The world according to Dan.

‘Moana’ Scores $81.1M Holiday Opening; ‘Allied’ & ‘Bad Santa 2’ Struggle While Beatty’s ‘Rules’ Flops

Disney’s Moana topped the extended holiday box office with the second largest five-day Thanksgiving opening of all-time and the third largest three-day Thanksgiving opening of all-time, leading a top twelve that grossed a combined $173 million. Moana was, however, the only real success story among new wide releases as Allied and Bad Santa 2 fell short of expectations and Rules Don’t Apply delivered the worst wide opening of 2016. Other bright spots are to be found, though, in the likes of holdovers such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Doctor Strange and Arrival as well as a solid expansion for Amazon and Roadside’s Manchester by the Sea.

At the top, Disney’s latest animated adventure Moana delivered an estimated $55.5 million three-day opening and an estimated $81.1 million five-day opening. As already noted, the five-day opening ranks as the second largest Thanksgiving debut ever behind Disney’s Frozen ($93.6m five-day) and just ahead of Toy Story 2 ($80.1m five-day). As a result, Disney now owns nine of the top ten five-day and three-day Thanksgiving weekend openings with New Line’s Four Christmases as the lone non-Disney feature within the top ten on each respective list. Moana’s three-day weekend is also the third largest opening for Walt Disney Animation Studios, behind only Zootopia and Big Hero 6, both of which opened on Friday and should Moana’s three-day gross come in $700,000 higher than estimated it would surpass Big Hero 6 on that list.

Moana’s demographic breakdown was 45% male vs. 55% female with 34% of the audience coming in 12 years or under, 43% over the age of 25 and 72% of the audience made up of families. Opening day audiences gave the film an “A” CinemaScore.

Internationally, Moana opened in a handful of territories earning an estimated $16.3 million, including an estimated $12.3 million in China, where it opened on November 25, for a global opening totaling $97.4 million. Next weekend sees openings in France, Spain, UK, Russia and Mexico along with Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Iceland, South Africa, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Paraguay and Peru.

In second position for the weekend is WB’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which delivered an excellent $45.1 million three-day and a $65.76 million five-day performance bringing the film’s domestic cume to an estimated $156.2 million after ten days in release. Additionally, the film added $132 million internationally this weekend, fueled by openings in China and Japan where it brought in an estimated $41.1 million and $15.5 million respectively. The film’s global cume now stands at $473.7 million ranking thirteenth among all of 2016 releases. The three-day opening in China surpasses the lifetime grosses of all other films in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World franchise in that territory outside of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($60.8m).

Finishing third is another holdover and another film from Disney, this time Marvel’s Doctor Strange, which pulled in an estimated $13.36 million three-day weekend and an estimated $18.85 million five-day haul as the film’s domestic cume now stands at $205 million. Strange is now the tenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to gross over $200 million domestically as it has already surpassed the entire domestic run of Thor, Ant-Man, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk and is just $1.3 million shy of topping Thor: The Dark World.

Additionally, Doctor Strange currently places ninth among all 2016 domestic releases and with an estimated $9.8 million internationally this weekend its global cume now stands at $615.9 million placing it ninth among all 2016 releases worldwide with a January 2017 opening in Japan still in the offing.

Fourth position is where we find Paramount’s Allied, the second of this weekend’s new wide releases in the top ten, finishing with an estimated $13 million three-day and $18 million five-day opening. While this is within industry expectations heading into the weekend, the fact this one wasn’t able to top $20 million is a disappointment, especially given the $85 million production budget. For director Robert Zemeckis this is the second disappointment in a row on the heels of The Walk last year, which could only muster $10.1 million domestically and $61.1 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. The film played to an audience that was 51% male vs 49% female of which 85% were over the age of 25. Opening day audiences gave it a “B” CinemaScore.

Internationally, Allied opened in 23 markets and brought in an estimated $9.3 million, which includes $2.8 million in France, $1.6 million in the U.K. and $1.3 million in Spain. Fortunately, it still has openings in China (Nov 30), Russia (Dec 1), Germany (Dec 22) and Australia (Dec 26) still in the future to help pad the worldwide gross.

