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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Warner Bros didn't know what to expect on such a unique project as Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are. Certainly not a $32.4M weekend performing strongly across the country. Or a Cinemascore of B+ where 55% of the audience was under age 25 and rated the film A-. Here was a famous director with an infamous imagination making a PG movie for adults out of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book. As a result, the studio decided not to position Wild Things as a kids film. The marketing department brought it to Comicon, and then spent 70% of the media for it on broad based and adult driven buys. The P&A stressed Spike's pedigree, but not the fact that Jones took forever in post-production on his CGI + puppetry adaptation. "He's a perfectionist and just kept working on it," a WB exec told me Friday night. "But now we know that at the end of the day he nailed it." Thursday midnight shows went way over the expected $150K grosses and came close to $660K. By Friday noon in Manhattan, the expected $12K take turned into $100K. Grosses came in at $11.9M Friday and $13M Saturday from 3,735 locations (including 145 Imax theaters which made $3.1M F-S-S). 
Friday's revenues were unusually boosted by the "Spikers" as well as by adults attracted by the older focused marketing campaign. So Saturday grosses were only 10% higher than Friday's, not the usual 60% higher of most matinee driven kiddie films.
At a surprise #2, Overture's Law Abiding Citizen starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler did a better than expected with $7.5M Friday and $8.3M Saturday for a $21.2M weekend from 2,889 venues. Paramount's pre Halloween hyped Paranormal Activity made $6.25M Friday and $7.6M Saturday from a wider release onto 760 screens for #3 and a $20.1M weekend and new $33.7M cume. Universal's holdover comedy Couples Retreat sank to #4 with $6M Friday (-50%) and $8M Saturday for a $17.9M weekend from 3,009 plays for a $63.3M cume. That leaves Screen Gems/Sony's low budget reboot Stepfather #5 on 2,734 dates to debut with only $4.3M Friday and $4.7M Saturday for a $12.3M weekend.
The rest are holdovers:
6. Cloudy/Meatballs (Sony) Week 5 [3,037] $8.1M Wkd, Cume $108.2M
7. Zombieland (Sony) Week 3 [3,171 theaters] $7.8M Wkd, Cume $60.8M
8. Toy Story 3-D (Disney) Week 3 [1,467] $900K Fri, $3 Wkd
9. Surrogates (Disney) Week 4 [2,326] $700K Fri, Est $2.3M Wkd
10. Invention Of Lying (WB) Week 3 [1,624] $675K Fri, Est $2.2M Wkd
It's turning into a huge weekend: $130+M, or +35% from last year.
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Like the baby boomers, this movie will appeal to generation X so I am not surprised that it would do so well.
I hardly think that it’s a phenomenon. the book is legendary and ha sold over 10 mill copies in us alone. it should have opened to 50 plus.
Mike
Mike, I agree. Hearing people talking about the movie and their love for the book, I will expect these numbers to increase over the weekend. Friends and co-workers are buzzing about this one. It will around a $40 million weekend. Gotta love that Hollywood considers the adaptation of a children’s novel a “surprise hit.”
Yeah — and there aren’t even scenes of the Wild Things dancing to Beyonce songs or eating poop or making pop culture references. Imagine.
there are tons of movies without Beyonce songs, or any of the other stuff you mentioned. Do you get out at all.
Guess his comment flew over your head, since you obviously didn’t interpret that Michael is taking a jab at the majority of what passes for kids films/family entertainment these days, ala the Dreamworks CGI crapfests or the Alvin & The Chipmunks garbage, packed to the brim with instantly outdated pop culture and scatological humor.
Yes, those darn kids films and their darn light hearted kid humor.Let’s stop that nonsense, and spice it up with some deep meaningful darkness, with a side of self gratifying dullness to show those darn kids what a CHILDREN story is suppose to be. *Sigh*
Oh mayn. Honestly? Why does someone always have to be the e-thug and make a blind jab? Uncomfortable.
The book IS legendary, but only contains about a dozen pages of text. What’s surprising is that it could be adapted to film without becoming simplistic tripe or, worse. The movie is intimate, nuanced, and stands on its own while capturing the essence of the original. That’s phenomenal.
