals. A theatrical release was likely designed to boost the ancillary revenue Disney wrings from its animated properties, especially for an action figure and ride-friendly concept like Planes, but an extremely low opening may defeat the point of releasing it theatrically in the first place.

While adult audiences have also suffered from tentpole fatigue, 2 Guns, billed more as a buddy cop comedy than a movie with fantastic explosions, didn't crash and burn. The $27 million opening, while enough to earn first place, is particularly low for a movie with Denzel Washington on the top bill. After all, he brought Safe House to a $40 million opening. That movie, however, had a more defined, marketable plot, while 2 Guns has confusing double-crossing going on that isn't as easy to explain in quick TV spots.

Coming-of-age tale The Spectacular Now had a spectacular debut, averaging $50,000 per screen in four locations, a promising sign for the well-reviewed feature. Meanwhile, fellow Sundance darlings The Way, Way Back and Fruitvale Station were neck and neck this weekend, earning $2.8 and $2.7 million, respectively. Both had comparable per-screen averages, so it will be interesting to watch which one plays longer with audiences.

On Wednesday, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and drug-running comedy We're the Millers will jump-start the weekend, followed by original sci-fi movie Elysium, which is written and directed by District 9's Neill Blomkamp.

 

'2 Guns' joins 'Smurfs 2,' but both want to be number one

This year has been exceptionally crowded when it comes to animated features, which doesn't bode well for the U.S. release of The Smurfs 2 (3,866 theatres). The original Smurf outing opened over $30 million in 2011, and a similar result for the sequel would be good, especially because the
biggest grosses are expected abroad. But what's to prevent families from choosing Turbo, Despicable Me 2, Epic, or Monsters University instead? There's only so many times parents can take their kids to the movies. THR's Justin Lowe thinks that parents will just give in, predicting that the animated feature "should have little trouble scaling stratospheric heights
similar to its predecessor with undiscriminating young audiences
and their chaperones, weary from near-unrelenting summertime
caregiving." Perhaps for some, The Smurfs 2 will provide that respite, as the blueberry-tinged creatures use their "curious blend of wide-eyed optimism and
goofy enthusiasm" to solve problems.

Denzel Washington is a sure thing at the box office, and that's what Universal will be counting on
for 2 Guns (3,025 theatres), which teams up the action star with Mark Wahlberg. The buddy cop feature with bits of comedy thrown in is "fun to watch but almost instantly forgettable," according to FJI critic Daniel Eagan, who compares it to "the B-movies of an earlier generation," meaning "it's
fast, tough and smarter than it has to be." Like The Smurfs 2, 2 Guns is aiming for an opening north of $30 million. The Smurfs 2 released starting Wednesday, when it earned $5.2 million, so it's unclear whether that early opening will help it gain steam or if it may slow down more quickly over the weekend.

There's also plenty going on at the indie box office. The writers of (500) Days of Summer adapted the script for The Spectacular Now (4 theatres), which earned raves at the Sundance Film Festival and is another excellent showcase for rising star Shailene Woodley, who appeared as George Clooney's daughter in The Descendants. The high-school set coming-of-age story "deserves to
reach a wide demographic," says critic Kevin Lally, "Its most appreciative audience may very
well be an older art-house crowd; the crossover to watch is the
teen segment." A24, which released teen pics The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers, will try to repeat its formula of attracting cinephiles and young viewers with the picture.

The found-footage genre goes into deep space in Europa Report (3 theatres), which critic Nick Schager praises for being a "well-executed, thematically intriguing tale of outer space
exploration and the responsibilities and risks such an enterprise
entails." Then there's Lindsay Lohan and James Deen pairing up for The Canyons (1 theatre), which our critic Doris Toumarkine predicts will be "catnip for Gawker/TMZ-loving loyalists but also won’t disappoint more demanding viewers."

On Monday, we'll see if audiences chose The Smurfs 2 or 2 Guns, and which of the specialty releases is on track to have a strong expansion through the rest of August.

Abigail Breslin & Arnold Schwarzenegger team up for 'Maggie'

Hollywood's zombie craze has reached a fever pitch. The most recent undead project to join the fray is Maggie. Abigail Breslin will star as a young woman infected with a "walking dead" virus in the feature, which will shoot this fall. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays her father. The original log line for the 2011 Black List script by John Scott 3 read like this: "As a “walking dead” virus spreads across
the country, a farm family
helps their eldest daughter come to terms with her infection as she
slowly becomes a flesh-eating zombie." I can't imagine Schwarzenegger as the comforting type--he's more the kind of actor who solves problems through action--but perhaps there's more beyond the description that suits the action star's strengths.

