#alcon entertainment hit me up

[thejacksmit]

First Take: The Garfield Movie - love Mondays. Hate this film.

SYNOPSIS: After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist.

It wouldn't be a multifilm marathon without at least one film that belongs in the depths of hell - and boy did we have a real doozy this year to join the likes of The Queen's Corgi (which was bad enough to get a Journal episode made about it). Somehow, inexplicably, Sony decided to take on a new Garfield film, made independently of the studio. One which has been in development since 2011. I was three cups of Earl Grey deep when venturing into this 'minefield'... and I am so glad I've made it out in one piece. Thermonuclear rant incoming, so longtime fans of the blog will know what happens next: cue the music.

Mark Dindal of Chicken Little and The Emperor's New Groove fame has broken free from Disney to direct this and... oooooof. This is a mess. 1 hour 41 minutes of poorly paced, dumb, stupid, poorly executed animation that serves no purpose other than to get kids into cinemas. I am not angry, just very very very very very disappointed. Script wise, it is three credited writers (and likely more ghostwriters) - Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds are the fall guys for this trainwreck of a script that has barely any legible plot, a story that goes all over the place, dialogue that is too on the nose ('I do my own stunts... like Tom Cruise'), and to wrap it all up with a cherry on top, the product placement is worse than the Tom and Jerry film I willingly sat through a few years ago - no, it's worse than Haunted Mansion last year - which explains how this got a cinema release. As for the score, John Debney what were you thinking by besmurching Lorne Balfe's arrangement of the Mission Impossible theme and Hans Zimmer's version of the Top Gun theme for the sake of a punchlime? Technically this is an absolute shambles all over the shop.

Then there's the cast. I have no clue how or why Chris Pratt, Samuel L Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames and Nicholas Hoult took the contract to make this, as the voice acting is soulless, lacks ANY emotion, feels very phoned in, and believe me this says a lot when even SNOOP DOGG has a character in it! Reading up on when the castings were all confirmed, this definitely feels like a film hit hard by the SAG strike (all very rushed to finish recording) but I have to ask Sony - make it make sense. Apparently there is a videogame and a sequel in active development with Alcon Entertainment, which is mental considering it's a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, and still grossing over $250million at the box office. This is a film that arguably completes a full collection of mediocrity across the 11 years I've done this - just when I thought The Emoji Movie and Nine Lives were the benchmark of terrible movies... this one comes and blows both of them out of the water.

THE VERDICT POST MORTEM

Lord almighty that was bad. An incoherent plot, voice acting with no emotion, a flat, emotionless script, the abomination of some fantastic licensed music... everyone involved should hang their heads in shame. There's bad films, then, there's this. I legitimately felt like being mummified after watching it.

RATING: Minus 5/5

[lowestofwillows]

Michael Cera as Jon Arbuckle

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Tops $1 Billion Worldwide

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has cleared the $1 billion milestone in worldwide grosses in less than three weeks.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” pulled in $120.4 million globally on the New Year’s Eve weekend with $52.4 million at 4,232 domestic venues and $68 million internationally during the Friday-Sunday period.

“The Last Jedi” is now the eighth highest-grossing domestic movie of all time with $517.1 million — only $15 million behind last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” in the seventh spot. On the worldwide chart, it’s now 24th with $1.04 billion, edging Universal-Illumination’s “Despicable Me 3.” The tentpole’s international total, currently at $523.2 million, will see a significant jolt when it opens on Jan. 5 in China, its final market.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has also topped Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which grossed $504 million in North America, for the top spot among 2017 releases domestically. It’s the fourth 2017 title to go past $1 billion worldwide, along with “Beauty and the Beast” at $1.26 billion, “The Fate of the Furious” at $1.24 billion and “Despicable Me 3” at $1.03 billion.

“The Last Jedi” is also winning the domestic weekend box office crown for the third time with $52.4 million, edging Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which took in $50.6 million at 3,765 locations for the Friday-Sunday. However, Sony’s projection showed the “Jumanji” sequel grossing $16.5 million on New Year’s Day on Monday — well above Disney’s forecast of $13.2 million for “The Last Jedi.” Should those numbers hold, “Jumanji” would edge “Jedi” over the four-day period with $67 million, winning by $1.4 million.

