What to see? Weekend of July 30th.

Unfortunately, not a single release this weekend entices me. If I had to go see something, I'd go see Inception again or check out The Kids are Alright, which I want to see but haven't yet.

This past Wednesday I went to an advanced screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It was a lot of fun and better than I expected. While not the style of filmmaking I enjoy most, Scott Pilgrim really captured something other comic book/video game/MTV/ADD-style movies have been unable to achieve. I look forward to anything Edgar Wright does in the future.

Go see:

Take the weekend off. Enjoy the great outdoors.

Why is it Three Act Structure? The cycle of life.

Aristotle's Poetics has long been considered the bible of storytelling. Aristotle applied to stories an absolute truth to all life, there is a beginning, middle, and end. I believe the idea of a life cycle permeates everything known to us in the universe. Alright, this post isn't going to be a discourse in philosophy, I'll stick to story.

While some writers, and teachers, of screenwriting will vehemently say you should forget about the concept of three act structure, I believe this would be the greatest mistake any budding writer could make. Three act structure is simply a way to define the life cycle in screenwriting terms. If you remove the cycle of life from your story, you remove any chance of writing a great story.

To prove my premise, I'm going to use my other passion I have mentioned before on this blog, financial markets. The beauty of financial markets is they're built by humans making them also at the mercy of life cycles. A theory has been created to articulate this called Elliott Wave Theory. Below is an image courtesy of Elliott Wave International that shows standard Uptrend(1) and Correction(2) waves in a market.

Don't worry. This isn't as confusing as it might look. For the purposes of the stock market, each line represents a movement in price. So line 1 is price going higher, line 2 is price going lower, line 3 higher, etc. Now let's see this in action with the Uptrend that started in March 2009.

click to enlarge

The green lines are the waves up and the red lines are the waves down. Pretty amazing how accurate wave theory sometimes can be. This particular Elliott Wave move I would classify as classic Hollywood structure. I have labeled the Acts on the chart. Click on it for a better look.

The blue lines on the chart are Fibonacci retracement lines. If you are unfamiliar with the numbers click here. Darren Aronofsky's terrific debut Pi incorporates Fibonacci numbers in the story, which is a perfect segue to the question, do all movies follow the above three act structure? No.

I'm sure you may have been thinking that and one example is Aronofsky's even more amazing second film, Requiem for a Dream. Am I saying Requiem doesn't contain three act structure? No. It does. Just not the classic pattern of waves seen above. This is because waves can move in a downtrend as well as an uptrend and there is smaller waves within the larger waves. Ok, another chart may help clarify this.

As you can see, there are a lot more waves on this chart versus the first one we looked at, though it is technically the exact same. Each of the single lines in the first has been broken into five or three lines here.

Aronofsky doesn't use classic Hollywood structure where the story's peak comes in Act Three. Requiem's peak comes at the midpoint of the story, right before the "Fall" title card, page 53 of the script. From there it's all down waves, though, of course, he put an up wave coda on the end so we didn't leave the theater completely bummed out.

Looking at the chart above, we would relabel the act structure for Requiem to have Act One end at (3), Act Two end at (B). The movie is a downer for sure, but I love it.

To bring this post around full circle, pun intended, remember that the waves are based of the cycle of life. Aronofsky used the title cards with the seasons to show this. All things natural to our world have cycles. This includes stories.

Look at your script. Can you find the waves in it? Does your story go through a cycle in a classic Hollywood way or is it like Aronofsky's Requiem? Leave me a comment if you agree or disagree with my proof.

What to see? Weekend of July 23rd.

While I haven't read it, I heard from good sources that the script for Salt was great. Of course, the script being evaluated had Salt written as a man, not a woman like in this weekend's release. After finding Knight and Day fairly lackluster, I'm curious to see if I like Angelina Jolie in the role, or if Tom Cruise made the wrong decision to walk away. I guess it could be both. Thanks, as always, to The Playlist, my trusted source for reviews.

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:

Salt - Sony - PG-13

For the next ninety minutes or so, we watch as she dashes, ducks, climbs out of buildings, detonates bombs and engages in high-speed pursuits, all in an incredibly guilty-looking attempt to clear her name...read more.

