Moviefone Editorial

Tag: everest

  • Why ‘The Martian’ Stomped All Over ‘The Walk’ at the Box Office

    On the surface, things played out as expected at the weekend box office.

    As analysts predicted, “The Martian” won the top spot with an estimated $55 million, coming within spitting distance of the October record set two years ago this weekend by the similar “Gravity.”

    Art-house crime drama hit “Sicario” expanded wide and grossed $12.1 million, as expected, and finished in third place. And “The Walk,” playing only on a few hundred large-format screens before it expands wide next week, earned $1.6 million, debuting at No 11.

    Behind the scenes, however, this week’s results reflect the ongoing fight for your premium-ticket dollar — the surcharge you pay for 3D, IMAX, and other large-format screenings. With the moviegoing audience dwindling, the effort to wring more cash from every ticket buyer is the theater owners’ last hope for increasing revenue — and their last major battleground.

    These days, most U.S. moviegoers are used to coughing up a few extra bucks for enhanced moviegoing experiences like 3D and giant screens (or both). But in recent years, as the multiplexes were saturated with mediocre 3D movies, 2D movies with poor 3D transfers, and 3D movies exhibited poorly on underlit projection systems, ticket buyers have been less and less willing to pay extra to rent the glasses. We’ll do it for certain visual spectacle films — movies that really demand to be seen in 3D, like “Gravity” — but otherwise, given the choice between seeing a particular new release in 2D or 3D, we’ll usually choose 2D.

    At the same time, we still haven’t grown disenchanted with the immersive nature of the ultra-large screen.

    For decades, IMAX-branded screens had this market to themselves, but in the last few years, the theater chains have invented their own floor-to-ceiling screen systems, meaning they don’t have to share revenue with IMAX. There are several different such formats, but to avoid confusing audiences, they’re all marketed under the umbrella designation “PLF,” meaning premium large-format. IMAX purists — including many filmmakers — grumble that most PLF screens don’t measure up to IMAX, which projects from a taller, wider image source; the off-brand PLF screens just blow up the standard image, often resulting in a fuzzier, underlit picture. Nonetheless, audiences have embraced PLF, to the point where, within the last year, the number of PLF screens in North America (374) surpassed the number of IMAX screens (360).

    In that context, the success of “The Martian” is all the more remarkable. It came in just shy of the record-setting $55.8 million debut of “Gravity.” But that 2013 stranded-astronaut adventure had the benefit of 3D, IMAX, and PLF surcharges — while this October’s marooned-spaceman tale had only 3D.

    It also opened well ahead of last fall’s “Interstellar” ($47.5 million), which also had IMAX receipts going for it. Good reviews and very strong word-of-mouth (as measured by its A grade at CinemaScore) suggest that “The Martian” is one of those few movies that really lives up to recommendations to see it in 3D.
    Why didn’t “The Martian” open in IMAX and PLF as well? Perhaps because “The Walk” has most of the giant screens booked. It opened Wednesday on just 448 screens, but they’re all extra-large. Those premium fees, plus the 3D glasses charges, were supposed to yield big bucks — or at least a top-10 debut. And yet, Robert Zemeckis’ docudrama about Philippe Petit’s unauthorized 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center has earned just under $2 million in five days of release. From Friday to Sunday, it averaged just $3,460 per screen, compared to a $4,609 average for art-house graduate “Sicario” (which has no premium venues) and $14,357 for “The Martian.”

    Why did “The Walk” open with about half its predicted take? It’s not that the film doesn’t live up to the hype regarding its visuals. At an advance New York Film Festival screening last month, some viewers reportedly found the high-wire segment so realistic and vertigo-inducing that they had to rush to the bathroom to throw up. The film has enjoyed decent (but not stellar) reviews. But “The Martian” was better marketed, and viewers choosing between premium-format visual extravaganzas clearly found the space epic an easier sell than the French-daredevil drama.

