Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
Box Office Discussion: The Equalizer, The Boxtrolls
By BOP Staff
October 1, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Jay Barney: For me the defining role of Denzel Washington was Glory. I know it was very early in his career, but it was such a significant historical film, and many of his scenes were key to the plot. He got to work with a lot of great actors, and delivered a performance that will be remembered for a long, long time.
Edwin Davies: The word on The Equalizer is that it might mark Denzel Washington's first potential franchise, especially after this weekend, which just makes me wistful that Devil in a Blue Dress wasn't a bigger hit and didn't result in a whole series of films in which he and Don Cheadle solve crimes. That film is easily my favorite of his, both in terms of his performance and just from being a fantastically entertaining, engrossing mystery. His collaborations with Spike Lee - Mo' Better Blues, He Got Game, Inside Man and especially Malcolm X - all rank pretty damn high as well.
Oh, and he's great in Much Ado About Nothing.
Max Braden: My favorite Denzel Washington performance has to be Training Day. He has a tendency to deliver his roles with a subdued style, but Training Day is where he's the most dynamic, and both charming and dangerous at the same time. I don't question his other nominated roles, but I think Training Day is the one where he really put his stamp on the role in a way few others could, making it iconic for him. Another odd one that I always think of but can't explain is The Mighty Quinn. I didn't necessarily like the movie because there's not much too it, but he comes across really charming in that one. It just sticks with me and pops into my head from time to time, even though I can't have seen it more than twice (as an HBO rotation back in the late '80s). A least favorite choice is pretty hard to come up with for Denzel Washington. Maybe The Manchurian Candidate? That one didn't stick with me at all.
Reagen Sulewski: His role in Malcolm X goes down not just as my favorite role of his, but one of my favorite performances in cinema history. No one's quite dominated the screen in such a way before or since, while capturing all facets of a complicated and flawed man. His nadir for me might be The Bone Collector, a late ‘90s attempt to cash in on the serial killer procedural that also tied him to a bed for the entire movie.
David Mumpower: Washington claims one of the finest filmographies of our era. Picking a favorite is brutal, but I think that my favorite movie in which he has participated is Remember the Titans. Everything about that story is wonderful, and it is one of the best sports movies ever made. Right behind it is Inside Man, arguably the best heist flick of the past decade.
Going back a while, I was a huge fan of The Pelican Brief and Crimson Tide, two of the films that placed him squarely on the path to superstardom. I also agree with Edwin about Much Ado about Nothing. I want to add a couple of other recommendations that are less heralded performances. Déjà vu is a very clever science fiction film that I felt deserved a better fate. Mississippi Masala was a revelation upon its release in 1991. And Fallen has one of the best premises for a villain ever. Finally, Virtuosity may not be a great film, but it does include one of the best lines of dialogue I’ve ever heard. “Just because I'm carrying around the joy of killing your family inside me doesn't mean we can't be friends.”
With regards to least favorite, I actually enjoy most of his career choices. The one that stands out as a mistake in my eyes is The Preacher's Wife. It was a remake that nobody requested, and it was so forgettable that I expect several of you to have to google to remember/learn the film.
Kim Hollis: The Boxtrolls, the latest offering from Laika Animation, earned $17.3 million this weekend. What do you think of this result?
Jay Barney: This opening is okay. It is a tad disappointing. Based on ParaNorman and Coraline, there is a significant chance Boxtrolls gets decent holds over the next few weeks. It will have to work to make back its budget.
I guess I am lukewarm about its $17 million debut because I don't see the competition as being that great, and the numbers probably could have been higher. This film's only real direct competition at this point is Dolphin Tale 2. That film has been out for a few weeks and never really received much attention. Prior to that you have to go all the way back to Guardians of the Galaxy or Turtles to find anything that even remotely resembles competition in the market place. Maybe I am being a bit harsh, but it just feels like money left on the table.
Perhaps my comments are too negative about the reception of this film, and more negative about a marketplace that has virtually ignored child friendly films for a few months now. I might be missing one, but it seems like the Planes sequel was the last animated film released....and that was way back in July.
Edwin Davies: I think this is a very strong result considering how limited the appeal of stop-motion animation seems to be, especially the kind of dark style that Laika use. For whatever reasons, audiences find stop-motion more alienating than other forms of animation, so the ceiling for The Boxtrolls was a lot lower than it might have been had it been made using CG animation. That it opened higher than either Coraline or ParaNorman, even if by a fairly small margin, suggests that the Laika brand is one that has a small but consistent core audience of people who really dig what they do. Whether that audience will grow enough to make them a major player remains to be seen, but this opening suggests that they have developed a certain amount of goodwill over their last three features.
Felix Quinonez: I think it's great and perhaps it shows that Laika's brand appeal is growing. I think stop motion animation's appeal is too limited to really cross over. And I think The Boxtrolls actually looks a little creepy, so I was surprised that it opened higher than Coraline and Paranorman.
Tim Briody: Laika's brand of animation is a little weird in the era of CGI, but this is their best opening yet, and stands to have a decent run over the next month as both Coraline and ParaNorman showed decent legs. They're poised for a huge breakout one of these years.
Max Braden: That's less than I expected. I didn't much like Coraline or ParaNorman because they actually got realistically depressing and dark. The Boxtrolls looked to me to be something entertaining for kids, and the right mood for a fall movie. I always feel like these movies should be released closer to Halloween, though, to capitalize on the atmosphere. Maybe if this had been CGI animated instead of stop motion it would have performed better? Or maybe it needed a Tim Burton tag on it. Even then, Corpse Bride opened to $19 million in September of 2005.
Reagen Sulewski: It's a tough sell to make an animated movie that doesn't look "pretty" in the traditional sense, so you're never going to get the highs of Pixar, unless there's some dramatic cultural change around the corner. However, the steady improvement is definitely a good sign that they're up to something good and building a name, something that Aardman animation has struggled with post-Flushed Away. There's a good little business in niche level family films, and this could be carried on indefinitely if they stick to the script.
David Mumpower: I was actually planning on making the Flushed Away comparison before Reagen beat me to the punch. I also believe that the step down in quality from the marvelous Coraline to the mediocre ParaNorman hurt The Boxtrolls. For situations such as this one where the unique style is the selling point, the movie is effectively a sequel. ParaNorman being so forgettable negated the potential interest for The Boxtrolls.
Kim Hollis: While I didn’t like ParaNorman as much as Coraline (and agree it was a bit middling), I think David is misremembering the reception for that Laika film. It’s 87% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes (compared to 90% for Coraline). The IMDb audience score is slightly less than Coraline (7.0 compared to 7.7). But I don’t think ParaNorman really impacted The Boxtrolls in any significant way. I simply think that there’s a limited audience for stop-motion animation – particularly Laika’s brand of stop-motion.
None of their films are really appropriate for younger kids, so you’re already limiting your audience a bit. You can feel pretty comfortable with maybe age nine and up, but then teenagers aren’t really going to be into it. I do think that Laika has a dedicated adult fan base, so they are probably helping some, but the prospect of growth is pretty limited if you’re not adopting the “Appeal to all demographics” approach, which is kind of admirable.