10/22/09

Box Office Breakdown: Each week the Coen Brothers’ latest said-to-be masterpiece, A Serious Man, plays on a few more screens, ramping all the way up to 81 this week (sillytalk when compared to the 2,000 or 3,000 most studio-made films play on nationwide). Me stumped. Hopefully the film, which has now grossed just under $2 million (teardrop), gets a legit release soon. Meanwhile, as predicted on these pages last week, Spike Jonze’s third film, Where the Wild Things Are, took the No. 1 spot with $32.5 million in sales in its first week. Me smart. Score one for the good guys. Taking the No. 2 spot for the weekend was the supposedly solid F. Gary Gray thriller, Law Abiding Citizen, bring in just over $21 million in its first week. The No. 3 spot went to the much-buzzed-about low-budg thriller Paranormal Activity, which brought in over $20 million in it’s first proper weekend. Look for this film to bring in even more next weekend and through the Halloween season. Date comedy Couples Retreat held steady at $18 million while newbie Sony horror flick The Stepfather took the five spot with a somewhat unexpected $12 million weekend. Yawn.

New This Week: Fox/Searchlight’s prime bid for Oscar attention this year, Amelia, a biopic that needs no explanation, will open on 800 screens nationwide. Hilary Swank stars alongside Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor. Saw VI will unfortunately hit 3,000 screens nationwide this week, as will surefire children’s animated hit Astro Boy. (ScreenTime will do its best to never see either of these films.) Both films should make some decent bread, that is, unless audiences chose to stick with Paranormal and Wild Things, which is actually very possible. Fingers crossed like antennas to heaven. Also opening is director Paul Weitz’ oddball vamp flick, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant. Featuring a stellar cast of John C. Reilly, Willem Dafoe, Josh Hutcherson, Salma Hayek and Ken Watanabe, Freak is the first film based on a trilogy of books called “The Saga of Darren Shan.” Check the trailer online - looks wild. Reviews so far aren’t favorable, but hey, you attach the words “trilogy,” “Salma” and “vampire” to any project and you can usually plan on some pretty solid bank.

The Buzz: Well it’s finally official, after so, so, so much chatter and hipster fuss, one of the decade’s truly great television programs, “Arrested Development,” will make it to the big screen. While no actors have “officially” signed on, plans have been made and creator Mitchell Hurwitz is probably working on the script as you read this. (Or getting stoned; we’ve heard things, man!) Variety reports that all the major players from the tele cast will reprise their roles and Ron Howard’s royal ass may even direct. ScreenTime kind of gets the feeling that Sir Howard, who seriously needs a hit at this point in his career, won’t sign anything until he sees a shooting script. Should be fun to see which of the many notable stars reprise their cameo roles. In other film news, the value of the U.S. dollar has dropped 30 percent in the last six months, forcing many film productions to rethink their abroad shoots. For example, The Green Lantern, which was set to shoot in Australia, will most likely move most of it’s production to Louisiana, saving $20 million by doing so. Word is that many in-production films are currently being shot in Michigan and Louisiana, due to tax incentives. Hey Mitch, get on that, wontcha?

New to DVD: Steven Soderberg’s little seen 2008 biopic/epic, Che, will be released by The Criterion Collection on January 19, as will Wim Wenders’ 1984 classic, Paris, Texas, which is set to hit shelves on January 26. Oh, and let’s not forget a more recent classic, director Matteo Garrone’s 2008 drama, Gommorah, scheduled for a November 24 release. Battlestar Gallactica: The Plan, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Orphan, Whatever Works and a for-once-affordable Sam Fuller film collection will all hit store shelves on October 27. The seven-film Fuller collection - featuring It Happened In Hollywood (1937), Adventure in Sahara (1938), Power of the Press (1943), Shockproof (1949), Scandal Sheet (1952), The Crimson Kimono (1959) and Underworld U.S.A. (1961) - looks very shelf-worthy. And while ScreenTime somehow missed Woody Allen’s Whatever Works when it was in theaters, we’re pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty stoked to check it out on the small screen, as many of Allen’s box office bombs have proven to be his best work.