BEE MOVIE Stings The Competition

Wow, only 33% drop is pretty good for the Bee movie. Still haven't checked it out yet. Don't know if I will, although I like Seinfeld, the NBC commercials made me lose interest.
American Gangster is awesome though, I hope the movie actually leads to a couple nominations for Scott and Washington now that the "pre Oscar buzz" is starting.
I caught Fred Claus this weekend. Wasn't that impress with it. There were some funny moments and one liners from Vince Vaughn but I should've waited for video. Maybe the fact I was expecting another Elf didn't help me enjoy that much.

Some people will probably blame the writer's strike for Fred Claus's mediocore opening because Vince Vaughn couldn't go on Leno, Letterman, or Conan to promote the movie. I don't buy that at all. This has heavily promoted by commercials and I don't think the family audience, particularly kids, it was targeting don't watch the late night shows. I actually think that the unfunny previews turned people off to the movie. By the way, it should be noted that the Santa Clause 2 opened the first weekend in November in 2002 and ended making about $150 million so there is no excuse for the release date. That was actually wise of Disney to release that early because they had a new week head start on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which opened around Thanksgiving. To put simply, I think the audience stayed away.

Is American Gangster going to win Best Picture by default? Lions for Lambs is just the latest "serious Oscar contender" not to do well this year. I know the Oscar don't base their awards on box office receipts but potential nominees this year have had mixed reviews and ignored by the audience. Unless there is a big push between now and New Year's, this might be the most forgettable Best Picture Oscar lineup since 1996, the year the overrated "The English Patient" won. Has anyone sat through that confusing bore more than once? I know I haven't and the other nominees that year, "Shine", "Fargo", "Secrets and Lies", and "Jerry Maguire" weren't that much better. Will this be the year "None of the Above" wins Best Picture?

haha, your last line reminded me of Bruster's Millions jpp, and I think you bring up an interesting point. Though it's a little early to be discussing possible Oscar noms, it's fun to speculate.

I think American Gangster will definitely get a nod, along with No Country for Old Men and very possibly Eastern Promises... at least for Viggo's performance.

jppintar326, I thought Fargo was a great movie. Oh and I agree about the audience staying away from Fred. It just didn't look funny. Shouldn't the trailer for a comedy make you laugh. This one sure didn't.

Oh and Kaybar, wow Brewster's Millions, man you brought back some memories with that statement.

Fred Claus looked terrible. I'm usually all for Christmas movies but that just looked god awful. It certainly didn't look funny

Fargo and Jerry Maguire were good movies. Maybe not Oscar caliber but still enjoyable to watch, especially Fargo.
No Country for Old Men will definitely be in contention as will American Gangster but I think it takes away from the quality of the films to say that its because there aren`t many other quality movies out. It is still early days so you never know what`s going to happen.

By per screen average, American Gangster is still the number one film in America. The difference??? Bee Movie is artificially sitting in the number one spot due to the fact that it is in more theatres, by 885 screens.

In regard to Fred Claus...the film suffered from a bad releasing strategy. Having opened up too early in the season...and going up against another family film, that being Bee Movie...thus, splitting the available family audience between the two films. Adding to its problems...thanks to the Writer's Strike...most entertainment talk shows have cancelled live tappings...preventing the stars of Fred Claus from fully and properly promoting the film.

Additionally, Fred Claus should have been released on Thanksgiving Day--due to families being conveniently clustered together for the holidays...and looking for entertainment...Fred Claus would have drawn in many of these audiences. As well, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the start of the official Christmas shopping season--with that in mind...the film would have benefited from the millions of holiday shoppers flooding the malls...many of which have movie theatre multiplex' in, or near their locations.

Forgot how talk shows sometimes make movies B.O. I wonder if internet shows like Tom Green will pick up for getting talent like that to promote shows?

I have to say I saw American Gangster over the weekend and thought it was a great flick. I hate to say I let how an actor's behavior off the screen affect my judgement of them but I really thought Crowe did a great job. I find it hard to not see an Oscar nod for either actor and the director on this one. I took my son to Bee movie last weekend and surprisingly he actually sat through 2/3 of and for a 3 year old I think thats pretty good. I liked it but I might be biased because I am a huge Seinfeld fan. But for a kids movie it shouldn't be a huge shock that it is in more theatres as usually a theatre will stock up on a kids movie before an R rated movies because of the consessions revenue they will make off of parents who have to buy kids junk.

I don't think two weeks before T'giving is too early for a Christmas film, as long as it has good reviews, but Fred Claus barely has decent ones, from what I've seen. Without positive publicity to counter negative reviews, it's hard to get butts in the seats, at least until the holidays are in full swing. But they played it smart by putting Claus in the title, so I'm sure most theaters over 8 screens will hold onto it through January 3rd. And maybe by early December, people will have forgotten the bad reviews.

As a whole package, Fargo was much better than The English Patient, but I believe it's bleakness prevented it from winning. It's not that it needs to be a feel-good movie to win, but it's not a film that you leave fealing upbeat... until you think about Buscemi, whose "funny-looking" mug removes almost as much oscar-credability as he adds to it. So then why did The Boring Patient win? When in doubt, go with the period-set drama.