Limited Releases are Looking To Oscars for Help
January 27, 2012
The Oscars are drawing a lot of attention away from limited releases, as is normally the case this time of year. However, this week there is a film hoping the Oscar nominations will give them a boost. Albert Nobbs picked up three nods, which should give it a boost at the box office, but whether or not it is enough to overcome other obstacles it yet to be seen.
Albert Nobbs - Reviews
Declaration of War - Reviews
How Much Does Your Building Weigh Mr. Foster? - Reviews
An Inconsistent Truth - No Reviews
The Theatre Bizarre - Reviews
The Wicker Tree - Reviews
Glenn Close stars as the titular Albert Nobbs, a woman living as a man in order to make it in a male dominated world. She has earned a lot of praise for her performance, as has Janet McTeer; however, the film's overall reviews are below 50% positive. Additionally, the film is opening in close to 250 theaters, which is way too much for this type of release. There is a chance it will be a surprise hit and earn well over $1 million. But there's also a chance it will miss the Mendoza Line.
Valerie Donzelli directed this film, which she co-wrote with her real life partner, Jérémie Elkaïm. The pair star as a couple trying to cope after their son becomes very ill and the film is inspired by what they went through when their son was diagnosed with cancer. It's the only film on this week's list that is earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. However, as a foreign language film, it has added obstacles at the box office. Hopefully it can overcome them. Declaration of War opens tonight in six theaters in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
A biopic of architect Norman Foster. The film's reviews are split with many critics complaining the documentary is less of a biography and more of a hagiography. Treating your subject as a saint generally turns people off. This is doubly true when the movie begins to sound like an ad, which more than a few critics have said about this movie. How Much Does Your Building Weigh Mr. Foster? opened on Wednesday at the IFC Center in New York City.
A "Documentary" about Global Warming, but I use documentary only in the loosest sense of the word. Anyone who brings up the Medieval Warm Period in a debate about Global Warming can safely be ignored. They are not significantly better informed than people who think ManBearPig is a good argument against global warming. There are zero reviews online, which suggests the film is only interested in preaching to the choir, but I don't know how big that choir is. An Inconsistent Truth opens tonight at the Nashville's Regal Hollywood 27.
An anthology horror featuring six stories inspired by the Grand Guignol theatre in Paris. (There's seven tales, if you include the wrap-around story.) The film's reviews are really good among genre fans, which suggests it will struggle at the box office before finding an audience on the home market. That said, like many anthologies even critics giving the film positive reviews are pointing out one or two of the stories are a little weak or don't fit with the overall theme. The Theatre Bizarre opens tonight in seven theaters with more theaters scheduled for next month.
A sequel / remake of The Wicker Man, that's the 1973 original and not the 2006 remake. Brittania Nicol plays a former pop singer, who is now a born again Christian and country singer. She and her boyfriend leave Texas to travel to Scotland to preach Christianity, when they come across a small village. At first they are not welcome, but then the villagers ask them to stay for their festival. So far there are only four reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and all of them are negative. It's also the wrong genre for limited release and it is opening in more theaters than most limited releases can handle. I have very little hope for the film's theatrical run, but perhaps it will do better on the home market. The Wicker Tree opens tonight in ten theaters.
Filed under: Limited Releases, Albert Nobbs, How Much Does Your Building Weigh Mr. Foster?, The Wicker Tree, La guerre est déclarée, The Theatre Bizarre, An Inconsistent Truth