Independent:

Life During Wartime - IFC - Unrated

The picture brings a solid critique of society, but Solondz is smart enough to do it comically. What could've been extremely dry and preachy is actually a very well made comedy that actually has something to say...read more.

Foreign:

Valhalla Rising - IFC - Unrated

Slow-burning, meditative, eerie and putting a premium on atmospherics before narrative, Winding Refn's 7th feature-film proves he's still one of the most exciting new directors working today even if he doesn't feel the need to thrill audiences with style, fast-pace and camera-moving conceits...read more.

Documentary:

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno - Flicker Alley - Unrated

History is littered with films that could have been special had they, you know, been made. And "Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno" is a fascinating peek at a potential masterpiece by the French Hitchcock...read more.

Enjoy the movies.

What makes for great TV?

Read this amazing blog post.

I wasn't aware of Josh's blog but I am now.

FYI: Went to Inception in Imax yesterday. In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves, "Whoa"

What to see? Weekend of July 16th.

I would go see anything by a handful of currently working directors no matter what the movie is about. Christopher Nolan is one of those directors. Memento ranks #3 on my FlickChart, so it's fairly obvious what I'll be going to this weekend, in IMAX, of course. Will Inception be the last big summer blockbuster in 2D? Leave me your thoughts on that in the comments.

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:

Inception - Warner Bros. - Rated PG-13

Yes, Christopher Nolan's "Inception" is unthinkably complex, a whirligig puzzlebox thriller set in a world of dreams (and dreams-within-dreams), but it's also a exceptionally aspiring project in general: a large studio movie, whose budget tickled the $200 million mark, that isn't based on a preexisting franchise, video game or breakfast cereal mascot...read more.

Independent

Please Give - SPC - Rated R

Unfairly ignored by audiences and critics, this terrific, emotionally soulful picture, is an underrated gem and audiences with a female-centric bent would be wise to spend their time with these fully-dimensionalized characters rather than the cardboard cut-outs of "Twilight: Eclipse" and "Sex And The City 2."...read more.

Foreign:

Wild Grass - SPC - Unrated

I did enjoy the film's style—its exuberant colors, the restless, ever-curious camera, and the way it wove ominous undertones into an essentially light surface—and of course I enjoyed the loving references to the power of movies...read more.

Documentary:

Exit Through the Gift Shop - Producers Distribution - Rated R

Is it real or fake? In the end, it doesn't really matter because Banksy's high wire not-quite-documentary is one of the most flat out entertaining films you will see this year...read more.

Enjoy the movies.

"Young @ Heart" - One Sentence Reviews

A heartwarming, and at times heartbreaking, documentary with a terrific cast of characters who put together a show that all great movies do: make you laugh, cry, and stand up and cheer.

RECOMMENDATION: RECOMMEND

What's really selling? Adaptations.

All writing begins with an idea. As a writer I'm constantly attempting to generate new ideas, whether they be for the current projects I'm working on or for new potential projects. It can be both frustrating when ideas won't come or you think they're all crap, and extraordinary when you think you've struck gold with something fresh and new.

So much attention gets put on coming up with something completely fresh original and new, it's easy to forget that a great idea is often just a new spin on something done before. Take one of the greatest new ideas of the last decade, the iPod. When I was a kid I had one, only it was called a Walkman and it played plastic tapes. Avatar was deemed by many as simply a re-telling of the Pocahontas story with blue aliens and CGI, that didn't stop it from being the biggest box office success in over a decade. In fact, it more likely helped.

In business, the iPod is called product innovation. When it comes to writing stories, it's called adaptation. Most often when we think of adaptations we think of the recent bestsellers like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or iconic characters like Harry Potter. This might lead many writers to neglect the wealth of great stories free of copyright, and therefore can be adapted into a script without costing a penny.

Many writers, though, haven't forgotten. Public domain works have become hot properties this year in Hollywood with another being announced involving Victor Hugo's classic tale, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. If you missed the news, check out The Playlist's blurb. Disney has been in this game for decades, hitting it big again this year with Alice in Wonderland, and announcing a Wizard of Oz prequel and a new spin on Sleeping Beauty. Warner Brothers will be back with a sequel to the successful Sherlock Holmes, and a range of others are in the works including Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid, The Wind in the Willows, and Snow White just to name a few.

