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Tuesday Box Office: Jennifer Lopez’s “Spider Woman” Kisses Off into the Abyss, “Roofman” Shows More Life

Roger Friedman
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Tuesday Box Office: Jennifer Lopez’s “Spider Woman” Kisses Off into the Abyss, “Roofman” Shows More Life

Tuesday night, good for adults before the weekend rush.

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” has disappeared. Since it’s ignominious weekend — either $850K or $1 million, take your pick — Jennifer Lopez’s film has vanished again.

No numbers for Monday or Tuesday shows. Tonight most theaters are near empty if not altogether vacant. Here or there you might find six people in a room, but that’s very rare.

Last night I plunked down $13.49 for “Roofman.” It was a great success. Plays to an older crowd, but multicultural, and everyone enjoyed it. Proud that I contributed to the $1.2 million total last night. Here’s hoping good word of mouth continues to draw some nice crowds.

There’s a lot of chitchat on line about “One Battle After Another” costing $130 million. What were they thinking, etc? Well, it’s going to break even one day. It will also have a good life in theaters starting in mid December right through January, February, and the Oscars. The Paul Thomas Anderson dramedy is going to win lots of awards. Warner Bros. can ride it out after their huge year.

Yesterday, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” tied the box office for the previous installment at $44 million. It’s already playing on VOD at home, so its theater count will get cut on Friday. But nice work for a second sequel. Nominations for screenplay and below the line — costumes, sets, etc – should be involved!

Taylor Swift Sales for New “Life of a Showgirl” Drop 91% After Massive First Week Debut, Everyone Who Wants It Has It

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift Sales for New “Life of a Showgirl” Drop 91% After Massive First Week Debut, Everyone Who Wants It Has It

The life of a showgirl ain’t easy.

Also, there are just so many people who want Taylor Swift’s new album,

And now, they all have it.

Sales for “The Life of a Showgirl” are dropping 91% in its second week of release.

Week 1 brought in 4 million in sales. This was accomplished in a dozen different ways that are not usual for the record biz. But Swift’s gang pulled it off.

Now hitsdailydouble.com computes sales of 345,000 in the second week, which is still more than most albums get in their first week.

But really, 4.345 million in sales is beyond imagination. And who would be left at this point?

One other reason why “Showgirl” has dropped so precipitously is that except for one track no singles are allowed be downloaded separately from iTunes or other services. So if you like “Wood” or another track, you have to get the whole album.

We won’t cry for Taylor, and it’s not like anything’s coming along to knock her off the top of the charts. Even if she sells 170,000 copies next week, she’ll hold on as the supreme leader of the pop charts.

How She Did It: Taylor Swift Sells 4 Million Albums in Debut Week, Breaks Record Because No Individual Tracks Could Be Sold

“Saturday Night Live” Season 51 Off to Rocky Start with Bad Bunny Opener and Amy Poehler-Hosted 2nd Episode Down in Ratings

Roger Friedman
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“Saturday Night Live” Season 51 Off to Rocky Start with Bad Bunny Opener and Amy Poehler-Hosted 2nd Episode Down in Ratings

This past Saturday’s “SNL” was a ratings downer.

It was down 400,000 viewers from the opener a week before, and that wasn’t so great either.

The Bad Bunny opener scored 4.4 million, kind of a disappointment after all the hub bub about the Bunny performing at the Super Bowl. His TV ratings didn’t reflect his big album sales. Doja Cat was a disappointing musical guest.

The second episode was hosted by Amy Poehler, who we love and adore. But Role Model was the worst musical guest in a long time. He has one hit, no one cares, and it was performed badly. The surprise appearance of Vanity Fair’s new cover subject, Charlie XCX, didn’t help.

Seth Meyers and Tina Fey also put in cameos on the news desk with Poehler and Colin Jost and Michael Che. But unannounced cameos don’t pull in ratings.

There are new writers, but the show has not been very funny. Most of the skteches were duds, except for one at the very end, “Emo Mom,” in which Poehler came alive. Otherwise, most people no doubt switched it off and went to bed.

Sabrina Carpenter hosts this week and she’s the musical guest as well. After that, “SNL” needs some big hitters to get them through November sweeps — and some better writing. It’s just not sharp.

Broadway Got a Massive Box Office Bounce For Columbus Day Weekend Thanks to “Hamilton” Taking in a Whopping $4 Million!

Roger Friedman
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Broadway Got a Massive Box Office Bounce For Columbus Day Weekend Thanks to “Hamilton” Taking in a Whopping $4 Million!

Broadway was boffo this past week.

The Columbus Day holiday brought a spectactular $8 million rise to the box office numbers for all shows in total.