Please keep up to date on Paranormal Activity. I’m hoping for that to succeed to the top spot. If not this weekend, then next. It rolls out into 2,000 more theaters and will take on Saw 691.
Stan, you’re a moron. It’s not adding 2000 more theaters. Jebus.
PARANORMAL is the ultimate heist from consumers: a studio tricking the audience into believing that it’s not a studio release. Well crafted campaign by Paramount, particularly online. “You demanded it.” HA!!!
saw it on Friday, it was ok to me. I wish it had been longer, or gone further into trying to get rid of the thing, or reveal what it was, or how it got attached to her. Some are comparing to Blair Witch, which is total crap. Blair Witch was a major suck job and a rip off. This movie is much better.
Actually, it IS an independent film. The director, Oren Peli, made the movie in his own home for a budget of near $15,000. Dreamworks bought the movie after all of the buzz at Slamdance and then shelved it for two years, unsure of how to market it and even talking of a complete remake. The director had screened the movie only three other times at indie horror festivals and the Montreal Film Festival. It received unbelievable buzz each time, and the demand for the film has grown from the result of a legitimate grassroots online movement. Bloody-Disgusting, Rue Morgue Magazine, Fangoria online, Dread Central and Ain’t It Cool News pressured the studio to release the film and encouraged the online community to start a petition to Paramount Pictures, who now had distribution rights. Paramount opened the film at 6 theaters for one weekend. Midnight shows only. Fear Net sponsored the evenings as an event and all of the above mentioned websites got unique access to promote the film. All of the shows sold out, confirming what people already knew. All Paramount is doing is getting the audience involved in, not only, promoting the film but feeling like they are part of the success. We did demand it. For two years we demanded through online petitions, blogs and letters to see the movie. They’re just keeping the meme we started, and it’s working. Unlike Blair Witch Project, the film is also getting tons of positive word of mouth and great reviews. Oh, and you’re wrong, it will open in over two thousand theaters in the next two weeks. Oh, and I don’t work for a studio. I’m a fan of the film and have been involved in trying to get it released for quite some time. It’s a fun movie and it’s great to see it in a theater full of people. Also, it’s not nice to call people morons, especially over a stupid movie.
Thank you, Derek Sheen, for this treatise… Did they buy hundreds of tv spots and banner ads with that $15k? NO. They didn’t. It’s been marketed with studio coin, and therefore is a studio release (i.e., not Freestyle or Oscilloscope, etc.).
End of discussion. And your mom is right, you really should clean your room if you’re going to live in her house.
Definitely glad to hear this news on Where The Wild Things Are,
Just got home from seeing it and personally loved it, as I did the book when I was a kid.
It has the look and feel of an instant classic to me. I can’t wait to see it, and I’m a woman in my 50s with no children!
Independent artists are back, say goodbye to crap Disney/Dreamworks moviemaking by committee! Pendulum swinging back…
Only in your little mind…
that’s a pretty rude response even if you don’t agree. I hope goingthisweekendand…. is right.
Ditto.
God, I hope you’re right.
Disney/Dreamworks do not make crap. Sounds like you’re jealous, or just misinformed.
Spike Jonze is a visionary genius. This will be a great success for WB. The film looks absolutely beautiful.
Brilliant and lovely movie. The parents WILL take the kids to the Spike Jonze’s best one yet!
how is Black Dynamite performing in ltd. release?
Wild things is perhaps one of the worst films i have ever seen. I brought my children and I still regret it. It’s so dark and disjointed. Its a constant bath of negative and unpleasant characters and dialouge.
“one of the worst films you have ever seen”? ever. of all time? you can’t think of a few others? wow, you must be exceptionally particular.
these execs are either complete fools are did a good job padding themselves against potential letdown. of course it’s opening well, there has been significant buzz in all demographics for a while. maybe the chump above would have like it more had they dumbed it down for children.
