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SUNDAY AM, 7TH UPDATE: I’m told this is the first time there are three $20 million pics on a September weekend. No wonder it’s been shifting like quicksand at the North American box office, with the Top 3 order changing and then changing again. Everyone agrees that Lion King 3D is now No. 1, but Moneyball and Dolphin Tale were neck-and-neck for No. 2 going into this morning. At first, Warner Bros had its Alcon Entertainment fish story ahead of Sony Pictures baseball tale — but only by $110,000. Nevertheless Sony and other studios and eventually Alcon have Moneyball ahead by as much as $500K. So I’m calling it for Moneyball. Friday night also had no clarity because of Rentrak hiccups during the day. Can’t we all just get along, especially when I’m on vacation?
1. Even Disney is surprised that its Lion King 3D is king of the jungle again in 2,330 theaters after its huge 1st-place finish last weekend. Rival studios tell me it got a boost Friday from the rain back East for a $6M Friday for an excellent hold. And another giant kiddie matinee bump on Saturday for $9.2M and on Sunday a projected $6.8M. That’s a $22.1M weekend and only a modest -30% decline from a week ago. This re-release can hit a cume of $61.6M by Monday. This is the first reissue to open #1 in 14 years. An interesting story is how Disney’s original release plan called for one weekend on 500 3D screens. Then, the studio saw the tracking for Dolphin Tale and decided to expand to two weekends on 1,500 3D screens, thus hogging most of the high-priced 3D venues. It was a shrewd targeted hit on Warner Bros, and probably cost Dolphin Tale at least $5M-$10M in box office. So here’s my question: Why is it that in all the promotional hype I’ve been sent by the studio, no one at Disney is thanking Jeffrey Katzenberg for micro-managing the original Lion King? C’mon, Mouse House, give credit where credit is due. Even if Jeffrey is a big pain in everyone’s ass.
2. Sony’s much-hyped newcomer Moneyball is now officially the best baseball-themed opening ever. (Not accounting for inflation or higher ticket prices, it beat Benchwarmers‘ $19.6M, The Rookie’s $16M, and A League Of Their Own‘s $13.7M.) It opened No. 1 Friday with $6.7M and then soared +24% to $8.3M Saturday from 2,993 theaters. (As a Sony exec told me, “$6 million would be great. $7 million amazing. $8 million would be a triumph.”) With that healthy adult bump, it scored a $20.7M weekend which is on target with the studio’s expectations. That solid number helps keep Brad Pitt’s star wattage shining and his awards chances climbing because of this well-reviewed male-centric sports movie that scored 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. (As Deadline Hollywood’s Awards columnist Pete Hammond opined out of the Toronto Film Festival: “This is a classic movie star role in the tradition of something that Robert Redford or Paul Newman would have done in their prime. He has never been better, and the movie is the best sports film since Bull Durham, a real triumph considering the long and winding road it took to get to the screen.”) Audiences really liked this pic: it received all A’s — male, female, young, old — from CinemaScore. By age, 36% were under 35 and 64% were over 35. But a rival studio exec points out that almost 60% of the audience was over age 50. Sony believes Moneyball could play strongly through the Fall generating a multiple that could very well exceed 4X and 5X its opening.
Marketing targeted adult moviegoers and was designed to appeal to both men and women. Call me sexist, but I thought targeting women was hopeless for a pic based on the true story of Billy Beane who rebuilt the Oakland A’s in 2002 through computer-driven statistical analysis long ignored by the baseball establishment. (This stuff makes my eyes glaze over…) But exit surveys showed the film was almost evenly split with 51% male and 49% female moviegoers. To build awareness among men, Sony had a strong presence in sports programming, especially baseball where the campaign kicked off during the MLB All-Star Game in July. Trailers aired on the MLB Network, while spots also ran in high-profile NFL games including the season opener. In recent weeks, Moneyball‘s presence was in MLB games across FOX, ESPN, and TBS and select NCAA football games. The TV campaign took advantage of primetime premieres and high-impact specials, including the Emmys and MTV’s VMAs. On cable, Moneyball had sneak peeks on Sons of Anarchy, Tosh.0, Conan and ESPN’s SportsCenter. To reach women, Sony bought spots on Dancing With the Stars and Glee while Pitt appeared on Ellen this week and was pretty much omnipresent as both producer and star.
Like most movies these days, Moneyball had a twisted and tortured history to the big screen. Michael Lewis wrote a great book, and producer Rachael Horovitz recognized the bones of a great movie. Initially, baseball freak Steven Soderbergh was involved but passed because of other commitments. Eventually Sony brought in producer Michael De Luca to join Horovitz and, 5 years later in 2009, Soderbergh was back to direct. But in a well-chrincled case of creative differences, the Oscar-winning director was jettisoned from the film just 72 hours before production was to begin when the studio changed its mind about his changes to Steven Zaillian’s adaptation. (Soderbergh’s primary addition included Reds-like testimonials from real-life players which mae it more like a documentary.) Studio chief Amy Pascal felt Soderbergh’s version wasn’t commercial enough and pulled the plug. Conventional wisdom had it that the pic was a goner. But Pitt stayed on board throughout and Pascal stuck with this project instead of taking a writedown. Funny how women are often seen as not knowing anything about sports, yet in this case it took two Hollywood females to push this one through. The project got back on track with executive producer Scott Rudin along with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who did a polish on Zaillian’s script (both get credit now). Pitt himself praises director Bennett Miller (an Oscar nod for Capote first-time out), who replaced Soderbergh and then had the vision to “crack” the film’s outsider/insider themes by making an unconventional film about them.
