Movie Box Review

courtesy of on.cc

courtesy of singtao.com

Karen Mok wed her first love Johannes in Florence Italy on the 1st

Sonija Kwok and her husband Zhu Shaojie posted her wedding notice online on the 1st

Gigi Leung confirms that she will wed her boyfriend Sergio in Ibiza on the 3rd courtesy of takungpao.com

In limited release, TAKE SHELTER got off to a good start with over $18K in each of 3 theatres.  WEEKEND, despite rave reviews, widened a bit and was only able to do $8K in each of 6, while the curiosity MARGARET made $3750 in each of 2.  MACHINE GUN PREACHER could only manage $2500 in each of a widened run of 33.  Next weekend, the Weinsteins will try to find a home for their sentimentally garish comedy-drama DIRTY GIRL, and--thinking of curiosities--IFC will open THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2, already excitedly waving its "Banned in Britain!" banner.

The football ratings are subject to adjustment as they do not reflect the live feed pattern of sports.  In the Pacific and Mountain time zones (about 25% of the country), the football ratings above reflect what was on CBS and ABC at 8 pm Pacific time.  The final national ratings will correct the western US to reflect the games, which started at 5 pm PT.

Season to date (the first 13 nights of the season), FOX (3.11 rating) and CBS (3.09) are in a virtual tie, while ABC (2.60) and NBC (2.15) trail badly.  

The second week decline for Dolphin Tale (-26%) is superior to that for Moneyball (-36%), but the Brad Pitt baseball movie outgrosses the family film during the week.  That has kept the two grosses to date extremely close (Dolphin Tale $37.5 million vs Moneyball $38.5 million), and more important the estimated domestic final grosses are very close (see table below).        


Sep 30-Oct 2, 2011                  Wknd     vs     Showbuzz
(millions)                         Studio   Last    Domestic
                                    Proj.   Wknd     Final* 
Dolphin Tale               (WB)     $14.2   -26%      $ 78-
Moneyball                (Sony)     $12.5   -36%      $ 75+
The Lion King in 3D       (Dis)     $11.1   -50%      $118-
50/50                  (Summit)     $ 8.8             $ 34
Courageous               (Sony)     $ 8.8             $ 29
Dream House               (Uni)     $ 8.2             $ 15
What's Your Number?       (Fox)     $ 5.6             $ 13
Abduction                  (LG)     $ 5.6   -48%      $ 28
Killer Elite         (OpenRoad)     $ 4.9   -48%      $ 26
Contagion                  (WB)     $ 5.0   -40%      $ 79

Note: The table above summarizes the weekend as of Sunday.  The first column (on which the table is sorted) displays the "studio projection" for each film, based on the Friday and Saturday actual numbers (and a studio-supplied estimate of Sunday).  The second column is the percent decline from the prior weekend.  The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Total Gross for the film's complete run in North America.  A "++" indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a "--" indicates a downgrade.  


Total Box Office Volume

The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $91 million total, up 6% from the same calendar weekend last year when The Social Network opened wide.     

Top 12 Films: Weekend #39    
             Volume   Movies Opening Each Weekend (millions) 2011  $ 91 
2007-10
Avg   $ 85   
2010  $ 86  Social Network $22, Case 39 $5, Let Me In $5    
2009  $ 92  Zombieland $25, Toy Story 3D $12, Invention Lying $7
2008  $ 95  Beverly Hills Chihuahua $29, Nick & Norah's... $11
2007  $ 67  Heartbreak Kid $14, The Seeker: Dark Rising $4

Next Weekend
Opening next week are The Ides of March from Sony (George Clooney-Ryan Gosling thriller) and Real Steel from Disney (Hugh Jackman action drama).  Those movies will be compared to Life As We Know It ($14.5 million opening weekend), Secretariat ($12.7 million), and My Soul to Take ($6.8 million). 

International numbers will be posted as soon as possible, and Monday we will have official numbers for the Friday-Sunday domestic grosses.

Hunger Games Poster Spotting!

