Screening Gotham: A Killer at the Box Office

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

--The 30-years-in-waiting theatrical debut of Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (right) brought in $21,500 over the weekend at IFC Center, breaking the theater's opening-frame record previously held by Inland Empire. While IFC counts its cash, expect a quiet, reflective morning around the corner at Film Forum, which The Reeler hears was distributor Milestone Films' first choice to book Sheep -- but which wouldn't budge from offering a one-week-only run. Context is important, though: Film Forum's held-over engagement of Into Great Silence would have done at least half of Sheep's total had Armond White been around for a Saturday Q&A like he was at IFC.

--Is Wong Kar-wai's English-language, SoHo-shot My Blueberry Nights going to open next month's Cannes Film Festival? That's the rumor at Cinuropa (via Movie City Indie), along with word that another Weinstein Co. pick-up, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, is on the short list. Woody Allen's latest, Cassandra's Dream, is said to be a possibility as well.

--In keeping with a Grindhouse-related story per day, a new bargain-basement DVD now offers viewers the chance to curate customized lurid double- and triple-features in the comfort of their own living rooms. Sample titles: The Guy From Harlem, I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? and Slave of the Cannibal God. Sticky floors not included.

Posted at April 2, 2007 8:15 AM