The Maze Runner out-runs the competition, audiences leave This is Where I Leave You, refuse to invite in The Guest, ask Tusk to go away, and Other Box Office News.
In what should come as a surprise to pretty much no-one, giving audiences the opportunity to watch brand new movies at the cinema stimulates box office income. Therefore, this past weekend was the most alive the American box office has been in a good month or so. Leading the charge was The Maze Runner, working title “Attempt to Capture That Harry Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games Lightning Again #749,” and its status as the first new Event Film to come along since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles paid dividends as it cruised easily to first place with $32 million in ticket sales. That’s a pretty good opening, although it’s nowhere close to Divergent levels ($50 mil) and I imagine that 20th Century Fox will have wanted it a bit higher in general. That sequel is still going ahead, though, so I guess this is another bunch of interchangeable pretty faces and stupid character names that I’m going to have to learn. Swell.
Fairing a lot worse, we have the Liam Neeson-fronted A Walk Among the Tombstones and perhaps Neeson-fatigue is setting in, as this one could only manage $13 million for second place. Now, yes, that is a second place opening but, more importantly, that’s only $13 million. Maybe people are just sick of seeing Liam Neeson vehicles every 12-or-so months, or maybe everybody saw the trailer and correctly said to themselves, “Great! Thanks for that! Now I don’t need to see the movie!” Below that we have the Shawn Levy-directed dramedy This is Where I Leave You, starring pretty much any well-liked American comedic actor primarily found on television that you can think of, which could only muster a little under $12 million in tickets and which continues Mr. Levy’s failed attempts to be seen as anything other than “The Director of the Night at the Museum Movies”.
Meanwhile, artier cinemas practically groaned under the weight of new debuts filling their boots this past weekend. Audiences of said cinemas proceeded to groan in exasperated derision in the general direction of Tusk, the first of what currently amounts to 4 films that Kevin Smith postponed his retirement to make (although, this being Kevin Smith, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that number jump up to 11 by the time I finish this sentence). Advertising was supposedly only focussed on Kevin Smith fans, and I get the feeling that an opening weekend total of $886,000 from 602 screens (for a per-screen average of $1,472) accurately displays the amount of patience that Kevin Smith fans have left for Kevin Smith nowadays. Still, could be worse. Could be an action film about 15 year-old yoga aficionados starring Johnny Depp, Johnny Depp’s daughter and Kevin Smith’s dau… that’s exactly what his next film is? For fu…
In sadder limited release news; audiences, for some utterly bizarre reason, decided to collectively stay away from writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard’s latest, despite it being one of the best films of the year so far. The Guest only managed to bank $82,100 from 19 screens for a per-screen average of $4,321, which is decidedly average. Of course, if you add on Wednesday and Thursday, that total goes up to $111,700, but that’s still not enough for me, goddammit! Everybody should watch The Guest al-frickin-ready! Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem, meanwhile, finally got its US debut this week and, fittingly for a Terry Gilliam movie where nothing seemed to go catastrophically wrong during the production process, it crashed and burned at cinemas with only $82,000 from 63 screens and a $1,302 per screen average because the man is CURSED!
Beating both of them in terms of audience demand was Hector & The Search for Happiness which took $46,000 from 4 screens for a per-screen average of $11,500. Goddammit, America.
Take a walk among the Full List.
Box Office Results: Friday 19th September 2014 – Sunday 21st September 2014
1] The Maze Runner
$32,500,000 / NEW
OK, I was rather overly mean when I referred to The Maze Runner’s cast as “interchangeable pretty faces” earlier. There are actually a fair few I recognise from other places. Like, look, it’s Will Poulter from Son of Rambow and Wild Bill (and also Plastic which we don’t talk about)! And there’s Thomas Sangster, otherwise known as Jojen from Game of Thrones and Ferb from Phineas & Ferb! Kaya Scodelario from Skins has found the vehicle to bring her worldwide mainstream attention! So you know what? Even if this film sucks uncontrollably – which it may not, it’s not out here in the UK for another three weeks – I’ll be glad it exists, letting me know that talented people are getting steady paycheques for the next few years!
