Weekend Box Office: The Marketplace Is A Total 'Jackass'

It's been a rough year. With the recession ending for some people (not us!), the divisions caused by inane topics like the mosque in downtown Manhattan and the specter of doom hanging over us in the shape of the GOP's return to power, audiences have to feel pummeled by DEADLY SERIOUS ISSUES. What better time for a "Jackass" movie to come along? The opening number reflects the fact that demand probably wasn't that much higher than for previous installments - the 3D surcharge plus the huge Friday numbers that trailed off, suggest as much.

But Viacom and Paramount was very aggressive, almost desperate, in attempts to make this pre-millennial brand name relevant to today's ticket buyers. The ideal success pattern for R-rated sequels is to draw in the teens who couldn't get into the theaters but devoured the original title on DVD, and the "Jackass" movies were obvious big hits with young fans of the zombie factory known as MTV growing up. It makes sense that some of them are 18 and 19 now, and have been declared mature enough by the MPAA to see a man flung skywards from within a Porta-Potty. In 3D.

The success of the movie, which may or may not be the first film in the series to cross $100 million domestic, likely doesn't mean much. These guys are getting too old for this, though a "Grumpy Old Jackass" somewhere down the line would be an amusing one-off. The other alternative is that this sequel goes supernova on the DVD marketplace, prompting these guys to start churning them out at an ungodly rate, until they pretty much destroy their bodies permanently. Either way, no real change to the moviemaking landscape, but mansions for all. Again. Bam Margera's mother must be proud.

Those numbers almost doubled the opening take of the Bruce Willis actioner "Red." You can view this pretty negatively. There's the suggestion that a $20 million superstar like Willis should be outdrawing the likes of Johnny Knoxville, or that the cast (including Oscar perennials like John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman) should bring in more than the casual audience this gross suggests. However, the opening falls in line with expectations for the toughest of genre mashups, the comedy-hyphen. It may be a comedy-actioner, or a comedy-horror film, but spiking comedy (specifically Malkovich loaded with PCP and attached to explosives) with anything (action - John Diehard has guns) is always a tough play. This is not your usual studio performer, because it's Summit, so domestically, the film should only require a $60 million gross, because the real money is in worldwide, where Summit has already sold off the rights.

"The Social Network" fell out of first but continues its minor audience loss. "Jackass" is fun, and "Red" has that opening weekend, but "The Social Network" does seem to be the movie on people's lips. With the decent opening, this is now a trek to $100 million, and nearing $65, that number remains a possibility if the weekend drops remain sub-40%. The smallest audience loss belongs to "Secretariat," which lingered right behind after dropping a shade over 25%, which makes sense given the story's appeal to non-first-weekenders. We're sure the early-bird screenings were packed to the brim.

Most movies stayed afloat and approached respectability this weekend, even if they really weren't worth seeing in the first place. "Life As We Know It" is nearing $30 million in weekend two, and after a wimpy first session, the film might be leveling off at a respectable $50m, though $40m seems more plausible. Regardless, that one hurts. Speaking of hurt, another WB bomb continues to hang around in "Legend of the Guardians." The studio has to be stung that after four weeks in release, this thing hasn't even crossed $50 million. If "The Town" weren't crossing $80 million this weekend, some heads would be rolling.

There were a couple of limited release surprises that may have not gotten coverage by sites like us. Urban thriller "N-Secure," which looks a lot like "The Room" with a black cast ("The Black Room"?), opened just outside the top ten at 486 locations with $1.4 million, though we wonder exactly how those screens were acquired in the first place. The Tea Party documentary "I Want Your Money," meanwhile, opened up on 537 screens, averaging $520 per-screen, a perfectly fringe-y bomb for a fraud political movement. It barely outdistanced Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter," which pulled in $231k on only six screens, by far the weekend's highest per-screen at $38k. An expansion should follow next weekend.

The biggest indie hit of the moment continued to be "Waiting For Superman," which saw a slight uptick with an expansion, grabbing $753k at 182 engagements. The film gained some nice exposure thanks to President Obama this week, which might help it go from a $2.5 million hit into a $5 million grosser. The future may not be so bright for "Conviction," a dull crowd-pleaser inexplicably given an arthouse platform, that pulled in a decent $110k on eleven screens for a per-screen that Fox Searchlight hopes it can duplicate in coming weeks, though without critic heat that seems unlikely. Support your local indie theater, folks.