What Maggie won't have in its favor is novelty. Zombie movies, books, and TV shows are everywhere. The shockingly good 28 Days Later a decade ago may have kick-started the trend, joined by its sequel 28 Weeks Later in 2007, Zombieland in 2009, AMC's "The Walking Dead," which premiered in 2010, and ParaNorman, The Crazies, and this year's Warm Bodies and World War Z. Then there's the still-pending works like the adaptation of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Zombie culture has become an epidemic in itself.

This feature will start filming this fall, so this casting combination is likely set. Last May, Variety reported Chloe Moretz was circling the role, but that deal fell apart. All along, the commercials director Henry Hobson, who would make the feature debut with the zombie movie, has been attached.  Breslin has since filmed the yet-to-be-released features August: Osage County and Ender's Game, both of which will likely raise the profile of the all-grown-up Little Miss Sunshine star by the time Maggie is released.

Low-budget horror movie 'The Conjuring' tops expensive tentpoles

As the East Coast and Midwest endured a heat wave, the spine-chilling The Conjuring performed some magic this weekend as it opened to $41.5 million. Made for just half its opening gross, the horror feature combined great reviews with a stellar marketing campaign to coast to the top. Meanwhile, news wasn't nearly as good for the other three wide releases this weekend, which were far more expensive to make.

DreamWorks Animation's Turbo opened in third with $21.5 million, with a five-day total of $31.2 million. That's a disappointment for the animation studio, which spent at least $135 million in production. Meanwhile, Despicable Me 2, which cost just $76 million to make, racked up another $25 million in its third week, easily outshining the debut of Turbo.

Red 2 posted totals of $18.5 million, a few million less than the original. Older males comprised the majority of the audience. The action feature about aging spies performed similarly to The Expendables 2, which starring aging action heroes. That sequel's opening also dropped slightly from that of the original.

The Men in Black-like supernatural buddy cop action-comedy R.I.P.D. bombed, maybe because it included just too many genres. With $12.7 million, it's slightly better than some projections, which doubted if the movie could top $10 million, but this feature will definitely lead to a big writedown at Universal.

In 353 locations, Girl Most Likely averaged $2,000 a screen for a total of $736,000. That's less than expected for the Kristen Wiig-led comedy, which unfortunately has been plagued by poor reviews. Another star-led indie, Only God Forgives, had double the per-screen average, $4,000, for a total of $315,000. Thanks to the star power of Ryan Gosling, the Radius-TWC release is expected to post strong VOD numbers. Meanwhile, The Way, Way Back continued its slow burn, going up 100% as it added locations for another $2.2 million in its third week. The indie beach comedy will expand into over 650 locations on Friday.

This Friday, Wolverine will lead the pack of new releases, while The To-Do List opens in a moderate 500 locations. Also on the menu is Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

'Heat' scorches 'White House Down'

Both The Heat and White House Down earned "A-" Cinemascores from their audiences, but one movie overperformed while the other fell short of expectations. This is summer movie season, and Monday morning results aren't always fair.

The Heat soared with $40 million. That's much better than openings for either Melissa McCarthy movies (Bridesmaids opened to $26 million, Identity Thief to $34 million) or Sandra Bullock's latest (The Blind Side and The Proposal both opened around $34 million). While Bridesmaids and The Blind Side were both word-of-mouth hits, earning six to seven times their opening weekends, audiences here already knew they were dealing with a great product featuring known stars and a specific style of comedy. Since initial awareness was so high, The Heat's subsequent weeks won't be quite as hot as Bridesmaids, but its strong rating in exit polls should stoke this comedy right up to $150 million.

White House Down should have opened north of $30 million, but instead the action movie, the second to focus on an attack on the White House in a year, disappointed with $25.7 million. Historically, similar movies don't always lose by coming out second--meteor disaster movie Armageddon did much better than Deep Impact. But in this case, Olympus Has Fallen opened $5 million higher in March, despite a cheaper budget, a lesser-known star, and weaker reviews. White House Down should level out in coming weeks, but one of its biggest problems is the amount of competition out there. World War Z's second week earned $29.8 million, while Man of Steel, brought in $20.8 million and upcoming pictures including Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim. For star Channing Tatum, who has appeared in four $100+ million movies in the past eighteen months, this underperformance will be a slight knock to his reputation as a skyrocketing box-office star.

