The total box office for the weekend? $65 million. That’s for all the movies in release this weekend, from the number 1 “Hitman’s Bodyguard” down to the smallest indie film.
“Hitman” took in $10 million, not a huge amount for a movie that features two X Men– Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. But the reviews were tepid at best.
Ignored almost competely is the well reviewed “Logan Lucky” which suffered from lack of a real marketing campaign. Steven Soderbergh’s comeback film took in just $4.4 million.
What’s pretty clear is that the movie biz needs a huge promotional shot in the arm. The Academy and MPAA might think about bringing in a crisis counselor, no kidding.
It doesn’t help that there isn’t much on the release schedule coming soon that’s BIG. September 8th brings Stephen King’ s “It” and on September 22nd we get the “Kingsman” sequel. But it’s a dry, dry month otherwise.
PS Irony that Tobe Hooper director of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has died at age 74. In Houston, they’re saying on the news, don’t go into your attic during the hurricane unless you bring a chainsaw. It’s a weird tribute to a cool director.