There are many reasons why stories in the public domain have been finding a lot of traction in Hollywood right now, but the main appeal for me is a known character free of charge to do whatever you please with them. While some may shake their fist at the revisionist takes just about all I've mentioned will see, like the Walkman and the iPod, innovation on something we already love can really pay off big.

What character in the public domain do you love?

What to see? Weekend of July 9th.

I'm out of LA and on the very hot east coast. The heat always makes me feel more tired than I actually am, and makes me want to go to the movies for the wonderful air conditioning. This week Universal gets into the animation business with Despicable Me. Looks like a chuckle and they beat DreamWorks Animation to the punch with the villain as protagonist angle. I'm more interested in some adult fare this weekend.

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:

Predators - Fox - Rated R

There's constantly so much stuff going on that there isn't much time to slow down and focus on the intricacies of the characters, situation or plot. In a way, this is one of the movie's biggest assets since it doesn't allow the audience (or reviewer) to contemplate why exactly any of the stuff that's happening, or how it's happening logistically, since some other big moment of over-sized kick-assery is looming just around the corner...read more.

Independent:

The Kids Are Alright - Focus - Rated R

Like Meyers, filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko crafts a movie actually made with adults in mind as an audience (and features some gorgeous, glossy-worthy house porn), but Cholodenko doesn't rely on unlikely, Ephron-aping meet-cutes and groan-worthy dialogue...read more. 

Foreign:

The Girl Who Played with Fire - Music Box - Rated R

"The Girl Who Played With Fire" establishes the series' pessimistic ongoing thesis: society is controlled by powerful men who only seek to oppress and exploit women, and no passage of time or changing of the guards will change that...read more.

Documentary:

Winnebago Man - Kino - Unrated

"Winnebago Man" is essentially a documentary following filmmaker Ben Steinbauer on his quest to find the star of the famed RV salesman freak-out video, Jack Rebney, sometimes dubbed as the "world's angriest man" and a guy who's video ranked #2 on some stupid Vh1 show about all-time Internet memes...read more. 

Enjoy the movies.

What to see? Weekend of July 1st.

The only challenger to Twilight is M. Night. Sadly, early reviews make it clear this is no contest, not that there was ever a chance it would be. Is it really possible M. Night will score lower with The Last AirbenderThe Happening on the Tomatometer? While I'd be glad to see another "franchise" put to pasture, I really hope M. Night can come back with a strong original concept that puts him back on top. then he did with

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - Summit - Rated PG-13 

This isn't as painful as it's predecessors, but that doesn't mean that there's finally an entry point for the uninitiated into the series. "Eclipse" still features dialogue that will make non-fans wonder at the saga's popularity...read more.

Independent: 

The Killer Inside Me - IFC - Rated R

Darkness comes in many flavors. If you've heard anything about Michael Winterbottom's "The Killer Inside Me," it's inevitable that you've read at least something about its supposed darkness and brutal violence...read more.

Foreign:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Music Box - Rated R

Though Stieg Larsson's novels are rife with sexual violence and considerable gore, they're also mystery thrillers in the Agatha Christie sense — in this case, the specific genre homages include an isolated estate and skulking suspects with loads of motives and alibis...read more.

Documentary:

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - IFC - Rated R

With the media in full reality overdrive, it’s refreshing to see an unflinching documentary that delves into what it’s really like to be famous...read more.

Enjoy the movies.

Who has it worse than Studios right now? Theater owners.

As I slowly get the hang of this blogging thing, who I am and what I'm all about will come to reveal itself. One of the reasons I have struggled to post on a more consistent basis is because I consider myself a private person and I didn't want to write about myself at all on here (yes, I realize now that is kinda the whole point of blogging).

Beyond my passion for Film and Television I have an interest in economics and financial markets. Several posts back I showed how the success of Avatar followed by Alice in Wonderland sent stocks of theater owners soaring to levels not seen since 2007.

Since the market peak in late April, all the gains those stocks made have been wiped out and they currently are hitting November 2009 prices. The chart of Carmike Cinemas (CKEC) pretty much says it all.

