The opposite of shocking… Country Strong didn’t do too well at the box office this weekend, its first weekend in wide release. The mostly terrible reviews didn’t help, probably. Neither did the fact that many sites did unapologetic spoilers for the ending, so most viewers knew what they would be getting into it before they even saw the damn thing. Is “Gwyneth bombs again” really note-worthy, though? Gwyneth, along with Nicole Kidman, are known as two of the biggest stars who audiences avoid in droves when they’re doing lead roles. Obviously, Gwyneth was a part of the Iron Man movies, both of which did well at the box office, and which she probably takes credit for. But put Gwyneth in a lead role, and no one cares. Ah, well. At least True Grit is doing well:
“True Grit” seized the reins at the weekend box office with $15 million, taking the No. 1 spot and becoming the first Western to top the $100 million mark since the 1990s, according to studio estimates released Sunday.
The Paramount release starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon bumped off Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller’s comedy “Little Fockers,” which was No. 1 for the previous two weekends. Released by Universal, “Little Fockers” slipped to second with $13.8 million, raising its total to $124 million.
“True Grit,” which was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, lifted its total to $110.4 million.
Among newcomers, Nicolas Cage’s supernatural thriller “Season of the Witch” opened at No. 3 with $10.7 million. Distributed by Relativity Media, the movie stars Cage as a knight in the Middle Ages escorting a suspected witch to her trial.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s country-music drama “Country Strong” premiered at No. 6 with $7.3 million. The Sony Screen Gems release casts Paltrow as a boozy singer trying to get her act straight after rehab.
1. “True Grit,” $15 million.
2. “Little Fockers,” $13.8 million.
3. “Season of the Witch,” $10.7 million.
4. “Tron: Legacy,” $9.8 million.
5. “Black Swan,” $8.4 million.
6. “Country Strong,” $7.3 million.
7. “The Fighter,” $7 million.
8. “The King’s Speech,” $6.811 million.
9. “Yogi Bear,” $6.81 million.
10. “Tangled,” $5.2 million.
[From Huffington Post]
I’m sure there will be those defending Gwyneth and these box office numbers. Some will play the expectations game – the movie wasn’t supposed to be number one, after all, and it probably didn’t cost that much to make. But here’s the thing: Gwyneth doesn’t realize that she’s pretty irrelevant as far as “making movies” goes, and there are a significant number of Hollywood players who don‘t realize that Goop is over either. That’s what the numbers say to me – not that people passionately hate her or love her. They are simply apathetic. Goop doesn’t matter. The peasants have gotten their revenge!
Photos courtesy of All Movie Photo.
HA. HA. HA.
Maybe no one would believe Lady Goop as a drunken hot mess country singer because we all know how snooty and in control she is in real life.
Yea I think the biggest issue with Gwyneth as a box office draw is that she’s not relatable. There are tons of celebs who have off-putting personalities that I’ll pay to see their movies – Sean Penn is one of my fav examples. Huge douche, huge ego, immensely talented. So much so that I usually don’t want to punch his smarmy face when he’s on the screen. That’s not the case with Gwyneth. Every role she’s in, I always see HER. Never the character. And even though I would’ve never seen Country Strong in the first place (I’m not a country fan, so the movie looks about as appealing as drying paint), but in every preview, no matter how thickly she laid on the accent or how sweet and boppy and country she tried to act, all I could see was HER. And I don’t want to pay money to see Gwyneth be Gwyneth.
I don’t think the movie would’ve done any better had it been some other interchangeable actress. It looked pretty mediocre and not worth 10 bucks, but I certainly don’t think her presence helped.
I agree that you either love her or hate her- I just want to know what on earth someone who “loves” her, sees in her! besides- this movie deserved to fail simple based on the premise of Tim McGraw playing a hot leading man.
it looked like a movie that should have been aired on lifetime movie chanel
I missed the spoilers, can anyone give me a link?
I keep watching her performance of that ‘Shake that’-whatever song, OH MY GOD.
Gwyneth Paltrow is 10-years-from-now-Natalie Portman.
I am not sure this is being called a bomb…if you look at the top movies for the weekend, Country Strong actually placed 3rd per screen average. Per screen average it beat out True Grit and Nic Cage’s latest “masterpiece”.
Eh I think Goopy has been good in some movies. For instance I loved her in Proof. But I am not going to run out and watch one of her movies in the theater unless someone drags me there (as happened with Country Strong). As for Country Strong the main problem was bad writing Gwyeneth wasn’t believable in her role but she wasn’t the only problem. She is moderately talented but she isn’t really a “movie star” she is a “personality” a slightly grating one. I think ironically enough she could be successful doing a TV version of Goop but I doubt her snobbery and ego would let her sink so low.
