'Gravity's' record-setting haul flies past expectations

While many of us were expecting Gravity to achieve great financial heights over its opening weekend, the 3D thriller performed even better than predicted. The latest film from Alfonso Cuaron, his first since 2006’s Children of Men (don’t call it a comeback), earned a soaring $55.6 million this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It now holds the record for the largest opening in October, outpacing previous record-holder Paranormal Activity 3, which clocked in at $52.6 million back in 2011. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Gravity’s impressive haul is its breakdown: 80% of the film’s revenue came from 3D showings, amounting to roughly $44 million in sales. With #Gravity blowing up social media, I think it’s safe to call the movie a cultural phenomenon, granting pop-culture enthusiasts a much-needed trend on which to expound following the end of last week’s hot topic, “Breaking Bad.” Both star Sandra Bullock and her chatty partner-in-space George Clooney can also thank the survival flick for giving them their best – biggest – domestic opening ever.

More in-line with last week’s expectations and predictions, Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck’s Runner Runner failed to drum up much foot traffic. The stars’ action/drama feature earned a disappointing $7.6 million in domestic box-office; its international gross has been tallied at $23.6 million. Luckily, the movie only cost roughly $30 million to make, so stars and studio alike can pretty much cut their losses on this one and, much like Gigli or JT’s blonde curls, move beyond it in the interest of making wiser choices. (Let’s hope Ben Affleck’s turn in the new Batman movie falls into the latter category!)

The charming Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 continues to hold strong sway with audiences. The animated sequel boasted the second-best weekend behind Gravity, earning $21.5 million and bringing its total domestic earnings up to $60.5 million.

Tom Hanks’ new, captivating thriller Captain Phillips, based on a true sequence of events involving modern-day pirates, also saw some enthusiastic responses when it opened for several preview showings this past weekend.  On average, theaters at most of the 800 screening locations were 75% full, with many playing to sold-out crowds. The movie opens wide this coming weekend.

Though we could write all day about box office grosses and who’s out-drawing whom, we’ll end today’s recap with an update on the late James Gandolfini’s final feature, Enough Said. The romantic comedy co-starring the woman with an infallible sense of comedic timing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, finally cracked the top 10 over the weekend, earning $5.4 million.  It will expand to around 650 more theatres this Friday.

Pre-Toronto, hype builds for 'Gravity' and James Cameron gives his endorsement

For those that have been following the Venice and Telluride film festivals, there's one movie that keeps being talked about: Gravity. Our contributor Tomris Laffly named it in her festival top two. Now, leading up to its next appearance at the Toronto Film Festival, the buzz is approaching an onslaught. Variety just released an article going into deep detail about how writer/director Alfonso
Cuaron conquered the incredible technical challenges of making the film---so much so, the movie took 4 1/2 years to make, in part because of the technology needed to film realistic, weightless scenes in space, and needed to do so using his trademark long takes. I try not to get too excited about films that get this much early hype, but in this case, it's hard not to get worked up for this feature. Nearly everything Variety says sounds like Gravity is chock-full of Oscar nominations.

On Sandra Bullock, who already looks like a Best Actress contender:

"Because it was laborious to get in and out of her rig, Bullock chose to
stay inside the light box alone for nine or 10 hours at a time,
communicating only through a headset. Though she calls those hours
isolating and silent, she adds, 'It also gave me the opportunity to dig
as deeply as I needed to for whatever was required, in privacy. … To me
it felt as though there was nothing but the thoughts in my head to give
me company.'"

On just one of the lighting challenges faced by Cuaron's cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, a five-time Oscar nominee--I'm pretty sure that alone makes him a shoo-on for the statuette:

"Lubezki suggested folding an LED screen into a box, putting the actor
inside, and using the light from the screen to light the actor. That
way, instead of moving either Bullock or Clooney in the middle of static
lights, the projected image could move while they stayed still and
safe."

And there's the endorsement of the film (and by extension, writer/director Cuaron) by one of the most technically precise filmmakers out there, James Cameron:

“'What is interesting is the human dimension,' Cameron says. 'Alfonso and Sandra working together to create an absolutely seamless portrayal of a woman fighting for her life in zero gravity.'"

For those eager to get past the September slump and catch some Oscar-worthy films, they're in luck: Gravity will be one of the first awards frontrunners to release, coming out on October 4.

‘Gravity’ sequence earns positive buzz at Comic-Con

Comic-Con attendees might be running out of superlatives to
throw at Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming deep-space thriller Gravity, after an
extended sequence was presented at the festival on Saturday. Fans took to
Twitter to call the footage—which showed leads George Clooney and Sandra
Bullock weathering an attack on a space station—“beyond intense” and “one of
the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen.” Others singled out the
“astonishing 3D” or the impressive long takes that structured the sequence, and
apparently comprise much of the film.

