At a few West Coast theaters this Friday, Diane Keaton’s dog weepie Darling Companion and the documentary Chimpanzee will make room in the theatrical line-up for one more animal movie, the docufiction Otter 501. That’s right. While the rest of the world was distracted by the latest superhero shawarma scandal, the rapidly growing field of wildlife documentaries produced a transmedia movie in a genre you might have never heard of. About otters. And in a few weeks, this spring’s primates, canines, and water weasels will migrate to the DVD shelf, replaced by their summer counterparts in Madagascar 3, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and Piranha 3DD. There will, in other words, always be a creature feature at the movie theater.
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Two supernatural thrillers joined a pair of spooky holdovers in the top five of this weekend's box office, where one of the world's biggest stars was no match for the low-budget telepathic shenanigans of Team Chronicle. And, er, what happened to Drew Barrymore? Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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There’s a big old mammal heart beating softly but steadily at the center of Big Miracle, which recounts the true story of how, in 1988, humans from all over the world raced to save three California gray whales trapped by rapidly forming Arctic Circle ice. The whales’ plight made great television footage, captivating viewers everywhere; it also galvanized plenty of people who wanted to use their alleged or sort-of genuine concern for these poor creatures as a political tool or a means to financial gain. With whale-sized good intentions, Big Miracle works hard to capture the drama of the situation and also sweep an adequate quota of feel-good vibes into its wide-ranging net.
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