Why ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ Fell Prey to the Summer Box Office Slump. Plus: Making ‘Ready or Not’ With Radio Silence | The Big Picture

The Weekend Box OfficeSean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins

Good Boys 2019

Took the No. 1 spot over both 'Blinded by the Light' and 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette.' Sean saw it at South by Southwest and calls it fine, not great, but perfectly aimed at 13-year-old boys, who turned out in force.

Blinded by the Light 2019

The Bruce Springsteen-scored Gurinder Chadha film struggled here and in England alike, despite the post-'Bohemian Rhapsody' classic-rock wave.

Booksmart 2019

The comparison point for 'Good Boys' — same raunchy-teen-comedy pitch, gender-flipped, with a softer opening despite the acclaim.

Why 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' Fell Prey to the Summer Box Office SlumpSean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins

Where'd You Go, Bernadette 2019

The lowest wide release of Richard Linklater's career, after a year of release-date delays. Cate Blanchett plays Bernadette Fox, an architect who hasn't worked in 20 years and has receded from her own life in Seattle; Billy Crudup is her Microsoft-exec husband, developing a mind-reading skull decal called the Samantha 2; Kristen Wiig is the rival mom Bernadette can't stand. Adapted from Maria Semple's epistolary novel, which the film has to flatten into linear narration, losing a subplot about Crudup's character and his assistant along the way. Sean liked it more than Amanda did: he points to Linklater's hand-built sets and real architectural blueprints and a documentary-within-the-film that both actually land; Amanda finds Wiig mismatched against Blanchett's register and the mother-daughter material undercooked at 100 minutes. Financed by Annapurna, which was reportedly saved from lender default by Larry Ellison's last-minute buyout the same week the film opened.

The 'Little Women' TrailerSean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins

Little Women 2019

Greta Gerwig's adaptation, with Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, and Emma Watson, played in front of 'Bernadette' in theaters. Amanda hasn't read the book and wished Gerwig had made something contemporary instead, but expects the film to be a major Oscar player regardless.

Radio Silence on 'Ready or Not'

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella on

Ready or Not 2019

The trio's Fox Searchlight horror-comedy, about a bride (Samara Weaving) hunted by her new in-laws on her wedding night. Pitched to Fox Searchlight the day after the 2016 election; the studio's notes pushed the directors to go weirder, not safer. Shot in Toronto in 26 days with a cast assembled about a week before production, built around Weaving's performance.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Cate Blanchett's recent run Mowgli: Legend of the JungleHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden WorldThe House with a Clock in Its WallsOcean's EightThor: RagnarokSong to SongVoyage of Time: Life's JourneyCarolThe WifeBlue JasmineThe Aviator

Billy Crudup, the charming villain Spotlight20th Century Women

Kristen Wiig's next moves The MartianWonder WomanWonder Woman 1984

Richard Linklater's catalog BoyhoodEverybody Wants Some!!Last Flag FlyingThe Last DetailSchool of RockDazed and ConfusedBad News Bears

In memoriam: Peter Fonda Easy RiderUlee's Gold

In memoriam: Richard Williams Who Framed Roger RabbitThe Thief and the Cobbler

'Little Women' comparisons Sense and SensibilityLady BirdAvengers: EndgameLincoln

Radio Silence's formative movies Three Amigos!Romancing the StoneSpies Like Us

Radio Silence's other films V/H/SDevil's DueGuns Akimbo

Coming up on the show The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Black SpotMindhunterGLOWStranger ThingsBig Little Lies

Books Where'd You Go, Bernadette (novel)Easy Riders, Raging BullsJane Eyre

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