Box Office: 'Fifty Shades' Crashes Hard, 'Hot Tub Time Machine 2' Bombs

1. Fifty Shades of Grey- $23.2M/$130.1M
Turns out Fifty Shades of Grey's massive success was merely a midday quickie. The film plummeted 73% from last week, earning $23.2M as audience curiosity has already worn off. This shouldn't be much of a surprise, really, as these kinds of "event" movies are always frontloaded to an incredible degree. And given that critical reaction to the film has been tepid at best, word-of-mouth wasn't going to sustain it. Not that Universal and Focus Features care at this point with $480M already in the bank and a pair of sequels on the way.
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service- $17.5M/$67.1M
To see just how important strong reviews and solid word-of-mouth matters, look no further than Kingsman: The Secret Service which slipped only 51%. Along with its international numbers there is more than enough reason to justify those talks of a sequel which may or may not see the return of Colin Firth.
3. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water- $15.5M/$125.1M
4. McFarland, USA- $11.3M
Disney, Kevin Costner, and inspirational sports dramas; there will always be a market out there for a film like McFarland USA which combines all three of those things. Unfortunately, the market turned out to be pretty small this time around, at least by Disney standards. Costner should be used to these kinds of mediocre openings, though, as he's had a string of them over the last couple of years. Maybe the "white guy helps underprivileged Hispanic athletes" plot was somewhat undercut by Costner's dreadful race-relations movie, Black or White, which is still out there stinking up theaters.
5. The DUFF- $11M
Speaking of movies there will always be a place for, the high school comedy The DUFF performed better than expected with $11M. The cheapie comedy features no big name stars, but tapped into social media and the CW crowd (star Robbie Amell is a fixture on the network) to lure its young audiences to the multiplex. Plus the reviews turned out to be pretty good (including my own), especially for star Mae Whitman who will hopefully get more leads out of this.
6. American Sniper- $9.6M/$319.6M
7. Hot Tub Time Machine 2- $5.8M
Oh, so nobody wanted to get in the water for Hot Tub Time Machine 2? That's a shock. Not really. The first film released five years ago (!!!) and was a mid-level success at best, hardly the kind of film demanding a sequel. Take away the movie's biggest star, John Cusack, and there was even less reason to be interested in the time travel comedy, which got killed by critics. Maybe this will be a lesson to studio heads that not every moderately successful movie needs a sequel. If there had been any analysis done on the demand for a sequel they would have known it was a bad idea.
8. Jupiter Ascending- $3.6M/$39.5M
Yeah, it's still doing terrible, but at least the Wachowskis can say Jupiter Ascending surpassed $100M worldwide. Of course it cost $175M....
9. The Imitation Game- $2.5M/$83.9M
10. Paddington- $2.2M/$67.6M

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Review: 'The DUFF' starring Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, and Bella Thorne

Oh, the high school comedy. Hollywood has explored the terrain of teenaged freaks, geeks, and social elites from just about every angle and they all tell essentially the same story. There are mean girls, dumb jocks, awkward pariahs, frenemies, nerds, and they all fit into the same comedic battleground that usually ends one of two ways...or both: with some kind of school dance and two childhood friends realizing they should be lovers. The DUFF doesn't deviate much from the pattern, in fact it doesn't stray from it all, but a pair of playful lead performances by Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell makes it a worthy entry in the genre.

While not as edgy as Mean Girls, The DUFF may have one of the more memorable headlining performances from Whitman, who many may recall as the forgettable Ann Veal on Arrested Development. Her character in The DUFF is a light-hearted twist on Veal, actually, as Whitman plays Bianca Piper, a quirky and witty Honor Roll student whose stylistic tastes veer towards overall and flannels. That makes her the least sought-after member of her little clique, with her two best friends Jess (Skyler Samuels) and Casey (Bianca A. Santos) a pair of hotties all the guys drool over. That makes Bianca the unofficial "gatekeeper" when guys want to mack on her friends, but sadly nobody ever wants to talk to her. The reason, she learns by way of childhood friend-turned-jock dufus Wesley (Amell), is that she is the "DUFF", or the "Designated Ugly Fat Friend". While he tries to make it sound less harsh than it is, Bianca focuses on the "ugly" and "fat" part of the equation, and understandably causes her to lash out against everyone around her, including her BFFs who seem actually kind of sweet.

It should come as no surprise that things take a turn towards She's All That or Some Kind of Wonderful by having Wesley teach Bianca how not to be perceived as the DUFF, and hopefully win the heart of soulful guitarist Taylor (Nick Eversman). In exchange, she'll help the slow-witted college hopeful pass his exams and get back on the football field. But to the film's credit, the goal for Bianca isn't to become "hot" in the traditional sense, or even popular enough to compete with the other girls, like the cruel Madison (Bella Thorne). Her goal, and Wesley's hope for her, is that she gains the self-confidence to be herself, whatever that may be. As such, he encourages Bianca to let her freak flag fly, which leads to an uncomfortable YouTube video spread around the school of her making out with a store mannequin. While the embarrassment drives Bianca to hit rock bottom, she never succumbs to the desire to be the school's queen bee.

 Based on the book by Kody Keplinger, the film keeps the author's strong message about body image and self-esteem, but struggles to deliver it and maintain a humorous touch. The best scenes are those between the comedically-gifted and adventurous Whitman and the likable, good-looking Amell who has become a fixture on CW's The Flash. But Whitman is the breakout here, and she's so much fun to watch that it's hard to imagine anybody ever overlooking her. She and Amell have a great spark, especially when jokingly tearing down the high school social structure. Unfortunately there's also a great deal of talent that doesn't get much to do, namely Allison Janney as Bianca's mom, a self-help guru who speaks in sound bites; and Thorne who is capable of much more than playing the standard school witch. Somehow, Ken Jeong manages to not be irritating in an underplayed role as a helpful teacher, while Romany Malco might as well not even be there as the worrisome school principal.

The DUFF doesn't rank up there with the classics by John Hughes, although few movies do, but it's an enjoyable update on the universal themes that keep these stories popular.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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First Trailer for 'The Duff' stars Mae Whitman as the Designated Ugly Fat Friend

If there's anything we learned from Mean Girls it's that high school girls can be...well, pretty darn mean; especially to other girls who are supposedly their friends. Mae Whitman has built her career on playing either unremarkable girls (her??) on Arrested Development, or the rejected girl like in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but in The Duff she gets a little bit of revenge on the mean girls in school.

After co-star Bella Thorne (Blended) had teased the trailer on her Instagram a few days ago, the first official trailer for The Duff has been released. Based on the Kody Keplinger book and directed by Ari Sandel, the film stars Whitman as the "designated ugly fat friend" of her clique of hot friends, and sets out to get some payback. In true She's All That fashion, she gets a cool makeover from a hunky dude (Robbie Amell) in an attempt to raise her social status.

So basically this looks like something that should be on The Disney Channel, but otherwise pretty inoffensive....except for the presence of Ken Jeong.  The Duff opens February 19th 2015.


The DUFF TRAILER 1 (2015) - Bella Thorne, Mae Whitman Comedy HD by MovieTrailerz

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