1. Rome Is Burning 3D (Paramount) - $50 million
2. Red (Summit) - $22.5 million
3. The Friendster Fanbase (Sony) - $11 million ($63 mil.)
4. Horsies! (Disney) - $9.5 million ($28 mil.)
5. Life As We Know It (Warner Bros.) - $9.2 million ($29 mil.)
6. Legend of the Gangbangers: The Owls Of Compton (Warner Bros.) - $4.2 million ($46 mil.)
7. The Town (Warner Bros.) - $4 million ($81 mil.)
8. My Soul To Take (Universal) - $3.2 million ($12 mil.)
9. Easy A (Sony) - $2.7 million ($62 mil.)
10. Wall Street: Zuul Never Sleeps (Fox) - $2.4 million ($48 mil.)

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Weekend Box Office: Katherine Heigl, Horse Lose To Nerd Entrepeneurs

Like a horse race, this weekend had three photo finishers, with a Sunday winner possibly being a bit too premature to call - expect some Monday morning jostling, especially with the holiday. As in many equestrian events, there was a former first place finisher, a starry upstart, and a stoic newcomer with success painted all over its face. And like a few horse races in the past, “Secretariat” was involved.

The Randall Wallace drama, however, was a definite underperformer, and with numbers still in debate, it does look like Disney’s proud thoroughbred is going to bow before last week’s top picture, “The Social Network.” The critically-lauded internet drama has definitely won over a few fair-weather fans with a muscular second weekend hold. Those dubious about a movie garnering success by dealing with a website grown adults should be ashamed of using have reason to reassess their thoughts. Critics don’t really matter anymore unless, in the very rare case of films like “The Social Network” and “Toy Story 3,” the deafening consensus of go-alongs and reverent homers (in this case, a large number of uncritical writers and commentators blindly banging the drum for David Fincher and Pixar as if they were on studios' payrolls) pushes a film’s Q-rating into Joe PBR declaring, “This movie sounds like something Jesus would pay to see!”

Not to say “The Social Network” isn’t an interesting picture, mind you, but the talk has transformed the film from “great picture” to “event movie” status. A second weekend pull isn’t a major factor against weaker competition like this, but if this picture is still doing double-digit weekends by the late October horror boom, it’s time to upgrade from a Strong Success to a People’s Choice, and the year’s first genuine Oscar lock. At this juncture, nothing can be forecast until the film reaches $100 mil., and after two weekends, it still lies on the other side of $50.

There’s a smaller margin of error for actresses than there is for actors, so while some leading men can survive a number of bombs, it only takes a small failure to sink the brand name of a leading lady. And this is two in a row for Katherine Heigl, as “Life As We Know It” landed at #2. It drew enough business to lead the pack on Friday night, but Saturday wasn’t as date-worthy, and the picture looks to land behind Heigl’s “Killers” in the realm of frail openers. While she was starring alongside human wallpaper Josh Duhamel, and the title and premise suggested a vague bummer aura, Warner Bros. used a serious marketing push to get this out to the public. The core audience for a movie where Christina Hendricks dies so Katherine Heigl gets to raise a baby in her empty house liked the film enough to give a strong Cinemascore rating, but others likely realized that it sounded like a premise from Hell and stayed far away.

Expected winner “Secretariat” was a non-starter, possibly shutting the door on a potential awards push. Nobody thought the movie was genuinely good (Ebert did, but he’s very good friends with the author of the book), but with a strong box office showing, “Secretariat” was poised to take the Movie White People Like slot filled by “The Blind Side” last year. A better comparison, obviously, is “Seabiscuit,” which benefited from having Gary Ross (as opposed to Randall Wallace, Oscar-winning writer but oblivious behind the camera), as well as a strong cast that included "Spider-Man" and The Dude. “Secretariat” could only muster chick flick star Diane Lane (playing old, therefore nixing males) and John Malkovich (playing himself, scaring children).

The smallest audience loss in the top ten belongs to “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole.” That opening was considered disastrous, but in its third weekend, the film is inching towards final numbers that at least hint at profitability, though this looks like a money-loser in the long run. Again, 3D helps, as it makes an average hold look muscular, but there isn’t exactly a huge kid market to compete with right now. 3D couldn’t save “My Soul To Take,” which debuted in “Piranha 3D” territory. Studios need to consider that the lure of taking a generic thriller and adding the extra visual dimension doesn’t outweigh the audience’s realization that they have to pay a premium price. Ideally, this development should lead to lowering, or maybe getting rid of, the surcharge altogether, as it’s a cynical process that potentially alienates viewers, but when the format is attached to a hit, it artificially raises grosses so a $50 million weekend becomes a $60 million weekend. Studios will never ditch a tool that helps inflate grosses, mostly because of vanity. But they might stop tagging it on tepid-looking Wes Craven thrillers that have sat on the shelf for a couple of years.

