Initial Reaction: Video Review - BLAIR WITCH & SNOWDEN

Adding to the somewhat lackluster feeling given off by the new releases at the movies this weekend is the fact we also had a delay in posting both our reviews this weekend. Both are finally up, but given the lack of business for not only Blair Witch and Snowden, but also for the third Bridget Jones movie, Bridget Jones' Baby, it would seem most of you are better off just watching (or re-watching) our review for Sully which once again came in at No. 1 at the box office only dropping 37% from its debut weekend for a $22 million second week. This brings the $60 million dollar film to a $70.5 million current domestic total and a $94 million worldwide total. Needless to say, Warner Bros. will be more than happy to let Clint Eastwood do whatever he wants next after the performances of American Sniper and now Sully (not that Eastwood didn't do just what he wanted before). In terms of new releases though, Blair Witch was expected to be the big money-maker of the weekend as the $5 million Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest) film had a marketing campaign as enticing, but just different enough from the original to pull viewers in. Unfortunately, the film itself didn't adhere to those same qualifiers and in light of the mostly negative reviews it didn't seem movie-goers were as excited for this seventeen year-later sequel as Lionsgate was hoping. I knew Blair Witch was in trouble when I spoke to my twenty-one year-old brother who saw the film on Friday night at a nine o'clock show that was empty save for him and his girlfriend. The audience breakdown for the film told us 61% of the opening weekend audience was over the age of 25 and so the generational gap seems to have really played a factor here proving the brand recognition game studios have enjoyed playing lately doesn't always pay off. Snowden, on the other hand, more or less did what most expected coming in fourth behind Bridge Jones with an estimated $8 million. On the plus side the film received an "A" CinemaScore from opening night audiences giving it the best score of the weekend's new wide releases. As always, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel as we have a new review (or reviews) up each week!

Read my full Blair Witch review here.

Read my full Snowden review here.


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