A panel conference with Cuarón, Bullock, and producer David
Heyman followed the showing, and helped elucidate the unusual process of making
an unusual movie. Gravity tells the story of two astronauts who are cut
off from their shuttle after a space debris collision, and are left
floating—untethered and with a dwindling supply of oxygen. Bullock and Clooney
are the only two actors shown in the film, which seems to layer even its bursts
of action with a tone of eerie minimalism.

Isolation, however, was not just a plot point, but a
technological necessity. In order to replicate the conditions of zero-gravity,
Bullock spent much of the shoot suspended in a 9x9 foot cube, surrounded by
camera-wielding robotic arms. She would often stay inside her contraption
between takes, and claimed she learned to meditate during the shoot. At other
times, a camera might rush towards her at 25 miles an hour, only to stop an
inch from her nose.

 

When asked about inspiration behind the project, Cuarón paid
respects to Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped, which details a war
prisoner’s plan to break out of a Nazi prison. It’s a fitting mention given Escaped’s
focus on confinement, but also because of the 1956 film’s meticulous attention
to sound—from the turn of a key to the distant footstep of a guard.  Gravity
promises similar detail. As soon as Cuarón took the stage he poked fun at the
explosions that the studios had put in the trailers; “As we know, there is no
sound in space. In the film, we don’t do that.” And Bullock credited the
specially designed music and sounds that played on her headphones between takes
for putting her in the right space.

Cuarón, who’s famous for his displays of filmmaking
prowess—especially that seven-and-a-half-minute single shot in Children of
Men—made sure to emphasize the human side of the story, downplaying the
importance of his virtuosic methods in favor of the film’s “emotional journey.”
And Bullock certainly included some intriguing nuggets about her character—she
tried to make herself as androgynous as possible in order to portray a woman
with a conflicted past in relation to motherhood and femininity. Then again,
who can’t be curious about the technological spectacle of it all (and a rumored
17-minute long opening take)? When asked if making a film entirely out of very
long shots was a challenge Cuarón joked, “It’s not difficult for me. It’s
difficult for everyone around me.”

Sandra Bullock lines up another movie project

By Sarah Sluis

Sandra Bullock may just be one of the most likeable leading ladies in Hollywood. On the heels of her Best Actress win at the Oscars for The Blind Side, she's been circling a number of potential movies.

The latest such project would re-team her with her director on The Proposal, Anne Fletcher, and be produced by Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot. Variety described the project as "An Unmarried Woman meets Saturday Night Fever." So what does that mean? The 1978 movie An Unmarried Woman has been described as a woman's lib-inspired tale of an affluent Upper East Sider whose husband divorces her, leaving her unmoored. She learns to go out on her own and grow as a person. The allusion to Saturday Night Fever makes me think part of her self-discovery in this as-yet untitled film will involve DANCING!

Thoughts:

1) On one level, this project seems like a straight pandering to the "Dancing with the Stars" crowd, the popular reality competition show that has an intense following among middle-aged women: You, too, can redefine yourself after your divorce...through dance! Related: Can Bullock dance?

2) The "women's lib" element in An Unmarried Woman will have to be tweaked. Bullock can't be just a lady-who-lunches. Three decades later, most families have two working parents, and I don't think audiences will have as much sympathy for an rich idle woman in a recession climate. If she were in a situation where she was convinced to give up her career because of her husband's demanding job, for example, that would engender a lot more sympathy for her character.

Bullock has two other projects in the work that are more in the "serious drama" category: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a Scott Rudin-led literary adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel about 9/11, and Gravity, a sci-fi project being helmed by Alfonso Cuarn. I hope Bullock pursues one of these projects as well. Bullock has shown herself as an accomplished actress of comedy (Ms. Congeniality), action thrillers (Speed) and sentimental dramas (The Blind Side). Here's to seeing her in both familiar roles and new ones.

2010 Oscars favor 'The Hurt Locker' over 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

This weekend was a crazy one for Hollywood, both at the box office and at the Oscars. On Sunday's Oscar ceremony, The Hurt Locker won Best Picture over Avatar, its only real competition. And Alice in Wonderland kicked off the weekend by bulldozing over Avatar's opening three-day gross, earning $116.3 million, a whopping 50% more than Avatar's first-weekend $77 million. Thanks to these two events, Hollywood's prominent, front-running 3D sci-fi spectacle got knocked down back to Earth--a little bit.

The Academy Awards themselves came and went without any major surprises. Most of the whispered favorites in the blogosphere ended up going on to win the awards. With my ear firmly placed to the ground, this blogger was able to correctly pick all the acting categories, director, and picture, along with other talked-about categories like Original Score and Adapted Screenplay. Sure, it required a bit of luck, but also that oft-repeated phrase that "Hollywood likes a good story." That's part of the reason Kathryn Bigelow ("The first woman!!!") won Best Director. To make the award mean more, it seems right to follow it up with Best Picture, no? James Cameron already had his go at being "King of the World," and the Academy wanted to give someone else a turn.

