Only one new film I’m interested in this weekend, but it looks like a great one! I am of course speaking about The Book Thief. The problem is, it’s in limited release. Somehow I missed this bit of info until just now when I was looking stuff up.

New This Weekend

The Book Thief - PG-13

This looks extremely good. There’s no doubt that the filmmakers certainly had their eyes on an Oscar in this film, and if the trailers are any indication I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t get very close. While this film can certainly be classified as a WWII film given the subject matter, this does not look…

I’ll post the full box office report tomorrow, but we do have a clear winner:

This weekend, Marvel’s hammer came down and “Thor: The Dark World” was a smash at the box office with an estimated domestic total of $86.1 million, making it the largest opening of the year so far after “Iron Man 3” ($174.1 million), “Man of Steel” ($116.6 million) and “Fast and Furious 6” ($97.4 million). Internationally, the film has already raked in $327 million (having been released in select international markets last weekend), making back its budget of $170 million and then some. Getting “The Avengers” bump,…

Woo hoo! This weekend brings us plenty of shiny new things to see. Of course our favorite hammer wielding Norse “God” comes back to the big screen in Thor: The Dark World. About Time goes to wide release and while I think it might be a bit cheesy for me, I do think there’s something there for the right audience. The Book Thief looks really, really good. I almost wish we were talking about it next week on The MovieByte Podcast rather than Thor: The Dark World but it’s in limited release this weekend and not playing in my area, but we’ll get to it soon enough. And How I Live Now is also in…

So yeah, this week I’m still crying about Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, but at least it’s not number one again. Bleh. No, a far better film got the top spot, for which I can at least be thankful! Now, I don’t think we can kid ourselves that Ender’s Game can stay on top this coming weekend when Thor: The Dark World makes its debut, but maybe it can scrape number two?

#1 — Ender’s Game

Budget: $110 Million
Totals: $27 Million, Weekend and Current Domestic / $9.1 Million, Foreign / $36.1 Million, Worldwide
Weekend: 1

I am not sure what rock I have been living under, but I had never heard…

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is tracking for an opening weekend that could go as high as $185 million when it debuts on Nov. 22, based on box-office marketing data released Thursday.

The higher pre-release tracking goes, the less reliable it becomes, and we’re still three weeks away from the opening. But the Jennifer Lawrence sci-fi sequel looks like it will be a box-office monster for distributor Lionsgate Entertainment.

The distributor views the numbers more conservatively, and is at this point projecting an opening between $140 million and $150 million, citing the crowded…

So obviously, the big thing to see this weekend is Ender’s Game and I can’t wait to get my self to the theater to see it! I’ve read the book, and I’m currently reading Ender’s Shadow so I can be fully prepared for the film.

Opening This Weekend

Ender’s Game — PG-13

So I’ve read the book now, and I have to say that while I enjoyed it a lot, it’s also just a little bit strange. But I’m thinking that it will translate well to the big screen. It’s certainly a well loved Sci-Fi novel, and controversy over Orson Scott Card’s views aside, I think the film will do well this weekend. This is the…

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos raised some eyebrows this weekend when he claimed that movie theater owners are the ones threatening to kill the movie business. Their refusal to innovate with day and date releases for big movies in theaters and on digital is stifling the industry.

Oh come on. You all know that I’m a huge proponent of Netflix and video on demand but that’s just ridiculous. And I am not a proponent of killing the movie theater in general. I am a proponent of on-demand TV because that content is already on the small screen. But there’s something special (to me at…

I don’t want to live on this planet anymore. No really, I want to go somewhere else. Any planet where the number one movie for the weekend can be something that looks so terrible is not a planet where I care to have my residence.

The good news is that at least Gravity still had a pretty good weekend.

#1 — Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Budget: $15 Million
Totals: $32 Million, Weekend / $8.1 Million, Foreign / $40 Million, Worldwide
Weekend: 1

Did you see the preview for this? No really, did you see it? I tried. I couldn’t make it all the way through it was so bad. Crass, vulgar, and…

We’ve only got one new film this weekend that looks good enough for me to mention. But the irony is I’m not currently planning to see it.

New This Weekend

The Counselor — R

I am not currently planning to see this film. Although it looks like it could be good, it also has been looking like it’s going to feature lots of sex and certainly some nudity and the like. The R rating has been given for, among other things, “strong sexual content.” I can’t for myself really justify seeing the film. And a couple of the previous films this summer have got me a bit gun shy on this front so I’m staying…