Weekend Thread | The Boy and The Heron $12.97M, Godzilla -1.0 $8.59M

[Youngstar]

kinda offtopic, but at my local(germany) Cinemachain they just introduced a way too show how full a showing is. Do some US Cinemas also do this?
(I imagine that would help with tracking. You can also still see it for showings that already started/are over for the current day) (this is Wonka tomorrow)

Edited December 8, 2023 by Youngstar

[Eric Loves Rey]

26 minutes ago, CoolioD1 said:

it is kind of a dated rule from back in the 50s when basically only french and italian films got real traction among critics. but i kinda like it i dunno as a film olympics sort of thing. it's always interesting to see what film a country's selection committee will pick to represent themselves. Interesting that this was the first year ever Japan picked a film from a non-Japanese filmmaker to represent them.

I agree. I also kind of like it in these instances where it's going towards one that's more obscure than the other options. Like Heron is practically locked to win Animated Feature and is in consideration for Best Picture and Best Score. It's already going to be fine in terms of awards love and attention, and a lot of people know what Ghibli is. Godzilla is also Godzilla and is already making tons of money. But for Perfect Days, I had no idea it existed, but I'm glad I know there's a new Wim Wenders movie coming and a potential nomination might mean it comes to my local arthouse. So three great films are all getting recognition and attention in their own way.

[MisterLibby]

Great opening for Heron, can’t wait to see it tonight, but don’t kid yourselves, it’ll drop like a rock 

[AdrianL]

Hope Heron holds ok for the month. I saw the Imax preview but am looking forward to seeing the English dub sometime in the next week.

[MovieMan89]

1 hour ago, Eric Wonka said:

I agree. I also kind of like it in these instances where it's going towards one that's more obscure than the other options. Like Heron is practically locked to win Animated Feature and is in consideration for Best Picture and Best Score. It's already going to be fine in terms of awards love and attention, and a lot of people know what Ghibli is. Godzilla is also Godzilla and is already making tons of money. But for Perfect Days, I had no idea it existed, but I'm glad I know there's a new Wim Wenders movie coming and a potential nomination might mean it comes to my local arthouse. So three great films are all getting recognition and attention in their own way.

But it’s incredibly frustrating when you have a medium like animation that the academy loves to throw under the bus that could have finally had a huge moment winning an award that wasn’t music or animated feature. 
 

Also, how are we gonna have Japan represented by a non-Japanese filmmaker when we have a new film by Hayao freakin Miyazaki? That’s pure craziness (yes I know not the Academy’s fault Japan didn’t submit it). 

Edited December 8, 2023 by MovieMan89

[CoolioD1]

22 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Also, how are we gonna have Japan represented by a non-Japanese filmmaker when we have a new film by Hayao freakin Miyazaki? That’s pure craziness (yes I know not the Academy’s fault Japan didn’t submit it). 

Probably has to do with Heron Boy getting a slightly muted reception in Japan. Perfect Days did get a strong response out of Cannes it's not a bad pick good chance it still gets them a nomination. 

[MovieMan89]

3 minutes ago, CoolioD1 said:

Probably has to do with Heron Boy getting a slightly muted reception in Japan. Perfect Days did get a strong response out of Cannes it's not a bad pick good chance it still gets them a nomination. 

But Heron made Cannes history in medaling for an animated film… 

[CoolioD1]

4 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

But Heron made Cannes history in medaling for an animated film… 

Huh it didn't play at Cannes.

[MovieMan89]

1 minute ago, CoolioD1 said:

Huh it didn't play at Cannes.

Lol my bad, I had TIFF mixed up in my mind 

[ThomasNicole]

5 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Lol my bad, I had TIFF mixed up in my mind 

TIFF is not much of a big deal, not even the winner there is getting that much traction in award season 

[ThomasNicole]

There’s always many reasons to countries to not select movies. 
 

Anatomy of a Fall is one of the best received movies of the year and France send another one likely because half of the movie is in English language and they feel a fully French speaking movie is more culturally relevant for them.
 

