Anthony J. Merced

If slow and steady wins the race, George Clooney is at least a league ahead of the competition. His latest film The American opened to an estimated 16.4 million over the holiday weekend. This may not sound like much, especially for such a big star in a James Bond-ish action film, but it is definitely an improvement over last year’s holiday showings. At that time, The Final Destination took the top spot with 15 million. The film had already been in theaters for two weeks and had seen the significant drop off that most horror films see in the ensuing weeks, more on this later. While The American is not a runaway hit, it kept George Clooney on pace for his usual box office numbers. On average his films open at 14 million in their opening weekend of release. Subsequent weeks will show if Clooney’s new action/espionage film will have legs for a franchise. If there is an American actor that could play such a role, George Clooney would be it.

Finishing in second was the Robert Rodriguez action-exploitation film Machete. With a production budget of only 20 million dollars, Machete won’t have the mountain to climb that Grindhouse had. This latest action film south of the border garnered a respectable 14 million dollars. Considering the lack of star power compared to recent Rodriguez films, this makes the second place opening more than just a moral victory. Grindhouse totaled only 25 million in the box office with the combined effort of Rodriguez and Tarantino. The internet buzz around Danny Trejo’s portrayal of a vigilante Mexican over the years didn’t die down and definitely helped to produce the not so typical holiday crowds. Up until Sunday, it actually looked as if Machete would finish number 1 in the box office. Unfortunately, low sales on Sunday (possibly due to traveling) kept the film from possibly reaching its full potential. The coming weeks may not treat this film kindly. However, it would be nearly impossible for the film not to make it’s modest budget back while still in theaters.

One week after a strong showing The Last Exorcism saw an unusually high drop off rate, nearly 64%. Of course, this shouldn’t bother the producers who saw their investment returned on the first day. The supernatural horror film made an extra 8.8 million dollars finishing fourth behind the Takers. The next few weeks should really show whether or not the latest attempt at scaring people back to church actually works. If not, it’ll do damage to DVD shelves around the country.

Notable Openings This Week:

Resident Evil Afterlife: 3D

If there’s one thing that has been proven countless times through multiple generations, it’s the fact that well marketed horror movies will always have a special place in the hearts of movie goers. The Last Exorcism is yet another movie that pulls inspiration from the famed 1973 blockbuster The Exorcist. No matter how many times the formula is washed, rinsed and repeated there always seems to be an audience for it. In 2005 The Exorcism of Emily Rose garnered 30 million dollars in its opening weekend. While this latest tale of demonic possession did not have as impressive of a showing, the profit made off of it is far from forgettable. The Last Exorcism pulled in 21.3 million making 20 times more than its production budget of 1.8 million. The Exorcism of Emily Rose had a budget of 19 million.

The success of The Last Exorcism has to be attributed partially to The Exorcist-heavy marketing campaign. The bulk of it centered around Ashley Bell, the young actress that bears a striking resemblance to Linda Blair in many of the ads. The similar night gown and contorted poses also brought to mind some of the horrifying moments of the 1973 horror masterpiece. If you’re going for shock in a film about demonic possession it is definitely wise to mimic the film that invented the genre. The Last Exorcism succeeded in not only grabbing the attention of audiences but also succeeded in setting itself apart from other supernatural duds such as 2009’s The Unborn and The Exorcist: The Beginning.

The other shock from this weekend’s numbers was Takers, a more urban version take on the Oceans Eleven franchise. The movie, held up by more hip hop artists than Hollywood star power, garnered 21 million in its opening weekend. Going into Sunday it looked like it was headed to the top of the box office charts. A late fall made the weekend a photo finish. Hayden Christensen continues to place himself in sleeper hits. Last year he was part of the sci-fi film Jumper. While it didn’t have the most impressive showing, the film spawned tremendous marketing opportunities. The impressive showing by such an unproven cast might mean we see more musical acts on the big screen, a trend that seems to wax and wane every other decade.

Two weeks in and Internet fans are crying over the lack of enthusiasm shown toward Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The heavily marketed 60 million dollar film has little hope of recouping it’s costs while in theaters. The dismal showing was compounded by the fact that Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendibles, filled with action movie stars of years past, has sat on top of the box office charts for two weeks. A common interpretation has been that people don’t understand Edgar Wright’s latest film. Another reason is that Americans have bad cinematic tastes. The only thing for certain is that movie goers have little to no interest in seeing yet another Michael Cera romantic nerd comedy.