“Hamilton” is out of control, with $4 million for the week thanks to Leslie Odom, Jr. and premium price tickets over $1,500!

Democracy is not cheap!

Still booming more than ever: Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin in “Just in Time.” Bobby D must be partying in heaven knowing that so many people are spending so much money on his life story!

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter may be ‘waiting for Godot’ but their $600 premium ticket is fueling $1.8 million a week in ticket sales.

One of the few laggards is “Stranger Things,” based on the TV series, which has never broken out the way it was expected. They had a sharp jump from last week, but their total capacity at the theater is just 75%. They’re waiting for the series to return to generate new interest.

“Wicked” and “The Lion King” remain the other top musicals, all sold out and clearing $2.5 mil and $2.2 mil each.

Stop Everything! Watch Bette Midler Sing Special “Wind Beneath My Wings” to Stephen Colbert on Tonight’s “Late Show” (Pre-taped)

Roger Friedman
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Stop Everything! Watch Bette Midler Sing Special “Wind Beneath My Wings” to Stephen Colbert on Tonight’s “Late Show” (Pre-taped)

Bette Midler — with great gray hair — makes a rare appearance on Stephen Colbert tonight.

This is the clip — must-see. Can’t wait for the whole segment. Bette sounds amazing, singing special lyrics to “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Will she ever make another record? It would be huge.

PS

11:30pm tonight CBS

Review: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst Shine in Derek Cianfrance’s Compelling “Roofman” — Awards Season Dark Horse

Roger Friedman
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Review: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst Shine in Derek Cianfrance’s Compelling “Roofman” — Awards Season Dark Horse

Let’s cut to the chase. I really, really liked Derek Cianfrance’s “Roofman,” which is in theaters and should be a bigger deal than it already is.

Hopefully, word of mouth will carry it forward to Critics Choice and Golden Globe nominations.

Cianfrance is the indie director of movies like “The Place Between the Pines” and “Blue Valentine.” This is easily his most accessible and entertaining film so far.

Tatum, who’s been looking for some kind of breakthrough after a roller coaster ride with “Magic Mike” movies and “21 Jump Street,” finally has something to chew on as Jeffrey Manchester — this is a real life story — who broke into a McDonald’s through the roof, robbed the place (tied up the staff, etc), lavishly spent the proceeds, and wound up in jail.

That’s not the end of the story. Manchester is not satisfied to stay locked up after getting a 45 year sentence. So he cleverly escapes, and then the fun begins.

The police describe Manchester as brilliant but stupid, and that’s true. He probably has a genius IQ, and puts it to work. On the lam, he breaks into a Toys R Us through the roof, and finds a place where he can nest out of sight.

The twist is that he falls for a female clerk (Dunst), and begins sneaking out of the Toys R Us to woo her. She has no idea he’s living in the store where she works. Yes, this all happened, I think in North Carolina, which makes sense.

Tatum and Dunst have chemistry off the charts. Plus there’s a stellar cast put together by the legendary Bonnie Timmerman including Peter Dinklage, Ben Mendelsohn, Uzo Adaba, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Molly Price, and Tony Revolori.

That’s some group, and you can’t imagine how they fit together. But they do thanks to Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn’s smart, edgy script which should certainly be up for awards of all kinds.

In most other hands, “Roofman” might not have worked. But Cianfrance knows how to develop conflicted heroes so well that Manchester, though a criminal, remains very sympathetic. It’s Tatum’s best work. Kirsten Dunst — what can you say? — she lights up every scene. She’s a compelling, endearing leading lady, and you’re for things to work out for her.

Diane Keaton Holiday Record “First Christmas” Goes Top 10 on iTunes Posthumously: Fulfilled Her Lifelong Dream of a Singing Career

Roger Friedman
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Diane Keaton Holiday Record “First Christmas” Goes Top 10 on iTunes Posthumously: Fulfilled Her Lifelong Dream of a Singing Career

Life changes on a dime.

A year ago Diane Keaton — Oscar winner, movie star — released a holiday single called “First Christmas.” It fulfilled her lifelong ambition to be a professional singer.

The famed songwriter Carole Bayer Sager co-wrote the song with Jonas Myrin. Not much happened, but it was great to hear Keaton, who first sang in “Annie Hall.”

Now, less than a week after her untimely death, Keaton has a top 10 single on iTunes. “First Christmas” is number 9. It could turn out to be a holiday hit this year. What a lovely tribute to such a beloved person.

“When Carole and Jonas first played me ‘First Christmas,’ I got teary,” Keaton said in a statement shared in a press release for the new song. “It is such a beautiful sentiment, and I couldn’t wait to sing it. I’m very proud to be a part of this beautiful Christmas song, and I hope you enjoy it.”