Apathy. You nailed it.
She’s totally annoying, but I mostly just don’t care or trust her to be in anything worth watching.
Sylvia and Emma were the only Goop movies that I ever truly enjoyed. Emma doesn’t really count because it’s Jane Austin who I will always love, and it was made before the stick was wedged up GP. Sylvia on the other hand was pretty amazing….caught it on TV a few years ago and was strangely and surprisingly into it. A sign of a good movie. I didn’t see her acting at all…I saw the story of Sylvia Plath.
Other than those two she really has sucked hard.
The most recent trailers are totally Leighton/Tron Guy centered–like, maybe a 1/2 second shot of Gwyneth. Maybe.
Sorry, PR team, it’s too late: everyone already knows CS is a Goop-fest, and we’re staying far, far away.
(But I Just read Roger Ebert’s review, and I do hope Goop bakes her dear friend Rogie an organic, gluten-free, sugarless elderberry-lemon tartlet for his sympathetic take on her performance.)
The bottom line is Goopy does NOT equal Country Strong. When you’re not authentic – especially with country strong folk – you’re as useful as a three-legged ballerina or a poopy-flavored lollypop. ;>
I saw it and I liked it. While I can understand why it did get some bad reviews (the ending in particular wasn’t great)it was much better than the reviews would have you believe. As for the box office, all I know is the theater I saw it in was packed.
Emily – I thought Goop was good as Sylvia Plath too, probably because of my idea of Plath: that of a very self-centered, hype-driven artist. And that’s how I think of Goop too.
Emma might be my favorite Goop movie, although I now love the new BBC miniseries version, with Jonny Lee Miller as Knightley.
what #3 said. perfect summary of the problem with Fishsticks. her stinky presence has even put me off off watching Glee.
it’s also clear that promoters got wind of this because at the last minute they started featuring less GOOP and more of Leighton Meister in the ads but by then the damage was done.
i’m going to sound way petty but i am thrilled that this movie bombed. stick a fork in it – Fishy’s career is done. no amount of name-dropping and body-exposing is going to make a damn difference at this point. now if only she would run off to England and leave us to heck alone.
Country Strong looked terrible but didn’t it only play in half as many theaters as the other movies (other than the Oscar contenders like King’s Speech and Black Swan)? I thought I’d read it was playing in 1500 theaters instead of the 3000 that the big movies play in. Of course that’s a sign it wasn’t in high demand in the 1st place so yeah.
Agree, Shari perhaps Gwenny believes that her marriage to a coldplay bandmate translates into hip popularity but coldplay’s not that popular or good (I’ve seen them live and Jimmy Page tuning his guitar has more live musicianship and showmanship than these guys); btw, I saw tim mcgraw on jimmy fallon – is he really that short? For his female fans, please let me know what you see in him – I wasn’t impressed.
I’ll probably be branded her defender, but I’m not. I looked up the numbers. It was screened in less theaters than any other movie in top 5. Not counting Black Swan and King’s Speech, it got the biggest average per theatre this week. That’s good right?
I used to hate Goopy until I saw her on “Glee”. She gave an amazing performance and actually came across as human. She needs more of these roles in the future, if she wants to soften up in the public eye.
Yay for the peasants 😀
I can just see Faith obsessively following around her bald,boring husband on the set,thinking every woman was after him. Maybe in the DVD,behind the scenes. I bet she gave Ms.Poo-Poo some pretty evil eyes,is there a kissing scene with them? I doubt Miss High-horse #2 would allow it but a cat-fight would be fun to see!
I avoided seeing Iron Man for months just because she was in it, and I’m a diehard comic book movie fan. I even love the Fantastic Four movies, for crying out loud. I finally saw it anyway, and loved the movie, but I’m telling you, she nearly ruined it for me. All shrill and bossy and awful. I avoid her at all costs.
Wow, audiences were almost as apathetic towards County Strong as they were towards Jolie and Depp in The Tourist. Maybe it’s time to consider that the media hypes these people to death and unless the film is great, people aren’t going to waste their money on ANY of these media stars.
I think Goopy is plenty pretty and I have no real reason to dislike her because I pretty much ignore her brain farts but she is fun to throw goop at.
I never thought this “Coldplay Performs At The Grand ‘ol Oprah” was going to be a big hit but next weeks numbers will be more important. (I know its Opry)
The problem with this movie and The Tourist start with the script. I don’t care if this movie had starred Reba McIntyre/Carrie Underwood as a country singers, it would have sucked. You need good written material to make a good film no matter who it stars. An actor cannot save a poorly scripted movie.