3. Incredibly close behind is Alcon Entertainment’s Dolphin Tale 3D distributed into 3,507 theaters by Warner Bros. It opened with $5.1M Friday and zoomed to $8.6M Saturday for a $20.2M weekend. Alcon expected the heartstrings-pulling pic to jump 60% on Saturday because of the family film bump. It did a staggering +70% more. Remember, it’s also playing in the most theaters. According to CinemaScores, parents and kids audiences are giving it an A+. The film now becomes the highest opening weekend for a live action film with an animal, passing Disney’s Eight Below. With its inspirational story, Warner Bros expected to own the family marketplace this weekend and give Moneyball a run for No. 1 this weekend. But no one anticipated the continued strength of Lion King 3D. The strategy for Dolphin Tale was to reach primarily parents and kids with this real-life story and fine ensemble cast. The studio devised a very long trailer campaign in order to get maximum exposure beginning in April and playing through the summer on everything from Rio to Cars 2. The TV strategy was robust, covering everything from kids cable in late summer before school started, through key season premieres such as Dancing With The Stars and Biggest Loser, to a wide array of sponsorships with Discovery, Teen Nick, Lifetime, Nation Geographic, Disney XD, MTV, and more. Warner Bros crafted an aggressive word-of-mouth screening program that involved 3 full rounds in the top 60 markets. Military and home schoolers were targeted as well as youth groups and other family-oriented orgs. The director and cast completed a 7-market PA tour that included a junket to accommodate Winter, the real-life star of the film who had her own live Winter-cam. Online, there was a first-time integration with the Spongebob Squarepants Facebook page given the sea theme.
4. Lionsgate’s Abduction in 3,118 theaters ended up with $3.8M Friday but went up +21% Saturday for $4.6m and an $11.2M opening for the weekend. But I’ve just learned it’s #1 this weeknd in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia as it begins its day ad date foreign rollout. Through Sunday, Hollywood eyes have been focused on its star Taylor Lautner in his first leading man role in an action thriller because he’s been very much in demand — presumably because of his enormous Twi-hard fan base and aggressive promotion of his films – but not because of any solo box office which the 19-year-old has done yet. Yes, Tay-Tay received $5M for this pic which his production company also produced. Then again, I’ve learned that Lautner’s $36M-budget action thriller was outspent 4-to-1 in marketing dollars by both Sony and Warner Bros leading up to this weekend. (Shame on Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer for tying everyone’s hands even after powerless Alli Shearmur pleaded.) So the jury is still out on whether this Twilight kid can open an envelope, especially in as rotten a reviewed movie as this one was based on Shawn Christensen’s $1M spec script and directed by John Singleton. (“Silly” and “convoluted” were the words used most often to describe it.) Audiences didn’t think it was quite as bad as critics, giving it a B- CinemaScore. Lionsgate can’t seem to make a decent movie (Conan The Barbarian) or market one anymore (Warrior).
An $11M outcome is less than the $15M outcomevit appeared to be earlier Friday and definitely not the $12M-$14M range which the studio told me it needed to show a “nice profit” for the film. ”But Taylor’s a great kid. He’s worked hard for us, doing about 8 national TV shows and endless amounts of press,” one of the execs said to me. “We know the opening weekend box office averages for Taylor’s Twilight co-stars, so this falls in the zone of what was to be expected. There are lots of movies opening this weekend to a variety of audiences, but ours is laser-targeted to tweens and we hope to dominate that market.” Lionsgate simultaneously streamed the premiere to an additional 20 regional markets and broadcast the Red Carpet online as ‘The Abduction Fan Premiere Live Event’ with 50M impressions. Media promotions included ABC Family and Channel One, the in-school network that reaches 2.3 million teens aged 15–17. Other youth-focused exploitation included an announcer spot for Tay-Tay at the VMAs (tied to a sweepstakes to ‘Get Abducted’ to the awards). It wasn’t nearly enough.
5. Open Road Film’s Killer Elite looks like only $9.5M for the weekend from 2,986 theaters. But when the veteran star trio of Robert DeNiro, Jason Statham, and Clive Owen can’t knock off Lautner solo in a lousy movie, that’s worth noting. This pic based on a true story went up to only $3.6M on Saturday after its $3.3M debut Friday. CinemaScore was a B. I hear Open Road acquired the film for nothing, only P&A, so it’ll be nicely profitable. Not bad for the company’s first release. A few notes about the Killer Elite marketing campaign: it had the predictably heavy presence in sports including an ‘NFL on FOX’ TV promotion with a “Killer” prize of trip to LA to hang out with the Fox sports on-air guys, a promotion with Spike TV’s UFC Fight Night, and even Comedy Central’s Charlie Sheen Roast. De Niro made a rare late-night talk show appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live where he sat down with Kimmel’s security guard-turned celeb interviewer Guillermo. And MTV Networks did a direct email campaign to target demos within their very large customer database.
Here’s the rest of the Top 10:
6. Contagion (Participant/Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,136 Theaters]
Friday $2.6M, Saturday $3.8M, Weekend $8.5M, Cume $57.1M
7. Drive (FilmDistrict) Week 2 [2,904 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.4M, Weekend $5.7M (-50%), Cume $21.4M
8. The Help (Participant/DreamWorks/Disney] Week 7 [2,695 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.4M, Cume $154.4M
9. Straw Dogs (Sony) Week 2 [2,408 Theaters]
Friday $690, Saturday $860K, Weekend $2.1M (-60%), Cume $8.8M
10. I Don’t Know How She Does It (Weinstein Co) Week 2 [2,490 Theaters]
Friday $677K, Saturday $860K, Weekend $2M (-53%), Cume $8M
FRIDAY 4 PM: On vacation. So box office is brought to you from a sunny climate where the palm trees sway in time to the dancing trade winds… But back home there’s a fierce fight going on. These are very early grosses, and my sources say Rentrak has been experiencing problems today — thus giving Hollywood even more Maalox moments than usual. Sony’s Moneyball starring Brad Pitt will be No. 1 with approx $8M Friday and possibly mid-$20sM for the weekend. That solid number helps Brad Pitt’s awards chances in this well-received male-centric sports movie. Right now Alcon Entertainment/Warner Bros’ Dolphin Tale and Lionsgate’s Abduction are battling for No. 2 with around $6M today and what could be high teens for the weekend. Interesting, because the heartstrings-pulling pic was tracking much better. Then again, Taylor Lautner’s action thriller is playing in 389 less theaters. So anyone who claimed this Twilight kid couldn’t open an envelope is wrong, wrong, wrong: there are major stars who would be thrilled with that outcome, especially in as rotten a reviewed movie as this one. Open Road’s Killer Elite looks a notch lower – maybe $5M today, and low teens for the weekend. Frequent updates coming with full analysis.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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So much for Open Road. $30 spent on marketing and killer trailer placement and they won’t even hit $15?
you meant to sign it “bitter studio rooting for competitor’s demise”
Got a sincere question here. I saw this quote: “The audience is very old – almost 60% of audience over 50.” I get it in TV that advertisers want younger viewers, but why do they care in movies where everyone is paying the same ticket price? Why does it count as a snipe by a rival studio exec to say this about this film? Does it mean word of mouth will be bad, presaging a bigger drop in week two than a movie attended mostly by younger people? What am I missing?