The WB's “The Town” was close behind, itself losing a small audience from last weekend, and after four weekends, it's threatening to hit $90 million provided weekday grosses remain robust. The possibility of “The Town” entering the Oscar race remains small, but the box office will likely keep Ben Affleck’s heist drama in the race. No such hope for "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” which is quickly making its way out of the top ten. Even during its first weekend, it was looking less like a bonafide hit/event, and more like a smash-and-grab based on brand name recognition. In other words, a typical Fox picture. But getting this over $50 million isn’t bad at all, and there should be a DVD profit if international receipts remain strong. “Easy A” is staving off small audience losses as well, close to hitting $50 million: another Screen Gems winner. It again outpaced “You Again,” which has hung around in the top ten only to be backslapped weekly by the Emma Stone comedy.

Did anyone know "It's Kind of a Funny Story" had a semi-wide release this weekend? In a seeming last-minute decision, Focus Features pushed the indie into 742 engagements for a feeble per-screen, and a $2 million total to place outside of the top ten. The premise is a definite turn-off, and the title is more than a little vague, so a hard sell was needed, and Focus' strategy was more than questionable. Zack Galifianakis has been racking up the credits, but like "Hangover" co-star Bradley Cooper, he hasn't exactly broken through yet, despite a colorful mix of roles. Galifianakis, to his credit, is at least extending his range and doing some occasional quality work, while Cooper is not exactly working as leading man superhero. Both of them need "The Hangover 2."

In indie cinemas, "Waiting For Superman" is starting to break through, with a $1.4 million gross after three weeks of aggressive platforming. The per-screen returned to a solid level after spectacular showings in previous sessions, but the film is poised to be one of the year's biggest docs, if not on a par with Davis Guggenheim's previous work. "Catfish" is swimming downstream, however, and while screens are still being added, the approach by Rogue Pictures remains tentative, as the film continues to bleed viewers. The highly-buzzed doc might close under $5 million.

There were a couple of larger debuts on the indie stage. "Stone" and "Nowhere Boy" hit on six and four screens, respectively, and both had steady per-screen averages, landing at $73k and $56k. Success could come if the expansion is played right, but Overture and the Weinsteins aren't exactly in the best shape. The best per-screen average came from Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job," which exploded on only two screens with a strong $21k per. The news wasn't so good for the noxious "I Spit On Your Grave" remake, which sneaked onto twelve screens and stole $33k, while Stephen Frears' "Tamara Drewe" was lost in the shuffle, with $19k at four engagements. Meanwhile, it might be bad news for "Buried" - the Ryan Reynolds drama did $200k in weekend three, but has registered terrible per-screen numbers in each week, likely threatening the planned expansion Lionsgate was eying. Support your local indie theater, boys and girls.

1. The Social Network (Sony) - $15.5 million ($46 mil.)
2. Life As We Know It, Judging From Terrible TV Shows (WB) - $14.6 million
3. Horsey Movie (Disney) - $12.6 million
4. Legend Of The Owls: The Hooting Of Ga'Hoole (WB) - $7 million ($39 mil.)
5. My Soul To Take (Universal) - $6.9 million
6. The Town (WB) - $6.4 million ($74 mil.)
7. Wall Street: Money Presses Snooze (Fox) - $4.6 million ($44 mil.)
8. Easy A (Sony) - $4.2 million ($48 mil.)
9. Case 39 (Paramount) - $2.6 million ($10 mil.)
10. You Again (Disney) - $2.5 million ($21 mil.)

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In Theaters: 'Secretariat,' 'Life As We Know It,' 'Stone'

With great word-of-mouth spreading for last week's 'The Social Network," the box-office race is wide open this week. Three films open wide, all targeting vastly different audiences this Columbus Day weekend. First up, Disney gives us the family horse-racing drama "Secretariat," which looks to capture the hungry "The Blind Side" crowd and drum up some award attention. The rom-com "Life as We Know It" is less generic than it looks, but ultimately falls victim to convention. We know better than to count out Katherine Heigel at the box office, though. Wes Craven returns with 3D Halloween entry "My Soul to Take," which has been generating zero buzz prior to its release. Interesting options in limited release, the Edward Norton/Robert DeNiro crime drama "Stone" isn't quite up to their their best work, but will leave you thinking afterwards. Zack Galifanakis stretches his skills in the mental hospital dramedy "It's Kind of a Funny Story," while young John Lennon is given the warts-and -all treatment in "Nowhere Boy." Your best bets this weekend may be the fascinating financial crisis documentary "Inside Job" or if you're looking for something a little more pulpy, the British gangster tale "Down Terrace."