Goopy Strong may not be a total bomb, as someone pointed out, but the problem I think is that so much hype was created around the movie (especially by Goopy herself) that it was bound to fail for not meeting expectations. It’s not like anyone could be pleasantly surprised by the movie haha. Wouldn’t watch it, and I’m not a fan of country, but that Garrett Hedlund is something and deserves a spot on HGF.
I saw it being promoted with mainly the other two stars a while ago, telling me it’s not the star vehicle we were lead to believe it was. For a small budget film, it’s doing alright, but probably not as well as she anticipated, since this was her big comeback role.
Seems to me like a combo of a mediocre film and a star people aren’t dying to see.
Interesting to see that people are going to GOOD movies, True Grit, Black Swan, King’s Speech, not just star vehicles.
“That’s what the numbers say to me – not that people passionately hate her or love her. They are simply apathetic. Goop doesn’t matter. The peasants have gotten their revenge!”
Bingo!
She’s very boring to watch on screen, almost plasticine. She really should just stick to print ad modeling while she still can.
This just came out from AP-
LOS ANGELES – Gwyneth Paltrow is a cousin of the congresswoman who was wounded in Saturday’s shooting that killed six people in Arizona.
Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is the first cousin of director Bruce Paltrow, who is the late father of “Country Strong” actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Gwyneth Paltrow told Entertainment Tonight that she has never met Giffords but her “thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.”
It might be true but I know my entire family all the way to my fourth cousins.
lol…has anybody else read the Pajiba review of Country Strong (in the “links” post)?
the best part?
“Take all the preconceptions you have about how bad Gwyneth Paltrow’s Country Strong is and multiply them by 6. Now divide them by 4, multiply them by π, add 100, subtract 2 and divide by 4. Now, write that number down on a piece of glossy resume paper. Take that piece of paper, lift it up to your lips, and slice it deeply into the corners of your mouth. Now, take a bottle of Tabasco sauce and break it open by smashing it into your jaw. Afterwards, gnaw your arm off at the elbow with the jagged remains of your teeth.
How bad did that hurt?
That’s how bad Country Strong is.”
Snore… never was interested
All I know about this movie is the continual t.v. playing promotion of the theme song and hearing, “Ya gotta shake that thang,” and thinking how infantile, predictable, contrived, and boring it sounds. I know, without seeing it, that this movie is a poor imitation.
i am suddenly in the mood for country fried fishsticks with goopy gravy.
I’m not a fan of country music but I think even country fans will agree that simply slapping on a pair of cowboy boots doesn’t make you a country singer.
I think the bottom line is she over-promoted the film. She began the promotion track in November or earlier. She has been literally everywhere. all the time.
Just too in your face. Plus she has not had a film in years that she carried on her own. Wonder if she thought that Iron Man’s success was because of her.
This film will not do well in the foreign market. It needed the domestic money.
Gee somehow I guessed,SHE made sure to alert the press of her western ‘connection’ to this tragedy, to co-incide with her bombing movie…from ET’s website….
Paltrow’s rep told ET that Giffords and Paltrow are cousins but the two have never met. The actress released a statement to ET on the tragedy, saying, “Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting congresswoman Giffords, my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family as well as the other victims of this horrible act of senseless violence.”
Plz people. Cancha lay off the goop hate even for one minute.
The movie stinks, but it’s not a bomb. BO-wise, it did ok, not great, but not a bomb at all. Furthermore, the distributors did NOT think it’d be a smash hit, thus the limited release.
There are only two delusional people regarding the movie: Goop and the goop haters. Goop deluded herself into thinking she acted well and that the movie would do well wide, hence her push for the Oscar season and wider release, which won’t happen given its only ok showing so far and dismal reviews.
The other peeps deluded are the peeps here who think this movie bombed or that this is the end of her career. Newsflash. She’s no longer an A-list actress anyways, even before this movie, and Country Strong is not an A-list big budget wide release like the Tourist or Iron Man either. No, Country Strong is a limited release little drek like her last indie flick, Two Lovers with Joaquin Phoenix.
Saw a headline this a.m. claiming Goopy is cousins with Congresswoman Giffords. My first instinct was that it was another awful Goopy namedrop/publicity stunt. :/
Just saw JenJen’s comment. She actually made a statement? Now I really don’t like her either.
This did not fail. It only cost 15 million to make, and in limited release in theatres, made 7 million. That’s already close to half of what it cost to make made back in the first weekend. That is not a flop. It’s a small film. If it was released in all the theatres, that would be different, but it wasn’t. I’m sure they’re happy with the numbers.
@ JenJen & Sparkly
She was asked about Gabrielle Giffords by ET and responded by making that statement. I don’t see what is wrong with that. I know you all hate Goopy but it’s not like she announced it out of the blue like Sophia Bush did on Twitter about her 2nd cousin Christina Green.