    Still, the idea of releasing “The Walk” at first only on IMAX and PLF screens wasn’t a bad one. “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” was the first movie to try such a platform release back in 2011. It came out on 425 super-sized screens and earned $12.8 million (an average of $30,083 per screen), toward an eventual domestic total of $209. 4 million. Of course, that movie starred Tom Cruise and was the fourth in a well-established franchise.
    Just last month, “Everest,” another eye-filling adventure, tried the same strategy. It opened on 545 lMAX and PLF screens (and in 3D) and earned $7.2 million (a healthy $13,251 per screen), good for a fifth place debut. But in the two weeks since it expanded onto regular screens (it’s now playing in 3,009 venues), it hasn’t lived up to those initial numbers. This weekend, it earned just $5.5 million, down 58 percent from last week, for a seventh-place finish and a three-week total of just $33.2 million. Given those numbers, some pundits revised their expectations downward for “The Walk,” yet it still underperformed even that low bar.

    Who knows, “Everest” might be doing better if it hadn’t yielded most of its large screens to “The Walk.” It also seems to be one of those movies that works best in the premium formats, as viewers who’ve seen it on regular screens seem to be underwhelmed.

    This scarcity of resources, then, suggests that we’ll be seeing the construction of a lot more IMAX and PLF screens in the coming months and years. After all, if they can’t bring more people into the theaters, they can still charge more per ticket by satisfying demand for the kind of immersive visual and aural experience that not even the biggest home theater screen and speaker system can provide.

    Let’s just hope we keep getting movies that offer the kind of spectacle that’s worth coughing up the extra bucks.
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  • Box Office: Did Moviegoers Get Lost on the Way to ‘Maze Runner’?

    This was supposed to be the big fall kickoff weekend at the multiplex. There was the sequel in a successful young-adult fantasy/sci-fi franchise and an A-lister starring in the first major Oscar hopeful of the season.

    But two surprising things happened: “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” opened with $30.3 million, less than its predecessor, and Johnny Depp‘s “Black Mass” did slightly better than expected — despite a “B” CinemaScore from audiences.

    Was everyone too busy watching football this weekend, or arguing in coffee shops about Thursday’s Republican presidential debate, or planning the last blowout barbecue before autumn officially arrives this week? Or was it just that, despite the hype, the studios by and large failed to make a compelling case for why people should come back to the theaters this weekend?

    Jake Gyllenhaal‘s “Everest” premiered in fifth place with an estimated $7.6 million, but that’s actually pretty good for a limited release that opened only on fewer than 550 screens and only in IMAX. Similarly, “Captive” opened down in tenth place with just an estimated $1.4 million, but that’s still decent for Christian-themed drama in wide release.

    Many experts expected all these movies to do a lot better. That they were disappointed may speak as much to faulty punditry — which has been giving wildly off-the-mark predictions for months now — as it does to audience apathy. Still, there are some lessons here regarding why these movies didn’t do better.

    Reviews Matter More to Younger Viewers Than You Think

    And that may have been “Scorch Trials’” big problem. Critics didn’t think much of the second installment, judging by a 49 percent fresh score at Rotten Tomatoes. Those weak reviews are not a knee-jerk response to the genre, since critics have been fairly kind to the “Hunger Games” movies, as well as the first “Maze Runner” last fall. So even though young viewers supposedly don’t pay attention to reviews, they didn’t seem to ignore them this time. Conversely…
    Word-of-mouth May Matter More to Older viewers Than You Think

    “Black Mass” actually got strong-ish reviews (76 percent fresh at Rotten Tomatoes), with many critics expressing admiration for Johnny Depp’s performance as real-life Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, seeing it as a return to form after a number of flops. Normally, that would have been enough to persuade the older ticketbuyers who come out for Oscar-hopeful movies in the fall, and who still take reviews seriously.

    But viewers didn’t like the movie as much as critics did, giving it a so-so B grade (Anecdotal chatter suggests that some viewers were put off by Depp’s old-age make-up and his effort at a Boston accent.) By the way, “Scorch Trials” got a slightly higher B+ grade, but that word-of-mouth wasn’t enough to keep it from premiering with about $2 million less than last year’s initial installment.

