Weekend Thread | October 7-10th | Smile grins with a powerful $18.5m second weekend (18% drop!), Lyle hums a tune to $11.4m, Amsterdam gets karma'd with $6.4m

[Maggie]

DOR is freaking good director. American Hustle was amazing.

 

I really don't get the DOR backlash. He was having fights with his actors on set. Will Smith just punched a guy on national tv and yet people are clamoring for his comeback. I guess people have their favorites they'll forgive

[Cmasterclay]

1 minute ago, Maggie said:

DOR is freaking good director. American Hustle was amazing.

 

I really don't get the DOR backlash. He was having fights with his actors on set. Will Smith just punched a guy on national tv and yet people are clamoring for his comeback. I guess people have their favorites they'll forgive

My brother in Christ he sexually molested his niece and admitted it.

[Maggie]

1 minute ago, Cmasterclay said:

My brother in Christ he sexually molested his niece and admitted it.

He did what?

[Krissykins]

4 minutes ago, Maggie said:

DOR is freaking good director. American Hustle was amazing.

 

I really don't get the DOR backlash. He was having fights with his actors on set. Will Smith just punched a guy on national tv and yet people are clamoring for his comeback. I guess people have their favorites they'll forgive

They are?? 

[Nikostar]

This movie is awful and deserves to fail.

[Eric the Fall Guy]

4 minutes ago, Maggie said:

He did what?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-has-david-o-russell-never-answered-for-groping-his-trans-niece

[Cmasterclay]

Beyond the reviews and DOR controversy and anything else, I found the Amsterdam trailers from the first one shockingly, astonishingly bad and lifeless, especially given the cast who signed up and the fact that DOR for all his flaws had made some good, kinetic movies in the past.

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

1 hour ago, Eric the Crocodile said:

So like I get why all these actors and producers signed on to Amsterdam. David O. Russell still has his Oscars goodwill and frankly these rich celebs would happily sign a deal with Satan if they could. But I can't understand for the life of me why any executive greenlit something that was destined to fail. I get that nobody sets out to make a bad movie and I'm sure the script or pitch was really interesting. But like...those Disney/Fox/New Regency execs had to have known this would be a PR disaster.

 

#MeToo has been around for ages and DOR was a big name thrown around during the beginning of the movement. This is a film that is aimed towards an audience that will be more aware of these scandals and there's going to be tons of articles about Russell's sketchy past from publications that Amsterdam's main audience likely enjoy reading. Even if Amsterdam was Citizen Kane-level good, that's awful press that people will not feel comfortable with supporting.

 

At least with something like The Flash, it was greenlit before Ezra's stuff became mainstream, it's based on a super popular brand and has Keaton nostalgia that will make people want to ignore Ezra's behavior. This has to be the most baffling greenlighting in years.

The diminishing returns started with Joy and that was pre-pandemic, before #MeToo. The next DOR movie was going to have a tougher time being accepted, even if Covid had never happened. If some studio had given him $10-20 million for a contemporary drama in January 2020, I would be cynical but from a business perspective, sure. Eighty million for a 1930s caper directed by a predator, that began filming in January 2021? Say it started at $65 million and ballooned due to Covid costs, that's still a baffling choice.

 

Like, if his first movie back was a cheapie $5m horror, not only is it inexpensive, but there's the novelty of what a David O Russell horror movie would even be like. It would also appeal to an audience that doesn't care if the director has been "canceled", or need awards buzz to be successful. Instead, the studio just carried on like it was 2016 and the latest DOR ensemble was going to be showered with awards and $200 million worldwide. Insanity...

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

 

[Eric the Fall Guy]

1 minute ago, BestPicturePlutoNash said:

 

God it feels soooooooo nice to have midday Deadline updates again. Don't know why they did it for this weekend, but at least things aren't boring anymore!

[ringedmortality]

Smile,
Though your heart is achin'
Smile,
Even though it's breakin'

[Eric the Fall Guy]

 

[TwoMisfits]

Lyle Lyle had a production budget of $50M?  I guess they were hoping for Clifford Part 2 turnout minimum...

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

1 hour ago, Cmasterclay said:

Beyond the reviews and DOR controversy and anything else, I found the Amsterdam trailers from the first one shockingly, astonishingly bad and lifeless, especially given the cast who signed up and the fact that DOR for all his flaws had made some good, kinetic movies in the past.

I read the premise on Wikipedia, the trailer says "a lot of this actually happened", but I never would have guessed what they meant based on the ads. The American Hustle trailers/ads are also more vibes than plot, but there was more overall star power in the top roles and the story took place 35 years ago (at the time) vs nearly 90 years ago for Amsterdam.

[Eric the Fall Guy]

I've gotten the Amsterdam trailer a few times in front of the movies and they've been airing ads nonstop on Hulu, and I still have no clue what the plot of the movie is. Is it about a cover-up of a murder? I guess that's it? Just not sure why I should be invested in the story and the actors.

[babz06]

6 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

Lyle Lyle had a production budget of $50M?  I guess they were hoping for Clifford Part 2 turnout minimum...

50m is normal budget for this type of film, considering the CGI. Besides Sony only co-financed the film. It’ll probably leg it out to 50-60m because what else do kids have to watch in theaters until Strange World. Then It’ll make its money back with streaming and VOD. 

[Pinacolada]

1 hour ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

The diminishing returns started with Joy and that was pre-pandemic, before #MeToo. The next DOR movie was going to have a tougher time being accepted, even if Covid had never happened. If some studio had given him $10-20 million for a contemporary drama in January 2020, I would be cynical but from a business perspective, sure. Eighty million for a 1930s caper directed by a predator, that began filming in January 2021? Say it started at $65 million and ballooned due to Covid costs, that's still a baffling choice.

 

Like, if his first movie back was a cheapie $5m horror, not only is it inexpensive, but there's the novelty of what a David O Russell horror movie would even be like. It would also appeal to an audience that doesn't care if the director has been "canceled", or need awards buzz to be successful. Instead, the studio just carried on like it was 2016 and the latest DOR ensemble was going to be showered with awards and $200 million worldwide. Insanity...

Yeah I 100% agree with this. Exactly what I mean

 

The budget for this (pre-pandemic and post pandemic) is baffling. I said it in its own thread, there's like NO reason that this needed to cost THAT much more than American Hustle

[Krissykins]

It would be great for Smile to be #1 again. 
 

$3.85m Friday off a $2.1m Thursday feels a bit low though, that’s under 90% jump. Don’t Worry Darling jumped 100% in it’s second Friday, so hopefully Deadline are underestimating the Friday night showings. 

[Eric the Fall Guy]

Feel like this club should have existed earlier, but this seems like a fun race. Any takers?

 

 

 

[John Marston]

2 hours ago, Maggie said:

DOR is freaking good director. American Hustle was amazing.

 

I really don't get the DOR backlash. He was having fights with his actors on set. Will Smith just punched a guy on national tv and yet people are clamoring for his comeback. I guess people have their favorites they'll forgive

I  don’t know anything about the DOR controversy but American Hustle is one of the most annoying and overrated movies ever made