Well, “Frozen 2” did what it was supposed to do, and put a chill on most of this week’s movies. The Disney franchisee scored a stunning $127 million in its debut weekend, making it the third biggest opening for an animated movie.

Don’t forget, it took the first movie 13 days to make $100 million in 2013, over Thanksgiving weekend. The total domestic take was $400 million. So the sequel already has a quarter of that in the bank. “Frozen 3” is being defrosted even as we speak.

But the real box office story is “Harriet,” directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Cynthia Erivo. Focus Features has raked in $36 million over 4 weeks. This weekend brought in another $2.3 million. The little movie has a following, great word of mouth, and Erivo in what should be an Oscar nominated performance. They only have to hang on now for some awards announcements, which will bring in more audience.

Ironically, this week the screenwriter said in an interview that when the movie was first pitched years ago, the suggestion was for Julia Roberts– who is white– to play Harriet Tubman, one of the great black American heroes of all time. Can you imagine if such a thing had been attempted? Luckily, it wasn’t. Erivo is a marvel, and she will in the top 5 actresses of the year including Renee Zellweger, Charlize Theron, Saoirse Ronan, and maybe Alfre Woodard. That would be a terrific group of finalists.

I’m so thrilled for Cynthia Erivo. She won the Tony Award for the revived “Color Purple” on Broadway. She’s an extraordinary singer and actress. Her next success will be playing Aretha Franklin in the Discovery channel’s “Genius” mini series.

Read all of today’s headlines click here

We have seen the last big big Oscar buzzed movie for the 2020 Academy Awards. Yesterday  I told you about the penultimate entry, Clint Eastwood’s four star “Richard Jewell.”

Now we’ve been privy to a showing of Sam Mendes’ extraordinary “1917.” That’s right, extraordinary.

“1917” comes from an original idea Mendes had based on his grandfather’s experiences in World War I. He conscripted a co-writer. Krysty Wilson-Cairns wrote the screenplay from Mendes’ ideas.

Roger Deakins, who finally won an Oscar for his cinematography in “Blade Runner 2049,” will win– not just be nominated– no matter what else happens for his work here. Can you dig it? What he’s done here is so above and beyond that people are going to be gaga. Other noms will go to editor Lee Smith, who helped Mendes make what we think of as a continuous shot look seamless. (The whole movie is continuous and mind blowing in that regard.)

Thomas Newman’s score is one, like Howard Shore’s for “The Song of Names,” you would want to play at home on your stereo.

Actors: the main actors are young guys. George McKay we know a little, mostly from “Captain Fantastic.” Dean-Charles Chapman of “Game of Thrones” fame makes quite an impression. They are so strong, and the screenplay is so well delineated, that they hold the movie, McKay especially. There are cameos from Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, Richard Madden, and even Colin Firth that are all very nice. But the main guys — on a mission to stop 1600 men from being killed — who rock this film.

Isn’t Mendes the star? I do believe so. He has art movies with “American Beauty” (Oscar winner). “Perdition,” and “Revolutionary Road.” He has his James Bond movies, “Skyfall” and “Spectre.” In “Jarhead,” he drilled down into the military, excellent prep for this one. Mendes’s theater work is so extensive and award winning, and you can see it in “1917.” I would say this is theater to some extent, but there’s plenty of action, drama, heart-racing excitement to make it an eminent movie.

I can’t say more about the plot yet. And the poster kind of makes it seem like “Midway,” which it ain’t. This is the best war movie since “Saving Private Ryan.” That includes Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima”, Spielberg’s “War Horse,” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” all of which are top notch. Scorsese and Spielberg will praise it lavishly. They should be happy. Someone in the younger generation has learned from them.  This is some of the best filmmaking ever. I mean, ever.

And– it’s only one hour, 58 minutes. Very clean, economical, just like “Richard Jewell.” We got two literally great movies for the Oscars at the end of our main viewing season. Hope springs eternal!

It’s a Frozen day in the neighborhood. That’s because Disney’s “Frozen 2″ opened on Friday with $41.8 million, including Thursday previews. With a big surge on Saturday as kids are parked in theaters all day,”Frozen 2” should make $120 million for the weekend. It’s a franchise, not a movie, and it’s cheaper than baby sitting.

In the real world of cinema, Tom Hanks’s Mister Rogers movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” opened nicely with just $4.5 million on Friday. This one is a long haul release which will grow with time and awards news. Marielle Heller’s movie is excellent, and deserves a big audience. Let’s let it simmer over the Thanksgiving weekend, etc.