The audience the film appeals to is older, and older crowds don’t flock to the movies the way youngsters do. I think it’s fine for a movie, like, say THE BUCKET LIST or GRAN TORINO to be aimed at an older audience, since both of those made plenty of cash, but you know how studios are: all that matters are boys 13-25.
I agree, I don’t see the difference between an 18 year old spending $10 and a 50 yr old spending $10. As for youngsters going to the movies more, I doubt it, because they get their “media” from the internet and smart phones.
There’s a huge difference. An 18 year old will see a movie for $10,and if he really likes it, or if his friends want to see it, he’ll spend another $10 to see it again. 50 year olds never do that. Also, once three 18 year olds in the same cohort see a movie and like it, everyone else in the group HAS to see it, just to stay current. 50 year olds don’t give a rat’s ass. My mom will see a movie, then rave and rave to her friends about it, and maybe one will go out and see it. Usually not even one. An 18 year old is also more likely to buy the DVD and see the sequel than a 50 year old, especially over the course of a lifetime (thus explaining the huge returns for the DIRTY DANCING 20th anniversary edition, and the recent record-breaking sales of the STAR WARS boxed set — since most of the people buying those fell in love with the movies as teenagers). FInally, an 18 year old is more likely to be swayed by the product placement in a movie (and there is likely to be more opportunities for product placement in movies aimed at 18 year olds), so that becomes a much larger source of revenue and recoupment for filmmakers. In short, sorry if you’re old, but this business is not trying to please or entice you. You simply aren’t a good investment.
The trailer for ABDUCTION is so cringe inducing I had to watch it again just to be sure Lautner’s acting was really so bad it was just scary….
but what is truly frightening is that Singleton has been publicly saying how excited he is to do the sequel!!
dude….what happened to your cred??
I just want Hollywood to know that I am a very big Taylor Lautner fan, and I don’t like him being blamed for this movie. I saw the movie tonight and it was probably the worst movie I have ever seen. It wasn’t Taylor’s fault, it was such a bad movie that we were all laughing at the lines. But that’s the fault of the writer and not Taylor Lautner’s.
Good point. It’s not like Lautner and his reps would’ve read the script and been able to choose whether or not to get involved with the project.
Sorry, but the lead actor is just as much to blame for a terrible movie.
this!!! lmao so true
Um, yeah, it was his fault. The guy is way too self-aware of himself to be a good actor.
The first time I heard Taylor vomit the line in the trailer “Not if I find you first!”, I literally — LITERALLY — felt embarrassed for him and the damage control his reps are going to do.
I can’t speak to the movie itself, but TAYLOR is the ONLY ONE to blame for Taylor’s performance.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed the trailer has been changed. They actually AUTO-TUNED that line so it didn’t come out sounding so fey.
I’m not kidding.
Kieran, you’re absolutely right. And since there’s no way to conceal the obvious robotic pitch jump on the word “you”, that line has now been ADR’d with a tougher-sounding reading. The auto-tuned version is still up online but the official website, Front Row, etc. have the dubbed version up.
I’m sorry, but Taylor Lautner is just not believeable as the action star Hollywood is attempting to make him out to be. His acting seems mediocre at best, but it’s his look that throws me off the most- the man body/boy head thing, like someone photoshopped his head on another body. Kind of like a muscly teddybear. I just want to pinch his cheeks, not see him in some crazy action sequence.
Agreed. Feels like the machine is trying to create another action star but the raw material just ain’t there.
The virgin face doesn’t make him believable as an action hero.
Taylor is the movie, he wanted his production company to produce it, it is 100% his fault… be careful what you wish for, especially when you’re a bad actor..
Yeah, it’s ONLY the writer’s fault.
Lautner will never be an action star. No guy wants to see him on the big screen kicking ass. Unfortunately for him, he will be that Twilight character in our minds for a long time. You can’t just become an action star when you’re still in movies about vampires and werewolves targeted at tweens.
What acting from Taylor Lautner? He never moves his face in the trailer.
John Singleton did an interview on ther Tom Joyner radio show in which he said Abduction should take the weekend as in #1. After I cleaned up the juice that I spit out when I heard that comment. I realized he thought just because TL was in Twilight this film would also be #1.
ABDUCTION is not the fault of Taylor Lautner. It is the fault of the Hollywood development community for making Shawn Christensen into a writer because he’s in a band. It is about the development community believing in the cult of personality. The movie is down to THREE PERCENT ON ROTTEN TOMATOES.
This kid’s career, and the asking price of others, has been compromised.
abd: With all due respect, WHAT THE EFF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!?!?!?!
HOLY CRAP!!!!
That is, without question, the most ignorant and misinformed comment I’ve read in a long time.
Shawn Christensen wrote a script that might’ve needed mre work, but TAYLOR LAUTNER didn’t feel that way and neither did John Singleton, for IF THEY HAD, they would not have proceeded!!!!
This film is Taylor’s BIG FORRAY and his only chance at a first impression as far as his ability to carry a film.
It is NOT Taylor Lautner’s fault that he either can’t act or isn’t ready. It IS Taylor’s fault — and the fault of Taylor’s team — that they all THOUGHT he was ready and now looks like a fool.
Taylor Lautner was surrounded by a top notch cast and a great (arguable) director. He was set up for success and failed ONLY because he wasn’t ready. Time for some very intensive acting classes.
I agree with the first commenter. It all starts with the script. Bad acting, and yes, the director and studio went forward with it. But that’s the thing — the studio looked at a terrible script and felt it could make its money anyway. But that dude Shawn put those words on the paper. Has anyone in history ever written such a poor screenplay?
Three percent? I have to look that up, because I don’t believe it. If that’s really true, the writer should take a long look in the mirror.
ds, did you read the screenplay? I’m not saying it’s good or bad, but if you want to place full blame on a writer for a movie’s failing, maybe actually read the fucking thing.
Open Road totally over spent to try and buy the opening of their first release. Huge marketing/media spend. All over every high profile sporting event (tons of NFL) for weeks, and opening week expanding to broader/female audiences with spots in Modern Family premiere and Project Runway. Good job cheating the materials and making it seem like De Niro is actually in the movie for more than his 6-minute cameo. Nice to see that money is no object out of the gate for the folks at AMC/Regal…at least all the box office goes right back into their own pockets. Nice to own a studio i guess. Next up Liam Neeson for Best Actor being chased by a pack of wolves.
