Yeah, the night’s not over
You’re not trying hard enough
Our lives are changing lanes
You ran me off the road
The wait is over
I'm now taking over
You're no longer laughing
I'm not drowning fast enough

Now every time that I look at myself
"I thought I told you
this world is not for you"

The room is on fire as she's fixing her hair
"You sound so angry
just calm down, you found me"

I said please don’t slow me down
If I'm going too fast
You're in a strange part of our town

Drive and Straw Dogs are both getting two screens in Annapolis. Nice to see the theatre is so confident in Drive.

One for The Lion King and I Don't Know How She Does It.

All of the openers have 1 screen here except Lion King because it has 1 3D screen and 1 2D screen.

On Moviefone here are the amount of theaters listed so far for each of the new openers:

Drive, 2,334
Straw Dogs - 2,030
I Don't Know How She Does It - 2,055
Lion King 3D - 2,022

Heading off to a preview of Drive tonight. Will report back.

What doesn't bode well; Everyone I've told that I am seeing this tonight replies "What's that movie?"

I am honestly not suprised to hear that. The marketing for it has been really low key and the t.v spots don't exactly make it stand out from any other generic crime/thriller.

Updated counts:

Drive, 2,502
Straw Dogs - 2,142
I Don't Know How She Does It - 2,202
Lion King 3D - 2,131


Looking good for Drive, which isn't to say that it will do well at the Box Office.

Drive was a great film, but definitely is not going to click well with general action audiences... oh well, I was still happy with it

1. The Lion King 3D 62% of Fandango Sale
2. Contagion - 8% of Fandango Sale
3. The Help - 4% of Fandango Sale
4. Drive - 3% of Fandango Sale
5. Warrior - 2%

TLK will have one of the highest presale ratios ever - but definitely looking good. Bad news for openers that didn't make the top 5, especially IDKHSDI.

What's the explanation for TLK being so high?
With those numbers, why aren't we looking at a 30+ weekend?

A reissue is unique in that it sort of maximizes the polarization in the audience, between those excited to see it and those already determined not to go. They also play a bit like a concert, as though it were a one-time event, and it's true enough - reissues usually don't last too long.

Other than Avatar special edition, it's very interesting also that these recent films had very high presale ratios: Winnie the Pooh and African Cats.

The theater count for Drive is incredible, IMO. Never expected it to go so wide.

Did anyone see anything?

I saw Drive and Straw Dogs.

Do you think WOM on DRIVE will be incredibly toxic from mainstream audiences?

No. It will definitely seem unusual to them (those paying to see it because of the Transporter-style TV spots), but it's very stylish and well-paced, and there's lots of excitement and brutality. I don't see this being a Solaris/The Box type W.O.M. situation. CinemaScore should be in the B, B- range.

I'm kind of expecting in the C range.

The problem with Drive is the ending. To casual audiences expecting a climactic car chase they may feel like the film just runs out of gas. I'd argue it's purposefully anti-climactic, but I can see why it'd leave audiences deflated.

Well I just missed out on tickets to Martha Marcy May Marlene despite getting to TIFF 90 minutes before the showing. Not soon enough as it was hugely in demand. Really wanted to see it tonight!

Instead, I went to see Union Square, starring Mira Sorvino. Quite a good film and Mira Sorvino really gives a great performance. Union Square was co-written and directed by the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Award Winner, Nancy Savoca. It also stars Michael Rispoli, Patti Lupone, Tammy Blanchard, Mike Doyle, and Daphne Rubin-Vega.

After the show, Mike Doyle, the screenwriter, and I believe one of the producers had a Q & A with the audience. That was a lot of fun! They filmed it in just 12 days, and 90% of the film takes place in an apartment.

Very solid movie overall thanks to a great performance by Mira.

4/5

Aww, that's too bad. Martha Marcy May Marlene seems great. Will you be seeing anything else?

I might line up a few hours early tommorow to see the film that gets the TIFF Audience Choice award. The last three years it went to The King's Speech, Precious, and Slumdog Millionaire. Tickets might be very hard to get though!

If you do you'll have to report back.

So after barely missing out on Martha Marcy May Marlene yesterday despite getting there 90 minutes early, I went even earlier to see the TIFF Audience's Choice Award winner, hoping I would get tickets.

I GOT TICKETS! I was one of the first 30 people to get in.

The winner of the TIFF Audience Choice Award was the Lebanese film, Where Do We Go Now?

Previous TIFF Audience Choice Award winners include The King's Speech last year, and Slumdog Millionaire.

It really is a great film, and I don't recall seeing anything like it before. It was very difficult subject matter, but played like a comedy. Shockingly, it was also a musical with three or four songs in there! The audience was really into it, and it could turn into a big crowd pleaser. It had subtitles, but the audience seemed to really enjoy it. There were 1200 people there.

The show started out with the head of the TIFF organizing committee giving an introduction to the film. They announced the winner earlier today at a luncheon. It's also the first time that a female director has ever won the audience award at TIFF.

At this point, Where Do We Go From Here looks like a lock for a best foreign film nod. Based on the subject matter, it could also squeak into more categories given how relevant it is in the news this year.

Imo, if this is handled well, there is a *very slight* chance it could get a best picture nod, though probably unlikely as it doesn't fit the usual form of nominees. I would say the potential is there for directing and screenplay as well, if its campaign is handled properly...

4.5/5