10/29/09

Box Office Breakdown: Eleven films made over $11 million dollars this past weekend - not at all bad for the time of the year where football, new television seasons and the impending holidays are on the minds of so many. Due to two factors - the strong crop of current films and the coming release of the new Twilight film - we don’t have a whole lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. But if you haven’t yet seen last weekend’s No. 1 film, Paranormal Activity, which brought in a solid $22 million, you’d better get on that. Made on a $15,000 shooting budget, Paranormal is already the year’s biggest success story with $62.5 million thus far in sales. Coming in second last weekend was Saw VI, which brought in just under $15 million in its first week. Blah. Spike Jonze’s excellent Where the Wild Things Are scored just under $14.5 million in its second weekend, upping it’s so-far total to an impressive $54 million. Law Abiding Citizen and Couples Retreat rounded out the Top 5 while two newbies, biopic Amelia and vamp flick Cirque du Freak, brought in very disappointing numbers. The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, which ScreenTime talks about every week, continues to bring in huge per-screen dollars despite having not yet seen a wide release. Whatever, Captain Hollywood.

New This Week: As implied above, there’s not a whole lot of new releases to look forward to this week. In fact, the only film set to see a major release is Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Before passing away, Jackson was planning his first major concert event since 1997, already booking and freaking selling out 50 shows at London’s O2 Arena. While much has already been said about Jackson’s peculiar behavior during the planning of this project, little is thus far known by the masses about what was actually planned. New material? Who knows. Hopefully this film will, if nothing else, give all those hardcore Jacko fans out there one last bit of their man to hang on to. As for the rest of us, well, bummer of a week. The very promising new comedy from writer/director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), titled Gentlemen Broncos and starring the great Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement and Michael Angarano (Snow Angels, Almost Famous), will open in New York and L.A. If the trailer is any indication, look for this incredibly detailed comedy to be an instant cult classic. Hopefully we see a wide release sooner than later.

The Buzz: Every time I read a Chuck Klosterman book I come to the conclusion that I need to find new life goals. This because Klosterman is not just better than me at writing about pop culture, but better than everyone at writing about pop culture. He’s also an ace at writing about his life, his loves and the places he’s lived. After reading his most recent offering, Downtown Owl, I wondered how long it’d be before someone drafted a script for Hollywood. Well, I wasn’t too far off. Just last week news came that Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn is currently working with “Late Show with David Letterman” writer Tom Ruprecht on a screen adaptation of Klosterman’s “Fargo Rock City.” Whereas the book focuses on Klosterman and his experiences growing up a metal head in Borringsville, North Dakota, the film will focus on a group of gnarly haired youths who play air guitar, steal beer and helplessly chase women. Hopefully Klosterman, who knows an awful lot about both film and music, is involved in the film’s casting, director selection and so on. Very exciting news for film-loving rockers.

New to DVD: Loads of new Blu-ray and DVD tiles his shelves this week, including that G.I. Joe stinker, Food, Inc., The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Watchmen, a reissue of best-ever-movie North by Northwest, Criterion’s Wings of Desire, The Dead, I Love You, Beth Cooper and a whole lot of first-run Blu-ray editions. Fill those shelves!

Spotlight: This week we take a look at the underappreciated catalog of South Africa-born director Roger Michell. Currently in production on his ninth feature, Morning Glory, starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum and Diane Keaton, Michell has, in the opinion of ScreenTime, not yet released a bad movie. Best described as a low-budget Pete Weir, Michell doesn’t write his own scripts and no two of his films are alike. While most know his rom-com classic, Notting Hill, Michell also found new fans with his 2006 Oscar-bait drama Venus, starring Peter O’Toole in an Oscar nominated role. If I were to recommend only two of his eight films, without flinching, I’d pick his 2004 drama/thriller Enduring Love, starring Daniel Craig and Samantha Morton in powerhouse performances, and, most importantly, his 2002 tug-of-war thriller, Changing Lanes, starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. At age 53, and having already quietly helmed eight excellent films, look for Michell’s star to continue to rise as more and more name actors beg to work with him.