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Syfy’s ‘Warehouse 13′ To End Run With … 
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UPDATE: Friday PM/Saturday AM Box Office: ‘The Hobbit’ #1, ‘Django’ Neck & Neck With ‘Les Misérables’ For #2
FRIDAY 12 PM, 9TH UPDATE: This film trio should stay on top through the rest of the holidays. MGM/Warner Bros’ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey made $10.1M Thursday to bring it back to #1 and its domestic cume to $189.7M. Coming off of a strong Boxing Day internationally, Thursday continued to deliver huge numbers generating an estimated $26M from 62 territories, an increase of 34% over last week. Pic continues to rank #1 in key markets and across the world, and the overseas cume to date now stands at $373M. Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth epic is approaching $563M worldwide total. Dropping from #1 to #2 is Working Title/Universal’s Les Misérables which grossed $9.1M Thursday for $39.4M domestic in its first three days of release. Musical grossed $3.8M internationally on Thursday to raise its overseas total to $32.2M. The worldwide total currently stands at $71.6M. Internationally, Les Miz is playing in Australia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Spain. Still in the #3 slot, Quentin Tarantino’s controversial R-rated Django Unchained for The Weinstein Company added $8.3M Thursday for $33.3M domestic in just 3 days. Here’s the Top Ten films based on Thursday estimates:
1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (MGM/WB) Week 2 [Runs 4,100]
Tuesday $11.3M, Wednesday $11.3M, Thursday $10.1M (-11%), Cume $189.7M
2. Les Misérables (Working Title/Universal) NEW [Runs 2,808]
Tuesday $18.1M, Wednesday $12.2M, Thursday $9.1M (-24%), Cume $39.4M
3. Django Unchained (Sony/Weinstein) NEW [Runs 3,010]
Tuesday $15.0M, Wednesday $10.0M, Thursday $8.3M (-17%), Cume $33.3M
4. Parental Guidance (Walden/Fox) NEW [Runs 3,358]
Tuesday $6.4M, Wednesday $4.2M, Thursday $4.1M (-4%), Cume $14.7M
5. Jack Reacher (Skydance/Paramount) Week 1 [Runs 3,352]
Tuesday $5.3M, Wednesday $3.8M, Thursday $3.5M (-7%), Cume $30.7M
6. This Is 40 (Universal) Week 1 [Runs 2,913]
Tuesday $4.4M, Wednesday $3.3M, Thursday $3.1M (-5%), Cume $23.9M
7. Lincoln (DreamWorks/Fox/Disney) Week 7 [Runs 1,966]
Tuesday $2.3M, Wednesday $2.1M, Thursday $2.1M (-1%), Cume $124.5M
8. Monsters Inc 3D (Pixar/Disney) Week 1 [Runs 2,618]
Tuesday $1.4M, Wednesday $1.6M, Thursday $1.9M (+16%), Cume $12.1M
9. The Guilt Trip (Skydance/Paramount) Week 1 [Runs 2,431]
Tuesday $2.6M, Wednesday $1.6M, Thursday $1.6M (+2%), Cume $14.3M
10. Rise Of The Guardians (DWA/Par) Week 5 [Runs 3,031]
Tuesday $1.2M, Wednesday $1.4M, Thursday $1.6M (+11%), Cume $85.4M
THURSDAY 9:45 AM, 6TH UPDATE: Working Title/Universal’s #1 Les Misérables has grossed $28.3M internationally. Combined with the North American 2-day total of $30.3M, the worldwide cume now is $58.6M. The film is playing in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Spain so there are many overseas territories still to go. Australia opened Wednesday with $1.9M and set the record as the biggest opening day ever for a musical (45% bigger than the opening day of Mamma Mia!). It was also the biggest opening day for a Russell Crowe film and the biggest opening day for a Working Title production. As for #2, MGM/Warner Bros’ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey now has amassed a gargantuane $344M international and $179.7M domestic for a global cume of $523.7M. In the #3 slot, Quentin Tarantino’s controversial Django Unchained for The Weinstein Company has made $25M domestic in just two days. Sony is releasing it abroad. And rounding out the Top 5, Billy Crystal and Bette Midler in the Walden/Fox family fare Parental Guidance continue to beat Tom Cruise in the Paramount/Skydance actioner Jack Reacher. Go figure.