I’d like to state that I actually really like Michael Cera. I thought that Paper Hearts was not only one of the more original concepts but also one of the most effective romantic comedies I’ve seen in quite some time. How Scott Pilgrim vs. The World failed is more of a sign of audience desire than anything else. In the 80’s and 90’s, fans were kept healthy with a heavy dose of action films. Many of which were far from making any sort of sense from a cinematic or plausibility standpoint. However, this level of fantasy is a necessity for audiences. Aside from the occasional Jason Statham Crank film, people have been left desiring more in recent years. The Expendables gave mindless entertainment seekers something to sink their teeth into. What Scott Pilgrim vs. The World represented was a new age action hero. Something that many audiences weren’t ready to accept.

Lately I’ve seen a lot of arguments that lean heavily towards the lack of internet support for the film. However, time has shown that the internet has not been able to produce a significant dollar value in the entertainment business. Television and print advertisement still dominates the medium. Whether or not that changes in the coming generation remains to be seen. Scott Pilgriim vs. The World centered heavily on an internet marketing campaign. The posters avoided descriptions of any sort of plot description or even cast members. Michael Cera’s face was usually obscured during a moment of musical enjoyment. This sort of marketing detached the everyday man or woman from being able to acknowledge what they were viewing. While the posters were quite original, they failed to do what movie posters are supposed to do… promote the film.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World could be suffering from the same thing that The Wizard of Oz suffered from or even Citizen Kane. It could be a great movie obscured by lack of interest. The DVD sales of the film will show this more than anything else. While I can’t comment on the content of the film, I can say that universally the film has been snubbed on its initial release. Whether or not this reflects the actual content is a completely different argument.

Will Ferrell comes back guns blazing, literally, after a lackluster summer opening last year. The Other Guys, also staring Mark Wahlberg, managed to rip the title of number 1 film in America away from Inception which actually held strong in its fourth week. The cop parody film garnered 35.6 million in its opening weekend, nearly doubling the amount of this year’s other cop comedy Cop Out. Last year, Will Ferrell missed the mark with a seemingly uninteresting remake of the classic television series Land of the Lost. Fortunately for him, it did not extinguish his selling potential. Of course the film is bolstered by a much stronger cast than usual for Ferrell. Along side the comedic money maker is Mark Wahlberg, who has successfully separated himself from his 90’s pop star gimmick. Now he looks to prove his versatility by taking on a slapstick role. Alongside them are fellow money makers Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. If anything, they provide the name power to put a few more butts in the seats. The Other Guys is Will Farrell’s second highest grossing opening, next to Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

With the dance film trilogy now complete, it is safe to say that Step Up 3-D did not live up to expectations. Although, I don’t know if there were any expectations going in. While, billboards littered buses and even took up large amounts of real estate in Times Square, the interest level of the film never seemed to materialize. A very dismal 15.8 million might signal the death of this dancing franchise but gives a boost to the 3-D lobbyists, providing evidence that 3-D is still attractive. In fact, 3-D screenings showed for more than 81% of Step Up’s earnings. Eliminate the high ticket price and Step Up 3-D performed well below expectations.

The blockbuster month continues this Friday as both The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World finally hits theaters. We’ll see if the tag team of Mark Wahlburg and Will Farrell can fend of Sylvester Stallone and Michael Cera.

2012 is set to be one of the more ambitious years in comic book cinema history. Batman 3, Spiderman reboot, Green Lantern and the first Avengers film will somehow try to squeeze into the summer months in an attempt to steal viewers from one another. While it is arguable that interest is at its peak, comic book films have always been a tremendous hit or miss proposition. Unlike the horror film genre, which has seen a disappearance from cinematic relevance, the comic book genre is dependent on expensive special effects, big name actors and sometimes unfilmable source material. Their success comes down to whether or not they can break into the status of cultural phenomenon.

Last year, Watchmen was only able to garner 107 million of its 140 million dollar budget domestically. After great hype and a very loyal fan base, DC and Warner Bros. were left with a financial lemon. Early warning signs are showing that comic book films are on the steady decline. As is the case with any genre, certain franchises continue to produce. Iron Man 2 had a fantastic showing amidst sub par reviews. However, formerly successful franchises such as Spiderman, X-Men, and Superman have seen their credibility shrink under several very unconvincing performances. While certain franchises will continue to produce for years to come, it is impossible to say that audiences have not reached their limit with the comic book craze. 2 Fantastic Four movies, 2 Incredible Hulk movies, 2 Punisher movies, Daredevil, Electra, Ghost Rider, and most recently Jonah Hex have shown that audiences are not jumping into seats to see what’s next to pop off of the pages. Much like the horror genre, the lack of consistent and original material is slowly draining a very patient and forgiving audience. By 2012, filmgoers and comic book lovers will be asked to keep the genre alive.

