WEEKEND THREAD | Wonka 14.4, Night Swim 12, Aqua 10.6, Migration 10.2, Anyone But You 9.5 (increased from last weekend!)

[John Marston]

cast Sydney Sweeney as Elena Fisher alongside Tom Holland in the Uncharted sequel. The screen will be sizzling. It will increase over the first

[emoviefan]

1 hour ago, DAJK said:

I genuinely think one of the smartest (or perhaps luckiest) decisions made for Anyone But You was casting Powell and Sweeney. They're both up-and-comers who have bona fide hits under their belt that make them recognizable (Euphoria for Sweeney, which is very big among the online Gen Z/Millenial crowd; and Maverick for Powell which was strong for older white women) but they aren't A-listers to the point where it's just "Clooney and Roberts in another movie together". They are small enough to disappear into their roles, and big enough to be recognizable. 

 

It also helps that they're both strong actors who have genuine chemistry with one another. One thing I've been noticing lately is that the "movie star" isn't as dead as we thought it was 2015-2019. Sure, you don't get surefire 200M grossers just by casting an A-lister anymore, but if you get the right actor in the right role, they are massive massive draws. The "franchise" trend of the 2010s (which is still strong mind you) is somewhat becoming eclipsed by a "star + concept" model which honestly excites me. 

 

If ABY can make it to 80M total (or screw it, 100M seems possible) I think it's a huge win for the industry, a huge win for rom-coms, a huge win for movie stars, and a huge win for theaters. 

Which is why I think some are sleeping on the potential of The Fall Guy. The The Gosling-Blunt Paring in which they are selling the  romantic comedy  as much as the action comedy. If the movie delivers as a  crowd pleaser it's going to do way better than a lot think it will. 

Edited January 6 by emoviefan

[MovieMan89]

1 hour ago, dallas said:

Anecdotal but my mom really liked Aquaman 2, more than the first and more than most superhero movies we've seen recently. Even at Christmas she was going around telling friends and family how much she liked it. Maybe the movie is just having really good WOM among moms and children and less so among the primary demographic. 

Also anecdotal but my mom also liked it, but was very specific it was mainly bc she thinks Momoa is sexy and charismatic lol (my sister echoed the sentiment despite my brother in law not really liking it and being a big comics guy) 

Edited January 6 by MovieMan89

[MovieMan89]

45 minutes ago, emoviefan said:

Which is why I think some are sleeping on the potential of The Fall Guy. The The Gosling-Blunt Paring in which they are selling the  romantic comedy  as much as the action comedy. If the movie delivers as a  crowd pleaser it's going to do way better than a lot think it will. 

Yeah that might be huge if WOM is there. Gosling is top of the Hollywood heap right now for appeal 

[Eric Prime]

I mean Jason Momoa's pecs are my everything, so I get it. Like when he was wearing that bathrobe in Fast X? His hairy chest out? Soooooooooooooooooooo daddy material

 

[TRISTAN]

1 hour ago, DAJK said:

I genuinely think one of the smartest (or perhaps luckiest) decisions made for Anyone But You was casting Powell and Sweeney. They're both up-and-comers who have bona fide hits under their belt that make them recognizable (Euphoria for Sweeney, which is very big among the online Gen Z/Millenial crowd; and Maverick for Powell which was strong for older white women) but they aren't A-listers to the point where it's just "Clooney and Roberts in another movie together". They are small enough to disappear into their roles, and big enough to be recognizable. 

 

It also helps that they're both strong actors who have genuine chemistry with one another. One thing I've been noticing lately is that the "movie star" isn't as dead as we thought it was 2015-2019. Sure, you don't get surefire 200M grossers just by casting an A-lister anymore, but if you get the right actor in the right role, they are massive massive draws. The "franchise" trend of the 2010s (which is still strong mind you) is somewhat becoming eclipsed by a "star + concept" model which honestly excites me. 

 

If ABY can make it to 80M total (or screw it, 100M seems possible) I think it's a huge win for the industry, a huge win for rom-coms, a huge win for movie stars, and a huge win for theaters. 

Sydney Sweeney was great in the movie Reality.

[filmlover]

All that talk over either Wonka or Migration being the unexpected leggy smash (though both have done pretty well for themselves) only for the surprise hit to be a movie that seemed to be left for dead pre-release. They don't call them "surprise hits" for nothing!

 

Night Swim's looking to open fine all things considered. The schlocky first-weekend-of-January horror title is still capable of bringing in some folks, I guess.

[VanillaSkies]

With Anyone But You having a slight increase this weekend, it should be able to hold onto most of its screens next weekend for the long weekend (which could possibly mean another small increase for the 3-day or small drop). After that, nothing comes out for about a month that threatens to take screens away.

 

That would mean it should still have lots of screens and be playing solid right up to Valentine’s Day. It’s actually possible this gets a bit of a Valentine’s Day boost, which is so funny to think about since most of us were convinced it should have opened on Valentine’s Day. 
 

This run is starting to remind me of There’s Something About Mary, but on a smaller scale. That film opened pretty small but just played and played all summer long. It would be really exciting to see this one hit 100 million, and hopefully studios will see well made comedies can still make money at the Box Office. 