WEDNESDAY 8:30 PM, 5TH UPDATE: It may have been a quiet Christmas Day in the malls - but it’s busy, busy, busy in the multiplexes around the U.S. and Canada. This turned into a supersized Christmas Day for domestic filmgoing. That’s a great year-end gift for Hollywood after keeping the budgets of these debut movies minimal. Audiences repaid the favor by giving all three new wide releases movies no less than ‘A-’ scores to help their word of mouth. Leading the pack is Working Title/Universal’s Les Misérables debuting #1 in 2,808 theaters and receiving a coveted ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences. The musical lived up to both Fandango’s and MovieTickets’ reports of huge advance online sales. (It was the #1 advance ticket-seller among all Christmas 
Day releases, surpassing previous record-holder Sherlock Holmes in 2009.) The studio was hoping Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the world-reknown musical would open to $10+M. Well, my insiders said Friday’s grosses looked like a big $15M to $20M — then settling on $18M, and they were right – for the PG13 film that runs 2 hours and 37 minutes and stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Russell Crowe. (Speaking of the latter, may I never again have to hear Crowe sing like a cat being strangled. I hope he lip-syncs in that rock band of his…) Of course, Christmas Day tends to have higher mix of presales, especially for the openers, so these numbers could change a lot by Wednesday and Thursday. But as one studio exec analyzed, “Christmas Day has very unique play patterns by genre, region of the country, ethnicity, and target demo. You won’t really know where films are headed until Friday. But that’s a fantastic number for Les Miz.”It was the 2nd highest Christmas Day opening in history behind 2009′s Sherlock Holmes which opened on a Friday to $24.6M. Les Miz now holds the record for the biggest non-weekend Christmas Day opening in history, besting 2008′s Marley & Me which opened on a Thursday to $14.4M. It is also the highest ever opening day for a musical.
Comfortably in #2 is Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained from The Weinstein Company/Sony Pictures
which is clearly profiting from the shock value of all its N-word awareness and violence controversy. Not only did it overperform but it is gaining as the night goes on from the $14M first thought. Doing $15M Friday is gigantic for the R-rated movie playing in 3,010 theaters and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx. Pic received an ‘A-’ CinemaScore and supposedly set a new record for an R-rated Christmas Day opening.
Moving down to #3 is MGM/New Line/Warner Bros’ global blockbuster The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Peter Jackson settles into Week 2 and 4,100 theaters with $11.3M Friday.
And Chernin Entertainment produced Walden/Fox’s formulaic family comedy Parental Guidance opening in 3,358 theaters and starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler is grossing as much as $5.4M Friday. It, too, received an ‘A-’ CinemaScore.
Meanwhile, The Weinstein Company’s Silver Linings Playbook made $1.1M (cume $21.3M) after approximately doubling its theater count to 745 plays entering 7 weeks in release. And Paramount’s Circle Du Soleil: Worlds Away made $1M for $3.5M. And DreamWorks Animation’s Rise Of The Guardians benefitted from the paucity of kiddie toons with $1.2M and $82.3M. And MGM/Sony Pictures’ James Bond #23 Skyfall nears $1B worldwide. And Fox’s Life Of Pi which is doing gangbusters overseas. And Sony Pictures’ Zero Dark Thirty which platformed to $112K on 5 screens for $868K in Week 1. Look for me to play catch up on all the box office (and go from nice to nasty) now that I’m on the mend.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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It was a mistake not giving additional venues for the first week of Les Mis. This film should be playing in over 3k theaters! The film is practically sold out in New York.
well NY is the mecca for musicals so hardly surprising! I doubt every American city has the same mad rush.
Did you not read the headline? Do you believe the film sold $18m in tickets Christmas day due to showings in NYC & LA? Clearly, everybody wants to see this movie….
I saw this movie in Virginia and the theatre was absolutely packed for it. You are right….it’s clearly getting interest from other cities too. And die hard Les Miz fans who enjoy it will also likely give it repeat business. This movie is going to cross the 100M mark in no time.
Everybody???? No need for hyperbole
18m yes, but it has dropped over 50% in 2 days. A 2 day drop like that is appalling.
I live in Southern Texas & believe me, it was packed & sold out! Even I was surprised!
Saw it in West Texas..theater packed and applause at the end. Want to see this one again.
The AMC in Dallas oversold the theater on Christmas. I couldn’t even get in the theater with a ticket. Finally saw Les Mis last night, packed house again. Not a dry eye in the house when it was done.
A huge hunk of the Broadway audience is tourists from the heartland. That’s exactly who’s going to flock to this film.
Exactly. And this time they won’t have to spend $100 bucks for a ticket.
Doubt as you may, but we tried to get last minute tickets and ALL of the 10+ multiplexes within a 25 mile radius of us in our flyover state were sold out from matinees through the latest shows. I think the demand on this one was pretty universal.
I don’t know about not doing well outside NY. IT was a full house almost in our rural Alabama theater matinee! When movie ended, everyone applauded! It was beautiful…. and all the singing was wonderful (unlike article eludes, Crowe did well)
Actually,here in Florida the theater was packed…for the matinee. This needs to be in more theaters….terrific movie.
I live in little old Alamogordo, NM and could not get in to see the movie because it was sold out. I am stunned! The folks in Podunk, NM love this movie!
You’re forgetting the stage production has been touring the U.S. in some form pretty much non-stop since the late 80′s. So millions easily saw it in large/medium cities that they were able to travel to over all that time. Add the frequently rerun 10th & 25th anniversary PBS specials, dvd sales of both, high school performances, and countless of us warbling along to the music as it pops up in our iPods and you have a extremely large, rock-solid fan base that isn’t tied to one region.
