Boxoffice

THE BEST THING ABOUT BARBIE

Warner Bros publicity department must be dominated by women because they did ALL the right things when it came to promoting Barbie. The film has broken all records with one of the biggest weekends in history! So what if they misled the SAG/AFTRA union (see https://janetcharltonshollywood.com/?s=fran+drescher) – it was WORTH it! The best thing about Barbie is not only did it celebrate the importance of women, but it was directed by the extremely likable FEMALE Greta Gerwig. Barbie is the TOP opening film of 2023 and has NOTHING to do with male superheroes! Right now we’re thinking that more than a few of those male CEO’s at Warner Bros should be replaced by females…

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

WOULD YOU PAY TO SEE TWO SEQUELS OF FIFTY SHADES OF GREY?

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Since “Fifty Shades of Grey” just passed the 500 million dollar mark internationally, the pressure is ON for a follow up. A rumor circulated that Jamie Dornan was NOT interested in doing a sequel, but that turned out NOT to be true. Money TALKS! Jamie only earned around $100,000 for the first “Shades”(and we assume Dakota Johnson earned a bit more) It’s rumored that he can expect to be paid around fifteen million for two sequels. Does the world really WANT two sequels? We were disappointed in the movie and wonder if many ticket buyers would do it again.

Photo Credit: AKM-GSI

DID YOU THINK “FIFTY SHADES OF GREY” WAS SEXY?

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Marketing for “Fifty Shades of Grey” has been brilliant. it opened in 58 countries simultaneously and pulled in 158 million dollars in one long Valentines weekend. As delighted as Universal Studios execs are, we wonder if people who paid to see the film are anywhere near as satisfied. We were lucky to be invited to a screening and agree with Madonna that the movie was NOT sexy. Jamie Dornan’s character Christian was rather prissy and kept hinting there was a dark reason for his dominant predilections, but we never learned what it was. In fact, there really was no plot. It was like half a book was filmed, and the overly long movie ended abruptly without much happening. Of course, negative word of mouth won’t matter, because big money has already been made.

CHANNING TATUM: THE NEXT BRAD PITT?

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Channing Tatum, 35, wrapped the last scene of Magic Mike XXL yesterday but he has no time to take a break – Tatum has four movies lined up back to back and he just got cast in Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight.” He’s the Guy Most Likely to become the next big box-office star who can open a movie big time. Hollywood’s leading men like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp are getting older (both in their 50’s) and Hollywood needs a hot young guy with box-office power. Judging by the way Johnny Depp’s fiancée Amber Heard is gazing at Channing in this pic from the set of Magic Mike XXL, Tatum has the goods. And he’s a super nice guy to boot.

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

WHY JENNIFER ANISTON GETS ACTING JOBS

Jennifer Aniston has a lot of online critics who cannot understand why her face sells magazines or her haircuts are newsworthy. Fact is, it so happens plenty of people are still interested in the “Friends” star all over the world. Jennifer’s movies take the most criticism from nasty online commenters who can’t fathom why she is paid so much to do below average movies. In other words, why does she have a career? Personally we think she’s a nice girl and we like what she does with her money. But here’s something for the haters to digest: Jen’s modest movie “We’re the Millers” was made for 37 million dollars and has grossed $266 million worldwide. So there.

WHO ON EARTH IS PAYING TO SEE GROWN UPS 2?

Can somebody please solve the mystery of WHO is buying all those tickets to Adam Sandler movies? Grown Ups 2 was a boxoffice hit this weekend. The bathroom humor appeals to 11 year old boys, but do they really have that much money? This lazy, stupid and abrasive movie has the same gas –passing and lowbrow burping jokes the original had. The Adam Sandler script is horrendous and he must be encouraged to stop writing! We actually like Adam in movies he doesn’t create himself. And we like the collection of comics he surrounds himself with. It’s a CRIME the scripts aren’t better. We couldn’t even sit though a screening of this movie to the end. Who in their right mind is PAYING to see Grown Ups 2?

TOUGH GUYS STALLONE, ARNOLD, AND STATHAM – TIME TO RETHINK YOUR CAREERS?

It’s no secret that we are NOT fond of action movies, so we were fascinated to see that Sylvester Stallone’s “Bullet to the Head” was a flop this weekend. Especially since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “The Last Stand” and Jason Statham’s “Parker” also failed miserably at the box office recently. Is this a trend? We sure hope so. We have always lamented the beautiful cars that are routinely wrecked in such movies. Not to mention the gunfire, deafening explosions, and bloody deaths. But worst of all were the egos of the leading men engaged in these activities. Even vampires are preferable to those testosterone fueled “strong silent types.”

SORRY BARBRA, BETTE MIDLER’S GOT THE LAST LAUGH!

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Barbra Streisand can’t be thrilled that her holiday release movie “The Guilt Trip” (with Seth Rogan) has been pretty much a flop while Bette Midler’s movie, “Parental Guidance,” with Billy Crystal is a hit. “The Guilt Trip” cost 40 million to make and has only taken in around 31 million. “Parental Guidance” was made for 25 million and is expected to take in 70 million plus. Both movies obviously appeal to the older generation, but Seth Rogan halfheartedly promoted “The Guilt Trip” to HIS generation. Billy Crystal tirelessly promoted “Guidance” to an older generation and it even landed on an AARP cover. Bingo. We figure that icons Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler are more than a teensy bit competitive and Bette couldn’t be happier.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE’S LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AFTER THIS WEEKEND



Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

This is a life-changing weekend for Jennifer Lawrence, 21, star of “The Hunger Games,“ which opens midnight Thursday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie has already sold 15 million dollars worth of advance tickets and it might end up with one of the biggest debuts of all time – possible 130 to 140 million for the weekend! Jennifer Lawrence is hardly a household name – even though she was nominated for an Oscar for “Winter’s Bone” – because so few people saw the movie. After this weekend she’ll find out what it feels like to be “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart. No more alone time! Fans will be everywhere! Bodyguards are in her future… (Above, she promoted the movie on Letterman)

“NEW YEAR’S EVE” FLOPPED BECAUSE THE AUDIENCE REMEMBERED HOW BAD “VALENTINES DAY ” WAS

There’s a good reason why the box office returns this past weekend were at a record low: the new releases were incredibly bad. “New Year’s Eve” only pulled in $13.7 million dollars (Jonah Hill’s poorly reviewed “The Sitter” took second place with 10 million.) Last February the same team who did “New Year’s Eve” released the similar “Valentine’s Day” to an opening of $56.3 million. So why didn’t the audience flock to see this year’s Garry Marshall star studded extravaganza? Because the audience REMEMBERED how disappointing “Valentines Day” was. A multitude of attractive stars (above) cannot save a LAME script and a tired predictable story. Hopefully the movie audience is actually getting smarter about their choices.