My End of Summer Movie Grades

Well, summer is on its way out and with it goes a rather lackluster season at the movie turnstiles. Despite big monetary numbers, attendance was down at theatres this summer and several films underperformed (Cars 2, Pirates 4) despite still doing decently. Then there were also gigantic flops that you couldn’t pay me to see (Cowboys & Aliens, The Change Up, Green Lantern). On the other hand there were fabulous films that were both critical and commercial successes (The Help, Harry Potter). With the final weekend upon us dumping two big film turds (Shark Night 3D, Apollo 18), it is interesting to note that one very good movie will end the summer on a positive note, The Debt. This taut thriller spans three decades of spy intrigue as Mossad agents hunt a treacherous Nazi doctor and features fantastic performances from this year’s “It Girl” Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Tree of Life), Martin Csokas (The Bourne Supremacy), Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom), hottie Sam Worthington (Avatar) and Oscar winner Helen Mirren (The Queen). I really enjoyed the film (despite Worthington’s terrible accent~ his acting was still good remember!) and gave it an ”A-” grade. It was one of several movies I would recommend from the past few months. With that said, take a look at all the grades for the movies I saw over the summer. Enjoy and let me know your faves.

2011 Summer Movie Grades~

The Help: A+
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: A
Crazy Stupid Love: A
Glee 3D Live: A
Beginners: A
The Whistleblower: A-
The Debt: A-
Bridesmaids: A-
Super 8: A-
Midnight in Paris: A-

Sarah’s Key: B+
Captain America: B+
Thor: B+
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: B+
X-Men~ First Class: B
Bad Teacher: B-
The Hangover Part 2: B-
One Day: C+
Columbiana: C

Fast Five: C
Larry Crowne: C-
Pirates of the Carribean~ On Stranger Tides: C-
Transformers~ Dark of the Moon: D+

And check out The Debt from Focus Features in theatres now. Here’s the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SeeTheDebt?v=FI4mrRgELgA&feature=pyv&ad=13258451385&kw=the%20debt%20trailer

The Box Office~ Apes Soar while The Change Up Tanks

Beware the power of scientifically altered apes… Despite following Tim Burton’s dreadful last incarnation in the Planet of the Apes series, Fox scored a surprise hit with a big $54 million opening for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That number far exceeded expectations (most pundits had it coming in around $35 mill) for the film starring James Franco and Freida Pinto, and audience reaction and reviews have been quite good. So the new franchise rebirth looks like a success… However positive news for the monkeys lead to bad news for the sad monkey business of the body switch comedy The Change Up which tanked with only $13.5 million for its opening frame. That gives Universal three stinkers in a row alongside Larry Crowne and the ultra expensive Cowboys & Aliens which crumbled 57% in its second week. And it also gives poor Ryan Reynolds two bombs in a row after the huge expensive disappointment that was The Green Lantern… Holding up far better in their sophomore frames were The Smurfs which is sizing up to be a big family hit dropping only 41% and the wonderful Crazy Stupid Love (I give it a “A” grade) which only slid 36% for the second best hold in the top ten. Speaking of the top ten, check it out below and for more on all the numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Rise of the Planet of the Apes Fox $54,000,000 – 3,648 – $14,803 $54,000,000 $93 1
2 2 The Smurfs Sony $21,000,000 -41.0% 3,395 – $6,186 $76,202,000 $110 2
3 1 Cowboys & Aliens Uni. $15,748,000 -56.8% 3,754 +4 $4,195 $67,368,000 $163 2
4 N The Change-Up Uni. $13,502,000 – 2,913 – $4,635 $13,502,000 $52 1
5 3 Captain America: The First Avenger Par. $13,000,000 -49.1% 3,620 -95 $3,591 $143,182,000 $140 3
6 4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 WB $12,160,000 -44.7% 3,175 -970 $3,830 $342,801,000 – 4
7 5 Crazy, Stupid, Love. WB $12,100,000 -36.7% 3,020 – $4,007 $42,185,000 $50 2
8 6 Friends with Benefits SGem $4,700,000 -49.3% 2,398 -528 $1,960 $48,538,000 $35 3
9 7 Horrible Bosses WB (NL) $4,620,000 -35.7% 2,025 -485 $2,281 $105,162,000 $35 5
10 8 Transformers: Dark of the Moon P/DW $3,015,000 -50.5% 1,854 -750 $1,626 $344,173,000 $195 6