“Charlie’s Angels” is just not attracting any audience. It made $970,000 last night. Total so far $11.7 million. Total write off. Internationally, the total is $33 million. Even foreign audiences don’t know what’s going on.

More tomorrow…

I was willing to let the Michael Jackson estate have a go at a Broadway musical that covered the King of Pop’s 20s and 30s, ending with the 1980s and his tremendous successes. Stopping there was a smart idea, since the hits from the 90s aren’t so iconic. And that way they could avoid all discussion of child molestation accusations, payoffs, and Michael’s descent into a Howard Hughes-like capriciousness.

But now comes word that producer Graham King and screenwriter John Logan are going to attempt a movie biography that encompasses Michael’s entire life. This is a mistake. This is called pushing your luck.

Now the Estate is asking for trouble. Michael’s life and behavior post 1990 is a rollercoaster ride of scandals, tabloid headlines, inexplicable marriages, uncomfortable explanations about business and personal relationships, and so on. Does the Estate really want to recount the endless managers and bad business deals, the Neverland children, the payoffs to families– even if they are shakedowns–etc?

That movie can’t be whitewashed. Critics will weigh in across the board and the movie will be a waste of money. Once Logan sketches it out he’ll see the problems. Does he really want to explain all the plastic surgery? The “marriages”?

And then, of course, there’s the ongoing litigation with Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck. It’s not even resolved, and the Estate is thumbing its nose at them. Wouldn’t be better to let that all subside? Jackson’s record sales are good, the musical can be fun. But a supposed serious movie that tells all truths? There’s no way that can work out.

A friend of mine called this morning who’d seen Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell last night in Hollywood. She knew I was seeing it this morning in New York. “It’s going to upset your apple cart of an Oscar list,” she said.

She was right. Eastwood, at 90, has made a jewel of a film in “Richard Jewell,” a real masterclass in filmmaking. Eastwood will have to be nominated for Best Director. The screenplay and music (by Arturo Sandoval) will have to be nominated. And the actors, the actors now roll right into the top 5 in their respective categories. Paul Walter Hauser is the most unlikely leading man as Jewell. Sam Rockwell, now on a run, goes into Best Supporting Actor. Kathy Bates in Supporting Actress.

But I would be remiss if I left out Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm, Ian Gomez and the great Nina Arianda, who plays the whole movie with a Russian accent as if she never left Moscow.

read all today’s news by clicking here

Richard Jewell, dead since 2007, was falsely accused by everyone– the media, the FBI, the Atlanta Journal Constitution– of planting a bomb that blew up at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. For a month in the summer of 96 he was Public Enemy Number 1 until no case could be made besides anecdotal supposition. A year later the real bomber was found, but Jewell’s name was ruined.

There is already the outbreak of a scandal surrounding this movie because in the film an Atlanta Journal female reporter (Wilde, perfection) sleeps with the head of the local FBI office (Jon Hamm in his best work since “Mad Men”) to get Jewell’s name for a scoop. The AJC is furious, insisting this never happened. Frankly it doesn’t matter. This is the usual Oscar campaign mud thrown when a possible Best Picture appears on the scene and threatens the apple cart. Please, please ignore it.

Now keep in mind that filming began five months ago, in June of this year. And the movie is finished. Eastwood was beginning his 90th year (he actually turns 90 next May). His late career directing has been something astonishing. From highlights like  “Unforgiven” to “American Sniper,” “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Mule,” to “Gran Torino,” this is an undeniable resume of classics. Even the ones that didn’t quite work remain watchable and underrated.

Until recently, Eastwood also wrote his own scores, or worked on them with his son. For “The Mule,” he tapped Sandoval who returns here with a gorgeous soundtrack that sounds like Clint wrote it. It’s just as good.

Eastwood plays with the idea of American heroes and anti-heroes in his films. Certainly he’s humanized Jewell miraculously, just the way he made Captain Sullenberger in “Sully” into a three dimensional figure. Jewell isn’t handsome or smart, he’s not glib or literate. But with Billy Ray’s banger of a screenplay he builds Jewell into a massively sympathetic, likable hero. What’s the secret? That the people on Jewell’s side– at least in the movie– all like him. So we like him.

The movie is based on a 1997 magazine article by Marie Brenner, and another book by two reporters. Were they completely factual? I guess we’ll find out soon as every complaint will be brought forward. Is the movie factual? Again, as soon as someone says, that’s not what happened, put your fingers in your ears. This is a dramatization of the facts, it’s not a documentary. And we’re so lucky to have it, and to still have Eastwood with his economical, no- nonsense style.