Walleye's Weekly Winners: The Films of 3/17
Posted: March 14th, 2017, 5:28 pm
Surprise, Surprise! Apparently we really did want another King Kong Movie. And Kristen Stewart is the darling of the Indie world – putting her Twilight fame firmly behind her. This past weekend Logan fell, but not quite as hard as normal. Raw grossed out plenty of followers (Although it was well behind Personal Shopper.) And Get Out continues to be the pick of the season. Until now.
This week the first Mega-Blockbuster of the year is here. It stars Emma Watson. It’s from Disney. But no it’s not a Harry Potter movie. Not Star Wars, not even Marvel. It’s a live action remake of Beauty and the Beast and it’s going to open huge. Like $150 million huge. Disney has slowly been building their live action brand over the past few years with smart movies from good directors. Beauty and the Beast is the perfect storm of star/material/cultural moment however, and it’s going to put all the previous entries in its wake. If you don’t know the story of Beauty and the Beast, you haven’t lived. The Disney cartoon really is a great little movie – wonderful songs, some subtle but strong social commentary. There’s a snarky crowd that likes to talk about Stockholm Syndrome – or in the update how Red Staters will stay away because of the gay plotline. All of that is just noise. This is a lovely movie that generations will all see together. If you don’t have it on your slates in all leagues, you won’t win. Beauty and the Beast will win this week, and the next several – possibly until Fast 8 comes out. It’ll clear 400 million before it’s done. And it’ll be the hit of Halloween costumes in October. Yeah, it’s that big a deal.
No studio was foolish enough to try and standup to the Mouse House on a big scale – but there are several hoping to sneak in under the radar. Your first slate filling option is The Belko Experiment. If you didn’t get enough blood and guts in Raw then this movie is for you. It’s a crazy idea – where an American company locks their employees down inside their office building in Colombia, and says unless they start killing each other – they’ll all die. By all accounts this movie goes even more nuts from there. Think the church scene from Kingsman – ramped up to 11. For game purposes it’s opening in 1200 screens or so, which means bad news in Ultimate – but potential in Box Office. Still, for the same amount you could grab Everything, Everything which is sweeter, and will make way more in May. But, if you need a late grab this might not be worst choice. It might get you 8 million total after an opening in the 3-4 million range.
In terms of true indie options you’ve got a good choice and a bad one. T2 – the Terminator Sequel – Oops make that the Trainspotting Sequel comes out 20 years after the original with all the original cast and director back at it for another dive down the toilet bowl. The original is considered a classic, a highly influential independent film from yore. The current plot probably doesn’t matter much – as the real draw is seeing these characters back in action after so many years. Will lightning strike twice? Well, for game purposes it’ll beat out Raw for the second spot on the PTA list. Plus it’s got a decent 7.7 IMDB rating. There have been some good Indie picks already and more coming up, but this could score you a few points for the next few weeks. Maybe 7-8 PTA total. If you’re a fan of the original and want to cheer on part 2, you could do worse.
Like Frantz. This is probably a great movie, it’s a French-German film in Black and White and set right after World War I. Other than that I can’t find much of a plot and sadly I don’t know any of the talent behind or on the screen. But for game purposes, it’s coming out on a Wednesday (trying to beat the Beauty and the Beast rush) which doesn’t bode well. Perhaps it could be the next Artist, but more than likely it will get a point or 2 in PTA and then quietly slip into the night. Chien, any more insight would be welcome.
And that, as they say, is that. I see rumor of 13 Minutes coming out this weekend – but according to my research that just isn’t so. Another casualty of the Beast? We’ll never know. Join us next week for the return of Ryan Reynolds in “Deadpool – in Space!” CHIPS will do it’s best to destroy 80’s nostalgia. And they’ll both lose to 90’s nostalgia Power Rangers.
Top 5
Beauty and the Beast
King Kong
Logan
Get Out
Lego Batman
PTA
Beauty and the Beast
T2 Trainspotting
King Kong
Raw
Frantz
This week the first Mega-Blockbuster of the year is here. It stars Emma Watson. It’s from Disney. But no it’s not a Harry Potter movie. Not Star Wars, not even Marvel. It’s a live action remake of Beauty and the Beast and it’s going to open huge. Like $150 million huge. Disney has slowly been building their live action brand over the past few years with smart movies from good directors. Beauty and the Beast is the perfect storm of star/material/cultural moment however, and it’s going to put all the previous entries in its wake. If you don’t know the story of Beauty and the Beast, you haven’t lived. The Disney cartoon really is a great little movie – wonderful songs, some subtle but strong social commentary. There’s a snarky crowd that likes to talk about Stockholm Syndrome – or in the update how Red Staters will stay away because of the gay plotline. All of that is just noise. This is a lovely movie that generations will all see together. If you don’t have it on your slates in all leagues, you won’t win. Beauty and the Beast will win this week, and the next several – possibly until Fast 8 comes out. It’ll clear 400 million before it’s done. And it’ll be the hit of Halloween costumes in October. Yeah, it’s that big a deal.
No studio was foolish enough to try and standup to the Mouse House on a big scale – but there are several hoping to sneak in under the radar. Your first slate filling option is The Belko Experiment. If you didn’t get enough blood and guts in Raw then this movie is for you. It’s a crazy idea – where an American company locks their employees down inside their office building in Colombia, and says unless they start killing each other – they’ll all die. By all accounts this movie goes even more nuts from there. Think the church scene from Kingsman – ramped up to 11. For game purposes it’s opening in 1200 screens or so, which means bad news in Ultimate – but potential in Box Office. Still, for the same amount you could grab Everything, Everything which is sweeter, and will make way more in May. But, if you need a late grab this might not be worst choice. It might get you 8 million total after an opening in the 3-4 million range.
In terms of true indie options you’ve got a good choice and a bad one. T2 – the Terminator Sequel – Oops make that the Trainspotting Sequel comes out 20 years after the original with all the original cast and director back at it for another dive down the toilet bowl. The original is considered a classic, a highly influential independent film from yore. The current plot probably doesn’t matter much – as the real draw is seeing these characters back in action after so many years. Will lightning strike twice? Well, for game purposes it’ll beat out Raw for the second spot on the PTA list. Plus it’s got a decent 7.7 IMDB rating. There have been some good Indie picks already and more coming up, but this could score you a few points for the next few weeks. Maybe 7-8 PTA total. If you’re a fan of the original and want to cheer on part 2, you could do worse.
Like Frantz. This is probably a great movie, it’s a French-German film in Black and White and set right after World War I. Other than that I can’t find much of a plot and sadly I don’t know any of the talent behind or on the screen. But for game purposes, it’s coming out on a Wednesday (trying to beat the Beauty and the Beast rush) which doesn’t bode well. Perhaps it could be the next Artist, but more than likely it will get a point or 2 in PTA and then quietly slip into the night. Chien, any more insight would be welcome.
And that, as they say, is that. I see rumor of 13 Minutes coming out this weekend – but according to my research that just isn’t so. Another casualty of the Beast? We’ll never know. Join us next week for the return of Ryan Reynolds in “Deadpool – in Space!” CHIPS will do it’s best to destroy 80’s nostalgia. And they’ll both lose to 90’s nostalgia Power Rangers.
Top 5
Beauty and the Beast
King Kong
Logan
Get Out
Lego Batman
PTA
Beauty and the Beast
T2 Trainspotting
King Kong
Raw
Frantz