Paramount is enjoying greater success with their sci-fi drama Arrival, which dipped just 7.3% in its third weekend, delivering an estimated $11.25 million over the three-day and $15.6 million for the five day as its domestic gross now totals $62.38 million on a $47 million budget. Internationally Arrival added an estimated $6.2 million this weekend from 36 territories bringing its international total to $30.9 million for a global cume of $93.28 million.

It isn’t until eighth position where we find Broadgreen and Miramax’s release of Bad Santa 2. The comedy sequel could only manage an estimated $6.1 million for the three-day and $9 million for the five-day opening in 2,920 theaters, but as bad as that may be for the $26 million feature things were worse for Fox’s Rules Don’t Apply.

Debuting in 2,382 theaters, Rules Don’t Apply delivered an estimated $1.57 million three-day weekend and $2.17 million five-day. The three-day result is the worst wide-opening of 2016, averaging just $661 per theater, and the sixth worst opening all-time for a film debuting in 2,000+ theaters. Truth is, this is just a film that’s out of its element in today’s marketplace and it didn’t have much of a chance in this many theaters. It also doesn’t help critics didn’t embrace it to the point it earned a 57% rating on RottenTomatoes and with a “B-” CinemaScore it won’t be receiving much buzz via word of mouth. The film played to an audience that was 55% female vs 45% male of which 85% were over the age of 25. Additionally, 71% of the audience was Caucasian, 13% Hispanic and 9% African American.

Elsewhere, Universal’s Almost Christmas enjoyed a nice weekend as the only film in the top ten to show a positive change from last weekend, delivering an estimated $7.6 million three-day, up ~5% from last weekend as its cume now stands at $36.7 million on a $17 million budget.

Finishing ninth, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge dropped 18.3% for an estimated $5.45 million three-day, bringing its domestic cume to $52.2 million.

Outside the top ten, Focus’ Loving brought in an estimated $1.69 million from 421 theaters (+284) bringing the film’s cume to just over $4 million as it continues its expansion. Manchester by the Sea delivered an estimated $1.25 million as it expanded into 48 theaters (+4) for a $26,048 per theater average and a cume that now stands at $1.65 million.

Among new limited releases, The Weinstein Co.’s Lion delivered an estimated $128,368 from four theaters for a $32,092 per theater average; EuropaCorp’s Miss Sloane brought in an estimated $63,000 from three theaters; and Reliance’s release of Dear Zindagi brought in an estimated $1 million from 153 theaters over the three-day weekend and $1.5 million for the five-day.

Additionally, IFC’s Evolution brought in $6,927 from three theaters ($2,309 PTA) and Music Box’s release of Seasons brought in $26,723 from 13 theaters ($2,056 PTA).

Next weekend features one lone wide release with High Top’s Incarnate, a new horror from BH Tilt from director Brad Peyton (San Andreas) starring Carice van Houten and Aaron Eckhart. The film is debuting in ~1,500 theaters. Additionally, Fox Searchlight will begin the rollout of the Oscar hopeful Jackie starring Natalie Portman in five theaters.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home writer explains how Eddie Murphy was replaced with Catherine Hicks

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (arguably the best of the Star Trek films) had time travel, a mission to save the whales, and that now infamous punk kid — and it almost had a role for Eddie Murphy. Screenwriter Steve Meerson discussed what happened in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he explained how Murphy was eventually replaced by Catherine Hicks.

Meerson worked on the screenplay with his writing partner Peter Krikes along with Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer from a story by Bennett and Leonard Nimoy. As he told THR, “It was always the same story that approved, but the original draft included a part for Eddie Murphy. Eddie was on the lot at Paramount at the time and arguably was the biggest star in the word. They had told us he was a huge Star Trek fan.”

Murphy would’ve played an astrophysicist at Berkeley, but when his casting deal fell through, the writers worked in the character Dr. Gillian Taylor, the marine biologist (and Captain Kirk love interest) played by Hicks.

“At the beginning of the process, it was actually a lot of fun,” Meerson recalled. “As the process progressed, it became less fun, because it became more political. And I don’t say that with any bitterness. It’s just the way things work in all businesses. We began to feel like at a certain point that this was going to be taken away from us, which in fact, it was.”
Meyer had previously addressed Murphy’s lost role on 50 Years of Star Trek. “They had had a script written tailor-made to star Eddie Murphy, who was Paramount’s other big star at the time,” he said (via Yahoo Movies). “Paramount didn’t like the idea of putting all their golden eggs in one basket, Eddie Murphy and the Star Trek people.”

