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After a huge start, “Wicked for Good” — down to 68% on Rotten Tomatoes — has slowed down precipitously on Monday and Tuesday.
Yesterday Jon M. Chu’s second film was up just 7% from Monday, with $15.5 million. It’s great but that’s the lowest increase on Tuesday among newer films. By contrast, “Now You See Me” was up 36%.
“Wicked” will still hit $200 mil on Thanksgiving and has a long road ahead of it. A long, yellow brick road.
“Zootopia 2” opened with $10.2 million Tuesday night and is sure to become a blockbuster over the holiday weekend.
Monday brings the Gotham Awards in New York, the beginning of awards season. This isn’t much of an Oscar predictor but it’s a good way to start meeting some of the people we’ll be seeing all winter.
Variety and others are posting Golden Globe nominations projections. They Globes — mired in controversy as usual — don’t announce until December 8th. I hope the Globes don’t sleep on Josh Safdie as Best Director for “Marty Supreme,” or Joel Edgerton for Best Actor in “Train Dreams,” a movie everyone should watch this weekend on Netflix.
Louis CK says his first novel, “Ingram,” is number 14 on this Sunday’s New York Times best seller list.
He’s right. It’s there. But ‘why’ is a mystery. That’s because “Ingram is number 1,007 on amazon.com’s best seller list.
“Ingram” is not even in the top 150 on USA Today’s best seller list.
How could a book so low on amazon and USA Today be a NY Times best seller? Makes no sense.
It’s possible the Times is counting sales at Louis CK’s comedy shows, or from direct marketing to fans.
On amazon there are 98 customer reviews which are 98% positive.
In the real world, however, “Ingram” is not a success with reviewers.
The title of the actual review in Texas Monthly is: “Louis C.K.’s New Texas Novel Isn’t Just Bad—It’s Not Even Texan.” They also said: it’s a “baffling imitation of Faulkner by way of Cormac McCarthy.”
Slate.com says: Louis C.K.’s Debut Novel Is a Mess: Ingram is the disgraced comedian’s first literary foray. Unfortunately, it reads like one.
On theblaze.com, the reviewer wrote:
“Louis CK’s ‘Ingram’: Skilled comic spews self-indulgent self-abuse”
There are no reviews from Publishers Weekly or Kirkus Reviews, which are standard for most new releases. The NY Times has not reviewed “Ingram” in either the daily paper or in the Book Review. Neither have most traditional outlets.
Paul Weller says he’s removing his music from streaming services in Israel.
You’re asking, Paul who?
Yeah, Paul Weller, who led the punk rock mod band The Jam in the 70s, then switched to an R&B sound in the 80s with Style Council.
As a solo act he’s released dozens of records over the last 30 years and has sold few copies. He’s an acquired taste, kind of a mean guy, a loner who’s never been popular in the US.
Weller signed the “No Genocide” letter or some bullshit after pretending not to be antisemitic. But there it is: he’s “punishing” the people of Israel for Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Gaza.
I have no love for Netanyahu, but I was a big fan of Weller a long time ago. No more. Thanks, Paul. It’s not like people in the US were buying his music night and day. On Spotify he has one hit, The Jam’s “Town Called Malice,” which has 240 streams. (It sounds like a bunch of Motown songs, especially “You Can’t Hurry Love.”) He has a couple others over 10 million streams and that’s it. With The Jam he ripped off George Harrison’s “Taxman” for a track, too.
I stopped going to Weller’s live shows years ago because he refused to play his “hits.” You could tell he was an arsehole.
He’s made it clear how he feels about Israel and Jews. Apparently his accountants, who’d worked with him for 30 years, dropped him over this announcement. So he has nerve– he’s suing them. I hope he loses big time and we never hear from him again.
So, goodbye Paul Weller. You’ll be easy to forget.
Next Tuesday, December 2nd: rapper 50 Cent has executive produced a documentary about Sean Diddy Combs for Netflix. It’s a four part, four hour miniseries.
“The Reckoning” is said to be a brutal takedown of 50 Cent’s longtime enemy. If he has the receipts, Diddy may want to stay IN jail. (He’s currently serving a 50 month term for the promotion of prostitution which will let him out June 4, 2028.)
