It’s impressive to see The Martian bounce back to the number one spot at the box office, bringing its domestic take to $166 million. Gladiator is still Ridley Scott’s highest grosser to date, at $187 million, but The Martian will likely beat that without breaking a sweat. Alien, back in 1979 made $80 million, which is quite impressive considering it a brooding cyberpunk sci fi film. The Martian is succeeding at the box office primarily due to word of mouth and its grade A cinemascore. Adjusted for inflation, Gladiator is still tops, with The Martian at number 4. Not bad.
It’s been a while since a movie the people liked won Best Picture. It is reminiscent of The Departed’s ascent. Like Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese had never won Best Director. The year is too early to call, with so many big movies coming up but it’s one to look out for.
In other box office news, BoxOffice.com’s Phil Contrino is predicting Star Wars to become the highest grossing film of all time, with a total domestic take of $762,000,000, and an opening take of $215 million.
“It’s been a while since a movie the people liked won Best Picture.”
Yes, because Oscars are now strictly pandering to core city of LA and NYC art house theaters. Good example of it is Steve Jobs bombing this weekend after expansion. It got stellar per theater average in 4 theaters that match my description but completely failed to connect with everyone else. Yet movies that fail to connect with masses are now de fault winners. if they appeal to critics, art house movie goer, SJWs and liberals with healthy dose of white guilt, they’ll trump equally or better reviewed populist movies. In this example, Inside Out and Fury Road are two movies with much better reviews than Steve Jobs, that masses actually wanted to see. Yet they are barely in conversation cause sci fi/animation, while anaemic TSN wannabe with good but not great reviews is constantly predicted for a bucketload of major awards. At the same time, people keep dismissing The Martian (except here) – a movie with about equal META, better RT and much better boxffice – because sci fi. How’s Steve Jobs the movie more important or relevant than The Martian? It isn’t and considering low interest you can scrap importance and relevance goodbye. People have spoken.
However, The Martian is facing uphill battle for major noms let alone wins because of bias, while Steve Jobs that doesn’t really excite anyone (critics didn’t lose their s*** over it and audience is indifferent) is still given a chance. No wonder people are abandoning Oscars and ratings are plummeting year after year. Inability to acknowledge that populist can be just as good or even better than arty, baity, important, etc is driving Oscars to the ground.
Another example, Fury Road, a movie that said more about women, women rights, feminism, etc than dire Suffragette. In fact, FR is PRAISED for its progressive view of women while Suffragette is panned for its dull message that pushed the story and characters into the background. So FR is a superior movie to the one made strictly with critics and awards in mind. But Suffragette has important title while Mad Max doesn’t. I know that Suffragette is out of contention now with meh reviews and run but reality is that Mad Max is still treated with “I don’t know if AMPAS will bite” scepticism that ultimately doesn’t make them bite.
“Alien, back in 1979 made $80 million, which is quite impressive considering it a brooding cyberpunk sci fi film.”
I think you got Alien confused with Blade Runner here. Alien is a blue collar road/mining misadventure right until we see the Derelict, the Engineer, and the Alien eggs. Even after the shit hits the fan it’s still very much a working class horror film full of grizzled guys and Sigourney Weaver.
Great news. The film was awesome 🙂
I think reading the book last year kind of ruined this movie for me. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood. I’m glad to see it has done well. Pretty hard to fault and it was good to see such a faithful interpretation. I reckon Alien is Scott’s best work.
I can relate, as loved the book so intensely that it was hard for me to relax during my initial viewing of the film. I was too concerned about what would inevitably need to be left out due to time constraints to enjoy myself. It was on my second viewing that I fell in love with it. (I wanted to check it out in both 3D and regular format). Drew Goddard’s adaptation is genius. He keeps the humor from the book but upgrades all the jokes. The way they subtly incorporated the boob joke was genius. Ridley’s trick to show more swearing without losing the PG13? Clever. His visuals actually made me choke up on several occasions – the image of that tiny craft – like a tiny one man lifeboat – on that immense alien landscape? Wow. Damon’s bravado and resourcefulness in the face of his very real terror was so moving, and added so much to Watney’s character in the book. The emotion felt so earned. It respected the “art” of science. It ALL felt so real. It was like I was RIGHT THERE.
Sorry to write so much. But if anyone can understand passion for a movie, hopefully people here will.
Gawd I better go see it again!