Cheryl Hines Defends Husband RFK Jr, Gets Ripped on “The View,” Fumbles on Fox News, Tries to Peddle Book Already A Bust on Amazon

Roger Friedman
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Cheryl Hines Defends Husband RFK Jr, Gets Ripped on “The View,” Fumbles on Fox News, Tries to Peddle Book Already A Bust on Amazon

Cheryl Hines has hit the book tour circuit with a thud.

This morning she was shredded on “The View” for backing lunatic husband Robert Kennedy Jr.

Earlier she fumbled on Fox News’s Jesse Watters show, the low point in all of television.

Her book, “Unscripted,” is coming on November 11th. So far, no one wants it. Even with these high profile appearances, she can’t get the book to rise above number 1,500 on amazon.

Hines — who had earned goodwill on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — is also being ripped on Twitter by viewers of these interviews who can’t believe how much she’s sold out to the right. She’s actively attacking vaccines and all accepted science and medical knowledge. No one’s buying that, either.

What a mess, especially for third rate publisher, Skyhorse. They’re going to be stuck with a lot of books.

Critics Choice Doc Nominations Include Alabama Incarcerations, Seymour Hersh, Pee Wee Herman, Billy Joel, George Orwell

Roger Friedman
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Critics Choice Doc Nominations Include Alabama Incarcerations, Seymour Hersh, Pee Wee Herman, Billy Joel, George Orwell

Alabama incarcerations, Seymour Hersh, Pee Wee Herman, Billy Joel, and George Orwell are among the topics of the nominees for the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

The awards will be given out November 9th in New York. Award-winning actor, writer, and producer Aasif Mandvi is the host.

Legendary documentarian Ken Burns will receive the Critics Choice Impact Award, which will be presented by acclaimed actor Christine Baranski.

Visionary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, previously announced as recipients of the CCA’s Pennebaker Award (formerly the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award), will have the honor presented by Pennebaker’s widow and collaborator, Chris Hegedus. Named in tribute to trailblazing documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, the award celebrates filmmakers whose careers have made a profound and lasting contribution to the art of documentary storytelling.

Nominees for the 10th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)

The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)

Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)

Cover-Up (Netflix)

Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)

Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)

The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)

The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)

BEST DIRECTOR

Mstyslav Chernov – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)

Petra Costa – Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)

Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim – Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)

Geeta Gandbhir – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Andrew Jarecki & Charlotte Kaufman – The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)

Raoul Peck – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Art for Everybody (Tremolo Productions)

Grand Theft Hamlet (Mubi)

My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)

Seeds (Interior Films)

Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Apple TV)

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (Margot Station)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ben Bernard – Architecton (A24)

Jean Dakar – The Tale of Silyan (National Geographic)

Elizabeth Lo – Mistress Dispeller (Oscilloscope)

Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo & Tor Edvin Eliassen – Folktales (Magnolia Pictures)

Brittany Shyne – Seeds (Interior Films)

Toby Strong, Doug Anderson (Underwater Photography) – Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)

BEST EDITING

Michael Harte – Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)

James Lester and Oz Rodríguez, John MacDonald (Music Montage) – Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (NBC)

Viridiana Lieberman – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Page Marsella – The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)

Michelle Mizner – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)

Alexandra Strauss – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

BEST SCORE

Alexei Aigui – Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

Kris Bowers – The Eyes of Ghana (Breakwater Studios / Higher Ground Media)

Laura Heinzinger – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Claudia Sarne – Love + War (National Geographic)

Sam Slater – 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)

Paweł Szymański – Trains (EPF Media / Drygas Film Production)

BEST NARRATION

2000 Meters to Andriivka (Frontline Features / The Associated Press)

Written by Mstyslav Chernov
Performed by Mstyslav Chernov

The American Revolution (PBS)
Written by Geoffrey C. Ward
Performed by Peter Coyote

The Americas (NBC)
Written by Michael Gunton, Holly Spearing, Steve Cole, Kathryn Jeffs, Matt

Richards, Giles Badger, Victoria Buckley, Alex Griffiths, Hannah Hoare, Poppy

Riddle, Gillian Taylor, Nikki Waldron, Evie Wright, Charlotte Bostock, Victoria Bobin,

& Ingrid Kvale

Performed by Tom Hanks

Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)

Written by Petra Costa
Performed by Petra Costa

Octopus! (Prime Video)
Written by Gabriel Bisset-Smith
Performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

Written by George Orwell, Adapted by Raoul Peck
Performed by Damian Lewis

BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY

One to One: John & Yoko (Magnolia Pictures)

Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)

Trains (EPF Media / Drygas Film Production)

WTO/99 (Foghorn Features)

BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

The American Revolution (PBS)

Cover-Up (Netflix)

Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (HBO Max)

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic)