    Do Religious Movies Have a Saturation Point?

    If so, then apparently three such films in the multiplex at once is one too many. Maybe that’s why “Captive” hasn’t been the hit that “War Room” has (in its fourth weekend, “War Room” was still earning an estimated $6.3 million, good for sixth place and a total of $49.1 million to date) or even that “90 Minutes in Heaven” has (it’s No. 12 this weekend, with an estimated $1.0 million and a two-week total of $3.7 million).

    Pundits were expecting “Captive” to open at $3 to $7 million — it has two fairly recognizable stars (David Oyelowo and Kate Mara), it has a plot centering on a true story based on Rick Warren’s spiritual bestseller “The Purpose-Driven Life,” and Paramount marketed it by staging “Purpose”-themed screenings for church groups. Then again, “90 Minutes” also has two fairly recognizable stars (Kate Bosworth and Hayden Christensen) and still hasn’t done as well as “War Room,” which doesn’t have any. Either the Christian moviegoing audience isn’t big enough (or free-spending enough) to support three such movies at once, or else it will only support those movies it finds most compelling, star power or no star power.

    People Will Come See Spectacle, if It’s Well-Executed
    That seems to be the case with “Everest,” the true story of the 1996 Himalayan mountaineering disaster. The movie, which had a successful limited release this weekend, features a cast that includes Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, and Jason Clarke. But it’s the awe-inspiring visuals, rather than the acting, that have been the focus of buzz surrounding the film.

    No wonder Universal chose to release it at first only on 545 screens, all of them IMAX and large format 3D. The result, thanks to smart marketing and the surcharges, was a $13,872 average per screen, nearly twice what “Scorch Trials” and “Black Mass” averaged. No doubt the word-of-mouth from those awed viewers will help sell the movie when it opens wide next week on standard screens.

    It’s a clever strategy, one pioneered successfully by “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” in 2011. And we’ll be seeing more of it soon, when TriStar debuts aerialist spectacle “The Walk” on specialty formats at the end of September, before expanding wide a week later. It’s a nice reminder that people can still be lured away from their living rooms and smartphone screens to see something novel that they can only experience in a theater.

  • Jake Gyllenhaal Is ‘Not a Big Fan of Heights’

    Jake Gyllenhaal Is ‘Not a Big Fan of Heights’

    Jake Gyllenhaal is about as high on the Hollywood totem pole as anyone can be, but just don’t get him high in the air.

    “I’m not a big fan of heights,” the heartthrob confesses Tuesday to Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show.” “I don’t mind being high up, but I don’t like heights. Like, I don’t like hanging off of something.”

    Gyllenhaal explains: “Sometimes when you’re driving across a bridge you see the top of the bridge and you think, ‘Wow, if I walked up there.’ Some people think, ‘I could do that really easily. I wouldn’t be nervous,’” adding, “I don’t think I’d be able to do that.”

    His distaste for heights could have brought on a big problem while starring as a mountain guide in “Everest,” a movie centered around the eponymous mountain peak, the highest point in the world.

    He was somewhat prepared for the film, he says, because he and some of the cast and crew actually went mountain climbing.

    “I think playing a character, you should transform yourself,” Gyllenhaal says. “Some things call for you to do things, internally and externally, sometimes not at all, sometimes you have to,” he says of facing his aversion to heights,” adding, “I have a vision of a character and what that character should be and sometimes I go and follow.”

    In “Everest,” Gyllenhaal stars opposite Keira Knightley and Robin Wright in the true story that chronicles the survival of climbers trapped on the peak of Mount Everest during a 1996 snow storm. Costarring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington and Emily Watson, the film hits theaters on Sept. 18.

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  • Is ‘Everest’ Worth Seeing? The Critics Weigh In

    Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington and Robin Wright are among the top-tier talent featured in the adventure drama “Everest” – and according to critics, the star-studded cast is worth watching.

