Movie Nation

It’s the one thing scientists and space entrepreneurs can agree on. That the commercial push into space could very easily be driven by the hunt for resources we use up on Earth.

With the Chinese buying mineral mines of every sort and magical batteries requiring those rare substances, getting our hands on them means a future that looks like “Outland,” a pretty good Space Western about mining a moon of, Saturn was it?

That seems to be the set up for “Prospect,” a Chris Caldwell/Zeek Earl thriller — horror, it appears — about looking for gold or some such in all the alien places.

“Prospect” premiered at South by Southwest and is “coming soon” to a cinema or VOD date near you.

Marvel’s money-minting machine cranks up the hype and pulls in the faithful again with “Avengers: Infinity War” blasting off to the second biggest opening weekend ever.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” still holds the all time US opening weekend record.

UPDATED — The Actual numbers, released Monday, show “Infinity War” capturing the recordThe Actual numbers, released Monday, show “Infinity War” capturing the record, a $257.6 million opening.

Deadline.com, basing its estimates on a $39 million Thursday and $103 million (inc Thursday) Friday, says Disney will pocket $237 million for the film’s domestic take, opening weekend, some $498 million worldwide.

Just in one weekend.

Reviews were somewhat less enthusiastic for this first half of a two-parter, directed by the Russo brothers. Kind of a random roundup of Not-Quite-Every-Avenger, no arc or narrative flow, place-holding ending. But these folks know how to sell a movie that’s pre-sold (every late night stunt, etc., under the sun). So we’ll see what Sat and Sunday produce.

“Black Panther,” in case you were worrying about the Mouse not making enough on that one, is still slated to finish fifth this weekend, over $687 million in the bank since its Feb. opening.

The much more modestly priced horror sleeper “A Quiet Place” falls to second, another $10 million to take it to $147 by Sunday night. “Rampage” is running out of gas, “I Feel Pretty” is closing in on $30, and “Ready Player One” is ready to exit the top ten with a modest $130-135 million as its final cash take.

“Isle of Dogs” drops out of the top ten.

The Verge has a piece on Moviepass’s new restrictions to its “A month of movies at one low low price” ticket packaging that lays out what I’ve been wondering about this “deal” all along.

A movie a day for $10 a month is, as I’ve said, not great for theaters and on its surface, pretty bad for the studios, too. MoviePass was losing money, “on every ticket sold,” as well.

So now they’re restricting “select” (opening weekend of release) tickets. You can’t go more than once.

And they’ve limited you to 4 movies for $9.95. Still a deal, but…surely everybody in the movie making and showing business is still losing money.

Unless, of course, you consider the data mining that comes with it. You make a month’s worth of ticketing decisions, and they know what they are. Studios, for starters, can use that. So can anybody else who knows what the “Fast and Furious” or comic book movie or horror or teen romance demo likes and would consider buying.

That’s right, another “disruptive” Internet “deal” that has hidden benefits — for “them.” 

Alyssa McKay plays the daughter Dad (Ben Foster) leaves behind when he’s nabbed in the public forests of Oregon in this story of living off the grid and on the edge of existence. 

It has “Winter’s Bone” bones. Same director. Yup. There’s Dale Dickey from “Winter’s Bone” in the cast as proof.

It’s based on Peter Rock’s novel “My Abandonment.” Looks promising. I find stories of living out of society’s reach — offline, off the grid — fascinating. “Leave No Trace” will be on a few theater screens and VOD in June.

“Well, as Bertrand Russell said, ‘people in a democracy tend to think they have less to fear from a stupid man than an intelligent one.’ Actually, it’s the other way around. It’s the stupid man.” — Henry Fonda as presidential candidate William Russell in “The Best Man” (1964) On TCM at the moment.

A pro-wrestling comedy co-produced with WWE and starring Dwayne Johnson, as he was in his PREVIOUS life?

