Let Him Go Wins the Weekend
Neo-western Let Him Go won the last weekend’s box office, grossing a bit over $4 million in its inaugural weekend, reports Box Office Mojo. The movie tells a story about a retired sheriff and his wife (played in the film by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) who set out to find and rescue their grandson from his abusive step-father and his family. Based on the 2013 novel by Larry Watson, Let Him Go was adapted for the screen, directed and produced by Thomas Bezucha (Big Eden, Family Stone, Monte Carlo).
In the second place at the weekend box office is the horror movie Come Play, a feature film debut by Jacob Chase, based on his short film. Now in its second week in cinemas, Come Play so far earned almost $1,8 million. War with Grandpa is in third place with $1,5 million. Featuring Robert De Niro, Cheech Marin, Jane Seymour, Uma Thurman, and Christopher Walken, this family comedy has steadily remained among the top five highest-grossing movies for five weeks now, with domestic earnings reaching $13,5 million. Action thriller Honest Thief is in fourth place with $1,1 million. During the five weeks in cinemas, Honest Thief earned $11,2 million domestically. And in the fifth place is Christopher Nolan’s Tenet with $905,000.
Will COVID-19 Vaccine Save Movie Theaters?
In a recent talk with Variety, John Fithian, the head of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), warned that up to seventy percent of small and mid-sized cinemas could go bankrupt by January 2021. This news comes as the USA is regularly surpassing 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day. Movie theaters were hit especially hard since lockdowns and the pandemic kept people out of cinemas. AMC is launching a Private Theatre Rentals program while Regal is shutting down its remaining movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
Pandemic affected other segments of the entertainment industry. Productions were halted due to COVID-19 outbreaks on sets. Studios postponed big-budget releases well into the next year and beyond. In a recent interview with Inverse, film producer Jason Blum mentioned that getting personal protection equipment alone raised the cost of his productions between ten and twenty percent.
Naturally, both the studios and movie theater owners are looking forward to the possibility of a vaccine. Pfizer Inc. is currently developing a COVID-19 vaccine that’s supposedly 90 percent effective. Richard Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX greeted this news, calling it a gamechanger for the movie industry. However, clinical trials alone will last for months, not to mention production, distribution, and vaccination. Until then, the industry will have to buckle up – COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere.
David Fincher Signs a Four-Year Deal with Netflix
The Playlist reports that critically acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher (Gone Girl, The Social Network, Zodiac) signed a four-year exclusive deal with the streaming service Netflix. According to the article, the deal is apparently “worth over nine-figures” and will allow Fincher to develop both new movies and TV shows.
Fincher has been collaborating with Netflix for almost a decade now. Back in 2013, he helped launch one of its first prestige shows – House of Cards. He followed this in 2016 with the psychological thriller series The Mindhunter. His latest Netflix project is Mank, a black-and-white period piece about Herman Mankiewicz (played by Gary Oldman), the screenwriter who helped Citizen Kane. Featuring a cast that includes Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), and Amanda Seyfried (Twin Peaks), Mank will receive a limited theatrical release on November 13 and will arrive on Netflix in early December.
As for Fincher himself, in a recent interview with the Total Film Magazine, he was brutally honest about contemporary Hollywood: “Unless you’re making a tentpole movie that has a Happy Meal component to it, no one’s interested”. As for his Netflix deal, he didn’t mince words: “I’m here to deliver them ‘content’ — whatever it means— likely to bring them spectators, in my small sphere of influence.”
