Box Office Update: "Impossible" overshadows "Sherlock"'s game

The latest "Holmes" flick is a tricky contraption of sort, wavering between bigger & better and louder & crasser than the first flick. Keep in mind, that first one had a great many detractors for me, but it came almost out of nowhere and created a dark atmosphere very in tune with director Guy Richie's other films, but it finally works here. In "A Game of Shadows", not so much. Mind you, I'll get slightly more in depth with my thoughts on the film later on, but for now it's simply worth representing how the box office dip between the first and the second films is indicative of the time there is to be had on each. They spent 30% more, and ended up with 30% less.

Not to say that it was a total failure. $40 million is still $40 million, even if there's a strong degree of work left to go. That's why we have the Christmas break to burgeon these opportunities. And even outside "Holmes", we saw strong signs for the box office. "Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked", in spite of horrid reviews, picked up its child audience skillfully without a hitch. Sure, it's not quite as much as they wanted, but they get what they payed for. They're rather good at that. But the big success story of the weekend was "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol", which picked up a hefty sum from its IMAX screens this weekend. That allied with the advanced buzz that is bound to boost its overall income means that it could very well be the massive hit of the holiday season, as well it should be. Check the charts after the jump.

Box Office Update: Validation of a Fact

If the box office charts are a scale of the population's state of mind, then this year has been as singularly depressing as I've repeatedly said it is. This weekend seemed to be in the bag for "New Year's Eve" and "The Sitter", but the fact of the matter is that at this time of the year, people are more interested in seeing something that's actually good. The obvious brand of pandering comedies have done poorly in this month for the past several years. At this point, people are genuinely interested in seeing the films that are going to be Academy players in a couple of weeks.

Case in point? There's more interest to be found in the independent releases of this week. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" took in $300,000 this weekend out of four theaters. "Young Adult" brought in $320,000 from eight theaters, which isn't as strong a per theater average as its competitor, but the buzz has been decidedly laid back on this one. This isn't another Oscar play from Jason Reitman, and he's opted out of the circus altogether. And in the meantime, "A Dangerous Method", "The Artist", "My Week with Marilyn", and especially "Shame" have been surging strong in the wings. This weekend proved to be the lowest box office weekend for the entire year, but we're headed towards a more fruitful slate for the endgame of this year.

Weekend Report: Bring on the Noise

This weekend's suffocating surplus of new releases is diluted by the fact that the two wide releases aren't appealing in the slightest of manners. Remember how "Valentine's Day" was completely idiotic, but you enjoyed the parts with Taylor Swift? "New Year's Eve" has a depressing lack of Taylor Swift, and in its place are a bunch of barely B-list actors. Gary Marshall's previous flick had Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, and even Kathy Bates. What does "New Year's Eve" have? Seth Meyers, Jessica Biel, and Lea Michele. Color me not just uninterested, but stagnantly against this garbage. Need I remind you of the C-Section?

And then there's "The Sitter", but I'm not interested in that one at all either? It's the typical story, but as per usual, delivered in the most tried and unfunny of ways. So no, I am not amused with the main stream of this weekend. If I didn't have "Melancholia" and "Take Shelter" playing independently in town this weekend, I'd be resting my head under one of the imposing legs of my bed. The saving grace of this weekend is that there are some really great films out this weekend, just not nationwide yet.

For Your Anticipation: I'm Scared

Okay, so I came across this clip for "New Years Eve", as it was the only one directly available to me. And this is enough reason to secure that anybody will or won't see this movie. Personally, I will never in my life see this movie, based on this clip alone. In it, Jessica Biel and Seth Meyers ask somebody to do a C-section of their baby on New Year's Eve as part of some competition apparently. I'm frightened that there might actually be people out there who would do this. This clip has made me question my faith in humanity. So... bravo Gary Marshall. I will never sleep again.