Could of first time seeing posters out and about including the Hunger Games Poster (above), and I actually love the poster. It's got a fire-y feel to it and it also shows the great tag line for the film "May the Odds Ever Be In Your Favour". The film is based on the first book in the Suzanne Collins Trilogy and will be released on March 23, 2012. The very quick teaser trailer has been out for a bit yet, but I still think the poster conveys the feel of the book stronger so far. I'm sure there will be lots more to come as this dystopic film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson & Liam Hemsworth has the marketing machine going very strong. Check out more at the films official website.



Second up for posters is the first out and about spotting of a Breaking Dawn Part I poster and I actually quite like the design although it doesn't pop up too well from the photo. I think with the Twilight series I've almost always like the first posters better than the character posters, I think because they full embrace the colour story for each film and have a timeless quality to them. I love the series, but this is my least favourites of the books and I did re-read it recently in preparation for the film. You can hear my thoughts on the book over at Before the Dawn where Marina & I hash out our takes on the last book in the series with out Breaking Dawn. The film also has an actual full trailer giving us a stronger look at the look, feel and focus Part 1 will have.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 will be out on November 18, 2011.

Bookperk

I stumbled on a new website this week that's pretty awesome for book lovers, it's called Bookperk they offer exclusive merchandise tied into books and authors, and lucky for us some book to film adaptations as well. Currently they have an offer for What's Your Number in paperback, plus signed poster by the Anna Faris & Chris Evans. The film What's Your Number came out just this weekend and stars Anna Faris who plays a woman on a journey as she looks back at her past 20 relationships to see if any of them could have been "The One", along with the help of neighbour Chris Evans. The film is based on the book20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak, which has now been renamed to What's Your Number just like the film.

Shakespeare, Everywhere!

Eddie Marsan will have his directorial debut with the film Pell Mell, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III and Ralph Fiennes has directed Coriolanus starring Fiennes, Gerard Butler & Brian Cox which was just recently at TIFF and is to open on December 2, 2011. I'm always psyched to hear about Shakespeare adaptations. For one, as I'm reading all of them as a part of my Mega-List and also as I find when I read them I have no idea what is going on so I love seeing the interpretations of the great stories by people who know, love and understand them so well.





I got a (hopefully!) great selection of book to film adaptations from the library this week that I'd love to share. Two of them even be potentials for upcoming Book to Film Club choices:

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks, it has an upcoming film adaptations in the works set for June 1 2011. No casting into yet but it has been described in a press release as "is a gripping love story infused with suspense and discovery. When a young woman escaping her past moves to a small North Carolina town, and falls for a loving widowed father, he heals her heart, and helps her escape the danger that threatens her"

Cosmopolis Don DeLillo, a 2012 film adaptation from directed by David Cronenberg, starring Robert Patinson, Jay Barachual, Paul Giamatti, Juliette Binochi, Samantha Morton, Sarah Gadon, Kevin Durand. A day in the life and the car of a billionaire

Drive by James Sallis, The adaptation for this book is currently in theatres and I LOVED IT. Reading a book after seeing the film isn't my normal method but I really wanted to dive deeper into the main character, Driver, so I'm aching to dive in.

I haven't had a chance to dive into them yet (I'm reading Adam Copeland on Edge right now and loving it!). So many books, so little time!

Hunger Games Poster Spotting!

Could of first time seeing posters out and about including the Hunger Games Poster (above), and I actually love the poster. It's got a fire-y feel to it and it also shows the great tag line for the film "May the Odds Ever Be In Your Favour". The film is based on the first book in the Suzanne Collins Trilogy and will be released on March 23, 2012. The very quick teaser trailer has been out for a bit yet, but I still think the poster conveys the feel of the book stronger so far. I'm sure there will be lots more to come as this dystopic film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson & Liam Hemsworth has the marketing machine going very strong. Check out more at the films official website.



Second up for posters is the first out and about spotting of a Breaking Dawn Part I poster and I actually quite like the design although it doesn't pop up too well from the photo. I think with the Twilight series I've almost always like the first posters better than the character posters, I think because they full embrace the colour story for each film and have a timeless quality to them. I love the series, but this is my least favourites of the books and I did re-read it recently in preparation for the film. You can hear my thoughts on the book over at Before the Dawn where Marina & I hash out our takes on the last book in the series with out Breaking Dawn. The film also has an actual full trailer giving us a stronger look at the look, feel and focus Part 1 will have.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 will be out on November 18, 2011.