The Rock’s  little comic tirade here is one of the funniest speeches he’s ever put on screen. And he’s been funny, a LOT, in action comedies, kids’ comedies and comedy comedies.

So we are intrigued. “Fighting With My Family” was directed by Ricky Gervais’s funnier half, Stephen Merchant, and co-stars Lena Headey. Hey, anything to keep the guy from taking that “Fast and Furious” or “San Andreas/Rampage” money.

Have a laugh at this.

That’s the only funny thing about James Franco’s Jones for too young if not under-age women and girls. 

He works so much, compulsively some would say, that when his reputation blew up last Oscar season, there were films in the can that nobody could do anything about — plenty of them.

His #MeToo implosion left a LOT of movies in limbo Because his MO was to pursue a LOT of supporting roles in films with lower budgets, which often put him in proximity to young and unknown talent he could prey upon.

That isn’t entirely the case with “Kin,” a sci-fi thriller about a kid (Miles Truitt) who finds a mysterious weapon in an abandoned warehouse, and he and his adoptive brother (Jack Reynor) are soon on the run from supersoldiers and a bad guy (Franco).

Zoe Kravitz and Dennis Quaid also star in this Summit/Lionsgate release, due to be dumped on that favorite trash heap of Cinema with No Hope for Breakout Success — Aug. 31.

That’s what Deadline.com is reporting, based on its earliest projections.

It could be off, as they had not updated the Thursday night preview take from the West Coast. But “Infinity War” opened to $38 million or so overseas, and appeared to have $45 million within reach with their last update.

The numbers will be fudged a bit during the day Friday, but that’s roughly $20 million more than “Black Panther,” which opened strong and stayed hot for six weeks.

That’s on a par with “The Last Jedi,” which did $45 (and that turned out to be a huge piece of its opening weekend take, a movie that tailed off basically after opening night), but far less than the biggest “Star Wars” Thursday night opening ever ($57 million).

That puts the film on track for a $200-210 million weekend.

Reviews haven’t been as strong for this non-Joss Whedon picture, but the hype is high even if the product is inferior. 

Word of mouth might help, or hurt.

Box Office Mojo figures “Infinity” might hit $230 million this weekend, with studio projections coming in at a more modest (ahem) $210 million. The weekend record still belongs to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($248).

Box Office Guru is projecting the take at $235 for opening weekend.

It’s opening on over 4470 screens, THAT is close to a record. It will swallow whole multiplexes, chase “Black Panther” off many of its remaining screens (and “Tomb Raider,” etc.)

But remember, “Age of Ultron,” the last “Avengers” movie, opened lower than the first. So hype may lift this one to the stratosphere, and while nobody is guessing this beast will under-perform “Ultron” ($191), that bit of analysis is out there. Sequels used to traditionally underperform their antecedents.

In any event, I am guessing this one will shoot its wad by Sat., and be dramatically off next weekend. A “Last Jedi” sized fall-off.

Jessica Chastain, Michael Greyeyes, Ciaran Hinds and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell star in this A24 (shorthand for GOOD FILM) culture clash/fish-out-of-water story of a painter, Catherine Weldon, who ventured West to capture the last great chiefs of the plains before they were all gone. “Woman Walks Ahead” was directed by British TV mainstay Susanna White (“Bleak House”) and opens June 29.

There’s an eye-opening line in “Avengers: Infinity War” in which a character is asked who his “Master” is, and he cracks something about “You expecting me to say ‘Jesus?'” or some such.

Cannot find the exact quote in my notes, but it gets a laugh.

Which makes the film’s other tidbit of Christian theology — Thor, Loki, Thanos, remember, are gods or what passes for them in comic books and comic book movies — seem like more than a coincidence.

Once you’ve seen the film and its use of this cool and apparently easily acquired effect, tell me Kirk Cameron & his “Left Behind” cohorts wouldn’t have GoFundMe approached every superchurch, from Hillsong on down the line, to pay for its use.

So, are we watching a comic book spin on The Rapture in “Infinity War”?