Could it be that people really could care less about a self-indulgent three hour remake of a classic film and that they prefer being transported into a bona-fide fantasy world reimagined from a child fantasy series staple? Hollywood Reporter notes that this week, Narnia has knocked Kong from its perch. Kong‘s total box office take? $174.3 million domestic and $400 million worldwide. Of course, given that the film cost at least $200 million to make and that the typical Hollywood rule is that a film must earn three times its budget to break even, this will not exactly sit pretty at Universal. Universal still needs $200 million, which they’ll get for the remainder of the film’s run and the DVD sales. But I don’t think this was the sum they’d really hoped for, do you?
This is likely a good thing for Peter Jackson, who demonstrated with this film that he’s transformed into an out-of-control filmmaker and may not be worth the $20 million paycheck plus grosses deal that he netted for this. Not until he proves to us that he’s more than an overgrown adolescent (and I, for one, am shakily optimistic on this score).
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (