He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.
This past weekend coincidentally saw two international movies debut in the top five at the domestic box office, while two films about filmmaking claimed lower spots on the leaderboard. The two international movies — Japan's Godzilla Minus Zero and India's Ramayana: Rise of a Legend — bookended the top-five list. Meanwhile, the two films about filmmaking delivered vastly different performances. I Play Rocky, the inspirational drama about Sylvester Stallone's rags-to-riches story, found success in limited release, while a biopic of another Hollywood icon delivered a lukewarm debut.
I Play Rocky is being viewed as an Oscar contender thanks to incredible reviews. Starring Anthony Ippolito as Stallone, the film holds a "Certified Fresh" 89% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus reads, "A feel-good celebration of the underdog who created one of cinema's greatest underdogs, I Play Rocky may not be as powerful as the original article but packs considerable punch thanks to Anthony Ippolito's uncanny embodiment of Sly Stallone." The movie grossed nearly $350,000 from just seven locations, for an incredible per-theater average of nearly $50,000.
Meanwhile, a biopic of the legendary Jimmy Stewart underperformed in nearly 1,500 theaters nationwide, debuting outside the top 10. Titled Jimmy, the movie holds a 63% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the film's audience score on the aggregator website is sitting at a near-perfect 96%. While this may not do much for the film during its box-office run, it will certainly come in handy when the movie lands on the PVOD market.
Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble. This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.
You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to, because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room without you ever having to mention it.
You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two things were in any tension.
You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most Western reason there has ever been.
Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.
However, that's a while away. Jimmy grossed only around $2 million in its first three days, falling short of the $6 million earned by fellow new release Wild Horse Nine, which is in 400 fewer theaters. The domestic box-office leaderboard was topped by Godzilla Minus Zero, which grossed roughly $32 million over the weekend.
Jimmy stars Riverdale alum KJ Apa as the Hollywood icon, who headlined classics such as Vertigo, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, among others. The movie also features Jason Alexander, Neal McDonough, and Rob Riggle. Produced on a reported budget of $14 million, Jimmy focuses on Stewart's life and career when, as an Oscar winner, he enlisted in the army to fight in World War II and returned to America to star in It's a Wonderful Life. Another biopic aimed at a similar audience — Hershey — will be released theatrically next week.
You can watch Jimmy in theaters and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