We would rather have Les Mis and you can keep Django in Hollywood in a can.
Las Vegas………PACKED HOUSE..this is a great film
I live in flyover country as well, in a small town with one major movie theater. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house. And when the film was over, the audience actaully broke into applause. It has been years, decades actually, since I remember that happening for any film.
“I live in flyover country”
I’m getting pretty sick of this phrase.
Let’s start calling NY and LA “Discharge Cities” instead.
Great idea!
Les mez is a stupidly dark MISERABLE story with NO point that no amount of ACTING could ever make enjoyable for me! Just my opinion!!
I am with this guy. Couldn’t wait for it to end.
3 hours I will never get back.
no point, obviously you hated it so much you did not even really watch it.
Agreed, throw Tarantino and his gratuitous violent-racist-thug-bloody-plotless film out of all the theaters and install Les Mes, or frankly anything other than another Quentin butchery flick.
I agree! Don’t waste money seeing the ‘racist’ so-called movie, D-Jango! The black actor (whatever his name is – D-Jango) is nothing but a radical, violent acting ignoramus who thinks using the ‘N’ word is cool to ‘his’ people. Don’t invest your money in this one.
I know one’s R-rated, but I kind of think they expected Django to open higher. Especially since musicals tend to have a spotty success rate nowadays.
@D.Z. – I think 10-13 M today for “Django” is a fine opening. I like others expected “Les” to open bigger today because it plays much better to the Christmas Theme than “Django” does. I think as the week progresses you’ll see “Django” gain ground on “Les”, especially this weekend. I think both films will make plenty of money though, that’s obvious.
orlando, most people thought Les Miz would open around $10 million. The $18 million has exceeded industry expectations.
@sp – You’re right, i was hearing 10 mil for “Les” and about 7-8 mil for “Django”. Both films are perforimg well ahead of forcasts which bodes well for both films. With each report “Django’s” numbers seem to be going higher. I might be wrong but i think “Les” will make more money Tues-Thur and “Django” will take in more over the weekend, either way i think it’s going to be a tough battle for the top spot between those two films.
I’d imagine they’re thrilled, actually. The 6th highest Christmas day opening ever? For a movie with such controversial material?
A revenge fantasy against Nazis is one thing; one against American slaveowners is quite another, much riskier. Yet DU got the same opening day as IB. Good for Tarantino.
R-rated films rarely earn THAT much money-Inglorious Basterds reached 120m and Django is tracking behind that.
I saw Les Miz last night and my reactions ranged from heartbreaking performances (Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Anne Hathaway) to “really?! (Sasha Baron Cohen) to WTF (Russell Crowe recent graduate of the Pierce Brosnan school of singing, and the horrible shot choices). Diehard Les Miz fans will be forgiving to an extent, but this movies legs will be chopped off at the knees because of Hooper’s casting choices and the just downright odd style this film is shot.
Oh dear, not enough Americans in it?
No, lack of style and cinematography. Jackman seemed to be straining quite a bit with Bring Him Home. Russell Crowe sounded like a bull moose crooning. Sasha and Helena seemed to do their parts my the numbers. They lacked an exuberance and a bawdiness. It just came off as weird schtick.
I could care less what country the actors are from. Just give me actors who can actually sing.
Bring Him Home wasn’t originally supposed to be sung that high – Colm Wilkinson did that, and most actors in that role have followed suit. It’s a difficult song to sing, I can forgive Jackmnan for straining with that song as he sang mostly everything else well and did a great overall job. In a year with no Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln, he would probably be a lock for Oscar. Amanda Seyfried struggled with the high notes as well, and I can’t seem to see past her ditzy real life personality, so I was not impressed with her casting. Samantha sang circles around everyone else in the movie. As for Crowe, I think he does great singing with his rock band, his voice isn’t the strongest but to sing pop and rock music you don’t need a powerhouse voice – just ask Taylor Swift. I thought Crowe was fine in most of the movie, but it was obvious he was struggling during the bravura moments of his two solo’s. However, I still enjoyed him in the role. I was not impressed with Helena Bonham Carter. The singing by everyone wasn’t perfect, but that is part of the risk of having actors sing live – it’s not going to be perfect. And what a treat to see Colm Wilkinson get such an important role. I plan on seeing this film again in theatres, rooting for it on Oscar night, and I will be buying a copy of it in DVD when it comes out.
elaine d, Samantha Barks has a nice voice, acting-wise she brought nothing to the table. She was a complete bore.
If I hear one more reference to live singing as an excuse for bad singing, I’m gonna choke someone. Every night on stage was live and it was never horrid like these butchers did. The live singing was a cover for the histrionic acting which excused incompetent voices from hitting their notes. Song after song was sung off key and beyond reach. The casting was a disaster.
well he had high praise for 2 Brits so I dont think he has an issue with nationality. I doubt anybody expects a french titled film to be an all american affair!