[keysersoze123]

I have to say Deadline numbers are low. Even for Night Swim which I think should cross 5m+ with previews. Wonka wont drop this hard for sure. But the biggest thing has to be Anyone but you number. Let us hope for double digits 3rd weekend :-) 

[JonathanMB]

Cinemascore is in...

 

NIGHT SWIM (2024)

[Krissykins]

3 hours ago, filmlover said:

All that talk over either Wonka or Migration being the unexpected leggy smash (though both have done pretty well for themselves) only for the surprise hit to be a movie that seemed to be left for dead pre-release. They don't call them "surprise hits" for nothing!

 

Night Swim's looking to open fine all things considered. The schlocky first-weekend-of-January horror title is still capable of bringing in some folks, I guess.

A tradition that turned 19 years old this January, started with White Noise in 2005. I feel old. 
 

 

Called the C for Night Swim. Not that it’ll have much impact on the film. 

[SchumacherFTW]

5 hours ago, Eric Owns Mickey Mouse said:

I mean Jason Momoa's pecs are my everything, so I get it. Like when he was wearing that bathrobe in Fast X? His hairy chest out? Soooooooooooooooooooo daddy material

 

Man single handedly made that movie watchable

[Hatebox]

7 hours ago, emoviefan said:

Which is why I think some are sleeping on the potential of The Fall Guy. The The Gosling-Blunt Paring in which they are selling the  romantic comedy  as much as the action comedy. If the movie delivers as a  crowd pleaser it's going to do way better than a lot think it will. 

I think with Fall Guy it just depends if it’s any good or not. At the moment it looks like a throwaway Netflix production and I keep having to remind myself it’s a proper cinematic non-streamer movie. 

[Valonqar]

11 hours ago, John Marston said:

cast Sydney Sweeney as Elena Fisher alongside Tom Holland in the Uncharted sequel. The screen will be sizzling. It will increase over the first

 

You think Tomdaya shippers would stand for that? 

[Valonqar]

14 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

I’ve had a few people tell me now that Aquabro was enjoyable solely for Momoa… I may have underestimated the appeal he can have (esp with females) 

 

Truly shocking that a very good looking actor with tons of charm and charisma and zero scandals or controversies has a pull with the audience even if his movie isn't that great. Likability goes a long way. Hey your movie isn't very good but I really like to hang out with you for 2 hrs at the cinema.

[Torontofan]

11 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

 

Truly shocking that a very good looking actor with tons of charm and charisma and zero scandals or controversies has a pull with the audience even if his movie isn't that great. Likability goes a long way. Hey your movie isn't very good but I really like to hang out with you for 2 hrs at the cinema.

be honext fast x was only watchable due to Mamoa

[JonathanMB]

9 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

 

Truly shocking that a very good looking actor with tons of charm and charisma and zero scandals or controversies has a pull with the audience even if his movie isn't that great. Likability goes a long way. Hey your movie isn't very good but I really like to hang out with you for 2 hrs at the cinema.

 

It's the kind of thing that makes you sad about how actors (or more likely their agents) no longer seem to know how to build proper star vehicles around actors that people like to see. Since he was cast as Aquaman Momoa should have had at least 3-4 $20M actioners that make $30M in America and $70M overseas and performs well on streaming, and his only star vehicles have been dumped on DVD/streaming (Braven, a perfectly solid action flick) and two Netflix originals that left zero cultural impression (Sweet Girl, Slumberland). 

[Valonqar]

3 minutes ago, JonathanMB said:

 

It's the kind of thing that makes you sad about how actors (or more likely their agents) no longer seem to know how to build proper star vehicles around actors that people like to see. Since he was cast as Aquaman Momoa should have had at least 3-4 $20M actioners that make $30M in America and $70M overseas and performs well on streaming, and his only star vehicles have been dumped on DVD/streaming (Braven, a perfectly solid action flick) and two Netflix originals that left zero cultural impression (Sweet Girl, Slumberland). 

 

True though he has 

 

Dune franchise. For those who didn't read books beyond the first one

 

his ghola (clone) returns in the second book aka third movie by Vlleneuve and in all other books where he becomes one of the leads

 

 

But point does stand that Hollywood didn't know what to do with him for the most part. Not a sbad as botching Butler after 300 but yeah.

[Kon]

26 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

 

Truly shocking that a very good looking actor with tons of charm and charisma and zero scandals or controversies has a pull with the audience even if his movie isn't that great. Likability goes a long way. Hey your movie isn't very good but I really like to hang out with you for 2 hrs at the cinema.

 

Honestly, I still don't know what it's so attractive about Momoa. Maybe his "charm" just doesn't work for me.

 

I should mention that Aquaman 2 doesn't seem to have a so big female audience as the first one. So, I'm not sure Momoa's attractive is so important for the legs.

Edited January 6 by Kon

[Valonqar]

11 minutes ago, Torontofan said:

be honext fast x was only watchable due to Mamoa

 psst don't let Vin Diesel hear you