Dolphin Tale will lose some money over the weekend due to Morgan Freeman’s recent comments on the tea party. Not noticeable now but it should be apparent on Saturday and Sunday.
I doubt it. If people were to boycott a movie – odds are they wouldn’t have even watched it in the first place.
What was it he said? That guy’s voice is so melodic and soothing, I imagine I’d smile even if he said, “This is a robbery, give me your money.”
Not true at all. First of all Freeman’s comments were not all that controversial. If a person is going to boycott a movie over some comments than odds are they weren’t going to watch. I think you are vastly overestimating the influence of the great Tea Party movement.
Most moviegoers won’t know or care about Freeman’s comments. Especially considering his viewpoint isn’t new.
Thanks for letting me know what Morgan said. I’m treating 5 friends to multiple showings of Dolphin tale over the weekend…now.
sounds good. If the tea party are offended I’ll treat people too
Nah. True hardcore tea partiers would want the dolphin to die. Couldn’t see them putting up with the soft-hearted compassion and “care for the less-fortunate crap”. Plus, I think the dolphin might be gay.
Actually, the dolphin does die. He’s executed and everybody applauds. The TP will love it.
“True hardcore tea partiers would want the dolphin to die.”
Only if the dolphin doesn’t have health insurance.
Flick Says:
“True hardcore tea partiers would want the dolphin to die. Couldn’t see them putting up with the soft-hearted compassion and “care for the less-fortunate crap”. Plus, I think the dolphin might be gay.”
Wow… such a comment when not a clue what or whom your talking about. Just another parrot repeating I assume.
Too bad. Educate yourself. You’ll feel better about it.
As long as you don’t educate yourself in a public school; those are the work of Satan, right?
Keep pretending we’re not out here by the millions, paying attention and talking to each other.
Was this message meant to be scary? Because it really gives of an INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS vibe. “We are among you. Millions of us. Biding our time. Human flesh is tasty.”
If only it were that easy… then I turn on the TV and hear people cheering to let uninsured people in comas to die.
s
This guy is so full of Sh*t. Dolphin Tale increased by 70% on Saturday. So Freeman’s comments increased the totals?
Even though I think that Freeman is wrong, I’m still going to see Dark Knight.
And the kids the movie is targeted toward: “What is the Tea Party?”
Don’t know who gave you these numbers, but they don’t seem correct. Fandango reported yesterday that 38% of all the pre-sales were for Lion King this weekend. No way it isn’t in the mix for number one or number two at the very least. Moneyball was a distant send at 7% but it certainly could have had strong walk up with the strong reviews. Still…
Also, I can’t figure out why $21 million is a good opening for Pitt. Benjamin Button opened with somewhere around $30 million with lots of competition from other films, had a much longer running time and wasn’t about America’s favorite past time. Even Inglorious Basterds opened with close to $30 million. Shouldn’t Moneyball have at least opened with $30-35 million instead of opening on par with say, The Bounty Hunter, whose opening was considered soft?
And Shouldn’t a really well reviewed film with a huge name have done much better than one that was roundly criticized? It’s like Pitt and Clooney get held to completely different standards because the press fawns all over them.
“The Bounty Hunter”?! Oh Jen flack, you are so sad.
I’m a dog walker in Berlin Germany who occasionally writes about media and politics when I can find a paying gig. Not a Jen flack. Sorry to disappoint you. I used her as an example because people are ALWAYS trashing her box office numbers. Let’s just use Pitt’s previous films as an example then. Moneyball is $10 million lower than his last two films. Why is Moneyball not considered a box office disappointment? I look forward to hearing your expert opinion.
Sorry, You are comparing THE BOUNTY HUNTER to Moneyball. You did that, all on your own.
I C U Jen flack.
I see no one wants to answer my question about why Pitt’s Moneyball opens $10 million less than what he usually opens at the box office. I guess we’ll just blame Jen and her flacks for the fact that this movie opened soft. LOL.
It’s the highest ever opening for a baseball movie so being “about America’s favorite past time” doesn’t mean anything. Selling movie tickets is not the same thing as selling baseball tickets.
It’s a medium budget movie that’s not being released in the summer or the Christmas seasons. It’s not that Pitt is held to a different standard, it’s that the end of September doesn’t yield huge results, so ~$20 million is good. If it has legs, that’ll be even better. That’s where good critical reviews can help.
The last Pitt movie opening in September was Burn After Reading, which had $19 million its first weekend. That’s the comparison you should be making, not to summer or holiday movies with bigger budgets.
Other movies released at this time of year in previous years (similar budgets) have better opening weekend numbers than what is predicted for this movie so I don’t buy that explanation. And Sony hired Pitt because they believed he would be a major draw for moviegoers so the numbers should reflect their investment in him. So why is it OK to set the bar of expectation lower for him, an A-list superstar, then they would for any other actor?
I agree with the fawning over Pitt and Clooney. When Wall St was released this weekend last year it opened with $19M and was considered a disappointment (some even calling it a bomb). Pitt opening to $19 or $20 regardless of the time of year or that it’s a baseball movie is a disappointment.
Also Nikki wrote that Pascal stuck with the project instead of taking the write down. What happened to the $10M spent on the first version of the movie? Is this is included in the $50M prod budget? If not then this is really a $60M film.
Any other actor who opens a baseball movie at the end of September at $20 million would be considered doing a good job, period. You don’t have to agree with it, but that is the explanation. Wall Street 2 opened at $19 million and Shia Lebouf got praised for it. The Town opened at $23 million and Ben Affleck got praised for it. So Moneyball opens at $20 million and Brad Pitt will get praised for it. What people will see is a movie like Killer Elite having a bigger budget but nobody with Pitt’s drawing power, and it did less than half of Moneyball’s business. They see that and say “That’s why he gets paid.” If Lautner opened at this number he’d be getting crowned as a new box office superstar. So no, nobody is being held to a different standard, at least not this particular weekend.
