From peacetime to frontlines, from coming home to left behind: Rotten Tomatoes presents the 100 best-reviewed war movies of all time, ranked by Certified Fresh films first. —Alex Vo
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Welcome to Rotten Tomatoes, where we’ve got Bale by the barrel! There’s skinny Bale (The Machinist) and big Bale (American Hustle), edgy Bale (The Fighter) and business Bale (American Psycho). Not to mention two varieties of P.O.W. Bale (Empire of the Sun, Rescue Dawn)! We’ve got cowl Bale (The Dark Knight) if that’s your fever, along with cool Bale (Equilibrium) and magic Bale (The Prestige). Then there’s bard Bale (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) if you’re a person of letters, which we suggest pairing with a biblical Bale (Exodus: Gods and Kings). A Christian Bale, if you please.
Bale’s been nominated for an Oscar four times (winning in 2011 for The Fighter), with the latest in 2019 for Vice. Ford v Ferrari wasn’t nominated for any of its performances, though it did land one for Best Picture. Recently, he’s been in Amsterdam, Thor: Love and Thunder, and The Pale Blue Eye. Come what may in 2023 and beyond: First, we’re ranking the best Christian Bale movies (and the worst) by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo
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He’s been Batman, Bateman, and battled Terminators — and this weekend, Christian Bale battles Oscar Isaac for the love of Charlotte Le Bon in The Promise, a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the Armenian Genocide. In honor of Bale’s latest cinematic excursion, we decided to take this opportunity to pause for a fond look back at some of the brighter critical highlights from an acclaimed career that’s still collecting them at an impressive pace. It’s time for Total Recall!
Inspired by The Green Inferno, this week’s 24 Frames treks deep into some of the most dangerous and deadly jungle settings ever captured on film.
Good news, blockbuster fans: this week in home entertainment features a crowd-pleasing toe-tapper (Hairspray), the return of John McClane (Live Free or Die Hard), another harrowing star turn by Christian Bale (Rescue Dawn), and plenty more (Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, Ghosts of Cite Soleil, Chappelle’s Show Collection). Just watch out for that one early holiday dud (The Santa Clause 3: Escape Clause) — unless 14 percent Tomatometers are your cup of eggnog.
Tomatometer: 93%
The movie musical is officially back, as evinced by this year’s Hairspray — a big screen version of a Broadway remake of the John Waters cult film, of all things. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky shines as the chubby yet effervescent teenager who teaches all of 1960s Baltimore about acceptance, equality, the mashed potato and the pony. If only impossibly teased hair and a megawatt smile were all it took to land a heartthrob like Zac Efron! Pick up the two-disc DVD release for an added behind-the-scenes documentary that charts the film’s journey from film to stage to film, song sing-along tracks, dance routine tutorials, and more. Then, go rent Waters’ original Hairspray to see what a real man (Divine) looks like in drag. (Take that, Travolta-in-a-fat-suit!)
Tomatometer: 80%
Bruce Willis has long had difficulty dying (not so his career – zing!) when it comes to this franchise, and the twelve years since Die Hard With a Vengeance have not taught him any better to let loose his mortal coil at the hands of evil thieves, terrorists, and the like. Enter Live Free or Die Hard, a John McClane joint for the 21st century, featuring the most terrifying of 21st century foes: Internet hackers! In line with this progressive techno-thinking, the 20th Century Fox release includes a digital copy of the film that you can download onto your computer or portable DVD player, or whatever other newfangled gadgets the kids are using these days. (Bonus for grown-ups: an unrated version of the film in addition to the theatrical PG-13 cut. Yippee-ki-yay!)
Tomatometer: 90%
In 1997, Werner Herzog documented the real-life prisoner of war experience of a German-born American pilot named Dieter Dengler in his acclaimed Little Dieter Needs to Fly; ten years later, Herzog reviss the inherently dramatic tale as a feature film starring Christian Bale. The result is not only another critically lauded film, but the director’s most commercial and accessible work to date. Watch it for a harrowing Vietnam War survival tale — and so you can finally drop some Herzog knowledge on even the snootiest of cinephiles at this year’s holiday party!
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
Tomatometer: 100%
Much more than your average making-of feature, Hearts of Darkness — on DVD for the first time this week — gets up close and personal with director Francis Ford Coppola during the production of his 1979 Vietnam epic, Apocalypse Now. While Coppola was shooting the modern classic, about men going mad in the midst of war, his wife Eleanor took notes and shot on-set footage of the cast and crew; her documentation of how the overstuffed project, skyrocketing budgets, and production delays threatened the film and the sanity of Coppola himself became this award-winning 1991 documentary. Co-directors Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper (who would go on to direct 2003’s Mayor of the Sunset Strip and last year’s Factory Girl) contributed extensive interviews, and the film went on to earn praise at Cannes. The DVD includes a new commentary track by Coppola as well as an hour-long accompaniment on his new film, Youth Without Youth.
Angel-A
Tomatometer: 44%
Luc Besson (The Professional, The Fifth Element) takes his penchant for action down a notch in this light charmer about a down-on-his-luck con man saved from suicide by a chain-smoking statuesque blonde. Although critics were split, this Paris-set Wings of Desire-meets-It’s a Wonderful Life is worth a view, if only for the breathtaking experience of seeing the City of Lights shot in beautiful monochrome.
Manufactured Landscapes
Tomatometer: 83%
Director Jennifer Baichwal filmed acclaimed photographer Edward Burtynsky as he traversed Asia shooting various industrial landscapes; her award-winning documentary captures not only the striking imprint of global progress on the earth, but provokes thought by using beautiful images composed, ironically, of industrial wastelands.
Ghosts of Cite Soleil
Tomatometer: 80%
A few months before the 2004 military coup that deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, filmmaker Asger Leth (son of Danish director Jorgen Leth) embedded himself and a small crew deep within the slums of Cite Soleil, filming the complicated relationship between two fatefully charismatic gang leader brothers. The result — a powerful and terrifying glimpse into lives dictated by violence, guided by American gangsta rap — is an incredibly intimate and surprisingly humanizing portrait of brotherhood, poverty, and the quagmire that is modern Haiti.
Chappelle’s Show Series Collection
Tomatometer: 80%
Combining Season One, Season Two, and the “Lost Episodes” of Dave Chappelle‘s masterfully amusing sketch comedy show, this six-disc box set is an arguable necessity for Chappelle enthusiasts. But while the Comedy Central release offers up all 28 episodes, audio commentaries, bloopers, unaired sketches, stand-up, and even two new True Hollywood Stories by Charlie Murphy, one wonders if any true Chappelle fan should put more profits in the pockets of a network that effectively cancelled all possibility of Chappelle’s return to the show by running the unfinished third season to begin with.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Tomatometer: 14%
“Escape from this Clause.” “Ho Ho Hum.” The reviews write themselves, but just for added measure, here’s what else is in store should you pick up this new release: Jack Frost played with nuance by Martin Short as if the love child of Liberace and Liza Minnelli, Tim Allen phoning in his third performance as a reluctant Santa, and a plot shamefully derivative of such holiday classics as It’s a Wonderful Life and even The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Happy renting to us, every one!
At age 65, prolific filmmaker Werner Herzog shows no signs of taking things a bit easier. Notorious for his gruelling filmmaking style, he’s famously willing to put himself through everything he demands of his actors. This led to a series of outrageous on-set experiences with eccentric star Klaus Kinski, which Herzog documented in My Best Fiend, following their often murderous relationship over the years. Herzog is the only filmmaker who has shot features on every continent. His classics include Aguirre: Wrath of God, Nosferatu, Fitzcarraldo, Cobra Verde and Grizzly Man, and he also finds time to act in the films of Harmony Korine. In addition to his film career, he walked on foot from Munich to Paris in 1974, was shot during an interview by journalist Mark Kermode in 2005, and rescued Joaquin Phoenix from a terrible car crash the following year. Now with Rescue Dawn, he returns to the subject of his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Wants to Fly…
When you finished the doc Little Dieter Wants to Fly, what did you think still needed to be said in a constructed narrative?
Werner Herzog: For Dieter and me it was always clear that this was unfinished business. Too many things that are really fascinating – such as what happened in the prison camp – are hardly touched in the documentary. The films complement each other very well. There was also a consensus between Dieter and me that the feature film comes first, but since technically we did it later, interestingly, the film that was not done yet influenced the first film. But in its heart the feature film has always been the first one.
Why did you wait almost 10 years to make the feature?
WH: Well, it was possible to make the feature film only when the money was available. Otherwise I would have done the feature as the first one. But the feature film in that case would have been unfinished business, because we would have seen nothing of Dieter’s childhood, nor do we see anything about his life later on, nor do we see the real man. And of course his story was fantastic before he made it to the United States and Southeast Asia, and equally afterwards. He had four more plane crashes that he survived, and children and wives and just totally wild stuff. [Dengler died at age 62 in February 2001 of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.]
How was Christian Bale suited to the role?
WH: The simple answer: He’s the best of his generation. And I worked with the best of their generation: Steve Zahn, Christian Bale and Jeremy Davies. So I was blessed with the best of the best. With Steve Zahn, nobody expected anything from him like that because he’s mostly been the funny sidekick in Eddie Murphy movies. But I knew that Steve has something very, very special about him.
Did you cast Bale partly because of his reputation with things like extreme weight loss?
WH: Yes, but we had to be careful. Christian always said, “For God’s sake, let’s not make a great fuss about this.” Because he didn’t want to end up in the Guinness Book of World Records for starving himself. Of course in The Machinist he lost much more. And what we did was significant and visible for an audience, so that by the end of the film he has quite visibly lost some weight. And that’s fine. And we shouldn’t make a big fuss about it. It only showed the amount of dedication and professionality of everyone involved. And that’s the key to it.
But then Bale’s dedication extended to eating maggots…
WH: That’s not really incredible. I’ve seen people in other country eat maggots, and they’re very rich in protein. So there’s nothing really wrong about it. In our own cultural context we’re not accustomed to eating maggots, but Christian Bale always knew I would essentially offer to do things I asked from the actors. For example, when we were in the rapids, I spent all day with them in the water. I offered to eat a couple of spoonfuls of maggots, but in this case Christian said, “Oh for God’s sake, just turn on the camera and let me get on with it.”
Was it just one take?
WH: That was one of only two misunderstandings. One was when we were a few hundred yards apart and we had to yell over a large distance and something got lost, and for a moment we were angry with each other, but it was over in two minutes flat. And then that moment when he ate the maggots, I had told him, “You are the one who will stop the scene.” But while he ate – he probably didn’t hear it correctly – he kept eating, eating, eating, and he got kind of angry because I never said cut. So finally when the four minutes of film had run out, and everybody stopped, he said he didn’t hear cut from me. And that was the second moment where there was a kind of misunderstanding, but these things pass by so quickly. It’s just a little error. But, for example, in solidarity I lost half the amount of weight he lost. It would be counterproductive to lose the same amount because he would gain it back fairly quickly. The real challenge – because we shot the film backwards – was to develop the character backwards. To find the dynamic and the flow was quite difficult.
Why do that?