I'm So Excited had a strong debut, averaging $20,000 per screen in five locations. I suspect Sony Pictures Classics may have timed the release to Pride festivities this weekend. After all, Slate's Dana Stevens quipped that the Pedro Almodóvar work is "a sassy disaster-movie spoof that might as well be titled Gays on a Plane."

On Wednesday, Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger will kick off the long Fourth of July weekend.

 

Indiewire polls critics on the best 50 films so far this year

2013 is almost halfway over, though it's doubtful that half of the year's best films so far have released--they'll be coming along in the last three months of 2013. Still, in the name of a check-in, Indiewire polled movie critics about their favorite movies so far this year. The list allows some lesser-known films to shine--but it also lets some more questionable fare rise to the top. I've seen half of the films in the top ten, and a smattering from the rest of the pack. My top ten, however would be much different than IndieWire's aggregate.

In general, the Indiewire-selected critics are daring, opting for polarizing or mixed-review films. The exception is the number-one pick, Before Midnight, which boasts both a strong box-office and critical response that back up it overwhelming lead, with a score of 458 to second-place Upstream Color's 330. I couldn't get through the screener of Upstream Color, so I'm not among the film's supporters. Like the third-place pick, Spring Breakers, both films had very polarized reactions. The glacial pace of Leviathan, the number-seven pick, made me a bit lukewarm on the documentary. I don't think I've ever seen so many critics walk out on a screening, so its high placement surprises me. Further down in the top ten, The Place Beyond the Pines and Side Effects were both films I can get behind. Pines was ambitious but flawed, while Side Effects was the kind of tight genre thriller that should win over the Takens of the world.

Within the top ten, my two favorites are Frances Ha (#4) and Mud (#6), which both delivered beyond my expectations. But my other favorites of the year barely make rank. The Act of Killing (#35) still hasn't had its theatrical release, which means the jaw-dropping documentary may not have been seen by many critics yet. But The Bling Ring (#44) and Twenty Feet from Stardom (#45) also deserve higher placement, as does The East (#50).

Indiewire Top Ten:
1. Before Midnight
2. Upstream Color
3. Spring Breakers
4. Frances Ha
5. Stories We Tell
6. Mud
7. Leviathan
8. The Place Beyond the Pines
9. Side Effects
10. Like Someone In Love

'Monsters University' and 'World War Z' both score with audiences

One prediction held true this weekend. The total box office did top $200 million, but the distribution among the top three films was markedly different than many predictions. The troubled production World War Z was given a cautious weekend estimate of $40 million. Instead, the Brad Pitt-led zombie epic earned $66 million, the second-highest second-place opening ever. After shelving plans for a trilogy when the production ran into trouble, Paramount has already announced that it is working on the next chapter in the zombie epidemic story.

In first place, Monsters University continued Pixar's number-one opening record, debuting to $82 million. Audiences gave it an "A" rating, and it will likely play much stronger than last month's animated Epic. However, the silly sequel drew fewer non-family audiences than other Pixar movies: a little over a quarter of the audience didn't come as a family, compared to around a third for Brave. The movie will face tough competition in less than two weeks from Despicable Me 2, which has promised a larger dose of its adorable minions to viewers.

Man of Steel was crushed by the two new releases, particularly World War Z, which likely poached away some of its audience. The Superman relaunch dived 65% to $41 million. Still, that's not horrible for a movie that opened comfortably over $100 million, and holds the number-one spot (over WWZ) overseas.

In its second-week expansion, The Bling Ring narrowly missed placing in the top ten, cashing in with $2 million and an eleventh-place finish. Its $3,000 per-screen average was a grand off the average of fellow A24 release Spring Breakers, indicating that the movie will likely end up under that movie's $15 million cumulative to date, or that it's still in the process of building momentum. Much Ado About Nothing averaged $3,700 per screen for a total of $762,000. Its first major expansion, from 23 to 206 theatres, paid off, and the movie is outpacing other indies like The East, which earned half as much, $348,000, while playing in the same number of theatres.

This Friday will bring in two solid new releases. The action-packed White House Down will see the Presidential residence under siege, and Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock will star in the buddy-cop comedy The Heat.