That mood was extended to three of the four acting categories. Christoph Waltz, the winner of Best Supporting Actor, seemed to be the only person whose win was a story of performance alone. Mo'Nique also turned in a great performance, but her victory also seemed to be about coming into the Hollywood family, learning a bit about how the game works while at the same time refusing to play it, since she came under a lot of criticism early in awards season for skipping ceremonies and supposedly requesting appearance fees. In her speech, she opened by saying "First of all I would like to thank the Academy, for showing that it can be about the performance, and not the politics." Okay, but isn't an explicitly "unpolitical" choice making its own kind of anti-statement? Now I'm just running my head round in circles...

Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges both won versions of the "It's their time" informal lifetime achievement award--but that didn't mean everyone didn't feel all warm and fuzzy to see these stars finally recognized. Following Mo'Nique, Bullock went right out and acknowledged the motives behind her own win, starting with "Did I really earn this or did I just wear y'all down?" Since Bullock is primarily a comedic actress, and will be unlikely to receive such an opportunity again, it was nice to see this talented performer win for a body of work that includes goofy, non-Oscar films like Miss Congeniality. Bridges, who won on his fifth nomination, was also a pleasure to see on the podium. He called his profession "groovy" (Is he actually like his Big Lebowski character The Dude?) and thanked his wife profusely. Shockingly, by Hollywood standards, they have been married over thirty years. She looked, horror of horrors, like a fifty-year-old woman, and seeing how Bridges has remained true to his roots and first love made me appreciate the actor even more.

To cap off the ceremony, The Hurt Locker won Best Director (which James Cameron claimed not to want) and Best Picture (which James Cameron wanted). I can't wrap my head around how little money The Hurt Locker has made. How can a war movie, an action movie, about bomb diffusers make less in total ($14.7 million) than one Saturday night of Avatar's run? I hope this movie is making a killing in the DVD market, and earned a pretty penny for television rights, but its theatrical release was a disappointment. What's weirder, the movie was a really slow burn. Last year it received just two acting nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards, and won zero. However, given the movie's June release (a rarity for Oscar nominees, let alone winners), maybe a low box office was the price they had to pay for the visibility of being the only awards-worthy movie released that month. As the lowest-grossing movie (pretty much ever) to win the Best Picture Oscar, this movie was propelled by critical word-of-mouth and industry viewings. Now it's a matter of having the rest of the U.S. catch up. Its re-release into theatres this weekend earned it about $400k, and I sincerely hope moviegoers will purchase at least another million bucks in tickets next weekend.

Sandra Bullock, Redbox, and 'Avatar': signs of change in the movie business

By Sarah Sluis

A quick scan of today's top stories shows records falling, new material, genres and stars bringing in big dollars at the box office, and the rental business changing--all signs of an exciting, change-filled year ahead.

First off, Sandra Bullock became the first sole female headliner to bring a movie to $200 million domestically with The Blind Side. A couple caveats: "Sole headliner" is kind of an arbitrary distinction. In fact, it mattered little to me that both what's-their-names Nia Vardalos and John Corbett both received credit on My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And add in inflation, and Pretty Woman's $178.4 million gross twenty years ago doesn't look so shabby (though perhaps Richard Gere had something to do with it). So while I appreciate the record, it's not like a female has never brought a film to $200 million before, it's just that they had some prominent supporting actors or co-stars that also received billing. Now that I've said my piece, congratulations to Sandra Bullock! There's a reason your goofy films like Miss Congeniality always merit watching when they come up on cable, and why you're a part of so many people's DVD collections.

Next up, Redbox, which added $1 billion to the rental market. DVD sales are down a lot, Blockbuster is down a little, but Redbox and Netflix have come in with two models that make renting a movie easy and economical. Even illegal downloaders pay for the convenience of these products. As a Manhattanite, I've never seen a Redbox (though I've heard of sightings of them in Brooklyn), but rest assured, if I were driving to strip malls, I'd be using them for their convenience and pricing structure. I also love that while Netflix is working the market of "deep cuts," using a robust recommendation system to get people to discover unlikely movies, Redbox has been working only on the small percentage of new releases with hyperawareness. Who ever thought that rental markets could be divided in this way? It's pretty clever.

Finally, Avatar, which I'm sure I will be talking about on this blog for months to come. It's the first adult broad-appeal 3D movie of the era, and it's breaking records left and right. A few weeks into its run, my mother just got around to telling me she plans to see it. With this kind of slow build of awareness through the grapevine, this movie will be playing in theatres for months to come. What does James Cameron have up his sleeve that will give him the #1 and #2 movie of all time? In fact, it's that neglected Hollywood demographic: women. Both of these two films have paired action and romance against a background of special-effects and spectacle, making it a must-see for both men and women. Avatar doesn't have as much of a love story as Titanic, so it probably won't do as well. It's worth noting that Cameron'sTerminator films and Aliens also have some of the most memorable female action heroes of all time, minus the love stories that figure into Avatar and Titanic, so that just might be the difference.

Audiences swoon for 'The Proposal'

By Sarah Sluis

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

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

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

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

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

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