07/15/10

Tops at the Box: No surprises this time of year. Last week’s No. 1 film, as expected, was Universal Studios’ Despicable Me (the yellow knobby guys with goggles), bringing in a solid $60 million over its first three days. *Eclipse took last weekend’s No. 2 spot with another $33 million, upping its so-far U.S. total to $237 million. Fox Searchlight’s unnecessary new Predator film, Predators, took the No. 3 spot last weekend in its first week, pulling in $25 million over its first three days in the U.S.; meanwhile, Toy Story 3 took the No. 4 spot with another $22 million, upping its so-far U.S. total to over $340 million ($553 million worldwide). Blah, blah, blah. Rounding out the Top 5 was The Last Airbender, bringing in another $17 million, upping its 10-day total to over $100 million. The film, which critics are hating and kids are loving, is on pace to be director M. Night Shyamalan’s by-far best-attended movie since 2002’s Signs. Blah. 

More Notes from the Box: Film business analysts have been comparing this year’s “indie breakout,” Cyrus, to summertime indie breakouts of recent years. (500) Days of Summer and Little Miss Sunshine, mostly. (By the way, since when did “indie” mean guy-with-chords-Chucks-mope-hair-and-geeky-glasses? I thought “indie” signified an aesthetic, not a target market of fancy coffee drinkers.) They’re saying that, while Cyrus is a surprise hit (and also very good, most agree), it’s can’t compare to the success of movies like Summer and Sunshine. Huh? Summer played in over 1,000 theaters at its peak, Sunshine at nearly 2,000!. Cyrus played at 17 theaters worlwide for its first two weeks, then 77 last week and now 200. With a big expansion planned (as well as increased marketing), look for Cyrus to keep rolling hard or a few more weeks. If you’ve not yet seen the film, it’s pretty damn funny.

Opening this Weekend: Well, friends of ScreenTime, it’s finally here, director Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated seventh film, Inception. (Peeing pants.) Chances are good that, if you read this column with any regularity, you already know all about this sure-to-be mindbender of a (hopeful) artsy blockbuster that stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard (swoon), Ellen Page, Joseph-Gordon Levitt (swoon), Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine and many more. But, if you’re not yet familiar and thus far have no plans to see the movie, you’ve been warned: Inception will very likely be the movie that all worthwhile people are talking about not just through July, but likely once all the Oscar-talk starts up come Novemberish. It will very likely be the best mainstream American movie of the year. Nolan, known mostly for his first classic, Memento, and his recent Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight films, is, for ScreenTime’s money, the best big dollar director on the planet. He finds a way to make widely accessible films that are intelligent, epic, brilliantly filmed and acted and visually inventive and unique. Basically, he makes Spielberg-level productions that can make even the biggest cinephile snob got into hyper fanboy frenzy-mode. Little is known about the actual film outside of its brilliant visuals, but, for now, here’s a quote from Empire Magazine, who gave the movie its highest score possible: “Inception feels like Stanley Kubrick adapting the work of the great sci-fi author William Gibson. Nolan delivers another true original; welcome to an undiscovered country.” Don’t be surprised if next week’s column is an uber-nerdy rant all about this movie and the gift that is Christopher Nolan.

New to Home Video: Out this coming Tuesday, July 20, on DVD (and, in many cases, Blu-ray): Kevin Smith’s Cop Out; The Losers; Mother; Prodigal Sons; The Runaways; A Town Called Panic; Criterion Collection issues of Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes; season one of “Being Human”; season five of “Matlock”; season nine of “Degrassi: The Next Generation”; “Jersey Shore: Uncensored”; and season one of something called “Courage the Cowardly Dog.” Not exactly a great time of year for home video, though Greenberg is still fresh on the shelves, as is the amazing new Michael Haneke film, The White Ribbon and the little seen (but very, very good) A Single Man.

Written by G. William Locke