Okay, looking at the comment above me maybe I was only remembering one or two sources that praised Wall Street 2′s opening. But my point remains…it’s not Pitt specifically that people lowered expectations for, I don’t think. It’s more that nobody figured a movie about guys studying spreadsheets and telling baseball players to not swing the bat would be a monster hit opening weekend. $20 million was about the expectation and it met that…if it dropped too far below that, then you may have seen a little bit of finger wagging. 20 mil seemed to be the magic number that everybody wanted, though.
I’m pretty sure that on this site at least Clooney gets hit pretty hard for soft openings. If he gets a pass it’s only because his last few movies have had small-ish budgets. Not all movies are judged alike, but it usually depends on the movie rather than the actors.
Mike, I agree the media loves to fawn over the decent acting talents of Brad Pitt & George Clooney ( they receive good reviews for mediocre performances ) . Moneyball is okay, nothing to write home about . Plus, the very slow pacing of this film is very cumbersome , the dialogue and jokes are hideous. I didn’t fully connect any of the movie’s characters. This film doesn’t come close to the brilliance of Bull Durham. I wish Cameron Crowe or Ron Shelton would have written & directed this film . They both would have brought the right amount of clever dialogue, humor, athletic enthusiasm, and soulfulness to this story .
Sorry, but nobody makes the mental jump from a critically lauded awards contender to THE BOUNTY HUNTER, without being invested in Aniston in some way. Who even makes that mental jump otherwise? It’s bizarre.
Here’s what NF wrote about The Bounty Hunter which got lousy reviews yet was able to pull in $20.5 mil opening weekend and $135 mil WW (production budget 10 mil less than Moneyball). So can someone tell me why a mega star like Pitt getting rave reviews is bringing in similar numbers to BH’s opening weekend yet gets a celebratory pass? Talk about obvious DOUBLE STANDARDS. I hope Moneyball is able to make a profit like BH for Pitt’s sake.
“The Bounty Hunter (Relativity/Sony) NEW [3,074 Theaters]
Friday $7.6M, Saturday $8.2M, Weekend $20.5M
This is an embarrassingly soft opening considering the tabloid celebpower (Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler) and the wide release and omnipresent marketing. Maybe audiences are tiring of these imbecilic romantic comedies? Or these flack-phonied romances between stars leading up to the films’ opening? Stop the stupidity, Hollywood.”
Buttons and Basterds were made with big name directors with great resume of films who bring in a built in audience and probably an extra $10 mil in the opening all by themselves. In Moneyball, Pitt is carrying the load with to most of the country a no-name director. That’d be my assumption. And I’m not a Jen flack, though I would love to bend her over some day
Actually I saw a lot of comments by people who said they were going to see it because of Sorkin. Then there was a lesser amount who said they would see it because of Jonah Hill. Then some who were thinking of going for PSHoffman until they found out his screen time was so little.
David Fincher was coming off a flop with Zodiac, and Quentin Tarantino was coming off a flop with Grindhouse. In total domestic sales, Button did 4x Fincher’s previous film, Basterds did 5x Tarantino’s previous one. So no, they did not have any kind of “built-in” audience going into those movies. “$10 million all by themselves” is an interesting statement because both of them barely cleared $10 million in their previous film’s opening.
I don’t care about Brad Pitt or his love life at all, but claiming the directors brought in those audiences doesn’t make sense. Do you also believe Aaron Sorkin added $10 million to Moneyball’s opening?
Well Tarantino definitely had a built in audience. Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill movies. IB did almost the same as Pulp Fiction when you account for inflation. Everyone has poor outings and Grindhouse was one of Tarantino’s so you can’t just look at his last outing.
As for Fincher, I’d say it was the duo of him and Pitt based on their Fight Club and Seven history that had an impact on CCOB. Heck Seven did way better than CCOB when you account for inflation. $327M for Seven in 1994 would be $462M in 2008 dollars while CCOB in 2008 brought in $334M.
So I’d say the directors had an impact in those films. As for Sorkin, I doubt he added much more than 3M, but he does have a lot of fans.
Directors can grow followings, but the fact that they had bombs so recently shows that those followings cannot be taken for granted, which is what the previous post did. There is no such thing as a “built-in” audience, because that same audience can be turned off by the looks of any movie and stay away. Sorkin’s fans couldn’t save Studio 60 or open Charlie Wilson’s War, Pitt’s fans couldn’t get Jesse James or Tree of Life wide release, etc. Like you alluded to, a movie’s success often hinges on finding the right combination. In this case, based on how it was marketed, “Brad Pitt + baseball” was the combination, and maybe a little Sorkin thrown in but I think you may be overestimating his appeal(in my circle only one person knows who Sorkin is, and he despises his style so much he won’t see Moneyball despite the reviews…but as they say, the plural of anecdote is not data). My main point is that the guy trying to downplay Pitt’s prior success is doing it on the faulty premise that people show up to Fincher or Tarantino films no matter what, when recent history had already disproven that.
I don’t get it either. So it’s a baseball movie but they hired a mega superstar like Brad Pitt and the movie is getting rave reviews so why isn’t he and the movie pulling in much better BO numbers than what is being reported? Predicting $19-23 mil (various sources) for the opening weekend and celebrating that is rather embarrassing for a superstar of Pitt’s caliber. What happens next weekend when all the old fogies see the movie this weekend?
One thing I noticed about Moneyball was that Sony was very aggressive with their marketing of this movie, eg. tv ads started early and were non-stop so it must have set them back big bucks. But for Killer Elite I might have seen 2 tv ads at most for that movie. And it has DeNiro, Owen and Stratham, all good actors and one I’ll be seeing next weekend. Aggressive marketing plays a significant role in enticing the public to see a movie. Time will tell if Sony’s investment to make and market Moneyball was worth it since it appears The Lion King has knocked it out of 1st place and The Dolphin is very close.
I haven’t seen one single add for Killer Elite and learned about on Box Office Mojo.
Compared to the budget, $21 mil is solid. Benjamin Button’s budget was at least three times that of Moneyball.
Dolphins and Morgan Freeman bore me
Money ball will rule
Wow. what happened to “Machine Gun Preacher” ? So much pre-release buzz on this movie just goes to show how far Hollywood spin-meisters will go to turn a fecal movie into sweet-smelling roses.
Can anyone say f-l-o-p?
And how does Gerard Butler keep his A-list status amid such a steady and buoyant flotilla of flops (see, “Law Abiding Citizen”, “Gamer”, “The Ugly Truth”, “RocknRolla”, “Beowulf and Grendel”, “PS I love You”, and “Shattered”) The only real bit HIT this guy has had was “300″ and one hit does not a mega A-list star make, right?
