Weekend Thread | Official estimate: The Martian 55M. Rth Sunday Est Pg43: 13.4M. Gravity will remain October OW record holder.

[Jack Nevada]

Money money money. Gotta have it, baby. Look at all that cash.

[Wrath]

Btw, saw The Intern today. It was a good movie.

B+?

[Ozymandias]

Lol, just noticed BOM has a new and seemingly good writer.  Cool I guess

[grim22]

Nancy Meyer's The Intern had a fantastic hold and it seems to be going on a straight path towards a 100-million-dollar-plus gross.

However, could someone tell me why her last three movies each cost 80+ million dollars????

 

I know they tend to be star-studded...but, damn...looking at her Mojo page, seems like the only two stars of her ouvre who were considered, at the time of making their respective Nancy Mayer films, box office draws, were Mel Gibson (What Women Want had Gibson hot off his white-hot Lethal Weapon 4/Payback/Chicken Run/The Patriot streak)  and Meryl Streep (her It's Complicated was sandwhiched between her Mamma Mia!-Doubt-Julie & Julia triple whammy and her third Oscar win for The Iron Lady).

But even with that...did Streep and Gibson each get a 40-million-dollar paycheck??? I doubt it. Why are these rom-coms so expensive???

 

At least she didn't make "How do you know?" for 120M dollars.

 

Oscar-winning filmmaker James L. Brooks doesn’t work often, and he doesn’t work fast. And when he does work, he commands a budget as jaw-dropping as his history of brilliant work (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News). When many studios are shying away from star-driven adult dramedies, Sony lavished a budget on Brooks’ How Do You Know that even has talent reps with clients in the movie marveling.

THR has learned that the film, which centers on a love triangle, cost $120 million to make, though the studio drove that down to about $100 million thanks to tax rebates from Pennsylvania and D.C. One reason for the price tag is old-fashioned salaries for the pic’s talent: Reese Witherspoon($15 million), Jack Nicholson ($12 million), Owen Wilson ($10 million) and Paul Rudd ($3 million) received their quotes, and Brooks will earn about $10 million plus backend for writing, producing and directing. That’s about $50 million for the major talent alone.

The cost also was high because of the time Brooks devoted to production and postproduction and his decision to reshoot the beginning and end of the movie. “He’s slow and meticulous,” a person familiar with the production says.

Another challenge: How Do You Know opens Dec. 17 against Tron: Legacy, Gulliver’s Travels andYogi Bear. “That’s a big weekend,” sighs a talent rep with a star in the film, which could have the slow-but-steady adult space to itself. Brooks’ 1997 holiday release As Good as It Gets rode Oscar buzz to $314.2 million worldwide, but his most recent December effort, 2004’s Spanglish, fizzled. “They thought it would do a couple hundred million worldwide,” a source says. “It did $55 million all-in.”

 

That was a pretty sucky holiday movie season by the looks of it. The big Christmas day release was Little Fockers.

[Cochofles]

At least she didn't make "How do you know?" for 120M dollars.

 

 

That was a pretty sucky holiday movie season by the looks of it. The big Christmas day release was Little Fockers.

 

 

Damn.

120 m for a romantic comedy, no matter how big the stars, is unbelievably foolhardy.

[James]

Ok, so ended up seeing Maze Runner 2 instead of The Martian because we got at the theatre too late and our booking was gone. But it was for the best. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie (I liked it more than the first one and much more than the book) and our showing was surprisingly full. 

Edited October 4, 2015 by James

[CJohn]

B+?

7.5/10

[TServo2049]

I posted this in the Martian thread, but I'll repeat it here:

Martian has no IMAX and a much smaller 3D share (though it has PLF - but if my theater that always shows 2D for RPX is only an exception, that means the 42% 3D share includes almost all the PLF admissions). And it has a longer runtime, and my showing had plenty of kids, while my opening Saturday showing of Gravity was perhaps the oldest audience I've ever seen for a #1 $50M+ opening weekend.

In short, Martian had to sell more tickets, with fewer showtimes, to get to an almost equal number. Martian may have two extra years of inflation, but I can just take a wild guess that Gravity sold fewer tickets per showtime than Martian.