Bookperk

I stumbled on a new website this week that's pretty awesome for book lovers, it's called Bookperk they offer exclusive merchandise tied into books and authors, and lucky for us some book to film adaptations as well. Currently they have an offer for What's Your Number in paperback, plus signed poster by the Anna Faris & Chris Evans. The film What's Your Number came out just this weekend and stars Anna Faris who plays a woman on a journey as she looks back at her past 20 relationships to see if any of them could have been "The One", along with the help of neighbour Chris Evans. The film is based on the book20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak, which has now been renamed to What's Your Number just like the film.

Shakespeare, Everywhere!

Eddie Marsan will have his directorial debut with the film Pell Mell, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III and Ralph Fiennes has directed Coriolanus starring Fiennes, Gerard Butler & Brian Cox which was just recently at TIFF and is to open on December 2, 2011. I'm always psyched to hear about Shakespeare adaptations. For one, as I'm reading all of them as a part of my Mega-List and also as I find when I read them I have no idea what is going on so I love seeing the interpretations of the great stories by people who know, love and understand them so well.





I got a (hopefully!) great selection of book to film adaptations from the library this week that I'd love to share. Two of them even be potentials for upcoming Book to Film Club choices:

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks, it has an upcoming film adaptations in the works set for June 1 2011. No casting into yet but it has been described in a press release as "is a gripping love story infused with suspense and discovery. When a young woman escaping her past moves to a small North Carolina town, and falls for a loving widowed father, he heals her heart, and helps her escape the danger that threatens her"

Cosmopolis Don DeLillo, a 2012 film adaptation from directed by David Cronenberg, starring Robert Patinson, Jay Barachual, Paul Giamatti, Juliette Binochi, Samantha Morton, Sarah Gadon, Kevin Durand. A day in the life and the car of a billionaire

Drive by James Sallis, The adaptation for this book is currently in theatres and I LOVED IT. Reading a book after seeing the film isn't my normal method but I really wanted to dive deeper into the main character, Driver, so I'm aching to dive in.

I haven't had a chance to dive into them yet (I'm reading Adam Copeland on Edge right now and loving it!). So many books, so little time!

courtesy of singtao.com

Raymond Lam and cousin Lam Ha Mei

Kate Tsui courtesy of mingpao.com

Kelly Chen

Tavia Yeung courtesy of takungpao.com

Two nights ago Oriental Watch Company held its annual banquet and invited many guests like Kelly Chen Wai Lam, Raymond Lam Fung, Tavia Yeung Yi, and Kate Tsui Tsz Shan.

Kelly revealed that she will soon work on the holiday film EIGHTH HAPPINESS 2012 (BAK SING PO HEI).  In the film she will have many costumes like a frank tomboy photographer, a sexy Tomb Raider and a beer lady.  Kelly said, "In the film I will have to play slutty, but I am not an expert at that.  I think the initial ideas are funny, not the very gross ones."  She said, now she kept picking up the camera to familiarize herself with it in order to play a photographer convincingly.  Would she ask her son to be her model?  Kelly said, "He is very short right now, so he isn't suitable.  I am just shooting flowers and plants."

Due to the constantly upside down film production schedules, Kelly asked the team not to shoot over night.  She said, "The best would be not no night shifts.  Most of my scenes will be with (Louis) Koo Tin Lok.  I will only have two group scenes and they won't have to be shot at night."  Koo Tin Lok's leg injury affected his work in recent months.  Kelly said that she will accommodate him so Goo jai will have more chances to act while sitting.

Lam Fung stated that earlier he attended his new film THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE (BAK SEH CHUEN SHUEN)'s viewer appreciation event.  The film's single day box office reached 8 million RMB and beat other films of the same period.  Lam Fung said, "Right now I am still working on the new film SAVING GENERAL YANG (YEUNG GA JEUNG), I still have many action and horseback scenes I have to take care of."