This weekend, the worldwide protests against remakes came out in full force as the robot boxers of Real Steel squeaked out a victory over the 80s remakes of Footloose and The Thing, while the weekend's other new release The Big Year crashed and burned. Overall the box office dropped nearly 37% from last year.
The Hugh Jackman-starring film grossed an estimated $16.3 million. The new Footloose was hot on Jackman's steps, taking in $16.1 million in its first weekend. Another remake, The Thing, scared up $8.7 million to come in third.
On this week's What the Flick, I join critics Christy-lemire">Christy Lemire (AP, Ebert Presents At the Movies) and Alonso Duralde (The Wrap, Linoleum Knife podcast) to review Footloose and The Thing, and we're surprisingly positive on both.
The remake of Footloose came in second, earning $16.1 million in its opening weekend. According to the Hollywood Reporter, 75 percent of the audience for Julianne Hough and Kenny Wormald's flick was female.
It's a big day for movies with Kenny Loggins theme songs, as the Footloose remake opens in cinemas and now the Top Gun sequel is "jumpin off the deck/and headed into overdrive." Does this mean we're in the "Danger Zone" in terms of there being no turning back from Top Gun 2 becoming a horrible reality?