'Little Women' hits $100 Million at the US box office

[bttrsondaughter]

Ahead of Sunday's #Oscars, #LittleWomen crossed $100 million in U.S. ticket sales https://t.co/T4FIpRmCDU pic.twitter.com/nBhsIcYwMo
- Variety (@Variety) February 6, 2020
• Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel has crossed the $100 million mark in the United States this week. Globally the film has grossed $164 million on a budget of

Comments

[scriptedending]

So happy about its success!!



I know it's quite possible that it ends up with zero Oscars, which sucks, but I'm glad that it's making bank. Between this and Hustlers, it's clear that when women make quality movies about women, and studios promote them well, people will show up!!

[fernandocolunga]

i hope it ends with zero oscars. should we really celebrate an average n iteration of an already overrated story? i didnt really like ladybird but at least it was original and a true feat for any director and greta shouldve been nominated for that compared to the average males that did. also laurie was robbed.

[scriptedending]

we clearly feel differently about this movie!

[fernandocolunga]

whats so good and special about it? im not trying to fight im genuinely curious bc so many people loved it and i wanna know what im not getting

[kris_terror]

I think it's elevation of Amy is a success in and of itself, this is the first adaptation that I felt like I understood Amy's motivations and empathized more with her. I also liked the inclusion of Marmee's anger as a woman and that conversation she has with Jo, it's not been included in the previous adaptations. I think the structure of the timeline was a really cool take and made for some interesting reflections on Jo's way of thinking (ex. juxtaposing the sadness of Beth's death by then flashing back to a "happier" memory of Meg getting married, framing it as something like death for Jo).

I also loved the way she ended it, having it still show the canonical ending but having it be part of a negotiation for Jo's book deal, which was a nod to the author's original intentions that she couldn't do given the times.

Those are my favorite parts of it, but overall I also loved the costuming, and I think everyone was great in their roles save for maybe Emma Watson and Bob Odenkirk who totally took me out when he showed up.

[scriptedending]

Of course, I'm happy to talk about why I liked it, and I completely respect that it didn't work for you! I just think film is incredibly subjective, no matter how many ways we try to objectively judge it, and what appeals to me may not appeal to you, and that's totally fine.

Greta introduces us to each character right up top without a lot of exposition. Because it starts in the later half of the book, it's already different from previous adaptations, and gives us the framing that we're in the present looking back, which is further emphasized by the color treatment for each timeline - a bluish tinge to the present, and a golden glow to the past. More spoiler-y stuff under the cut:

[Spoiler (click to open)]I absolutely loved the parallel structure of the film, which I thought maximized the emotional impacts of the high and low points of their lives, most obviously when Beth dies. First, we see everyone is worried but determined to help her heal, and are so happy when it works out and she's better - then, we're presented with a more sober portrait of the same family, knowing they're doing their best with more resources (like having the money to get a good doctor and take her to the sea to get well) but despite all that, knowing that "you can't stop the tide from going out". The scene where Beth says that to Jo on the beach while the sand swirls around them absolutely destroyed me. And then the parallel shots of Jo coming downstairs to find Beth - in the past timeline, rushed and bounding and frantic, in the present, slowly and deliberately and just older, are examples of Greta's attention to detail that I absolutely love. And right after Beth's death, we flash back to Meg's wedding where she's alive and well, which I think is a poignant way to say that people we love who have died aren't entirely gone if they're in our memories.

I also loved the way Greta showed the lifelong bond between the sisters and Laurie; they spent the whole film developing his relationship to the March family, and it made more sense to me that he ended up with Amy this time. She even made me feel sorry for Laurie's grandfather; him listening to Beth playing music on the stairs, and then being too choked up to enter the house after her death made him feel real to me.

I feel like this is already a novel and I could go on, lol, but I am not trying to convince you to like it. Just giving some reasoning behind why I do!

[jdnightghobhadi]

Well, I don't know about the OP, but I enjoyed your mini-novel. Like, super persuasive! <3

[jdnightghobhadi]

I have yet to watch this but all these BTS moments are giving me LIFE!!!