barnesgonzo: Brave new world dominated by Pixar

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Brave new world dominated by Pixar

Brave has set the second biggest June debut in history behind Toy Story 3, which opened in 2010 on $110.3m

That's 13 out of 13 No 1 openings weekends for Pixar now. Brave's estimated $66.7m North American debut rolled over the other titles including several new releases. We know Hollywood executives use statistics the way a dog uses a lamppost – for support rather than illumination, as the old joke goes – but let us note that Brave has set the second biggest June debut in history behind Pixar stablemate Toy Story 3, which opened in 2010 on $110.3m.

The critics liked Brave but some have been a little picky, bemoaning the lack of daring on the part of its creators. Audiences know what they're getting with Pixar, but surely that old chestnut – if it ain't broke don't fix it – trumps all here. The screening I attended on Saturday drew a spontaneous burst of applause at the end. Pixar does seem to have taken a stride forward on the animation front, if that's possible, and much has been made of the luscious rendering. Brave looks gorgeous and you know this has got multimillion-dollar hit written all over it.

Alas the same cannot be said for Fox's genre mash-up Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which arrived in third place on a rather pallid $16.5m. It's too bad. If you're not a history pedant and can muster the discipline to suspend disbelief most of the time, this is highly entertaining stuff. Timur Bekmambetov's follow-up to Wanted bears all his visual flair and creates a silly, bombastic romp punctuated by two memorable action set pieces, one of them involving a stampede of horses that will take some beating.

For some reason Focus Features chose to release Seeking a Friend for the End of the World as a wide release. On paper it would seem to be a classic counter-programming ploy to offer a change of pace from mainstream heavy-hitters such as Brave and Vampire Hunter. But in reality Lorene Scafaria's directorial debut was swallowed up by the traffic and limped into the charts in 10th place on $3.8m from 1,625 theatres. Why didn't they open it in a handful of theatres, sell them out, create buzz and expand slowly? That's what Harvey Weinstein does with a lot of his releases.

Seeking a Friend has Steve Carell and Keira Knightley playing neighbours who only notice each other days before an asteroid is due to smash into Earth, ending all rom-coms as we know them. Facing imminent doom, the lonely pair embark on a road trip to hook up with his true love and her family. The movie suffers a little in the execution and ends up as a conventional tale wrapped up in a cute but ultimately tissue-thin premise. The most eccentric aspect of the piece is the way Knightley's accent lurches from posh to cockney. The apocalypse will do that to you.