October 15, 2017

‘Happy Death Day’ Smells Sweet at Weekend Box Office

Horror flick “Happy Death Day” (Universal) easily topped the weekend. The latest production from prolific horror supplier Blumhouse ranked below their early year openers “Get Out” and “Split,” but $26.5 million for a movie with a $5-million production budget marks an instant success.

While some of the Blumhouse aura has been overshadowed by the massive success of Warner Bros.’ Stephen King juggernaut “It,” that shouldn’t take away producer Jason Blum’s mastery at consistently packaging original low-budget smash hits.

“Happy Death Day” is a bit lower-profile than other recent Blum house efforts, but it still landed some respectable mainstream reviews. That’s a big change from how the genre has been treated in recent years.

The film was positioned well in two ways. Mid-October is often a prime pre-Halloween date for horror entries. Lionsgate claimed the weekend before October 31 for “Jigsaw,” so Blumhouse went with the earlier weekend — without any competition from Halloween parties. Also the timing allowed the trailer for “Happy” to play in front of some 30 million ticket buyers for “It.” This marks a mid-level Blumhouse success. Both “Ouija” and its sequel last October opened smaller.

“Happy” led the way for a slight boost in grosses over a year ago. With prime-time TV baseball games with teams from the three largest markets and only one wide opening, that’s not a bad result. Last year saw “The Accountant” open to a bit less, along with a $12-million grossing Kevin Hart comedy concert film.

“The Foreigner”

Courtesy of STXfilms

“The Foreigner” (STX), the other wide opener, showed that after decades of success Jackie Chan still can draw a middling audience. Worldwide, the film has already passed $100 million. It had a strong Cinemascore (A-), which might account for its Saturday increase. (That’s rare for second-day mass market openers; “Happy Death Day” was down 19 per cent.) Asian-American audiences remain under-represented among commercial films, and STX reports they were well-represented in the 59 per cent male audience.

“Blade Runner 2049”

Warner Bros.

Holdovers

All eyes were on the second weekend of the disappointing “Blade Runner 2049” (Warner Bros.). Its drop was 54 per cent, good enough for second place at $15.1 million. The problem is it fell from a lower number than hoped for last weekend. That is a marked improvement over the 62 and 70 per cent respective drops for summer’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” and “Alien: Covenant” and suggests a longer shelf life for Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed film. Having reached $60 million at this point, its chances of hitting $100 million domestic are much improved.

Expectations are everything. Take the director’s recent “Arrival” (which topped out at $100.5 million domestic off a budget of $47 million): the sci-fi drama opened on a date that allowed it to have a boost over Thanksgiving, then sustain a longer run that included Christmas dates. That movie reached about $44 million after ten days, dropping 49 per cent on weekend two. But that was strong enough to boost its chances for leading Oscar nominations, which is still possible for the “Blade Runner” sequel.

“It”

“It” only fell 39 per cent, which is incredible. Now at $315 million, figure it to add another $20 million or so before it’s done. Only one film had a major drop, with the second weekend of “My Little Pony: The Movie” (Lionsgate) falling 55 per cent,  which is high for an animated film. The second weekend falloff for the disappointing “The Mountain Between Us” (20th Century Fox) was more modest at 46 per cent.

Wider niche films continue to hover in the vicinity of the Top Ten. “Victoria & Abdul” (Focus) held with a small 25 per cent drop, while still not up to 1,000 theaters. “Marshall” (Open Road) and “Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman” (Annapurna) in 821 and 1,229 theaters respectively, were #11 and #14. The former, about the early days of Civil Rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall, made a promising debut. However, “Professor Marston” was a complete dud despite upbeat reviews.

Top Ten Box Office Chart

1. Happy Death Day (Universal) NEW – Cinemascore: B; Metacritic: 57; Est. budget: $5 million

$26,500,000 in 3,149 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $8,415; Cumulative: $26,500,000

2. Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros.) Week 2 – Last weekend #1

$15,100,000 (-54%) in 4,058 theaters (no change); PTA: $3,721; Cumulative: $60,578,000

3. The Foreigner (STX) NEW – Cinemascore: A-; Metacritic: 57; Est. budget: $35 million

$12,840,000 in 2,515 theaters; PTA: $5,105; Cumulative: $12,840,000

4. It (Warner Bros.) Week 6 – Last weekend #3

$6,050,000 (-39%) in 3,176 theaters (-429); PTA: $1,905; Cumulative: $314,930,000