In Wide Release: Disney puts its horse in the Oscar race this week with the crowd-pleasing true story "Secratariat," directed by "Braveheart" scribe Randall Wallace. Diane Lane stars as a bored housewife who takes over her family's Virginia stables, even though she has no knowledge of the horse-racing business. With the help of a veteran trainer, played by John Malkovich, they overcome the odds and develop the first triple crown winner in 25 years and arguably the best racehorse of all time. We posted our review earlier in the week, finding it to be a handsome film, but wholly predictable and slightly boring. We can't really see the film competing at the Oscars like 2003's "Seabiscuit," but as far as Hollywood entertainment goes, you could do a lot worse.RT: 64%Metacritic: 60

Katherine Heigel and Josh Duhamel headline the romantic comedy "Life as We Know It." The stars play unfriendly acquaintances who are suddenly thrown together in parenthood when their mutual best friends die in an accident. In respect to their dead friends, they move in together and start a tentative life, even though they still hate each others guts. We reviewed the film, surprised by some of the more dramatic turns the story takes and the charm of the lead performances, but let down by the conventional tidy conclusion to a messy tale. RT: 27% Metacritic: 40.

Also out wide is horror great Wes Craven's first 3D film, "My Soul to Take" which he also wrote. The film tells the story of a serial killer who returns to his hometown to terrorize a group of teens born on the night he died. The studio didn't screen the film for critics, which is never a good sign, so if you see it, let us know if we're missing anything special.

In Limited Release: Edward Norton and Robert DeNiro, co-stars in 2001's "The Score," team up once again in "Stone." Norton plays a convicted arsonist who plans to use his beautiful wife (Milla Jovovich) to seduce his hard-ass parole officer and secure his early release. While the movie is thought-provoking and has some very strong elements, notably Norton's performance, we were let down by the lack of freshness or insight (check our review here). RT: 48% Metacritic: 54.

The directing duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck ("Half Nelson," Sugar") take their first stab at the mainstream with an adaptation of Ned Vizzini's novel, "It's Kind Of A Funny Story." Keir Gilchrist stars as Craig, a teenager who convinces his doctor to admit him into the mental ward of the hospital where he is shown the ropes by Bobby, played by Zach Galifianakis. As we noted in our review from Toronto, despite a first-rate cast, the film meets its early comparisons to "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Breakfast Club" with a bare minimum of inspiration. RT: 59% Metacritic: 63.

"Nowhere Boy" is director Sam Taylor Wood's take on the coming-of-age of John Lennon and the events that led to the founding of The Beatles. Aaron Johnson ("Kick-Ass") stars as an unsympathetic Lennon, who as we wrote in our review "is at first a brash rebel dancing on the grave of propriety, and later an apple-cheeked thug with an authority problem." We weren't moved by the stock characters and shaky casting, but critics-at-large seem to be responding with plenty of good reviews coming in. RT: 80% Metacritic: 62.

Also out this week in limited: the fantastic documentary "Inside Job," from "No End In Sight" director Charles Ferguson. The film is an eye-opening and infuriating look into the financial crisis, with all the suspense of a great heist film. We reviewed the doc back at the Toronto Film Festival, so check that out here. RT: 87% Metacritic: 89. The fresh and darkly comic British gangster tale "Down Terrace" may not be on par with recent classics of the genre like "A Prophet" and "Animal Kingdom," but it's definitely worth a look this week (our review here). RT: 87%. The horror remake "I Spit on Your Grave" may be of interest to some fans of the original, but as we note in our review, the new film is ugly, inhuman, and irredeemable. Last week's "Let Me In" is much more deserving of your horror dollar this week. RT: 30% Metacritic: 24.

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Review: 'Secretariat' Winds Up Running Right In The Middle Of The Pack

Your appreciation of "Secretariat" may depend on how you react to Diane Lane having a human/animal mind meld with a horse and then later, giving that same horse a pep talk before a big race. If just reading that made you even slightly amused, then you might be best advised to say away from the pure, hay-fed corn that is Disney's housewife-and-horse-overcoming-the-odds crowdpleaser, "Secretariat."