Netflix is sitting tight right now. No press screeners. Maybe never.
Director is Alexandria Stapleton.
A year ago, 50 Cent said the documentary, then called “Diddy Do It?”, would break records.
50 Cent says in a press release today:
“I’ve been committed to real storytelling for years through G-Unit Film & Television. I’m grateful to everyone who came forward and trusted us with their stories, and proud to have Alexandria Stapleton as the director on the project to bring this important story to the screen.”
The return of “Rush Hour” with a fourth chapter is not a good sign for anyone.
It’s evidence that Donald Trump is having an influence on Paramount, now owned by his friends, the Ellisons.
“Rush Hour” was a hit trilogy. But another installment was not possible after director Brett Ratner became the target of the #METoo movement in 2017. Ratner became a pariah after six women accused him sexual misconduct. One of them sued, and Ratner settled.
But last year, Ratner surfaced as director of the $40 million Melania Trump infomercial paid for by Jeff Bezos for Amazon Studios. The connection was Arthur Sarkissian, producer of the Melania film thanks to being a close pal of Trump and an enthusiastic donor.
You see, Sarkissian is the producer of the “Rush Hour” series.
Now Sarkissian has obviously used Trump to get Ratner and “Rush Hour” back on track. Warner Bros., the original studio, didn’t want to get involved with this, so they agreed to license the new film. And who was waiting to do it? David Ellison, who bought Paramount with his father’s money. The Ellisons and Trump are thick as, pardon the expression, thieves. Hence, Paramount will now distribute “Rush Hour 4.”
Ratner probably didn’t deserve the drubbing he got in 2017, like many others who got caught up in the fervor over Harvey Weinstein. He’s a good director who can make hits. But his return via Trump and Ellison is worrisome, especially if Trump is going to be giving advice to Paramount on new movies.
This is one more reason Warner Bros. should not be sold to Paramount, which would only increase the anxiety of this situation. But this is what we’re up against now.
If they’re really going to make “Rush Hour 4,” I do hope Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return, regardless. They and Ratner were a blockbuster bos office trio.
What’s next? It’s probably time for a remake of of Sandra Bullock’s “While You Were Sleeping.” Cast it now: Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie, and Zendaya. Why not?
David Muir made a big mistake last night on ABC World News.
I see a lot of other people have, too.
Jimmy Cliff, who just died, was famous for “The Harder They Come” and “Many Rivers to Cross.”
He sang a cover version of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now.”
These are not interchangeable reggae artists. But now Cliff’s cover of “I Can See Clearly Now” is number 2 on iTunes outpacing his own songs.
“The Harder They Come” is not only anthem, it was the title of a 1972 movie starring Cliff. The song and the movie were a big deal at the time, and the song has hung on as a classic.
“Many Rivers to Cross” preceded it in 1969, and the following year came “You Can Get It If You Really Want.”
Let’s give credit to Jimmy Cliff, no offense to Johnny Nash.
Someone tell the Daily Beast that Jimmy Cliff was NOT the music icon behind “I Can See Clearly Now.”
There’s always a fall off, a rude awakening for the big weekend hit.
And so it is for “Wicked for Good” which made $147 million from Thursday through Sunday.
Now it’s back to school, and a drop in box office receipts. Monday’s drop was 57%, which is a lot. But still “Wicked for Good” made $14.7 million on its first weekday.
Tuesday there’s usually a bounce back, and Wednesday — with school ending midday for Thanksgiving — the numbers should be back up over that rainbow.
Of the Oscar bound movies, “Nuremberg” is doing pretty well, down only 46% on Monday, Keep an eye on that one…
Tonight at the Kennedy Center, “Christmas in Belfast” starts shows through Sunday.
Want to go? Why not? The theater is brimming with available tickets at all prices, on all levels, at all times.
Few people are coming to see the show performed by Irish tenors famous on PBS.
Even fewer people are coming on December 17th to see “Noel: Jesus is Born!”
That’s the show tricky Dick Grenell, Trump’s lackey, personally promoted in Catholic magazines as his big Christmas epic.
Seat maps show not only few tickets sold in the orchestra sections, but almost nothing in the balcony for any of these shows.
Under Grenell, the Kennedy Center has ground to a halt.
