FRIDAY BOX-OFFICE: Maleficent Reigns, McFarlane's Cowboy Shoots Blanks

MovieBob

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FRIDAY BOX-OFFICE: Maleficent Reigns, McFarlane's Cowboy Shoots Blanks


Audiences are bewitched by Disney's bad girl blockbuster

Despite mixed reviews and some concerns that certain scenes were too dark for younger audiences, Disney's Maleficent had a big $24.5 million Friday opening. Analysts are predicting the dark revisionist fairytale could fly as high as $65-$70 million.

Disney is betting that the film, which reimagines the plot of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of its main villain (Angelina Jolie), will have legs similar to last year's Oz: The Great & Powerful, which went on to be a gargantuan international smash. It also likely hopes this bodes well for next year's live-action remake of Cinderella from Kenneth Brannagh.

Meanwhile, Seth McFarlane's cowboy spoof, A Million Ways to Die in the West, came up short and isn't expected to end the weekend above $17 million. That's a big sophomore-slump for the Family Guy creator (and a serious dent in his own viability as a leading man) after the mega-hit Ted, a sequel to which is in-production for next year. West's third-place underperformance was good news, on the other hand, for last week's big opener, X-Men: Days of Future Past; which gets to stay in the #2 spot despite a 65% drop.

Next week is expected to keep industry number-crunchers up late: The Tom Cruise sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow (originally known as All You Need Is Kill) is getting good early reviews, but the YA-adaptation tearjerker The Fault in Our Stars, a romance involving teenaged cancer patients, is believed to be a potential surprise powerhouse.

Source: Deadline [http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/box-office-disneys-maleficent-spells-success-a-million-ways-to-die-in-the-west-side-saddled/]

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Zontar

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Feb 18, 2013
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Oh god there's ANOTHER edgy remake of a classical Disney movie in the works? There are a lot of things I don't enjoy but understand why others do, but those type of movies are just beyond me. I can not understand what is appealing about them.
 

BrotherRool

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Gosh darn it people, stop watching these films :p I really disliked Oz The Great And Powerful, the story was a mess and 'she turned evil because a guy didn't stick his penis in her' is about the stupidest trope either. And then they go and do exactly the same thing again with exactly the same trope and it still makes money!

Okay I've enjoyed films other people haven't liked (Whoo Amazing Spiderman!) but that's completely different because...um...they're wrong?
 

Queen Michael

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Make sure to read the Edge of Tomorrow (also released as All You Need Is Kill) novel that the movie's based on. It's good stuff.
 

El Luck

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Scrumpmonkey said:
Seth McFarlane as an actor... ehhhh. I think he mostly just looks wrong, like a mildly smug fetus or a happy pudding. As ted showed he's a pretty good talent behind the camera with the right kind of material (Ted was basically all of his strong points with a weird amount of genuine sincerity and on screen chemistry) but this project, from what I've seen, looks like McFarlane at his anti-comedy, late season family guy worst.
I have to say from watching it last night, he's not half bad, and the film is pretty good, I mean if a film can have me crying with laughter, its doing something right. Between this and Blazing Saddles I'm set for western spoofs.
 

Barbas

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That's a big sophmore-slump for the Family Guy creator (and a serious dent in his own viability as a leading man) after the mega-hit Ted; a sequel to which is in-production for next year West's third-place underperformance was good news, on the other hand, for last week's big opener, X-Men: Days of Future Past; which gets to stay in the #2 spot despite a 65% drop.
@MovieBob: You lost me somewhere in that sentence. It could be that my brain hasn't caught up yet, but that doesn't seem to make sense to me. I think you might have missed a period.

Anyway, enjoyed the article. Thanks!
 

Burnouts3s3

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I liked A Million Ways to Die in the West. But, I'm not surprised that Maleficent is taking top box office.
 

