Black Sheep @ The Box Office

(Scroll over any film title for the full Black Sheep review.)

There was never any real doubt that TRON: LEGACY would not debut at number one this weekend. Just as there was never any real doubt that it would be anything more than a spectacular light show. Will people want to play the game again and again though? I can't say I don't habe my share of doubt there.

Disney should be happy with the $43.6 million debut TRON: LEGACY pulled in. It is slightly higher than what tracking was suggesting for opening weekend and it is also more than 10 times what the original TRON film earned in its 1982 opening weekend. It is even $10 million more than what the original brought it in its whole theatrical run. Granted, that was nearly 30 years ago. I'm thinking those numbers would be higher with inflation. Does anyone know how to calculate that?

Aside of TRON: LEGACY though, no other blockbuster was able to make a significant impression on audiences again this week. Last week's disappointments, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER and THE TOURIST continued to do just that, each suffering declines of close to 50%. Then you have YOGI BEAR, a film I've seen the trailer for far too often at this point. Clearly, Warner Bros. was hoping for some chipmunk size numbers here but it will be a Christmas miracle if this animated flop is able to put together a decent picnic after its run finishes. Still, it could be worse. You could be Reese Witherspoon returning to the screen after a 2-year absence or Universal Pictures, the company that laid down a reported $120 million to make HOW DO YOU KNOW, starring Witherspoon. This kind of light hearted romantic fare usually cleans up at the holiday box office but then again, this kind of fare is usually actually funny as well. The James L. Brooks disaster pulled in a dismal $3K per screen average begging the question, how do you know when to give it up?

Christmas is looking dark this year on the indie front, dark green anyway. Prestige pictures continued to impress this weekend as major Golden Globe nominees, THE FIGHTER and BLACK SWAN continued to sell out crowds across the nation. After debuting on 4 screens last week, the David O. Russell directed THE FIGHTER explodes on to 1200+ screens and takes in a solid $4.8K average. Word of mouth will certainly grow past this weekend as it is a knockout of a film. Darren Aronofsky, a producer on THE FIGHTER, should be doubly pleased as his Oscar hopeful, BLACK SWAN, increased its screen count to nearly 1000 after blasting into the Top 10 last week on just a handful. The expansion proved quite fruitful with a very healthy $8.6K per screen average.

Below the Top 10, John Cameron Mitchell's beautiful RABBIT HOLE pulled in decent but not amazing numbers on 5 screens, with an average of $11K. THE TEMPEST saw an increase of 26% with the addition of 21 screens. THE SOCIAL NETWORK even saw a slight 5% bump after being named movie of the year by most every critic in America. It is still THE KING'S SPEECH that is the Oscar front runner, as it pulled in another $25K per screen on just 43 screens. The Tom Hooper film goes wide on Christmas day.

NEXT WEEK: Speaking of Christmas, it starts early this year on Wednesday, with wide releases, LITTLE FOCKERS (3450 screens) and TRUE GRIT (3000 screens). The gift giving continues on Christmas day itself, with Jack Black in GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (2400 screens), nut I might return that one if I were you. And there's something for the art crowd too, with limited runs starting for THE ILLUSIONIST, COUNTRY STRONG and SOMEWHERE.

Source: Box Office Mojo

TRON: LEGACY

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde

Twenty-eight years is a long time to go between films. When the original TRON was released in theatres in 1982, I was but five years old. I can’t say I remember anything about it at the time, other than that the effects and animation were really cool. Special effects have come a very long way since then but after seeing the sequel, TRON: LEGACY, I can essentially say pretty much the same thing about this one as I did about the first when I was five; the special effects were cool and twenty-eight years from now, that will be all anyone will remember about the new one too, if anything at all.

The story has not changed. In 1982, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) was sucked into the computer world he helped design by the Master Control Program. In 2010, it is his son’s turn to play. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) pays a visit to his dad’s old arcade after not having seen his father for nearly twenty years. Someone is still paying the electricity bill though as everything still works, including the passage way to Flynn Sr.’s secret computer lab. Once inside the system, Sam, a user, is easy to spot amongst all the programs and it isn’t long before he is brought face to face with good old Dad, who has been trapped in this world all this time. Together they must vanquish Clu, Kevin’s virtual counterpart (a surprisingly impressive effects designed younger, more strapping version of Bridges) before he takes his desperate need for perfection outside of the computer and into the real world.

The truth about both TRON films is that nothing other than the special effects and some high-energy game playing sequences matter in either of them. How else can you explain that they basically recycled the story from the first for the second? Both films imply that there is something deeper being said about religion, technology and how mankind can’t seem to get his head around how close these two concepts truly are to each other, but neither film actually leaves the viewer with any true insight. Philosophical constructs are simply a device to fill the space between each mind-blowing game scene and this is done adequately enough to distract from how empty all that space really is. It doesn’t hurt either that the space, albeit empty, is incredibly gorgeous, with all its geometric exactitude and bursts of light and colour to break up all the darkness.

And so I say, let the games begin. TRON: LEGACY, for all of its clunky dialogue and questionable plot points, is completely mesmerizing when the games are on. The original elements of the games are still intact but updated in such a way that they justify the entire existence of the film. Couple that with the dynamic and driving Daft Punk score and you have two hours that will dazzle your senses like you’ve never known. When those two hours are up though, you will put down the game and it will almost be like you never played at all.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office

A new installment in a major franchise and a remake with two A-list stars fail to connect with audiences this week while BLACK SWAN, a twisted film about ballet, playing on less than a hundred screens, leaps into the Top 10 to become the toast of the town.

The third Narnia picture, VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER, opens on top this weekend with $24.5 million, less than half of what the two previous installments did on their opening weekends. This minor victory prevented Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie from scoring what should have been a hefty debut for THE TOURIST. Instead they could barely manage to bring in enough to cover one of their salaries with a soft $17 million debut.

No the big Top 10 news this week is the appearance of BLACK SWAN at number 6 with $3.3 million from just 90 screens in North America. The Darren Aronofsky directed Oscar contender scored a poweful $37K per screen average, an extreme rarity in the Top 10. As the accolades continue to pour in during awards season, BLACK SWAN looks poised for a standing ovation.

Below the Top 10, another critical darling scores a per screen average that is more than double the size of BLACK SWAN. David O. Russell's incredible boxing film, THE FIGHTER, pulled in an average of $80K per screen on just 4 screens across the country. It goes wide next week. Meanwhile, Colin Firth's work on the talk show circuit has helped THE KING'S SPEECH net a healthy $31K per screen average in its third week of limited release. There wasn't much love for Julie Taymor's THE TEMPEST, with Helen Mirren, which earned but $9K per screen on only 5 screens.

NEXT WEEK: Reese Witherspoon returns to the big screen, 2500 of them actually, with HOW DO YOU KNOW, opposite Paul Rudd. YOGI BEAR goes after the family fare picnic basket on 3400 screens. TRON LEGACY finally races onto more than 3300 screens. As previously mentioned, THE FIGHTER expands to 2200 screens. And the touching John Cameron Mitchell film, RABBIT HOLE, opens gently on 5 screens.

Source: Box Office Mojo