The good news is that Grenell has given the place away next Friday, December 5th, to FIFA, the World Cup Soccer organization. They’re going to have their draft picks, and give Donald Trump a phony baloney Peace Prize.
Grenell says FIFA is donating $7.4 million to the Kennedy Center, but it’s really just $2.4 million, with “opportunities” of another $5 million in sponsorships.
Under Grenell, Trump brags about big donations to the Kennedy Center, not understanding the purpose of a not for profit arts institution. Donations are great, but you need people supporting programs. You need full theaters. Grenell is gloating about cutting the Kennedy Center staff to ribbons, not caring he can’t fill seats.
Trump, an ignoramus, doesn’t get that part of the deal. No one is coming. Even National Symphony Orchestra subscribers are turned off by Grenell kicking them out to put on the FIFA event.
Meantime, the US Senate is investigating how Grenell has been running the place, questioning the giving away of the theaters for pro-Trump political events.
“Contracts, invoices, and facility use agreements reveal that you operate the Center for the enrichment of your friends and acquaintances, to dole out political favors, and as a playground for the President of the United States and his allies,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote to Grenell.
Whitehouse continued: “The Center is being looted to the tune of millions of dollars in foregone revenue, cancelled programming, unpaid use of its facilities, and wasteful spending on luxury restaurants and hotels—an unprecedented pattern of self-dealing, favoritism, and waste.”
Here are a couple of seat maps. I should note that I’ve written twice about “Noel” in the last week, that it wasn’t selling, and nothing has changed.
PS The Kennedy Center Honors are Sunday night, December 7th. There’s no information on what’s happening, or how Trump — who’s supposed to host the show — is filling the theater. Please email me at showbiz411@gmail.com in confidence, with tips.
UPDATED WEDS 3:25pm: Hard figures show that once reviews came out, “Queen of Versailles” plummeted. They went from just over $1 million to $877K. You can see producers had no choice but to post closing notices. The writing was on the wall.
On Broadway, that’s it for “The Queen of Versailles.”
The musical based on a documentary about lavish living starred Kristen Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham.
The show opened last week to negative reviews — except, strangely enough, in The New York Times. Everything else was mixed or very bad.
Including previews, the six weeks “The Queen of Versailles” been playing have yielded about $5 million — not enough to keep going and no advance sales. It costs at least a million dollars a week to keep a show like this going.
The cost of putting on the show in the first place was around a staggering $27 million That money is gone with the wind.
The irony here is that the musical reunited Chenoweth with her “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz. As the “Wicked” movie is booming at the box office, the magic they once made could not be re-created.
Broadway is tough right now, so a show without the reviews or advance sales has no chance of survival after the holidays.
As for the New York Times, their review was a head scratcher, and totally out of tune with the consensus. It wasn’t enough to save the show.
Last year at this time MUBI was the talk of the town. Owner Efe Cakarel was brilliant.
Today, not so much.
What went wrong?
MUBI got pretty far last year by turning Demi Moore into a cause célèbre, or a celebrity cause in “The Substance.” The movie was unwatchable, but Moore was inspired casting. It doesn’t look lightning is going to strike twice.
MUBI, a streamer, paid $24 million at the Cannes Film Festival for “Die My Love” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
But Lynne Ramsay’s movie has been a bust. “Die My Love” has made just $5 million in theaters. Critics at the festival loved it, but when “Die My Love” hit the real world, the party was over.
The RT critics rating is a meh 73%. The audience meter is at 46%.
Earlier this year we were served with Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal in a period piece about gay lovers who comb the Ozarks for country songs. Yes, did you read that description? “The History of Sound” made $841,366.
Next up come a couple of releases that don’t look promising. First up is Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” the second Josh O’Connor movie, which has a 90% among critics. But audiences don’t want it. Their response is just 38%, so that’s not going to work out.
After that, Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother.” It’s loaded with stars like Cate Blanchett, Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, and Charlotte Rampling.
But MUBI is dumping it into art houses — at least, the Film Forum in New York — on Christmas Eve.
Critics have given it an 82%, but not that many have seen it. There’s very little press on the Jarmusch film. Releasing it on Christmas Eve isn’t causing much enthusiasm — unless the family in the movie is Jewish, which they don’t appear to be.