Three weeks in and it doesn’t seem like Inception is going anywhere for the moment. The movie managed to make a little over 27 million in its third week on top of the charts. This weekend didn’t provide as much opposition as previous weeks. Dinner for Schmucks opened to a dismal 23 million dollar showing. While this is good news for Paul Rudd, who celebrates his highest grossing opening as a lead man, it doesn’t help Steve Carell who has fallen quite a bit since the days of 40 Year Old Virgin. The continued over exposure of Zach Galifianakis didn’t add a boost to a film that seemed destined for second place.

While, Dinner for Schmucks seems to suffer from more than just critical apathy, its moderate “success” cannot be understated. Get Him to the Greek, I Love You, Man and Role Models each fell short of  a bigger opening weekend. In fact Dinner for Schmuck’s opening even surpasses last year’s Judd Apatow superstar comedy Funny People. The question begs to be asked whether or not there is any star power in comedies any more. Zach Galifianakis has never been known as a draw. However his association with Steve Carell and a bit of residual Hangover magic didn’t seem to make a whole lot of difference. Perhaps the comedy formula has fallen flat. Over the top comedies such as Hot Tub Time Machine couldn’t find extreme success either. Although, its low budget makes it easier to stomach.

The coming weeks will put Inception’s reign to its ultimate test. With a continued drop off and the release of a highly marketing Will Farrell movie The Other Guys it seems that Inception’s days on top may be numbered. If it does survive on top for a fourth consecutive week, it’ll be face to face with the anticipated release of The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Two weeks in and it looks like Inception won’t be going anywhere. Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi epic managed to ward off Angelina Jolie’s latest action romp Salt. While this isn’t completely unexpected, it is rather impressive considering Inception has only dropped 32% from it’s opening weekend (credit: www.boxofficemojo.com). So far the movie has garnered over 142 million in domestic theaters alone. Considering it’s already blowing away other summer Sci-Fi blockbusters in years past, it’s worth inquiring whether or not Christopher Nolan is the selling point, or the very unique premise. Nolan’s success with The Batman franchise can’t be understated. However, he’s been able to hold audiences with his other works. Something that previous comic book adapters such as Bryan Singer Zack Snyder have been unable to do. While Nolan’s third Batman film will sell on expectations alone, it’ll be interesting to watch whether or not he continues with the franchise after solidifying his name as one of the world’s premiere filmmakers.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which opened two weeks ago, continues to have a dismal showing. It seems that children aren’t buying in to the “coolest job ever.” Lackluster reviews also didn’t help the film that was banking on mystifying children around the world. It’s 45% drop left it hanging with a mere 9.7 million dollar weekend. Unfortunately that doesn’t help put a dent into the 150 million dollar budget.

Ten years ago, if you would have said that Blockbuster Video would disappear or fade out of relevancy people would have doubted your sanity. As of today, Blockbuster is in critical condition and expected to die at some point in 2011. How did this happen? How did a company that seemed ahead of its time fall so fast? As is the case in the business world, the winds of change blow in quickly. The inability to adapt quickly makes your company go from relevant to archaic.

The interesting thing about the fall of Blockbuster is not how quickly but how slowly it happened. At first, Blockbuster was a monster that stood alone. From its beginnings in Dallas, Texas it seemed that the market was one that they could dominate for many decades to come. However, as most things go in entertainment, the medium changed. First, VHS tapes became DVD’s. This wasn’t a problem. Entire libraries nationwide were switching from the clunky tape format anyway. What they didn’t expect was that anyone would be interested in anything more than a pay-per-rental model. Netflix quickly proved this wrong. They provided subscribers with unlimited rentals, no due dates and no late fees. This was made possible by the relatively simple and cheap methods of manufacturing multiple copies of DVD films. Normally a VHS tape suffers generation loss from one copy to the next. No copy ever looks as clean as the original source. However with DVD’s each copy looks as crisp as the one that came before it. This meant that any damaged or lost copies were easily and cheaply replaceable.

