hello and welcome to this week's movie math where for the past couple of years
Hollywood is used August to try to launch maverick blockbusters sometimes
what sometimes it did not but this month there was no maverick blockbuster but a
different kind of maverick move from Hollywood one which couldn't now it
seems likely lead to real change and that is getting representation for Asian
talent on screen on the board I can't believe it's working this is so
fantastic you know every time we talk about black representation in movies
without fail I always hear in the comments section from you guys about
Asian and Latino talent and you know and I wish that I had always wish that I had
good news for you so it's so exciting to have a fabulous whole month of news to
discuss a different group moving forward oh boy
alright so now again I want to emphasize that this is on screen because for the
past few years Asian talent behind the camera has
blossomed in fact especially directors and producers but those on camera that
on-camera representation still remain non-existent however in a single month
several films led by one of those prominent Asian directors Jon Chu so
it's so great to see him pay it forward some of us have been wondering with all
this Asian talent behind the camera why hasn't that led to more Asian
representation on camera well it finally happened and they have been able to
prove not just an American audiences are open to seeing Asian talent from Asia
right but Asian American and Asian UK talent
as well because as we discussed last week Hollywood ain't gonna do nothing
unless there's money to be made in doing it but now it's been proven that asian
talent definitely will bring in audiences especially Asian audiences so
what studio or producer isn't going to want to potentially boost their upcoming
movies box office by adding an Asian cast member I don't know about again
just as I said last week I don't know about leads right now I think that Mulan
might be that big game changer but we're talking strong supporting maybe you know
co leads and smaller films I think you should really
look to the way that black film quote unquote black film progressed you know
starting out with Tyler Perry and then it got all the way to Black Panther
although you could see it accelerated because Mulan is coming up you know
sooner rather than later especially now that you know and I think
this is this credit should go to quote-unquote black films that they've
created the blueprint right and so now other demographics can follow that
blueprint and again speed up the prop the process so now remember s for box
office numbers remember how we wondered last weekend if opening crazy rich
Asians on a Wednesday might have been a mistake diluting its riches over five
days rather than making for a potent three-day weekend well it survived its
first test managing to still open at number one despite that Wednesday debut
but now that Wednesday opening has helped create an on another another
amazing headline for its second weekend and that's just a six percent drop
because remember it's actually a bigger drop from the entire opening weekend
audience but because you know they only talk about the three you know the three
days of the weekend proper it resulted in just a six percent drop that's
amazing so that numbers not totally true but it's it's official it's legit and it
again makes for absolutely fantastic headline and headlines are very
important to a movie because it that incredible hold isn't just due to Warner
Brothers very clever release strategy but a perfect storm of those amazing
headlines from last weekend when it still did manage to get the number one
spot right and no real competition at the multiplex this weekend
so you have a number of people who thought they'd wait for streaming to see
this movie crazy rich Asians or skip it entirely and they're like maybe we
should attend this party after all not just because of everything that's
happening right everyone's talking about it maybe I'm missing something or and
also they might be like well I really want to go to the movies this weekend
and there's nothing else to say so it's it's really incredibly well positioned
and that's important you can't just you can't just have a well-intentioned movie
you have to be very savvy business wise so that you give it the best chance
possible to succeed and that's exactly what's happening here now it's also
important to note that while Asian movie goers still made up 27% of weekend
to Caucasian audience members jump to 48% that's very good you know you want
to make sure that you can bring out everybody to you know you and also that
doesn't keep anybody away right is it too niche which has been the argument in
the past and Hispanic audiences by the way jump to 13 percent now you might be
like whoa we never talk about demographic breakdowns for a movie
second weekend and it is very unusual which just goes to show then Hollywood
wants a really good look at this thing and so they are paying the companies
that do the spot polling to keep an eye on crazy rich Asians so that they can
plan their future films accordingly and really understand what's happening here
because this is new that's very exciting for instance one takeaway here is that
still strong Asian turnout right you would think maybe all the Asian audience
members who wanted to support this would have gone opening-weekend but no they're
still Asian money and play in the United States and that's very important for
Hollywood to realize that there's even more money here than they had initially
thought very good now expect that crazy rich asian sequel you know talk about
headlines that headlines certainly helped as well it was a little little
misleading intentionally I'm sure from Warner Brothers PR they said that crazy
rich Asians was getting a sequel well if you read the fine print Warner Brothers
only gave them two go-ahead to start exploring a sequel but they haven't
officially greenlit it I think they'll probably greenlight it very soon based
on again this amazing hold now meanwhile Sony's searching starring John Cho
likely wishes it had gone wide this weekend to ride crazy rich Asians
coattails but still it held on as best it could and managed to get an amazing
forty thousand per theater average on just nine screens that's on par with
sorry to bother you from early this year that's a very good per theater average
and hopefully searching will be the new number one movie this coming Labor Day
weekend when it does go wide and crazier iterations will fight it for that number