About two weeks ago I bought some DreamWorks Animation (DWA) believing the market had found support above its 200-Day MA but was stopped out with a small gain (+5%) when the market fell hard two days ago.

With Toy Story 3 performing well, Twilight breaking records and Inception on the way, here's hoping July can start to turn things around for Entertainment stocks, but with key support areas being broken daily in the markets, the time for bottom fishing may not be as soon as I would like.

What's wrong with the Box Office? Pricing.

Yesterday I watched Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, a film way ahead of it's time and a huge box office success grossing $290 million on a production budget of $24 million in today's dollars, according to The Numbers. Now, I just happened to decide to revisit one of my favorite filmmaker's best Hollywood productions before I came across this article at Time.com, "Box Office Blues: The Blockbusters That Weren't," which mentions the year Notorious was released, 1946.

The article points out the downtrend in admissions, the current estimate for this year at 1.27 billion, far below the 4 billion tickets sold in 1946, a time before free television started to erode the movie-going audience. With attendance in May 2010 down 19% from May 2009, Time puts the blame on the releases this year compared to last year, a consistent message coming out of the media today, and one I'm completely inclined to agree with. But I think there's also a lot more to the story.

What the article failed to talk about was that big fat price hike that showed up before this summer. With tickets 4% to 10% higher and most Americans in not any better financial position then they were a year ago, is it really accurate to blame the release slate for the decrease in attendance? Because Hollywood struggles so dearly with their P&A on so many movies they seem to completely ignore the #1 rule in marketing anything: Pricing.

While the article does point out that attendance in 2009 was about equal to 1997, meaning the 62% increase in box office revenue ($6.51 billion to $10.65 billion) is completely a result of price hikes, no question on pricing is raised. Why does the media and the industry mostly ignore the question of pricing?

The industry likes to point out that a family of four can go to the movies for a lot cheaper than other entertainment options like amusement parks, sports events, and music concerts but to me that's not an apples to apples comparison. So what about that glorious year of 1946 when three times the amount of tickets sold with half the population of today?

I did some research, ok googling, and the numbers I found don't surprise me. Let's start with going to see Notorious in 1946. The average ticket price was $.10, so adjusted for inflation to 2010 that works out to $1.19. While in 1994 I saw Forrest Gump at a discount theater for $2, here in LA the lowest ticket price I can find is $5. I imagine that's similar to most cities around the country.

I know what you're thinking, yes we pay a lot for a movie ticket today but don't we pay a lot for everything else as well? Let's see. How about a car? I found the average price of a car in 1946 to be $1,400 which works out to $16,611. Gee, I can get a new car for cheaper than that. How about some gas to put in that car? In 1946 that'd run you $.21 a gallon, adjusted for inflation that's $2.49. Not so far off huh?

I know, movies and cars aren't the best comparison, so let's use what the studios use. How about a baseball game? According to this article I found, Yankees tickets just to get in the game cost $1.25 with the good seats running $2.50. So that shows a ticket price range of $15 to $30 in 2010 dollars. How does that compare to today? Well, getting the good seats is going to run over $100 with some as high as $300, but you can still just get in the game for $14 and the grandstand tickets that ran for $15 are now $20-25. So while the studios can continue to boast how going to a movie is cheaper than a baseball game, this doesn't account for the fact that the average movie ticket price, $7.50, has risen 530% versus 66% for baseball if we take the higher priced grandstand seats at Yankee Stadium.

With 3D being all the rage and studios basically saying everything will be released in 3D not long off, it seems to me Hollywood's pricing model is simply going to be raise, raise, raise the prices. Are you getting a 530% greater value at the movie theaters today? If every single movie was as good as Toy Story 3, sure, but when's that going to happen?

What to see? Weekend of June 25th.

I get the feeling sometimes that people don't want to see Tom Cruise succeed. I guess he's had a good run but I'd love to see him in some more serious roles like Born on the Fourth of July.

So see:

Hollywood Studios:

Knight and Day - Fox - Rated PG-13

Silly, ridiculous, and yet at times deliciously entertaining, James Mangold's first summer tentpole, "Knight & Day" mostly works and is a better-then-average slice of summer fluff...read more.

