Monday Mixer: This 'Deed' was 'Good' indeed

Posted Monday, September 15, 2014 at 4:25 PM Central

by John Couture

You thought I forgot about ya, didn't you? Nope, I'm just moving a bit slow today. I'm shaking this nasty bug which I'm told comes with the territory of having two toddlers, so I'm just trying to make it through the day.

I apologize in advance for any and all typos or random, incomplete thoughts. I'm sure this one will be full of tangents. Sorry.

It was a rather interesting weekend too. So, I suppose I should just stop yammering and get to it, eh? Sounds good to me. And here we go.

Box Office 411

Raise your hand if you had No Good Deed opening in first place with over $20 million.

Liars! Not even Idris Elba's mother was that confident going into the weekend. And yet, here we are. No Good Deed did indeed open up in first place at the box office with over $24 million. While its performance was a bit unexpected, you just sort of had the feeling that one movie was going to pop and surprise everyone here at some point. They say that No Good Deed goes unpunished and if that's the case then this film will drop off precipitously around $55 million.

This is the first film to open up with over $20 million since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in mid-August. I guess it's safe to say that Summer is officially over and we are now in that weird Halloween dumping ground before Awards season heats up in November and December.

Dolphin Tale 2 did right around where most pundits thought it would with its opening salvo of $16.6 million, good enough for second place. I'm still trying to figure why again the studio decided that the original film needed a sequel, but oh well. I predict a quick death for Flipper 2 and it will struggle to make it to $30 million when it's all said and done.

Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continued to do what they do in third and fourth place respectively. It was a particularly good week for Guardians of the Galaxy as its total pushed it into the rarefied $300 million territory. That's a whole bunch of troll dolls and cassette tapes.

How foolish was I? Well, even after its massive opening weekend, I still only thought it would do $250 million. I admit it, I was wrong. Take that Suzie what's your name, I can admit when I'm wrong. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm more wrong as I get older. I thought experience led to wisdom and all that Jedi stuff. Speaking of Star Wars, I bet there's some tidbits coming up in the "Quick Hitters."

See, tangents. Not much else was notable at the box office this weekend. Next weekend, Kevin Smith's Tusk opens up on about 600 screens. Sadly, none of them are located in Nashville which makes me sad, but maybe it will expand here or play at the local art house theater.

Quick Hitters

• We haven't checked in on Star Wars: Episode VII in a bit, so I suppose we should get some new dirt. Making Star Wars has a bunch a tidbits that may interest you. The biggest piece is the news of a potential Obi Wan spinoff being developed.

  If you like to be spoiled, click here.

• I'm convinced that there is an international cabal at work to insure that a new Jennifer Lawrence/Bradley Cooper film comes out every year. For the third year running, the pair are playing a couple in Serena. If you liked JLaw in Winter's Bone, then this film is for you.

• Finally today, I wouldn't be a good Kevin Smith stalker if I didn't pimp his new film Tusk, which opens this Friday. The film's website has been updated with a bunch of cool features including something called "Tuskify."

  

  Well, you might not think that my picture is cool. It's more terrifying than anything else, but it's still a pretty cool feature. Don't worry, I won't leave you with that image. Instead, I'll leave you with this new clip from Tusk.

Don't be blue, until next week MIX WELL.