What a slow ass boxoffice Friday!

[Dutchy]

The Watcher is #1 on Friday with $1.7M which means it would have a hard time making $6M for the weekend. Has anyone ever seen such a low weekend winner? I don't think I have.

Almost Famous has hands down the highest screen average with $5,635 on 131 screens. I'm very curious about this movie featuring one of today's VERY best actors Philip Seymour Hoffman.

[BristerM]

I know, seriously. It hasn't been this slow in as long as I can remember. THE WATCHER and BAIT should be tied for #1 this weekend with about $5.4M each. wait, let me whip out my calculator...

that would be $29.9M for the top ten!!

$29.9M total.

levels haven't been this low since 1995!

[Jedi Master Kyle]

how dismal. well if you look at all the crap that's out there now, it's no wonder!

[DvdJervs]

The boxoffice is slow, much like this forum today ...

[Jedi Master Carr]

Last time this it was this slow was in February when Eye of the Beholder debuted at #1 with around 4 million, now that was a bad weekend.

[Dutchy]

Yeah, and Eye of the Beholder (even though it features the lovely and beautiful Ashley Judd) sucked major ass. One of the 3 worst movies I've seen the past 10 years.

[JonathanLB]

I am disappointed and depressed, nobody is watching any movies. How can my site gain popularity if nobody even cares about the movies.

I totally disagree with the "crap that is out there right now" statement. I've hardly ever seen such a strong September. Have you been out to the theaters for all of these movies?

Highlander: Endgame, while not anything really good, was enjoyable at the least. Nurse Betty was hilarious and will go mostly unnoticed, but it's a great movie in most respects. Unfortunately, I had to give it only 3 stars for its mediocre beginning (45 minutes, not just opening 15 mins). Then there is Bait, which the critics wasted, but it's a fun and funny movie. It is NOT high concept, but it is well worth seeing.

Then there is Almost Famous, whoa boy. Read my review here: Almost Famous (http://www.jlbmedia.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid969182083,6970,). This movie is a winner, I can easily see it being a best picture nominee. They like movies like this, I think. You never know, though, but the critics have loved it thus far. I had the opportunity to meet Kenneth Turan Saturday, the head critic for the Los Angeles Times, and he was excited about the movie too...

I gave it four stars, but just barely, I must admit it is not my type of movie, but that is how good it is! It's not even the type of movie I'd usually like, but it is very good. It's probably my #5 pick this year, but my 2-4 picks are not really acclaimed movies, lol.

If you miss everything else out there, come on, at least go see Almost Famous. It is worth your time.

September is only half over, the second half is the better half.

We also have The Exorcist coming out this next weekend, which should be really great on the big screen and with new scenes. That will appeal to many people...

Remember the Titans opens on September 29. It has a great actor, one of the best I think, Denzel Washington, and the preview looked fantastic. I love the tag line, "History is written by the winners." Dang right it is. I cannot wait for this movie.

I'd say, "I'll be there opening day," but hell I'm there opening day for everything almost, so that doesn't say much...

I am not aware of the other movies opening this month besides those next two, so we'll just see.

September is notorious for having sucky movies, but really this is a pretty darn good September. I think 2000 is just a pretty dang good year. October is unusually ambitious with numerous movies that have tons of potential, I cannot wait to see some of them. Then November and December are utterly explosive, but right now it looks like especially November is awesome. I see 2-3 new releases per week, but in the off-season like right now, only one of them (if I am lucky) is "good" (which might mean 3 stars). In November, there are seriously about two 3-4 star movies opening every weekend, which will just rule.

I missed this Duets movie, it doesn't look appealing to me at all, anyone want to review that or did anyone see it? I wish I had a review of it at least, but I'm not seeing it, sorry, I have to draw my line somewhere, I see too many movies as it is...

[jjwr]

It seems the Olympics are going to hit the already slow box office pretty hard.

[Dutchy]

Jonathan,



I totally disagree with the "crap that is out there right now" statement. I've hardly ever seen such a strong September. Have you been out to the theaters for all of these movies?

