Limited Releases: All is Not Lost for Limited Releases
October 18, 2013
It is not a busy week when it comes to limited releases on this week's list, but at least we have a couple that are earning stellar reviews and could expand wide. All is Lost has the reviews to become a big hit and an Awards Season player, but it doesn't have the buzz. 12 Years a Slave has the buzz, as well as the reviews. While opening in limited release is always a risky maneuver, 12 Years a Slave has a better shot at opening in the top ten than it does of bombing outright.
12 Years a Slave - Reviews
All is Lost - Reviews
Big Ass Spider - Reviews
Boss - Reviews
Cottage Country - Reviews
I'm in Love with a Church Girl - Reviews
Kill Your Darlings - Reviews
This film is based on a true story. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northrup, a black man who was born a free man, but who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. It was directed by Steve McQueen, who has only directed two feature-length films in the past, but both earned a large number of nominations and wins. Everything about this film screams Oscar bait, including its reviews. 12 Years a Slave opens tonight in 19 theaters before expanding wide next week.
This is only J.C. Chandor's second movie. The first was Margin Call, which was a fantastic movie and earned him an Oscar nomination. This film is earning even better reviews and might be a significant player during Awards Season. Unfortunately, the buzz isn't there yet, so it will need strong word-of-mouth. For strong word-of-mouth, it will need a long box office run. For a long box office run, it will need a fantastic opening. That might happen. All is Lost opens tonight in six theaters, split evenly between New York City and the Los Angeles area, while it expands nationwide next week. Check out the official site for more details.
When a giant spider attacks Los Angeles, they send in the one man who can stop it: An exterminator. Not a special ops highly trained assassin code-named The Exterminator, but just a guy who sprays bug infestations for a living. This is part of a wave of intentionally B-Movie Horror Comedies... In fact, I think I will make a keyword for these movies and include Sharknado and others. This one is earning reviews that are mixed, but this is to be expected for this type of film. Big Ass Spider opens tonight in more than 30 theaters, check out the official site for more details.
A Bollywood action comedy about a man trying to protect his family. It is opening in just over 100, but I simply don't know enough about the Bollywood scene to hazard a guess as to its box office potential.
Tyler Labine stars as Todd and Cammie, a couple who travel to his family's cabin by the lake so Todd will have the perfect place to propose. Before that can happen, his brother, Salinger, and his brother's girlfriend, Masha, show up and ruin his plans. The siblings get into a fight and Salinger accidentally dies. However, instead of going to the police to explain what happened, Cammie decides they should cover it up instead. There is only one review on Rotten Tomatoes, but I found many others online, mostly in German. The overall score seems to be mixed with most critics saying they should have gone further into the dark comedy, which is a common complaint with the genre. Cottage Country opens tonight at The Carlton in Toronto and includes a Q&A session with the 6:45 showing.
The widest limited release of the week. This film is about a former gangster who falls in love with a good Christian girl, but will his past get in the way of his future? This film is opening in more than 400 theaters, but with zero positive reviews so far, it has almost no shot at box office success. It only needs a per theater average of $4,000 to reach the top ten. It likely won't even get half of that.
Daniel Radcliffe leads in impressive ensemble cast. He plays Allen Ginsberg, an icon of the beat movement; however, there was also tragedy in the early days of the Beat Generation. Given the cast and the subject matter, not to mention the release date, one could assume this film was made to win awards. Unfortunately, its reviews, while great, are not award-worthy. Kill Your Darlings opens tonight in four theaters, split evenly between New York City and the Los Angeles area.
Filed under: Limited Releases, Kill Your Darlings, All is Lost, 12 Years a Slave, I'm in Love with a Church Girl, Big Ass Spider, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tyler Labine, Lucy Punch, Daniel Radcliffe, Malin Akerman, J.C. Chandor, Steve Rodney McQueen, Dan Petronijevic