The Voyage Home was directed by Nimoy, who also reprised his role of Spock opposite William Shatner’s Captain Kirk. The story focused on the Enterprise crew traveling back in time to 1986 San Francisco to find the only creatures capable of communicating with an alien probe: humpback whales.

‘Max Steel’, ‘Popstar’ top Forbes 2016 list of biggest movie flops

Action movie Max Steel has been named and shamed as the biggest movie flop of the year.

Acting newcomer Ben Winchell featured as extreme sports star-turned-secret agent Max McGrath in the live-action film, based on the titular Mattel toy line, but the sci-fi movie, which also featured Andy Garcia and Maria Bello, wasn’t widely promoted and failed to win audiences when it was released in October.

It grossed just $4.4 million at the global box office, failing to claw back its $10.4 million budget, landing Max Steel atop Forbes magazine’s Hollywood’s Biggest Turkeys of 2016 poll.

It edges out Matthew McConaughey’s Free State of Jones, which places second with a 46 per cent return from a $50 million total spend.

Comedian Andy Samberg’s Popstar: Never Stop Stopping mockumentary comes in at three after earning just $9.5 million of its $20 million budget, while Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and animated film Ratchet & Clank, based on the video game series of the same name, round out the top five.

The 10-strong list was primarily made up of comedies, with Zach Galifianakis landing two movies on the countdown – Keeping Up With the Joneses, co-starring Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher and Gal Gadot, takes sixth place, and crime caper Masterminds, which also featured Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis, comes in at 10.

The latest offering from Isla’s husband, funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen, didn’t fare too well either – The Brothers Grimsby is the eighth biggest flop of the year, while Tina Fey’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Oliver Stone’s biopic Snowden take seventh and ninth place, respectively.

Forbes’ annual list only includes films on wide release which hit theatres before October 31.

Why ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ Is the Ultimate Thanksgiving Movie

Thanksgiving is all about the buildup.

You wait for it, that long weekend that you know will include family, maybe some football, plenty of food, and then leftovers and sales the day after that. Everything looks great in those weeks leading up to the fourth Thursday in November, until it all goes to hell, with that long drive probably filled with holiday traffic and the drunk relatives whose opinions you really don’t care to hear about. The anticipation of the holiday is fun. The drama that ensues during it is not.

That’s one of the many brilliant things about 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the last truly great movie that John Hughes took on the triple job of writer, producer and director before slowly fading into the background, eventually all but vanishing from public view until his death in 2009. The buildup to the holiday weekend that Steve Martin’s Neal Page experiences as he tries to make it home from New York City to Chicago looks about as enjoyable as Dante’s exploration of the Inferno. And if we’re using that classic poem as an analogy, Del Griffith, played masterfully by John Candy, makes a horrible Virgil on the duo’s hellish journey back to the windy city.

Of course, this all equals comedic gold for viewers. Martin and Candy together is really the kind of pairing people dream of. The former, a few years completely removed from his standup days, was starting to inch away from zanier works like The Jerk and The Three Amigos and move closer towards his more family-friendly fare of the 1990s. For the latter, it was the start of a fruitful working relationship with Hughes, one that would see the SCTV alum go on to star in The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989) and a small role in Home Alone (1990).

And for Hughes, it was the beginning of a new phase in his own career as well. Planes, Trains and Automobiles was his first attempt to make films aimed more at adults and kids, moving away from the teen movies that helped him make his mark in Hollywood. The Great Outdoors and Uncle Buck were both successful at the box office (though 1988’s She’s Having a Baby was a critical and commercial letdown), and the director would close out the decade by successfully revisiting the Griswolds, a family based off the short stories he wrote for National Lampoon in the late 1970s. Christmas Vaction was the first time Hughes would use the holiday as inspiration for his work; he’d return to December 25th as the basis for the first two Home Alone films, as well as the somewhat underrated (and way darker than you might remember) remake of Miracle on 34th Street. But while Planes didn’t bring in the same overflowing bags of box-office loot as the saga of Macaulay Culkin torturing two idiot burglars, it did end up as something else: a Thanksgiving classic.

