Posted Jul 2nd 2008 1:02PM by Kim Voynar
Filed under: New Releases, New Line, Theatrical Reviews, New in Theaters, Family Films, Picturehouse
If you have a girl between the ages of 4 and 12 in your life, chances are pretty good you've heard of American Girl. The wildly successful franchise has spawned a whole series of high-end dolls, doll clothes, doll furniture and accessories, books, cookbooks ... and, of course, movies. American Girls are enormously popular with both girls and parents seeking a wholesome alternative to the freakishly-thin Barbie doll image or the hooker-in-training look of those wretched Bratz dolls. As an added bonus, they encourage girls to learn a little history, without even realizing it .
The whole thing with American Girl is that each of the dolls comes from a different time period: there's Kristen, an immigrant girl from Sweden; Felicity, an American Revolution girl whose father is a Patriot, while her best friend's father is a Loyalist; Samantha, being raised by her wealthy grandmother in the 1920s, when women's suffrage and class difference were big issues; Molly, a girl whose father, a doctor, is off serving in the Second World War; Addy, who escapes slavery with her mother to search for her father and brother, and so on. Each doll has her own set of books: there's the intro book, the birthday book, the book where so-and-so learns a lesson, the Christmas book, and even a line of mystery books.
Continue reading Review: Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Posted Jul 1st 2008 3:02PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, IFC, ThinkFilm, Box Office, Family Films, Cinematical Indie, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Picturehouse
Despite dropping more than 50% in its second week of release,
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (Picturehouse) outdrew all other specialty releases over the weekend, earning $21,200 per screen at five theaters, according to estimates compiled by
Box Office Mojo.
Directed by Canadian indie veteran Patricia Rozema (
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing,
When Night is Falling),
Kit Kittredge has clearly benefited from a devoted fan base that convinced thousands of their parental units to fork over $20 per ticket -- which, to be fair, includes a limited-edition t-shirt -- to see the movie in advance of its wide release tomorrow. That's a very good performance when you consider its main competition was not, actually, a French-language flick that skewed very adult, but actually a heavily-advertised animated film.
Catherine Breillat's
The Last Mistress (IFC Films), starring
Asia Argento, took in $17,600 per screen at two locations, which probably owes as much, if not more, to the name recognition of Argento as that of the often-confounding Breillat.
Continue reading Indie Weekend Box Office: American Girl 'Kit' vs. French 'Mistress'
Posted Jun 23rd 2008 8:32AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, IFC, Sony Classics, Box Office, Family Films, Cinematical Indie, War, Picturehouse
I noticed an unusual number of young girls clutching dolls at a multiplex on Saturday afternoon. This made me very nervous. I know it's summer and school's out, but the early Saturday crowd tends to be non-teenage people like me who try and catch up with the latest Hollywood releases without the distractions of the Friday/Saturday night teen crowd. What were all the young girls coming to see?
Kung Fu Panda?
Get Smart?
Sex and the City?
Nope, the hordes of girls were lining up politely to see the latest trendy indie release:
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. One of the last three releases from distributor Picturehouse, which is due to shut down completely very soon,
Kit Kittredge may be based on a doll, yet has further indie cred thanks to
Little Miss Sunshine star
Abigail Breslin. And maybe all those little girls will grow up to write their own
Juno some day? In any case, the film opened in five theaters in five cities, two weeks in advance of a wide release, and grossed a super impressive $44,600 per screen, according to estimates compiled by
Box Office Mojo.
Picturehouse also scored with another one of their last-gasp releases, the Mongolian war-mongering
Mongol, which expanded to 94 screens and turned in a muscular performance of $7,914 per screen.
Continue reading Indie Weekend Box Office: American Girl 'Kit' Leads Them All
Posted Jun 16th 2008 8:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Sony Classics, ThinkFilm, Box Office, Family Films, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse
An epic tale of a famed warrior edged out the modern explorations of a
Bavarian filmmaker. Sergei Bodrov's
Mongol (Picturehouse) earned $21,400 per screen in its second week of release at five theaters, according to estimates compiled by
Box Office Mojo. Does this prove that indie film lovers like their blockbuster-style movies, too? If nothing else, I think it shows that people like a wide variety of movies, no matter if they're heading to the arthouse or the multiplex.
Unlikely as it seems,
Werner Herzog has made a G-rated film, suitable for the entire film.
