It’s difficult to watch any new Mel Gibson film without thinking about his very chequered recent past and with the release of his last film, The Beaver, it would appear that most people chose not to watch it all. However, with the release of his latest attempt to get back into the big time, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, regardless of what you may think of Gibson, it is still apparent that there are few actors in the world today who can carry a film as well as him.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation utilises Gibson’s charms as both an action star and a knowing, mischievous screen presence. It won’t win any prizes for originality but it’s a lean, efficient thriller that like the recent Safe, doesn’t over-reach. The majority of the film takes place in a Mexican jail where it seems that absolutely anything goes and Gibson, who’s sent inside for stealing a considerable amount of money, wastes little time in manipulating the many unsavoury inmates to his whims. The lean, nasty plot has shades of an Elmore Leonard novel as Gibson plays different groups off each other in an attempt to gain his freedom.
The Avengers Assemble 3D juggernaut shows little signs of slowing down as another mammoth weekend sees the film cross the £30m barrier. A further £8.1m from Friday to Sunday and £3.5m on Monday takes the film to £33.4m, a figure that would have placed it fourth on 2011’s list of highest grossing films. Although it has some way to go to eclipse 2011’s second place film, The King’s Speech, you wouldn’t bet against it passing that film’s final total of £45.7m. It goes without saying that Avengers Assemble 3D is now near the very top of the list of most successful comic book films with only The Dark Knight (£49.1m) ahead of it.
On a weekend with a large number of new releases, it was clear that the UK public are still open to another helping of American Pie. A £4.5m Friday to Sunday opening for American Pie: Reunion compares favourably with the last theatrically released American Pie film’s debut (The Wedding – £4.2m) but its someway short of American Pie 2’s £5.5m opening. With a cume total of £7.8m including previews and bank holiday Monday, the film is already over half way to overtaking the first American Pie’s final total of £14m.
Spots 3 – 5 in the top 10 were also taken up with new releases, with Zac Efron weepie The Lucky One (£1.2m, including £329k from previews) holding off both Beauty and the Beast 3D (£685k) and Jason Statham bone cruncher Safe (£680k). Safe’s performance is better than Jason Statham’s most recent couple of films Blitz (£266k) and Killer Elite (£481k) but not quite as good as The Mechanic (£922k). Beauty And The Beast 3D had a strong bank holiday Monday and now has a cume total of £1.2m. Including Monday, The Lucky One’s cume is £1.5m and Safe is on £920k. The final new entry in the top 15 was horror Silent House in ninth place with £215k (£285k cume).
One other notable occurrence was The Hunger Games crossing the £23m mark. Its reign as the number 1 film of 2012 so far only lasted a week but it’s still a fantastic performance and bodes well for the release of the next book in the series, Catching Fire in November 2013. Overall the box office was up a sizeable 91% from the same weekend last year.
Across the Atlantic box office records were smashed as The Avengers opened to an unprecedented $207.4m. This absolutely trounced the previous all-time weekend record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 last Summer ($169.2m). After just three days in cinemas The Avengers has already taken more than Thor ($181m), Captain America: The First Avenger ($176.6m) and The Incredible Hulk ($134.8m) made in their total run. $207.4m also accounted for a whopping 83.1% of the $249.7m the Top 12 earned this weekend, which is the second-highest weekend market share ever. Trailing in The Avengers’ wake, the best performing of the rest of the titles were Think Like a Man with $8.1m, The Hunger Games with $5.6m and The Lucky One with $5.4m. Way down in 16th place was a great performance from a home-grown hit. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened on just 27 locations but grossed $737k for a very strong location average of $27k. With expansion planned expect a decent next few weeks for the charming British comedy.
Prior to this year, the world’s most celebrated film festival for independent cinema had previously confined itself to the US, and predominantly Park City, Utah. However, in March 2011 Sundance founder and screen legend Robert Redford announced that the inaugural Sundance London would take place this past weekend at the O2 Greenwich featuring some of the highlights of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival proper and would also feature some special concerts and the usual selection of industry panels and workshops.
Rather than spend a whole weekend at the soulless O2, I opted instead to see a few choice films and have a more relaxed festival experience. From looking at the films selected to be screened, it was quickly obvious to anyone familiar with the line-up from Park City that there was a huge omission. Ben Lewin’s The Surrogate picked up the audience award and the special jury prize at Sundance in January and is already tipped for Oscar success next year. For unknown reasons it was conspicuously absent from the London line-up but despite this there was still plenty to excite lovers of independent cinema. Here’s a short summary of the three films I saw
Almost by stealth, Jason Statham has become one of the most dependable action stars of the last twenty years. None of his films have been huge box office blockbusters but every year he releases one or two action films that tend to be tight as a drum and absolutely play to his strengths. I occasionally wonder if had he been a star in the 80s, whether he’d be held in the same regard as Van Damme and Seagal, or even the more exalted action stars, Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
Out on May 4th, Safe could well be Statham’s best action vehicle yet. The plot is simple, a young Chinese girl with a photographic memory is forced by a Chinese gang in New York to memorise a code that contains the combination to a safe. Before she’s able to relay the code, she escapes the gang’s clutches and soon the Russian mafia and group of corrupt New York cops are after her too. However, none of these ruffians had counted on the presence of the city’s toughest ex-cop, Luke Wright, who after a chance encounter with the girl, makes it his job to protect her. Cue lots of bone-crunching fistfights, gunfights and one-liners.
Metaphorically this ship is still sailing as the 3D re-release of Titanic cruised to the top of the UK box office with £2.9m (including £97k from previews). Although this is a is a good deal fewer than the original Titanic’s £4.8m opening weekend in 1997, it’s a big improvement on Star Wars – Episode 1’s 3D re-release in February (£1.5m) and similar to The Lion King 3D’s performance in October (£2.8m). Love for the epic film is still high and its performance is particularly impressive when you consider that the film is 194 minutes long, so less screenings can be scheduled per day. Including Easter Monday, James Cameron’s lavish romance has a cume of £3.9m.
In second place after another strong weekend was The Hunger Games. A further £2.4m, just a drop of 20%, takes the thriller to a very impressive £16.2m (including Monday). Although it may fall short of New Moon’s £27.5m total, it is already way ahead of the first Twilight’s £11.2m final total. Just behind in third place was Mirror Mirror, also with £2.4m. This weekend figure is inflated due to the film opening on Monday 2nd, so includes £1.3m from previews. Including Easter Monday, the film now has a cume of £3m. In fourth place was The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists with £2.2m. This is a fantastic hold for the film, actually improving on its opening weekend when the figure for previews is removed. Strong word of mouth should be in full flow for this title and its cume is now at £9.1m.
