Moviefone Editorial

Tag: by-the-sea

  • Box Office: Why This Weekend Was Full of Surprises

    This was the weekend that nothing went as expected at the box office — hinting that the multiplex may be in for a wild ride this winter.

    Even though many predicted that none of this weekend’s new releases were going to dislodge “Spectre” and “The Peanuts Movie” from the top two spots, those films still surprised. “Spectre” held on better than anyone thought, losing just 50 percent of last week’s business instead of the 60 that many predicted, to finish with an estimated $35.4 million for the weekend. On the other hand, “Peanuts” was supposed to lose just 35 percent of last week’s business, but it plunged 45 percent, to an estimated $24.2 million.

    It’s possible that “Love the Coopers” ate into the “Peanuts” family audience. Instead of debuting at $6 or $7 million, it earned an estimated $8.4 million, good for third place. Despite its unclear title, the movie was well-marketed; viewers knew that it was a Christmas-themed family comedy, and as the first such film of the season, it had an advantage. An all-star cast (including Diane Keaton and John Goodman) didn’t hurt.
    “The 33” premiered in fifth place, with $5.8 million — less than the $10 million analysts pegged it to earn. Despite being based on the gripping true story of the successful rescue of the Chilean miners who were trapped below ground for 69 days in 2010, the movie had limited appeal. The title was weak, the marketing was nearly invisible, and the reviews were lackluster, which hurt among the older audience the film targeted. The waning star power of Antonio Banderas wasn’t enough to overcome those liabilities.

    The weekend’s biggest surprise? The Bollywood romantic epic “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.” The Hindi-language musical cracked the top ten, landing in eighth placed with an estimated $2.4 million. That take is all the more impressive considering that it’s playing on just 286 screens, and that “Prem” is three hours long — meaning fewer showings per day. Give credit to Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor, two of India’s biggest stars, as the romantic leads.

    Failing to crack the top 10, despite opening on 1,565 screens, was period football drama “My All American.” It debuted in 12th place with just $1.4 million, meaning it earned just $889 per theater. The movie had a pedigree — writer/director Angelo Pizzo is the screenwriter behind such tearjerking sports-drama classics as “Hoosiers” and “Rudy” — but he’s not a household name. And the movie opened while the similar “Woodlawn” is still doing decent business (it’s earned $13.6 million over five weeks, including another estimated $635,000 this weekend).Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s much-anticipated marital drama “By the Sea” was a box office dud, to be expected considering it only premiered on 10 screens, earning an estimated $95,440, or $9,544 per screen. That seems like a good per-screen average — “Spectre” earned $9,010 per screen this weekend — but it pales in comparison to other recent art-house movies that opened with $20,000 or more in limited release.

    The movie’s underwhelming reviews may have kept viewers away, and the numbers suggest that, even when the movie is playing nationwide, fascination with Brangelina won’t be enough to draw audiences curious about whether the couple’s on-screen turmoil sheds light on their off-screen relationship.

    Overall, the box office was down nearly 35 percent from last week’s surge. Does that mean last week was a fluke, and that we’re still in the midst of a deep slump? Not necessarily.

    Next weekend should spike again with the release of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2.” And 2015 is still on track to beat the yearly record set in 2013. But beyond sure things like “Mockingjay” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” how the rest of the year will play out is anybody’s guess.
    %Slideshow-334059%

  • 11 Must-See Movies Starring Real-Life Celebrity Couples

    %Slideshow-340907%
    Anyone expecting to get a glimpse into the real-life marriage of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt from their new movie, “By the Sea,” is bound to be disappointed. And not just because it’s about a squabbling couple who seem to bear little resemblance to the stars who (by all accounts) are still happy after 10 years and six kids together.

    Rather, it’s that film seldom captures the chemistry between actors who are a couple in real life. Or it captures something that isn’t really there, at least not yet. That’s why these 11 movies, which do seem to evoke on screen the real-life sparks that had already occurred off-camera, are so remarkable. Watch them with someone you love — or used to.

  • Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s ‘By the Sea’ to Open AFI Fest

    by-the-sea

    Angelina Jolie scored a coup with her film “By the Sea” opening the 2015 AFI Fest, which could stir Oscar buzz.

    The artsy drama, written, directed, produced by and starring the Oscar winner, along with her husband Brad Pitt playing her onscreen husband, will premiere on Nov. 5 at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The 29th annual film festival runs Nov. 5-12 and its full lineup will be announced soon.

    Obviously thrilled, Jolie said, “AFI has long supported the boldness and experimentation that accompanies provocative cinema. As a filmmaker, and on behalf of our cast and crew, I am honored to launch the film at the Opening Night Gala for AFI Fest.”

    Jolie’s “By the Sea” is a retro effort inspired by European cinema of the ’60s and ’70s. It tells the story of an unhappily married couple (Jolie and Pitt) living in 1970s France in a seaside resort. They examine the problems of their own relationship after interacting with tourists.

    As Variety notes, premiering a film at the AFI Fest could be favorable for Oscar hopefuls. Both “Selma” and “American Sniper,” which debuted last year at AFI Fest, received Best Picture Oscar nods.

    20068613

  • Brangelina Aren’t Having the Perfect Day in ‘By the Sea’ Trailer

    By the SeaIf you take Mr. and Mrs. Smith, make them super depressed, and whisk them off to a gorgeous vacation in the south of France, you’ve got “By the Sea.”

    The movie marks the first on-screen collaboration for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt since “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” 10 years ago. Since then, of course, they had a bunch of kids and got married and basically became the most famous celebrity couple in the world. They’ve acted in many movies, separately, and Jolie has directed a couple (including last year’s “Unbroken”). Now, finally, they reunite for “By the Sea,” which Jolie also helmed.

    The first trailer is a mood-setting, meditative bit — there are tears from Jolie, anger from Pitt, some face-slapping, and walks along stunning shorelines.
    Watch the trailer.

    It does not explain the characters or why they are so melancholy. Here is what we know: Jolie and Pitt play Vanessa and Roland, whose marriage is falling apart. She’s a former dancer, he’s a writer.

    “It focuses on three couples, all at different stages in their lives,” Jolie told People. “And at its center are the questions of what happened to Roland and Vanessa and why they are in the place they are now.”

    Directing her husband in such a tense romantic drama — on their honeymoon, no less — wasn’t a piece of cake. “I’d be directing myself and him in a scene where we’re having a fight, and I’d be pulling out the parts [of him] that have an aggression toward me or when you’re frustrated with each other,” she told the Directors Guild of America. “It was very heavy.”

    “By the Sea” opens November 13.

    Want more stuff like this? Like us on Facebook.

    %Slideshow-293522%

  • Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Marriage Crumbles in ‘By the Sea’ Trailer

    Ten years after they became Hollywood’s hottest couple in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Angelina Jolie and Brad return to the screen together under much darker circumstances.

    The new trailer for “By the Sea” shows them as a husband and wife in crisis, drinking, smoking and moping against spectacular scenario and hotel opulence in France in the 1970s while Harry Nilsson mournfully (and ironically) croons “Perfect Day.”

    Jolie tells DGA Quarterly that she directed and wrote “By the Sea” — shot during their real honeymoon to Malta — as “an art film, the kind of movie that I like to see but not something I’m usually cast in.”

    “We’re proud of ourselves for being brave enough to try it,” she says. “I think “By the Sea” was the hardest film for me because it wasn’t [issue-driven]. It’s something I probably won’t do very much of.”

    “By the Sea” opens in November.

    20068613