WH: Well it was a practical consideration. It takes you five or six months to lose weight but you gain it back in two or four weeks. We could have done it the other way around, but then we would have needed five or six months of shooting, and we only had 44 days. And while you are working, he would have to keep starving, starving, starving, until at the end he was very thin. So for practical reasons we had to do it backwards. Christian has been such a disciplined man. Jeremy Davies in a way overdid it. He’s quite thin, but he arrived in Thailand with quite a few very large suitcases, and it turned out they were filled with bottled water, Evian in plastic bottles. And in Thailand, right next to the hotel in the supermarket you could have bought the same ones. But he brought all his water along – he was totally wild. He ate very, very little and mostly only drank water, and that was that.
Can Christian play any character? Do you think he could even play Kinski in a biopic?
WH: No, that would be ridiculous! He couldn’t do it – no, because Kinski was kind of unique and you can’t even imitate him! Not anything. It would be wrong for him to do, for example, Kinski. Or it would be wrong for him to do Mohammad Ali. In a way I had to stop Christian from going into too much of an imitation of the real Dieter Dengler. The real Dieter Dengler had a very thick German accent, and Christian and I were quite clear: we had to dismiss that. We did not try to imitate that – just a slight hint of an accent. Christian kept saying to me, “You as a crowd won’t even hear it!” It’s so subtle. I think he could do pretty much anything, but he shouldn’t do everything. In essence, yes, but you do not imitate idiosyncrasies and actions in the same way as, for example, when you make a film about Mohammad Ali, you have to be a rapper, like Ali, and you have to dance in the ring, and you have to be like him. And Richard Nixon – you have to look pretty much alike, and you have to speak like him and move like him.
Some families of prisoners felt their relatives weren’t depicted accurately.
WH: It’s a complex question because, sure, I do understand that the family of [Davies’ character] Eugene DeBruin saw him differently, 40 years back before he went to Laos or even to Thailand, from where he flew. Apparently, and I would not have any doubts, he was a very kind family man. However, how Dieter Dengler describes him very precisely, over and over, after more than two years in medieval flip-flops, with diarrhoea, cross-handcuffed with others, there was a fair amount of delusion in him that he would be released in a week from now. Dieter told me quite often there were conflicts among the prisoners. He passes by this fleetingly in the documentary but, right after that, he said, “Well, it was much more serious. Sometimes we hated each other so bad that we would have strangled each other if we had a hand free, if we were not cross-handcuffed.” And it’s absolutely understandable that after two years cross-handcuffed and everyone has diarrhoea in the humidity and sweating and so on, there were very decisive and antagonistic moments. But I wanted to follow the story of Dieter Dengler. With him the film begins and ends, and it’s his story. It’s a basic problem about storytelling. Yes, if I had known every single one of the prisoners intimately, and had gotten each of their stories, I probably would have ended up with five different variations of the story. So for me it was always clear that I’d do Dieter Dengler’s perspective. And yet Gene DeBruin’s family is unhappy about it and angered and has started an internet campaign. And OK, that’s alright. They see him differently than I see him. But I think they have not gotten any of the details that I have gotten from Dieter Dengler. And these things happen. Yes, someone may be unhappy with how one character is portrayed. You run into that, and it’s fine. And it’s absolutely legitimate that they raise their voices and explain that they see it differently.
What do you think it was about Dieter that made him such a survivor?
WH: That’s a complicated arrangement in his inner make-up. I think he had all the qualities I like in Americans – that is, this kind of frontier spirit, optimism and loyalty, and joy of physically tackling things. Loyalty in a very intensive way – he was one of the very few prisoners of war who did not sign the propaganda declaration denouncing the United States. He kept saying, “America gave me wings. I came to America not just to earn a lot of money, but I came with a big dream. And there it was possible. And I would not denounce this country.” And of course it was in the very early days of the Vietnam War when you didn’t have napalm bombing or Mai Lai or things that make it so hard to understand what was going on. He was a very unique man, with great street wisdom, great survival instincts and also the gift of leadership.
He’s almost like a mythical hero.
WH: At the same time, I’m sure audiences sense that there’s an authentic story behind it. It’s not invented. Everything is detailed in a way that’s how it happened. Of course I modified a few things, but only to give an essence of it. For example, Dieter Dengler was actually kidnapped by his buddies and smuggled back to the aircraft carrier after he was rescued. As far as I remember he was hoisted out through a window and then they ran to the helicopter. And I found it much more Dieter-like to have him hidden under a cake, so to speak. Actually the cake is gone by then, but the tablecloth is somehow covering the table as they wheel him out. So yes, modification, but it gives more the essence of what Dieter would do.
What do you think this film says about the Vietnam War?
WH: It’s not a Vietnam film. It’s a survival film in the jungles, it’s a film about friendship. The war doesn’t factor in the movie, nor in Dieter’s life. The war was over for him 40 minutes into it – 40 minutes into his first mission he was shot down. And back in 1965 the Vietnam War was just starting to settle in. There was an escalation and de-escalation. It hadn’t found its magnitude and its significance yet. I never saw it as a war movie or as a Vietnam movie, so it doesn’t settle in with any other Vietnam War movies. And besides, it was Laos, which wasn’t quite part of the whole campaign.
The jungle is extremely authentic.
WH: It’s very physical. I’ve never seen anyone filming the jungle like I’ve done it. I do have quite some experience in jungles with other films, but in this case I wanted to make it more physical than all the others before. It’s partly about what sort of spot in the jungle you are selecting. Sometimes we’d drive around and we’d all of a sudden see a solid wall of vines and underbrush, and you literally cannot imagine that a human being can penetrate into that wall. And we’d stop and say, “Let’s go through that one!” With the cameraman right after them. The cameraman was very, very physical – a former ice hockey player for Sparta Prague – a very physical man. And of course you can’t do SteadyCam, because it’s a very delicately balanced instrument, and if you bounce against a liana or twig the whole system comes apart. Sometimes we use a helicopter or crane. But when they escape, of course the camera is with them quite a bit, and we see that this is serious business. And audiences can distinguish that this is not a picnic. Or a digital jungle.