    The Baltasar Kormákur-directed 3-D film, based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster that killed eight climbers, received a 72 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, earning praise for its vivid visuals and intense, well-documented plot.

    “Shot in Nepal and the Italian Alps, cinematographer Salvatore Totino has a lot to work with and he makes the most of it. The technical aspects of this grueling film are superb throughout, including top-notch special effects and sound work. The movie should be a real player in the crafts categories of the Oscars, but I have a feeling it could go even further than that. Hopefully audiences will want to see this terrific film which represents the best of moviemaking at its most daunting.” — Pete Hammond, Deadline

    Although the general consensus is that the film was shot beautifully, some argue that the somewhat predictable ending was a bit frustrating.

    “‘Everest’ is immensely thrilling and is beautifully shot (and it’s one of the few times I’d recommend watching a movie in 3D). And not knowing who survives and who doesn’t beforehand, I did find myself rooting for the characters — you know, real people — but there really is that nagging feeling of, ‘They put themselves in a position where they knew they might die, and now they might die.’ Even so, it doesn’t diminish just how tense ‘Everest’ is … and, boy, is it ever tense.” — Mike Ryan, Uproxx

    Others believe the cast of too many characters takes the focus away from a lot of the film.

    “The film feels like what happens when a studio exec barks, ‘Get me a ‘Gravity!’ That Oscar-winner — like ‘127 Hours,’ ‘Into the Wild’ and ‘The Grey’ before it — falls into a new category we might call the Intimate Disaster Epic. Whereas those movies all focused on one person caught up in extraordinary circumstances and fighting for survival, ‘Everest’ tries and fails to spin too many plates, with more than a dozen characters desperate to make it down from one of the world’s most treacherous slopes. Each of those real-life climbers no doubt had an interesting story to tell, but when shoved together like this they’re all reduced to types rather than people.” — Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

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  • 8 Must-See Fall Movies – Preview

    Hollywood’s fall movie season is upon us. With summer superheroes, Tom Cruise risking great injury and Chris Pratt’s clingy trousers behind us, we move forward to Oscar bait and some other familiar stories. Here’s our roundup of the eight best pictures that are headed to theaters.

    Everest

    “Everest” sees Jake Gyllenhaal opposite Keira Knightley and Robin Wright in the true story that chronicles the survival of climbers trapped on the peak of Mount Everest during a 1996 snow storm. Co-starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington and Emily Watson. The disaster flick is in good company as the opening film for the 72nd annual Venice Film Festival. For the past two years the fest’s opening films have gone on to receive Best Picture Oscar nominations; last year it was “Birdman,” which won, and in 2014 “Gravity” earned a nod in the category. The film opens Sept. 25.

    The Martian

    Matt Damon stars as an astronaut stranded on Mars—140 million miles away from Earth—who must utilize his skills as a botanist to survive until NASA can plot his rescue. The popular book of the same title will be realized on the big screen on Oct. 2, also starring Jessica Chastain, Kristin Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

    Steve Jobs

    Forget everything about the 2013 Ashton Kutcher-starring version. The life of the late Apple genius is brought to the big screen by Michael Fassbender in the title role and director Danny Boyle, who won Best Director for 2008’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” Also starring Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen, “Steve Jobs” hits theaters Oct. 9.

    Beasts of No Nation

    Set amid a civil war in an unidentified African country, Idris Elba plays a warlord who takes an orphaned youngster, played by Abraham Attah, as his protégé. The Netflix original film will debut on Oct. 16 debut on the streaming services and will have a simultaneous roll out at select Landmark Theatres (making it Oscar-eligible) in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Indianapolis, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego.

    The Peanuts Movie

    Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts gang gets a splashy 3D makeover for a new generation in “The Peanuts Movie.” It is the fifth full-length feature based on the comic strip (celebrating its 65th anniversary) and the first film in nearly 35 years. In this iteration, Charlie Brown tries to win the affection of The Little Red-Haired Girl while Snoopy battles his enemy the Red Baron, in theaters Nov. 6.