Encounters at the End of the World (ThinkFilm) moved
Jeffrey M. Anderson to write: "Herzog's film is something closer to art; it has a direct line to its creator's soul. If you see a lot of documentaries and that tired, old PBS format with the talking heads, narrator and clips has started to wear thin, Herzog's open, honest film is as refreshing as an icy breeze." The film grossed $17,500 at one theater in Manhattan.
Opening at two theaters in Austin, rather than the tired old Manhattan and Hollywood,
Baghead (Sony Pictures Classics) did very nicely, thank you, earning $4,450 per screen.
Jette Kernion commented recently on the unusual release pattern. At Sundance,
Eric D. Snider reviewed it ("a blast of fresh air").
James Rocchi interviewed filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass. We even
premiered the poster. All I'm saying is: Go
Baghead!
Posted Jun 10th 2008 3:32PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: New Releases, New Line, Warner Brothers, Family Films, Movie Marketing, Picturehouse
Before we get
the sequel to and the potential copiers of
Sex and the City, we're in for a summer of comparative marketing. Already we've seen a new trailer for
The Women, which
arrived well-timed on the heels of the
Sex in the City box office reports. Now, thanks to some insightful reporting
from the New York Times, we find out that
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is just like
Sex and the City, only its for little girls. Like the recent hit movie,
Kit Kittredge comes with a built-in audience thanks to the successful American Girl property, which consists of dolls, books and TV movies. Also, yes, it's mainly for females. Oh, and it's a Picturehouse release, meaning its pretty much being released by the same studio (New Line, now a division of Warner Bros.) that brought us
Sex and the City.
Interestingly enough,
The Women is also Picturehouse, and this summer's other big female-geared movie,
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, is Warner Bros. Hopefully another article can point out that the sequel is just like
Sex and the City, only for teen girls. Then all we'd need is for Warner Bros. to make my desired big-screen
Golden Girls movie (with original cast, of course), because it'd be just like
Sex and the City, only for older girls. Unfortunately the series was produced by Disney, who'd likely hold on to the film rights.
Continue reading 'Kit Kittredge' = 'Sex and the City' for Little Girls?
Posted Jun 9th 2008 4:02PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Sony Classics, Box Office, The Weinstein Co., Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse
Genghis Khan rules! Sergei Bodrov's Mongol (Picturehouse), the first installment of a planned trilogy covering the Mongolian military leader, cleaned up at the indie box office, taking in $25,360 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Our own Jeffrey M. Anderson didn't even like the battle scenes -- "polite and observant rather than reckless or exciting" -- much less the movie as a whole. Eric D. Snider was more admiring, if not wildly enthusiastic, as were most critics (per Rotten Tomatoes).
Two films that opened at one theater each performed quite well. Take Out (Cavu Pictures) earned $9,900. Directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, the film depicts a day in the life of an illegal Chinese immigrant who must pay off a large debt to his smugglers or face the consequences. The only way to pay the debt? Get good tips from his wealthy delivery route. Both the New York Times and Village Voice were complimentary.
Eric Guirado's Grocer's Son (Film Movement) made $9,500. The titular character must leave the city to return to the country and care for his sick father's duties. Gradually he finds that the villagers are not so gruff after all, and romance might be blooming too. Slant Magazine and Variety published positive reviews, though noting various flaws.
Continue reading Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Mongol' Conquers All
Posted Apr 22nd 2008 8:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, IFC, New on DVD, Fox Searchlight, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse, Roadside Attractions
A solid handful of indie titles vie for your attention on the DVD shelves this week. I've
already written about the marketing for Joe Swanberg's
Hannah Takes the Stairs, my pick of the week, but that shouldn't overshadow the intrinsic quality of the film itself. The DVD from IFC includes
Thanks for the Add!, a short film by Swanberg, an audio commentary by Swanberg and actors / co-writers Greta Gerwig and Kent Osborne, behind the scenes footage, and SXSW video production diary spots.
I watched Juan Antonio Bayona's
The Orphanage (pictured) with expectations set perhaps too high. I thought it would be a thrilling Spanish ghost story; instead it's a rather pallid drama about a mother and a lost son with just a smidgen of suspense and supernatural overtones.
Jette Kernion had a response similar to mine, but others liked it much more, including our own
Scott Weinberg, who praised it as "entirely captivating from start to finish." The DVD from Picturehouse includes three featurettes and something on the somewhat misleading marketing campaign.