5. The Mountain Between Us (20th Century Fox) Week 2 – Last weekend #2

$5,650,000 (-46%) in 3,259 theaters (+171); PTA: $1,734; Cumulative: $20,503,000

6. American Made (Universal) Week 3 – Last weekend #6

$5,423,000 (-36%) in 3,098 theaters (+171); PTA: $1,750; Cumulative: $40,153,000

7. Kingsman:  The Golden Circle (20th Century Fox) Week 4 – Last weekend #5

$5,315,000 (-39%) in 2,982 theaters (-506); PTA: $1,782; Cumulative: $89,652,000

8. The LEGO Ninjago Movie (Warner Bros.) Week – Last weekend #7

$4,315,000 (-38%) in 3,053 theaters (-558); PTA: $1,413; Cumulative: $51,578,000

9. My Little Pony: The Movie (Lionsgate) Week 2 – Last weekend #4

$4,000,000 (-55%) in 2,528 theaters (no change); PTA: $1,582; Cumulative: $15,513,000

10. Victoria & Abdul (Focus) Week 4 – Last weekend #8

$3,115,000 (-25%) in 900 theaters (-168); PTA: $3,461; Cumulative: $11,342,000

Source: IndieWire film

October 15, 2017

Björk Writes About Being Sexually Harassed by an Unnamed Filmmaker: ‘I Was Framed as the Difficult One’

Björk wrote a Facebook post about being sexually harassed by an unnamed Danish director, saying “it was extremely clear to me when i walked into the actresses profession that my humiliation and role as a lesser sexually harassed being was the norm and set in stone with the director and a staff of dozens who enabled it and encouraged it.”

Björk has few acting credits to her name, with most notable being Danish auteur Lars von Trier’s “Dancer in the Dark,” for which she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

“i became aware of that it is a universal thing that a director can touch and harass his actresses at will and the institution of film allows it,” she wrote. “when i turned the director down repeatedly he sulked and punished me and created for his team an impressive net of illusion where i was framed as the difficult one.”

Björk says she “walked away from it” in part because she had no ambitions as an actor — a sentiment shared by Sarah Polley in a New York Times essay yesterday — and recovered from the experience after a year.

“i am worried though that other actresses working with the same man did not,” she adds. “the director was fully aware of this game and i am sure of that the film he made after was based on his experiences with me . because i was the first one that stood up to him and didn’t let him get away with it.”

Still, she does include the somewhat hopeful note that “in my opinion he had a more fair and meaningful relationship with his actresses after my confrontation so there is hope.” Read her full comments below.

Source: IndieWire film

October 15, 2017

Rose McGowan Slams Lisa Bloom: ‘Did You Think of How It Would Affect Victims to See You Champion a Rapist?’

Rose McGowan has written an open letter of sorts to Lisa Bloom, holding nothing back as she addresses the well-known attorney who served as an advisor to Harvey Weinstein before resigning from that position last weekend. Calling Bloom a “cancer” whose “very name makes my stomach clench with a stressed tightness that takes my breath away,” the actress reveals that she was recently saddled with a $24,000 bill from her own lawyer because he had to deal with Bloom and her counsel Charles Harder.

“Did you think of how it would affect victims to see you champion a rapist? How it felt to those you once ‘fought for,’ for them to know that you used them. You remember them right?” writes McGowan. Bloom most often works on the other side of such cases — as does her mother Gloria Allred, who publicly rebuked her daughter for working with Weinstein.

“This is the lie you rode in on, Lisa Bloom,” the actress and activist continues. “You are done. We see you for who and what you are. You are a snake that sold out other women who are purer than you can ever hope to be.”

McGowan also reveals that, the night before the initial New York Times story about Weinstein was published, she was “being pushed hard to settle. I was offered one million dollars. No way. I then drove it to 6 million. I was warring with thoughts about being able to take care of my aunt, Mom and family vs my integrity.” Ultimately she opted not to take the money because she “will not be sold. Never again.” She also says that she never signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA).

“When I was 23 I was hurt by the Swine,” McGowan says. “I have had a 350 lbs monster stuck to me for twenty years. Guess what, Lisa? Now he’s all yours. It’s your obituary his name will be in, not mine.” Read her full letter here.

Source: IndieWire film

October 15, 2017

Woody Allen Calls the Harvey Weinstein Scandal ‘Sad for Everybody Involved’

Woody Allen has weighed in on the Harvey Weinstein scandal, telling the BBC that it’s “sad for everybody involved” and that he hopes it doesn’t lead to “a witch-hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself.”

Allen, whose new movie “Wonder Wheel” just premiered as the closing-night selection at the New York Film Festival, has been accused of molesting his former stepdaughter Dylan Farrow.

“The whole Harvey Weinstein thing is very sad for everybody involved,” Allen said. “Tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for Harvey that his life is so messed up. There’s no winners in that. It’s just very, very sad and tragic for those poor women that had to go through that.”

“You don’t want it to lead to a witch-hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself. That’s not right either,” he continued. “But sure, you hope that something like this could be transformed into a benefit for people rather than just a sad or tragic situation.”

Allen has worked with Weinstein on more than one occasion and says that “no one ever came to me or told me horror stories with any real seriousness. And they wouldn’t, because you are not interested in it. You are interested in making your movie. But you do hear a million fanciful rumors all the time. And some turn out to be true and some — many — are just stories about this actress, or that actor.”

Source: IndieWire film