2] A Walk Among the Tombstones
$13,126,000 / NEW
My review, for those of you who have seen the trailer but are still undecided. Will point out that if you have seen the trailer, you have basically seen the movie. The only things it doesn’t show, not kidding here, are the identities of the killers (which the film promptly gives up on hiding about 45 minutes in, anyway) and the fact that Brian “Astro” Bradley from Earth to Echo is also in this. It’s not a bad film (it’s pretty good but totally forgettable), but there’s no reason to turn up if you only see films for the plot and have been exposed to the trailer.
3] This is Where I Leave You
$11,860,000 / NEW
Disappointed to hear that this one is bad. I realise that stacked casts mean absolutely nothing if the material isn’t fantastic or engaging – I learnt that one the hard way when Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy did absolutely nothing for me – but that still won’t stop me from being bummed out when I hear that a film with Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Adam Driver and Jane Fonda is exactly as disappointing as the underwhelming trailer threatened it to be.
4] No Good Deed
$10,200,000 / $40,100,000
A pretty precipitous 58% drop between weekends, perhaps as word got around that the “GIANT SHOCKING TWIST” the marketing company pivoted the film on at the last minute could have been figured out by anyone within two minutes of hearing about the film’s premise. I mean, take away the “GIANT SHOCKING TWIST” hook and all you’ve got to sell the film with is that it looks offensively awful which, as marketing hooks go, is not exactly a strong base to sucker punters in with.
5] Dolphin Tale 2
$9,005,000 / $27,070,000
Dolphin Tale 1 used its second weekend to leapfrog to the top of the chart. Just saying: don’t expect a Dolphin Tale Part III.
6] Guardians of the Galaxy
$5,180,000 / $313,669,000
So… what’s Chris Pratt’s flaw? You know what I’m talking about. The man’s pretty much perfect. He’s a talented actor, he’s very funny, a total beefcake and a half, he’s charitable, he steals his costume from film sets so he can visit kid’s cancer wards dressed as said characters, and he can spit Eminem’s verse from Dr. Dre’s “Forgot About Dre” at double speed at the drop of a hat. So, what’s his flaw? What’s wrong with him? Does he have a pile of dead bodies buried in his wine cellar? If I have learnt anything these past few years, it’s that anybody who seems amazing or cool or perfect is actually a complete sh*tbag in some department!
Except Anna Kendrick. For, as we all know, Anna Kendrick is a goddess who can do no wrong, sent down from heaven to remind us all that the world is not completely without merit.
$2,675,000 / $77,196,000
Well, this has been a pretty poor year for comedy, hasn’t it? I count 22 Jump Street, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Bad Neighbours – and, if you really want to stretch the comedy definition, The Double – as the only ones that have been great, and everything else (with the exception of The Inbetweeners 2, which was just good) has been meh to awful. I know that this is usually the ratio for comedy every year anyway, but it hurts extra bad this year because there have been so many of them. You’d figure that at least a few more would hit it out of the park to some degree.
8] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
$2,650,000 / $185,018,000
This list is based off of the Weekend Estimates and I expect that these two may actually swap positions when the Actuals come in, it being that close between the pair and all. Do not expect me to update this list if they do, though. My time is far too occupied with watching and writing about the crappy period in DreamWorks Animation’s lifespan to take 10 minutes out of my life to writing a new pithy addition should such a thing occur. Accept it and move on.
9] The Drop
$2,050,000 / $7,690,000
Don’t make the obvious joke. Don’t make the obvious joke. Don’t make the obvious joke.
10] If I Stay
$1,835,000 / $47,672,000
Hey! It actually outlasted The Fault in Our Stars after all! Way to… go… bad movie… ah, crap. At least Chloë Grace Moretz has a decently-performing box office success to add to her resume! Now she can go back to starring in great movies that I li… “She’s appearing in that dull-looking Denzel Washington-starring film reboot of The Equalizer next week?” (*flips table in frustration and storms off*)
Dropped Out: The November Man, The Giver, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Callie Petch is trying to cuss and see, trying to figure it out.
Callie Petch 