This Week at the Box Office — Record-Setting Flops

Posted on October 28, 2015 at 10:35 pm

The Wall Street Journal reports that none of the new nationwide releases reached the top of the box office last weekend and one or two of them may end up breaking the record for worst-ever ticket sales.

A frightening showing at the box office this weekend featured five disappointments—including two of the biggest flops in history.

“ Steve Jobs,” “The Last Witch Hunter,” “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension,” “Rock the Kasbah” and “Jem and the Holograms” all fell short, with only “Witch Hunter” cracking $10 million. “Kasbah” and “Jem” now rank among the worst openings of all time, and “Paranormal” missed expectations after weeks of anticipation over its divisive distribution strategy.

Instead, holdovers “The Martian” and “Goosebumps” came in first and second place, respectively. “The Martian” grossed an estimated $15.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, bringing the space drama’s total to $166 million.

What happened? There’s a lot of speculation. Poor reviews may explain the lack of interest in “Jem” and “Kasbah” and the weak showing for “Witch Hunter.” And the last in the “Paranormal Activity” series suffered from a dispute with theater owners, who were angry that it was being made available by VOD only 17 days after the theatrical release. The one that is hard to understand is “Steve Jobs,” which had mixed but mostly positive reviews and an all-star team on screen and behind the camera.

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This Week at the Box Office

Juliette Binoche and Director Patricia Riggen on “The 33”

Posted on October 28, 2015 at 10:19 pm

At a special screening of “The 33” at Washington DC’s Newseum, director Patricia Riggen, stars Juliette Binoche and Lou Diamond Phillips, and producer Mike Medavoy spoke about making a movie about the rescue of 33 Chilean miners. I was able to record a brief part of the presentation, with the end of Binoche’s description of the ore in the mine as a metaphor of what the miners really found when they were trapped for two months, and Riggen’s very sweet description of Binoche’s preparation for her very un-glamorous role.

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Toy Story of Terror

Posted on October 28, 2015 at 5:36 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Some mild scares
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	October 16, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	October 28, 2015
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00KHA88PC

Pixar’s 21-minute “Toy Story of Terror,” made for television, is available on DVD and Blu-Ray and is a perfect Halloween treat for the whole family. The toys live with Bonnie now, and she and her mother are on a road trip to see her grandmother one rainy night. When they have to stop at a motel after a flat tire, Mr. Potatohead goes missing. The other toys have to find him before Bonnie and her mother are ready to drive away.

What I love about this film is that one of my favorite characters, the master thespian Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton) begins to narrate the action in his most resonantly Shakespearean tones, a kind of meta-commentary on the entire thriller genre. And Carl Weathers joins the cast as Combat Carl, who helps Jessie (Joan Cusack) foil the evil plot of the motel manager who takes toys to sell them on eBay. There’s a nice lesson, too, about how to feel less frightened.

The DVD/Blu-Ray has some nice extras about the making of the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG87snemZRI

Halloween Lights 2015

Posted on October 28, 2015 at 8:00 am

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More Halloween Movies

Posted on October 27, 2015 at 3:57 pm

In honor of Halloween, the Indiewire critics discuss the non-horror movies that scared them most. There are some great choices on the list, including Julianne Moore in “Safe,” about a woman who is being poisoned — or thinks she is — by the toxic, synthetic chemicals in everyday products. And there are scary documentaries about terrifying real-life events like “Deliver Us from Evil,” about child abuse and cover-up by the Catholic church, and
“Fed Up,” about what is in our food that is not good for us. Someone even mentioned the wonderful “Up” series that documents the lives of a group of children from London as they grow up, now in late middle age. And of course nothing is as scary to an adult as a movie like “Bambi” or “Pinocchio” is to a child.

For those who would enjoy something a little spooky but not too scary, the wonderful Legion of Leia as The Top 15 Halloween Movies for Those of Us Who Don’t Like Scary Movies.” Legion of Leia’s Jenna Busch includes some of the films on my list, like “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and “Hocus Pocus,” along with some of Tim Burton’s best, “Frankenweenie,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and “The Corpse Bride.” Enjoy!