Obviously you have no idea whatsoever what a brilliant job Mr. Tom
Almost completely agree with you, but I think Anne Hathaway was being smart as she chose to emphasize on the emotional expressing aspect when singing “I Dream A Dream” knowing that she doesn’t have the true musical singers’ skills. Personally I am not fond of Samantha Barks’s singing; Eddie Redmayne is easily standout among those major actors who can’t sing.
That’s not correct. Anne Hathaway has the chops. She has sung the lead in Carnival in 2002 and that is no easy part. In fact, it’s a b***h of a role. She got good reviews, especially in the New York Times.
Hathaway has a major Broadway voice. I saw her in Carnival and she could be the lead in any musical in New York or London. Her voice goes past high C. It’s just gorgeous and filled the theatre. She’s incredible in Les Mis. It’s the most honest and beautiful 15 minutes of film this entire year. I hope she wins the Oscar for Supporting Actress.
Anne Hathaway was the strongest link, Russell Crowe the weakest. I really hated the cinematography as well. But I liked the Colm Wilkinson cameo! Overall I thought it was ok, but I won’t see it again.
Disagree about Crowe. Bloke was out of his element and beyond his range, but at least he was in there fearlessly kickin’. Kind of endearing actually…
Roclock, I agree about Crowe. I think that critics tend to overanalzye the why’s and how’s of this movie. The script lent itself to the Christmas spirit …. and the singing by all was fine. PS. Always love the Brits acting!
Thanks, Jim, Elaine D., sumpter, Ace, Marty, Suzanne, abotherwgamember, & Btitt.
This was the best back-and-forth posting I’ve seen in a long time. Going 8 posts or nore in a sub-thread without hitting spam or trolls is a nice reminder that the internet isn’t a complete waste of time (yet). Reading these comments seemed almost like the sort of casual conversation that might happen among strangers waiting for the parking garage elevator after the movie gets. Very nice!
I was avoiding Le Mis because I have a bad feeling about the CGI cityscapes. But now I’m thinking that I’ll go to the movie after all. Probably as a matinee, though…
Why all the hype for the snore fest Silver Linings Playbook? It’s a total bust.
It’s only playing in 700 theaters so I’d say its not.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK has shown tremendous leg. After 7 weeks in less than 400 theaters it’s already earned $30 million worldwide. In addition it has months to go and with awards hype and international markets left to open, it should easily top $100 million or more before all is said and done. The big story is DJANGO UNCHAINED $13 million on Christmas day? It’s hardly a Christmas-y type movie. By comparison Girl With The Dragon Tattoo opened much much lower on the same weekend last year. All around good news for Harvey Weinstein and his Oscar bait.
Harvey…I thought Nikki told you no more self-posting!
W, after these so-called seven weeks, Silver Linings Playbook should be doing better business- domestic or worldwide box-office. Bradley with the Hangover movies & Limitless and Jennifer Lawrence with The Hunger Games should be having bigger box-office with SLP. Oh, I forgot about Robert DeNiro.
I think its doing fine for the kind of film it is but they shouldn’t have waited so long to expand it. I think its probably lost some steam because of it.
Yeah in say 2000 theaters instead of the 371 it’s languished in. Killing Them Softly and The Master are playing wide and have not made as much as SLP. Slow and steady could win the race.
Um. You ARE aware that “hype” over a movie is sometimes actually because of its QUALITY – not its box office…right? That “hype” is sometimes because…a movie is, you know – GOOD? No, probably not.
Snore fest? Pshaw. It’s solid film with some really great performances. I saw it today with my 95-year-old grandmother and my 69-year-old dad. Neither fell asleep, and that’s saying something.
Casa De Plata, Silver Linings Playbook was not a snorefest, but it was a average film at best. It doesn’t deserve the Oscar buzz, and Jennifer Lawrence’s flat performance hurts the film. Plus, she has no credible chemistry with Bradley Cooper. Bradley & Jennifer were a boring film couple-especially dealing with all the mental issues and wildness. Unfortunately, they both finished filming Serena, even though they have no heat together.
FLAT? My goodness, if that was flat, than I love flat. She gave the best performance of the year, in the best movie of the year. I don’t work in the industry at all, but I’ve seen it twice and am going again this weekend. I was so captivated by SLP, and hope it wins big on Oscar day! If I could have my vote, it would.
Jennifer Lawrence gave the best performance of the year in SLP? God help the acting community. She was mediocre; critics just want a new starlet to fawn over, and her not sucking apparently is cause enough to overpraise a so-so result.
@jsy-You definitely saw a different movie then I did. I loved the film and Jennifer’s performance was tremendous. And for what’s it’s worth that’s the general consensus on imdb and Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and twitter from what I’ve read. Of course maybe we are all wrong and you are right. Probably not, but whatever works.
