O.K. I admit
it. I’m not the best person when it comes to predicting weekend box office grosses.
I can be way off the mark… often. Case in point, Disney’s new $95 million version of "Cinderella," which opened this weekend.
I was talking
to a friend of mine Friday about how the film would do and he said he couldn’t
see it doing less than $50 million. Impossible I said. Who wants to see "Cinderella" these days? It’s too corny, too retrograde, too politically incorrect and kids
today are a lot more sophisticated to be even interested in seeing something as
stale as "Cinderella."
Well was I wrong. The film was, far and away, the number one weekend earner, with some $70
million.
Even more
surprising, considering that fact, and openly I admit this, that I literally had
no idea that there was a new "Cinderella" film coming out. Wasn’t even
remotely on my radar. I don’t recall seeing any posters or ads or trailers for
the film. Or maybe I wasn’t paying attention.
But let’s be
honest here. Brothers aren’t checking for a "Cinderella" movie. Even my friend told
me that there were at least three advance screenings of the film that he knew
of, but I don’t recall getting any invites. Either I immediately deleted the
invite when I saw the word "Cinderella" in my inbox, or the PR people didn’t
bother to send me one, because even they knew that brothers aren’t checking for "Cinderella."
And, by the
way, I wonder what percentage of that $70 million came from black folks? Seriously, I can’t imaging even little black girls wanting to see "Cinderella" with her long blond
hair and teeny tiny waist. Yes, I know there was that TV version with Brandy, but
that was back in 1997, practically a generation ago. Would they be interested today?
I wouldn’t know. I never saw the Brandy version either. Like I said, brothers aren’t
checking for "Cinderella."
The other
big release this weekend, the Liam Neeson actioner, "Run All Night," underperformed, with just $11 million. Most likely, it looked like every
other Liam Neeson actioner that he’s made over the past few years.
"Chappie" took
a big dive of some 56% for a $5.8 million weekend, with some $23 million total; and the Will
Smith film, "Focus," is slowly running out of gas.