one spot still but I'm sure it would be happy to pass the crown to it as well
that would still be an amazing number one in number two at the box office
then keeping in this month's theme right our Asian August
it seems the MCU has not just conquered the American box office but the world's
second biggest box office soon to be the biggest quite frankly and that's China
because much like how Iron Man 3 benefited from
the next Marvel movie after the first Avengers stateside following-up infinity
Wars proven to be quite the lifeline for the ailing ant-man and the wasp which
posted the biggest opening weekend ever for a solo Marvel movie in the Middle
Kingdom black panther that's amazing but when you think about it of course
Chinese audiences would go crazy for the fun gimmick of stylized manipulation
right even though it's not particularly well executed I'm sure they were tricked
by those amazing trailers as well and of course there's the introduction of agent
Jimmy woo even if he is criminally under used now keep in mind that movies in
China tend to be very front-loaded we have to understand how their box office
works as well so even what this fantastic debut for ant-man and the wasp
it's still only unfinished with around 150 even let's say 175 if we want to be
like never underestimate Marvel right now that while this will likely seal the
deal for a third admin and the wasp movie although I thought they should
make one anyway because I see a lot of potential with this character and again
that size manipulation and it does finally push the sequel past the first
ant-man movie worldwide there's no way still still even with
Japan still to go but it's need to get to set the 700
million bracket or the 800 million bracket where most Marvel movies live
these days at least right now on that note I would not keep I would still get
rid of Peyton Reed alright because I mean not only did it just make it and
some of you might like and some of you have been saying this but you know what
about spider-man homecoming you underestimated that movie grace that
will be globally what it was done almost made 900 there's a huge difference here
and domestically Spiderman home spider-man home coming up to like 3 24
or something like that it meant in the wasp its domestic number is still way
too small and that's on Peyton Reed it's actually pretty close to Mesta colita
the first Doctor Strange although I think Scott Derrickson should be allowed
one more turn to prove himself as Peyton Reed was allowed but speaking of Doctor
Strange he got an amazing boost fan wise from his performance his all-star
performance an infinity war he was truly amazing although I really like the first
Doctor Strange I thought as you know ant-man the wasp was too small to do
Loki a movie but as a result Doctor Strange a sequel is expected to be
announced very soon maybe even Tambor as director scott derrickson has
teased so maybe ant-man finally officially
joined the Avengers and Avengers four will give him an overall boost as well
he could certainly use it especially on the domestic front these numbers are bad
I don't you know if you're a big Marvel fan god bless you and if you want to
know twist these numbers to make yourself feel better and try to make
Marvel look better I just hope you know in your heart of hearts that this is a
the ant-man movies are a problem right and even this last minute hurrah from
China is very nice and shows how much China loves Marvel but I think it would
be not good business for the folks at Marvel and the Marvel fandom not to be
like something here needs to change and even more than sticking him ant-man and
the Avengers for a for although I do think that Evangeline Lilly's new
wasp-like haircut was pretty amazing alright so after the weekend's new
entries Hollywood really did crazy rotations of solid by opening to
clunkers opposite in its second weekend now it's comedians have been pointing
out lately if you're gonna be offensive you better also be funny and with the
c-minus CinemaScore from audiences plus a really rotten our t-score happy time
murders didn't land the funny part and Melissa McCarthy is proving to have
horrible producing skills she's between I mean between constantly reteaming with
her husband behind the camera to making this Avenue Q ripoff well I hope she's
happy because she's got her box office numbers to the lowest they've ever been
since her breakout role in bridesmaids and she's had some like flops since then
so this is like pretty darn bad and she's still still has another movie plan
with her husband she needs like an intervention right but she does have she
has said to co-star in the kitchen a comic book adaptation from Warner
Brothers new line a Widow's like film to be honest with you that co-stars Tiffany
Haddish and Elizabeth moss so the only question there though is will that movie
bring her up or will she bring it down I think that's
a good chance she could bring it down and being so we'll have to see trailers
and stuff like that but I think copying widows will see how widows is received
as well a lot of stuff and play there and I think Melissa McCarthy is a not
not I wish I'm sure that in the kitchen maybe wishes she was it then global
Rhodes axle also hit theatres
barely as for the rest of the top ten the meg passed the century mark
domestically and four hundred million worldwide while mild 22 and alpha in
their second weekend's remember they also opened last weekend with crazy rich
Asians well crazier mutations has left them in the dust because they suffered
the biggest drops in the top ten I know as for this coming weekend again it'll
be searching versus crazy rich Asians for that number one spot and if correct
I'm sure crazy rich Haitians would be perfectly fine you know ten as I said
passing the crown to searching but if they can have three weeks at number one
its legend will only grow and then operation finale on Wednesday and kin
will also try to make some money over the Labor Day weekend here in the United
States which isn't typically a big movie going weekend so that's this week's
movie math thank you for going over the box office
with me I'm curious to hear your own thoughts down below what do you plan to
see this coming weekend if you haven't seen crazy rich Asians yet will you now
that's that's gonna be a factor going into its third weekend for sure
also do you think that Asian August will bring about real change in Hollywood
also what changes would you make for a man in the wasp three and can Melissa
McCarthy save her career again share those thoughts down below and of course
as always you can check out some more videos right now