“Jumanji” has been “The Last Jedi‘s” biggest competitor by far since it opened on Dec. 20. The action-comedy should wind up with an 11-day domestic total of $186.3 million by the end of Monday. The action-comedy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has a $90 million budget. It’s also performed impressively in international markets with $107 million thr0ugh Dec. 28.

“Jedi” and “Jumanji” helped lift the entire domestic box office for 2017 to $11.12 billion, down 2.3% from last year’s $11.38 billion and off slightly from 2015’s $11.14 billion, according to comScore. The gap for 2017 had been more than 6% at the end of the worst summer in a decade but performances by “It,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Justice League,” “Jedi” and “Jumanji” closed most of that margin.

“With another $11 billion plus year on the books, the industry looks ahead to awards season and a 2018 packed with blockbuster titles and a hope for a year slightly less volatile than 2017,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3” led the rest of weekend’s domestic pack with a projected $22.7 million at 3,468 locations for Friday-Monday, lifting its 11-day total to $69.2 million. The comedy threequel, starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, took in $13.1 million this weekend from 34 international markets for a foreign total of $28.6 million.

Hugh Jackman’s musical drama “The Greatest Showman” is finishing a close fourth with $20.3 million at 3,316 theaters forecasted for the four days. The Fox-Chernin Entertainment title showed the biggest gain in the top 10 movies from the Christmas Eve weekend with an impressive 73% surge. The domestic total should hit $53.8 million through Monday.

Fox’s second weekend of “Ferdinand” — the only film to open on the same weekend as “The Last Jedi” — followed in fifth with $15.1 million at 3,337 North American venues, giving the animated comedy $57.3 million in 18 days. Disney-Pixar’s seventh weekend of “Coco” finished sixth with a projected $8.8 million at 2,845 sites for a domestic total of $181.1 million and $539 million worldwide.

Sony’s “All the Money in the World” and Focus Features’ “The Darkest Hour” were in a battle for seventh place at about $7.2 million for the four days. “All the Money” opened on Christmas Day as the final wide release of the year at 2,074 locations after director Ridley Scott excised Kevin Spacey’s scenes and reshot them with Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty, following the early November sexual abuse allegations against Spacey. Its eight-day total will be around $14.4 million.

Awards contender “Darkest Hour,” starring Gary Oldman as the 1940 version of Winston Churchill, expanded to 943 venues in its sixth weekend and will have taken in $19.8 million by the end of the weekend. Focus reported strong performance in Washington, D.C./Maryland, Phoenix, Boston, Salt Lake City, and Florida markets.

“‘Darkest Hour’ is taking America by storm,” said distribution chief Lisa Bunnell. “We’re seeing audiences coming out in big numbers. It’s a movie they found inspiring over the holiday break and the word of mouth gives us a strong outlook for the upcoming weeks.”

Matt Damon’s comedy-drama “Downsizing” finished ninth with a projected $6 million at 2,664 sites for the four days for Paramount. The 11-day total for “Downsizing,” which carries a $65 million budget and was directed by Alexander Payne, should come in around $18.5 million.

Warner Bros.-Alcon Entertainment’s second weekend of R-rated comedy “Father Figures” rounded out the top 10 with a projected $5.5 million at 2,902 locations. The 11-day total for the Owen Wilson-Ed Helms vehicle, which has a $25 million price tag, should hit about $14 million.

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The post Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Tops $1 Billion Worldwide appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

[newsever24-blog]

'Boo 2! A Madea Halloween' leads a lackluster box office

New Post has been published on http://newsever24.com/boo-2-a-madea-halloween-leads-a-lackluster-box-office/

'Boo 2! A Madea Halloween' leads a lackluster box office

‘Boo 2! A Madea Halloween’ leads a lackluster box office

Newcomers dominated the box office this weekend as Lionsgate’s comedy “Tyler Perry’s ‘Boo 2! A Madea Halloween’ and Warner Bros.” sci-fi spectacle “Geostorm” debuted in the top two spots.

Perry’s sequel debuted in first place, raking in an estimated $21.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore.

The PG-13 film, which reviewer Kimber Myers calls “the cinematic equivalent of getting Necco Wafers in your trick-or-treating bucket,” follows the antics of Perry’s popular character Madea who is tasked with protecting her grand-niece at a haunted campground. “Boo 2!” garnered mixed reviews from audiences and critics, earning an A- rating on CinemaScore and a dismal 8% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Warner Bros.’ environmental disaster thriller “Geostorm” came in at No. 2, raining in $13.3 million in its first week.

