You’d be forgiven for thinking that “The Hunger Games” is the only new movie at the multiplex this weekend.
It seems as if the dystopian action flick is all anybody is talking about this weekend — not just in movieland, but in pop culture more generally. The film, based on the first novel in the young adult trilogy by Suzanne Collins that’s sold 26 millions just in her native United States, has already broken one record.
“The Hunger Games” was one of 2012’s most anticipated films — which is saying something in a year that will see the opening of “The Avengers,” the Marvel superhero supergroup blockbuster, and “The Dark Knight Rises,” likely the final film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. It opened Friday with 12:01 am showings that gave it the highest non-sequel midnight opening in Hollywood history. Its take of $19.7 million put it seventh on the complete list of midnight openings: The six in front of it are “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” films.
Box office prognosticators predict that the film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teenager competitor in the fight-to-the-death competition of the title, will have no problem setting another record, for best March opening: It’s currently held by Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which made just over $116 million its first weekend in 2010. But it’s unlikely to break the all-time best opening record: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final film in that franchise, made $169.1 million in a single weekend last year.
But while no one is putting up mainstream fare against “The Hunger Games,” smaller studios are offering a plethora of openings this weekend for the few viewers with no interest in the entertaining — but completely derivative — film. (Or those who found their showings sold out.)
No one goes hungry in “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” but you might leave a screening of the documentary with a hankering for fish. Jiro Ono might be the world’s greatest sushi chef. The 85-year-old runs a tiny — just 10 seats — sushi joint in a Tokyo subway station. Its unassuming location didn’t keep Michelin from giving it a coveted three stars. This beautiful piece of work is not just for lovers of Japanese cuisine, of course. In quietly showing us Jiro’s dedication to his deliberate art, and his relationship with his eldest son and heir apparent, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” turns out to be a thoughtful meditation on what it means to strive single-mindedly for greatness.
The French flick “Delicacy” might have a food-related title, but the film focuses on the relationship between a beautiful widow and, to put it delicately, her much less attractive co-worker. Audrey Tautou plays the woman who’s still getting over the death of her husband three years on. Her slow-building romance with her balding, awkward officemate comes as much of a surprise to her and her friends as it does to the audience.
“Footnote” won Best Screenplay at Cannes last year, and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars this year. This film comes from Israel, but its central concerns will be familiar to anyone with any experience of academia — or family rivalry. A father and son who both teach at a Jerusalem university vie for power in their department.
“Declaration of War” opened Critics’ Week at Cannes, and was France’s entry into the Oscars, though it didn’t make the final five. The war of the title is not between countries, but a common one internationally: Parents do battle against the cancer that’s attacking their child.
“October Baby,” a film with a message, also features a struggle: After collapsing onstage in her college debut, a young woman learns she was adopted — after her birth mother tried and failed to abort her.
Finally, there are two particularly uncommon films on offer. “The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye” is a documentary about a couple who make John Lennon and Yoko Ono look like the Cleavers. Throbbing Gristle frontman Genesis Breyer P-Orridge married a woman who became Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, and then the two embarked on a journey to become one. Really: They had plastic surgery to make them look more like each other. Meanwhile, “The Raid: Redemption” is a foreign action flick that shows Americans a lesser-known martial art: Indonesian Pencak Silat.
