This will be the weekend to see if those Golden Globe winners see any bounce at the box office. Also, it was a week when "Zero Dark Thirty," which went wide last weekend, tried to stem the controversy.
It seems a bit odd that the Kathryn Bigelow film has to do that, but she fired off a letter explaining the torture scene. Like the CIA response before, one has to wonder why it was needed. The public surely doesn't care since, so the letter seems to be aimed at the Hollywood community - and perhaps the politicos in Washington.
But, politics aside, the movie won last weekend and is still doing well as the week progresses. Meanwhile, "Silver Linings Playbook," opens wider and Arnold Schwarzenegger is back with "The Last Stand." No, this is not his last stand, but more of a test to see if he is back. "The Broken City" with Russell Crowe and Mark Walhberg opens as does "Mama" starring Oscar contender Jessica Chastain. All of the new arrivals land in 2,500 to 2,800 theaters, so, it will be crowded once more - and its January. A month for awards to be handed yet some big names are opening movies.
Weekend
1. "The Last Stand" - 2,800 theaters
2. "Broken City" - 2,700 theaters
3. Silver Linings Playbook" - 2,500 theaters
4. "Mama" - 2,400 theaters
* As always, theater count could change by Friday
Could this be a new trend? After all, "Taken" was released in the month of January and it proved worthy, so maybe, some may try to capture gold again.
Award notes
The real hard truth of The Golden Globes is that they are handed out by less than 100 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and do tend to lean towards films on their side of the world, which is fine. But, can "Les Miserables" work itself back into talk of being a best picture contender come Oscar time?
The Globes have gained some of the lost respect this season and that is good, but the win for "Argo" might have been its way of evening the score. That meaning, since Ben Affleck isn't nominated for Oscar best director, they chose to give him their top prize. Out of spite perhaps, or even a dig. On that note, if "Argo" wins best picture, it would do so without that best director award. That has happened over the years, just not that much. Tom Hooper and Bigelow have been left out of the Oscar best director category, too.
That means the directors for "Argo," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Les Miserables" are not up for Oscar but their films are. Will this be the year when those top two awards split? Maybe not. This could be the year when Oscar stay local with a "Lincoln" feel, stopping the other awards in their tracks. But, the upcoming SAG Awards lean on ensemble, so one would think that "Argo" might win that one, too.
One more note on the box office side. Any minute now, "Skyfall" will pass $300 million domestically.
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