I suspect the decision for Perfect Days comes from a similar place when it comes to resonate in the country, since Heron have some sort of love or hate reception. 
 

Still i feel having just 1 option for country is the best decision, it would be ridiculous to call a category as international with only 2 countries in it.

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

I just got so excited seeing a tweet from Film Updates about Lynne Ramsay’s next movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Christopher Abbott and Robert Pattinson….

 

….and then I realized it was bait.

 

now I’m sad.

Edited December 8, 2023 by AMC Theaters Enjoyer

[VanillaSkies]

Heron is still eligible for Best Animated though, right? So makes sense they wanted to spread it out and submit a different one for Best International.

[harrisonisdead]

29 minutes ago, ThomasNicole said:

I suspect the decision for Perfect Days comes from a similar place when it comes to resonate in the country, since Heron have some sort of love or hate reception.

Well, we don't really know what Perfect Days' reception will be in Japan since it hasn't released there yet. 

 

Animation in general doesn't seem like a safe bet for international feature. Japan has tried it before with Princess Mononoke and Weathering With You and neither film even made the shortlist (Weathering With You wasn't nominated for animated feature, either, and the category didn't exist yet for Mononoke). The only animated films to be nominated for international feature are Waltz With Bashir and Flee, but those are both animated documentaries so I guess there was less certainty about what category they definitively "belonged" in.

 

If anything I highly suspect Japan's next in line would have been Monster. It's been pretty highly acclaimed in the states, certainly more so than Kore-eda's other two post-Shoplifters films, so could have been well-positioned as Hirokazu Kore-eda's return to the Oscars. Evil Does Not Exist would have also been a potential choice because of the recent memory of Ryusuke Hamaguchi's major Oscars success. But if we're considering The Boy and the Heron to be divisive/alienating, Evil Does Not Exist is far less awards-friendly than even that.

 

Funnily enough, though, Perfect Days' reception in the US (or anglosphere in general) has been far more tepid than any of these mentioned films. But maybe the reasons for that are the same reasons that make it a safe choice.

[JustWatching]

Deadline with the early results, fwiw.

 

https://deadline.com/2023/12/box-office-boy-and-the-heron-beyonce-renaissance-1235658395/

 

Heron Friday 5.4m, BOSS 2.5m, -1 1.8m

[Danhjpn]

21 minutes ago, JustWatching said:

Deadline with the early results, fwiw.

 

https://deadline.com/2023/12/box-office-boy-and-the-heron-beyonce-renaissance-1235658395/

 

Heron Friday 5.4m, BOSS 2.5m, -1 1.8m

Hmm.... including the previews, I hoped the Heron got close to 6m 

Godzilla is also lower than expected?

Edited December 9, 2023 by Danhjpn

[JustWatching]

2 minutes ago, Danhjpn said:

Hmm.... including the previews, I hoped the Heron got close to 6m 

Godzilla is also lower than expected?

there were some higher hopes for Godzilla but they went around the horn with Shawn in the buzz thread and settled on 6 so I’d say about as expected. Deadline often lowballs tho so we will see.

[Danhjpn]

3 minutes ago, JustWatching said:

there were some higher hopes for Godzilla but they went around the horn with Shawn in the buzz thread and settled on 6 so I’d say about as expected. Deadline often lowballs tho so we will see.

Has Deadline often lowballs the prediction for Friday when they updated at 5pm? 

 

Godzilla total locations this weekend increases from last week.... 

[JustWatching]

3 minutes ago, Danhjpn said:

Has Deadline often lowballs the prediction for Friday when they updated at 5pm? 

 

Godzilla total locations this weekend increases from last week.... 

 

it did but only by about 200 screens and lost PLFs at the same time. And yeah it’s still early, walk-ups could bump the numbers up a bit.

[cannastop]

4 hours ago, Youngstar said:

kinda offtopic, but at my local(germany) Cinemachain they just introduced a way too show how full a showing is. Do some US Cinemas also do this?

not really. Japan does this though

In the US you just have to click on the listing to see which tickets are bought up