U.K. box office: ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ invades BritainAhhh! It’s a giant 3D movie! 1. Monsters vs. Aliens: £4.3 million (NEW) (actual numbers, not estimates) I saw the ranking, and I was all, What the heck is this Boat That Rocked thing that the kids are into over there? Turns out it’s a new Richard Curtis comedy about a 1960s pirate radio station that’ll be released in August in the U.S. -- and man, that cast: Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh, January Jones, Nick Frost, Jack Davenport! Sounds awesome. Or maybe not. Charles Gant at the Guardian informs us that this is a poor showing compared to Curtis’s previous films, such as Love Actually, oh, and also that it hasn’t really gotten good reviews. I don’t care -- I’ll watch Bill Nighy in anything. (I’ll post the trailer next week.) Gant also notes that Monsters vs. Aliens didn’t do quite as well as it might have: DreamWorks Animation's head honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg will take comfort from the fact that the 178 (including seven Imax) screens showing the film in 3D took more cash than the 465 regular 2D sites. Hollywood's most prominent evangelist for 3D will nevertheless regret that not more UK cinemas had been converted to the technology in time. Monsters Vs Aliens' result suffers slightly in comparison with February's Bolt (£2.85m in three days, and £5.46m including more extensive previews), but with two whole weeks of Easter holidays ahead of it the film has plenty of time to overtake the Disney hit. Still, overall business is up 42 percent over last year, even if the first big hit of 2009 for North America -- Paul Blart: Mall Cop -- doesn’t look to replicate that extraordinary run in the U.K.: it dropped to No. 6 this week. It was still at No. 2 in the U.S. in its third week. [numbers via UK Film Council] support
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Thu Apr 09 09, 11:53PM categories: movie buzz permalink 6 pre-Disqus comments Disqus comments tip jarshare
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Bill Nighy
Boat That Rocked Charles Gant Guardian Haunting in Connecticut Jack Davenport January Jones Kenneth Branagh Knowing Love Actually Marley and Me Monsters vs Aliens Nick Frost Paul Blart Mall Cop Philip Seymour Hoffman Rhys Ifans Richard Curtis related· Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked) (review) · November 13: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings · U.K. box office: ‘Fast & Furious’ zooms to first place · U.K. box office: ‘Knowing’ knows how to win · North American box office: ‘Fast & Furious’ breaks records, 2nd seal of the apocalypse · trailer break: ‘The Boat That Rocked’ · Justice (trailer) · watch it: “Hackers Shut Down January Jones” · X-Men: First Class (review) · an imaginary conversation about the movie ‘Unknown’ bloggyprevious post: dream cast: hypothetical ’21 Jump Street’ remake next post: question of the day: Is Fox’s new reality show yet another sign of the apocalypse? |
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posted by Paul Hayes (Fri Apr 10 09, 5:38AM)
I suspect that The Boat That Rocked will die a death in the US. I very much doubt anybody there knows or cares about the pirate radio ships. It'd be like releasing a Doctor Who film there - culturally relevant here, but not in America.
posted by Proper Dave (Fri Apr 10 09, 7:20AM)
I saw 'The Boat That Rocked' a few days ago and still haven't stopped cringing. If Richard Curtis was a musician, he'd be Paul McCartney when the Beatle became a self-indulgent, whimsical hack, living off his stellar reputation.
posted by MaryAnn (Fri Apr 10 09, 6:13PM)
*Boat That Rocked* may well tank with the mainstream American audience. I'm definitely not a part of that, though. :->
But if Proper Dave is right about the film... ugh.
posted by Proper Dave (Fri Apr 10 09, 8:12PM)
In fairness I should add that just like the most cloying, complacent, sub-par McCartney album, the film does have commendable performances and several moments of brilliance. But they're outweighed by the bits that make you want to take the one-time creative genius aside and say: "Did none of your collaborators have the balls to point out THIS was crap, and THIS was old hat, and THIS was really cheesy and manipulative?" The Rotten Tomatoes score of 50% reflects my views pretty well, actually.
On a completely different note, I'll be interested to read your take on the film's sexism, MaryAnn. Maybe it's trying to reflect the attitudes of Sixties Man, but there was one scene in particular, involving Nick Frost's character, that I thought was a gross misjudgement and turned me against the film quite early on.
posted by Der Bruno Stroszek (Sat Apr 11 09, 5:06AM)
The treatment of women is bafflingly... *off*, especially considering the good comic roles for women Curtis has written in the past. Katherine Parkinson's character in particular, I thought, was used for some very easy and lazy jokes.
The whole thing is really sloppily structured, too - there are lots of references to events and characters who don't seem to have made the final cut. It does feel a lot like a film whose workprint came in at four hours and went in for major surgery.
But - and it's a big but - it's worth seeing once for its excellent soundtrack and the performances. Nighy, Ifans and Chris O'Dowd are particularly dazzling, and it's a joy seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman just cut loose and goof around. He really should do more comedy.
posted by Paul Hayes (Sat Apr 11 09, 6:15AM)
It must have been difficult to have worked women into the plot, given that there were very rarely any on the ships.