Family dysfunction and elder care may not sound like sexy subjects, but Tamara Jekins "simply takes us into the story of her fascinating characters, and the integrity with which she handles it makes it ring true throughout." That was the reaction of
Kim Voynar to
The Savages; she was especially impressed by the performances of Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The DVD from Fox Searchlight includes an extended scene, director's snapshots, and a featurette entitled "About the Savages."
Continue reading Indies on DVD: 'Hannah,' 'Orphanage,' 'Savages,' 'Starting Out'
Posted Feb 8th 2008 1:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse
The comedy documentary
Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show isn't all that wild, and the comedy is sporadic. When it's funny, you may nearly fall out of your seat with laughter. But the movie is about 15 minutes too long -- at least -- and by the end you would like the funny guys to get their butts home so you can do the same. If you're planning to see this movie because you're a huge
Vince Vaughn fan, bear in mind that he's not the center of this film, and you'll have to watch a quartet of stand-up comedians at length just to enjoy your favorite actor.
In 2005, Vaughn organized a tour of stand-up comedians and sketch comedy, from Los Angeles through Texas and into Georgia, then veering north to Nashville and ending in Chicago. The "Wild West Comedy Show" consisted primarily of four up-and-coming comedians, plus funny sketches involving Vaughn and any fellow actors or friends he could drag along for the ride. Vaughn's scheme is to bring a raunchy-guy humor to places that he believes are lacking in that type of show, primarily in the South and Midwest.
Continue reading Review: Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show
Posted Jan 7th 2008 8:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Foreign Language, Independent, Romance, Mystery & Suspense, Sony Classics, Box Office, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Miramax, Cinematical Indie, Paramount Vantage, Picturehouse
Teen pregnancy rules! At least, at the indie box office it does, as
Juno expanded to 1,925 theaters, maintained a healthy per-screen average ($8,428, the second highest among wide releases) and swept easily into third place in the overall standings, according to estimates compiled by
Box Office Mojo. Grossing more than $16 million over the weekend, with a cumulative total of $52 million,
Juno has benefited from an extensive marketing campaign by Fox Searchlight, very strong critical reaction, and, presumably, excellent word of mouth.
The highest per-screen average among wide releases belonged to
Atonement. Expanding to 583 screens, the period drama from Focus Features drew $8,789 per engagement.
Atonement is in its fifth week of release, as is
Juno, and though the period drama continues to be outpaced by the teen comedy, it's performed very well overall.
Among more limited specialty releases,
There Will Be Blood was the star, earning $26,215 per screen at 51 locations, which should please distributor Paramount Vantage. The film is due to expand into 125 screens on Friday. I think it's a tremendous, engaging film, but it's a demanding experience, which usually doesn't translate into big box office.
Even without any known stars (and in Spanish!),
The Orphanage did quite nicely, pulling in $7,590 per screen at 66 theaters for Picturehouse. It will move onto 500 screens later this week, which will give me a chance to see it; I'd love to see more foreign-language genre pictures get this kind of release.
Animated French-language
Persepolis expanded to five more screens and made $11,428 per location for distrib Sony Pictures Classics, which bodes well as it continues a platform release.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly appears to be benefiting from all the critical hosannas it has received, reaping $6,000 per screen in its sixth week of release by Miramax.
Posted Jan 1st 2008 7:32PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Animation, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Mystery & Suspense, Sony Classics, Box Office, Cinematical Indie, Paramount Vantage, Picturehouse
One of the most towering achievements in cinema this year, Paul Thomas Anderson's
There Will Be Blood, finally opened in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day and was rewarded with a per-screen average of $91,300 over the weekend, the best average of the year, according to
Pamela McClintock of Variety. Of course, the film only played at two theaters, but still, that's mighty impressive. Nineteen cities across the country also hosted a midnight screening on Saturday; no word yet on how those screenings were received. I thought this was an astounding film when I saw it at Fantastic Fest and I can't wait to see it again.
Cinematical's Scott Weinberg has been raving about
The Orphanage since he saw the Spanish ghost story at the Toronto film festival (check his
Top 10 list), and the film grossed a very healthy $12,260 per screen at 19 engagements, according to estimates compiled by
Leonard Klady at Movie City News. That's just slightly more than the French-language
Persepolis, the animated tale about a little girl coming of age during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which earned $12,160 per screen at seven engagements.