Daymo

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May 18, 2008
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Queen Michael said:
Make sure to read the Edge of Tomorrow (also released as All You Need Is Kill) novel that the movie's based on. It's good stuff.
Oh good it's a book as well, I keep seeing the trailers and can't figure out how they could make the reset stuff work without it being broken, but don't want to pay the money to go see it when it comes out.
 

josemlopes

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I somewhat expected for A Million Ways to Die in the West to not fare that well, Seth Macfarlane is shown as the big star of the movie that is placed right at the center of most posters of the movie, yet most people probably arent all that familiar to who Seth Macfarlane is or what he really looks like, even after he presented the oscars it still wasnt memorable enough for most people to associate his face to him.
 

krazykidd

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Zontar said:
Oh god there's ANOTHER edgy remake of a classical Disney movie in the works? There are a lot of things I don't enjoy but understand why others do, but those type of movies are just beyond me. I can not understand what is appealing about them.
Weren't the original fairy tales dark to begin with? I see it more as returning to it's roots.
 

Sniper Team 4

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I just came back from seeing Maleficent. It was enjoyable, but I think Bob's review of it is spot on: all of the place storytelling, weak second act, etc. Angelia Jolie does play the role exceedingly well though. Having already seen Days of Future Past on Wednesday, this movie is certainly a worthy next choice for me. It could have been better with a tighter script (the Prince is literally just there and adds absolutely nothing to the story), but it was still fun.
 

scorptatious

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BrotherRool said:
Gosh darn it people, stop watching these films :p I really disliked Oz The Great And Powerful, the story was a mess and 'she turned evil because a guy didn't stick his penis in her' is about the stupidest trope either. And then they go and do exactly the same thing again with exactly the same trope and it still makes money!
As someone who just saw Wicked, I kinda have to agree somewhat. I kinda prefer that story of how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be. :)
krazykidd said:
Weren't the original fairy tales dark to begin with? I see it more as returning to it's roots.
Oh yeah. I remember being quite surprised when I heard about the story The Little Mermaid was based off of. Pretty depressing stuff.
 

Vault101

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Sep 26, 2010
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ive come to notice in my old age that comedies tend to be very "bro-ish" affairs....hence why I don't watch them

I'll admit I haven't seen "die in the west"...but you know what owuld have been cool?

The Heat...in the west

seriously
 

Clive Howlitzer

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scorptatious said:
As someone who just saw Wicked, I kinda have to agree somewhat. I kinda prefer that story of how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be. :)
IF you've only seen the musical and not read the book, I'd advise doing so. The book Wicked is far more interesting than the musical.
 

Dragonbums

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Zontar said:
Oh god there's ANOTHER edgy remake of a classical Disney movie in the works? There are a lot of things I don't enjoy but understand why others do, but those type of movies are just beyond me. I can not understand what is appealing about them.
The original fairy tales were brutal to begin with. I just find it ironic that the same studio that made them all sappy, puppy dogs and rainbows is now turning around and hitting more close to home.
 

scorptatious

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Clive Howlitzer said:
scorptatious said:
As someone who just saw Wicked, I kinda have to agree somewhat. I kinda prefer that story of how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be. :)
IF you've only seen the musical and not read the book, I'd advise doing so. The book Wicked is far more interesting than the musical.
I can imagine.

Better put that on my to do list.
 

youji itami

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" will have legs similar to last year's Oz: The Great & Powerful, which went on to be a gargantuan international smash."


A world wide gross of less than $500 million on a production budget of over $215 million (plus what ever they spent on marketing) is hardly a success let alone a 'gargantuan international smash'.

Turn the Sam Raimi worship down a bit.
 

moggett88

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I refuse to watch A Million Ways to Die in the West because for months before it, McFarlane has been showing up in every ad break on TV to say "I made Ted, love me!". Too smug, nope.

I couldn't come up with a good enough reason not to see Maleficent when my girlfriend asked, however, so I will be contributing to their numbers next week.