10/23-25 Weekend BoxOffice
Juan F. Lara
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/
6 Astro Boy $6,702,923 3,014 $2,224 $6,702,923
9 6 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs $5,250,541 -34.5% 2,741 -296 $1,916 $114,854,877
13 8 Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D) $1,009,900 -66.5% 778 -711 $1,298 $30,144,903
35 The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D $143,289 105 $1,365 $143,289
36 36 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs $118,809 -8.9% 142 -39 $837 $196,268,716
41 40 Up $74,126 -29.6% 132 -30 $562 $292,913,068
48 30 9 $51,328 -77.9% 134 -354 $383 $31,339,937
50 68 Ponyo $43,949 +173.8% 103 +58 $427 $15,050,041
100 111 Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone $2,364 +146.8% 2 +1 $1,182 $104,909
104 Walt & El Grupo $1,792 4 $448 $17,635
Astro Boy bombs away.
Only 2.2. Mill each day.
What can you do?
We don't like you.
So you can just go to Hell, Astro Boy.
Actually, I haven't seen "Astro Boy" yet. If I wind up liking the movie after
all, I'll happily take back the lyrics I wrote. But the movie did bomb from a
boxoffice point of view. BoxOffice Mojo is reporting a $65M budget for this
movie. $65M for this? I wonder if that cost came mostly from the celebrity
voice salaries. And Cartoon Brew is reporting that the movie is bombing
overseas, including in Japan. Critics didn't warm up to "Astro Boy" either.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/astro_boy/
The "Toy Story" double feature is still around somehow. And "The
Nightmare Before Christmas" has just started its annual 3D rerelease. But not
nearly as many people care about that rerelease. :-)
A surge of new theaters finally pushed "Ponyo" over the 15M mark. And
"Evangelion 1.0" was able to break the $100K mark.
I'm pretty sure that the run of "$9.99" is over. The stop motion
animation ran for a long time, even opening in 2008 to qualify for that year's
Best Animated Feature Oscar. But it never opened in more than two or three
theaters at a time. So it took in only $50,701 domestically, but it also had
a non-NA take of $646,526 to go with that.
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I finally saw "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" last week, and I'll
admit to enjoying that movie a lot when I had expected to not like it. The
movie could've been a "Simpsons" episode. It took a satirical tone to small
town life, with absurd versions of economic decline and the gimmicks towns
might desperately use to pull out of crisis. The movie had a large cast,
giving a little time to each character for them to show off their
eccentricities.
Now the two leads, Flynt Lockwood and his dad, Tim, were the weakest
part of the movie. Flynt came off as just a grown up version of Jimmy Neutron,
filled with crazy invention ideas with no clue as how to build them safely. I
didn't sympathize with him very much. Neither with his dad; I couldn't really
figure out where Tim was coming from in his coldness to Flynt. More
successfully realized was Samatha Sparks. She had an extensive Meteorology
background, but also a ditzy personality. I thought both those opposites made
an appealing blend. The story also took police officer Earl and town bully
Brent in directions I didn't expect. Earl's devotion to his family was
sincere, and Brent's quest to restart his life was fun.
This was an artist driven movie with a lot of cartoonishly funny imagery.
My favorite scene is probably the jello palace, which looked otherworldly and
fun to animate. The sentient roast chickens were surreal imagery that I won't
forget soon, not to mention "Chicken Brent". The artists got some mileage out
of Tim Lockwood's Easter Island statue facial features. And the film had its
own traditionally animated closing sequence that was as appealing to watch as
any of Pixar's closings.
If there's five nominations for this year's Oscar, I think "Cloudy" has
a good chance at a slot. So far, it's this year's best of the non-Pixar CGI
features.
BTW: Let me do a shoutout for the movie theater where I saw "Cloudy".
http://www.capitoltheaterandcafe.com/
The owners restored the movie theater of downtown Laurens, SC; the kind of
theater that all small towns used to have. They also attached a fun
retro-cafe, with tables to eat your food while you watch the movie. I really
hope these guys succeed.
- Juan F. Lara
RD in Kennesaw
so well. But why so few theatres? Was it because other 3D bookings
are taking all the available 3D spaces, or is Disney just not pushing
the film as hard anymore?
On Oct 30, 11:51 am, lj...@ces.clemson.edu (Juan F. Lara) wrote:
> Information taken from Brandon Gray'shttp://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/
Paul S. Person
<2ndl...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>With only 105 theatres, it's easy to see why "Nightmare..." didn't do
>so well. But why so few theatres? Was it because other 3D bookings
>are taking all the available 3D spaces, or is Disney just not pushing
>the film as hard anymore?
The only 3-D theater in the nearest cluster of theaters (as opposed to
the entire city) is still showing /Paranormal Activity/. It didn't
show the 3-D Toy Story double feature either.