Platform strategies are risky. Until yesterday the film has not been in more than 400 theaters. It seems to be building good word of mouth, but platform it too long and people may forget about it. I’d say that for a relatively low budget film it’s doing fine. At this point Oscar nominations are in the cards, so it will be a strong selling point as it starts expanding.
Several critics bodies and awards panels disagree with you. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence had great chemistry. Lawrence is one of the main reasons Cooper is finally being noticed for his acting. The whole ensemble is awesome. I saw it last night with my parents and grandparents and all 3 generations were entertained. I really hope it picks up when it goes wide. Les Miserables was sold out in both locations near my home.
Adrian, many critics praised Julia Roberts’ very overrated performance in Erin Brockervich. Her turn was basically Pretty Woman working at a lawyer’s office. She won the Oscar over the more deserving Ellen Burstyn ( Requiem For A Dream). Trust me, many journalists, critics, bloggers have their own agendas. I take it all with a grain of salt. Jennifer Lawrence’s performance was lightweight, when it should have been ferocious and memorable- dramatically and comedically.
Most overrated film of 2012 by a landslide. Devoid of laughs and Jennifer Lawrence’s emo-angry act is nothing of note.
@deepydusty-Well at least you don’t have an agenda. LOL!. Do people actually think that by leaving a crude negative comment it will have the slightest impact? Yes jsy and deepydusty, you’ve changed my view. I thought the film was great but now I know better. To hell with what I think and the general opinion of moviegoers be damned. Thank you. Thank you. Ha.
astro, I call it like I see it.
no, Les Miz is the most overrated film of 2012. What absolute dreck.
-RnsW
I’m surprised The Hobbit is being heralded as a blockbuster. It will likely settle at $280m domestic. That would be lower than any of the three LOTR movies, and that’s before taking 10 years of inflation and 3D/HFR surcharges into consideration. For a $250m tentpole with a massive built-in audience and unprecedented marketing…The Hobbit is a bit of a failure.
Do we know the budget?
It’s definitely a blockbuster by any definition. It might not be as massive as expected, but add in foreign and you’re still looking at a worldwide total of at least $700 million. Django is a U.S. property, even with DiCaprio, and Les Miz is primarily a North America and Europe flick. So the competition for The Hobbit remains low worldwide through January. It might even get up to $750 or $800 million total. Yes, that’s less than any LOTR trilogy film, but that’s a really high revenue standard. Also, remember that the $250 million production costs are for this film and most of the next two. You’re looking at maybe $500 million all in for costs (at the high end) against about $2 billion revenue (at the low end). The downmarket and merchandising revenue will also be substantial.
People like you need to go do an internship in the accounting division of a one of the major studios, so you get a glimpse of what a film actually makes (i.e., studio grosses) compared to what the media reports (studio/Hollywood propaganda).
Given what is known about “Hollywood accounting” that wouldn’t be a bad idea for any future accountant.
> “Les Miz is primarily a North America and Europe flick?”
What? “Les Mis” (the stage show) is huge in Asia.
Deadline.com: ‘Les Misérables’ Starts International Run By Beating ‘The Hobbit’ In Japan & Korea
http://tinyurl.com/cx74sc4
Django is not US property since Tarantino’s movies make more money in the rest of the world…
Nah far from a failure. It’s still making great money overseas, even the previous LOTR films made much more overseas than domestically. It will be fine.
Hell Skyfall is gonna hit a billion without even hitting $300m domestically.
Except for one thing……. they shot the entire Hobbit trilogy for the 250M, so if each did your projected 280M, that’d be 840M worldwide. I believe that’s called profit.
But thanks for playing.
I can’t help but gush…
Les Miz is one of my top three movies of all time and Ann Hathaway’s performance was the best I’ve EVER seen at the movies. It truly contributed to a wonderful Christmas.
Boy, Anne Hathaway’s publicist is working even on Christmas Day. How special.
Mike’s post is one of the top 3 phoney sounding posts of all time.
Especially the use of “Ann” instead of “Anne.” That’s like Publicist 101 stuff. How humiliating.
No, kidding. I felt bludgeoned by all the performances. There were all. Acting. Very. Intensely. Which is fine here and there, but not for the whole movie (!). And all the close-ups and the use of the fish-eye lens. Toby may want to be Ken Russell, but he’s not.
And really? “Gush”? Um…nobody really uses that word, and to say anything Hathaway does on film is “the best” ever at movies just shows what a phony he is, since Hathaway is not that good of an actress.
She should just fire her publicist. Imagine how much publicity she could get all of the time if she just continued to go commando.
The Anne Hathaway bullies are coming out in force to trash her. They are always predictable. To be fair, Hathaway has received great reviews and Oscar buzz because of her great performance. And, this was before her unfortunate wardrobe malfunction.
I wasn’t ‘bullying’ her. I think she’s fine on the eyes and can act pretty well (she’s no Natalie Portman, though). I was just noting that she got a lot of free publicity from her little reveal.
It’s a 72% on Rotten. That means 28% of the critics say it’s a C or worse.