“maybe the chump above would have like it more had they dumbed it down for children”
The source material is from a children’s book; so it would be only reasonable for it to dumbed down for children, not turned into some pretentious hipster mess.I’m assuming someone like you would love all the children’s books to be turn some dark sinister mess so they all can appeal to super intellectual like yourself, but some people happen to like movies base off children’s book to be for, and I know this might sound strange, children.
I guess with the success of new darker Wild Things we will now have a Horton Hears a Rape and Chifford, The Red Cannibal…
I’m concerned about word of mouth advertising for this film past the opening weekend. It really is a thinking person’s film and not really for kids. If the adults going into this movie aren’t familiar with the metaphors and philosophical mood of this film then they will come out disappointed and bored and will have lost a great opportunity to see deeper into themselves and understand life better. It seems like kids would be bored by the slower pace and talkiness (or lack thereof).
Actually, I never read the book — and I’m in my 30’s. I was initially enticed by the visuals but read about it on several reviews before going — so I knew what I was in for and spent the movie’s time enjoying the subtleties, the glorious visuals, the slow pondering of the metaphors. Childhood is as complex and simple as was portrayed. I see that film up for several Oscar nominations, one at least being the cinematography.
SPOILER! Was disappointed there was so little face time of Mark Ruffalo — he is one of my favorite actors.
The book only has about 8 lines, so you didn’t miss much reading.
I completely agree with you. It was a horrible movie for children; the four I saw it with had no real comment other than “weird.” There was nothing light or fantastic about the film.
Max was portrayed as a latchkey brat with no sense being reckless in real time, not a fanciful child having a dream. Spike Jonze took a classic book and made it dark, dreary, at times genuinely frightening and — worst of all, perhaps — boring and dull.
They should’ve titled the movie, “Where the Clueless, Child-Hating Hollywood Producers Are.”
I was kind of baffled by Jonze’s downbeat interpretation of the source material since most of his music videos are so playful in nature. With him at the helm I assumed it was truly going to be a wild ruckus and instead it was mostly a dreary slog. It’s a little over 90 minutes and it feels like it drags on forever. There’s really no story to speak of. I saw a 5:30 showing today that was filled with toddlers and they were categorically bored shitless. Their audible restlessness drowned out the dialogue for most of it. Some of the older kids and the baby boomers seemed to be into it, though. I was banking on this inspiring in me a sense of childlike wonder and awe, and on that level I think it’s a monumental failure.
It wasn’t marketed for kids.
Toddlers shouldn’t be at this, and their parents should know better. I’ve been super excited to see it, but I’m waiting until I find a sitter for my toddler because although he loves the trailer, it was pretty evident that we should check it out first before taking him to it. even then, it’s about a 9 year old, not a toddler, so it’s hardly the filmmaker’s fault if those little ones were bored. The adults and kids I know who have seen it have loved it.
it would be really sad if we started to make a lot of movies that enthralled toddlers. your average 3 year old has the attention span of a gnat. of course they are “audibly restless” in a movie, because they are not old enough to go to movies! i bet they would be bored in a Pixar movie too.
Not to worry, I’m sure there will be another Transformers movie out soon; that will be more your style…
What, have you only seen five films in your life? You’re certainly entitled to dislike WTWTA, but to call it one of the worst films you’ve ever seen indicates that you watch very few movies. Unless, of course, you’re referring to the Denise Richards film Wild Things that John McNaughton directed.
As for myself, I loved every minute of the film, and found it to be a very genuine, heartfelt work of art. I rarely throw around high praise like this, but I do feel that Spike Jonze has created a classic that people of all ages will appreciate for generations to come. (And what you see as disjointed and negative is EXACTLY how kids in that stage of development see the world – it brought back a flood of memories for me personally.)
Big shout-out to Dave Eggers whose screenplay finally got the green light from Sendak!
What are “spikers”?
I believe the “spikers” are the loyal fans of the director Spike Jonze?
I’m assuming fans of Spike Jonze.
I don’t know anything about Spike Jonze and/or his visionary skills but whenever this trailers plays on tv I cringe and think that it’s not something I would want my child to see. The trailer comes off completely opposite of the fun, imagery of the book. The movie looks ominous and odd, and sounds (monster voices, background music) bizarre.