To be fair, the studio and director Randall Wallace do put some solid talent in front of the camera to tell the true story of the Triple Crown winning horse who still holds the margin-of-victory record and speed record for dirt races. Diane Lane leads the cast as Penny Chenery, the feisty housewife who throws off her oppressive apron to take over the family horse farm. John Malkovich delivers another enjoyable turn as a weirdo eccentric, playing the French Canadian trainer Lucien Laurin. "Hey it's that guy" faces like James Cromwell and Fred Dalton Thompson do their jobs well playing white-guys-with-money, while the always superb Margo Martindale brings the only real heart to the film as the longstanding Chenery family secretary Miss Ham. Rounding things out are some HBO staples, with the perpetually teenaged looking Fred Savage Syndrome victim Kevin "Eric Murphy on Entourage" Connolly growing a mustache and pretending to be a sports reporter and Nelsan "Lafayatte on True Blood" Ellis wasted in a thankless part as Secretariat's groom Eddie Sweat.

If the film has some solid talent to work with -- and some great set design and lovely cinematography by Dean Semler -- it can't raise the dramatic stakes no matter how hard it tries. That's not to say that a film can't be made without knowing the result, but in the case of "Secretariat," the actual roadblocks Penny and her horse faced were not all that insurmountable making the wait for the inevitable triumph merely a chore. From the moment the horse is born, we are told it is something special by how quickly it stands up on its own four legs. During training, the horse is fast and doesn't seem to tire. It begins to easily win races and in fact, the only major hurdle Secretariat faces is an abscess in its mouth which makes this the first film we've seen in ages where a boil was a lynchpin for dramatic tension.

So if the hurdles aren't on the racetrack, then they must be off right? Well, in the early part of the film Penny's brother Hollis Chenery (Dylan Baker) is eager to sell off the farm to try and pay back some of the massive inheritance tax the family will owe in the wake of their father's passing. But those worries are quickly put aside when Secretariat shows himself to be a horse that can not only save their farm, but make them millions. Ok, so what about Penny's old-fashioned husband, Jack Tweedy (Dylan Walsh)? He certainly isn't happy his wife is now splitting time between his family and her revitalized interest in the family horse raising trade, but perhaps in an effort to keep things family friendly, that discord is muted. Jack doesn't do much except ask rhetorical questions, furrow his brow and quietly exit rooms. And he eventually comes around, but of course, having your wife manage a million dollar horse certainly doesn't hurt.

Ok, then certainly if the on track troubles aren't present, and behind the scenes things aren't as bad as they seem, then surely, as a feminist message, "Secretariat" is a winner. Not quite. Chenery's arrival and conquering of the the very male world of horse racing is quickly done with a variety of quips and one-liners. There is a subplot involving one her hippie teenager daughters, Kate, that is so underwritten and contrived that its hard to know what to make of it. In one scene she wants to go to Guatemala -- Jack is agains it, Penny seems for it -- but the threat of a real dinner table discussion is quickly diffused, literally, by serving dessert. Kate is also fighting her high school to put on an anti-war skit during the Christmas pagaent, and when she wins the fight and puts on the skit, in an unintentionally hilarious scene, Penny listens long distance via a payphone outside the auditorium held up by her son (she can't make her plane due to inclement weather) as her daughter sings "Silent Night" as stoic sympathizers with placards march around her chanting "No war." While we suppose there is lesson in there somewhere about following your dreams, but that's certainly made very easy when you're upper class and blessed with the fastest race horse of all time.

Some Oscar talk has swirled around the film, with it being eyed as a potential "The Blind Side"-esque candidate but we don't see it happening. While the film will definitely play easier for older more conservative Academy members who like their films gift wrapped for them, Diane Lane's performance while perfectly adequate is far less showy than Sandra Bullock's turn. This is not the "Erin Brokovich" of horse racing. Randall Wallace's direction doesn't fuss around too much. It's reliable, and does justice to the paint-by-numbers structure of the story. He really just has to make sure everything looks nice, and it does. The horse races are about as exciting as horse races get (meaning, if you didn't like the sport before, "Secretariat" won't change your mind about it). But outside of Lane (who is longshot already facing stiff competition in a year with a number of strong female lead performances) the film's award chances seem small. And while "Seabiscuit" got nominated in seven categories including Best Picture back in 2003, in 2010 -- even with ten slots -- its a very different cinematic landscape.

But don't take our sour take on the film as a note that it's terrible. It's not. It's just wholly predictable and slightly boring. It's a very handsome piece of dramatic filmmaking that is as bland and uninteresting as it is formulaic. While its built like any other sports film -- where the underdogs go on to win the big game -- "Secretariat" is curiously missing the beating heart of the characters, but most importantly, the community who rallies behind them. "Secretariat" was a national sensation but we never feel that sense except for a brief moment of archival footage. What is it about "Secretariat" that mesmerized a nation more than three decades and why has the sport failed to do the same in the years since? Perhaps those are questions for another film, but in this one, "Secretariat" races right in the middle of the pack. [C]

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