Friday Box Office: Gretel And Hansel Earns Just $2.3M As Blake Livelys Rhythm Section Bombs – Forbes

Gretel and Hansel

In new release news well, Im saving the worst for last. Granted, there were only two new wide releases and one classic destined to be more blogged about than seen indie platformer. Super Bowl weekend is something of a crapshoot, with horror movies sometimes breakout out and periodic miracles like, 11 years, ago the domestic debut of Liam Neesons Taken which shocked everyone with a $24 million debut (despite being available online in a DVD-quality bootleg for months prior) before legging it to $145 million. January 2009 was full of miracles (Gran Torino, Taken, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Hotel for Dogs, etc.), let me tell you. Alas, lightning didnt strike for either this years Super Bowl horror contender or the (at least in terms of how it was marketed) designated Taken knock off.

United Artists released Gretel and Hansel into 3,007 theaters yesterday, with a $2.3 million Friday gross. That sets the low-budget horror flick up for a $5.74 million opening weekend. Thats nothing special, even for a $5 million, low-profile PG-13 horror movie. The good news is that the somewhat well-received (especially among critics who can be considered horror movie experts) reimaging of the classic fairy tale (starring Sophia Lillis, Sam Leakey and Alice Krige), courtesy of director Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat's Daughter, I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House), is all-but-destined for cult movie status. But any hopes that this would break out like A24s The Witch four years ago around this time are not to be. My wife wants to see this one, so Im waiting until she can tag along.

Blake Lively in Reed Morono's 'The Rhythm Section'

Once again, audiences have failed to put their money where their mouths are, or maybe its another case of online chatter not representing general audience interest. The folks clamoring for a female 007 didnt show up for Blake Livelys The Rhythm Section. Reed Moranos grim revenge story, starring Lively as a young woman avenging the murders of her parents and siblings, got negative reviews, but I would argue its worth a matinee if you like Lively and/or espionage movies closer in tone to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold than Mission: Impossible II. No matter, with a much-delayed release (partially due Livelys on-set injury) and no buzz, the $1.155 million Friday and likely $2.9 million opening weekend gross is sadly unsurprising. Hollywood gave us what we claim to want and none of us showed up.

The film is not a thrill-a-minute action-adventure movie. Its emphasis is on character, specially its lead characters passion play, as opposed to trailer-friendly action beats and gif-friendly empowerment moments. The movie subverts the strong, bad ass female character clich by presenting a wannabee female action hero who is, even to the end, not terribly good at the whole kicking ass and saving the day thing. This is a case of the very thing that makes a movie interesting and unique also rendering it less commercially viable. Nonetheless, EON spent $50 million on an R-rated, female-led spy actioner and nobody showed up. Doubly ironic, Livelys action hero movie played far worse than her romantic drama (The Age of Adaline), her survivalist horror flick (The Shallows) and her unapologetically trashy beach/airport read (A Simple Favor).

Julia Garner in 'The Assistant'

Bleecker Streets The Assistant opened in four theaters yesterday on a wave of solid reviews and its unofficial reputation as the Harvey Weinstein movie. The Kitty Green flick, starring Julia Garner as a newbie Hollywood assistant who takes a job at a company modeled on 1990s Miramax, is allegedly more of a generalized drama about gender-specific power dynamics in corporate America rather than a specific reenactment of Weinsteins much-discussed malfeasance. The film earned around $29,000 on Friday for a likely $89,000 weekend and $22,168 per-theater average. I dont expect this to break out beyond the indie/arthouse scene, but it should expand at least a little bit over the next month. Again, its going to be one of those four reviews/think pieces for every ticket sold releases, but I hope to catch it soon.

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Friday Box Office: Gretel And Hansel Earns Just $2.3M As Blake Livelys Rhythm Section Bombs - Forbes

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero