God Help These Limited Releases
September 5, 2014
Awards Season starts soon. If you are a fan of limited releases, just keep repeating that. To be fair, there are two limited releases earning overwhelmingly positive reviews, No No: A Dockumentary and Wetlands, but neither are really likely to find audiences outside of the art house circuit. There are a couple films that are earning good reviews, but not great reviews. This includes God Help the Girl, which I'm rooting for, but I don't think any film here will top $10,000 on the per theater average. One last note, Forrest Gump is getting an IMAX release this weekend in 337 theaters.
Fontera - Reviews
God Help the Girl - Reviews
Innocence - Reviews
Kelly and Cal - Reviews
The Longest Week - Reviews
No No: A Dockumentary - Reviews
The Remaining - No Reviews
Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It - Reviews
Wetlands - Reviews
This film is set in an Arizona border town where Michael Pena illegally crosses the border to work. On one such trip, he runs into the wife of the former sheriff, who offers him water. However, they are shot at by border militia and she is killed, but he is blamed. The films has a great cast, but only mixed reviews. Additionally, it is playing on Video on Demand, so its box office chances are weak. (Be prepared to read that statement, or something very similar, a few more times today.) Fontera opens tonight in three theaters, including one in Arizona. Check out the official site for more details.
Emily Browning stars as Eve, a young lady dealing with emotional issues that have brought on an eating disorder. When she gets out, she meets a songwriter, James, and his guitar student, Cassie, and the three form a band. The reviews are good, but not great, and it is playing on Video on Demand, so its box office potential is rather weak. God Help the Girl opens tonight in two theaters, one in New York City and the other in Los Angeles, with a planned expansion next weekend. Check out the official site for more details.
One of the worst reviewed new releases of the week. It is an adaptation of a Young Adult novel about a girl whose mother dies in a surfing accident, so her and her father move to Manhattan where she goes to a prep school with a dark secret. The film is opening in nearly 500 theaters, which technically gives it a shot at the top ten. It would only need a per theater average of just over $5,000 to do that, but missing the Mendoza Line is more likely.
Juliette Lewis stars as a former punk singer whose middle age isn't want she was expected. She's married with with a new kid she can't quite bond with, while her husband works late ours at his advertising job. She then meets and soon bonds with Cal, a high school student confined to a wheelchair after a stunt gone wrong. The reviews are good, but not great, so it likely won't find an audience in limited release. Kelly and Cal open tonight at the IFC Center in New York City.
This film has an impressive cast, but the reviews are terrible. It is about a rich middle-aged trust fund kid who gets cut off from his money when his parents go through a divorce. The critics are mostly complaining that the film isn't as witty as it thinks it is, which makes it really hard to empathize with any of the characters. The Longest Week opens tonight in select theaters, as well as on video on demand. It will likely do better on the latter than in the former.
A documentary about Dock Ellis, who on June 12th, 1970 threw a no hitter... while high on LSD. Even if you aren't into baseball, this could be a strange enough subject to be worth checking out. If the critics are correct, it would be worth it. No No: A Dockumentary opens tonight in 14 theaters in select cities nationwide. Check out the official site for more details.
A horror / thriller dealing with the Rapture. This is the wrong genre for limited release, there are no reviews, and it is opening in 67 theaters. The only way its box office chances could be lower is if it were currently playing on Video on Demand.
The third film in the Trailer Park Boys franchise. This film has already been released in its native Canada earning just over $2 million, which is the equivalent to $20 million in the United States, more or less. It won't make $20 million south of the border. It won't make $2 million. On the other hand, it will likely do well on the home market, especially with season eight of the show being released as a Netflix original series. Both the movie and the new season debut today.
This is a German film about an young lady, Helen, whose parents are divorced and that is making her act out in unladylike ways. The film is earning nearly perfect reviews; however, it is a foreign-language film, which means it very likely won't escape the art house circuit. In fact, since it is German and not a French film, it might not live up to its reviews on the art house circuit. Wetlands opens tonight at the Angelika Film Center in New York City before expanding next weekend. Check out the official site for more details.
Filed under: Limited Releases, Forrest Gump, Frontera, The Longest Week, Frontera, God Help the Girl, Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It, Innocence, No No: A Dockumentary, The Remaining, Feuchtgebiete, Kelly & Cal, Trailer Park Boys, Emily Browning, Juliette Lewis, Michael Peña, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Jonny Weston, Carla Juri