I agree that Gwyneth is an okay actor but she is always Gwyneth instead of the character. I also felt she took this movie (and the part in Glee) bc she wants everyone to see her as a talented singer; it was about HER desire to be viewed a certain way by the public rather than taking a role she relished and thought she’d do well. It’s like she’s always trying to manipulate the public into thinking this or that about her and while many celebs do this, she is very blatant about it and in her case I find it patronizing.
“Gwyneth, along with Nicole Kidman, are known as two of the biggest stars who audiences avoid in droves when they’re doing lead roles.”
You forgot to add (the gorgeous) Charlize Theron to that list Kaiser.
HaHa about Goopys latest fail. People can say it wasn’t a flop, but it certainly wasn’t a hit either. I won’t be seeing that mess, have never had any interest in it either. I will watch True Grit eventually though.
Can’t believe that Little Fockers has made so much, in the words of Lainey, people suck. 🙁
I thought she was good in her last scene in Seven…
Good let it be gone and disappear into DVDland in 6 months.Did Madonna put any cash into this movie? It says Material Pictures production, but I can’t find on the web who owns or operates Material Pictures. Anyone know?
@ Ron
Interesting that you bring up Reba McEntire because I actually think she would have been an excellent choice for this role. I think knowing the business so well she would bring, not just authenticity, but complexity to the character of “Kelly Canter”. I think Reba has the acting chops to take on a role like this and likely could have provided the filmmakers with ways to improve upon both the script and the music.
Several other people have said it already, you can’t label this movie a flop if you look at the numbers! Most of you already have a dislike for Paltro so naturally your negative and not willing to give her a chance! The public gets it wrong all the time when it comes to movies by ignoring the reviews of film critics. As far as Nicole Kidman goes, she is one of the best out there. Most film critics would agree with that. but you have to have good writing and directing to get a winning movie!
The whole project is a bizarre train wreck from the start and must have scraped it’s funding off a drunk hooker’s arse somewhere, seriously, because I would have run screaming from the prospect of investing my $$ in that steaming pile of bollocks.
And then to cast GP. A person who is surely an anathema to this movie’s intended audience. Why the hell did they not cast one of the C&W tarts who were surely fighting each other in the carpark for a part like that?
I find the whole debacle extremely amusing, tho. Vanity & stupidity all round. Hilarious! I also find NK repulsive. She honestly makes my skin crawl and why people keep casting her is beyond my comprehension. Does she work for free?
She is insufferable, I am glad her movie is a flop.
Mr jemshoes was a little dubious when he found out Goopy had been cast in the first ‘Iron Man’ movie – but I think he was scarred because I’d made him watch ‘Emma’ a couple of times! 😀
I agree with other posters who say that Goopy has made some good movies in the past: ‘Emma,’ ‘Sliding Doors,’ ‘Shallow Hal.’ Notice how I have NOT included ‘Shakespeare in Love?’!!! And that’s because I STILL think Cate Blanchett was robbed of the Oscar she deserved that year for her performance in ‘Elizabeth.’ 🙂
Goop really was the beginning of the end for Goopy. I tried reading it for a while, but all it did for me was showcase how narrow-minded and prejudiced Goopy can be about a lot of things.
Anybody familiar with Goopy’s ‘talent’ and personality knew the film would be a critical flop the moment we saw her in the trailer, onstage with a guitar and cowboy boots. Wonder how her husband felt about her suddenly deciding she was a singer. Maybe she was hoping to tour with Coldplay. Which now that I think of it wouldn’t be a bad match. Their music is nothing special and Chris Martin is especially lacking in any kind of onstage charisma. They both exemplify mediocrity at its blandest. Can’t stand either of them.
ok, i went to see this movie yesterday with a friend, because we thought it would be campy fun to see it and get a martini afterwards. there were 10 people in the theatre and 2 left halfway through and we left about 15 minutes from the end because we just couldn’t take goop’s caterwauling and cringeworthy dancing any longer. i can honestly say this movie is one of the worst i have ever seen, and my friend agreed.
it wasn’t frothy enough to be campy fun (a la “flashdance” or similar) and it was just atrocious from beginning to end. goop is woefully miscast, and she looks like she just wandered in from a ralph lauren photoshoot. plus, her accent is ridiculous. tim mcgraw looks constipated and the two young stars are pretty but bland. the writing was juvenile, the acting and singing were high-school level or worse, and the direction, lighting, sound, editing, wardrobe, makeup, and everything else were just bad and really low-budget in a lifetime television sort of way.
question for those who managed to watch the whole thing (and my hats off to you!): my friend & i are disagreeing on the fate of the baby bird: did it die? i hope not, as it was the most likable character in the movie.