Question: gross box office can grow if it opens on many more screens the second week. The real metric is per screen average. What do that number look like?
I have an AMC movie pass which is the most economical way to be a cinephile. Loved Obsession. Seeing Backrooms tomorrow. Also want to give a shout out to Is God Is starring the vibrant and gifted Kara Young! A movie Tarantino wishes he could have made.
I saw Obsession today with my "tough" 16 year old son. I hate horror movies but this is "our thing." After I was done self-administering my defibrillator I thought, "that was a damned good movie." The psychological manipulation was amazing. By the time the gratuitous/over the top stuff came at the end I was already psychologically battered/full body sweating. I Googled the budget v box office after I arrived home and Wow! Obsession is like the anti "Melania Documentary." I don't particularly love being scared out of my ever-loving mind (I'm more of an Oppenheimer kind of person) but now that my heart rate in settled into the 80s, I have to say Obsession was QUITE the movie.
OMG did you see it Sbara? I wear an Oura ring and (I'm actually not joking about this part) my heart rate went SKY high during the movie, and then I woke up with a jolt at 2:45 am sweating. The only time a movie has ever had this effect on me was 500 years ago when I was a sophomore in HS. I was in the French Club (easy grade-my Mom was French) and our French teacher and his wife hosted a Halloween party at their home. This was in the days before waivers/permission slips and for some Godforsaken reason they decided we should all watch The Exorcist. I was raised Catholic. The Devil is real. I slept with the lights on for an unusually long time thereafter for a 16 year old. I think I need to watch some smarmy Rom Com or Nicholas Sparks movie for a brain cleanse.
I will refer to earlier comments I have made - creators gonna create, and there's always gonna be a rich guy who wants to actually be part of something good; this is what drives the movie industry forward, time and time again. And the music industry - just when things are getting really, REALLY crappy on the corporate side, tech advances have given independent creators the tools to use. I recorded and mixed the stuff in this drive file with a computer, and about 400 bucks in gear plus the cost of the recording program, Studio One: Check it out - as part of the new genre, my music is available for soundtracks! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14jNYIZr4Il8KJ0yAL-P0nS-y1dv1tf1D?usp=drive_link
The one I'll be very interested to see the performance of is Disclosure Day in a couple weeks. It's been a while since the last time Spielberg gave us a Big Summer Movie and the word on it is very good.
I always enjoy seeing a film in a movie theater. Today too many people think they are in their living and talk loudly or talk on their cell phones. I have a tradition of seeing all of the academy award nominated films on two Saturdays. These are attended by true film lovers and a respectful audience. That has become almost the only time I go to the movie theater.
I very much like the meta-film discussions you occasionally do, like this one. I'm surprised you didn't mention the box office momentum shown earlier by "Hail Mary"--maybe you covered this already elsewhere. Well-produced sci-fi with a good story is still a major attraction, and why should it not?
There is connection in a movie theater. We laugh together. We cry together. I usually stream films, but I do miss the theater experience. Thanks for the recommendations.
I saw Backrooms last night. I had seen a trailer a few weeks ago that looked pretty intriguing, so I was excited to see it. Thursday night 8:30 show, figured the theater would be fairly empty, and when I got there about 10 minutes early, it was. But in the next 10 minutes, 5 or 6 large groups of 20-somethings — men and women — all piled into the theater, which I don’t think I’d ever seen before. (I am… not 20-something, let’s leave it at that.)
I liked the movie quite a bit, although I felt like it kind of lost the thread in the last 15 minutes or so. It went wrong, I think, in trying to offer a relatively mundane, if vague, explanation of the pretty wild and surreal goings-on that took up most of the movie — an explanation literally delivered by a guy in a white lab coat. I would have much preferred an entirely batsh*t crazy, WTF, Hereditary-style ending, and it was my sense that the ending likewise fell flat with the audience as a whole.
Again, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and will definitely watch again when it streams, but based on the reaction at this screening, I’m not sure this is going to have those Obsession-level legs.
Sonny! My son & his wife were there too hamming it up with the “Saw” franchise stars & writer, among others! They have a film YouTube biz: “Foot the Bill” also on Patreon. Account name: Kitten-Arcader. They do a detailed breakdown of the costs related to the protagonist (pricing per the year being portrayed in the film). Here’s the entire “Saw” franchise “Foot the Bill” videos.
The Harris book is required reading for all interested in Hollywood film. He dissects each movie and covers how the zeitgeist of that period impacted them. Sam Wasson's 'The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood' is a wonderful companion read.
Question: gross box office can grow if it opens on many more screens the second week. The real metric is per screen average. What do that number look like?