I feel bad that “Machine Gun Preacher” was let down by a hackneyed script without nuance because the story of Sam Childers had potential to break out of the “white man saves Africa” mold and become riveting, compelling drama. But that 20 percent (and falling!) rating on Rotten Tomatoes suggests otherwise. Guess the studio bean counters can save plenty of moolah on that Butler For Oscar campaign for this clunker of a movie. Cest la vie.
Machine Gun Preacher opened in only 4 theaters; so, your assessment of “f-l-o-p” is a bit pre-mature isn’t it?
It opened in 4 theaters, goes wide next week.
dude, i get you dont like gerry b…that’s cool, your deal. Next time, just a simple google search will help you before making blanket statments.
Law Abiding – Worldwide: $126,690,726
P.S. – Worldwide: $156,835,339
Ugly Truth – Worldwide: $205,298,907
Last time I checked, that’s some serious coin. It’s a business after all. also, dont know for sure but think MGP isnt going wide this weekend, hard to make a dent in the top 5 that way.
Thats right and 50% goes to the exhibitor with the exhibitor getting more of the box by week three.
Here we go with the loo loos who just discovered that 50% (more like 40 to 45%) goes to the exhibitors. Yes, we know this. Everyone in Hollywood knows this, thanks. Then these loo loos conveniently forget to mention, or has no idea, that 40% of all film revenues actually come from non-theatrical platforms.
What does this mean? It means, in the end, that it all evens out. So stop being a smart ass about things you don’t understand.
I’m not sure why you have this chorus of misanthropes here at Deadline that need to convince themselves, and others, that every film is a flop. Yet, strangely, don’t realize that studios remain profitable.
Time to flip the record bubba, it’s starting to skip.
Well, maybe it’s because there are reputable accounting firms that have pointed out that 75% of these films don’t make money. There was also an article in the Wall Street Journal pointing out that the studios are only profitable because of their television and cable properties.
NOW – you might argue that the film divisions are loss leaders and that they need to overspend on content in that area so they have something to show on TV and cable. But the films themselves are not profitable for a multitude of reasons. Film actors, directors and writers are enormously overpaid considering their actual contributions to the bottom line.
You must be new here. I can tell by your reasonable and logical post. You’re right, of course, but many people were slagging off Avatar as a serious money-loser on deadline, even after it hit the 2-billion mark. Many people who read deadline – the ones who don’t work in the industry and know nothing about how it operates – believe that a movie that clears about $40M worldwide in profit after production costs and P&A (like, say, The Ugly Truth) is a disgraceful flop and those involved should hide their faces in shame. They think that profit isn’t profit unless it’s several hundred million dollars, and they assume all studios, not just the majors, have annual budgets in the billions. Bobby the saint is correct that Gerard Butler has only had one really big hit, but he has had other profitable movies and that’s what gets you work in the industry.
Your comments about tradewinds and palm trees made me miss my old home… Kauai. I hope Moneyball lives up to the critical praise. As for Abduction, part of me hopes it DOA, but most of me knows it’ll do just fine.
Nice thing about MoneyBall is that, other than looking like a great film, they were able to shoot the on-location portions in Oakland for creative reasons for a change rather than taking it somewhere else for economics film incentives have made it impossible to ignore. The CA film incentive did it’s job well with this one. The detailed spending for the shoot in Oakland is pretty cool to look at:
http://filmworksla.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/detailed-expenditures-for-single-film-tv-project-show-benefit-to-local-economy-thanks-to-californias-film-incentive/
Brad Pitt reminded me of his Oceans character. nothing special.
That’s enough Jen.
LMAO!
Open Road blew it.
Whatever upside the movie had, making it look like every other cheesy Statham schlockfest killed that.
Rock me like a Hurricane? Shmucks.
They should have cut the trailer with “Bad to the Bone” for a more cutting edge, up to date feel.
he who lives in glass houses should not throw stones, LG.
Hold on – don’t count out Dolphin Tale just yet. I’ll bet a fish sandwich it surprises everyone and pulls out a number 1. Those kiddies are already showing up…
Wonder if Abduction’s Friday number will prove to be slightly inflated because the hardcore Twi-hards showed up on day 1?
Yeah if it is frontloaded at all it will probably end more like $14-15 million.
Still not bad considering the other Twilight dude’s movie opened to, what, 8 million?
It was also released after the first Twi film, when no one knew ROB PATTINSON and it was a romantic drama about 9/11 (Yeah. Read that again) not an action movie – not a lot of SH*t blowing up, guns and girls. In other words, apples meet oranges. But hey, its cute how you know ‘the other twilight dude’s’ movie grosses, but not his name. Riiiiiiight. Mkay, hon.
Nobody knew Rob? Were you on a different planet? He’d only been in the top 10 IMDB starmeter for most if not all of 2009, if anything he was too well known.
Yes $8 million. But with Nikki’s revised numbers of a $4.5 Friday, Abduction will most like end at $10-12 million. Still better than Remember Me but not great and both far from Shia LaBeouf or Zac Efron’s first openers after their franchises made them stars.
Agree. If the revised Friday total is correct then Abduction only did roughly $1,443 per screen average – not good numbers for an opening day, especiallly for an action flick. In comparison, Remember Me did c $1,610 for its Friday opening, on 1,000 fewer screens. Also don’t think any amount of money poured into publicity would change the fact that reviews and WOM on Abduction is dire, except for die-hard Lautner fans. Remains to be seen if it will improve over the weekend.
You’re seriously comparing a $16 million romantic drama about 9/11 to a $36 million action movie?
You seriously want to compare a romantic drama and a thriller? LOL
so you know how much his first movie made but not his name? OK!!! And your name is Michael and you’re a guy. Yeah, right! Btw, his 2nd movie made 17mil opening weekend and Kristen Stewart’s movies all flopped. But I’m sure you already know this!
According to the latest number, absduction only made around 3,8 mill friday on 3,118 screen which makes it an average 1,219 per screen. RM is way much superior per screen. Let’s see Monday numbers who makes no 4, abduction or killer elite.
Whatever the outcome, its a big failure because Taylor pr team has been chanting and campaigning the key word : the next big thing , the next action star for the past year brainwashing the public , the press and stupid hollywood exec.
