Limited Releases - Dreaming of Oscars
December 15, 2006
The last major contender for Oscars opened this week with Dreamgirls. Sure, there are a few films on this week's list made to win Oscars, but with the Golden Globe nominations announced, Dreamgirls is the only real contender opening from now till the end of the year.
Breaking and Entering - Reviews
Dreamgirls - Reviews
The Good German - Reviews
Home of the Brave - Reviews
Snow Cake - Reviews
Directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Jude Law, which is a combination that brought us two previous movies. This one is likely to be the least successful as the reviews are only mediocre and the competition is tighter. Breaking and Entering opens tonight at the Laemmles Monica 4 in Santa Monica before expanding over the next month.
After picking up five Golden Globe nominations yesterday, this musical starts a road show tour today. The film is playing in three theatres at a premium price that includes a collectable booklet. This was rather common during the early days of television as movies were looking for ways to compete; however, this is more of a novelty today. Will it work? I'm not entirely sure. People who loved the original musical might be willing to pay more to see this in the theatres, but the average moviegoer will likely wait 10 days till it opens nationwide. That said, at $25 a ticket, this movie should still have no trouble leading the per theatre averages this weekend.
During the December Preview I mentioned that thanks to the unique style this film could be a major contender for several awards, or it could be seen to have little substance. It seems the latter is correct as the film is pulling in reviews that are just 29% positive. Fans of Film Noir will recognize all of the usual elements here, (although they get away with things the old Hays Code would never allow), however, they will also recognize these elements were put to better use in dozens of films. On the other hand, those who don't like Film Noir will have no interest in seeing this movie. The Good German opens tonight in five theatres before expanding next Friday.
Even before reviews started coming in, this movie had to be considered a long shot at winning any Oscars. (It did pick up a Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Song and could repeat that during Oscars, but that's a good as it gets.) With the reviews it might at trouble just escape limited release. 19% positive is a terrible score and to compound matters, even the positive reviews have negative things to say about the movie, (it is unsubtle, unoriginal, etc.). Home of the Brave opens in three theatres tonight before expanding at the beginning of January, although the size of that expansion depends heavily on how it performs now.
The best-reviewed release of the week is Snow Cake, a Canadian film that probably no one will see. With an impressive cast that include Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, and Carrie-Anne Moss, the film should be a pretty easy sell to moviegoers, but even living near one of the three cities it opens in this week, I haven't seen a single ad. Snow Cake opens in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver this week before before expanding nationwide next week. In addition, it is scheduled to open in the United States on Christmas day.
Filed under: Limited Releases, Dreamgirls, The Good German, Breaking and Entering, Home of the Brave, Snow Cake