The film is shot in rich colours, rather than the grainy, washed out style of current action films.
WH: It had to have the real quality of celluloid. We shot on a very large celluloid frame – they call it Super 35, where you use quite a large amount of the celluloid, more than regular shooting. So the technical quality is much higher than in regular 35mm shooting. And authenticity does not come through the pretext of grainy image or digital video. It comes from somewhere else.
How did you cast the prison guards in the film?
WH: Most of them are people from hill tribes that you would find in Laos and Burma. Most of the guards were stunt men. You see the little one, Crazy Horse, who does the flips so well, I said, “You have to do it in the movie!” Otherwise they were just the people from the villages there, very well-selected and carefully cast. I liked them all, including the dog! That was very precisely organised, and I don’t know how many times I shot that – I shot until the dog walked into the shot on his hind legs. Those are the joys of daily work!
This has been described as your first American film.
WH: Well it’s not the first; Grizzly Man is pretty much also American. But you see, both Grizzly Man and Rescue Dawn are not films within the cultural definition of the film industry – it’s not Hollywood. Hollywood would never have gone for, for example, that casting. They wouldn’t have allowed me to have Steve Zahn. The producers were absolutely the contrary of Hollywood: the main producer had made most of his money in the trucking business, and is running nightclubs now, and the other producer who put most of the finances into it is a basketball star who never had any experience with filmmaking. Which in a way was a blessing because I could do absolutely the film I wanted to do. On the other hand, it was awful every single day because they didn’t know how to handle the shooting of a film. In particular there was always financial trouble; they never had the finances in place when it was needed most badly. So one day over 30 Thai crew quit because they were not paid in time, and the transportation department didn’t get any money for buying gasoline. So as a filmmaker I had to make something out of a disaster. In the morning at 6: no transportation department, and I still kept shooting that day. And I finished the film two days under schedule.
The German film industry is enjoying a renaissance. Will you go back to make a film there?
WH: I’m married in America, so I’ll probably stay. But of course I made my last film in Antarctica, the film before in Alaska, the film before in Guyana in South America. So I’ve made very few films in Germany, and it’s not necessary that I have to go back to my country. In a way, Rescue Dawn is a very Bavarian film – the spirit of Dieter Dengler, even though he’s the quintessential American immigrant, he’s very much from the culture he comes from. And I’ve never left my culture. For example, [Wolfgang] Petersen and [Roland] Emmerich always wanted to make Hollywood films, and they got their dream. They make very successful Hollywood films, which I have never done. I’ve left my country, but I’ve not left my culture. In the same way, you shouldn’t be worried why George Lucas is going to the outer galaxy to make a movie. He’s still making a film within his culture; he’s making an American film. I go to Thailand or the Peruvian jungle, the Amazon, and I still make Bavarian films. Fitzcarraldo is a Bavarian film, and so in a way is Rescue Dawn.
Moviegoers across North America embraced The Simpsons Movie which beat out all industry expectations for an explosive number one opening this weekend grossing more than the next four biggest hits combined. The Fox release collected an estimated $71.9M in its first weekend in theaters and averaged a spectacular $18,320 per site from 3,922 locations. The PG-13 comedy enjoyed the third largest debut ever for an animated film trailing only Shrek the Third and Shrek 2 which bowed to $121.6M and $108M, respectively.
The Simpsons Movie delivered the fifth biggest July opening weekend ever after the megasequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($135.6M in 2006), Spider-Man 2 ($88.2M in 2004), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($77.1M in 2007), and Austin Powers in Goldmember ($76.6M in 2002). It also ranks fifth among the biggest non-sequel opening weekends in history following Spider-Man ($114.8M in 2002), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ($90.3M in 2001), The Passion of the Christ ($83.8M in 2004), and The Da Vinci Code ($77.1M in 2006). The magic number five is also where The Simpsons Movie stands in Fox’s company history behind the debuts of the last two installments in both the Star Wars and X-Men franchises.
After building up an enormous fan base over the last 18 years, The Simpsons Movie was finally ready to capitalize on the popularity of the television series by jumping to the big screen and the audience certainly followed. Fox reported that the audience for the $75M production was solid in all four quadrants. Strong reviews from critics also helped the cause and probably encouraged many fans who have given up on watching the weekly series to return for the theatrical fun. The studio’s marketing department also deserves a gold medal for its unorthodox campaign which really commanded the attention of the public. From the contest between different towns named Springfield to host the premiere to the conversion of a dozen 7-11 stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the studio was able to generate massive amounts of excitement with creative new ideas.
Dropping a notch from its top spot debut, Adam Sandler and Kevin James cuddled up in second place with the comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry which fell 44% to an estimated $19.1M. The Sony release has laughed up a solid $71.6M in its first ten days and should find its way to the neighborhood of $125M. Chuck is performing much like Sandler’s 2002 summer comedy Mr. Deeds which bowed in late June to $37.2M, tallied $73.6M in ten days, and finished with $126.3M.
Another former number one followed. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix dropped 48% to an estimated $17.1M in its third weekend and boosted its 19-day cume to $241.8M. Phoenix posted the smallest third-weekend gross of any Potter film to date, however a final domestic cume close to the $290M of the last installment Goblet of Fire still seems possible.
