Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 11 SepteMber 2017
‘It’ floats away with record-

breaking $117.2M weekend

By LINDSEY BAHR Muschietti cost only $35 mil- the last six weeks has been
AP Film Writer lion to produce. in the doldrums.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — ‘It’ is Critics and audiences were “It” is just the latest example
a hit. on the same page, too. The of a film that defies old box
The Stephen King adap- film has a fresh 86-percent office logic about which
tation from New Line and Rotten Tomatoes score, timeframes work for tent-
Warner Bros. shattered re- and audiences, who were pole movies. Before “Star
cords over the weekend 65 percent over age 25, Wars: The Force Awakens,”
earning $117.2 million from gave “It” a B+ CinemaS- no December movie had
4,103 locations according core. ever opened over $100 mil-
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Bill Skarsgard to studio estimates on Sun- Starring Bill Skarsgard as lion, for instance, and the
in a scene from “It.” Associated Press day. the homicidal clown Pen- same went for the month
Not only is “It” now the nywise, “It” is the first of a of February until “Dead-
largest ever opening for a planned two-part series. pool” proved that to be
horror movie and the larg- The second is slated to antiquated thinking as well.
est September opening of come out in the third quar- The success of “It” also
all time, the film more than ter of 2019. comes after an underper-
doubled the earnings of the “It starts with a brilliant story forming summer movie go-
previous record holders. from Stephen King,” Gold- ing season that left the year
Before this weekend “Para- stein said of the stellar per- to date box office down
normal Activity 3” had the formance. “The director 6.5 percent from last year.
biggest horror opening with made a fabulously com- Now, with the “It” factor,
$52.6 million from 2011, and pelling movie, our market- the year is down only 5.5
the highest September de- ing just nailed it and the percent
but was “Hotel Transylvania date was special.” “There has been a lot writ-
2’s” $48.5 million in 2015. Indeed, the date proved ten about the demise of
“We blew past everyone’s key. With no discernable the box office. This seems to
most optimistic and aggres- competition, save for the come up every few years
sive projections and I think counter programmed and it’s all content driven.
there might be room for us opening of the Reese With- If there are good movies
to grow this weekend even erspoon romantic com- that are out there in the
still,” said Jeff Goldstein, edy “Home Again,” which marketplace, the public
Warner Bros. president of came in a very distant sec- will embrace them and be
domestic distribution. ond with $9 million, “It” was excited to see them. If we
Goldstein said he was con- able to dominate screens come up with movies they
servative with Sunday pro- and show times at major are not interested in, they
jections due to the con- movie theaters. stay away,” Goldstein said.
founding factors of the “I don’t think anyone could “This is a movie they want-
film’s R-rating, the popular- have imagined an open- ed to see.”
ity of late night showings, ing over $100 million for this The overwhelming domi-
the beginning of football movie,” comScore senior nance of “It” made the rest
season and Hurricane Irma. media analyst Paul Derga- of the charts look downright
Regardless of whether rabedian said. “Suddenly anemic. In third place was
there is an uptick when fi- September is on the map “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,”
nal numbers are reported with its first $100 million de- with $4.9 million, “Anna-
Monday, “It’s” success is but. Every month of the belle: Creation” took fourth
still astounding, especially year is a potential hit-mak- with $4 million, and “Wind
considering that the proj- er and this is really good River” rounded out the top
ect from director Andy news for an industry that for five with $3.2 million..q

Jennifer Lawrence suggests

storms are ‘Mother Nature’s rage’

NEW YORK (AP) — Jen- you’re watching these hur-
nifer Lawrence is facing ricanes now, and it’s really
backlash online for sug- hard, especially while pro-
gesting that monster hur- moting this movie, not to
ricanes that just devas- feel Mother Nature’s rage.
tated Texas and another Wrath,” Lawrence told
nearing Florida may have Channel 4 on Wednesday.
been prompted by Don- The comment from the This Sept. 6, 2017 file photo,
ald Trump becoming presi- Academy Award-winning Jennifer Lawrence poses for
dent. actress drew the ire of photographers upon arrival
While in England to pro- many on Twitter, where at the premiere of the film
mote her film “Mother!” there were calls to boycott Mother’’, in London.
the actress was asked Lawrence films. Lawrence saying his election might
about changes happen- has not been shy about just be “the end of the
ing in America. “You know, her dislike of Trump, once world.”q