Didn’t see any films this week because reasons. So what I finally did, after years of thinking about it, was enter the Vulture Movie League. How it works is pretty simple. You get 100 fake dollars to select 8 films, ranging in dollar value. You get points based on box office, Metacritic score, and Awards performance. I also am in the Letterboxd mini-league, so Letterboxd scores also come into play. So, the name of the game is strategy. Here is who I went with for the season:
Dune: Part Three – $40 – This was my big play and I think it will satisfy all four scoring sections. The max it needs to make the most points in the box office without passing Spidey for the over top is $200 million, and it should surely do that. It should do pretty well in reviews, and it should clean up in award season, especially on the technical side.
La Bola Negra – $20 – The biggest scoring area from what I can tell is the awards section, so I really need a strong contender for Best Picture as part of my entry. That is very much what La Bola Negra is at this point in the award season cycle. I think Metacritic and Letterboxd numbers will be very solid, but in terms of awards nominations, this should be an absolute monster. It should be appearing everywhere, and as of now, it is down to Odyssey and this for the big prize in March
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping – $10 – This is purely a Box Office entry and it was down to this or Jumanji: Open World. The difference between these two films is only one doesn’t have to live in the immediate aftermath of that huge Doomsday and Dune weekend. Reaping only has to deal with mainly Focker-in-Law a week later. It has a good shot at getting to the $200 million mark for the bonus points.
Wildwood – $10 – I brought up earlier that La Bola Negra should be a monster in awards season, and Wildwood is no different. This is going to be the animated film that wins everything this year, and some are already saying it is the greatest stop motion film of all time. That is high praise that hopefully the films lives up to in a few weeks. Even if it doesn’t, what is really going to beat it? Hexed or Toy Story 5? Doubtful, as much as that pains me to say about Woody and the gang.
Club Kid – $8 – These next two are the flyer picks. Club Kid has performed well in the festivals, and the critics seem to really like it, so it should show up in a lot of end of year lists. Does that mean it will end up winning some of the critic awards? We shall see.
I Play Rocky – $5 – This film was the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award at TIFF last month (La Bola Negra won that award), and should be a pretty good people pleaser. Does it sneak in to awards nominations? I hope so, but there is a chance this makes a decent amount in the Box Office for this type of film that will make this a good addition to the entry
You Can See Everything – $3 – Last two spots here, and my choices were a lot of meh films (Crawlers, Ghost Soldier, Madden) and documentaries. I went in this slot with the one that could play in more areas outside of the documentary field. Everything is a threat in some circles for a Best Picture nom, as well as Editing.
Everest: The Other Side – $3 – At this point, I was down to $4 dollars with one film left to select. Much like Everything, I decided to go the documentary route, and looking back, I think I made a mistake. While I think Everest might do decent in a Box Office and Metacritic place, I probably should have went with Once Upon A Time in Harlem. That will most likely be a strong contender in Documentary field.
At this point, I won’t see a lot of activity in my entry for a little bit. My plan is to update how things are going at the start of each month of the season. So, a month from now, I should have some numbers from Wildwood and You Can See Everything, as they start their theatrical runs in the second half of this month.
Only two wide releases next weekend, and neither should make a huge amount. Other Mommy is tracking with an opening range of $15-20 million, with The Social Reckoning tracking at $6-10 million. Both should make enough to be the top spots.
- Other Mommy
- The Social Reckoning
- Resident Evil
- Verity
- Heart of the Beast
So after a week that ended up being empty, it is becoming full week upcoming. Digger is moved to tomorrow night, meaning I won’t be seeing the Screen Unseen this week. I can live without seeing Sense & Sensibility if I’m being honest with myself though. Thursday will be the day I see if Sorkin ruined the legacy of The Social Network. Other Mommy is on the schedule for Sunday afternoon. Elsewhere this week is a pair of streaming films that I will fit somewhere this week, with Animals on Netflix being the one I have the highest hopes for.
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