The hot musical Hairspray posted a decent hold in its second weekend dropping 43% to an estimated $15.6M for New Line. The ensemble pic featuring John Travolta and Queen Latifah watched its total soar to $59.3M after only ten days which already makes it the studio’s top grossing film in two years. The PG-rated entry looks to pass the $103.3M of last winter’s Dreamgirls and may reach about $110M.
Catherine Zeta-Jones headlined the new romantic dramedy No Reservations and found moderate success with an estimated opening of $11.8M. The Warner Bros. release debuted in 2,425 locations as an alternative choice for adult women and averaged a good $4,849. Aaron Eckhart and Abigail Breslin co-star in the story of a chef whose life changes after her sister’s death leaves the woman to care for her niece. Reviews were mixed.
The action smash Transformers placed sixth in its fourth weekend with an estimated $11.5M. Down 44%, the Paramount/DreamWorks co-production boosted its cume to $284.6M putting it at number 31 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters after The Matrix Reloaded which grossed $281.5M in 2003. Transformers is now the third biggest hit ever for Paramount after Titanic ($600.8M) and Forrest Gump ($329.7M) and also the third largest in DreamWorks history trailing the last two Shrek installments.
Two new flops rounded out the top ten. Sony’s Lindsay Lohan horror flick I Know Who Killed Me bowed to an estimated $3.4M from 1,320 theaters for a weak $2,576 average. The R-rated torture pic was never tracking well and its star’s recent arrests put the nail in the coffin for the film’s release. MGM opened the golf comedy Who’s Your Caddy? with an estimated $2.9M averaging only $2,846 from 1,019 sites.
Four films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend. The Warner Bros. romantic comedy License to Wed tumbled 64% to an estimated $1.3M lifting its cume to $41.7M. A mediocre $44M final should result for the Robin Williams pic. Rival comedy Knocked Up has been one of the year’s top comedy performers and fell 48% to an estimated $1.2M giving Universal a superb $145.1M to date. The low-cost $30M production should finish its domestic run with just under $150M.
Horror hit 1408 dropped 54% to an estimated $1.2M giving MGM $70M thus far. As the year’s second biggest fright flick after Disturbia, the John Cusack film should reach about $73M.
The Steve Carell epic comedy Evan Almighty grossed an estimated $1.1M, down 57%, pushing the tally to $96.3M. Produced for $175M, the PG-rated pic will have to work hard with second-run business in order to crack the $100M mark for Universal. It will also have to soar internationally and on video if it wants reach break-even.
A handful of films expanded into wider release this weekend. MGM’s military drama Rescue Dawn grossed an estimated $1.7M from 500 locations for a $3,304 average and $3M cume. The sci-fi thriller Sunshine grossed an estimated $1.3M for Fox Searchlight resulting in a $2,750 average and a total of $1.6M. The Don Cheadle film Talk To Me averaged $6,986 from 115 playdates for a weekend estimate of $803,000. Total sits at $1.9M for Focus.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $165.7M which was up a potent 52% from last year when Miami Vice opened at number one with $25.7M; and up 58% from 2005 when Wedding Crashers rose to the top spot for the first time with $20M in its third frame.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
This week at the moves, we’ve got America’s favorite family in their long-awaited big-screen debut (The Simpsons Movie); a tale of two chefs (No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart); a rumble in the jungle (Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale), a kidnapping mystery (I Know Who Killed Me, starring Lindsay Lohan); and wacky golf gags (Who’s Your Caddy? Starring Lil Wayne and Big Boi). What do the critics have to say?
The wait is finally over: The Simpsons have migrated from the confines of television to the silver (or is that yellow?) screen. The result? Well, maybe not the “best…. movie… ever,” but pundits say it’s still pretty exxxxx-cellent. Homer, responsible for an eco-disaster, piles Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie into the car and leaves Springfield for Alaska (you were expecting Capital City?). Ah, but who cares about the plot? The critics say The Simpsons Movie is essentially an extra-long episode of the show, but one that contains plenty of the S-M-R-T jokes, killer slapstick, and poignancy that fans have come to expect. At 84 percent on the Tomatometer, The Simpsons Movie is Certified Fresh. Release the hounds.
Recent Catherine Zeta-Jones Movies:
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26% — The Legend of Zorro (2005)
55% — Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
61% — The Terminal (2004)
71% — Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
46% — Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Recent Werner Herzog Movies:
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66% — The Wild Blue Yonder: A Science Fiction Fantasy (2006)
94% — The White Diamond (2005)
94% — Wheel of Time (2005)
93% — Grizzly Man (2005)
53% — Invincible (2002)
Bart, Lisa, and the whole gang from Springfield will charge into multiplexes across North America and much of the world this weekend in the highly anticipated animated comedy The Simpsons Movie which looks to easily conquer the box office. But competing studios do have other menu items in store for moviegoers. Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in the romantic comedy No Reservations, Lindsay Lohan headlines the grisly thriller I Know Who Killed Me, and hip hop star Big Boi tries out the world of golf comedy in Who’s Your Caddy?
Fox is aiming for hardcore followers and casual fans alike with its long-in-the-works comedy The Simpsons Movie which hits screens at midnight on Thursday night. The PG-13 film has a substantial built-in audience and should play out like a semi-sequel. To some extent it will be one of the more unpredictable openings of the summer since there is no track record of Simpsons fans leaving their TVs and paying money at the box office, however the fan base is sizable and will definitely come out upfront. Reviews have been good too so those who tuned out a decade ago and miss the Bobo years should return to try out what the feature-length entree is like.