Heard they paid the scripwriter 1 million for this garbage. The objective was always money, poor kid, he will be in rehab soon. There goes the sportcar and mansion.
I wonder if all the studio suits that OK’d the huge Taylor Lautner contracts are going to see ABDUCTION this weekend and walk out pale, clammy and muttering “Ohmygod-Ohmygod-Ohmygod.”
I have not seen the film and I’m not a Taylor hater, but based on what I DID see from the trailers, his performance is DOA to the point of embarrassment.
Taylor is a cute guy… but he’s soft in a way that won’t work for him much longer as he grows into manhood. He’ll be relegated to tv sitcom if he’s lucky. I don’t hate him I just think that I, a woman of 120 lbs., could beat his punk ass up — he might be bigger but he’s got no BAD in him. He’s limp.
Sorry, just had to get that out.
Killer Elite sucked big time. DeNiro phoning in a half assed performance. I guess if they paid me $6mil to be in crap, I’d do it too — I ain’t mad at him.
Dolphin Tale looks good for kids. And the use the actual dolphin. That’s impressive. What person could play themselves in the Hollywood version?
Machine Gun Preacher… yikes that looks bad. And GB’s accent is laughable.
I’ll see Moneyball because of the reviews and BP, but honestly, the trailers don’t do anything for me.
What studios have really “okay’d” any of his projects though? His stuff gets announced by his team, but nothing’s even in pre-production yet.
I’m noticing that about him! His people love to announce when he “passes” on a project (so damn tacky) and when he supposedly has one signed, but this is the only thing he’s gotten into production, and he has nothing filming now. What a sham.
Machine Gun Preacher will flop. why Hutensky was fired, it was his push to acquire it.
Andrew
i love dolphin tale!!! next stop for me is moneyball. abduction is definitely heavily front loaded but it will lose its steam very soon because of very poor word of mouth.
I dont think anyone doubted that Taylors fan base of girls 13 to 18 would allow for a good opening weekend and if anything the poor reviews only rallied the troops so to say. The problem is that the movie is just bad I am sorry to say. The acting, directing all of it is just bad. While the fan base will account for a good opening weekend it probably wont be able to sustain good box office results overall as it will not pull in many people outside this fan base. And if Taylor wants to make movies that appeal to someone other than his current young fan base, he will need to improve his acting. He is a really sweet young man but you have to admit his acting is certainly not anywhere on par with those he has been compared to. I wish him well, but in my opinion this movie will not bode well for him even if the teens keep the box office results in the acceptable or good range overall.
Moneyball was crap!
“crap!??? are you insane? i just saw a 4:20 show at the grove (here on the west coast) and i thought it was great – got an ovation at the end. and this was a jaded so cal audience for sure. i had high expectations given the NYT review. the movie exceeded them!!
you watch the cash and awards this movie gets rained on it.
hiki, you are a douche.
No it wasn’t Jen. Go sit on the couch and smoke a doob.You’re boring us.
I loved the book, so am really looking forward to seeing Moneyball. Like the interesting combination of Brad and Jonah, great chemistry there.
Pitt might get nominated, but after that Parade magazine interview he can forget about going home with an Oscar.
What planet do you live on. Do you really thing the entire voting OSCAR community give a shit about what Brad Pitt says about his EX wife. Really. Jennifer Aniston is not America’s sweetheart, and since she has never carried a movie on her own.. I doubt her fanbase will affect the BO or Oscar changes for Brad.
Moneyball was a good film.. for adults and kids to me. If you have or now any guy that is interested in professional sports this is the game to see. It bring the reality of the athlete to the forefront.
Shows how the majority of players regardless of the sport don’t get he “star” status. They struggle, waiting for that call that will make them, or the call that never comes.
Brad was really great, and I love the chemistry between he and Jonah. And yes.. this is a Brad Pitt film. You walk the film with him. I enjoyed it so much.. and my heart was pounding. I don’t do sports movies that much.. But this one is a must see. No guns or stupid 3D crap. just a good.. very good film.
Thank You. Some of the nonsense folks post on here borders on ridiculous. Brad Pitt is not going to win an Oscar because of an interview about his ex-wife? Give me a break
That’s enough Jolie.
Pitt can buy all the PR praise he wants, the public will decide. Batter us with trailers, ex-wife bashing and whatever. Pitt is a dull bore these days. So is baseball. Blech!
Correction: Baseball isn’t a bore– a story about a guy who used someone else’s select statistical theories to build a team just good enough to lose in the playoffs is.
Jen, now now…he called you a dull bore first, as did John Mayer and Vince Vaughn…calling him one after the fact, is just kinda…lame. But then again, you are.
The public doesn’t decide Oscar voting. Also, Roman Polanski won an Oscar not too long ago, so obviously having bad publicity isn’t that much of a hurdle to the Academy if they want to give someone an award.
Ditto. Thank you!
Who keeps letting the kids in? Nikki, a doorman please.
The only thing that bothers me about Moneyball is that some casual baseball fans may leave the theater thinking sabermetrics/soneyball actually works on it’s own. Since the mid 2000′s, Beane is often considered a bust, and the A’s have been a failure under that system since the events of this film.
The A’s are considered a bust because teams with money, like the Boston Red Sox, have adopted the principles of Sabermetrics themselves. That’s how Theo Epstein built the BoSox team that won the World Series 7 years ago and the’re still using the same statistical analysis to this day – as do other teams. The difference is that while Beane and the A’s are still working with a small budget the BoSox are working with a bigger budget which means they can go after the high-priced talent whose statistics fit their needs. In the end Beane lost twice because he proved that Sabermetrics works – but the A’s are still a small-market team who can’t afford to keep the players they got for cheap once their stats make them a hot commodity in free agency. There’s a great line n the move where Beane says that the Yankees treat the A’s like they’re the Yankee’s farm team – they grown the talent and then then Yankees come around waving their checkbook and the good players follow the money.
Are you really this dumb? The Moneyball theories were a massive success – every team in baseball uses them now. Thanks for bravely defending the status quo, but your status quo is ten years out of date.
will it really be because of the parade article? his performance really wasn’t worth the hype.
Mike, put down the crack pipe. Hollywood and the Oscar voters could give a rats a*ss what Brad Pitt said about his ex wife. Moneyball was a damn good film and Pitt’s performance was spot on.