Yes, because Maurice Sendak’s illustrations screamed “FUN FUN FUN!” throughout the original book. Give me a break. Your poor child must lead a sheltered life, at least in your mind. Bet you took the kids to see every other CGI craptacular like G-Force, filled to the brim with fart and poop jokes, whereas something with genuine heart and insight into the human condition appears “ominous and odd” too you. Cheer up, the Chipmunks sequel is out in just two more months. Whee!
Uhh… the monster just have regular voices dude. And the music is odd? You must find the Beach Boys terrifying.
It’s not a kid’s movie.
it was clearly not marketed towards children. did you see spots on nickelodeon on the disney channel? did you see product placement for pre-teens?
no, you saw ads on espn, basic cable primetime, etc. also, did we read the same book? the colors are are all bleak and there are monsters. doesn’t mean the book doesn’t resonate with children – it clearly does – but the movie was meant to serve a different purpose.
spike jonze’s fans
Surprised about ‘Wild Things’ opening numbers. I saw the movie at an advance screening last Tuesday, and thought it was very good.. but it’s so idiosyncratic that I only expected a $15 mil opening weekend. I saw about 3 to 4 people walk out. Looks like most people are enjoying the film. Good!
Paranormal activity sucks, it took to long to get started and once it did you never gave a dam about the characters. I couldn’t care less if the the ghost killed both of them, all hype that is all it is. It will not overtake Saw 6 trust me. Saw 6 is the biggest horror movie of the year!
of course you didn’t like it, your brain gets off on guts and gore, and senseless violence. you probably like train wrecks and plane crashes too. It was shot on one hand held camera, and was able to maintain suspense and intrigue throughout.
Yes, because the “Saw” movies routinely present us with characters about whom we care deeply.
I agree about PA. It was boring. Although, I highly respect the guy for making this for only $15 grand and it being successful.
I disagree about Saw. Those movies are boring too. Why is it so hard to make a scary movie?
I think next weekend will be interesting, once the word of mouth on WTWTA spreads. I haven’t seen it yet but all the marketing points to a wondrous romp through the magic of childhood. What I’m hearing instead is a dreary plod through the scary darkness of emotional hurt and confusion.
The marketing was mostly spent on adult buys to get them to take their kids to share the experience. I don’t think it was directed at 20-somethings and other cinema effetes to ponder over a chai latte. Seems like a real disconnect.
Ooh, the “cinema effete” — how daring and butch of you to call out intelligent moviegoers with discerning taste. Your entire life is a dreary plow, so what the hell do you know? It’s a beautiful movie with complicated emotions.
Bruce has it spot-on: Jonze made a film targeted at children, but failed to consider that there are going to be kids in the audience. Was this really “a PG movie for adults,” Nikki? Then why is it advertised all over Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon? Why was the preview attached to Monsters vs. Aliens, Harry Potter and Meatballs instead of adult fare? Why would they take a children’s book and turn it into a film for adults?
The film is a dull, shapeless character study that left me looking for a pillow, and children are going to feel the same way. Cars was a character study, too, but it was appealing for children and intelligent enough to be considered a quality film. Wild Things is a slow, tedious and repetitive film without plot. I know, I know: Plenty of good films rely less on plot, but when the film fails to be interesting, the lack of plot will be mentioned as a failing.
Aside from the tedious story, the film is terrifying for children: The bonfire scene where everyone surrounds Max, threatening to kill and eat him, was completely unsuitable for kids. Judith looked like a demonic Muppet, and Carol’s rampage towards the end was definitely upsetting to children in the audience.
I’ve talked to a lot of people defending the movie, but their arguments don’t make much sense. They claim I shouldn’t criticize the plot because it’s a children’s film… if that’s true, then why does everybody hate simple-minded movies like Madagascar? Then they say the movie may not be suitable for kids, but that they enjoyed it as an adult… what?
Make up your mind, guys: Is this a children’s film or an adult’s film? Personally, I don’t think it was made for kids or adults: It was made for Oscar voters, solely for the purpose of whoring itself around Oscar time.