I have an AMC movie pass which is the most economical way to be a cinephile. Loved Obsession. Seeing Backrooms tomorrow. Also want to give a shout out to Is God Is starring the vibrant and gifted Kara Young! A movie Tarantino wishes he could have made.
I saw Obsession today with my "tough" 16 year old son. I hate horror movies but this is "our thing." After I was done self-administering my defibrillator I thought, "that was a damned good movie." The psychological manipulation was amazing. By the time the gratuitous/over the top stuff came at the end I was already psychologically battered/full body sweating. I Googled the budget v box office after I arrived home and Wow! Obsession is like the anti "Melania Documentary." I don't particularly love being scared out of my ever-loving mind (I'm more of an Oppenheimer kind of person) but now that my heart rate in settled into the 80s, I have to say Obsession was QUITE the movie.
Laura! You make me laugh. I feel ya sista!
OMG did you see it Sbara? I wear an Oura ring and (I'm actually not joking about this part) my heart rate went SKY high during the movie, and then I woke up with a jolt at 2:45 am sweating. The only time a movie has ever had this effect on me was 500 years ago when I was a sophomore in HS. I was in the French Club (easy grade-my Mom was French) and our French teacher and his wife hosted a Halloween party at their home. This was in the days before waivers/permission slips and for some Godforsaken reason they decided we should all watch The Exorcist. I was raised Catholic. The Devil is real. I slept with the lights on for an unusually long time thereafter for a 16 year old. I think I need to watch some smarmy Rom Com or Nicholas Sparks movie for a brain cleanse.
I will refer to earlier comments I have made - creators gonna create, and there's always gonna be a rich guy who wants to actually be part of something good; this is what drives the movie industry forward, time and time again. And the music industry - just when things are getting really, REALLY crappy on the corporate side, tech advances have given independent creators the tools to use. I recorded and mixed the stuff in this drive file with a computer, and about 400 bucks in gear plus the cost of the recording program, Studio One: Check it out - as part of the new genre, my music is available for soundtracks! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14jNYIZr4Il8KJ0yAL-P0nS-y1dv1tf1D?usp=drive_link
The one I'll be very interested to see the performance of is Disclosure Day in a couple weeks. It's been a while since the last time Spielberg gave us a Big Summer Movie and the word on it is very good.
I love this column so much! More of this, please! 💙
I always enjoy seeing a film in a movie theater. Today too many people think they are in their living and talk loudly or talk on their cell phones. I have a tradition of seeing all of the academy award nominated films on two Saturdays. These are attended by true film lovers and a respectful audience. That has become almost the only time I go to the movie theater.
I very much like the meta-film discussions you occasionally do, like this one. I'm surprised you didn't mention the box office momentum shown earlier by "Hail Mary"--maybe you covered this already elsewhere. Well-produced sci-fi with a good story is still a major attraction, and why should it not?
There is connection in a movie theater. We laugh together. We cry together. I usually stream films, but I do miss the theater experience. Thanks for the recommendations.
Thanks for mentioning “Tuner,” which sounds very appealing. Will watch for it.
**Mild spoilers for Backrooms in this post.**
I saw Backrooms last night. I had seen a trailer a few weeks ago that looked pretty intriguing, so I was excited to see it. Thursday night 8:30 show, figured the theater would be fairly empty, and when I got there about 10 minutes early, it was. But in the next 10 minutes, 5 or 6 large groups of 20-somethings — men and women — all piled into the theater, which I don’t think I’d ever seen before. (I am… not 20-something, let’s leave it at that.)
I liked the movie quite a bit, although I felt like it kind of lost the thread in the last 15 minutes or so. It went wrong, I think, in trying to offer a relatively mundane, if vague, explanation of the pretty wild and surreal goings-on that took up most of the movie — an explanation literally delivered by a guy in a white lab coat. I would have much preferred an entirely batsh*t crazy, WTF, Hereditary-style ending, and it was my sense that the ending likewise fell flat with the audience as a whole.
Again, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and will definitely watch again when it streams, but based on the reaction at this screening, I’m not sure this is going to have those Obsession-level legs.
If the movies are good it’s all that matters.
Sonny! My son & his wife were there too hamming it up with the “Saw” franchise stars & writer, among others! They have a film YouTube biz: “Foot the Bill” also on Patreon. Account name: Kitten-Arcader. They do a detailed breakdown of the costs related to the protagonist (pricing per the year being portrayed in the film). Here’s the entire “Saw” franchise “Foot the Bill” videos.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4HR_BMe7sQit5sI17k8nmW4OGwJ_hBah&si=WhNJ6eLh7HpGp9yu
Feel like doing a review? Deb
I’ll take a look!
The Harris book is required reading for all interested in Hollywood film. He dissects each movie and covers how the zeitgeist of that period impacted them. Sam Wasson's 'The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood' is a wonderful companion read.