I guess the owners feel it should be allowed to show something people
actually want to see from time to time, instead of every 3-D bit of
kid-vid to come along.
--
Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, "I never knew him."
Derek Gee
news:ivsoe5lj3spgj0dit...@4ax.com...
> I guess the owners feel it should be allowed to show something people
> actually want to see from time to time, instead of every 3-D bit of
> kid-vid to come along.
To be fair, "Cloudy" is pretty good, more than just kid fare, and
"Nightmare" has been released TWICE before in 3D, and once before that in
2D. I'm baffled as to why Disney even tried to wide release it again. It's
not "Polar Express" and doesn't need to brought back every year.
Derek
Paul S. Person
I plan to purchase /Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs/ when it comes
out on DVD; I will watch it in the same form I saw it in the theater
-- normal projection.
/Nightmare Before Christmas/ is stop-action and therefore inherently
3D. It makes no sense to refer to it as "2D", no matter how it is
projected.
Since truly 3D movies will not be possible until the holodeck is
invented, I suggest using "normal projection" and "pseudo-3D" for the
way a film is projected [1] and restricting "3D" and "2D" to the
animation itself. Otherwise, confusion is inevitable.
[1] and for the HDTV/Blue-Ray "3D" being developed, which involves
glasses and so is not, in fact, 3D at all.
Incidentally, at least one of the articles I have read (on a news
site) quoted one of the developers to the effect that the "3D" HDTVs
will all be top-of-the-line. It appears that they are hoping to
recreate the LaserDisk market and return to the days when they sold
only to most discriminating, technically-impressed, and wealthy
clients, leaving the rest of us to watch films on more plebeian
equipment and media (NTSC TV or non-3D HDTV, DVD or non-3D BlueRay,
these will all be abandoned to hoi polloi). Other articles suggest
that this may work: apparently, watching anything except the screen
while the glasses are active is very disconcerting, and it may well
turn out tha only the very largest TVs occupy enough of the visual
field to avoid this effect.
On the other hand, /Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs/ was normal
projection only, unlike /Coraline/, which had both psuedo-3D and
normal sides. Apparenlty, /Coraline/ used a form of psuedo-3D which
used color lenses and so could be played on a normal TV, while
/IA:DotD/ used a more advanced system that only the to-be-developed
"3D" HDTV sets will be able to use.
Which is good news for me: it means that these DVDs will show the film
the way I want to see it.
Invid Fan
<pspe...@ix.netscom.com.invalid> wrote:
> /Nightmare Before Christmas/ is stop-action and therefore inherently
> 3D. It makes no sense to refer to it as "2D", no matter how it is
> projected.
>
So every live action film ever made is 3D. Well, that should be made
clearer in the marketing :)
--
Chris Mack *quote under construction*
'Invid Fan'
Paul S. Person
wrote:
>In article <cflre5dphmtgd9rt6...@4ax.com>, Paul S. Person
><pspe...@ix.netscom.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>> /Nightmare Before Christmas/ is stop-action and therefore inherently
>> 3D. It makes no sense to refer to it as "2D", no matter how it is
>> projected.
>>
>So every live action film ever made is 3D. Well, that should be made
>clearer in the marketing :)
Live action, as such, is not animation, so the term does not apply.
However, stop-motion animation has been around a long long time, and
has been used in quite a few films starting from very long ago.
O'Brien worked on silent movies before moving to talkies. Harryhausen
managed to move stop animation into color films. Stop-motion is an
inherently 3D form of animation.
For some time now, of course, many live action films (especially the
live action /action/ films) contain a lot of 3D animation already.
Some (I am thinking here of /Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow/)
appear to be entirely animated except for the actors themselves.
The whole point of 3D animation, after all, is to move closer to the
real world -- closer to "live action". And, in many ways, working
within the context of a "live action" film requires /better/, in the
sense of "closer to reality", 3D animation than entirely 3D animated
movies have achieved. Of course, in most cases, 3D animated movies are
not intended to be completely realistic; it is films like /Beowulf/
that reveal how close 3D animation can come to reality when used to
create an animated movie, not films like /Up/ or /Ice Age/.
The confusion here lies in using "3D" and "2D" to refer /both/ to an
animation technique /and/ to a projection method. This confusion is
unavoidable unless something else is used for one or the other -- and
the distinction between 2D and 3D animation is very well established.
Since what is called "3D" projection is really only pseudo-3D anyway,
using "psuedo-3D" and "standard projection", or other terms which make
more sense but which are not ambiguous ("done wrong " and "done
correctly" come immediately to mind as alternatives for "3D" and "2D"
when applied to projection, respectively).
