10/28/10
Tops at the Box: Shot on a $3 million budget by director Tod Williams (The Door in the Floor) and starring all unknowns, Paranormal Activity 2 took last weekend's No. 1 spot, bringing in a surprising $41.5 million over its first three days, averaging over $12,000 per screen. If you've seen the trailer and the first film, then you pretty know much know what you're getting: a ever-so-slight Hollywood remake disguised as a sequel. The production value is nudged up just enough to not lose the DIY factor of the first film and the thrills are more effective and often. All together, it's a better made film, though the novelty of the inventiveness (yes, I do feel weird saying that about these movies) of the first film isn't here. Given that halloween is right around the corner, look for PA2 to continue making decent bread for a couple more week. (For the record, ScreenTime thinks the flick is a waste of time, money and resources. Another recent Hollywood horror remake, Let Me In, on the other hand, is excellent.)
More From the Box: The also unnecessary (but maybe quite fun) Jackass 3-D continued to roll last weekend, upping its 10-day total to almost $90 million, taking the No. 2 spot last weekend with another $21.6 million. Action/comedy hybrid Red took the No. 3 spot, bringing in $15 million over the weekend while Clint Eastwood's paranormal drama/thriller Hereafter, starring Matt Damon, disappointed, taking the No. 4 spot with just over $12 million over its first weekend in wide release. Rounding out the Top 5 last weekend was David Fincher's excellent brat drama The Social Network, continuing to make solid bux, bringing in over $7 million last weekend, upping its so-far total in the U.S. to $73 million (just under $100 million worldwide). Also of note: a number of indies are kinda/sorta bombing, including Inside Job, Catfish, Tamara Drewe, Jack Goes Boating, Stone, It's Kind of a Funny Story, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Conviction and Nowhere Boy. Most of these films cost $10-$20 million to produce, making them pseudo-indie flicks, at best. Still, pretty depressing that all of these possibly great films are doing so poorly. After seeing Jack this past weekend, we're pretty sure that Amy Ryan ("The Wire") should - but probably won't - get Oscar attention.
Opening This Weekend: Just in time for Halloween, of course, Lionsgate Pictures is releasing Saw 3D, a movie that will surely do well. And surely be garbage. Oh, general public, when will your tastes grow? The only other movie receiving anything resembling a wide release this weekend is the third and final Girl flick, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Monsters, Waste Land, Welcome to Rileys, Wild Target and Magnetic Fields documentary Strange Powers will all begin to test in big cities. There's not another wide release until Friday, November 9 (Roger Michell's Morning Glory) that ScreenTime is excited about, unfortunately, though a number of great movies begin to test next week. So stay tuned.Â
ScreenRant: Rather than do our usual "New to Home Video" segment (there's nothing much out this coming Tuesday anyhow, aside from Toy Story 3), we figured we would take this week to offer some gift ideas for anyone looking to buy a friend or loved one a DVD they might not otherwise think to ask for. Longtime fans of the Criterion Collection, we figured that, with the upcoming annual half-off sale, we'd do a Criterion theme. For the 20-something fan of indie rock, PBR, beards and funky glasses there's the just released reissue of Wes Anderson's criminally underrated The Darjeeling Limited. For your possibly alcoholic, deeply disturbed and cynical friend there's Mike Leigh's Naked or Lars von Trier's Antichrist. For your friend who reads The New Yorker, eats croissants and likes to believe that they know all the great things in the world, there's the just-issued remaster of Ingmar Bergman's The Magician. For the fan of big ensemble American epics, there's Terrence Malick's much discusses 1998 comeback film ,The Thin Red Line. For the fan of classics who has always wanted a proper transfer of every Stanley Kubrick film, there's the upcoming reissue of Paths of Glory. For the fan of beautiful cinematography, there's the first properly mastered transfer of Nobuhiko Obayashi's House. And, last but not least, for anyone from my small flock of family and friends looking to get me a cool gift, there's the first worthwhile transfer of Guillermo del Toro's (Pan's Labyrinth) classic debut, Cronos.
Written by G. William Locke