Co-financed by Skydance and Rat-Pac Dune and directed by Dean Devlin, the film stars Gerard Butler as an arrogant technician tasked with preventing a network of satellites that stabilize our climate from glitching. The PG-13 film, which also stars Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris and Jim Sturgess, was also unpopular among audiences and critics, earning a lackluster 13% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a below average B- rating on CinemaScore.

Coming in third was Blumhouse’s horror film “Happy Death Day” which brought in $9.4 million in its second week — a 64% drop in earnings since last week — for a cumulative total of $40.7 million.

The $5-million film, a bloody riff on the classic “Groundhog Day” concept, follows a woman who relives the day of her murder until she learns her killer’s identity. The latest from producer Jason Blum and Universal Pictures, “Happy Death Day” earned a B rating on CinemaScore and a 68% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Blade Runner 2049” by Alcon Entertainment came in fourth, adding $7.1 million to its earnings (a 54% drop) in its third week for a cumulative total of $74 million.

A sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi cult classic “Blade Runner,” about a futuristic society where androids known as replicants are almost indistinguishable from humans, the $150-million film earned an A- rating on CinemaScore and an 88% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Ryan Gosling and Jared Leto, with Harrison Ford reprising his role as Deckard.

Rounding out the top five was Sony’s firestorm drama “Only the Brave,” which brought in $6 million in its first week. Starring Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges, the film chronicles the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of Arizona firefighters who battled one of the deadliest wildfires in history. “Only the Brave” was a hit with both audiences and critics, earning an A rating on CinemaScore and a 90% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch and Jennifer Connelly also star.

Also new this week, Universal’s Michael Fassbender-led thriller “The Snowman” debuted at no. 8 with $3.4 million. Fassbender stars as a detective tasked with tracking down a serial killer who likes to hack up women’s bodies and scatter the pieces as clues. Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer and Chloe Sevigny also star.

An adaptation of one of Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø’s crime novels, the film, which reviewer Justin Chang called “a wretched waste of time and talent from the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson,” earned an unprecedented D rating on CinemaScore and an abysmal 9% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

PureFlix’s faith-based drama “Same Kind of Different as Me,” also premiered this week with $2.6 million. Starring Djimon Hounsou, Greg Kinnear and Renee Zellweger, the film follows a Texas art dealer and his wife as they befriend a troubled homeless man. The film earned a 20% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In limited release, A24 opened “The Killing of the Sacred Deer” in four locations with $114,585, for a per-theater average of $28,646. The film, which follows a surgeon who befriends a fatherless teen to frightening results, stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Alicia Silverstone and earned a 75% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions premiered “Wonderstruck” in four locations with $68,762, for a per-theater average of $17,190. The film follows two children, separated by decades, as they embark on parallel journeys to fill gaps in their lives. It earned a 69% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Next week, Lionsgate opens the horror sequel “Jigsaw”; Paramount debuts the crime comedy “Suburbicon”; and Universal premieres the drama “Thank You for Your Service,” starring Miles Teller. Magnolia Pictures also unveils the comedy “The Square” in limited release.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/ryan-goslings-blade-runner-2049-takes-punch-box-office/