Derek Gee
> On Sun, 1 Nov 2009 00:21:01 -0400, "Derek Gee"
> <dgeeSP...@twmi.INVALID.rr.com> wrote:
>
>>"Paul S. Person" <pspe...@ix.netscom.com.invalid> wrote in message
>>news:ivsoe5lj3spgj0dit...@4ax.com...
>>> I guess the owners feel it should be allowed to show something people
>>> actually want to see from time to time, instead of every 3-D bit of
>>> kid-vid to come along.
>>
>>To be fair, "Cloudy" is pretty good, more than just kid fare, and
>>"Nightmare" has been released TWICE before in 3D, and once before that in
>>2D. I'm baffled as to why Disney even tried to wide release it again.
>>It's
>>not "Polar Express" and doesn't need to brought back every year.
>
> I plan to purchase /Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs/ when it comes
> out on DVD; I will watch it in the same form I saw it in the theater
> -- normal projection.
>
> /Nightmare Before Christmas/ is stop-action and therefore inherently
> 3D. It makes no sense to refer to it as "2D", no matter how it is
> projected.
If it's not stereoscopic, it's not 3D. Those computer animators hijacked
the term years ago by pretending their 2D art with shading and perspective
had real depth. It doesn't. If you close one eye, the perceived depth does
not change. Do not confuse the two.
Derek
Jack Bohn
>On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:23:46 -0500, Invid Fan <in...@loclanet.com>
>wrote:
>
>>In article <cflre5dphmtgd9rt6...@4ax.com>, Paul S. Person
>><pspe...@ix.netscom.com.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> /Nightmare Before Christmas/ is stop-action and therefore inherently
>>> 3D. It makes no sense to refer to it as "2D", no matter how it is
>>> projected.
>>>
>>So every live action film ever made is 3D. Well, that should be made
>>clearer in the marketing :)
>
>Live action, as such, is not animation, so the term does not apply.
>However, stop-motion animation has been around a long long time, and
>has been used in quite a few films starting from very long ago.
>O'Brien worked on silent movies before moving to talkies. Harryhausen
>managed to move stop animation into color films. Stop-motion is an
>inherently 3D form of animation.
Well, it's dimensional animation, or dynamation, if you want to
use the term invented for Harryhause. 3D is pretty much tied to
stereo-optic presentation.
--
-Jack
Paul S. Person
<dgeeSP...@twmi.INVALID.rr.com> wrote:
I don't.
I use "3D" for 3D animation. I use "psuedo-3D" for any of the
projections systems which, since they require the use of special
glasses, are clearly projecting defective source material which the
glasses must correct.
If, say, /Toy Story/ existed in two versions, one with 2D animation
and one with 3D animation, those would be two different films, just as
the English and Spanish versions of /Dracula/ are two different films.
A movie like /Up/ is the same film whether it is projected in
pseudo-3D or whether it is projected normally, just as /The Land
Before Time/ is the same film whether seen with the English or the
Spanish soundtrack. The differences are purely technical and do not
alter the film you are seeing.
I originally saw /Rollercoaster/ in a theater with Sensurround. I now
watch it at home without Sensurround. It is the same film.
I originally saw /How the West was Won/ in Cinerama. I later saw it
projected normally. I did not feel nearly as dizzy at the
Cinerama-specific scenes when it was projected normally as I did when
I saw it in Cinerama. It was the same film, although the version
projected normally used a single filmstrip which combined the three
different filmstrips used with Cinerama (a technical difference).
The /real/ confusion here is the confusion of /what something is/ with
/how something is presented/. There will be no true 3D projection
technology until the Holodeck is invented.
Derek Gee
Yes, you are. There is no 3D animation without it being stereoscopic.
Stereoscopic films are not "psuedo-3D", they are real 3D, working in the
same manner as your eyes do to provide the depth cues. The only difference
is you cannot reach out and touch it.
> If, say, /Toy Story/ existed in two versions, one with 2D animation
> and one with 3D animation, those would be two different films, just as
> the English and Spanish versions of /Dracula/ are two different films.
Which in fact, "Toy Story" does! The DVD is the original 2D version, the
recently released stereoscopic version is the 3D one!!!
> A movie like /Up/ is the same film whether it is projected in
> pseudo-3D or whether it is projected normally, just as /The Land
> Before Time/ is the same film whether seen with the English or the
> Spanish soundtrack. The differences are purely technical and do not
> alter the film you are seeing.
Not true at all. "The Polar Express" is much bettter in 3D than without it.
The characters have a roundness to them that makes them seem less computer
generated than they are, and the action sequences are more exciting!
> I originally saw /Rollercoaster/ in a theater with Sensurround. I now
> watch it at home without Sensurround. It is the same film.
It's not exactly the same experience because the DVD did not properly
present the Sensurround soundtrack. I would agree that it doesn't add that
much to the film though.
Derek