'Monsters University' could outscare 'World War Z'

In a weekend filled with strong films, where the total box office should exceed $200 million, at least one may end up being squeezed out. Many in the industry expect that film to be World War Z (3,607 theatres), an expensive tentpole that may have a hard time opening above $50 million. Originally aiming for a Christmas release, Paramount scrapped the third act and did extensive reshoots to salvage the Brad Pitt-led zombie feature. Our critic Chris Barsanti found the finished product to contain traces of these problems, calling the globe-spanning movie "ambitious but confused." I found the tale of a zombie epidemic to be overhauled to my satisfaction--extremely frightening but also the kind of movie that favors more strategic zombie-killing over video game-style wholesale slaughtering. Early word-of-mouth among viewers and critics (68% of Rotten Tomatoes critics dubbed WWZ "fresh"), along with strong overseas returns, should help World War Z have stamina long after opening weekend. This weekend it will have to swim against the current, going against the second weekend of Man of Steel, which could top $50 million.

The kids who originally saw Monsters Inc. twelve years ago are all grown up, and some of them may even be in college. So it makes some sense that the prequel to the movie, Monsters University (4,004 theatres), takes place in the halls of higher education. While Pixar movies often do well with all-ages audiences, including young adults, FJI critic Daniel Eagan predicts that "customers who
remember the studio's earlier efforts may be less impressed by a
movie so calculated and predictable." Signs of Pixar's top-dog rank are there, from a "consistently pleasant" feel to great animation, but the plot "plays out like a standard college
comedy, a cleaned-up Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell vehicle." Those looking for another Up or Wall-E may want to skip this one, but it should still open north of $70 million.

After a strong debut weekend, The Bling Ring will expand in to 650 theatres. A24, the distributor behind another bad-teen film, Spring Breakers, is deploying a similar expansion strategy: follow a strong opening weekend with an aggressive expansion. Bling Ring will follow in Spring Breakers' footsteps, but shave 350 theatres off its second-week expansion total to compensate for its lower opening weekend.  The two movies pair an auteur director (Harmony Korine, Sofia Coppola) with a subject filled with mass appeal--teens gone wild. In this case, the teens robbed the houses of celebrities in order to don their clothes, a true-life story that Coppola uses to offer slivers of commentary on youth culture and wealth.

On Monday, we'll see if World War Z was able to gain on Monsters University's perceived lead going into the weekend, and if Bling Ring will be able to replicate the second-week success of Spring Breakers.

‘Man of Steel’ forges $113 million weekend

Superman saved the day after all. Man
of Steel delivered comfortably over the $100 million benchmark set by
industry insiders, finishing the weekend with $113 million and an
additional $12 million from Thursday evening shows. Consistent with many
recent blockbusters, 3D underperformed while IMAX overperformed. IMAX accounted
for 12% of overall ticket sales, while 3D (which usually includes IMAX
showings) comprised 41% of box office  For Warner Bros., this is great
news for a potential franchise. Their 2006 film Superman Returns opened
to less than half of Man of Steel, and failed to spawn any future films.
For Man of Steel, this is likely only the beginning.

 This is the End didn’t draw in the broad audiences that some expected,
earning $20 million over the weekend and $32.8 million since its
Wednesday opening. The stoner comedy earned decent marks in exit polls (B+), so
this Seth Rogen and James Franco-led apocalyptic comedy should play reasonably
well in weeks to come. However, it underperformed compared to Pineapple
Express and Tropic Thunder, similar comedies that may have benefited
from a slightly more accessible premise and broader appeal.

 Within the top ten, the biggest
surprise was the 75% drop from The Purge. The home invasion
picture overperformed in its opening weekend, but its second-week drop was on
par with a poorly received horror movie: $8 million, from $34 million
the weekend before. Poorly reviewed After Earth fell 65% in week
three, another steep fall that put its weekend total down to $3.7 million.
The ninth-place finisher has returns of $54 million to date, but that’s with a
reported budget over $130 million. Ouch. In sixth place, The Internship
was also a loser in the top ten, falling 60% to earn just $7 million in
week two. Domestically, both of these movies aren’t even close to making back
their budget.

 Writer/director Sofia Coppola’s The
Bling Ring averaged $42,000 per screen in five locations, an
excellent start for the conversation-starting look at privileged teens who
broke the law in pursuit of celebrities' designer gear. This Friday, the
tale of teen fashion-lovers turned burglars will expand into over 500 theatres.

Sundance pickup 20 Feet from
Stardom opened to $17,000 per screen in three locations. The
documentary about backup singers is a Radius-Weinstein Co. release, which means
the distributor will also be heavily focusing on the on-demand part of
distribution.

This Friday, the zombie tentpole
World War Z will open opposite the kid-friendly prequel Monsters
University.

Will 'Man of Steel' have a superhero debut over $100 million?