Number One on the Call Sheet (Apple TV)

Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber)

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY

John Candy: I Like Me (Prime Video)

Love + War (National Geographic)

Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)

My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max)

Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)

Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Apple TV)

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY

Becoming Led Zeppelin (Sony Pictures Classics)

Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max)

Bono: Stories of Surrender (Apple TV)

It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley (Magnolia Pictures)

Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (NBC)

Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (Hulu)

BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY

The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)

Apocalypse in the Tropics (Netflix)

Deaf President Now! (Apple TV)

The Librarians (Independent Lens)

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (Marminchilla)

Orwell: 2+2=5 (Neon)

BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY

The Americas (NBC)

Checkpoint Zoo (Abramorama)

The Last Rhinos: A New Hope (National Geographic)

Ocean with David Attenborough (National Geographic)

Octopus! (Prime Video)

Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey (Netflix)

BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix)

America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys (Netflix)

Big Dreams: Little League World Series 2024 (ESPN Films)

Full Court Press (ESPN+)

Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott (ESPN)

We Beat the Dream Team (HBO Max)

BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY

The Alabama Solution (HBO Max)

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)

The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Predators (MTV Documentary Films / Paramount+)

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (Netflix)

The Yogurt Shop Murders (HBO Max)

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

All the Empty Rooms (Netflix)

Classroom 4 (PBS)

The Devil is Busy (HBO Max)

Exodus (Park County)

Fiddler on the Moon: Judaism in Space (Ironbound Films)

Sallie’s Ashes (Robi Creative)

Saving Superman (Switchboard)

Shanti Rides Shotgun (Voyager)

BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES

The American Revolution (PBS)

Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (HBO Max)

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer (Netflix)

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (National Geographic)

Magic City: An American Fantasy (Starz)

Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (Peacock)

The Yogurt Shop Murders (HBO Max)

BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES

30 for 30 (ESPN Films)

American Masters (PBS)

The Reluctant Traveler (Apple TV)

Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross (Roku Channel)

Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (National Geographic)

Trainwreck (Netflix)

Vanity Fair’s New Editor’s Hail Mary Pass: Go for the Cosmo Crowd, with Pop Starlet Charli XCX — Last Summer’s “Brat” — on Cover

Roger Friedman
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Vanity Fair’s New Editor’s Hail Mary Pass: Go for the Cosmo Crowd, with Pop Starlet Charli XCX — Last Summer’s “Brat” — on Cover

Vanity Fair is dead. The new Vanity Fair has gone “Brat.”

The new Vanity Fair is something quite different than anything from Tina Brown or Graydon Carter.

The November cover subject? Pop starlet Charli XCX, 33, a minor player in the music business but big among teen girls and the early 20-ers. She doesn’t have a thought in her head, and she’s proud of it.

Vanity Fair, under new editor Mark Guiducci — who is still running Vogue World, a one day live fashion event — is now in the demo of Cosmopolitan or Cosmo from the 1990s. Like Charli, the magazine also doesn’t have a thought in its head.

This is a deliberate move. Subscribers over the age of 40 are being told by this cover choice and last month’s — Dakota and Elle Fanning — to go away. Young girls are coming to the valley.

It’s ironic timing that Diane Keaton, a woman of such accomplishment well before Charli’s age of 33, has passed this week.

Charli XCX is the downmarket Taylor Swift. She’s not even Billie Eilish, who has Oscars and Grammys and might merit such treatment some day. Charli’s “Brat” album was a pop phenom in 2024 among teens and young women. It wasn’t about the music, per se. It was the concept– an ad concept that worked well. “Brat” became a password.

Here’s a key passage from the article:

“I’m always thinking about how I look and what I would change about my face,” Charli says, citing her favorite plastic surgery website RealSelf for giving her the resources to know that she can’t achieve a permanent version of the braid eye tilt with sugar threads. At some point, she says, she “probably will get” a mid-facelift. “I’m fucking thinking about all the shit that I could do and pull and stretch and morph on my face, all the time,” Charli says. “I have to just remind myself that maybe I can’t get too sucked into that.”

Anna Wintour has gotten what she paid for. The “Young Hollywood” feature takes over. Charli XCX has almost 9 million followers on Instagram. Her “Brat” video, below, has had 35 Million views. If putting her on the cover doesn’t bring readers and sell issues, the next step may be even more jarring.

After all, last month’s issue had only 92 pages, the minimum for perfect binding. Lower than that and you get staple binding, something like an airline magazine.

One last note and maybe most important: this issue and the last are also clear signals that Vanity Fair is separated from the movie business. They’re detached now from actual stars of movies, or new releases that might some relevant. Would Timothee Chalamet’s people have him follow Charli XCX?

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