Rounding out the top five should be the musical adaptation, Jersey Boys. Director Clint Eastwood has a number of box office hits on his résumé, a fact the TV spots have been hammering home in recent weeks (using Oscar winners such as Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby as selling points). He is an icon, but Eastwood’s box office track record has been shaky as of late. His last outright hit was Gran Torino back in 2008 (over $148 million), but since then, his highest-grossing directorial effort has been Invictus, which made just $37.4 million in 2009. It looks like Eastwood’s cold streak will continue this week, as Jersey Boys is projected to bring in only $12 million for opening weekend.
Saw a screening on Monday night. Very disappointed. It was pretty joyless ... and moreover, it WASN'T A REALLY MUSICAL. It's a biopic with performances ... like "Walk the Line" or "Ray." The only time it comes to life is during the end credits ... when it becomes a musical for 2 minutes.
I never saw the stage show, but I have to assume it's better than this movie was.
^Actually it started at 49% a week ago and has climbed to 60% currently, just barely enough to make their tomato icon red (fresh) instead of green (rotten). Still pretty far from an enthusiastic response from reviewers over all.
And Metacritic's aggregate score is 56%-- a veritable Meh in numerical form.
Updated On: 6/19/14 at 02:43 PM
I go by Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes, not the general score (You can click to view the score of All Critics or Top Critics at the top right of the Tomatometer). If Jersey Boys swings up to 75% from 60% when you select Top Critics, that tells me as much as when it often goes down by 20 points in the other direction when you do the same for other movies. It gets rid of a lot of random blogs, etc.
Also, the trajectory of the score over time doesn't indicate much, since most publications hold the reviews until a day or two before the movie opens. You're just seeing the reviews from the publications that didn't uphold the embargo date they agreed to before attending their advance screening.
Of course, the correlation between critics and box office is often non-existent. I mean, the movie expected to be at the #1 spot this weekend is in the 20% range.
"I go by Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes, not the general score."
I do exactly the same thing. I couldn't care less what Jerry Schmucko of Iwriteablogsoicangetintoscreenings.com thinks. I look at the top critics and in particular the 4-7 critics that over time I've concluded have similar tastes as I do. Don't care a bit what the non-Top Critics think.
The critical response is hardly positive; it's simply lukewarm, which for such a popular musical that won the Tony for Best Musical and is running almost 10 years later is quite a disappointment. I'll admit I've never seen the show and nothing about what I've seen from it looks appealing to me, but at the same time, the movie looks so utterly boring and pointless. At least the show looks joyful and vibrant.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Critics aside... this hasn't been marketed very much. It has very little visibility here in NYC. And the posters I see aren't particularly eye catching, or informative of what the film is.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
We also have been getting tons of ads in VA. Everyone knows about it. My aunt even called me before I remembered that it was coming out and asked if I wanted to go with her (I got her into musicals). So I don't think the marketing has been too bad for it. I've never seen the show before so I'm just going to go into the movie with no expectations!
Kad, you must not watch the morning talk shows. Clint and the cast have been all over them doing interviews. Same with the late night shows, albeit slightly less. Tons of print, television, radio, and web ads in the NYC area too.
$12M is a good amount for this movie. The younger audience isn't necessarily expected to flock to this. It wasn't positioned in the summer because they thought of it as a blockbuster… it's there because it's counter programming. Something to see for those who don't want robots or explosions.
We'll probably check out the film but with the lowest of expectations. We frankly found very little to engage us with the stage show either. But look, it's a damn period musical feature film. They come along once in a blue moon, so good or bad, they've simply GOT to be patronized if we have any hope of Hollywood making any more of them. (Honestly I have much higher hopes for the James Brown biopic coming later in the summer.)
Why would they open this is in the summer anyway? It's not like it's really an uplifting fun summer movie? Would have been better off in Sept or Oct. Also, why, in the previews is the title of the movie so small and such a bland font choice? The show on Broadway is so much fun and explosive, and the previews make this look sooo boring. I honestly didn't even know it was playing yet.