Categories
James Bond

Whoever is going to fill the role, just make another movie already!!

Daniel Craig on James Bond franchise: ‘I’d miss it terribly’

In the midst of the Spectre press tour, 007 star James Bond said that he would “rather break this glass and slash my wrists” than play superspy James Bond in another movie. Craig has been clarifying those comments and walking back their implications for a year now, and this weekend at the New Yorker Festival, he sounded a little more interested in a return to the series.

“When asked 20 feet from the end of the marathon, ‘Will you do another marathon?’ the answer is simple,” he joked. “It’s like, ‘No, I won’t.’” He went on to note how much he enjoyed working on the series: “There is no other job like it…if I were to stop doing it, I would miss it terribly.” (Craig’s statements were captured on video by Phil Nobile Jr. of Birth.Movies.Death.)

According to Craig, there have been no discussions about a follow-up to Spectre, which earned over $880.7 million at the global box office but was unquestionably a qualitative step down from its predecessor Skyfall. (Counterargument: If you’re a fan of Crazy Bond, Spectre might count as a high point.) “There’s no conversation going on,” said Craig, “Because everybody’s just a bit tired.” Craig is 48 and has done four Bond films; previous Bond Pierce Brosnan was roughly the same age, with the same number of Bond films under his belt, when he was let go from the series. Then again, Brosnan’s films never made the kind of money Craig’s last couple of movies have – so there may be some added incentive to bring Craig back for a final film.

Categories
Movies

No movies again last week, but the Blue Jays don’t play again until Friday, so I’m going to see a lot of movies this week!!

Box office report: The Girl on the Train chugs along at No. 1 with $24.7 million

Despite middling reviews, DreamWorks’ The Girl on the Train — distributed by Universal under its new partnership with Amblin Partners — is off to a solid start at the weekend box office, pulling out of the station with an estimated $24.7 million.

The Emily Blunt thriller, based on Paula Hawkins’ best-selling novel of the same name, scores a per-screen average of $7,844 at 3,144 locations — a decent box office kickoff for the $45 million thriller, though its B- grade on CinemaScore suggests that while audiences turned out for the film, they weren’t exactly impressed with the mystery’s page-to-screen adaptation.

The Girl on the Train marks the sixth best start for any of Blunt’s wide releases. Her highest-grossing debut to date stands as The Wolfman, which launched with $31.5 million in 2010.

As expected, Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children shed roughly 48 percent of its audience, raking in $15 million over its sophomore frame. The $110 million film, director Tim Burton’s first live-action fantasy since 2012’s Dark Shadows, expanded its theater count by 183 on Friday, bringing its location count to 3,705. It’s now the widest release of any film currently on the market.

The film’s domestic total stands at a smidge above $51 million after 10 days in theaters, slightly ahead of Shadows’ initial 10-day gross of $50.7 million.

In its second week, Mark Wahlberg’s Deepwater Horizon falls 42 percent to an estimated $11.8 million, finishing the weekend in the No. 3 position. The $110 million action-drama, based on the real-life events leading up to the 2010 BP oil spill, also stars Kate Hudson, Gina Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich.

Rounding out the top five are the Denzel Washington-starring Western remake, The Magnificent Seven, which brought in an estimated $9.2 million ($75.9 million total) at No. 4, and Warner Bros. Animations’ Storks, which continues its gentle descent by another 37 percent, finishing the weekend at No. 5 with an estimated $8.5 million ($50.1 million overall).

Fox Searchlight’s $17.5 million investment in The Birth of a Nation didn’t pay off across the film’s debut weekend, as the drama — plagued by controversy surrounding a 17-year-old rape case revolving around the film’s director, Nate Parker, and co-screenwriter, Jean Celestin — makes a soft $7.1 million at No. 6. The film averages $3,373 on 2,105 screens, though it notches the highest audience grade of the week’s new releases on CinemaScore, earning a rare A.

The family-oriented comedy Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, finishes the week in seventh place, making an estimated $6.9 million from 2,822 screens.

Overall box office is up 3.9 percent from the same period last year. Check out the Oct 7-9 weekend box office estimates below.

1. The Girl on Train – $24.7 million
2. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – $15 million
3. Deepwater Horizon – $11.8 million
4. The Magnificent Seven – $9.2
5. Storks – $8.5
6. The Birth of a Nation – $7.1 million
7. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life – $6.9 million
8. Sully – $5.3 million
9. Masterminds – $4.1 million
10. Queen of Katwe – $1.6 million