Here is my theater report.

Sound of Thunder (135 seater)
2:10 - 11% full.
5:15 - 8% full.
8:00 - 32% full.
10:40 - 24% full.

Constant Gardener (200 seater)
12:50 - 24% full.
4:05 - 37% full.
7:10 - 33% full.
10:10 - 38% full.

Underclassmen
1:40 (110 seater) - 43% full.
2:45 (175 seater) - 20% full.
4:30 (110 seater) - 37% full.
5:30 (175 seater) - 23% full.
7:10 (110 seater) - 81% full.
8:15 (175 seater) - 43% full.
10:00 (110 seater) - 55% full.
11:05 (175 seater) - 27% full.
(and some of you we're still saying that it wouldn't do good on 2 screens).

Transporter 2 (all shows after 6)
6:15 (600 seater) - 19% full.
7:00 (600 seater) - 19% full.
8:05 (250 seater) - Sold Out.
9:00 (600 seater) - 50% full.
9:45 (600 seater) - 39% full.
10:45 (250 seater) - Sold Out.
12:00 (600 seater) - 23% full.
(Based on the information I got yesterday, this didn't hold up well from yesterday, while the other Freshman's did).

In other new.

40 Year Old Virgin sold out the 8:30 (400 seater), and the 10:30 (400 seater).

Four Brothers sold out the 9:10 (200 seater).

Red Eye sold out the 9:30 (175 seater).

Valiant sold out the 8:30 (90 seater).

and Dirty Deeds sold out the 8:25 (90 seater). WTH.

And finally, An Unfinished Life sneak preview sold, get ready for this, 21 tickets. That right, there were only 21 people in the theater. This is by far the worst sneaks we have ever had (let's see how tomorrow goes). Other than that, Brother's Grimm still managed a big uptick from yesterday.

All in all, it was a quiet Saturday yet again. Overall, business increased 25% (mostly slowed down by the Transporter)

Also, Undiscovered did only 5 people all day, look for a record drop.

I thought that earlier, but it might be a tight race, considering it *might* have a soft drop on Sunday, even if, like, twenty people in America are seeing it this weekend.

Looks like theres a good chance Transporter falls a bit today, which is what I thought it would do. It's pretty much expected though, atleast I think so.

Don't even the crappiest of openers rise on saturday on Labour Day weekend?

Jeepers Creepers 2 rose around 5% on Saturday of Labor Day weekend. This should do about the same.

Has nothing to do with being crappy or not ( wom looks good to me ) its just that its a sequel with a cult following, I would think it could decrease, but looking at Jeepers Creepers 2, it even increased 2.5% on Saturday, so yeah Transporter might not decrease,

Saw 4 films in a row yesterday.

Underclassman @ 2:40 - 5 people in a 400-seater.
Trailers - Cry Wolf - No reaction. I'm really sick of this trailer after having seen it at least seven times.
Proof - Wrong audience. Looks decent.

Film:

Not the worst thing I've ever seen but nonetheless very bland. It might as well have been an episode of a TV series it was so nondescript. Nick Cannon is only sporadically funny; other times he just gets on one's nerves. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Grade: C


The Constant Gardener @ 4:25 - 90% full in a 400-seater.
Trailers - Brokeback Mountain - Some mumbling as people figured out that it is a gay cowboy movie. Looks horrendous. A sappy love story, only this time said love is between two men. This has little chance of doing much at the box office based on subject matter alone. Look at Alexander and that was an epic, a more appealing genre than westerns are these days.
Ice Harvest - Looks okay at best. No reaction.

Film:

I was bored by this film. It was ungodly slow and haphazardly constructed for my liking. Plus, I just didn't give a flying leap about any of the characters. Weisz came across as a jerk and Fiennes a pansy (most of the time). To add insult to injury, it's another case of a thinly-veiled attempt by Hollywood to put across their agenda on the public through film. That annoys me to no end.

Grade: D


An Unfinished Life @ 7:30 - 95% full in a 400-seater.
Trailer - Proof. No reaction. See above as this was the second time I saw the trailer in the same day.

Film:
One of the better films I've seen all year. The film boasts a relaxed (but not too relaxed pace) that fits the subject matter, beautiful cinematography, and superb acting. Freeman and Reford are consistently great.

Grade: B+


A Sound of Thunder @ 9:55 - 5 people in a 400-seater.
Trailers - The Man - Looks bland. No reaction.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose - Looks good. No reaction.

Film:
A potentially brilliant film is ruined by abominable production values that make it look like something you'd see parodied on Mystery Science Theater.

The special effects are simply horrendous. The dinosaurs look like something out of a PSOne video game, they're that bad. What's worse, the effects are overused. I swear the bulk of the film was shot in front of a blue screen. Even the scenes of people walking outside in a futuristic Chicago are blatantly products of blue-screen work. The effects are so bad they manage to take the usual audience disconnect when a film is effects-driven and multiply it by 10. It's difficult to get excited when the monsters the cast are running from are so obviously CGI creations. Speaking of the creatures, they're odd-looking monkeys crossed with a bat, among other things.

The idea of altering the past/future is an interesting one. It's too bad the people behind it didn't have the funds to make a genuine summer blockbuster. I mean, with enough money and a competent director at the helm (Peter Hyams just doesn't cut it) this could have made for a huge hit ala Jurassic Park. Instead, it is a few very intriguing ideas hampered by an overacting cast (Ben Kingsley is obviously enjoying himself here), and non-existent production values.

Grade: D

The Constant Gardener
9/4/05
9:40 PM, 40% in a 600 seater

Trailers:
The Ice Harvest (Ramis is back )
An Unfinished Life (Looks interesting)
Brokeback Mountain (Barf inducing)
History of Violence (looks good)

Except for BB mountain, the rest looked great.

Movie:
It has fine peformances, a very timely story and a powerful ending. The only thing that keeps the movie from achieving greatness is the pacing. Still a very good effort.

A-

Ebert and Roeper praised the hell out of this movie on their show yesterday.. Ebert is apparently very excited now that the Fall movies are coming in.. They gave thumbs up to every Fall movie shown yesterday..

What other fall movies did they talk about?

An Unfinished Life and Proof

Thanks, Spider-Man.

I bought an Unilimiated Cineworld Card yesterday, which is £10.99 a month, for unlimited cinema...
It rocks...Any film, any showtime and day scheduled, as many times in one month.

Sooo good.

I caught THE CAVE last night...

Trailers:
Wolf Creek
Flightplan
Revolver

Movie:
By the numbers, tame, Hollywood version of THE DESCENT. It's rated 12A over here, which is embarassing because it calls it'self a horror film. Cheesy one liners, but some very nice sets and claustrophobia sequences.
Verdict: See THE DESCENT.

And RED EYE earlier on today....

Trailers:
Wolf Creek
Flightplan
Revolver
The Fog

Movie:
Rocked, i loved it. Brilliant performances and the tension was killing me, one of the better movies i'v seen this year.
Verdict: Loved it, very entertaining and gripping.


Tomorrow night, THE SKELETON KEY.

Then the big one! WOLF CREEK on 16th September!