Warner Bros. has estimated that Man of Steel (4,207 theatres) will earn around $80 million this weekend, but that conservative figure could easily be exceeded to come in line with many forecasters' predictions of a $100 million opening. That would put the superhero movie well behind the $174 million opening of Iron Man 3, but slightly ahead of the $96 million earned by
Fast & Furious 6. The film itself is tracking 58% positive, consistent with the mixed appraisal by our critic Chris Barsanti, who applauds the performance of Henry Cavill as Superman but faults director Zack Snyder for "[burying] him inside a drearily violent, flashback-riddled story." In comparison, Iron Man 3 earned approvals from 78% of critics, and Fast & Furious 6 had a "fresh" rating from 71% of critics. However, those two movies are established franchises, while Man of Steel relaunches one--could curiosity boost opening weekend?

A comedy filled with stars playing versions of themselves, This Is The End (3,055 theatres) is a "masterful comedy filmmaking, all the more impressive for its
loose-limbed apparent casualness," our Frank Lovece notes approvingly. Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and James Franco
star as versions of themselves who (humorously) struggle to survive an apocalypse. Rogen also co-directed and co-wrote the comedy with filmmaking partner Evan Goldberg. This Is The End opened to $7.8 million on Wednesday, and could end up in the mid-$30 million range by the weekend, which would put it in the same company as another well-regarded Rogen comedy, Pineapple Express. Good reviews for this feature will keep it running in coming weeks.

The real-life story about a group of teens who robbed celebrities for their designer bags and heels gets the Sofia Coppola treatment in The Bling Ring (5 theatres). Sure, the multiple robberies carried out by the clan are "repetitive," as explained by our critic David Noh, but I also found them
to be hypnotic. Once caught, the well-clad teens describe their foibles as "learning experiences," one reason Noh was astonished by how "little comprehension the perps show
that they've, like, violated the law. Lying seems second nature to
them, though it's unclear whether they know they're lying." This one is a recommendation for anyone who liked Queen of Versailles.

The third in an indie romantic trilogy, Before Midnight, will expand into 891 theatres. In three weekends, it's earned $1.5 million and stellar per-screen averages. Its strong performance in limited release plus the name recognition suggests this Sony Pictures Classics release could have the same good fortune as another one of their similarly titled releases, Midnight in Paris. The Woody Allen-directed light romance had a similar expansion pattern and ended up earning $56 million over several months. That movie earned $5.8 million when it expanded to 900 locations, so if Before Midnight hits that target, it should be in excellent shape.

On Monday, we'll see if Man of Steel hit Warner Bros.' opening estimates or those of outside prognosticators, if This Is The End earned the stoner comedy seal of approval from its fans, and if Before Midnight is on track to be a specialty hit on par with Midnight in Paris.

 

 

Dan Stevens of 'Downton Abbey' plays an evil charmer in 'The Guest'

The departure of Matthew, played by Dan Stevens, from "Downton Abbey," felt cruel to many fans of the popular series. After we saw the character nursed back to health (spoiler alert), Matthew dies just as his heir is born. Stevens in fact jumped ship, eager to turn his starring role in the series into a movie career.

He now has now filmed three roles in as-yet unreleased movies, and signed on for a starring role in a fourth, The Guest. The busy actor played a supporting role in The Fifth Estate, which focuses on the Wikileaks scandal. Another BBC vet, Benedict Cumberbatch of "Sherlock," stars as Julian Assange, Stevens will also appear in the Liam Neeson-led detective picture A Walk Among the Tombstones. Back in "Downton Abbey" territory, he filmed a role as one part of a love triangle in Summer in February, a period piece about an artists' colony at the turn of the century. 

Now Stevens has a starring role in The Guest, which will film this summer. He will play a man who returns from a tour of duty and befriends a family. They are unaware that he has other intentions besides just friendship--as well as a secret past. The dark role will be a nice way for Stevens to diversify his star image. He will play a charming man--but an evil one. In a recent article in The Atlantic, "The Rise and Fall of Male Charm," writer Benjamin Schwarz dissects the star image of so-called charmers like Cary Grant and George Clooney. He also highlights Orson Welles' role in the noir The Third Man. As "a man who knew just how to exploit his immense charm," Welles is enthralling when he uses his powers for evil, not good. "We...know that Welles is an evil
opportunist...Never mind, because even
as Welles charmingly, openly confirms all that, he forever wins us over." Cary Grant also played on his charming persona, using it to play shady characters in the Hitchcock movies Suspicion and Notorious. In choosing such a role, Stevens has made a wise choice tread by the many charming actors before him. With so many roles in films that have yet to be released, it's likely at least one of the performances will stick, broadening Stevens' star image beyond the soapy intrigue that is "Downton Abbey."