Didn't you say something like that about last year and have you seen everything that was out last year? It's a just a general statement people use when they're disappointed, just like you were with last year.


Then there is Almost Famous, whoa boy. Read my review here: Almost Famous. This movie is a winner, I can easily see it being a best picture nominee.

Now THERE's a movie I'm very looking forward to. The first in a long time actually. Philip Seymour Hoffman is today's very best actor, IMO.


I must admit it is not my type of movie, but that is how good it is!

Yeah, I'm surprised you out of all people rave about it. That's cool though.


I think 2000 is just a pretty dang good year.

NOT. It's been a major disappointment is what I sense on many forums.


Then November and December are utterly explosive, but right now it looks like especially November is awesome.

I'm looking forward to that then. 2000 sure needs some great movies. Right now Frequency stands as my #1, but that's mainly coz it very much appeals to me. Well, I haven't seen many 2000 releases at all, but the overall feeling I get from visiting several movie boards is that people are not near as satisfied with 2000 as with 1999.


I missed this Duets movie, it doesn't look appealing to me at all

How can a movie with the LOVELY Gwyneth Paltrow NOT look appealing? :)

[Dutchy]

These are his first two lines (and the only lines I've read, by the way):


Oh, what a lovely film. I was almost hugging myself while I watched it.

Nuff said.

Damn, I can't wait to see this movie. I really gives me an American Beauty feeling. Opened around the same time last year (2 weeks later) in limited release and got rave reviews too.

So Jonathan, you think this is a potential Best Picture contender then? Interesting... man, I wanna see this flick!

[JonathanLB]

Well, I don't know anyone else that thinks 2000 is a better year than 1999, except for me. So, I am obviously in the minority, but I fail to see how critics can sit around and write articles about how much summer 2000 sucked when there were absolutely tons of good and great movies. It was much better than 1999 for me, unless you love gross out humor and horror, then 1999's summer was not very good. Now, 1999's November and December were totally awesome, so that made up for it almost...

Yeah, I think that Almost Famous is a definite Best Picture contender. As the media is pointing out, it is the best reviewed movie of the year thus far. Although Chicken Run probably received a higher % of good reviews, they were usually 3 - 3.5 stars, and let's face it Chicken Run, no matter how good people say it is, will not win Best Picture! (I saw it and did not like it, I'm in the minority again, hehe).

Almost Famous, for some reason, is even better after you start to think about it after you've seen it.

It has a happy ending, though, not like American Beauty, but I can see that the genre is possibly similar. For instance, they are both telling a real story in some sense. Even if AB's story is not real, it could be real. Almost Famous IS a true story, they just changed some names and whatnot, but the basic events are real. The main character is really Cameron Crowe while he was younger. Crowe is very good, I really liked Jerry Maguire. That was a 3.5 star movie, but a 3.5++, hehe. It is real good.

I am not aware of the rest of the movies that are opening this year that look to vie for Best Picture, but I think Almost Famous is almost a guaranteed nomination. I don't think that it will win, but if it did I'd be fairly happy...

Personally, though, I'm pulling for Gladiator, which I think has a good chance at a nomination too. Braveheart won Best Picture and Gladiator got great reviews and is very popular, so it has an outside chance at a nomination, but I'd say almost no chance at a win...

I missed Frequency, I REALLY wanted to see that, I have heard it is real good and I even started to watch it on this hotel pay-per-view deal, but it wasn't working right, it kept shaking the picture, so I had to get my refund. I will have to see Frequency, though, it looks really good...

[Darth23]

The commercials I was for Bait weren't funny - they weren't much of anything. It's almost like the people making the ads didn't want anyone to see the flick. I'm SURE there were things that were at least more ammusing that what was in the ad.

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I'm still planning to see Space Cowboys, Nurse Betty and probably Almost Famous. Maybe X-men if I can find it at the discount theater.

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I'm wondering if Space Cowboys can hold on long enough to hit the 100 million mark. It's had REALLY low drops, but it's still 18 million away.

