SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 1/27/12

[Buscemi]

One For The Money is currently the top selling movie on Fandango (thanks to a promotion with Groupon that discounts tickets to $6). Man on a Ledge is doing a similar promotion with Living Social but isn't in the top five. Oddly enough, both films are from the same distributor (Lionsgate and Summit are one now).

Also, The Artist is doing well on Fandango and will add a few hundred theatres this weekend.

[W]

I can't find the Living Social deal. I saw the other one, and was almost tempted, but decided I really didn't want to see it. I didn't realize it was the first of the series that I seem to see everywhere as "Fearless Fourteen," "Stormy Six" or whatever. I don't really pay attention to the exact names, just know there's a ton of them. Anyways, were they seriously thinking of making 18 of these things?

[Buscemi]

Detective and/or mystery novels are often major franchises. Though they don't usually do well with critics, readers love them and ask for more.

A good example is Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. Critics never liked the books but they always sold well and Spillane always wrote at least one a year.

[Shrykespeare]

Theater counts:

Man On a Ledge - 2,998
One For the Money - 2,737
The Grey - (2,700 - 3,000)
Declaration of War - 6

[numbersix]

Hey Shryke, any chance of asking the Italians to include The Moth Diaries in the Feb-April leagues? Limited release on Apr 20th

[silversurfer19]

Or even The Kid With A Bike, a Cannes winner and sure to rack in stacks of PTA in a rather barren period.

[Shrykespeare]

I can certainly ask.

[Buscemi]

Guy Maddin's Keyhole also just got a release date (April 6th, I believe). I seem to remember his My Winnipeg and Brand Upon The Brain! doing well.

[Buscemi]

One of the biggest disconnects in critics and audiences I've ever seen: One For The Money holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes with critics but has an 84% with audiences.

As for the early box office weekend reports:

The Grey $5-6 million Friday, $15-17 million weekend
One For The Money $4-5 million Friday, $12-14 million weekend (corrected from an early estimate of $5 million)
Man on a Ledge $2-3 million Friday, $6-7 million weekend

Rotten Tomatoes user ratings:
One For The Money 84% (3.9/5)
The Grey 77% (3.9/5)
Man on a Ledge 65% (3.6/5)

By the looks of these ratings, The Grey and One For The Money should hold well in forthcoming weeks while Man on a Ledge drops quickly. One For The Money was also slightly impacted by the Marcus Theatres chain refusing to play the film (due to the Groupon promotion), possibly costing it the top spot.

[numbersix]

Yay, Moth Diaries is available in the game. Is this the first time a film is included in the game where one of the players is listed in the credits?

[Shrykespeare]

And who would that be Six? (setting you up...)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2148473/

What does "development executive mean"?

4.9 User Rating? That's not a good sign...

[Buscemi]

So that's how you knew about IFC picking up the film months before it was announced, Six?

And ignore the pre-release ratings, Shryke. The ratings from festival reviews are always screwy. (Example: Thirteen carried a 2.8 rating before its release. It rose to 7.5 a few months after opening.)

[numbersix]

What does "development executive mean"?

I'm still not quite sure....

[Shrykespeare]

Okay, jeez, you want me to come out and say it?

It's AWESOME that you had a hand in a movie.

What exactly did you do? Now that you got me curious and all...

[numbersix]

Not much, actually. I certainly didn't have much of a say in the content (well, maybe a few comments on an early cut that were somewhat but not entirely addressed). Mostly, I did some admin work and form filling during the post production process. You know, sexy movie work like booking accommodation for the director/editor. Fortunately, my work title is in development so it sounds a bit more important than what I actually did!