So tell us something specific about the movie? Because otherwise, I agree it’s paid advertising on the blog site! Pitt’s acting is always an under-performance. Talent is borderline. So what is with these ‘damn good film’ or ‘performance spot on’ sound bites?
Why don’t you read the 93% stellar reviews on metacritic dumb asss? Why would they have to deet specifics here, when all you have to do is just google or tweet deck, people are raving. Sorry you can’t handle the truth. You’re probably some bitter cat lady venting. Pitt has baggage most men don’t, in that these lame b*tches he leaves behind lose their minds for the next decade in his wake. I swear it’s 2005 in perpetuity with some of you angry slags. Dammn.
Because of Jennifer Aniston? Please.. Fortunately for all of us in the entertainment industry, bitter jealous walmart tabloid addicted cows don’t get a vote, and neither do smarmy PR flacks, both of which are responsible for Aniston’s continued hack career. If people had such sympathy and pathos over Aniston’s long ago dead union with Pitt, she would have been honored with a pity based nod towards her crappy movies at some point in the last 15 years herself. God knows she whined and tried to demonize pitt long enough.. Instead, HE is the one racking up Oscars nods. Do the math. As for Pitt’s Parade interview, it was terrific, I loved it…and I don’t care that he told the world what we already know, that he was bored and unfulfilled in his life with her hairness. It was one sentence in relation to a question that referenced his charity work, and how he evolved, and he didn’t even mention that lame’s name. I saw Moneyball at TIFF and am seeing it twice this weekend.
Brad’s making A-list movies; he’s be billed above the line for years.
Will Jen be in the same position in five years?
Who knows, but most likely she’ll have skin the color of yams from too much sun, be on her third nose job, and trying desperately to keep the love triangle bullshit alive. God forbid she ever choose to utter “no comment” when asked.
Oh and Huvane will be living in her basement. What am I saying? He already does.
The public doesn’t vote on Oscars. However, in response to those who think the whole Parade thing was about his ex-wife, I looked at some of those comments on Parade and there were just as many complaining about his comment on taxes. Also, a number of comments on his general arrogance and even comments about MIR and Katrina. The media latched on to the ex-wife thing but there were plenty of other things that ticked people off.
Even if “Abduction” is light this wknd, it will make a killing worldwide.
Just sayin’…
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/abduction_2011/
Unfortunately I have to agree with Stan. Absuction will make a profit by the end of its run. Singleton mentioned a sequel. It means they will invest more money in this crap instead of making a good action movie with someone who can act.
Where is Lion King?
I think Dolphin Tale could definitely exceed expectations and hit $20mil.
I think it is nice and all to say Abduction did well and good for them for making that much on a piece of garbage. But with the hype you, his Dad, and others have created about Taylor Lautner I would’ve expected $20mil+. Shia LaBeouf would’ve put it over $20mil — that to me is opening in a film like this. Worse, Abduction seems to prove Taylor can’t act. So I don’t know if I’d count Abduction as a huge success in the big picture.
to be honest none of these movies are good enough to see.moneyball was boring,abduction is completely destroyed but making money because of crap twitards,now there is one more reason to hate twitards because they supported a shit movie with no substance,even a good movie like remember me which i say was so sad opened at 4 place and this shit movie opened at 2.there is no justice in the world.
Remember me was a shit movie too. It got a poor rating on RT.
Sammit was wrong in marketing of this. But film itself was great.
Remember me is a great movie and pattinson is a superb action, i cannot say the same about abduction
Abduction will open in 4th as well…if they are very very lucky. Terrible.
I can’t take someone who thinks Remember me was a good movie seriously.
I think) And its still shown by cable studios and TV channels in the different countries. Its the best indicator – orders of public.
are you sane enough to say that?rm was so sad.it was marketed wrong,many guys liked that movie.it is a worth watch but i guess tay fans are not mature enough to like any movies in which a person is not shirtless.
Keep your powder dry nana. Abduction is probably as front-loaded as Charlie St. Cloud was. That film did $5.6 friday, $3.8 saturday, and $2.9 sunday for only a 2.2 multiplier. That would mean only $10 million for Abduction, possibly putting it in last place of the new releases. Stay calm, and stay tuned.
Moneyball is worth the admission. Still wish they gave Chervin better screen credit. He’s the true heart behind that script getting made and Brad signing on.
This is accurate. I was there. Too bad for Stan. But it is his vision of the movie from the book. He should be proud.
So you work for Sony? You guys working overtime to get this movie’s budget back? The movie sucked! Dullsville. If I was young, maybe Jonah would have been a draw.
And Sony Thanks you for your patronize. Ka-Ching!
Man there are a lot of Sony trolls on this site.
Highest baseball opening as long as you ignore the most important part, WITHOUT COUNTING INFLATION OR HIGHER TICKET PRICES:)
Basically only old people went to see this.
Lowest opening for a mainstream Pitt film in years. Weird when you consider they plastered the entire internet with his face for the past three weeks. I can’t remember the last time I was on a site that didn’t feature a Moneyball ad.
Oh and Seriously, I believe the word you were looking for is patronage. Not so bright over there at Sony. LOL.
Dolphin Tale looks like one of those silly right wing movies designed to get the Jesus freaks to part with their 12 bucks or whatever it costs in Jesusland to see a movie. No thanks.
No political agenda, no sex, no foul language, and no mention of Jesus (which I wouldn’t mind even if there were). Just a great inspirational story of a dolphin that did what no one said could be done. She is still an inspiration to many disabled children and vets. I saw the 3d version. It really is a good movie!
Not that it matters to you and I haven’t seen it but Dolphin Tale scored 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
As opposed to the stupid art house ish that is evidently more worthy of $12 in Brian G’s uninformed opinion
I’m pretty sure a movie ticket in Jesusland costs about the same as yours.
And way to bash a dolphin that actually inspires the disabled. Please remind me to hide my baby seals before you find your club.
Mike, LOL! Get real. No one cares about that crap. Pitt’s always been well liked and he still is.
I’ve been excited about Moneyball since I read it was being made into a film. I read the Zaillian script online and thought it was wonderful. I was worried when they seemed to be rewriting it but love the story, love Billy Beane and love baseball movies. The universal critical praise is unexpected. Nice but unexpected.
abduction seems like a movie that will drop fast. come out swinging, but not have the legs to last.