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A lot of people are asking me about Jared Kushner’s book, “Breaking History.” If you look at this weekend’s New York Times bestseller list, it’s number 3 in non fiction.
And yes, I know you think it should be in fiction, listed as “Breaking Wind.”
The Times list is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. They are also two weeks behind real time sales. (PS they let Kellyanne Conway’s book go up to the top reaches of their list, then it fell like a brick. Maybe they’re kowtowing to GOP readers.)
In the real world, “Breaking History” is number 187 on Amazon.com. On Barnes & Noble’s list, it’s number 1,885.
Most recent sales figures have it at 60,000 copies. It may be closer to 65,000. We’ll see in a few days. On Amazon, the book fell off the top 100 about a week ago. Then I wrote about its sales failure, and “Breaking Wind” shot up to number 27.
Someone has been gaming Amazon, buying up multiple copies. But no one you know has read it, or bought it, and no one will. It’s very good, however, for stacking up under a lap top during a Zoom call.
A film with two actual American movie stars is playing in other countries, but not here, not yet.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts — surely among our biggest stars — headline a romantic comedy called “Ticket to Paradise.” It’s released by Universal. When I say released, I mean elsewhere.
“Ticket to Paradise” doesn’t premiere in the US until October 21st, more than a month from now. But it is playing in other countries. So far it’s made around $2 million total in places like Spain, Brazil, and Greece. It’s also made $13,000 in Bolivia.
On Rotten Tomatoes, “Ticket to Paradise” has a respectable 69%, with 32 reviews. Of those, 20 are positive. The comedy is described as a kind of goof, not to be taken seriously, just a nice romp with good looking people. One reviewer called it “feel good escapism.”
So why isn’t here in America? Universal has to release “Bros” first, that’s a big one, and they’re concentrating on Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” for the Oscars, so they are busy. Also, they may be trying to build steam for “Ticket” around the world so there’s good of mouth when it finally opens domestically.
I actually think more of these kinds of movies would help Hollywood, the Oscars, and so on promote the brand and the idea of American cinema. Leo Di Caprio has never been in a romcom. Why not? He would be great as a modelizing bachelor trying to court Anne Hathaway. We need this stuff. I think the reason we don’t have it anymore is this kind of movie is considered dessert. No one who makes movies eats dessert. They just want a lot of grilled vegetables!
Taylor Swift says the back covers of four editions of her album form a clock.
She says on Instagram: “It’s a clock. It could help you tell time.”
The album, called “Midnights,” releases at midnight on October 21st. Swift is suggesting you buy four different LPs to get this effect. That would be around $80.
What should I do? I’m in tears. Although I want to be at the Hamptons Film Festival on Sunday October 9th listen to this…
Little Steven has set a “Party at the Pony” in Asbury Park for that afternoon and night. Southside Johnny is coming, so is Max Weinberg, and you know Bruce is going to show up even if its just for a minute.
The Party benefits TeachRock.org, and tickets start at $275. Packages like “Bada Bing” and “fuhgettaboutit.”
I’m so mad. This thing is going to sell out in seconds. Little Steven and Southside together? Please, someone video “The Fever” for me.
Sony’s much hyped Gina Prince-Blythewood spectacular debuted with $5 mil Friday night, a total of $6.8 million including Thursday previews. The weekend total will come in less than $20 million, somewhere between $17 million and $18 million.
“The Woman King” is at war on many fronts including a Twitter boycott by people who are misreading its historical intent. On the plus side, the movie has an A+ Cinemascore. People who see it really like it. But that may not matter in the long run.
Thursday and Friday sales were spotty depending on theater location. But things look good for tonight, so the audience may have just been playing wait-and-see about word of mouth and reviews. Also, there’s not a lot to choose from this weekend other than the very good “Confess, Fletch.”
Raise your hand if you’re not surprised by this information: Kanye West says he’s never read a book. He says on a podcast, which you can see here below at 3:40, “Reading is like eating Brussels sprouts for me.”
This news comes as Rolling Stone has published a look at Kanye’s Christian school, the Donda Academy. This is two years after Kanye “ran for president.”
West — who spouts gibberish here like Chauncey Gardener in “Being There” — is the son of a late teacher and professor. But we’ve come to the central problem with him, besides bipolar disorder.
I’d say this pretty alarming but hey, I’ll bet it’s more prevalent now than ever.
By the way, Kanye says he’s pulling the plug on his deal with The Gap. He’s also fighting with Adidas, which sponsors the Donda Academy. I’m wondering if he read all his contracts now that he admits to not reading books.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s signature musical, “Phantom of the Opera,” will play its final show on February 18th, 2023. This will be shortly after its 35th anniversary on Broadway.
The lack of tourists in New York has killed “Phantom” because no self-respecting New Yorker or theatergoer has ever had any interest in it. The star of “Phantom,” after all, is a chandelier.
As cheesy as the show is, “Phantom” has played an important part of New York’s theater life. It offered steady employment over the years to thousands of cast and crew. Many actors relied on it as a fallback when other work was unavailable.
But the pandemic stopped it in its tracks. When “Phantom” returned the audience was absent. Frankly, I got experience the problem this week when I tried to book a hotel room for someone. The prices are astronomical. I’m guessing the fear of getting COVID isn’t all that’s keeping international visitors away from New York.