An Underperforming “Cowboys” eecks out a win over “The Smurfs”

So, I head out-of-town for a few days, and when I return, Hollywood has gone a little crazy. How else to explain The Smurfs almost overtaking the highly touted Cowboys & Aliens at the box office this weekend. Well, for one, audiences loved the Smurfs which surprisingly overperformed opening to $35.6 million.  And secondly, Cowboys couldn’t match expectations, got bad reviews and poor audience scores and just narrowly won the weekend with $36.4 million. (That was a full $10 million under most already low-balled projections). The road ahead for Cowboys looks very rough considering its ginormous price tag and will likely give Universal two stinkers in a row after Larry Crowne. At least they had the massive success of Bridesmaids and Fast Five earlier this summer. As for The Smurfs, watch for this family friendly film to hold up well in the weeks ahead. The same could be said for the other opening film this weekend, the lovely romantic comedy Crazy Stupid Love with Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore and Emma Stone that opened to a good $19.1 million…. Elsewhere at the box office, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 officially became the highest grossing film in the series this weekend both domestically and internationally. Holy Harry! … For more numbers and info, head to Box Office Mojo here and check out the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Cowboys & Aliens Uni. $36,431,290 – 3,750 – $9,715 $36,431,290 $163 1
2 N The Smurfs Sony $35,611,637 – 3,395 – $10,489 $35,611,637 – 1
3 1 Captain America: The First Avenger Par. $25,554,303 -60.7% 3,715 – $6,879 $117,421,571 $140 2
4 2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 WB $21,977,093 -53.7% 4,145 -230 $5,302 $318,511,602 – 3
5 N Crazy, Stupid, Love. WB $19,104,303 – 3,020 – $6,326 $19,104,303 – 1
6 3 Friends with Benefits SGem $9,275,692 -50.2% 2,926 – $3,170 $38,175,973 $35 2
7 5 Horrible Bosses WB (NL) $7,189,365 -39.5% 2,510 -594 $2,864 $96,290,917 $35 4
8 4 Transformers: Dark of the Moon P/DW $6,086,311 -49.5% 2,604 -771 $2,337 $338,007,725 $195 5
9 6 Zookeeper Sony $4,301,893 -50.6% 2,418 -797 $1,779 $68,832,733 $80 4
10 7 Cars 2 BV $2,349,142 -58.5% 1,763 -905 $1,332 $182,118,690 $200 6

First Look~ The Amazing Spiderman!

With the annual geekfest Comic Con in full effect in San Diego this week, the entertainment industry has swarmed over the city to pimp their newest and most prized projects. Along with panels for summer movies like Cowboys & Aliens and Fright Night, you’ll get confabs on TV shows like Glee, Dexter, Terra Nova and Fringe. But what may be most exciting is a glimpse at big movies heading our way over the next year and arguably the most anticipated is the rebooted Spiderman franchise pic, The Amazing Spiderman. The first in the new series features Golden Globe nominee Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) taking over from Tobey Maguire as the titular character alongside a great cast including two-time Oscar winner Sally Field (Places in the Heart, Norma Rae) and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Martin Sheen (The West Wing) as his Aunt and Uncle, Golden Globe nominee Emma Stone (Easy A) as his first love Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill) as the villain. They all work under the direction of Mark Webb who is best known for the fantastic indie romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, and judging from the first trailer that leaked at Comic Con, it looks pretty good. (However, the CGI scenes look a little too video-gamey for me). Take a peak for yourself below and watch as Spidey flies back into theatres July 3, 2012.

The Amazing Spiderman trailer