This film was just a bad idea from the start. I had my doubts from the very beginning that this would be a suitable project, and I was proven right. Jonze has made a boring and scary movie, two elements that definitely do not a good kid’s film make. Maybe it will make $40 million this weekend, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it drops like a rock on the 23rd.
I think it’s safe to say that the movie went over your head and you shouldn’t be allowed to have children.
Yes DK, making a movie that does well in the box office, gets good reviews and gets Oscar buzz…. that’s really a bad idea. [Heavy sarcasm intended].
This really pains me to say because I really do admire Spike Jonze’s work as well as Sendaks impressionable masterpiece of a book, but in the end I was just bored by the whole affair. Don’t get me wrong its a beautiful movie to look at and the cgi effects of the Wild Thing’s faces were seamless, but it just left me cold for some odd reason.
Is this Toy Story re-release really going to be profitable unto itself? It doesn’t feel like it.
There’s zero ancillary, fewer shows a day because it’s a double feature, the 3D process probably cost a bundle, and they have been running an aggressive advertising campaign with outdoor and TV ads. Plus you just know Tim Allen and Tom Hanks got some kind of payout for this befitting their reputations as killer dealmakers.
Sure it might be an OK platform to hype 2010’s third movie (and perhaps the above costs come right out of the marketing budget for TS3, which is huge, certainly), but Disney/Pixar didn’t need to do that for a property as well-known and beloved as Toy Story.
This certainly isn’t even a fraction of the success of the Star Wars special editions (which were smartly tied to a whole new wave of home video releases).
“I saw a 5:30 showing today that was filled with toddlers and they were categorically bored shitless.”
That is not really an indication of anything except that the United States will apparently never run out of parents so stupid and lazy that they will take 2- to 4-year-olds to a movie that is manifestly inappropriate for them. The fact that, as you say, older kids and boomers were into it is a lot more meaningful.
This is a great point, Rob! It’s funny, I was talking to some friends in Neuchatel last night, and I mentioned that I was going to see Where the Wild Things Are, and they immediately said, “You’re not bringing the kids, are you?” And we all laughed, obviously. (They laughed in Swiss-French, which was just great). But you know, Rob, then we turned serious, because it is distressing how stupid and lazy American parents are. Here’s a movie based on a book for young kids, and marketed to young kids, and then, on opening weekend, what do the stupid, lazy (and fat, let’s face it) American parents do: they march the young kids in. Did any of these “parents” even think to rent Adapation or read Zeitoun to get a sense of the creative energies behind this project — or at the very least listen to Jonze on Fresh Air? No, it’s just like, “Hey, classic kid’s book our 4 year old loves; movie advertised on Nickelodeon; let’s load up the fucking Family Truckster and take the kids. And stop at Wal Mart and eat tons of transfatty shit along the way!” I remember I was on a night train from Malmo to Berlin a couple of years ago with some really thin, whipsmart, energetic German graduate students and one of them said something that I’ve always remembered. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it seemed super smart, and I thought of it when I read your post, Rob, and it just makes me wonder, wither America?
You are correct. Germans are brilliant. Too bad you didn’t take notes.
Spikers are those fanboys who can’t wait to see a movie and rush out on opening day causing a temporary ’spike’ in the grosses for a day or so before the grosses settle down to a level more in tune with how a movie is actually going to play for the length of the run.
ummm…no. they are simply fans of Spike Jonze. You must work for the Weinstein’s.
Spike Jonze fans.
The Jamie Fox movie is GOOD, ENTERTAINING, AND HAS A STORY THANK GOD. It is not for everyone especially the squeamish when it comes
to violence. Twist and turns come without giving you a nod and a wink. Now if they could transfer The Story Telling Quality of this Movie into other genres, Hollywood and other film makers would be better for their efforts.
Robbie Goldstein
TOO MANY AMATEURS are chiming in on this site.
CITIZEN is incredibly dumb. The “Story Telling Quality” (wow, you are dumb, Robbie Goldstein) is below TV-quality. Lamer than a bad ep of 24. And the acting is a joke. Next!