Silver Linings Playbook is 90%. Zero Dark Thirty is in the 90′s. Les Mis isn’t good. Great that it’s making money though. Just wish they had a movie worthy of the story. You could have made 3 of these movies and if they were good, people would have turned out for all of them. Missed opportunity.
jood, you obviously have an agenda by trashing Les Mis. 72% on Rottentomates is pretty good for a musical, because most film critics loathe movie musicals. That is why it was ridiculous for most movie critics , who were not familiar with Les Mis, to critique this film. They didn’t understand why the film had very little dialogue, why the performances are intense and dramatic, and why the film is very dark and the running time is over 2 hours and 30 minutes. Tom Hooper was following the model the the stage musical. You would think a film critic would educate themselves before critiquing. That is why I don’t movie critics seriously anymore,
Dear sp: It’s the MOVIE at issue, not the musical. You shouldn’t have to be familiar with the musical to “get” the movie — just like you shouldn’t have had to read the book to enjoy the musical. Your argument highlights the film’s weakness.
Les Mis is porn for theater junkies.
Yeah, the direction in Les Miserables is just awful, but there are some astounding performances throughout rhe film
Russell Crowe is very LOL-worthy.
While Russell Crowe isn’t a great singer, esp. compared to someone from Broadway, he didn’t stink in the role. Actually, at least for film, he did a great job of conveying the relentless nature of Javer.
After seeing the film, I in no way thought he was a disaster on screen.
Geoff – I have to disagree. Russell Crowe was totally underwhelming. I felt that every time he appeared on the screen with Hugh Jackman, Jackman blew him away. Where was his relentless persona? We needed the Crowe from “Gladiator” but I think we got the Crowe from “The Insider.”
After reading all these slams on Crowe, I expected the worst when I saw the film. But I thought he was quite good. And I didn’t mind his singing either. I’m not quite sure why all this hate is directed his way. OTH, I can’t believe how overrated Anne Hathaway’s performance is. Of all the actors, she’s the only one whose performance seems overwrought and very showy. There isn’t one moment she’s on screen where you aren’t aware of how she’s working to “Act!” But of all the actors in the film, Eddie Redmayne was clearly the stand-out. At least thats my 2 cents.
In total agreement with everything you said.
I disagree with much of your opinion. Anne Hathaway played her part very well, and she made the biggest impact on the film. If you are familiar with the musical, you would understand Anne’s acting choices. But, Aaron Tveit was better than Eddie Redmayne, but he is not getting enough attention.
Les Miserables is playing like Gangbusters here in Las Vegas every showing has been selling out like MAD!!! Note to Universal send a memo to theaters and have them put Les Mis in the bigger auditorium, lots of people can’t finding good seats after purchasing their tickets! Viva Les Mis!
I predict an easy glide towards $100 M as huge applause after our screening indicates this film is headed for huge and I mean HUGE Blockbuster status! Kudos to Django also! It’s a great day to love movies!
Will see Les Miz, This is 40. Will buy Jack Reacher, Hobbit and Rise of Guardians on Blu-ray day one. Will pick up Guilt Trip and Parental Guidance some day at Walmart in $5 DVD bin.
I loved it!
Les miz is nothing more than an ass punishment. Couldn’t wait for it to be over. Crowe is just terrible. Hathaway was decent but not the revelation her army of publicists are trying to convince us she is.
Django should play well. QT has proven himself to satisfy most audiences with bastards.
Hobbit is tough. Kids will love it but its too nerdy for adults to get into. Also its too long and paced like a special edition rather than theatrical release. WB should have stepped in and asked for some cuts rather than let Jackson do whatever he wants. Then again, WB never steps in and in this case are too busy drooling over the trilogy promise to consider doing what’s best for the health of their franchise.
That said its satisfying enough to keep a decent word of mouth going.
momo, I disagree about Anne Hathaway. She easily gave one of the best performances of the year, and she was the film’s highlight. Hathaway moved me big time. Now, Jennifer Lawrence ( forgettable) & Sally Field’s hysterics ( high school acting 101 ) have an ” army of publicists trying to convince us they are giving revelatory performances.
I’m an adult, and I enjoyed The Hobbit very much. That was the movie my family and I chose to see on Christmas, and we had no regrets. It was very beautiful, quite funny, and just all around entertaining.
Only kids will love Hobbit because it is too nerdy for adults? How old are you? People have been waiting to see a film adaptation for almost 70 + years. The fact is, people have become more nihilistic since LOTR came out and can’t stomach good, entertaining fantasy anymore. Everything has to be dark and brooding which is apparent in the lack of taste exhibited by critics for praising degenerate films like Django Unchained, which is nothing more than the same old crap Tarantino puts out. He is nothing more than a exploitative, mindless wannabe sociopath with a closet tendency to become a serial killer.Pulp Fiction was about the only thing I could stomach by him.Kill Bill was an abomination and an insult to Japanese cinema and kung fu movies. There was nothing wrong with length of The Hobbit. Just the degenerating attention being lost by those who are easily entertained by senseless violence and whose reading comprehension is probably on the level of a third grader who thinks TV shows like The Voice is really cool.
