It’s been a long week and I’m a little flat so apologies for being a day late with this week’s blog.
My Ultimate Movie Theatre
I was following the health care reform in the United States over the weekend and it prompted me to do some net searching on the President and the White House. I’ve always been fascinated by the President’s role and everything that goes with it. I speak of things such as his security team (someone is always nearby with the codes to disarm nuclear weapons), to Air Force One (which can refuel mid-air if needs be) and to the inner-goings on within the White House and his hard working team.
It never occurred to me that there was a movie theatre in the White House but I guess it makes sense.
It’s called the Family Theatre and it’s located in the East Wing. You can view a bunch of photos by clicking here - http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/east-wing/theater.htm.
I find it interesting that despite the fact that it’s been refurbished many times, there’s still the four plush seats down the front for the President and his special guests to use. I love the current look by the way – looks like a classic, old-style cinema.
If I ever get lucky and win the lotto one day, I’d love to have a theatre like that of my very own. Per chance to dream!
It’s the golfer in me that is also fascinated by this part of the White House lawns - http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/grounds/putting-green.htm.
Box-Office Update
As I mentioned a few weeks back, Avatar sat atop the box-office charts in America for 7 consecutive weeks. It’s total box-office is now $736.9m (beating the old Titanic record of $100m). Here in Australia, it’s made an even more amazing $111.6m to date. It made $561,868 last weekend which is hard to believe for a film in its 14th week of release. Is there anyone who is yet to see it???
In my review of The Rebound last week, I wrote about the choice being presented to the Australian public in terms of romantic comedies. There were two big ones coming out on the same day – The Rebound with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha and The Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston.
Sadly, the public went with The Bounty Hunter. It’s the worst film I’ve seen so far this year but it pulled in $1,380,000 as compared with The Rebound’s $415,000. Completely ignored was Brothers with a very disappointing $92,000.
Despite all the changes in technology, I’m always amazed that people have never lost the desire to go to the movies. These days, you can watch movies at home or your computer.
For the first three weeks of March 2010, the total box-office take in Australia (based on the top 20 films each week) has been $57.6m. By comparison, the total for the same period last year was just $35.5m. Cinema owners must be loving it! I know it can be a tough industry so it’s great to see the public supporting them.
3D Dilemma
The huge business for Alice In Wonderland and Avatar has created a curious dilemma for many cinemas around the world. 3D projectors are very expensive so many cinemas just have one at this point in time.
Last weekend in Australia, Alice In Wonderland was number 1 for the third week in a row with a total box-office of $3.9m. It’s made a total of $26.1m to date. That’s HUGE for what I think is a very mediocre film.
Anyway, due to be released this weekend is How To Train Your Dragon in 3D. What are cinema owners to do if they only have one 3D projector? Do they shelve Alice which is still pulling in big dollars? I’ll be interested to see the session times in this Thursday’s paper.
It must be tempting for cinema owners to splash out and buy more 3D projectors but is this just a fad which will slow down over time? How many people went to see Alice and Avatar just because they were in 3D? We’ll find out over the next year I guess with many more 3D releases on the cards.
Dragon Week
I like coincidences of any kind but I had to chuckle at the two films which are being released this week – How To Train Your Dragon and The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo. What are the odds on that? Just two major releases and both have the word “dragon” in the title. The good news is that whilst they’re very, very different, they’re both very, very good. Make sure you check them out.