Well all of the prognosticators were wrong. If you asked anybody on Friday, they’d say for sure that La La Land and Hidden Figures were in the showdown of the ages. The week was already wide-open, but those were the only real contenders for Best Performer this week. Now, the real contest was going to be for the fillers at the bottom half of these lineups. That was what we though on Friday at least.
It turns out the real competition was between the new horror flick The Bye Bye Man and some weird Nickelodeon Pixar knockoff called Monster Trucks. Even though The Bye Bye Man became the clear victor with $120.7K/bux, Hidden Figures, Monster Trucks, and La La Land were all within $3K/bux of each other, with the edge just going to Hidden Figures. When you add it all up, that puts the perfect cineplex at 6x Bye Bye Man / 1x Hidden FIgures / 1x blank. Even weirder than that, only 8 players found this strange combination, and none of them are even in the Top 500 for this season, and that’s AFTER you count last week.
Some weeks you have contests that go down to Sunday night’s last ticket sold before people really know who will end up with the Perfect Cineplex. Well, this was not one of those weeks. From the second that the Thursday preview numbers were released, it was a foregone conclusion that Hidden Figures would just run away with the Best Performer bonus. When the final numbers came out it ended up at a super-value of $89.4K/bux in a week where the next best performer, returning comedy Why Him? made only $73.4K/bux in second place.
So, after stacking your cineplex with 3x Hidden Figures, it was just a bet on what would be the best combination after this. At one point on Saturday, it looked like a Moana lineup could hold some water. Instead, Manchester by the Sea teamed up with Assassin’s Creed and Fantastic Beasts in a farewell tour to round out the Perfect Cineplex. Yes, all of these films aren’t even in FML this week, yet they were all a good enough value to the 575 players smart enough to play this lineup.
Also, for a lineup this simple, it’s amazing I lasted 2 whole paragraphs without making a Hidden Figures/rocket science joke. So give me some credit for that.
The Three Amigos discuss Michael Crichton’s directorial debut, Westworld. PLUS – The Week 06 Fantasy Movie League recap & Chris theorizes that the first film completely written and produced by Artificial Intelligence may be closer than we think.
Well in one sense, my recommendation of 8 screens of La La Land was 25% right. But, that’s not really good enough in Fantasy Movie League. What pun should I use for this one? Lion roared in Week 05? Are we ready to name Lion King of everything the sun touches in FML? I wish instead of the 5 screens of this film that anchored the Perfect Cineplex that it only took four Lions. I bet you forgot about that movie! I liked the film and I had to doublecheck if I forgot to add it to my Letterboxd account.
As a lot of people predicted, one screen of Rogue One joined the 2x La La Land and 5 Lions for the perfect cineplex. Honestly, this is one of those weeks where I would be proud to run the PC in an actual movie house. Yes, that’s way too many screens of Lion, but at least two of those screens are showing one of the best films of the last 10 years. Can I talk more about how I love La La Land? Maybe I should just start a twitter account about that flick so you can unsubscribe to my raving…
The Perfect Cineplex for Week 5 on Fantasy Movie League
Join Jacob and Chris as they discuss their most anticipated film of the year: La La Land. Does the Emma Stone/Ryan Gosling musical hit all the right steps, or is it just be a waste of a lovely night? What’s the secret weapon Ryan Gosling and John Cena have in common? Does the Baby Goose have the chops for dancing, or is he just a chicken on a stick? And what overlooked animated classic does Jacob consider to be the greatest musical of all time? Discover the answer to all these questions and more in our review of La La Land! PLUS – Chris pairs the fleet-footed musical with an impeccable imperial stout and The Dudes dispatch some really rad recommendations!
00:04:00 – Review – La La Land 00:29:37 – SPOILERS – La La Land 00:43:09 – Beer Recommendation: Barrel-Aged Ten FIDY Imperial Stout by Oskar Blues Brewery “Inches and Falling” – The Format
00:47:31 – Really Rad Recommendations
As we enter the week-long intermission between two of the biggest holidays of the year, we all turn to the time-honored traditions of our forefathers: endlessly obsessing over Fantasy Movie League lineups. In Week 04, we saw what I would consider an upset, with Denzel Washington’s Fences just edging out La La Land for Best Performer, and going a whole 6 screens worth in the Perfect Cineplex. I would have picked La La Land (and I did) to outperform, but instead, we had a neck and neck race between the tow. Fences ended up at $184.1K/bux, with Damien Chazelle’s flick coming in oh-so-close at $181.2K/bux. Those are the small margins that make the difference in FML.