'The Purge' doubles the opening of 'The Internship'

Thanks to savvy marketing that pulled in both horror fans and those who perfer lighter thrillers, The Purge landed on top with $36 million this weekend. Horror fans liked the idea of seeing a family fend off a violent attack in their home, while others were drawn in by the fact that a futuristic government has made this kind of behavior legal--at least for 12 hours a year. Back in 2002, Panic Room, another home invasion movie that also had more of a thriller than horror vibe, opened to $30 million. The picture performed well among Hispanic audiences, which accounted for a third of ticket sales, as well as women, who bought 56% of the tickets.

In contrast, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn couldn't excite audiences about The Internship. The comedy opened in fourth place with $18.1 million--and it cost far more than the reported $3 million for The Purge. That $18 million total is half the opening of Wedding Crashers, and it's also not a good showing for Shawn Levy, whose directing credits include the $100+ million comedy Date Night. Many critics felt uneasy with the heavy Google tie-in, which came across more like an advertisement than a lampoon, and audiences may feel the same way. In coming weeks, word-of-mouth will make this one sink quickly or coast through a bit longer.

With major blockbusters releasing since the beginning of May, plenty of pictures put in strong holdover weekends, dropping just a third from the previous weekend. Fast & Furious 6 kept its decline to 43%, which still gave the car chase movie $19.7 million. Down 33% in its second weekend, Now You See Me closely tailed Fast & Furious, posting returns of $19.5 million. Further down the list, Epic, Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby all dropped in the mid-30% range. There were a couple of losers, though: After Earth plummeted 59% in its second weekend, while The Hangover Part III lost 55% of its audience.

Joss Whedon's foray into Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, averaged $36,000 per screen in five locations, for a total of $183,000. Next week, the low-budget adaptation, set in present day, will expand into a few hundred theatres. The documentary Dirty Wars, which reveals how the "Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been fighting a secret
war against terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan," had a strong debut, averaging $16,500 per screen in four theatres.

On Wednesday, the apocalyptic comedy This Is the End will hit theatres, followed by superman's return in Man of Steel on Friday.

'Internship' and 'Purge' fight for first in quiet summer weekend

Going into the weekend, The Internship (3,365 theatres) would seem like the frontrunner. The comedy stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, whose Wedding Crashers opened to $33 million in 2005. Yet the story about technologically clueless sales guys finding a niche at Google has been receiving terrible reviews, with our Nick Schager calling the movie a "fawning tribute to Google." What starts out as a fun fish-out-of-water premise, a la Legally Blonde, devolves into a boring intern competition that was a lazy, tired way to organize a script, at least from my point-of-view.  Because of the poor reviews (only a third of Rotten Tomatoes critics are coming in "fresh") and the fact that workplace comedies are often a tough sell even without the branded entertainment feel, The Internship won't be coming in first in the class--in fact, it may not exceed $20 million.

The little speculative thriller that could, The Purge (2,536 theatres), may go over $20 million and grab first place this weekend. The premise is this: The government decides to allow a 12-hour period once a year where all crimes will go unpunished. One year, a security consultant who has profited from protecting people during the crime spree finds himself in hot water, in part because his kids don't quite understand the risks (and reasoning) behind the one-night rampage. Although The Purge has only slightly better reviews than The Internship, the picture will benefit by drawing in both horror fans and those who prefer broader suspense. It also has people in really creepy masks, the better to create goosebumps among viewers.

Writer/director Joss Whedon goes from The Avengers to Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing (5 theatres), to which both critics and Whedon fans have alighted. "While cleaving away some of
Shakespeare’s more dragging plot points, Whedon hews to the
original text," critic Chris Barsanti reports. "This refusal to juice
the material with gimmickry pays out handsomely, as Whedon’s
crackerjack cast, drawn mainly from his troupe of TV actors, spins
as fine a web of delicate comedy as will grace movie screens this
year."

Also in the mix this week is Tiger Eyes (13 theatres) an adaptation of Judy Blume's novel about a teen recovering after the sudden death of her father. Directed by Blume's son Lawrence, Tiger Eyes surprisingly has some clumsy screenwriting, according to critic Marsha McCreadie, but a great message about "going home again" and a focus that is "unquestionably a film about family."

On Monday, we'll see if the novelty of The Purge won over the branded comedy of The Internship.