James Rocchi reviewed the film at Cannes, and
Erik Davis recently posted his interview with directors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud.
When it played at the Toronto festival,
Monika Bartyzel called John Sayles'
Honeydripper "a simple and plainly executed ode to the start of rock 'n' roll."
Movie City News pointed to Stephen Holden's "withering notice" in
The New York Times, which provoked
Ira Deutschman of distributor Emerging Pictures to respond: "Do people show their own ignorance–and even racism–when they have a kneejerk reaction to a story that, while set in a certain time and place, is trying to get to something a little different from what is expected?" The picture made just $2,400 per screen at four locations in New York and Los Angeles.
Posted Nov 1st 2007 9:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Posters, Picturehouse
Cinematical is absolutely stoked after receiving this exclusive one-sheet for Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (click on the image above for a larger version). Produced (in a very hands-on manner) by the excellent Guillermo del Toro, The Orphanage may, in fact, go down as the spookiest film of the year. Our own resident horror guru Scott Weinberg survived a screening in Toronto earlier this year, and had this to say: "The Orphanage is entirely captivating from start to finish. And if those Spanish movie-makers have a few more 'creepy orphanage' stories to tell, well, I'm definitely not sick of the sub-genre just yet. And whatever Mr. Bayona offers up next, you can bet I'll be first in line to check it out." But he's not the only one; just this week alone, I've had a good five people tell me this film is a gem -- the kind that will have you leaping out of your seat more than once ... if you know what I mean.
The film revolves around a charming married couple, Laura and Carlos, who along with their adopted son Simon decide to purchase and renovate the old orphanage where Laura was raised. Problems arise when Simon makes a few new friends who, well, aren't real. The poster itself is real cool; it's hard to tell from the online version, but the in-theater posters are lenticular, which means those ghoulish-looking kids will disappear and re-appear based on the way you look at the image. Folks, very rarely do we bring out the big guns, but let it be known that The Orphanage is getting the official Cinematical Stamp of Approval. And for those who do not know what that means, it's just another way of saying you're guaranteed to love being spooked-out by this film. Look for The Orphanage to arrive in theaters this December 28.
Posted Sep 22nd 2007 12:32PM by James Rocchi
Filed under: Drama, Romance, Theatrical Reviews, Toronto International Film Festival, Picturehouse
Silk demonstrates a growingly frequent conundrum of modern moviemaking -- namely, what do you do when the departures from the formulaic, repetitive, predictable mainstream are, in their way, just as formulaic, repetitive and predictable? Based on Allesandro Barrico's novel,
Silk tells the story of a 19th-Century man who leaves France, and the woman he loves, to travel into the heart of Japan -- where few Westerners have been -- to bring back silkworm eggs to help stop a devastating plague that's wiping out the European industry. On his journeys to Japan, he becomes obsessed by the concubine of the local warlord -- so much that he returns again and again, despite the risk and expense, in the hopes of one more glimpse of her.
Silk is also, in less specific language, another in an endless series of pretty, vapid period pieces where the exquisitely tailored costumes hide racing hearts -- a by-now standard tale of passion under petticoats, strong connections under starched collars. It is also another period piece where a distant land and a distant love supposedly inflame our protagonist, but the ponderous, lumbering slow chill restraint in the staging sucks any connection and passion and heated risk out of the film. Finally, even with the stage set for globe-trotting clichés and reheated concepts, the film's dealt a mortal blow by the casting of actors who are, bluntly, out of their depth -- and not thrown a rope by director Francois Girard.
Continue reading Review: Silk
Posted Sep 7th 2007 2:32PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Foreign Language, Horror, Deals, New Line, Distribution, Remakes and Sequels, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse
Despite their great success with Pan's Labyrinth, which did pretty well in the U.S. for a foreign-language film, New Line apparently expects less of a mainstream reception for The Orphanage (El Orfanato). According to Variety, the studio is looking to remake the Spanish film, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona with supervision from Guillermo Del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth. Del Toro is actually on board to produce the English-language version, and if he's a good man, he'll make sure Bayona gets to redo his own work for a wider audience. Back when Picturehouse bought the distribution rights to The Orphanage, Del Toro said that Bayona's footage blew him away, so I can't imagine he'd prefer someone else to helm the remake. Of course, I'm shocked that he would be fine with the film being remade in the first place. If the original really is so good, there's no reason for an Americanized take on it. Knowing the way Hollywood works, though, it is more likely that another foreign filmmaker will make his English-language debut with this project, while Bayona will direct a remake of someone else's film (and so on).
