The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Photos and text from wire services harassment surfaced against the movie mogul.
STX Entertainment picked up the movie, which on Sunday handed the five-year-old startup studio its first no. 1 release at the box office. Launched in 2014 with a mission to make the kind of mid-budgeted, star-driven films the studios have increasingly abandoned, STX has had some successes (“Bad Moms,” “The Foreigner,” the critically acclaimed “The Edge of Seventeen”) but has often struggled to find breakout hits. Last year’s “The Happytime Murders,” with Melissa McCarthy, was one of the 2017’s most glaring flops.
STX’s Motion Picture Group Chairman Adam Fogelson pointed to strong audience reaction (an A CinemaScore) and downplayed any effect of the Oscar chatter on “The Upside,” noting that Hart “is in the culture constantly for tons of stuff.”
Fogelson called the no. 1 result a symbol of larger success for STX’s business model.
“We have been profitable on the overwhelming majority of our movies for more than a year and a half. No one needs to cry for us, but I don’t think the company gets credit for that because the way we’re doing that is so different from how traditional Hollywood has operated,” said Fogelson. “This result is just an exclamation point on the fact that this can work not just in an STX way but in an old Hollywood way, as well.”