New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Kim Hollis: I think it's a pretty solid result. It almost feels like a fluke that this movie even exists. I admire that Diesel actually was passionate enough about the character/story that he asked for the rights in order to even return to the Fast & the Furious franchise. I agree that this could lead to some additional video games, but I also wonder if the character might not be good for an interesting television series (on cable, of course).

David Mumpower: I think Edwin touches upon the aspect of the movie making process I consider important. Say what you will about Diesel, he cares about this character enough to eschew paycheck blockbusters in favor of a project he must have realized had a best case scenario of roughly this opening weekend. Would that more highly paid actors cared that much about at least one of their roles. In this regard, Riddick will only be a modest box office win, but it is the type of win that should be celebrated.

I have been curious about the performance of Riddick for some time now in that as great as Pitch Black was, it seems largely forgotten. I talk about movies for a living and yet I cannot remember the last time the topic was broached. I suspect that part of the explanation is that Chronicles of Riddick was the worst kind of sequel: bloated, expensive and pointless. Despite its excesses, I still thought Riddick may do better than analysts expected, at least partially because the original X-Box videogame from 2004 had ardent supporters for many years. There was even enough lasting appeal that the game was remade in 2009. There is something about the concept of a villain/anti-hero who can see in the dark. The premise feels vaguely comic book-ish, at least enough to enhance interest in the movie.

Kim Hollis: After surprising last weekend with a $7.8 million debut in only 348 venues, Instructions Not Included expanded to 717 locations and took third place with a $8.1 million total. How did Pantelion Films achieve such success with this Latino-targeted project?

Brett Ballard-Beach: I knew there was a film with this name coming out last weekend, but I knew nothing else (I was focused on the insane fact that a Wong Kar Wai film - even one with a kung fu bent and bowdlerized for American consumption by the Weinsteins - was being released to the multiplexes), so I have to plead a sad ignorance on this. I have seen the fact laid out in subsequent analysis that Hispanics make up nearly one-fifth of the moviegoing public population, but bought over 25% of the tickets purchased last year. As we have noted with movies targeted at African Americans and religious/churchgoers over the last half-decade, there are audience markets here that have been ignored by Hollywood, even as films are assembled with global scale grosses in mind. I do not know the marketing strategy with this one, but even if it simply communicated that here was a fun family dramedy with a well-known television actor in the lead and an adorable moppet to boot, well that was most likely more than enough. The free press it received in the last 10 days means whatever was spent to market it was money with a purpose.

Continued:       1       2       3