Did someone really say this is the worst movie they have ever seen? ROFL! Taste is subjective, however this type of hyperbole deserves a special mention. You are an idiot and I feel for your children to have a tard as a parent. I feel sorry for someone like you….whatever.
Personally, to me, it is an adult version of E.T. A childs mmovie for adults told by a child.
To the other tards saying this movie should be making 50 million – another LOL. I love it when people comment on things they haven’t seen. This movie is absolutely a movie that will fly so far over childrens (and most adults) heads that I am surprised it is making as much as it is. This is far from a mainstream film, and as people who “follow” film you SHOULD be aware of that.
All I ever hear from Miley haters is “She’s not being the best role model” and then they pick out some piddling little thing she does. Well now it’s MY turn. This kid in this movie is NOT a role model. Why would you take a kid to see this film? If older teenagers and adults like it then fine.
Sounds like it’s time for the L.A. or New York Times to write another article about the death of the movie business. People obviously hate going to the movies.
I kept waiting for Gandolfini to say, “EY, quit bustin’ my balls!”
That’s because you’re an idiot with very limited imagination and wouldn’t know a talented actor with a fantastic voice when you hear one.
“Spikers” are people who love movies directed by Spike Jonze, for example, “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” etc.
For people saying “toddlers and young children were bored,” of course they were! The marketing for the the film and all the reviews have said it is NOT directed at young children. Isn’t it rated PG? There is a reason for that, people!
It’s not a movie for young children. It’s a movie for hipsters who love Jonze and adults who love the book. Yesterday in NY it was totally sold out after 5 pm. I’m not even going to try to see it until sometime in the middle of the week.
“Denise Richards film Wild Things that John McNaughton directed”
One of my favorite movies of all time! Love the post credits stuff.
I’m glad the film did well. I liked it. Didn’t love it. There’s NO story to speak of and it lacts the elements that make a film like the Wizard of Oz classics. I think when you’re making a film essentially about a missing father figure. You should give us a little more to feel the abscence than a couple shots of a globe.
It’s a pleasure to look at in IMAX. Spike Jonze and Lance Accord are visual gods. I don’t think it’s for kids either, but I think Warner Brothers dropped the ball by not marketing it that way. They really can’t take credit for $40m from a book that already has a built in adult audience…but I’m sure they will.
“I think when you’re making a film essentially about a missing father figure. You should give us a little more to feel the abscence than a couple shots of a globe.”
I don’t think for a second that the film is ABOUT a missing father figure – it just so happens that it’s one cause of Max’s uncertain feelings and fears, but not the root — that would be simply being a 9 year-old child in the modern world, period. When he finally says to KW (voiced by Lauren Ambrose) that he wishes they could have a mother, he’s actually coming around to realize that he misses her and wants the shelter of home along with the unconditional love she provides despite the frustrations parenting brings….it doesn’t matter where the dad is in the overall plot of the movie, so why should they bog it down with “waaah, my daddy split up with my mom/died in Iraq/got hit by a bus and now I’m all alone” sentimentality?
To all the whiny parents, please SHUT UP.
You took your kids to see the movie without finding out what Jonze’s vision is about. You have failed as parents.
Thankfully Wild Things wasn’t a bastardized interpretation of the source material. It seems unimaginable in this day and age that a beloved Children’s book could be actualized on the big screen without CGI creatures, pop culture references or poopy jokes. While Warner Bros. should be commended for having loftier artistic standards for the project, they should also be taken to task for letting Spike Jonze bring too much of his personal baggage to the project. It’s apparent after seeing the film that Jonze, he himself a child of divorce, felt compelled to turn what was in literary form a subversive romp into a drab meditation on childhood angst. I’m sorry, but I can’t give the film a pass on the basis that it’s not as dumbed down or panderous as the bulk of released stuff that doesn’t have age-restrictive MPAA classifications. The film is pretentious, bleak, inaccessible, plotless, and annoyingly dependent on that damned shaky camera. If noble intentions were the foremost measure of cinematic worth it truly would be an instant classic, though.