Kingdom of Heaven is his masterpiece. Especially the final cut. It’s long, detailed and brutal.
I love it so much!
LOL, no. Bloom ruins it. masterpiece cannot have such distractingly awful lead.
I agree – the lead was what ruined it for me too, primarily.
Adjusted for inflation, ALIEN made over $262M, so THE MARTIAN has a long way to go to beat that total.
But thanks to the growth in international box office (and, of course, its own world-wide popularity) The Martian has a very good shot at $500M world wide.
I hope The Martian does overtake Gladiator as Ridley Scott’s highest grossing film based on today’s ticket prices.
My top 5 Ridley Scott films:
1. Alien – 1979
2. The Martian – 2015
3. Gladiator – 2000
4. American Gangster – 2007
5. Black Hawk Down – 2001
For a second I thought this was your personal top 5, I was about to mail you a copy of Blade Runner with a great big slap across the chops attached.
Why take offense at somebody else’s personal top 5? Mine would be:
Alien
The Martian
Gladiator
Black Hawk Down
Blade Runner
I would actually have a more difficult time determining where it fits into my list of favorite Matt Damon movies. Probably impossible to unseat Good Will Hunting, but The Talented Mr Ripley, the Bourne trilogy and Saving Private Ryan might get bumped back.
I didn’t take offense, Al knows my sense of humor. The bastard. I still shamefully haven’t seen The Martian.
No worries. None taken. 🙂
You guys this is sooo hard. OK, for me:
1. Blade Runner
2. Alien
3. Thelma & Louise
4. Kingdom of Heaven (director’s cut)
5. The Counselor (I don’t know, probably)
I am so bad. I’ve still never seen Thelma & Louise.
You continue to stun me. How are we still friends Al?
Because you have a LOT of patience?
I do, yes. But you’re such a nice guy darn it.
*Thumbs up!*
Lol, I totally missed the subtext of your joint history. If you see The Martian and want more, the book is great, too. I honestly think it’s better to see the movie, then read the book. It’s like getting an expanded universe of Watney’s story.
LOL! This is my personal top 5. I’ve seen Blade Runner a few times, and although I think it’s a good movie, I don’t think it’s a great one. Honestly, it was a little slow for me.
I’m keeping the Blade Runner DVD, but you get two slaps now.
Okay. BTW, I own the Blade Runner Blu-ray with the multiple versions of the film. 😉
You’re killing me!
I prefer my Scott films raw and dark, so I am inclined to say that I don’t necessarily see The Martian as a comeback because -quite frankly- American Gangster and Prometheus were exceptional films. However, I can totally agree that The Martian is worthy of a nomination. The first time I saw it I expected some kind of deep, dark themed Sci-fi piece Ala Interstellar or Gravity, but what I got instead was a light film. The second time around -not expecting the next 2001- I really enjoyed the film, the way it used science, Matt Damon’s personality and an almost meta screenplay by Goddard. It’s not the best film of the year, but it is the best summer movie we never got this summer.
I love American Gangster too, Jordan!
This wouldn’t be the best winner of all time, but I’d be pretty content if it won even if it’s not quite my favorite film of the year, it’s pretty high up there.
I never got to say anything about this movie, but I finally saw it last week and I was impressed. Impressed that Drew Goddard took dialogue largely consisting of exposition and made it sound engaging and comprehensible. Impressed that Matt Damon turned in one of his best performances, switching between panic, hopelessness, and humor with ease. And impressed that Ridley Scott provided thematic depth and thrills to a story that easily could have turned into an over-sentimentalized and predictable bore. This is a great movie, and I was so happy that Scott finally directed a movie that wasn’t a piece of crap. If it does indeed earn nominations in any of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, or Best Adapted Screenplay, then I would be totally fine.
Agree 100%, and expect to see moms in all those categories, as well as VFX and editing. To me it surpasses Tom Ripley, and, yes, even Will Hunting, as Damon’s best performance ever. A masterpiece of layering, utterly without artifice or ‘actorly’ mannerism.
Very well put (on Damon’s performance)
“In other box office news, BoxOffice.com’s Phil Contrino is predicting Star Wars to become the highest grossing film of all time, with a total domestic take of $762,000,000, and an opening take of $215 million.”
Interesting that both figures barely eclipse the previous record holder. My guess will be $240M opening and $900M cumulative domestic.