The studio gets major points for executing what is certainly one of the best marketing campaigns of the year. From turning a dozen 7-11s into Kwik-E-Marts to the SimpsonizeMe web promotion, The Simpsons Movie has been generating substantial interest and has jumped from the entertainment pages to the front pages becoming a major pop culture event. That should lead to a powerful opening weekend, even if large drops follow. The marketplace will get crowded this weekend, however Simpsons will tower over its foes with ease. In fact its nearest competitors should only be in the teen millions so Krusty and company will get the attention of most folks. Busting into 3,922 theaters, The Simpsons Movie could open in the neighborhood of $54M.
Adam Sandler comedies typically drop by 45-50% on the second weekend depending on how well received they are. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is not exactly a fan favorite so sales could get sliced in half and fall to about $17M. That would still give the Universal comedy about $70M after ten days.
New Line enjoyed a better than expected bow for the musical Hairspray which gave the studio its best opening in two years. However its Friday-to-Saturday drop of 15% last weekend indicates that it might be a front-loaded title. Look for a 50% fall to around $14M giving the John Travolta vehicle a ten-day tally of $59M.
LAST YEAR: Universal’s summer action entry Miami Vice opened atop the charts with $25.7M on its way to $63.5M domestically and $164M worldwide. After three weeks at number one, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest slipped to second with $20.6M. Fox’s teen comedy John Tucker Must Die enjoyed a solid opening in third with $14.3M leading to a $41M final. The animated film Monster House followed with $11.7M in its sophomore frame. Rounding out the top five was rival toon The Ant Bully with a $8.4M opening on its way to a disappointing $28.1M for Warner Bros. Introducing herself to the world in limited release was Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine which went on to become a critical and commercial hit grabbing $59.9M at the box office plus four Oscar nominations.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
Optimus Prime and his robot heroes seized the number one spot at the North American box office with an explosive opening for "Transformers" over the extended Independence Day holiday frame. The Paramount/DreamWorks co-production grossed an estimated $67.6M over the Friday-to-Sunday period and an amazing $152.5M since its early opening last Monday with 8pm preview shows.
Internationally, the Michael Bay-directed actioner has grossed a stellar $93.6M to date from 29 markets putting the global haul at $246.1M and counting. Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, and newcomer Megan Fox led the cast while executive producer Steven Spielberg’s name played prominently in the film’s marketing campaign.
"Transformers" played in an ultrawide 4,011 theaters in North America and averaged a scorching $16,854 for the weekend and a stunning $38,021 over the 6.5-day opening week. The PG-13 film began its explosive run on Monday night with $8.8M in ticket sales and followed that with $27.9M on Tuesday, $29.1M on the Wednesday holiday, $19.2M on Thursday, $22.5M on Friday, $25.9M on Saturday, and an estimated $19.2M on Sunday. The Sunday estimate could be conservative as other studios estimate the weekend gross to be closer to $68M or even $69M meaning final numbers could inch up slightly on Monday.
With a production budget of $145M, "Transformers" is one of the least expensive summer tentpoles this year. "Spider-Man 3" and the third "Pirates" saga reportedly cost $250-300M each to produce and next weekend’s "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" also carries a mighty high pricetag. By comparison, the Autobots flick seems rather inexpensive. The pressure certainly was on Bay after his last film "The Island" cost $125M and grossed a puny $35.8M for DreamWorks two years ago. This time, the studio will be rewarded as "Transformers" not only started off with a bang, but is pleasing audiences too and could enjoy more solid weeks ahead. Its main foe will come from "Potter" which invades multiplexes this Wednesday to get a headstart on what surely will be a gargantuan five-day debut.
Paramount set a new record for the biggest opening week for a non-sequel as its 6.5-day tally edged out the $151.6M that "Spider-Man" grossed in May 2002. The webslinger’s figure would be roughly $170M at today’s prices, though. Still for Paramount and DreamWorks, "Transformers" marks the biggest live-action opening in company history and their third largest overall debut after the third and second "Shrek" installments.
Adjusting for eleven years of ticket price increases, "Transformers" sold about as many tickets as "Independence Day" did during its extended debut over the same Fourth of July holiday week. Both were effects-driven non-sequel summer action films with ensemble casts about alien forces threatening the safety of Earth. "Independence Day" began its run with 6pm shows on Tuesday night and grossed $96.1M from 2,882 theaters over 5.5 days which at today’s prices would be about $125M. "Transformers" collected a slightly better $133.3M in its first 5.5 days. Of course, the comparisons are not exact since ID4 had an earlier start with its Tuesday previews and "Transformers" played in 1,129 more theaters, but the fighting robots did generate the same early July excitement that the alien blockbuster did over a decade ago.
Shia LaBeouf must be hoping that his career will take off the way Will Smith’s did back then. The young actor will star opposite Harrison Ford next Memorial Day weekend with Paramount’s fourth "Indiana Jones" film which certainly makes his stock climb, and will be looking for a much fatter paycheck when "Transformers 2" negotiations begin.
Moviegoers who preferred rats over robots spent an estimated $29M on the Disney/Pixar hit "Ratatouille" which dropped to second place after losing only 38% of its opening weekend sales. After a stellar midweek holiday period that saw the G-rated toon grossing $33.5M from Monday-to-Thursday, the ten-day cume soared to $109.5M. "Ratatouille" is now catching up to Pixar’s "Cars" from last summer which dropped 44% to $33.7M in its second weekend for a ten-day tally of $117.1M. The rodent pic trailed "Cars" by 22% after the first three days, but has now cut the gap to only 6%. "Ratatouille" could find its way to the vicinity of $225M.
Despite direct competition from "Transformers," "Live Free or Die Hard" performed well shooting up an estmated $17.4M for third place this weekend. Down 48%, the PG-13 action sequel upped its cume to $84.2M after 12 days. A final domestic tally of $130-140M could result.