Wild Things was lousy. The furry suits looked unpleasant and fake, with none of the charm of the drawings. The movie was slloooowww and BORING. Kids were restless as hell and people around me were muttering a lot. Wouldn’t count on this having legs. 3/10.
I would expect the final weekend gross to end up around 31 million. I think the B+ Cinemascore will be reflected. I saw it and was not particularly impressed. I found it to be disjointed as someone else said earlier, visually it was quite beautiful, but in the end there really isn’t much reason to care about it. Also I found most of the musical selections on the soundtrack to be wildly inappropriate for the type of movie it was. While I have liked Spike Jonze movies I have seen in the past, I found WWTA to be self indulgent and unnecessary.
I think the gross will be hurt by the fact that it truly isn’t a movie for kids and was unnecessarily scary at several points. If kids do not go in large numbers then it will probably follow the pattern of other adult dramas out this year (which is to say not very high grosses.
Where the Wild Things are was pretty damn tense. I really think it would have worked better freed of its children’s book trappings altogether and if Jonze had gone all out horror. Like, instead of being essentially good but ‘just scared’, Carol is really a dark, evil thing inside the boy’s mind. I feel like it could have gone off in a much different– darker and more interesting direction, but the strictures of the brand pulled it back from the brink.
Law Abiding citizen was real entertaining. I strongly recommend it. A game of witts. Is the best way I would describe it.
I saw the movie yesterday in Imax. I decided to pay for Imax because i like Spike Jonze’s eye for visuals. It was a good movie, but i was expecting more. If i could have done it again i would have seen it in a regular theatre. A couple walked out of the movie in the middle. It was a sweet movie. Yes, there were parts that were scary where the boy’s life is literally in danger and the plot was thin. I guess the moral was that in a family you sometimes hurt each other and even hate each other at times, but in the end you are still a family and you love each other. I’m still trying to figure out the monsters and what they represent. Whether they represent cliche members of a typical family or parts of a person’s individual personality??? Maybe i’m reading too much into it. It goes without saying but Spike Jonze is talented and has a director’s eye. Put him in charge of a big time action movie already. Maybe he’s not attracted to that type of material.
People are starved to see a good movie. This is why box office is up 40%. I haven’t been to the movies in a while. I might actually go and see “Law Abiding Citizen” on Thursday. I think “Saw 6″ will be big. I’m definitely going to see that. What else is coming up?? “Twilight”, “Saw”, ??? I would have gone to see “Shutter Island”.
I loved ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ as a book, a genuine classic child’s story, but to see it as a movie… definitely not interested in watching. WTWTA is a pass for me.
This film IS for children. Both my sons instantly “got it”, and loved that someone understood how they feel when they are scared, angry, and confused. They feel powerless, and they use their imaginations as a way to feel and think through what can be overpowering. No one mucked up the film with false yucks (what kid laughs when they are stressed out and lonely?), tried too hard to point things out (goodonya for subtlety- us adults get the single lines about separated parents, etc), and kept the shifting meaningfulness of the wild things- as it can be in a child’s mind. The photography, costuming, music, and the rest were perfect accompaniments to the tale/narrative- not overwhelming it but complementing and transporting it. This is a work of art, and art at it’s best- layered, and work that can speak to many different ages and sorts of people.
The film was very different. It made me feel like I wanted to be a kid again. Remener when you acted out as a child and you’d wanna run away? That’s how I felt. I was drawn by the emotion because a child, I felt that way sometimes. Great film. Not for the toddlers!
I was at a fast food place yesterday and the 17-23 year olds who work there were all talking about going to see Wild Things. Some had never heard of the book and were planning to see the film. Big buzz. You can’t fake that. Turbobard
Look, people, the movie is what it is, which is a very good thing. It’s, as someone else said, a movie about being a kid, for adults. It didn’t bother me terribly that there’s no traditional three-act structure; it was an emotionally honest and deeply philosophical look at the growing pains we all go through learning to deal with each other.
And it struck me as very emotionally true to the book, which is itself pretty dark and brooding.
