Movies Til Dawn

A massive case of blog-avoidance coupled with mucho work on behalf of the movie has led me to these neglectful waters from which I drinketh reluctantly. Can you say the above in pig latin? "City Island's" second weekend was as strong as its first, with a more than healthy per screen average of just under seven grand per screen according to BoxOfficeMojo. We are now opening in quite a few more markets and are, I hope, poised for a real word of mouth explosion. I'm curious to hear from anyone who sees the film in non-metropolitan centers as to how it plays for so-called "general" audiences. The thing about the film that we're hoping gets across is that, while it is very New York and ethnic in some ways, the story really could happen anywhere and thus the humor is not relegated to strictly urban communities. Click here for a complete listing of where we're opening over the next few weeks. And New Yorkers--dig that we've added one of my favorite o...

Friday morning (barely) and weekend number two awaits us. "City Island" is still exclusively at the Landmark Theater in LA--it will expand to other theaters in Encino and Pasadena next week. In New York we are still downtown at the Angelika and have added a screen in midtown--the Empire 42nd Street, one of the cities biggest movie palaces, you should pardon the expression. And we've hit four new cities as of today. The movie opens, today, in Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami and Toronto. Next week we hit Boston, Chicago and Minneapolis. But as of today: Check out our excellent Philadelphia Inquirer review. And dig the Miami Heralds heaps o' praise. The Dallas Morning News review aint exactly hay. Whatever that means... And our northern neighbors at the Toronto Sun seem pleasantly pleased with our movie. Have I eliminated the negative reviews, you ask? Of course I have. It's my damn blog! But the above press is indicative of our general reactions... And for those of...

A good Wednesday to ya'. Still coming down off the franticitivity of the past weekend. Multiple plans are being made for mulitple new theaters and cities to show "City Island". The word is spreading like the proverbial wildfire...so much so that we've added an extra screen in New York for this weekend (The Empire 42nd Street). And the film with bow in Dallas, Philiadelphia and Miami this Friday, the 26th. For a very complete list of all our cities and the theaters that we're coming to over the next few weeks, click on this link to the movies Facebook page. There you go. See? Now bookmark it. And then forward it to your whole address book. Whoppee! Again a thank you to you, dear readers and "City Island" hounds...the good news that's coming in about the movie owes much to the steady, never-waivering kind of interest you've all brought to the project. I've truly always felt that since this blog began and the sharing of the production histor...

From IndieWire: Raymond De Felitta’s “City Island” - a big winner at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival - opened on two theaters in NYC and LA this weekend, and while that screen count obviously benefits it, it managed the second best per-theater-average of any film this weekend behind “Greenberg.” Starring Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies, the family drama grossed $35,000, averaging $17,500 and becoming distributor Anchor Bay’s strongest opening ever. Yes, believe it or not, we hit this one out of the park...of course being on two screens helps. But I never thought I'd live to see the day that our little Bronx family comedy would stand up in the company of the mega-plex grossers. Natch the execs are all pleased--enough to begin rolling the film out to multiple cinemas in New York and LA and other cities a little earlier. Next up are Philly, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Boston, Miami, Toronto...and more to come! Meanwhile, read one of the best reviews I've ever gotten-- not j...

I'm happy to report that, while it's early in the game, big time raves are (mostly) coming in for "City Island" , enough to fill our ads and posters for the weeks to come. And these are only in New York and LA. Check out the New York Posts 3 1/2 (out of 4) star review. And the " target="_blank"> New York Daily News gives us a major thumbs up. Here's Marshall Fine's super piece from the Huffington Post. So as to be completely objective, I'll include the not very positive (or even coherent) review from the fast-fading New York TImes. The once-influential "grey lady" now farms out reviews of limited releases (like ours) to people from other papers, in other states--in this case somebody who seems to have been in a bit of a mood... And Peter Travers, long one of my favorite film writers, gave us a glowing write-up in Rolling Stone. I'm deeply moved by the closing lines of his review. Unfortunately it has yet to post on-lin...

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to conduct a four hour, career-spanning, interview with the great filmmaker James Ivory ("Howards End", "Remains of the Day", "A Room With a View" etc.) This was done under the auspices of the Special Projects committee of the Directors Guild of America--the Guild asks directors to interview on videotape other directors to capture an "oral history" of the filmmakers career. Anyway, at the end of the interview I asked Mr. Ivory what the best part of filmmaking is and what the worst part of filmmaking is. The best part, he said, was the shooting. "That's when I'm really living". The worst part? "The days just before your movie opens and you don't know if you have a hit or a flop." Ahem. "City Island" opens tomorrow, March 19th, in LA and New York. What can I say but..PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO GO SEE IT. Click here to listen to a very nice radio interview that A...

Click here to go to Andy Garcia's Facebook page and see a video message that he left for his fans/friends/followers talking about "City Island". And click here to go to the Experience Project and their wildly successful "City Island" promotional kind of thing. It's all about sharing your darkest secrets and if I'm not mistaken, the tote board at the top of the page says that four million plus stories have been received thus far. Four million? Could this possibly be correct? And now for some more promotion--our movie's star is being worked seriously hard by the ravenously hungry publicity machine and is nothing but a super-pro about. Why, over the next forty-eight hours you can see him at... TUNE IN TODAY, Wednesday, March 17th WHAT: Andy Garcia appears on tonight’s THE TAVIS SMILEY SHOW. WHEN: 11:00PM (PST) / 1:00AM (EST) WHERE: KCET(LA) / WNET(NY) – Check local listings TUNE IN TOMORROW! Thursday, Ma...