Robin Williams saw only mild results for his latest comedy "License to Wed" which grossed an estimated $10.4M over the weekend and opened to $17.8M over its extended six-day launch period. Playing in 2,604 theaters, the PG-13 pic averaged a mediocre $3,998 over the Friday-to-Sunday period. Critics trashed the Warner Bros. release which tried to position itself as counterprogramming to the testosterone antics of the fighting robots over the holiday week.
Dropping 46% to fifth place was the pricey comedy "Evan Almighty" with an estimated $8.1M in its third weekend giving Universal $78.1M to date. 2003’s "Bruce Almighty" grossed a much mightier $171.4M in its first 17 days and cost half as much as "Evan" to produce.
MGM’s hit thriller "1408" followed with an estimated $7.1M, down only 33%, for a solid cume of $53.8M. Universal’s comedy "Knocked Up" also held up well dipping 29% to an estimated $5.2M. The impressive total stands at $132M which is already 21% better than the final gross of director Judd Apatow’s last film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" which laughed up $109.3M in 2005.
Fox’s comic book sequel "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" suffered the worst drop in the top ten falling 55% to an estimated $4.2M for a $123.8M total (9% behind its predecessor). Lionsgate expanded its Michael Moore documentary "Sicko" from 441 to 702 theaters and grossed an estimated $3.7M, off just 19%, pushing the cume to $11.5M. George Clooney and pals rounded out the top ten by looting an estimated $3.5M with "Ocean’s Thirteen," down 42%, and raised the sum to $109.1M (5% behind "Ocean’s Twelve").
Three new films debuted well in limited release over the weekend. MGM’s Vietnam war drama "Rescue Dawn" opened in six theaters with an estimated $104,000 for a potent $17,375 average. With $161,000 over five days, the Christian Bale film played to an older male audience and expands to the top ten markets this Friday. Fox Searchlight’s thriller "Joshua" bowed in six sites as well and grossed an estimated $51,086 for an average of $8,514. The distributor will widen the run into about 140 locations this coming weekend. Warner Independent opened its comedy "Introducing the Dwights" in four playdates and collected an estimated $31,000 for a three-day average of $7,750. Five-day total was $46,000. On Friday, the R-rated pic will expand to about 40 theaters.
Two films fell from the top ten over the weekend. The megahit "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End" became the 25th film in history to sail past the $300M mark with its estimated $3M take in its seventh frame. Down 39%, the Johnny Depp adventure upped its total to $301.7M from North America keeping it at number 25 on list of all-time domestic blockbusters. A final gross of $305-310M seems likely domestically. Overseas ticket sales have surpassed $614M putting the global gross at a colossal $916M and counting.
Focus enjoyed a good hold with its star-driven drama "Evening" which took in an estimated $2.3M, off 33% in its sophomore frame. But the ten-day cume is still only at $8.3M meaning a not-so-impressive $15M final seems likely.
Among the summer’s biggest hits, "Shrek the Third" grossed an estimated $1.4M, down 48%, while "Spider-Man 3" dipped 42% to an estimated $350,000. Total domestic grosses stand at $316.6M and $334.4M, respectively, and both films have now joined the Top 20 on the all-time domestic blockbusters list.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $156.2M which was down 25% from last year when "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" shattered the opening weekend box office record with $135.6M; but up 15% from 2005 when "Fantastic Four" debuted on top with $56.1M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
This week at the movies we have disrupted nuptials ("License to Wed," starring John Krasinski and Mandy Moore) and metamorphisizing robots ("Transformers," starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox). What do the critics have to say?
As "The Office"’s lovably smug Jim, John Krasinski has built up a lot of cred with the twentysomething crowd, which may have been effectively blown with "License to Wed." Krasinski and Mandy Moore star as an engaged couple who go through rigorous pre-marriage counseling, run by a maniac preacher as played by Robin Williams. Critics label Krasinski’s and Moore’s characters as bland and barely sketched out, resulting in a movie that completely flatlines when Williams isn’t around to do his kooky and increasingly aggravating shtick. At 14 percent on the Tomatometer, potential "License to Wed" ticket buyers should get cold feet.
"I hope our kids don’t ever see this movie."
If last week’s "Live Free or Die Hard" was a summer tentpole throwback to the pre-CG days of crazy stuntwork, then "Transformers" is the complete opposite. It’s a slick, special effects driven extravaganza about two warring robot factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons, who take their fight to our planet. Shia LaBeouf leads a small ensemble cast of humans caught in-between the fight. "Transformers"’ detractors call it an obnoxiously loud film with corny dialogue. Supporters praise the film for being… obnoxiously loud and corny, a fun popcorn flick that is Bay‘s bread and butter. With a 59 percent Tomatometer (and a surprising 73 percent from Cream of the Crop critics), "Transformers" is for the fans and the curious looking for a raucous, out-of-control time at the movies.
"Transformers" is out to crush the competition.
Also opening in limited release: "Rescue Dawn," a harrowing war drama from director Werner Herzog, is at 88 percent; "Joshua," psychological horror in the vein of "Rosemary’s Baby" and "The Bad Seed," is at 67 percent; "Introducing the Dwights," a coming of age drama about a boy and his fame-seeking mother, is at 63 percent; and "The Method," a Spanish import about a company’s bizarre hiring method, is at 56 percent.
This season’s winner of "Celebrity Fit Club."
Recent Robot Movies, Robot Movies Featuring Robin Williams
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63% — "Robots" (2005)
59% — "I, Robot" (2004)
73% — "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001)
38% — "Bicentennial Man" (1999)
42% — "Transformers: The Movie" (1986)
We saw some great movies, some of them big ("Babel") and some tiny ("The Patterns Trilogy"). We saw some interesting failures ("The Banquet") and some outright bombs ("All The King’s Men"). We caught glimpses of big stars (Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, and Sean Penn, among others) and important directors (Brian De Palma, Paul Verhoeven, Darren Aronofsky, and John Waters). (Check the photo gallery for more.)
