Monday Mixer: Hell hath no 'Fury'...

Posted Monday, October 20, 2014 at 4:14 PM Central

by John Couture

Like a Gone Girl scorned.

Or, more accurately for our audience, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega."

I'm not sure which I'm more proud of, the headline tease or the Mallrats quote. All I know is that I wouldn't want to be Brad Pitt when Amy Dunne finds out that Fury knocked Gone Girl from its top perch at the box office.

I always find October to be a liberating month for me. It's smack dab in the middle of my favorite season. Well, it should be in the middle of autumn, but down here in the South, it's usually considered the tail end of summer with temperatures that can soar to 80 degrees and higher. When it reaches 90 in October, I just might have to figure out a way to fly north for the Winter.

Maybe I can swing a timeshare swap with a couple of Canadian geese and save a few bucks. This weekend proved to be the first real taste of fall for us in the deep South. We went to the local pumpkin patch and indulged in numerous rites of the season. I learned that there's such a thing as a Teal Pumpkin. Personally, I thought they looked cool and my daughter agreed with me, but my all-knowing wife informed me of its meaning and while I still wanted one, we opted for the more traditional variety lest we confuse any poor child who would see it and expect to get a non-candy treat.

You know, because such a child exists. I could just give away some of my children's massive toy collection. Hmm, let's rethink this teal pumpkin business, shall we?

Box Office 411

What do you get when you stuff Brad Pitt and five other dudes in a tight space? Not the upcoming sequel to Magic Mike, sadly, no what you get is the number one film in America. Fury debuted in the top spot with $23.5 million and while that was good enough to take the top spot, it wasn't the rout that everyone predicted.

While it didn't retain its crown, Gone Girl proved to be tough competition in its third outing, coming in second place with $17.8 million. The David Fincher film crossed the $100 million barrier and looks to end up with about $160 million. Meanwhile, Fury's victory will most likely be short-lived as the horror films look to re-take the box office in coming weeks. Furthermore, a quick drop-off might hurt its long potential, but we still think it will end up around $80 million.

In third place, fellow newcomer The Book of Life did respectable business with $17 million. The animated film should be helped by its family-friendly fare and promotional tie-ins and will end up in the ballpark of $65 million.

Nicholas Sparks had a new film come out this week. Predictably, the poster featured a longing kiss and the film made $10 million in fifth place. What was the title? Does it matter? Just look for the longing kiss poster and read the title if that's your sort of thing.

I don't usually cover limited releases, but I thought I would take a moment and recognize the opening of Birdman. It only played on four screens in New York and L.A., but the Michael Keaton-starrer earned an impressive $424,397. Its per-screen average opening was good enough for 18th all-time, ninth for live-action. As you might recall, technically, Kevin Smith's Red State holds the live-action opening record when it debuted on one screen for $204,230.

Quick Hitters

• Jason Momoa has been cast as Aquaman. He's going to be in two Justice League films and a stand-alone Aquaman film.

  What's that? Your mind is blown? Ah, then I take it you didn't catch the WB conference call with all of the announcements. My only complaint is that they could have made these announcements three days earlier at NYCC and really made a splash, but they didn't. Yet another missed opportunity for the DC world.

• Nicolas Cage really doesn't want you to see his new film. That's alright Nic after your last few choices, I really don't need much convincing to avoid anything with you in it.

  You can read about the controversy above, but I'm a strong believer in letting you decide for yourself. Below is the trailer for Dying of the Light. In related news, Nic Cage is old.

• This is for the wife. Actor Nicholas Brendon was arrested over the weekend at a comic con in Idaho. Yes, that's right, comic con has jumped the shark when Idaho has their very own con.

  Apparently, being relegated to places such as Idaho to trade in on his fleeting "celebrity" wasn't rock bottom for the 43-year-old actor. A plate was broken, arrest was resisted and a great mug shot was added to the B-list actor wall of fame.

Well, it's time to go and rake the leaves or something.

Until next week, Mix Well!