'Now You See Me' pulls off magic trick, beats 'After Earth'

Going into the weekend, most predictions had After Earth opening above $30 million, and Now You See Me languishing in the teen-million range. But the predictions were wrong. Now You See Me exceeded expectations, landing in second place with a $28 million opening. After Earth underperformed with just $27 million over the weekend. The fact that Now You See Me wasn't a tentpole worked in its favor, as the feature drew younger audiences (52% under 30) who liked the idea of a light, magic-driven heist movie. The casting of popular star Morgan Freeman also contributed to the bottom line. In contrast, After Earth suffered from poor reviews and a tepid "B" CinemaScore. The original sci-fi concept also didn't entice audiences the way other pre-sold Will Smith and Jaden Smith properties, like MIB 3 and The Karate Kid, did.

Bollywood movies often debut in the top twenty, but it's rare for a feature to open in the top ten. But that was the case for Yei Jawaani Hai Deewani, which landed in ninth place with $1.6 million, posting a $10,000 per-screen average. The romantic coming-of-age story stars Ranbir Kapoor, the fourth generation of an action family who have been dubbed "Bollywood royalty."

Eco-thriller The East debuted with the highest per-screen average of the week, earning $18,900 in each of its four locations. Fellow indie The Kings of Summer was right behind, averaging $14,500 per screen in its four-screen opening weekend. Before Midnight had an excellent second weekend as it expanded from five to 31 locations. The travelogue romance averaged $13,000 per screen and earned $431,000. With $800,000 in total, the Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy starrer should pass $1 million by week three.

This Friday, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson sign up for The Internship with Google, and those in search of scares can check out the speculative thriller The Purge.

'After Earth' and 'Now You See Me' unlikely to overtake 'Fast & Furious 6'

Jaden Smith is a rising star. He played opposite his dad, Will Smith, in The Pursuit of Happyness, and then led The Karate Kid to a $55 million opening. The prospects for his latest, After Earth (3,401 theatres), are not quite as bright. Projections have the movie opening in the $35-$40 million range, which would put it behind the second weekend of Fast & Furious 6. But then again, I think there is a chance that the movie could overperform, even with the terrible reviews coming in. Our Daniel Eagan, for one, dismissed the feature as a "somber, soapy, only occasionally effective sci-fi adventure." That said, although the father-son tale is intense, meriting its PG-13 rating, it could still appeal to families with kids who are a bit past the sweet spot for animated features. Marketing has completely left out the fact that M. Night Shyamalan directed, a sign of how this once brand-name director has fallen in audiences' estimation.

A group of magicians pull off a heist in Now You See Me (2,925 theatres), which our critic Harry Haun calls a "fun ride if you don’t look where you have been or where you are headed." In other words, just sit back and enjoy the magic, and don't worry too much about the "big leaps from
logic" or unbelievable plot twists. The estimates for this sleight-of-hand feature are modest, with an expected opening in the teen millions.

There are already a few great indies out right now--Frances Ha and Before Midnight are on track to be the biggest successes, but there's also Fill the Void, Stories We Tell, What Maisie Knew, Kon-Tiki, and Mud, which is still going strong. This week, two more indies with strong prospects release. The eco-thriller The East (4 theatres), which stars Another Earth's Brit Marling, was a movie I loved, and so did our critic David Noh, who dubs it a "gripping, intelligent and deeply socially conscious thriller" that is the "best feature
inspired by the Occupy movement," with an "all-around technical smoothness and visual certitude that is a real
yet unstressed joy to anyone interested in truly good
moviemaking." A strong per-screen average in its debut will set this movie up well for the rest of the summer.

A kind of Stand By Me on stylistic steroids, The Kings of Summer (4 theatres) charmed Noh, leading him to call it the "perfect summer movie for 2013." Centering on three boys who escape to the woods, build a house, and live (somewhat successfully) off the land, the coming-of-age tale has "verve, freshness, laughs and effective moments of rue." The very accessible movie should resonate with young indie-seeking crowds.

On Monday, we'll see if After Earth manages to overperform expectations, if Now You See Me can pull off some box-office magic, and weigh in on the performance of the new and returning specialty releases.

'Fast & Furious 6' races through $120 million opening

Over Memorial Day weekend, the clear winner was Fast & Furious 6. The latest model in this octane-fueled franchise turned in the best opening yet for the series. Over the four-day period, Fast & Furious 6 earned $120 million, two-and-a-half times as much as its closest competitor, The Hangover Part III. The three-day opening was also $10 million higher than Fast Five, which debuted to $86 million in April 2011. It's rare to see franchises endure and get better over so many incarnations, but that's the case here. In its favor was an "A" rating in exit polls and high attendance among minorities, who likely connect with the diverse cast. A third of ticketbuyers were Hispanics.

