Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
August 15, 2011

There was undoubtedly a time when making a 3D concert film of the summer Glee tour seemed like a great idea. Cheap, simple, marketable to a built-in fanbase, and perhaps a logical follower to other money-making concert films from folks like Justin Bieber.

That time has passed. This weekend, Glee: The 3D Concert Film opened to a legitimately measly $5.7 million, a particularly tough number for an opening whose grosses are goosed by higher 3D prices.

It’s not particularly tough to figure — it’s a concert film based on a broadcast show that already features highly produced performances of the very same numbers performed in the concert. And these performances are done in character, making it seem even more like you’re just watching an episode of the show that you’ve already seen. (And, if you like the songs, a show that duplicates a CD you already have.) Why shell out $25 (once you buy a drink and some popcorn) so you can watch the whole thing in 3D? As for the implications for future Glee movies, the always colorful Nikki Finke at Deadline.com puts it this way: “Fox will never make another Glee 3D unless a few execs at 20th and 20th TV undergo lobotomies.”

There does seem to be a continuing cooling of the Glee phenomenon, from the so-so reactions of critics and fans to much of the second season to the recent weird media stuff going on with co-creator Ryan Murphy over some of the regulars graduating to this rather embarrassing stumble. Glee burned very, very hot, and it certainly could again, but they’ve got some work to do come fall.

While the Glee movie sputtered, The Help brought in $25.5 million (which, as Box Office Mojo notes, beat other “female-driven book adaptations of the last two Augusts, Julie & Julia and Eat Pray Love”).

But in first place? Why, in first place, we have Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, which thoughtfully and poignantly gazed from behind its fuzzy face upon another $27.5 million.

Other so-so openings: Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari in 30 Minutes Or Less, which made $13 million, and Final Destination 5, which made $18.4 million. That’s one blow against bumbling criminals and widely varied grisly deaths. This weekend, though, will bring Fright Night, Conan The Barbarian, and Spy Kids 4, and I’m pretty sure all of those will feature plenty of grisly deaths. (Okay, possibly not the last one.) [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]