    Spectre

    Daniel Craig’s 007 treks the globe as he uncovers the criminal syndicate SPECTRE: Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism and Revenge. And the agent finds that one of his greatest villains has a curiously close connection to his past. Also starring, Naomie Harris, Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux, “Spectre” arrives in theaters on Nov. 6.

    The 33

    The drama, politics and desperation surrounding the international rescue effort of 33 Chilean miners trapped in a mine that lasted 69 days comes to the big screen in “The 33,” starring Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, and Lou Diamond Phillips, on Nov. 13.

    The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 2

    The end has come for “The Hunger Games” franchise with “Mockingjay – Part 2.” In the second-half of Suzanne Collins final book in the series, Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss leads a rebellion against Donald Sutherland’s President Snow. The film, co-starring Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, opens Nov. 20

  • Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘Everest’ Opens 72nd Venice Film Festival

    Jake Gyllenhaal in "Everest"
    Jake Gyllenhaal in “Everest”

    It seems Jake Gyllenhaal is the one to watch this upcoming awards season. The 34-year-old’s drama “Everest” will open the 72nd annual Venice Film Festival, it was announced Wednesday. And a day earlier it was revealed that his film “Demolition” will kick off the Toronto International Film Festival.

    But the Oscar race appears to be more favorable for Gyllenhaal with his disaster flick “Everest” getting the coveted lead spot at the Venice Film Festival, which runs Sept. 2-12. For the past two years the fest’s opening films have gone on to receive Best Picture Oscar nominations; last year it was “Birdman,” which won, and in 2014 “Gravity” earned a nod in the category.

    “Everest” sees him opposite Keira Knightley and Robin Wright in the true story that chronicles the survival of climbers trapped on the peak of Mount Everest during a 1996 snow storm. Co-starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington and Emily Watson, the film hits theaters on Sept. 18.

    Also joining the lineup is a mixed bag of action, drama, thrillers, animation and more. “Gravity” director Alfonso Cuaron heads the jury, of which 21 films are in competition, along with actresses Elizabeth Banks and Diane Kruger on the panel.

    “The program is very varied,” festival artistic director Alberto Barbera told reporters. “The line-up goes from small films which are almost experimental to documentaries and great auteur films as well as great films which seek to innovate the forms used in contemporary cinema. All in all, there’s a bit of everything.”

    Among the highlights of the Venice Film Festival:

    “Equals,” starring Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult.

    “Beasts of No Nation,” starring Idris Elba.

    “The Danish Girl,” starring Eddie Redmayne.

    “Black Mass,” starring Johnny Depp.

    “Go with Me,” starring Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles and Ray Liotta.

    “Spotlight,” starring Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo.

    Stop-motion flick “Anomalisa.”

    Martin Scorsese’s short film “The Audition,” starring Robert de Niro, Leonardo Di Caprio and Brad Pitt.

    Watch the trailer for “Everest” below.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyEjUV-q47o

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  • ‘Everest’ Trailer: Climbing Up Is Easy, Getting Down Is the Hard Part

    EverestScaling Mount Everest is an amazing feat. But it’s sort of meaningless if you don’t survive the trip back down the mountain.

    The first trailer for “Everest” features some breathtaking vistas as two teams of climbers — including Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Hawkes, and Sam Worthington — ascend to the peak of Everest. It’s a tough, grueling trek, with plenty of dangerous moments, but they seem to triumph and bond on the way up. Then, the real battle begins, as a terrible storm threatens their lives on the harrowing journey back.


    The movie is based on the true story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which eight people died. The footage looks incredible, and the cast list is very impressive (the movie also features Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, and Emily Watson). Director Baltasar Kormákur shot the film in real conditions and in IMAX 3D so we can expect some jaw-dropping scenery.

    “Everest” opens in theaters September 18.

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