Ryan Gosling's 'Blade Runner 2049' takes a punch at box office

History often repeats itself, and it looks like "Blade Runner 2049" is following in the footsteps of the original "Blade Runner" which didn't work so well at the box office. It wound up turning into a cult classic as many do and people (including movie studios) forget that many have bombed at the box office before being discovered. The film had great reviews (we loved it too), but the nearly 3-hour running time may have been a big culprit in the meager ticket sales. Most film geeks had already told us that they were going to wait to see it in the luxury of their own home with killer sound systems. "I waited this long already to see the sequel, so I can wait another couple months to see it on my 88-inch 4K TV." “Blade Runner 2049” had the pedigree, the stars, and the stellar reviews. But even though the highly touted sequel had seemingly everything going for it, something didn’t click with audiences. The big-budget, handsomely crafted sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic opened surprisingly weak at the North American box office. According to studio estimates Sunday, “2049” grossed $31.5 million, a poor start for a movie that cost at least $150 million to make. The problem “Blade Runner 2049” ran into is clear from opening-weekend data. The audience was overwhelmingly male (71 percent) and over the age of 25 (86 percent). The movie, starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, simply failed to pull in moviegoers beyond fans of the 1982 original. The opening was a blow most of all to Alcon Entertainment, the production company that split the film’s cost with Sony Pictures. Warner Bros., which released the original and maintained rights for any follow-ups, distributed domestically. Sony released the film internationally, where it performed better with $50.2 million in overseas ticket sales over the weekend. The 20-year-old Alcon, backed by FedEx founder Fred Smith, has been behind some notable successes with Warner Bros. (“The Blind Side,” ″Prisoners.“) But its blockbuster ambitions —which include flops like “Point Break” and “Transcendence” — have gone rockier. Co-founder Andrew Kosove previously called the ambitious “Blade Runner 2049" ″a chips-in-the-center-of-the-table exercise.” And Alcon — a 45 employee company — seemingly did everything right, turning in a glowingly reviewed film, directed by the sought-after Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”) and produced by Ridley Scott (who directed the original.) Audiences liked the movie, too, giving it an A- CinemaScore. Representatives for Alcon Entertainment didn’t respond to messages Sunday. “I’m disappointed we didn’t have a larger result this weekend on behalf of the owners of the film, Alcon” said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. “We had bigger expectations for the weekend. The tracking and the advance sales indicated that there would be a stronger number.” One thing that could help "Blade Runner 2049" is if there's not much October competition to help drum up positive word of mouth. The Kate Winslet-Idris Elba adventure romance “The Mountain Between Us” debuted in second place with $10.1 million. The 20th Century Fox film, which cost $35 million to make, chronicles the budding affection between two strangers whose charter plane crash lands in the mountains. The horror hit “It” followed in third place with $9.7 million in its fifth week. The Stephen King adaptation has made $603.7 million worldwide. “My Little Pony: The Movie” opened with $8.8 million for Lionsgate. But even it managed broader gender appeal than “Blade Runner 2049.” It drew a 59 percent female audience. But most were wondering what went wrong with “Blade Runner 2049.” Working against it was a lengthy 163-minute runtime. (Villeneuve attempted to lessen the blow by promoting the credit-less runtime of 152 minutes.) Alcon took the lead on the marketing, which went to great lengths to keep much of the film mysterious. “It’s an intellectually charged, apocalyptic sci-fi story. It’s not a ‘Close Encounters,’ it’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s a challenging film. To me, those are the best type of films,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “But does it make it the most commercial? No.” “It was creatively and thematically perfectly executed,” Dergarabedian said. “But it didn’t play to the numbers everyone thought.” In a way, that makes “Blade Runner 2049” the perfect heir to the original film. It, too, was a box-office disappointment. Though a cult would gradually emerge over the years, propelled partly by a DVD release of a more acclaimed director’s cut, “Blade Runner” in 1982 debuted with $6.2 million — or about $16 million in 2017 dollars. So “2049” can claim one thing many recent sequels can’t: Better box office than the original. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

“Blade Runner 2049,” $31.5 million ($50.2 million international).

“The Mountain Between Us,” $10.1 million ($3.6 million international).

“It,” $9.7 million.

“My Little Pony: The Movie,” $8.8 million ($3.8 million international).

“Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” $8.1 million ($25.5 million international).

“American Made,” $8.1 million ($1.8 million international).

“The Lego Ninjago Movie,” $6.8 million ($6.9 million international).

“Victoria & Abdul,” $4.1 million ($3 million international).

“Flatliners,” $3.8 million ($1.5 million international.)

“Battle of the Sexes,” $2.4 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore.

“Never Say Die,” $66 million.

“Blade Runner 2049,” $50.2 million.

“Kingman: The Golden Circle,” $25.5 million.

“It,” $19.8 million.

“Chasing the Dragon,” $17.6 million.

“The Foreigner,” $17 million.

“The Fortress,” $14.4 million.

“City of Rock,” $11.9 million.

“Crime City,” $9.7 million.

“Sky Hunter,” $9.1 million.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Tops $1 Billion Worldwide

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has cleared the $1 billion milestone in worldwide grosses in less than three weeks.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” pulled in $120.4 million globally on the New Year’s Eve weekend with $52.4 million at 4,232 domestic venues and $68 million internationally during the Friday-Sunday period.

