SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 1/18/13

[transformers2]

Surprised about Broken City, expected it to do much better. Not surprised at all about The Last Stand tanking. Saw it last night and there was about 50-60 people at a a 7:45 showing.

[JohnErle]

This might be the most shocking set of Friday numbers since I started playing this game.

Very bad for Wahlberg & Crowe, shockingly high for Mama, and shockingly low for Arnie's so-called return to leading man status.

[Buscemi]

The marketing for The Last Stand was everywhere and there seemed to be a crowd for it. It's surprising that no one showed.

I hardly saw anything for Mama and Chastain's stunt casting felt more like a cheap ploy (her involvement feels like an 11th hour recasting) than saying that it's any good.

Silver Linings Playbook still hasn't died? If any film is this year's The Blind Side (a forgettable, overly mainstream film with weak actors and a average director that opened at the right time but would have died at any other period), this is it.

The really shocking thing about the low numbers that this is a holiday weekend but no one's going to the movies.

[Chienfantome]

Wow, what kind of numbers is that for "The Last Stand" ???!!! Unbelievable. Even if you thought it wouldn't do very good, this is plain awful. And Broken City... I'm glad I stayed away from those two.
Boosch, I was worried because it had been a long time since you last trashed Silver Linings...

[Buscemi]

Well I've noticed that every year, there's a movie that shouldn't be in the Oscar race but gets in because it speaks to the crowd in Peoria or Grand Rapids or some podunk town in the Midwest or South. Last year, it was The Help.

[Geezer]

You know nothing of this world, and you are so unbelievably content in your ignorance that you don't even attempt to improve upon this.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

I'm ecstatic about Broken City (maybe I'm getting better at this) and very surprised at The Last Stand. I thought it might break out, but I think Johnny Knoxville carries a stench of low-budget to him that can turn off any moviegoer from dropping $12 a ticket.

[silversurfer19]

Boosch, I was worried because it had been a long time since you last trashed Silver Linings...

He's been distracted trashing other southern movies (Beasts Of The Southern Wild)...

To be honest, as a moderator I find it disgusting that Boussh is continually allowed to use such prejudice and racist remarks. There's no place for it here or anywhere.

Anyway, I'm glad to see I got my Mama calls correct. I have it on pretty much every slate (other than my Super League slates which for some inexcusable reason I managed to forget to put it on) and it's proved it's worth in this weekend alone. Glad SLP is still performing well too, it's giving all my slates a great boost, adding BO and Top 5 finally to a fantastic PTA score.

[Chienfantome]

Well I've noticed that every year, there's a movie that shouldn't be in the Oscar race but gets in because it speaks to the crowd in Peoria or Grand Rapids or some podunk town in the Midwest or South. Last year, it was The Help.

It seems there's the same crowd in Toronto...

[Buscemi]

But the main award in Toronto is an audience award. That doesn't mean it's the best movie there (and this year's seemed for go more for the midnight crowd than the usual Canadian filmgoing crowd with the strange and often mainstream selections and lack of Canadian fare, which gave more credence to a controversial but mainstream director like David O. Russell). For every The King's Speech, you also have quickly forgotten movies like Bella and Where Do We Go Now?.

[empire13]

David O. Russell mainstream? Spanking the Monkey, I Heart Huckabees, The Fighter and Nailed are mainstream? Wow, I didn't know how ordinary my taste had become. There must be something in the well water in Podunk.

And, thanks for the Peoria dig, Boosh. I almost went a whole week without being personally offended by something you wrote about "middle America". That might be a record. Nice to know I'm not alone in feeling put off by your comments.

[numbersix]

Well I've noticed that every year, there's a movie that shouldn't be in the Oscar race but gets in because it speaks to the crowd in Peoria or Grand Rapids or some podunk town in the Midwest or South. Last year, it was The Help.

Worth pointing out that for a long time Boosch said that it would never appeal to the dreaded Middle America, that it would perform like I Heart Huckabees and only work in cities. Now it's a podunk town movie that only performed well because of its release date. Jeez, Boosch, try to be coherent every now and then.

[Chienfantome]

But the main award in Toronto is an audience award

And that's exactly why you used the word "crowd" when talking about the crowd in Grand Rapids, because the audience award is given by "the crowd"...

[Shrykespeare]

Weekend Estimates (3-day):

Top 11:
5 points - Mama, $28.5M (wow)
4 points - Zero Dark Thirty, $15.8M
3 points - Silver Linings Playbook, $10.8M
2 points - Gangster Squad, $8.7M
1 point - Broken City, $8.3M'
A Haunted House, $8.1M (only a 55% drop... not bad)
Django Unchained, $7.8M
Les Miserables, $7.5M
The Last Stand, $6.2M
The Hobbit, $6.2M
Lincoln, $5.5M

PTA (Nov/Dec):
5 points - Mama
4 points - Amour
3 points - Quartet
2 points - Zero Dark Thirty
1 point - Silver Linings Playbook (Nov only)
1 point - A Haunted House (Dec)

PTA (Jan):
5 points - Mama
4 points - Quartet
3 points - A Haunted House
2 points - Broken City
1 point - Gangster Squad

No word yet on Hors Satan.

[numbersix]

Glad I had Mama in a few slates, but I'm surprised by how poorly Broken City performed. I knew it woould struggle with similar competition but didn't think it would be a bomb.