Filling in the last two screens were Sing and Passengers. I saw the latter, so I’ll try to do a quick review. As much as I wanted to like this, the marketing campaign for the film betrayed its core premise, but not nearly as much as the execution. The set design is really cool, but in a weekend where you can go one screen over and see La La Land (if it’s not sold out like our local 10:10 am Wednesday morning screening was), or two screens over and see Rogue One, or three screens over and see what’s left of Arrival, this film just never makes a space for itself. Did I say space? Space is the LAST thing I need more of! (Actual quote from Passengers or bad pun from your’s truly? You’ll have to see Passengers to know for sure, you unlucky reader.
The Perfect Cineplex for Week 4 on Fantasy Movie League
Hunter Cates returns to the War Bunker! And Jason Yang (workmoreorless) and Michael Sutton drop by to geek out over the debut Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — But all is not well in this Jedi Council, for there is there is a dissenter among the group! Who is the lone naysayer in among the sea of fanboy glee?! You must listen to find out!
00:08:43 – Review – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 00:19:16 – SPOILERS – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 01:04:31 – Beer Recommendation: Cara De Luna Black Ale by Crazy Mountain Brewing Company “Harrison Ford” -Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
01:10:02 – Fantasy Movie League Recap – Week 04 “Loretta” – Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
01:21:19 – Really Rad Recommendations
Long time players will remember the time way, way back in Week 11 of the Fall League there was a “lazy man” Perfect Cineplex that featured 1 screen of Trolls, 6 screens of Hacksaw Ridge, and one screen of an empty cineplex. Hacksaw Ridge performed so well that the 6th screen of Hacksaw plus the $2 million Best Performer bonus minus the $2 million penalty for an empty screen was STILL better than two screens of anything else you could afford.
Well, it happened again folks. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(Saturday) mixed with 6 screens of Disney’s Moana mixed with one screen of Rules Don’t Apply won Perfect Cineplex. Well, technically the last screen is blank, but judging by the theater where I that film you can use “blank screen” and “Rules Don’t Apply” as synonyms.
I hope all you newcomers are having a blast in our league! It’s an easy starter league with 18 contestants where 1/6 of the league gets a Perfect Cineplex in Week 02! Not only that, but School of Rock was VERY close to a Perfect Cineplex last week as well. So congratulations! And to the newcomers, holy hell have we made a steep learning curve for you this season!
So, with a wider expansion than expected, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals came in heads and shoulders above the rest in what should have been a no-brainer for this week. I, however, stuck to my CinepLex Luthor role as villain and went with an alternate disastrous pick. Nevermind the fact that personally I had no faith in this film, and was predicting no widespread appeal. I guess I can’t be right about every single movie. Wait, I was also wrong about Fantastic Beasts which came in at a measly $51.8K per bux, which was well below what I expected. I heard some chatter that Beasts would have a shot at Best Performer this week, but I just don’t think it can happen.
Let’s see a double feature of this kid’s movie and also this psycho-thriller (qu’est-ce que c’est?)
This week was the second week in a row that Moana anchored the Perfect Cineplex. So far this has been going strong, but how will it handle the drop of another giant highly anticipated Disney blockbuster? (Hint: Not great.)
WAIT – Don’t hit that back button! Maybe you haven’t seen Rules Don’t Apply… and you maybe you haven’t heard of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, but you should definitely listen to this episode. Chris and Jacob discuss exactly why you should seek out both of these Warren Beatty flicks! How do actors like Alden Ehrenreich, Lily Collins, and Matthew Broderick stack up next to Beatty’s take on Howard Hughes in Rules Don’t Apply? Why is John McCabe so convinced everyone he runs into has a turd in their pocket?? Listen and find out! PLUS – the bi-weekly Midnight Warrior Fantasy Movie League recap and Chris makes not one, but two beer recommendations. This episode’s got more tricks than a monkey on a hundred yards of grapevine!
00:07:12 – Review – Rules Don’t Apply 00:16:33 – SPOILERS – Rules Don’t Apply 00:32:10 – Beer Recommendation: Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate, Banana & Peanut Butter Ale by Rogue Ales “Merry Christmas Baby” – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
00:38:08 – Fantasy Movie League Recap – Awards Season Week 02
00:49:03 – Review – McCabe & Mrs. Miller 01:17:55 – Beer Recommendation: Backwoods Bastard (2016) by Founders Brewing Co. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
01:20:54 – Really Rad Recommendations
EVENTS
Join us at Circle Cinema Friday, January 13th & Saturday, January 14th for two special screenings of Michael Crichton’s Westworld! Chris & Hunter will introduce the film both evenings. Tickets are available now.