“The Last Jedi” is now the eighth highest-grossing domestic movie of all time with $517.1 million — only $15 million behind last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” in the seventh spot. On the worldwide chart, it’s now 24th with $1.04 billion, edging Universal-Illumination’s “Despicable Me 3.” The tentpole’s international total, currently at $523.2 million, will see a significant jolt when it opens on Jan. 5 in China, its final market.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has also topped Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which grossed $504 million in North America, for the top spot among 2017 releases domestically. It’s the fourth 2017 title to go past $1 billion worldwide, along with “Beauty and the Beast” at $1.26 billion, “The Fate of the Furious” at $1.24 billion and “Despicable Me 3” at $1.03 billion.

“The Last Jedi” is also winning the domestic weekend box office crown for the third time with $52.4 million, edging Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which took in $50.6 million at 3,765 locations for the Friday-Sunday. However, Sony’s projection showed the “Jumanji” sequel grossing $16.5 million on New Year’s Day on Monday — well above Disney’s forecast of $13.2 million for “The Last Jedi.” Should those numbers hold, “Jumanji” would edge “Jedi” over the four-day period with $67 million, winning by $1.4 million.

“Jumanji” has been “The Last Jedi‘s” biggest competitor by far since it opened on Dec. 20. The action-comedy should wind up with an 11-day domestic total of $186.3 million by the end of Monday. The action-comedy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has a $90 million budget. It’s also performed impressively in international markets with $107 million thr0ugh Dec. 28.

“Jedi” and “Jumanji” helped lift the entire domestic box office for 2017 to $11.12 billion, down 2.3% from last year’s $11.38 billion and off slightly from 2015’s $11.14 billion, according to comScore. The gap for 2017 had been more than 6% at the end of the worst summer in a decade but performances by “It,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Justice League,” “Jedi” and “Jumanji” closed most of that margin.

“With another $11 billion plus year on the books, the industry looks ahead to awards season and a 2018 packed with blockbuster titles and a hope for a year slightly less volatile than 2017,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3” led the rest of weekend’s domestic pack with a projected $22.7 million at 3,468 locations for Friday-Monday, lifting its 11-day total to $69.2 million. The comedy threequel, starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, took in $13.1 million this weekend from 34 international markets for a foreign total of $28.6 million.

Hugh Jackman’s musical drama “The Greatest Showman” is finishing a close fourth with $20.3 million at 3,316 theaters forecasted for the four days. The Fox-Chernin Entertainment title showed the biggest gain in the top 10 movies from the Christmas Eve weekend with an impressive 73% surge. The domestic total should hit $53.8 million through Monday.

Fox’s second weekend of “Ferdinand” — the only film to open on the same weekend as “The Last Jedi” — followed in fifth with $15.1 million at 3,337 North American venues, giving the animated comedy $57.3 million in 18 days. Disney-Pixar’s seventh weekend of “Coco” finished sixth with a projected $8.8 million at 2,845 sites for a domestic total of $181.1 million and $539 million worldwide.

Sony’s “All the Money in the World” and Focus Features’ “The Darkest Hour” were in a battle for seventh place at about $7.2 million for the four days. “All the Money” opened on Christmas Day as the final wide release of the year at 2,074 locations after director Ridley Scott excised Kevin Spacey’s scenes and reshot them with Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty, following the early November sexual abuse allegations against Spacey. Its eight-day total will be around $14.4 million.

Awards contender “Darkest Hour,” starring Gary Oldman as the 1940 version of Winston Churchill, expanded to 943 venues in its sixth weekend and will have taken in $19.8 million by the end of the weekend. Focus reported strong performance in Washington, D.C./Maryland, Phoenix, Boston, Salt Lake City, and Florida markets.

“‘Darkest Hour’ is taking America by storm,” said distribution chief Lisa Bunnell. “We’re seeing audiences coming out in big numbers. It’s a movie they found inspiring over the holiday break and the word of mouth gives us a strong outlook for the upcoming weeks.”

Matt Damon’s comedy-drama “Downsizing” finished ninth with a projected $6 million at 2,664 sites for the four days for Paramount. The 11-day total for “Downsizing,” which carries a $65 million budget and was directed by Alexander Payne, should come in around $18.5 million.

Warner Bros.-Alcon Entertainment’s second weekend of R-rated comedy “Father Figures” rounded out the top 10 with a projected $5.5 million at 2,902 locations. The 11-day total for the Owen Wilson-Ed Helms vehicle, which has a $25 million price tag, should hit about $14 million.

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The post Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Tops $1 Billion Worldwide appeared first on dailygate.