You seem like a very sad person. It’s too bad you can’t just enjoy entertainment for its own sake rather than rejecting it out of hand based on magical rules. Watch out, it has salty language too!
All you idiots who voted Hooper best director two years ago should be forced to sit and watch this on a long loop.
Yes, raking in $15-20 million on opening day proves he’s incompetent.
What it proves is that he has good marketing and a built-in audience for the property for that his movie is based on. I don’t think anyone’s out to extol the greatness of Brett Ratner after his X-Men film despite its opening-day haul. Quality and box-office success run independent of one another; they neither are mutually exclusive, nor do they have any direct correlation.
I agree with a few of the comments that it’s really up to which of the releases have more of an relevant view in what people really want to see. This is quite interesting at this moment as movies that are released on Christmas Day are usually successful. But there is something different this year then last year. There is a theme in this two movies which are the musical “Les Miserables” and the most talked about movie of the season “Django Unchained”.
What is the theme. The horribleness of humanity ugliness that are treated unfairly. The most intriguing out of all the movies that interest the other movie goers who want to see the controversy over the movie “Django Unchained” which has been on a lot of the blogosphere lately. Dealing with a history that is dark matter and how one overcame that horribleness of humanity but in a totally different matter. Then let’s say “Les Miserables” if you’ve seen the show on Broadway and many times have read it and the adaptations of the this musical “Les Miserables” then it’s your type of movie. If you want something challenging then just something that more towards the climate that the were in right now it’s the closest thing to and public debate if so. Then the other movie is the right one for you. But if you want to go towards a theme that is of the elements of Christmas this movie “Les Miserables” is your movie. It really counts on the demand of the public that is willing to want something different and challenging at the same time. But what is sure that this will be an very interesting Christmas holiday with two movies really that depict a compelling story that may just be the most talked about movie season in a long time.
If SILVER LININGS is released on 1500 or even 3000 screens at any point in the next month, it will open the floodgates for money. Harvey is smart — Everyone in America who likes movies has heard of the movie and knows it’s good, so they’re waiting to see it. It’s been out forever now, has already made its budget back.
Once nominations come out and he goes wide with it, the country will fall in love with it and be talking about it all the time. It will make a ton of money, and in a competitive field as it stands now, SILVER LININGS might break through if it captures the country’s heart. Les Mis isn’t that good, Zero Dark, no one wants to vote for because they just won and it’s not that great a movie, Not to Say SILVER LININGS is either. Lincoln no one wants to vote for either; it’s good, but isn’t a sexy pick. I can see SILVER LININGS sneaking through.
Mand, please, stop the Silver Linings Playbook ridiculousness. This film should have already gone wider, because of the movie stars in the cast. Plus, it is not a indie drama/ gritty film. It is a rom-com ( with some family drama) with commercial appeal. This film is not working with movie audiences, and Harvey Weinstein and his team realize this.
H’m. The audience score on RTs is 90 percent. The film is rated with an audience score of Must Go! on Fandango. Every twitter comment is very positive. So what audience are you talking about? It just seems like a bunch of industry wannabes troll this site to push agendas. I guess it’s a living.
It hasn’t gone wide because there was low audience awareness of the movie.That doesn’t mean people don’t like it but most don’t know it exists.
Dear Tom Hooper: STOP DIRECTING. Seriously – just STOP. You don’t even know how to FRAME A FRIGGIN’ SHOT.
The capitilisations rather give the game away, Mark. Cease your overt silliness and admit it’s so good Tom has you worried sick about the money you’re about to lose on lesser directors.
Ah, yes. Because I used CAPS, it must mean I’m “worried”. lol
I’m furious, because I love the musical and would rather it not have been directed by a talentless hack who can’t FRAME A SHOT.
Hooper’s style is a very deliberate artistic choice. He’s gone on at length about why he likes to do it that way, and what he aims to communicate with it.
“Les Mis” happens to be one of the most brilliantly directed film of all time. The casting was legendary. The epic scope will be copied and idolized for years to come. Filming a musical with such deep undertones takes genius and Tom Hooper is a genuis. You should reward yourselves and see it. Cannot wait to see it again and again and perhaps again.
“of all time”… “legendary”… “epic”… “for years to come”… “genius”…
So, you liked it?
You guys have met Susie Hooper, right?
quit trying to sound like some cleverdick know all. Hooper is clearly a great director and has the success and acclaim to back it up. And what gives your opinion such weight, exactly?
And what gives your opinion weight?
