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You know, every year, journalists and analysts are always trying to figure out, 'what's going to be this year's My Big Fat Greek Wedding?' 'What's going to be this year's Napoleon Dynamite?' It seems like there's always that one little indie comedy that comes out of festival season with good buzz and connects with audiences as much as their big studio counterparts. Well, this year, the question was, 'what's this year's Little Miss Sunshine?' 
And the answer, of course, is Juno, which climbed all the way to the fifth spot with $15.7 million from just 998 theatres for a $15k average, highest in the top ten. And while I've heard nothing but good things about this film, I have one small bone to pick. Lots of very talented screenwriters put out lots of very good work every year, and I have no doubt that Diablo Cody's script for Juno is one of the best. But if she weren't a modestly attractive ex-stripper, would anyone be talking about her as much as they are? I notice there were no Maxim articles about, say, Christopher McQuarrie after The Usual Suspects came out. And it's not that she doesn't deserve the attention, it's that a lot of other writers deserve just as much (my vote for screenwriter of the year is James Vanderbilt, who demonstrated uncanny ability with labyrinthine plots and epic scale in Zodiac and the as-yet unproduced Against All Enemies. He's attached to write Spiderman 4; let's hope he can get that franchise back on track).
Aliens vs. Predator- Requiem had a decent sixth place opening (for being the tail end of two dying franchises), grabbing $13.8 million from 2,611 theatres for a $5k average and a $30 million total since it's Tuesday debut. I still insist the only way to make an AVP movie right is to do it without any humans, but that's a little too far out of the box for studio consumption. Hilary Swank's first romantic comedy, P.S. I Love You, was right behind with $13 million and a $27 million total, demonstrating once again that if you make a romantic comedy, any romantic comedy, and cut a good trailer, you'll pull in at least $35 million.
Sweeney Todd continues to hang in there, taking in $11.7 million and raising its total to $30 million. In a way, I've gained some respect for Tim Burton here. After blatantly pandering to the Academy with the unusually sunny Big Fish, I'm sure somebody, at some point, told him that if he just toned down the blood, a Best Picture nomination would be a lock, and Burton plainly said 'no'. He's clearly a dark, brooding, weird guy who does his best work (Beetlejuice, Ed Wood) when he's allowed to be dark, brooding, and weird. In stark contrast to virtually everything Tim Burton has ever done is Enchanted, another surprise hit this season. It added $9 million over the weekend and brought it's total to $113 million.
In tenth place was the first of a number of Oscar hopefuls, Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters, a film that's gotten some good notices in spite of what seems to be an incredibly predictable story. I'm glad that Denzel has found some success as a director, and the $9 million take from 1,171 theatres for an $8k average is a good start for this film. Total stands at $16 million since the Tuesday opening. Also in limited release was The Bucket List, the Rob Reiner comedy staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman that has been savaged by critics. It opened in 16 theatres and brought in $589k for a $36k average. It's not often you'll hear me say this, but with those stars and those reviews, Warner Bros. should have gone wide with this one off the bat to capitalize on star power before word got around. That per screen average looks impressive, but I'm betting this one will fall off the map before it gets to a thousand theatres.
Comments (3)
To preserve marital harmony I went to see The Great Debaters. I was expecting a simplistic feel-good film, but instead found a moving story that captured life in segregated America as I knew it, and showed the true courage required by African Americans to change the course of this country. If you are relatively young and missed living through this time period then you will find this fine film to be an eye opener.
1 of 3 | Posted by tombo | Posted on January 2, 2008 8:03 PM
Sutter,
Until this minute, I had no idea who wrote "Juno" or what he or she looked like. All I know is that is was one of the funniest, best written movies I have seen in quite a while. Get out and see it for yourself already so you can see why people are so enthusiastic about it, instead of theorizing it could be anything except that it's a really good movie!
2 of 3 | Posted by JasonR | Posted on January 3, 2008 7:05 AM
Glad to hear Great Debaters is worth checking out. It's harder to make a film interesting if the story is familiar, but not impossible (Miracle, a terrific film about the U.S. Olympic hockey team beating Russia in the seventies, springs to mind).
Jason,
I really wasn't trying to criticize Cody; hell, I'm happy for any writer that draws publicity. I'm critical of the media for not paying attention to the other very talented writers. Believe me, Juno's on my list and I'm excited to see it.
3 of 3 | Posted by sutterkane | Posted on January 3, 2008 11:26 AM