People always like to ask me, “What movie should I go see?” or “What’s good in theaters right now?” Beyond the fact that’s an impossible question to answer outright since I need to know a little more about a person’s taste in movies before answering, it’s got to say something about the state of cinema lately when my default answer the last two days has been Moneyball, a film that was released in September.
Sure, there are some limited release independent films I would recommend to some people, but I’m not going to just blurt out Shame to someone I just met and send them off to watch an NC-17 rated sex addict drama without knowing a little more about what they’re looking for in theaters and even The Descendents isn’t an immediate recommendation for all.
The truth of the matter is, there just isn’t much to see that’s in wide release that’s worth recommending, especially when it comes to general audiences and general audiences seem to be figuring that out. The awful rom-com ensemble feature New Year’s Eve opened to a meager $5 million on Friday and will now hope to make $18 million for the weekend with a B+ CinemaScore. Compare that to the $56 million Valentine’s Day opened with and something tells me audiences won’t be fooled twice.
Question now is how confident is Lionsgate in What to Expect When You’re Expecting, they’re ensemble pregnancy comedy that just saw it’s trailer debut? Could audiences actually be wising up to just how much of a rip-off these movies are?
In second is the week’s other new wide release, The Sitter, an R-rated comedy along the lines of Adventures in Babysitting starring Jonah Hill. The film also opened weak with $3.7 million on Friday and what may be about $10 million for the weekend if it’s lucky, but my guess at this point would be closer to $9m, especially with a C+ CinemaScore from those that saw it.
Otherwise, I’ll save most of my commentary for the top ten performers for tomorrow morning’s weekend box-office report, but in limited release, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opened in four theaters and brought in $90,000 while Young Adult opened slightly weaker in eight theaters and also managed around $90,000.
I’ve included Friday’s top ten below and will be back tomorrow morning with a complete wrap-up.
- New Year’s Eve – $5 million
- The Sitter – $3.7 million
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 – $2.5 million
- The Muppets – $1.66 million
- Hugo – $1.6 million
- Arthur Christmas – $1.4 million
- The Descendants – $1.3 million
- Jack and Jill – $870,000
- Happy Feet Two – $840,000
- Tower Heist – $730,000
