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“Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald” had an opening weekend of $62 million, down $13 million from its first episode, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Not as many people looked for them this time around.
Sony has a big write off in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” a continuation from their “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” So far the sequel has made $13.3 million in two weeks which means it’s dead. Sony counterbalanced with “Venom,” their Spider Man movie without Spider Man, which is up to $210 million.
Fox’s “Widows” from Oscar winner Steve McQueen had a struggling opening weekend with just over $12 million.
Now everyone is watching “Green Book,” in very limited release. This movie should be a break out hit when it goes wide. I do think it needs more promotion, a fuller explanation of the Green Book in the press, and Universal needs to get Kris Bowers or someone out on TV to play Don Shirley’s music. Also, “Green Book” is better described a kind of “Bucket List” movie rather than “Driving Miss Daisy.”
Any good news? “Bohemian Rhapsody” is up to $126 million. What’s motivating audiences? A crazy little thing called love.
Tonight’s tremendously unfunny “Saturday Night Live” is over. And Alec Baldwin has missed his third week in a row playing Donald Trump.
It’s November ‘sweeps’ when advertisers measure ratings for pricing. Baldwin has missed the entire sweeps period thanks to his untimely arrest on November 2nd.
It’s not as though Baldwin, a guest on the show, is on every week. But he’s been on pretty consistently since Donald Trump ran for president, and he’s won some awards for the role, too.
But since the arrest for allegedly punching a man over a parking space in front of his apartment house, Baldwin has been MIA.
His talk show on ABC, which was sinking in the ratings anyway, has also been pulled from Sunday night and may re-surface in December on Saturdays.
No Baldwin as Trump is a kick in the gut for “SNL.” He’s the linchpin of the “SNL” political sketches, almost always in the cold open. With Trump committing any number of embarrassing gaffes every week in real life, Baldwin’s rendition of him is good for a sure fire, trenchant laugh.
But it’s obvious NBC has removed him from the show for the time being. And that has created a hole in “SNL” that’s getting bigger every week. Trump was absent from the Election sketches, already causing a problem. Tonight’s show, light on politics, could have had Trump giving Jim Acosta his press pass back, or visiting the California wildfire and telling officials to rake the forest.
When will Alec’s visit to purgatory end? Soon, it’s hoped.
We were late for “The Prom.” Or rather, the sound mixer was on Thursday night for the opening of the hilarious new musical. Curtain was set for 6:30pm, everyone was in their seats at the Longacre Theater including Victor Garber and Kristen Chenoweth. But by 6:40 it was clear the show was not imminent.
Tony winning director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw appeared on stage. “Our sound mixer cannot get in to the city from New Jersey because of the storm,” he said. “So please, talk among yourselves.”
That was an inauspicious start for a new musical no one knew anything about.
There was also quite a bit of noise behind the curtain while we waited for the sound mixer to make the treacherous trip through the Lincoln Tunnel. Was the cast trying to get out?
But by 7:30 there was good news, he arrived. And then there was more good news: “The Prom” is hysterically funny, with a real sense of joy, Nicholaw-directed dances, and all the stuff that has made shows like “Aladdin,” “Spamalot,” and even “Mean Girls” so winning.
The plot is what they call zany: a group of self-obsessed Broadway stars, celebrities at least in their own minds, are told people don’t like them because they’re…who they are. So this gang of misfits, the Scooby Doo crowd armed with Tony Awards, must pick a cause they can rally around. This turns out to be the story of a 17 year old lesbian in Indiana whose high school will not let her bring a same sex date. Off to Indiana our team goes, as they say, whether the Indianans like it or not.
“The Prom” comes from Bob Martin, who gave us the incredibly sublime “Drowsy Chaperone.” He and his cohorts have wrapped a story of acceptance in a small town inside a send up, a spoof of celebrity and self-awareness that is trenchant and urbane. The Broadway folks include Beth Leavel and Brooks Ashmanskas of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” Christopher Sieber, Angie Schworer, and Josh Lamon. They are all terrific, although Leavel– who won a Tony for Chaperone– had better repeat that success next spring. She is gold.So too are Michael Potts as the understanding high school principal, and Courtenay Collins, as the clueless mother of one of the two lesbians. (They’re very good, too–Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla).
Producer Jack Viertel came up with the concept and handed it over to Martin, Chad Beguelin, and Matthew Sklar. Now they could have a movie easily, and a TV series spun off from this idea. The Broadway gang are fish out of water in rural Indiana, and the Indiana people– if we had more time– could be like the folks from “Northern Exposure.” The show is such a frenzy, for example, that we never get to see the home lives of the two girls at the center of the scandal.
But that may be just as well. “The Prom” really works as a send up of show business, just like “Something Rotten.” The gay themes are there for spice, not to make a point. And still the point is made. It’s all about acceptance. And we accept “The Prom” for what it is– very, very funny.
