They’ll be second guessing this one for a long time to come. Should “Jersey Boys” have been released in September or October? (Yes.) Should Clint Eastwood have cast someone known to the key demo audience in one of the roles of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons? (Maybe.) Should the movie have glossed over the darker points of the story and just been a jukebox musical on screen? (We’ll never know.)
Anyway, “Jersey Boys” is a dud at the box office with $13.5 million total for the weekend. Luckily it didn’t cost that much. And in the end, it could make money from DVD, streaming and cable. It might have helped if Frankie Valli had turned up to promote it. But Valli skipped all the premieres. It’s clear he didn’t like the movie.
Honestly, the idea of Clint Eastwood and Frankie Valli in the same sentence is odd. Let’s face it. Which two things do not go together? Clint is an American icon, the stoic representative of mid Western values. Frankie is New Jersey. Clint is jazz. Frankie is Atlantic City pop. They’re each great but they don’t mix. Still, I hope people see the movie, it’s very good, it’s just not the fantasy.
“Think Like a Man Too” won the weekend, a killer sequel to the first “Think.” The comedy made $30 million. It only cost $24 million. “Think 3” must already be in script form.
“Edge of Tomorrow” has now made $50 million in China, according to Warner Bros. Is that possible? The Chinese people have taken to the concept of continually starting over and trying to remember what happened the last time. Interesting.