Independent:

I Am Love - Magnolia - Rated R

Set in Italy at the beginning of the 21st century, the film serves up a feast of emotions, issues and choices...read more.

Foregin:

Micmacs - SPC - Rated R

Micmacs is achingly beautiful, employing the muted, old-style palette that is so common to Jeunet’s films...read more.

Documentary:

Restrepo - National Geographic - Rated R

Restrepo, which opens in Los Angeles this Friday, offers a somewhat more raw filmgoing experience but makes some equally powerful choices as it shows moments of both adrenaline and tedium experienced by a group of soldiers fighting in the Korengal Valley, one of Afghanistan's most dangerous battlegrounds...read more.

Enjoy the movies.

Did you put a date on it?

Often when you read a Q&A with a professional screenwriter, the questions are asked: "What is your process; how many hours a day do you write; how many pages a day do you write?" While I may listen to the different answers, and they're always difficult, I quickly forget what other writers say about their work ethic. I only care about my own process and the finished script. After all, there is only one thing everyone else cares about, the finished script.

How you get there is all up to you, but you must get there. If you want to be a professional, your career depends on it. This recent article on deadline.com says it all:

WHERE'S MY SCRIPT?! Warner Bros Cracks Down On Screenwriter's Late Delivery Dates

The deadline. In my opinion, the one writing process every screenwriter must have. Since I come from a masters program in screenwriting, I'm a big fan of the weekly deadline. Pick a day and time. Pick a page count. If you finish the script in the set number of weeks, you passed the class.

From the sounds of things rumbling out of Hollywood, working pros know this lesson all too well already.

Why must Inception win the summer?

A week ago, two articles, from big name reporters in the industry, talked about studios unsure what to make next. What did they ask agents for? Original scripts. If you missed the articles, take a look:

Vulture

Deadline

As someone who needs to break in with an original spec script, I couldn't ask for better news. The thing is though, as someone close enough to the industry, I know that doesn't mean the studios are ready to open their wallets. Money is still very very tight.

This town has a short memory. What won the box office this past weekend with over $100 million? A sequel. Toy Story 3. While many will spin the story of it not doing as well as its predecessors, when all is said and done, Toy Story 3 will be a very profitable movie for Disney. That's what the guys and gals who control the wallet want to see.

Take a look at the big winners so far this year and you can see that this cycle of sequels, remakes/reboots, and heavy adaptation (comics, novels) is far from over. Looking at other years, I'd say it all began in 1999 (the same year Toy Story 2 came out) but really got going in 2002.

By 2002, we had the following active "franchises" going:

Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, X-Men, Toy Story, Shrek, The Mummy, Mission: Impossible, Rush Hour, Ocean's Eleven, Jurassic Park, Austin Powers, Men in Black, Ice Age, Bourne, Bond, Spy Kids, The Fast and the Furious, American Pie

That's right. In four years, between 1999-2002, the age of the franchise was born with a film from each of those listed above. I'm willing to bet more of those listed above have another movie coming along soon than those that don't. But is the end of the cycle in sight? Maybe a crack.

The question, now in 2010, is when are we going to get back to 1998, the last time before Avatar that original material (Saving Private Ryan) was the top film of the year at the box office and original content was in the top spots? Well, Inception winning the summer could add more fire to the original material flames. But can it beat the likes of Twilight, Iron Man, and Toy Story?

I'm hoping so. I want Inception to win the summer because until original material starts to outperform the decade old franchises, those with the money will continue to push the sequel button no matter how many great original scripts come across their desks, like mine. A cycle only ends when a mass shift in frame of mind occurs. Thanks to James Cameron and hopefully Christopher Nolan next, that shift is about to begin.

"The Education of Charlie Banks" - One Sentence Reviews

This slow-burn character-driven period drama, with some good writing and performances, prods instead of punches to it's inevitable conclusion, hampered by a rites of passage plot with more holes than great scenes and a boring visual style that would go better with the 1950s than the decade the film is set it in.

RECOMMENDATION: PASS

What to see? Weekend of June 18th.

As always, The Playlist has terrific coverage of the films hitting theaters this weekend. Below are my picks for what to see.