It’s been eight days since we returned from the Toronto International Film Festival, but the films we saw are still fresh in our minds. North America’s biggest film fest definitely lived up to its reputation, and we thought we’d cap our coverage with the movies that kept us talking.
Here are the movies that struck a chord with us, both positively and negatively. (Click on the highlighted quotes for full reviews.)
Senh’s Top Five:
1. "Still Life" – Set around the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges Dam in China, this is the most beautiful film I’ve seen this year. It’s also realistically acted and filmed and charmingly edited.
2. "Exiled" – Johnny To‘s film about a group of hitmen is well written, hip, cool, and just plain fun.
3. "Election" – Thrills with efficient plotting and pacing. One of the better Triad films in recent years from Hong Kong. It’s also directed by Johnny To. I’m a fan now.
4. "Pan’s Labyrinth" – I’ve never seen a more gory film starring a kid. The character designs are very unique.
5. "The Fall" – Tarsem‘s ("The Cell") film has narrative problems, but it probably has the most realistic and best acting by a little girl (Catinca Untaru) ever.
Senh’s Least Favorite:
1. "Dong" – This is a companion piece to Jia Zhang-Ke‘s "Still Life," but it’s probably the most boring and pointless documentary I’ve ever seen.
2. "Election 2" – What the original would have been if everything went wrong. I’m still a fan of Johnny To, but let’s hope he doesn’t make "Exiled 2."
3. "The Fountain" – Don’t listen to Tim.
Jen’s Top 5 From Toronto (overall somewhat disappointing):
1. "Deliver Us From Evil:" Gripping, emotional and devastating; a documentary on clergy abuse, with intimate access to victims and the offender himself.
2. "The Patterns Trilogy:" It’s visually rich, impeccably cute, and wholly mesmerizing. Jamie Travis’ stop motion-musical duet-pop meditation on obsessive love is surreal and stylish and wonderful.
3. "Catch A Fire:" Derek Luke is amazing, Tim Robbins is a little less psycho than he was in "War of the Worlds"…overall a great anti-Apartheid, anti-government paranoia story.
4. "The Dog Problem:" Scott Caan’s second directorial effort is a comic gem about social estrangement and loneliness and pets.
5. "This Filthy World:" Any John Waters fan must see this feature-length stand-up style show, if not for his hilarious anectodes, then for his insights into sex, politics, and filmmaking.
Screened elsewhere, but enjoyed more than the above: "Volver," "Borat," "Shortbus," "Paris, Je T’Aime"
Biggest Disappointments:
"Bobby" — A monumental divide between my hopes and the (admittedly unfinished) product, excepting the last 10 minutes. But you can’t fix too many thinly drawn characters and virtually no attempt at period detail in post.
"For Your Consideration" — Considering the cast and their past films, this should have/could have been so much better. The Fred Willard–Jane Lynch infotainment send-up is by far the best part, most everything else is composed of easy insider jokes.
Best Toronto Film Festival Party — The "Shortbus" Queer Lounge 11pm-4am live music extravaganza!! Burlesque dancers? Great. Awesome bands like Kids on TV and The Hidden Cameras? Great. JCM singing "Hedwig" songs? Priceless.
Tim’s Top Five:
1. "Babel:" A work of remarkable craft, a masterpiece of sensorial and emotional intensity.
2. "Pan’s Labyrinth:" This awe-inspiring mix of fantasy, horror and drama achieves something rare: it’s equally resonant visually and emotionally.
3. "Rescue Dawn:" A thrilling movie, an old-fashioned tale of survival that may be the closest Werner Herzog has come to fashioning his obsession with the struggle between man and nature into a mainstream film.
4. "Little Children:" An adult film in the best sense; it creates three-dimensional characters, sets them loose to do what they will, and trusts that we will understand.
5. "The Page Turner:" A remarkable tale of shattered dreams and revenge, this French thriller in a minor key is tense and absorbing all the way through.
Screened elsewhere, and still awesome: "Borat," "Red Road," "Lights in the Dusk," "American Hardcore"
Biggest Disappointment: "All The King’s Men:" It’s is handsomely mounted. It features a stellar cast. And it’s a misfire from the opening frames.
A movie that I really wanted to like but just couldn’t: "Bobby"
Movies I liked better than my colleagues: "The Fountain," "For Your Consideration"
Best Avant Garde/Black Comedy/Romance/Musical/Short: "The Patterns Trilogy"
Movies I saw in the hotel room: "Executive Decision," "My Voyage to Italy," "Out of Sight," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"
We’d like to extend greetings to some of the folks with whom we partied, conversed, and screened films: James Berardinelli, Erik Childress, James Rocchi, Kim Voynar, Scott Weinberg, and Paul Zimmerman. We’d also like to extend props to the many critics and bloggers we met in Toronto: Erica Abeel, Peter Debruge, Robert Denerstein, Michael Dwyer, Greg Elwood, Martha Fischer, Phoebe Flowers, Jonathan Hickman, Stephen Holt, Peter Howell, Geoff Pevere, David Poland, Alexia Prichard, Rene Rodriguez, Anne Thompson, Lawrence Toppman, and Sameer Vasta. We’d also like to acknowlge some of the filmmakers we met, including "Stormbreaker" writer Anthony Horowitz and the film’s star Alex Pettyfer (Check out Jen’s interview), Malcolm Ingram, Ash Christian, and Michael Tucker.
Check out our reviews, photos, blog entries, and all other related content from the Toronto International Film Festival.
