Monday Mixer: 2015 is huge, now with moving pictures

Posted Monday, December 8, 2014 at 4:45 PM Central
Last updated Monday, December 8, 2014 at 4:46 PM Central

by John Couture

This will be a MM told in two parts.

Today, I am a young man and I look upon this world in much the same way that I've always looked upon it, with the reckless abandonment of youth. Next week, I will be old and my perspective may change.

Is it really possible to change your perspective and outlook on life in a mere seven days? I'm sure that it is feasible, but I would imagine that one would have to go through a pretty significant life event to make this possible. For instance, I'm sure that those boys who stormed the shores of Normandy back in World War II looked upon themselves as men by the time they arrived in Germany.

Alas, I don't have any plans to put myself in mortal danger this week, unless you count the killer commute each day and the deterioration of man's driving skills. I'm convinced that auto-driving cars will be the next big, mainstream invention if only to save us from ourselves and our inability not to check email and text messages whilst we speed down the highway at 70 MPH.

So, what will pass should (hopefully) be an uneventful week in terms of human peril and yet, by the next time we meet, my perspective may have changed completely. It's the big one. The road marker that sets the tone for all of the rest. After you pass it, you start hearing things like "mid-life crisis," "over the hill" and "have you considered joining the AARP?"

I turn 40 on Friday.

I know, it's only a number. And yes, I know that 40 is the new 30, but it's still a pretty big deal, or is it?

My perspective has already started to shift, but that has more to do with having two young children and realizing that they are now at the center of my universe. Age is only a number and I'm huge believer in that, but like some things in this world, we won't truly know for sure until we experience it for ourselves.

I wouldn't say that I necessarily have a fear of death, but I will admit that when I was in my 20s, I was convinced that I wouldn't hit this milestone. I think some of that was just youthful exuberance trying to comprehend actually becoming a functioning adult. By the time my children were born, this feeling was mostly fleeting, and yet here we are about to cross that threshold.

It's just one week. Five simple days and then I will officially be an old man. Will my film tastes change? Will I start drinking prune juice? Will I start yelling, "Get off my lawn!"?

Probably not, but time will tell.

To be continued...

Box Office 411

You know, one of these days I'm going to do some research to discover just which weekend is the worst when it comes to box office success. The weekend after Thanksgiving seems like a good place to start. While yes, the overall business is slow, it just seems like a really bad weekend to open a film.

Everyone is still stuffed on leftover turkey and it is quickly becoming the unofficial Fall Madness day for college football. With the onset of the College Football Playoff, this once interesting championship weekend took on new significance this year as this one weekend became more important than all overs for some reason.

As the football playoff takes off and expands, I envision that this phenomenon will only expand to rival the one that ends with Selection Sunday during March Madness in college basketball. In other words, much like Super Bowl weekend, this tweener date is only going to get worse as time goes by.

So, that being said, guess how many films opened on more than 1,000 screens this weekend. What? You need a hint? It's the same number of goals I gave up last night in our men's league hockey game. That's right, I pitched a shutout last night (sorry, had to toot my own horn there a bit).

For the first time since New Year's weekend 2012, there wasn't a new national release at theaters. Technically, a national release is 600 screens, so The Pyramid just fell short, but think about that for a moment. That's an anomaly that we might not see for another two years or more.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 easily took home the top spot with $21.6 million while Penguins of Madagascar maintained its hold onto the second spot with $11.1 million. Mockingjay is plodding its way to $300 million and Penguins looks poised to make it to $75 million.

Quick Hitters

• I'm not sure if you're watching SNL anymore or not (from the ratings I'd guess the latter), but they did what might be their best sketch in several years this weekend. Thanks to the power of the Internet, we can watch it now.

  And yes it was a spoof on the Force Awakens trailer, but with more old people.

• Do we have any Vincent D'Onofrio fans in the house? Well, you might be singing a different tune after you check him out doing spoken word punk. No, I didn't stutter. That's right, spoken word punk. And yes, it's as bad as you think it is.

  The first track is I'm a Hamster.

• I'm a sucker for a good fictional universe in films. Whether it's Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse or Shermer, Illinois in John Hughes' films, there's just something magical about a shared cinematic space.

  The astute researchers over at A.V. Club listed their top eleven fictional places.

• Finally today, you've heard us talk about how huge 2015 is going to be, now we can show just how big. Callum Isaac cut together a bunch of footage from the trailers that have started to finally see the light of day.

  This only scratches the surface and yet, this sizzle reel takes my breath away.

Until next time, Mix Well and have a drink or two on me for the momentous occasion.