[DvdJervs]

I LOVED Frequency. Pity you missed it Jon. Although it got a tad confusing towards the end, the basic premise (fatherr and son communiating over a 30 year gap) was already great enough to cherish. :)

And Dutchy, yes that was an awesome comment from Ebert (I was almost hugging myself reading it :) ). I also loved how he made the delightful comparison to Huckleberry Finn. :)

[BristerM]

correction: Eye of the Beholder topped the charts last January with $5.9M, not $4M.

the reason for the slow box office this September is not the Olympics, as everyone seems to be pointing to. In my opinion, it's the fact that this summer wasn't strong as far as consumer-appeal movies. That's not to say that the movies this summer sucked--there were more good movies this summer than there were last summer. But for some reason movies this summer just didn't connect with people. I have no idea why. But oh well.

Anyhow, the weak summer turned everyone off to the idea of going to the movies this September, which is usually a slow month anyway. But also, I think people are overreacting a bit from their experience last year. Septembers like last year, in the box office world, are rare. In fact, until last year, they were nonexistent. September is usually a depressing time for the box office, not a lucrative one like last year's. That's why I rejoiced this year when the Labor Day total for Bring It On was under $15M and The Watcher topped the charts last weekend with $5.8M. It was refreshing.

M. Night Shayalaman and Bruce Willis will be the ones to break the box office drought. UNBREAKABLE comes out a little before Thanksgiving. $60M 5-day opening easily for this flick, and staying power like you wouldn't believe. November will be a NICE month this year.

[Jedi Master Kyle]

Everyone was expecting this summer to be as good as last summer, and when it was realized that it wasn't going to be, people weren't going so much anymore. You know the story, once you set a standard, every year after the bar is expected to be raised again.

[JonathanLB]

Well, that is a reasonable expectation, ticket prices sky rocketed and the box office has increased very year since 1991...

So, 2000's summer was disappointing at the box office. That says NOTHING about the quality of these movies, which far outstripped most every other summer in the 1990's. I liked action-packed summer's like 1996 and 1997 or whatever, but 2000 rocked.

Summer 1998 was probably one of the most critically acclaimed with SPR and Truman Show, but summer is usually devoid of critical favorites, which is stupid, but oh well. They think it's cool to call X-Men a shallow effects movie, well fine, but it was still significantly better than Almost Famous. I gave them both four stars, yeah, but X-Men is a rare movie, it is awesome.

"Pity you missed it Jon." Yeah it is a pity I missed Frequency, I missed several movies this year that I should have seen and would never miss now, since I have my site. For instance, Rules of Engagement, Big Momma's House, Titan AE, and Frequency...

Not to say those are all great movies, but they are things that I would not miss at this point. I only will skip chick flicks and indies, because first of all we don't get small, indie movies in Portland. At least, there are very few theaters that do and we're well known for having a horrible selection, that is why there are a few new theaters being put up lately for that purpose specifically.

Furthermore, I don't do the raunchy teen comedy or chick flick genres, those are not worth my time whatsoever. They are far beneath me and I'm not afraid to say that, they're beneath everyone, whether they'll say so or not.

Now, if it is something that is borderline chick flick, as in, girls will like it, but it might have other appeal, then I might see it. Something like Ever After is a good example, that is a movie that mainly appeals to girls, but I saw it and actually liked it, because it is fairly well made and it was pretty good. I saw it twice in theaters, but only because basically I got pulled to it twice, one by my sister and one by my mom...

September sucks hard at the box office so far, but that is the thing, this is ANOTHER strong slate of movies for the month.

Almost Famous alone makes it a pretty good month, but then the other movies I saw are also enjoyable for the most part, then there is Exorcist and Remember the Titans. To be honest, I am not knowledgeable about the horror genre. I admit I've never seen The Exorcist...But anyway, both of those movies could be four star movies for me. I am especially looking forward to Remember the Titans because of Denzel Washington. "History is written by the winners."