Like many popular Spanish horror films, The Orphanage is a ghost story. Well, it features a supernatural imaginary friend, which sounds a lot like a ghost. The original, written by Sergio G. Sánchez, stars Bélen Rueda as a woman who returns to her childhood home with plans to turn it into an orphanage for disabled children. Unfortunately, her son gets a new imaginary friend, who just so happens to be the same imaginary friend that she had when she was a kid. And he terrorized her back then. Yep, sounds like he's actually a ghost. Last month, we shared the trailer with you, and while it didn't show much, it still had the promise of something truly creepy (did you see that scarecrow-faced kid?). Personally, I'd rather check it out as soon as possible than wait for the English-language version. Seriously, what's a few subtitles matter when you're being scared out of your wits? The original Orphanage played at Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals to good reviews, and it screens tonight at the Toronto Film Festival (from where our own Scott Weinberg is raving about it). Picturehouse, a partnership between New Line and HBO, is giving the film a limited release in December.
Posted Sep 7th 2007 2:02PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Thrillers, Theatrical Reviews, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse
I'm not exactly sure what it is about orphanages that strike such fear into the hearts of Spanish filmmakers, but if the resulting films turn out to be as excellent as Guillermo Del Toro's
The Devil's Backbone and Juan Antonio Bayona's debut,
The Orphanage, I'm certainly not about to complain. (A third example, Jaume Balaguero's
Fragile, is certainly stylish and watchable enough, but in no way is it on the same level as the other two.) The comparisons to Del Toro's mini-masterpiece are logical enough; the masterful filmmaker worked as a hands-on producer for
The Orphanage -- and it shows.
The story is a smoothly simple one: Laura and Carlos are a loving married couple who have an adopted son called Simon. The family decides to purchase and renovate the old orphanage where Laura was raised -- and of course little Simon immediately comes across a bunch of new 'imaginary' friends. The orphanage is located next to a creepy old lighthouse, a beautiful beach and a foreboding cave -- locations that provide Bayona with a very effective palette. Without spoiling anything: We're told that young Simon has a deadly disease that requires daily medications, which makes his disappearance from a 'grand re-opening' party cause for serious concern.
Several months go by and Simon is still missing, but his adopted mother refuses to accept that he's gone. Needless to say ... she's right. Toss in the arrival of a creepy old nurse, the intermittent presence of a disturbed child with a sack over his head, and a few cops and parapsychologists who have their own theories -- and you have a meticulously-crafted and powerfully atmospheric little ghost story. But
The Orphanage is much more than just another 'haunted building' story.
Continue reading TIFF Review: The Orphanage
Posted Sep 6th 2007 5:02PM by James Rocchi
Filed under: Comedy, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse
After
Spaced,
Shaun of the Dead and
Hot Fuzz, it's widely believed that
Simon Pegg can do no wrong; appearing as if custom-made to test that contention is the new comedy
Run, Fat Boy, Run.
Run, Fat Boy, Run gets approving nods from comedy connoisseurs when you mention Pegg's in the lead; mention the presence of
David Schwimmer in the director's chair and their expressions change subtly ...
After the success of
Friends, Schwimmer could have devoted himself to any number of pastimes -- stick-fighting, model rocketry, leisurely laps in a Scrooge McDuck-style pool of Sacagawea dollar coins. Instead, Schwimmer starred in
Duane Hopwood -- which saw Schwimmer playing a barely-functioning alcoholic, as if a brief crawl through the gutter would get the Ross off him -- and here he makes his directorial debut.
Run, Fat Boy, Run stars Pegg as Dennis; five years ago, Dennis left his pregnant girlfriend Libby (
Thandie Newton) at the altar. Now, he's living in a basement flat, working as a security guard, occasionally being a good dad to his son Jake (Matthew Fenton) -- and confronted with Libby's relationship with Whit (
Hank Azaria), a well-to-do, can-do American. In a moment of weakness -- motivated by pride, or idiocy, or both -- Dennis reacts to Whit's bragging about his upcoming athletic endeavors by saying that he, too, is going to run the London Marathon ...
Continue reading TIFF Review: Run, Fat Boy, Run