Great work; I was delighted with it.
At least Paranormal Activity is doing great. Finally saw it last night at the Regal Fox Run Stadium, and it sold out four consecutive shows. Excellent film; nearly had me screaming out loud in some parts.
I find it funny people complaining about toddlers being brought to Where the Wild Things Are.. It has been marketed to children and based on a children’s book. I wanted to love the movie but I also found it to be dull and dreary. At the screening i was at there were LOTS of restless children. I think the movie is going to drop like a rock next weekend now that the curiosity factor is out of the way. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Including people that didn’t like or hated the film.
I predict this movie drops off like no other in the 2nd week once word of mouth spreads. Visually beautiful, little kid is great – but boring, depressing and too scary for kids.
a scene where children might get eaten by wild things is inappropriate for children? like red riding hood, hansel & gretel etc etc? hey guy, children love to be scared–and then they want rescue,justice and safety, roughly in that order.
read any classic kid’s tale or see any kids’ movie–it’s all there, honest.
People keep crowing that “WTWTA” isn’t marketed as a kids movie” as if unsuspecting parents are at fault for taking their kids to see a movie based on a book that would bore any kid over the age of four.
People don’t pay that much attention to the marketing campaign, folks. they see the title, they just make the assumption it’s kid appropriate.
This is basically bait-and-switch. Like taking your kid to see a “Curious George” live action feature and discovering it was directed by Abel Ferrara.
We’re going to see AstroBoy next weekend. Let me guess, inappropriate for kids as well?
Don’t waste your time on this movie. It SUX!!!! Bad!!! I want my money back!!!
Right , it ” sux” as steve says. Sure steve like we should pay any attention to anyone who spells that way and also uses 10 exclamation points
WILD THINGS IS A WHIMSICAL HIT.
GERARD BUTLER’S CITIZEN’S LEGIT.
AN “A” IN CREATIVITY,
FOR A CREEPY ACTIVITY
BUT THE STEPFATHER’S A TOTAL PIECE OF SHIT.
I fell asleep, and struggled to stay awake through most of the film.
I have original Maurice Sendak art on my walls. I was THE target audience…
AND I FELL ASLEEP.
I am a LOYAL Spike Jonze fan. I was not tired going into this film.
But man did it ever bore me. Did I mention I fell asleep?
It was GORGEOUS– but I felt like it should have had
KCRW listed in the PRODUCER credits.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY might be a bigger hoax/hype fest then barfing Balloon Boy!
Looking forward to MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS!
I loved WTWTA, thought it was a beautiful and deep meditation on growing up. I feel like there were many layers to it and will be happy to see it several times to really absorb it. It is an instant classic.
Haven’t seen it; don’t plan to. Why is all we get in theaters are kid’s movies or ‘adult’ movies based on comic books or childrens books, or, on the other hand, movies glorifying illegal drugs or promiscuity. I guess you have to live in New York or L.A. to get a better ‘indy’ film experience.
Not worth the change in my pocket. Sadness. Pain. Anger. Shame. Just what you want to take children to see. No joy. Hardly any laughter. No cleverness. No fun. If an 8, 6 and 3 year old walk out of a movie and immediately start talking about what they are going to do when they get home, probably not much of a memorable movie. Fairly certain this is the last Spike Jones kids movie I will ever see. Terrible.
Wild Things has to be the one of worst movie I have ever seen. People in the theater were all like WTF. Several groups got up and left and my friend fell asleep and started snoring. I kept waiting for it to get good, never happened. The overheard discussions as we all left the theater were skewed more towards the “can you please explain the whole point of that to me…”
Loved Dylan walsh in stepfather. !!
I would to see the sequel! I know they have one in the works. I would suggest to the writers that the monsters eat the kid. Moreover, they should tear him a new asshole. Make ritual killing and film it. Then take the film and jerk off on it. Sell the remains to the Iranians.
worst film in the history of films i think it is disturbing i cant belive that the wonderful story has been turned into the worlds most freackish movie of all time i hope that the guy who directed it never makes a film again