According to you, BOX OFFICE is the only evidence of being a “great” director. So Brett Ratner is a “great” director to you? Michael Bay? It’s called MARKETING DEPARTMENTS. And of COURSE “Les Mis” is getting good box office – it has STARS and is a film of a musical everyone knows ALREADY. Just because a movie makes a lot of money doesn’t mean it’s a great film, for God’s sake. Or is that too difficult a concept for you to grasp? “Honey Boo Boo” was one of the top TV shows of all time – does that make it great art?
he knows a damnsight more than you having actually made films before…successful ones! what have you filmed? his filming technique is clearly deliberate as was his live singing. If you dont appreciate it then tough. Just know that it was deliberate and not incompetence.
Ugh, how many times have I seen this pointless retort? Person #1 states a negative opinion about a film. Person #2 comes back with the inane “You can’t criticize this film until you’ve directed a film yourself” reply. That’s not an argument. You’re just dismissing the opinions of pretty much everyone on the planet who isn’t a filmmaker.
Bwahahahahaha! Well said! And I agree.
Say, “Ace,” where is the best-selling book of film critique you’ve written? Huh? Where’s that? Don’t have one? Well, I guess you can’t be criticizing, huh?
This is the same “Ace” that explained how the play was a hit in NY and doubted that there was a “mad rush” in the Heartland? Yeah, you seem like a real “expert.”
Furthermore, a bad choice, simply because it was a CONSCIOUS CHOICE, does not preclude incompetence. A movie director could CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE to try to insert rocks into the camera instead of “film stock” for “effect,” but that wouldn’t mean he’s competent. Who taught you logic? You should ask for your money back.
few things are more tedious than your kind of comment. every time a director or writer or actor is criticized, a for-some-unfathomable-reason-defensive commentator says ‘if the movie was produced,’ or ‘if the movie grossed a lot of money,’ then it MUST be good. ‘let’s see what you have done?’ this probably-mousy, conventional-thinking-defending boor inevitably whines. because this sort of commentator does not understand the first thing about the creative process (no doubt they are in PR or perhaps the accounting department), they are not able to grasp something simple: without criticism and comparison and differentiation, there can be no creation or art.
Les Mis was sold out all over the place in the DC area. We finally got into a 7 pm showing in a theater that sat 450 people and it was totally sold out. I must say, I enjoyed the film, but the stage show is just so, so much better. Anne Hathaway really did give an amazing performance.
Not surprised at the good numbers. Hollywood seems to have put its focus during the last quarter of 2012 into actually giving a WIDE ARRAY of fans films what they want.
LES MIZ PERFORMANCE WELL- MANAGED.
BUT DJANGO IS “N-WORD” DAMAGED.
SILVER LININGS IS BORING,
APATOW’S FAMILY ANNOYING.
AND JACK REACHER IS VERTICALLY CHALLENGED.
well that hurt my eyes.
Les Miz is a hit, and Hooper will continue to get the best gigs until he makes a bomb. Then it’s directors jail.
No mention for Samuel L Jackson and others in Django Unchained?
It’s funny, because Samuel L. Jackson is the real standout of Django Unchained (classic movie for sure and well done all involved) and his performance will be remembered for many years to come, yet Christoph Waltz and Leo Dicaprio get all the awards.
Any Oscar nominatons in terms of acting should go in the order of Jackson, Waltz, Dicaprio, Foxx and even Johnson. They should all be showered with many future awards to come (although in my opinion any best supporting Oscar nominations, could even go 3-way with Jackson/Waltz/Dicaprio under one spot only).
Just don’t like the way Jackson is being left out and even Foxx. I’m desperate for Dicaprio to win his first Oscar as it is long over due but this is insane, Jackson was simply better.
It also funny, that the 6th upate, focuses on the negative of Tom Cruise being beaten by Billy Crystal and Bette Miller, whilst everyone knows the real story is Django Unchained has dropped to 3rd place but to cover tracks Nikki goes after Tom Cruise (it funny who she likes and doesn’t like). Doesn’t she think people can read?
Hopefully, Django Unchained gains during the coming days to be no. 1 but to me that was the real story of the 6th update. The Tom Cruise movie is holding better than I thought considering the new entries and I hope it stays holding for many weeks to come.
I adore Les Miz’s music and I was mostly pleased with the movie for delivering me that but agree with some posters upthread about being a bit distracted by some of Tom Hooper’s directing choices and also the casting of Russell Crowe, who when on the screen was always Russell Crowe singing and never Chabert singing. Jackman’s performance in some points left something to be desired, well more his singing, but in the end he won me over.
I wonder if it was easier for me to get into the performances of the actors playing Marius and Eponine because they weren’t name actors. With Crowe I just kept thinking he is exactly the same, just singing, down to his Gladiator haircut he had 12 years ago.
My complaints aside, I predict good things for this film as even in fly-over country in a small midwestern city of 100,000, the first showing was totally packed and the people applauded at the end.
I totally feel the same, hisgirlfriday, about enjoying Les Mis more with “unknown” actors! Although I thought Jackman did a terrific job, I kept seeing Wolverine!
It’s “JAVERT”, not “CHABERT” – just a heads up.