Weekend Movie Guide (1/30/14)
Ryan
Recapping Last Weekend
Ride Along took the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row. It pulled in $21.3 million, which bested the second place film, Lone Survivor, by $8.4 million. The buddy cop comedy has now pulled in $75.5 million in 12 days of release, easily turning a profit on its $25 million budget. Lone Survivor is closing in on $100 million after five weeks of release. The Nut Job finished just behind Survivor with $12.1 million in its second weekend of release. It is just a million or two shy of its $42 million budget. Despite dropping out of 222 theaters, Frozen still brought in just over $9 million to bring its domestic total to $348 million and its worldwide total to $812 million. The animated flick has made back its $150 million budget almost five and a half times over. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit brought in $9 million in its second weekend of release. 59% of its worldwide revenues are coming from foreign markets, which have brought its worldwide take to $78.5 million on a $60 million budget. For some reason, Chinese movie-goers have shelled out $21.4 million thus far to see the film.
I, Frankenstein hasn’t disappointed the crowd that was just knew it was going to fail. Its opening weekend saw $8.6 million in ticket sales. It fared much better in foreign markets with $16.2 million in sales. Either way, it has a long road to the $65 million budget.
Opening This Weekend
Labor Day
Jason Reitman has garnered praise for his previous four directing projects. Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Young Adult and Up In The Air were all well received. Reitman doesn’t get much praise for this one. The LA Times points out that Joyce Maynard’s novel just doesn’t translate well to the big screen, despite Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin in the lead roles. Amy Nicholson at the local Riverfront Times thought the story would play better as an Upworthy article rather than a feature film. The plot of a woman falling for an escpaed murderer that took her family hostage has quite the too-sappy-to-be-true quality.
That Awkward Moment
The Riverfront Times sums this one up as a “dude-bro Sex and the City“. USA Today says it is a pretty solid date movie. The two other dudes in Efron’s wolfpack make this one quite a bit more interesting to me. Michael B. Jordan quarterbacked the East Dillon Lions as Vince Howard in Friday Night Lights. He appeared with Keanu Reeves in 2001’s Hard Ball. He most recently stared in the well-received Fruitvale Station. Miles Teller learned to dance in 2011’s remake of Footloose as Willard. (RIP Christopher Penn)
Catch It Before It’s Gone
Keller 8 has the same lineup as last week. Catch award favorites like Dallas Buyers Club, Captain Phillips and Nebraska.
Make It A Redbox Night
The big red box gets a huge influx of movies this week. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Rush, Last Vegas and Don Jon are all now available. The now Oscar-nominated Bad Grandpa is only available for your home-watching pleasure.
We recommend you check out Fruitvale Station, which as we mentioned above stars Michael B. Jordan. Entertainment Weekly said this film should have been nominated for a slew of awards. The film is based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was shot and controversially killed by a police officer on New Year’s Day 2009.
Brought to you by Mills Properties.
Ryan
Ryan is a weird dude. He doesn't cook, yet owns a plethora of kitchen gadgets. He rationalized buying a SodaStream while unemployed. He counts Step Up 2: The Streets as one of his favorite movies along with Footloose, Rent, Grease and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. He loves Mizzou but only wants them in the SEC so he can tailgate in Nashville. He owns a ShakeWeight and AbLounger, but still loves him some John Donut and Billie's Fine Foods. You can get more of Ryan at iLoveSoulard.com or just check the stool on the far end of the bar at iTap in Soulard.
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