For one reason or another, there aren’t just that many films centered around the turkeycentric November holiday. The two-year span that Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters covers is bookended by two Thanksgiving parties; the adaptation of Rick Moody’s novel The Ice Storm serves more as a cautionary tale that maybe you shouldn’t go home for the holidays if you want to avoid all kinds of insane family drama. If there’s a Thanksgiving feast involved in a film’s plot, chances are good that it’s there to heighten the story’s conflict, expose secrets and/or allow somebody to drop some kind of bombshell. Cue someone slamming their silverware onto the table and storming out of the dining room.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the opposite of all of that. The whole movie is about Neal getting home so he can enjoy the day with his family. That’s it. That is the goal. It starts out with someone trying desperately to leave New York City – a situation which Hughes, a former advertising executive who routinely took trips back and forth from Chicago to Manhattan, probably experienced more than a few times in his life. When he finally gets out of his pointless meeting, he has to compete with a nameless young man – hi there, Kevin Bacon – for a taxi during rush hour so he can make it to the airport on time. (It’s a somewhat fortuitous cameo, as She’s Having a Baby would arrive in theaters less than six months later.) When Neal does nearly nab a cab, it’s taken by somebody else – a guy who he ends up seeing at the airport, and whose fates are tied together for the entire rest of the film. Meet Del.

It’s fair to say that Planes doesn’t fit comfortably into the John Hughes filmography: It’s a road trip movie, a buddy comedy and his first attempt at a holiday movie. It’s a classic double-act farce that might not fit that well in the decade it came out in. There are no guns or bad guys like 48 Hours or any of the Lethal Weapon films; no winks at Cold War anxiety a la Spies Like Us; and no time machine like Bill and Ted used in their excellent adventure. What it does share with a number of his best works is that mix of Norman Rockwell and Frank Capra in Reagan’s America vibe. Neal wants to get home to his family for the very American holiday; Del, as we find out by the end, doesn’t have any home to go home to, his wife having died eight years earlier. Despite whatever hell they’ve put each other through, they’re friends after all is said and done – and you invite friends over for Thanksgiving when they’ve got nowhere to go.

But then again, it might fit better than we think. As David Kamp points out in his 2010 Vanity Fair piece on Hughes a year after the filmmaker’s death, Candy’s character is from the same universe as other characters from the director’s more iconic films: “Molly Ringwald’s upper-middle-class character in Sixteen Candles, Samantha, was a passing acquaintance of Matthew Broderick’s Ferris Bueller, while Judd Nelson’s troubled Breakfast Club punk, Bender, came from the same forlorn section of town as Del Griffith, the hard-knock but relentlessly upbeat shower-curtain-ring salesman played by John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” If the film feels like it is part of something bigger, it’s because it actually is. Hughes had an entire fictional town of Shermer, Illinois mapped out in his head and, at least for some of his earlier films, most of his characters lived there.

Hughes would try his hand at a Thanksgiving film a few years later, writing and producing 1991’s Dutch, starring Ethan Embry as a spoiled brat and Ed O’Neill as his mother’s blue collar boyfriend, who’s tasked with getting the kid from his Southern prep school back to Chicago in time for turkey. A somewhat similar series of unfortunate events befalls the duo on their journey back, but compared to Candy and Martin’s road trip, the results don’t really hit the same way. Yet there’s something interesting about the fact that Hughes would revisit the formula. Either he really liked the holiday, or he was hoping the lack of films centered on the holiday maybe gave him a specific market to corner. It’s not so much that Dutch is a bad movie; more that Hughes had already made a better version a few years later.

Neal and Del go on a journey. You could be cheeky and connect other literary comparisons to their trek besides Dante’s Inferno (Heart of Darkness and The Road both come to mind). They are tested, they almost die more than a few times, and in the pre-Internet and cellphone days, they’re left to their wits in the middle of the cold country without any money after Neal is robbed in his sleep. Yet they still persevere. There’s no giving up. Neal can taste that turkey and cranberry sauce and feel the warmth of his family gathered around the table. He has one singular goal in mind, and just as he reaches it, he thinks of somebody who is less fortunate than he is. He thinks of his new friend. He brings him home for dinner.

It all leads to that moment, and that’s why Planes, Trains and Automobiles remains the ultimate Thanksgiving film: John Hughes understood that it’s all about the buildup. No matter if your journey is filled with near-death experiences, cars going up in flames, punches to the face and other disasters – getting to enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends make the odyssey worth it. Everything else is just turkey.