Thursday, December 26, 2024

Weinstein Scandal Claims First Film Victim as “Amityville” Horror Flick Scores Just $742 Weekend

The scandals at the Weinstein Company claimed their first film victim: “Amityville; The Awakening.” The horror flick scored just $742 total in 10 theaters this weekend.

There so many bad sub-stories here. First of all, “Awakening” was from BlumHouse, owned by Jason Blum, who was educated at the original Miramax.

Second, “Awakening” was released by Bob Weinstein’s Dimension side of the company. Bob, by ratting out his brother (and not counting his own alleged bad behavior with women), burned the whole company to the ground. Now his Dimension– which he always claimed made the money that kept the company alive– is dead, dead, dead.

“Awakening” might have done better elsewhere. It has a good name cast starting with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Second, it’s Halloween weekend. All horror films do well this weekend.

The flick was not shown to reviewers, so there are just a few reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, all from bloggers. And the release was semi-limited, no money was put into it. “Awakening” will go straight to DVD.

There’s a lot of other bad box office news this weekend, but this is kind of the worst. Say so long to Bob Weinstein and Dimension. The joke is, when everything is over, Bob Weinstein will be lucky to be living in Amityville (yes, it’s a real place on Long Island).

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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