While Fast & Furious 6 did better than the sequel before it, The Hangover Part III had an opening weekend that was over 50% lower than The Hangover II. In the five-day period since its Thursday opening, the comedy earned $63 million, compared to the $135 million earned by its predecessor during the same period. That's under the estimated $80 million projected by Warner Bros., while still a decent showing for an R-rated movie over the Memorial Day holiday.

Opening in fourth place, Epic scored a $42.6 million opening. Animated features usually play a long game, as families show up months after a film's release. Kids gave this movie an "A+" rating, so that may help the tale about forest creatures in coming weeks. In a month, however, Monsters University will start to siphon away family audiences.

This weekend was a good one for indies. The summer usually yields at least one indie hit, and this weekend saw the release of a few contenders. Before Midnight debuted to $322,000 over the four-day period, and its three-day per-screen average was $50,000 per location, a great start for the indie romance that is also the third film in a series. Most specialty films don't inspire sequels, but when they do, it appears they reap the same returns as mainstream franchises. The well-regarded

Fill the Void also made a strong opening, averaging nearly $20,000 per screen in three locations. The story of an Orthodox young woman sheds light on a religious world often closed off from outsiders, heightening its appeal. In its second week, Frances Ha went up 300%, pulling in $546,000 from 60 locations, which posted an average of $9,000 per screen. That's great news for the Greta Gerwig-led indie, which could end up being director Noah Baumbach's biggest success yet.

In seventh place, Mud rose 9% over the four-day period for a total of $2.4 million. With a cumulative total over $15 million, the movie is now Roadside Attractions' best-performing release.

On Friday, Will and Jaden Smith topline the apocalyptic After Earth, magicians pull off a heist in Now You See Me, and indies The East and The Kings of Summer join the fray.

Forget piracy, could Google Glass inspire a new film aesthetic?

Google Glass is still in an expanded beta stage. Select people dubbed "Glass Explorers" can pay $1,500 for a pair of the glasses that take pictures and record video, but the equipment is not yet available to the public. Even pre-launch, the combination of the groundbreaking technology and Google's name have made the device a hot topic. The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) has already expressed concern about the glasses, which would make pirating a movie that much easier. That may be true. But after looking at this (must-see) demo video, I think that Google Glass will influence Hollywood in a much more substantial way. Google Glass stands to be a huge influence on film aesthetic in years to come.

Starting with The Blair Witch Project in 1999, the amateur or found footage style has proliferated in movies, especially in the horror genre, because it lent a sense of raw authenticity that married well with scares. The look was inspired by home movies, which had a shakiness and motion that was easily identifiable. Now Google Glass is on track to be the new "home movie," and indie filmmakers will likely be the first to copy this aesthetic.

Movies have long had point-of-view shots, but those taken by Google Glass are at a whole new level. Using what appears to be a wide-angle lens, Google Glass can simulate the exact point-of-view of a person, including realistic shots of hands. Compare that to traditional point-of-view shots. They have a hard time getting close enough to show the body of the actor (plus, how would that work--have the actor be the camera operator?). The Glass shots have a more realistic angle and look even closer than those taken by the popular helmet cams of snowboarders and skiers, the only other widely used POV cameras I can think of.

Seeing a hand reach out to grab a fellow trapeze artist, or a spot-on cockpit view, is a huge departure from classical form. But I think that omission is purely related to technological capability. Traditionally, point-of-view shots do not to look  down or directly in front of the actor, but off in the distance, at a character or object. Director Alfred Hitchcock is considered a master of subjective point-of-view shots, but just imagine what this sequence from Psycho might have looked like with a bit of the Google Glass aesthetic. Or Gus Van Sant's 2003 movie Elephant, which featured extreme long takes that followed behind actors, obscuring any emotions on their face. If that movie were made post-Google Glass, I would be extremely surprised if Van Sant didn't strongly consider incorporating this aesthetic. Besides their demo video, Google also partnered with designer Diane Von Furstenberg during fashion week in September, and this video offers a hint at some of Glass' applications. Point-of-view shots have long been a part of Hollywood form, but the visceral sense of closeness imparted by Google Glass unlocks a myriad of opportunities for filmmakers. What about a dance documentary that includes the Google Glass perspective of the dancer? Or an action film where people can see the hero's hands fire a weapon as he looks off into the distance? Or a victim struggle with an assailant in a horror film? One thing's certain: Hollywood will not be ignoring Google Glass.