There seems to be an annual trend in Hollywood where the industry ignores a holiday full of patrons looking for a movie that meets their mother giving needs. That isn’t to imply that mothers don’t like action flicks, but movies such as The Avengers don’t say “I love you mom” as say the average costume drama. Plus Avengers debuted last weekend so it is almost as if ticket buyers are giving the women who labored them into existence a discounted present. Where are the new fresh films that are more mom friendly? Probably waiting to be released all within the last half of December in order to be eligible for Academy Award consideration.
Of course Marvel’s The Avengers dominated the box office this past weekend. Dark Shadows came in a very distant second; domestically making 29 million. In fact why was Dark Shadows the only major release this weekend? Did all of the studios presume that moms everywhere would want to be entertained by a film based on a 1960s soap opera with paranormal themes simply because of the whole “soap opera” bit of the description? I think the majority of moviegoers nixed Dark Shadows because of its horrible preview trailer which more so than any other film in recent memory actually persuaded people who might have been open to see it to than not want to.
One would think that the Weinstein Company would go all out to own this weekend since many of their movies are aimed at the very demographic who appreciates small films with good scripts (generally speaking) and few special effects – you know, moms. Lionsgate Studio did debut Girl in Progress which came in tenth in the box office despite not having any sort of advertising budget besides a poster that said it was opening on Mother’s Day weekend. It was only in limited theaters but made over an average of four grand in each of them (the fourth best ticket sales to theater ratio this past weekend).
Here is the irony of the whole thing; guess what movie is opening this upcoming Friday? What to Expect When You’re Expecting! To paraphrase a sentiment made popular on Saturday Night Live, “really Hollywood, really? Expecting would have had people standing in long lines this past weekend however this Friday it is battling the debut of Battleship so it will be lucky to be in the top five instead of a guaranteed top three position.
In case you are wondering, Hollywood seems to have more father centric offerings for Father’s Day 2012 (June 17th). That’s My Boy is an Adam Sandler film which has an interesting premise, but also has the disadvantage of being an Adam Sandler movie. There is also Rock of Ages that stars tons of recognizable faces including Tom Cruise as a rock star. It shows a lot of promise.
Happy viewing!