“Phantom” is just the latest show to throw in the towel. “Come from Away” is shutting down soon. “The Music Man” will end on December 31st. Other shows like “Phantom” not making $1 million a week will have to consider this path also. I’d be worrying about the Tony winning musical, “A Strange Loop.” which was down to $605,903 last week. Apparently there’s not much of an audience for that one, and it’s in decline week by week.
The “Phantom” news was first reported by the New York Post.
Early box office numbers don’t bode well for Sony’s new “The Woman King.”
The much touted Gina Prince-Blythewood film took in just $1.7 million last night at 3,271 theaters. That’s just $520 per screen. Ouch! You could tell from the seat maps at major AMC theaters across the country that there was no enthusiasm for the much praised Viola Davis action film. Sony simply failed to make it exciting in any way.
Now comes the actual weekend, so word of mouth should be good enough to lift the numbers. But if Sony had any Oscar expectations other than Viola for Best Actress they’d better turn on the charm fast.
It wasn’t a great night for the studio. They still have an expanded “Spider Man No Way Home” in 3,215 theaters in re-release. Why? Last night the webslinger made just $19 per screen. Nineteen dollars. You’re not misreading this. That’s like one and a half people per screen! Indeed, all of Sony’s other releases made less than $100 per screen last night including “Bullet Train” — $87. They’d better sell a lot of Walkmen! (You’re too young, you don’t even know what they were.)
The Hamptons Film Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary by running over two weekends, a total of 10 days, for the first time ever. I’m impressed that they’ve picked up a four star slate of the best movies of the fall.
They include one of my favorite Toronto offerings, “Empire of Light,” from Sam Mendes starring Olivia Colman. They’ve got Hugh Jackman in “The Son,” Harry Styles in “My Policeman,” Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and a spectacular Netflix film called “The Swimmers” that is unaccountably not in the New York Film Festival and could be the “CODA” of 2022.
The list is sensational. The opening night film is the excellent “Living” starring Bill Nighy. The centerpiece films are Hugh Jackman in Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” and Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.” Closing night is “Sr.” as in a film about the late director Robert Downey Sr. commissioned by his Iron Man, RD Jr.
I’m very excited to see Peter Hedges’ “The Same Storm,” plus Brendan Fraser in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” Laura Poitras’s Venice award winning film about the opioid epidemic, and “She Said” about the Harvey Weinstein investigation. There’s also the very hot “Decision to Leave” from Korean director Park Chan-Wook, and an eye opening documentary produced by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton called “In Her Hands,” about women during the fall of Kabul.
Plus, it’s the fall, it’s the Hamptons, ghe best place in the most wonderful time of the year.
Fletch is back. He used to be played by someone else. But those days are over.
Enter Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” fame who’s taken a circuitous route to post-series stardom. When I met him with his then girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt, right after “Mad Men” started, I thought he’d be a movie star overnight. “Mad Men” was taking off, and Hamm looked in person like Clark Kent. That was a long time ago but I’m glad I was right.
As amateur sleuth and investigative reporter in this Greg Mottola directed comedy, Hamm comes off like James Garner in “The Rockford Files.” That’s high praise. He’s cool and funny, armed with wisecracks and always ingratiating. He looks rumpled and put together at the same time. No one could have predicted Don Draper would one day go from mysterious to goofy. But Hamm and Mottola could actually turn “Fletch” into a series of movies for theaters and streaming and roll in the dough.
As it is, “Confess, Fletch” hits 500 plus theaters tomorrow and it’s on video on demand. It comes from Miramax and Paramount and I don’t think either of them knew they had a hit or what to do with it. Surprise! “CF” wasn’t even screened really. I had to ask for a review link. Clearly no one thought much of it.
But they were wrong, as evidenced by a very healthy 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fletch is in Italy with a beautiful girlfriend (beautiful Lorenza Izzo, an Ana de Armas lookalike) whose father, a Count (Robert Picardo) has been kidnapped. The kidnappers don’t want money, but they do want a long lost Picasso he owns (but can’t find). Fletch thinks the painting is being sold in Boston, so he goes there to retrieve it. There he finds a sketchy art dealer (Kyle Maclachian) and has a “Mad Men” reunion with John Slattery, playing a newspaper editor. Then the Count’s wife shows up in the form of a sexy, witty Marcia Gay Harden who’s got a pretty good Italian accent.
Who did I leave out? Roy Wood Jr. and Ayden Mayeri as a couple of endearing, bumbling cops and Annie Mumolo as a goofy pot head neighbor.
The whole thing was shot in Boston’s Back Bay, my college stomping grounds, which adds a lot of flavor. The screenplay by Mottola and Zev Borow is lively and fun, very glib with just enough “Deadpool” like ad-libs to give Hamm room to fool around. (Harden gets in a few zings, too.)
I know you can find “Confess Fletch” on Amazon Prime, and soon I think it will be on Showtime and/or Paramount Plus. But go see it in a theater. It’s 90 minutes of high quality entertainment without super heroes, explosions (there are fireworks), or any kind metaverse. If you’re an adult, you’ll really like it.