(And could Gravity even be the lowest number of tickets ever sold for an opening weekend over $50M? Maybe not the highest average price for a $50M+ OW - I'd guess that's still Avatar - but there's no way to know...)

And Gravity's amazing 2nd weekend hold probably attests to the fact that it did not reach as large a portion of the moviegoing public as other over-$50M openers. Next weekend will be interesting for sure.

This is not meant to undercut either film's success at all, I was just thinking about all this stuff...

Edited October 4, 2015 by TServo2049

[Ethan Hunt]

Ok, so ended up seeing Maze Runner 2 instead of The Martian because we got at the theatre too late and our booking was gone. But it was for the best. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie (I liked it more than the first one and much more than the book) and our showing was surprisingly full.

You probably wouldn't like The.Martian anyways, doesn't seem like your thing

[The Futurist]

On that note, Ridley is the same way. The Martian could have cost a lot more than 108m. Veteran filmmakers seem to be much better with budgets (which makes sense).

 

Robin Hood cost 200m+...

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

Nancy Meyer's The Intern had a fantastic hold and it seems to be going on a straight path towards a 100-million-dollar-plus gross.

However, could someone tell me why her last three movies each cost 80+ million dollars????

 

I know they tend to be star-studded...but, damn...looking at her Mojo page, seems like the only two stars of her ouvre who were considered, at the time of making their respective Nancy Mayer films, box office draws, were Mel Gibson (What Women Want had Gibson hot off his white-hot Lethal Weapon 4/Payback/Chicken Run/The Patriot streak)  and Meryl Streep (her It's Complicated was sandwhiched between her Mamma Mia!-Doubt-Julie & Julia triple whammy and her third Oscar win for The Iron Lady).

But even with that...did Streep and Gibson each get a 40-million-dollar paycheck??? I doubt it. Why are these rom-coms so expensive???

 

It's one of the great Hollywood mysteries TBH.  The houses in her movies feature drool-worthy interior design and for the average person, re-doing a kitchen can be pricey, but it's not that costly...

[James]

You probably wouldn't like The.Martian anyways, doesn't seem like your thing

I like pretty much anything space related. Loved Interstellar and found Gravity ok-ish. 

[Kalo]

Just got back from a midnight staff screening of The Fifth Element for my boss's birthday. First time seeing it, and I don't know if it was just because I was extremely tired and exhausted, but that movie was weird. Cool, but also weird.

 

The Fifth Element is so weird, it's also really not that great, not bad, but nothing special.  

[Kalo]

I like pretty much anything space related. Loved Interstellar and found Gravity ok-ish. 

 

Star Wars is space related.

[Gopher]

Meyers takes forever to shoot her movies. For It's Complicated put Streep/Martin/Baldwin up at a gorgeous estate for five months. I'm pretty sure working with Meyers is the best scenario for an A-lister-- tons of money to shoot a light comedy for half a year, all expenses paid.

[RyneOh1040]

Get that coin, Intern.

 

Caught Sicario today.  REALLY dark but damn it was so good.  The cinematography, score, and performances were fantastic.  I don't know if it will end up being too early for this to get major Oscar noms but Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin should all be considered (though I think Blunt and Del Toro probably have the strongest shots).  

[Jonwo]

The Intern was $40m so clearly WB didn't allow lavish spending like past Nancy Meyers films. How Do You Know's budget was just indulgent, the fact that Sony terminated James L Brook's deal after that film bombed is quite telling. Little Fockers had a $100m budget but that did have big names as well,

[junkshop36]

The Fifth Element is so weird, it's also really not that great, not bad, but nothing special.

Love The Fifth Element! It's just so weirdly awesome. I even think Tucker is funny.

[Ozymandias]

The Fifth Element is bonkers in the right ways.  Its not for everyone, but its whacky fun.  Wachowskis should've studied it more before they made Poopiter Descending.

[eddyxx]

The Fifth Element is so weird, it's also really not that great, not bad, but nothing special.  

 

Bite your tongue!