Blockbuster attempted to employ many different strategies to counter the growing number of Netflix subscribers. They dipped their toes into the online rental business only to see it flounder. They also tried to eliminate late fees. This campaign lost them even more money. While late fees had been abolished, many customers were charged the full purchase price and restocking fee of the film. This lead to a lengthy and costly investigation in 48 states. As of July second one of the last major blows was announced to investors. Blockbuster will voluntarily delist from the New York Stock Exchange due to share prices falling below $1 a share.

The future doesn’t look bright for the once dominate force in entertainment rentals. With Netflix, Hulu, and even Youtube entering into the market of streaming media, Blockbuster is once again left out in the cold. At this rate it only seems like a matter of time before the once dominate empire crumbles into obscurity.

According to boxofficemojo.com Despicable Me rules the movie mountain after its 60.1 million dollar opening weekend. This number is impressive considering the hype behind The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has yet to die down. Also this is the second highest grossing non Pixar original animated film (The first being Kung Fu Panda). This may not seem impressive considering the huge opening numbers that Toy Story 3 put up but it does show that other companies are starting to find the right strategy. Pixar has flexed its muscles over the years, popping out one incredible film after another. Not only have they garnered financial success, but they’ve also stolen the elusive critical success that never seems to follow movies with high box office grosses.

The other interesting fact about Despicable Me is that most of its first weekend gross did not come from 3D screenings. As of late, the popular belief is that 3D screenings have inflated the overall numbers due to high ticket prices. Only 45% came from the 3D premium ticket price. This issue is two fold. One way to look at it is to say that people are rejecting the higher ticket price. This may be true although the extremely high grosses of Alice in Wonderland and How to Train Your Dragon have shown otherwise. The second issue is that younger audience members simply do not enjoy the 3D experience. Lately I’ve spent a great deal of time with my younger cousins and have noticed that they do not have the patience for the glasses. Many times they prefer to watch the films in 2D.

Either way, Despicable Me’s great opening weekend has momentarily solidified the union between Universal and the upstart animation company Illumination Entertainment.

Major motion pictures are a strange machine with many complex parts. Most of those parts have a stake in the financial outcome of the picture. This means that any one of those complex parts also has a say in what is left on the cutting room floor and what is finally showcased to the world. No genre suffers from this system more than the biopic. On the surface it seems like a very simple formula for success. The only task is to tell the successful story of a beloved or hated popular figure. However, what we normally get is lifeless shell that attempts to deify more than exemplify.

Biopics are no different from any other film. Many of them based on published books or memoirs. This means that a great deal of rights need to be cleared ahead of time. In the case of a biopic, not only does the source material need to be cleared, but the final product usually must also be cleared by the person or their estate. Like most people, we all want to be remembered for our finer moments rather than our glaring mistakes. Unfortunately, the most interesting cinema (and art in general) centers around our faults or imperfections. Biopics seem to lightly wash over these character flaws as merely a footnote on the way to perfection. In rare cases, Raging Bull, we get an image of the imperfect man. It is a sobering look at how success does not equate to the cinematic happiness that Hollywood has portrayed since its inception.

In 2001 Michael Mann directed Will Smith in a biopic about the memorable and often times controversial Muhammad Ali. More than any other biopic in memory, this film suffers from an extreme version of revisionist history. They say that the winners always rewrite history. However, in today’s information age it is easy to see when those rewrites take place. Ali was more of a memorial to the beloved sports figure than a film about a human being. His insecurities were washed over by athletic and political achievements. What should have been a film showing one of the more complex figures in American history turned into a chronicle of professional achievement.

This past weekend I attended a screening of the French film Coco Before Chanel. As you would guess it chronicled the early life of famed fashion designer Coco Chanel. While the film was entertaining and mildly insightful, it still suffered from the usual biopic symptoms. Coco Chanel is portrayed as a women who seemingly always knew what to do. The movie placed her in a world where she was surrounded by the insanity of the upper class. When presented with a problem it is never of her own creation. A brief search into information about her life shows a much more interesting picture after the movie ended. While her love life makes for interesting drama, it seems to neglect who she was and what her place in fashion history is (although a few words in the epilogue of the film shed some light on this).

The biopic is an interesting conundrum in Hollywood. The non fictional life does not fit into the perfect mold of the Hollywood movie structure. Unfortunately, there have been few attempts to think outside of the box. Most times, real lives are shoved into a format that doesn’t suit it. This why the modern documentary has slowly crept into the place of the biopic.