It’s back to Hogwarts, on discount. “Fantastic Beasts 2,” not warmly reviewed, is well off the pace of the original. The new film is set to make $61-64 million, compared to the original’s $75 million. This will be the first stumble in the “Harry Potter” saga after nine films. It’s about time. Worldwide, though, “Grindewald” should do fine, especially in places where the usual elements don’t need to make sense.
Gary Hart is still not winning any races. The former Colorado senator, played by Hugh Jackman in “The Front Runner,” is out of steam already. Jason Reitman’s film is very good, but this is one that might have had a better life on HBO or Netflix. There’s not enough sizzle to push people into theaters. I think Sony knew this a couple of months ago so they haven’t put a lot into it.
Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne got some nice notices for “Instant Family,” a modern take on “With Six You Get Eggroll” or “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.” Blended family stories, adoption stories, and so on have always been time tested moderate hits. And that’s what this will be– $13 million for the weekend counting on matinees today and tomorrow. Then a nice life on DVD, streaming, cable, airplanes. It’s a weekend low for Wahlberg, maybe lower than his recent “Mile 22.” It’s time for “Ted 3,” if there wasn’t one already.
It won’t be that soon, but in a couple of years we may see a feature length documentary about Bill Cosby’s fall from grace.
A major studio has made a deal for a Cosby doc by a filmmaker with at least one hit project on her resume.
For the moment, I’m not going to divulge the studio or filmmaker’s identities so they can continue with their work uninterrupted.
But I’ve spoken to the filmmaker, who’s in touch with Cosby and his family on a regular basis. She says Cosby– despite tabloid stories– is doing very well in prison. “He’s separated from the general pubic,” the filmmaker says, “but when he’s with them, he’s a star, and they’re delighted to see him. Imagine Bill with a captive audience.”
Camille Cosby has apparently agreed to be part of the film although it’s unclear how candid she will be. It’s the same for their daughters. But plenty of Cosby friends and loyalists are participating.
It’s also unclear still whether Cosby will be allowed to give an interview from prison. Cosby is incarcerated at Pennsylvania’s newest, biggest, and most expensive prison, State Correctional Institution Phoenix, a $400 million, 3,830-bed complex in Montgomery County.
Stay tuned…if this film comes off as planned, it will be huge…
While ratings fall for her old show, now called “The Conners,” Roseanne has stayed off social media and conspicuously quiet. I still think the 11th episode of “The Conners” will feature her return from the dead, but that’s just a wild guess.
But Roseanne is planning a return to stand up comedy. She’s booked a date in Elkhart, Indiana for next May 17th. Tickets range from $37.95 go $72.95.
Last year, Roseanne toured Canada. But when the scandal broke about her racist tweet, her US dates were cancelled. This is her first attempt to make a return.
Why Elkhart? It’s a Republican town of around 50,000 in northern most Indiana. Roseanne may think they’re her people– Trump people. So far, not many are biting. Most of the Lerner Theater is still available.
It was Rachel Maddow’s week on MSNBC. After a shaky start on Monday in which she pretty much was tied with Sean Hannity at 9pm, Maddow went on to slay the Fox News rival.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Maddow soared over 3 million total viewers. On Thursday she dipped a but still held Hannity’s feet to the fire.
We won’t know tonight’s ratings (Friday) til Monday. But Maddow won the week, the week of Acosta and so many other Trump disasters. Maddow’s numbers also dwarfed Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. Rachel Maddow: I’ll have what she’s having!
The Independent Spirit Awards may have trouble finding 95,000 people to watch their broadcast on IFC next February. Their nominees today swung from prior years’ Oscar overlaps to movies almost no one has seen. They gave their Robert Altman Award to “Suspiria,” a movie literally no one has seen and doesn’t deserve it under any circumstances. Altman must be rolling in his grave. What a mess. Their most nominated film, “We the Animals,” made $400,000 this summer.
Yikes! No wonder Film Independent shut down the LA Film Festival. To quote Lynn Ramsay: “you were never really here.”
