BadAtGender

Box Trolls was still at least a double. Even if the story didn't quite gel it had enough interesting choices to make it compelling. And the technical side was absolutely amazing.

But see, there's actually four different viewpoints going on there. You've got your own personal opinion. Then there's the critical consensus. Then there's the animation branch. Then there's the academy as a whole. And all four of those are going to view a film very differently. LAIKA has tended to produce somewhat off kilter films. They go for a sense of strangeness and horror that other animation companies don't, even Aardman, which is their nearest competitor. The heartfelt angst that typifies Pixar's films isn't going to work for LAIKA. They want an element of weird, which the stop motion focus plays into in a way that wouldn't work for CGI. Sometimes they might stray far, which produces more divisive opinions from fans and critics, as we saw in The Boxtrolls. But trying to reign it in would probably deliver a staid and boring product. Even in that case, reviews were generally favorable. The animation branch is probably always going to favor them. Stop motion is notoriously difficult and time consuming for one. But their decision to tell stories differently than the top of the line probably also plays into it. The fact that they're probably never going to WIN the Oscar doesn't matter so much, because that's down to strict popularity, and LAIKA's a minor studio that isn't going to play worldwide like that. I'd argue that among all the Oscars, the nomination is more important than the win for feature animation.

I've never watched Baywatch, but I'm led to believe that 90% of the show is slo-mo running shots, right?

1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2. Ghostbusters 3. Kubo & the Two Strings 4. X-Men: Apocalypse 5. Suicide Squad 6. Finding Dory 7. Moana 8. Star Trek Beyond 9. The Nice Guys 10. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

1 1 Zootopia BV $3,724,824 -31% - 3,827 $973 $88,706,867 6 2 2 London Has Fallen Focus $1,415,206 -34% - 3,490 $406 $26,835,782 6 3 3 Deadpool Fox $1,331,389 -20% -40% 3,624 $367 $315,915,561 27 4 4 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Par. $585,281 -28% - 2,374 $247 $9,399,198 6 5 5 Gods of Egypt LG/S $405,971 -28% -50% 3,117 $130 $24,449,165 13 6 6 Risen Sony $352,431 -24% -32% 2,507 $141 $29,818,957 20 7 9 The Revenant Fox $257,703 -16% -46% 1,488 $173 $176,903,882 76 8 8 Triple 9 ORF $243,336 -24% -47% 2,205 $110 $11,205,033 13 9 10 The Witch A24 $241,301 -17% -42% 1,715 $141 $21,687,941 20 10 7 Eddie the Eagle Fox $233,528 -31% -40% 2,044 $114 $11,688,627 13 11 11 How to Be Single WB $208,566 -25% -52% 1,602 $130 $44,005,411 27 12 12 Kung Fu Panda 3 Fox $197,436 -26% -55% 2,700 $73 $134,555,881 41 - - Spotlight ORF $162,010 -23% -7% 1,227 $132 $42,107,224 125 - - Star Wars: The Force Awakens BV $146,770 -10% -38% 1,021 $144 $929,305,738 83 - - Race (2016) Focus $141,468 -20% -54% 1,286 $110 $16,958,776 20 - - The Other Side of the Door Fox $94,859 -21% - 546 $174 $1,529,825 6 - - Ride Along 2 Uni. $46,585 -10% -40% 607 $77 $89,650,485 55 - - The Big Short Par. $44,023 -3% -50% 314 $140 $69,483,476 90 - - Hail, Caesar! Uni. $39,960 -10% -63% 313 $128 $29,358,775 34

I don't think they're trying to compete with WDAS or Pixar.

Huh. Strong reviews for this one. I'm kinda interested.

Yay! @Murgatroyd's charts!

10 Cloverfield Lane - 21m The Brothers Grimsby - 6m The Young Messiah - 5m The Perfect Match - 2m

It's not going to hold $5m for W/Th. A 25% drop for Wednesday puts it a smidge over $4m. And it'll probably drop under $4m for Thursday. LEGO had a holiday propping up its second weekend.

So, should I read the books before the movie comes out or wait until afterwards?

yes

I can, but only on a TV screen.

If it's Bay directing, it wouldn't really matter except for the volume of F-bombs. If it's Carnahan, though, it'd be nice if he's in Smokin' Aces territory with it.

Not saying it's guaranteed, but March animation isn't known for the strongest legs.

I hope people aren't disappointed if Zootopia fails out gross more than LEGO.

Last 5 animated films in theaters were, I think: Kung Fu Panda 3 The Good Dinosaur Inside Out Satellite Girl & Milk Cow When Marnie Was There

A thousand souls must be sacrificed every day to keep him alive.

Big box office surprises age a person, even a god.

He's probably saving himself for Easter. Can't blow a load every weekend, you know. Got to recuperate.

I don't usually have a problem going to kids movies by myself. But I also live in the city with a very low percentage of households that have children, so it's pretty normal to see non-families there. In fact, the only time I've ever gotten dirty looks was when I was with a group of friends and we went to the Frozen Singalong. But we also sang and I think some of the parents didn't realize that was the whole point.

Hacked with cheap booze, it looks like.

When Blanks can't see a film, he gets agitated. I don't get it, because I probably won't get to see Zootopia until at least the 14th.

Tangled was weird, but it was also in a 3-movie year. WiR's did get a nomination, though. It's loss for the actual award isn't the same as what happened to LEGO. LEGO's snub makes sense. The animation branch isn't particularly favorable towards mid-budget computer animated films, budget-wise. The only one that's gotten a nomination in the past 5 years is DM2.

You forgot GI Joe.