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:  

Toy Story 3 - Disney/Pixar - Rated G

Thankfully, "Toy Story 3," directed by longtime Pixar vet Lee Unkrich and written by "Little Miss Sunshine" Oscar winner Michael Arndt is a beautiful, nuanced, funny-as-hell...read more.

Independent:  

Cyrus - Fox Searchlight - Rated R

We caught it at SXSW and thought it was "immediately charming and engaging to an almost uncanny level" and that "it's seriously a hit waiting to happen."...read more.

Foreign: 

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky - SPC - Rated R

The material could so easily be played for high melodrama in lesser hands, but Kounen's film, buoyed by solid lead performances, is sumptuous, yet subtle, passionate and measured....read more.

Don't See:

Jonah Hex

As a prosthetic, it doesn't look detailed or graphic enough, meaning half of the movie is spent forgetting you're watching this film and wondering why the kid from "The Goonies" stapled a pancake to his cheek....read more.

Enjoy the movies.

 

Why did The Karate Kid beat down The A-Team?

I recently made it to a screening of The A-Team, which was one of my favorite TV shows growing up, and was completely satisfied by the movie. It was everything I expected it to be and remained true to the TV show story and characters. It's a fun summer popcorn movie and I think a lot more people would be going out to enjoy it if they weren't already burned by the not fun Robin Hood and Prince of Persia. Neither of those had any sense of humor.

What's also funny? That it's been such a surprise The Karate Kid won the weekend hands down. While beloved by it's fans, like me, The A-Team ran in the mid-80s with so-so ratings. That means the largest portion of moviegoers weren't even born yet to watch the show. The Karate Kid's win comes down to demographics, and not anything to do with audiences more interested in a reboot over a TV series remake.

I'll leave you with a quote I recently read on David Bordwell's terrific blog:

The movies live on children from the ages of ten to nineteen, who go steadily and frequently and almost automatically to the pictures; from the age of twenty to twenty-five people still go, but less often; after thirty, the audience begins to vanish from the movie houses. Checks made by different researchers at different times and places turn up minor variations in percentages; but it works out that between the ages of thirty and fifty, more than half of the men and women in the Unites States, steady patrons of the movies in their earlier years, do not bother to see more than one picture a month; after fifty, more than half see virtually no pictures at all.

This is the ultimate, essential, overriding fact about the movies. . . . 

- Gilbert Seldes in his book The Great Audience (1950)

Something to keep that in mind next time you're sitting down to brainstorm ideas.

11 Writers for the A-Team!?!

Happy Flag Day.

I want to start off by saying I would have loved to have been the twelfth writer on the A-Team. I grew up on the show and loved every minute of it. As a writer trying to break into the industry, that's an assignment job I dream about.

I can't help but cringe reading the article from Nikki Finke about the development of the movie. I know that if I was a writer during the development of the script, I'd probably be pretty upset by it when all is said and done.

I know I shouldn't knock the current industry process of bringing writer after writer on to a project. It means more writers working in Hollywood and, therefore, giving me a better shot at getting there. Still, when I think of the best screenplays ever written, usually no more than three people worked on the script.

"Ink" - One Sentence Reviews

Ink travels along the narrative path of the fairy tale, with beautiful dreams and dark disturbing nightmares (reality might be in there too), but this fantasy mind-bender’s action editing, which propels the plot forward rather than just existing to have set-pieces, that ultimately steals the show, making Ink an ambitious feature film from a writer-director talent to watch, Jamin Winans. 

RECOMMENDATION: CONSIDER

 

Alice Sends Shares in Theatre Owners Soaring

The biggest 3D opening by Alice in Wonderland over the weekend gave the major theater owners a boost on Monday. Not a surprise, as the stocks have been rising for the last month, with the 2010 Box Office now 6% higher than the record setting 2009 year-over-year. Take a look at these gains:

Carmike Cinemas  (CKEC) 3/8: +9.09% - Since 2/9: +70.45%

Regal Ent. Group (RGC)  3/8: +8.41% - Since 2/9: +11.11%

Imax Corp        (IMAX) 3/8: +8.16% - Since 2/9: +28.48%

Cinemark Holdings(CNK)  3/8: +1.87% - Since 2/9: +17.81%

Disclosure: Long (IMAX)

I wonder if the original Alice is getting a bump in sales as well.