BEST FEATURE
Eighth Grade
First Reformed
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No Trace
You Were Never Really Here
BEST FIRST FEATURE
HereditaryÂ
Sorry to Bother You
The Tale
We the Animals
Wildlife
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Glenn Close, The Wife
Toni Collette, HereditaryÂ
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Regina Hall, Support the Girls
Helena Howard, Madeline’s MadelineÂ
Carey Mulligan, WildlifeÂ
Sony
BEST MALE LEAD
John Cho, Searching
Daveed Diggs, Blindspotting
Ethan Hawke, First ReformedÂ
Christian Malheiros, Socrates
Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here
BEST DIRECTOR
Leave No Trace
Sundance
Debra Granik, Leave No TraceÂ
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could TalkÂ
Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here
Paul Schrader, First Reformed
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Of Fathers and Sons
On Her Shoulders
Shirkers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Raúl Castillo, We the AnimalsÂ
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade
John David Washington, Monsters and MenÂ
Sorry To Bother You
Sundance
BEST SCREENPLAY
Richard Glatzer (Writer/Story By), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, Colette
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Tamara Jenkins, Private Life
Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You
Paul Schrader, First Reformed
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Suspiria
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Bo Burnham, Eighth GradeÂ
Christina Choe, Nancy
Cory Finley, ThoroughbredsÂ
Jennifer Fox, The TaleÂ
Quinn Shephard (Writer/Story By) and Laurie Shephard (Story By), Blame
BEST EDITING
Joe Bini, You Were Never Really HereÂ
Keiko Deguchi, Brian A. Kates & Jeremiah Zagar, We the Animals
Luke Dunkley, Nick Fenton, Chris Gill & Julian Hart, American Animals
Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Levy, The Tale
Nick Houy, Mid90s
BONNIE AWARD
Debra Granik
Tamara Jenkins
Karyn Kusama
Roma
Netflix
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Burning (South Korea)
The Favourite  (United Kingdom)
Happy as Lazzaro (Italy)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
A Bread Factory
En el Septimo Dia
Never Goin’ BackÂ
Socrates
Thunder Road
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Kayli Carter, PRIVATE LIFE
Tyne Daly, A BREAD FACTORY
Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
J. Smith-Cameron, NANCY
‘Suspiria’
Amazon
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ashley Connor, Madeline’s MadelineÂ
Diego Garcia, Wildlife
Benjamin Loeb, Mandy
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Suspiria
Zak Mulligan, We the Animals
PRODUCERS AWARD – The 22nd annual Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams
Gabrielle Nadig
Shrihari Sathe
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 25th annual Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Alex Moratto
Director of Sócrates
Ioana Uricaru
Director of Lemonade
Jeremiah Zagar
Director of We the Animals
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 24th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.
Alexandria Bombach
Director of On Her Shoulders
Bing Liu
Director of Minding the Gap
RaMell Ross
Director of Hale County This Morning, This Evening
The mystery of Mariah Carey’s 2001 album continues.
“Glitter” suddenly rose to number 1 on iTunes this week out of nowhere, with no re-release or promotion. The album, a failure in 2001, just re-appeared. It’s not even available for streaming, isn’t on Spotify, and almost no copies of it exist.
According to BuzzAngle and hitsdailydouble, “Glitter” sold just over 4,000 copies. It finished at number 36 for the week.
Just to spell this out: the actual number 1 album for the week, Kane Brown’s “Experiment,” sold 106,775 copies including streaming. All week on iTunes, “Glitter” was positioned higher than “Experiment.”
Even now, “Glitter” is at number 13 on iTunes. Meanwhile, Mariah’s actual new album, “Caution,” is number 4. It’s her first first hit album since 2009.
But how did “Glitter” become a hit just on iTunes– especially when it wasn’t really selling? Why is still now a fake hit on iTunes?
One theory is that somehow iTunes has been gamed and is doing nothing about it. Something similar happened a couple of weeks ago with Chinese pop star Kris Wu. Suddenly, ten of his singles swamped the iTunes singles chart. His album jumped up the albums chart. No one knew what was going on. Billboard and Nielsen are still trying to figure this out. But very quickly, Kris Wu dropped off the charts and life went back to normal.
Carey’s fans think something magical happened. Carey may, too. But the whole “Glitter” issue has somehow been faked. In time, it will be figured out.
Meantime, The Beatles sold 61,000 copies of their new White Album box set. That number included 10,000 streams. That’s a real sale.
The Independent Spirit Awards used to go to indie films, actors, and directors. But in recent years, the awards– given by Film Independent out in Los Angeles– have turned into an Oscars Jr. Most of the nominations and awards go to the same people who receive nominations and awards for the Oscars.
So why have them at all? Good question. Last year, only 95,000 people bothered to watch the live ceremny on TV the afternoon before the Academy Awards.
There is so much overlap between the Spirit Award winners and the Oscar winners, it’s become a little ridiculous. At least his past year, “Get Out” won the Spirit Award was only an Oscar nominee. But in the years preceding, “Moonlight,” “Spotlight,” and “Birdman” all won both awards. Immediately before that, almost all the Spirit Award Best Features were the same as the Oscar equivalent, as well as the acting awards.
On top of that, Film Independent– the organization that gives out these awards– just announced they’re shutting down their other biggest enterprise, the LA Film Festival. It makes you wonder, what’s going on when they can’t even sustain that project.
So here we go again: down to Santa Monica to the freezing tent, the photo ops and weird private tents underwritten by sponsors who are getting what exactly out of it? No one who’s ever made an indie film can afford a Piaget watch. But they sponsor some of the Spirit Awards.
