The 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air live on NBC on Sunday, January 13, and will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
ARGO
Warner Bros. Pictures, GK Films, Smokehouse Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures
DJANGO UNCHAINED
The Weinstein Company, Columbia Pictures; The Weinstein Company/Sony Pictures Releasing
LIFE OF PI
Fox 2000 Pictures; Twentieth Century Fox
LINCOLN
DreamWorks Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox; Touchstone Pictures
ZERO DARK THIRTY
Columbia Pictures and Annapurna Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
JESSICA CHASTAIN, ZERO DARK THIRTY
MARION COTILLARD, RUST AND BONE
HELEN MIRREN, HITCHCOCK
NAOMI WATTS, THE IMPOSSIBLE
RACHEL WEISZ, THE DEEP BLUE SEA

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, LINCOLN
RICHARD GERE, ARBITRAGE
JOHN HAWKES, THE SESSIONS
JOAQUIN PHOENIX, THE MASTER
DENZEL WASHINGTON, FLIGHT

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
Blueprint Pictures/Participant Media; Fox Searchlight Pictures
LES MISERABLES
Universal Pictures, A Working Title Films/Cameron Mackintosh Productions; Universal Pictures
MOONRISE KINGDOM
Indian Paintbrush; Focus Features
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
CBS Films; CBS Films
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
The Weinstein Company; The Weinstein Company

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
EMILY BLUNT, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
JUDI DENCH, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
JENNIFER LAWRENCE, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
MAGGIE SMITH, QUARTET
MERYL STREEP, HOPE SPRINGS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
JACK BLACK, BERNIE
BRADLEY COOPER, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
HUGH JACKMAN, LES MISERABLES
EWAN MCGREGOR, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
BILL MURRAY, HYDE PARK ON HUDSON

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
BRAVE
Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures
FRANKENWEENIE
Walt Disney Pictures; Walt Disney Pictures
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Animation; Sony Pictures Releasing
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
DreamWorks Animation LLC; Paramount Pictures
WRECK-IT RALPH
Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AMOUR (AUSTRIA)
Les Films Du Losange, X Filme Creative Pool, Wega Film; Sony Pictures Classics
A ROYAL AFFAIR (DENMARK) (En kongelig affære)
Zentropa Entertainment; Magnolia Pictures
THE INTOUCHABLES (FRANCE) (Les Intouchables)
The Weinsten Company, Quad Productions, Gaumont, TF1 Films Production, Ten Films, Chaocorp; The Weinstein Company
KON-TIKI (NORWAY/UK/DENMARK)
Nordisk Film Production, Recorded Picture Company
RUST AND BONE (FRANCE) (De rouille et d’os)
Page 114, Why Not Productions; Sony Pictures Classics

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
AMY ADAMS, THE MASTER
SALLY FIELD, LINCOLN
ANNE HATHAWAY, LES MISERABLES
HELEN HUNT, THE SESSIONS
NICOLE KIDMAN, THE PAPERBOY

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
ALAN ARKIN, ARGO
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, DJANGO UNCHAINED
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, THE MASTER
TOMMY LEE JONES, LINCOLN
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, DJANGO UNCHAINED

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
BEN AFFLECK, ARGO
KATHRYN BIGELOW, ZERO DARK THIRTY
ANG LEE, LIFE OF PI
STEVEN SPIELBERG, LINCOLN
QUENTIN TARANTINO, DJANGO UNCHAINED

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
MARK BOAL, ZERO DARK THIRTY
TONY KUSHNER, LINCOLN
DAVID O. RUSSELL, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
QUENTIN TARANTINO, DJANGO UNCHAINED
CHRIS TERRIO, ARGO

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
MYCHAEL DANNA, LIFE OF PI
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, ARGO
DARIO MARIANELLI, ANNA KARENINA
TOM TYKWER, CLOUD ATLAS
JOHNNY KLIMEK, REINHOLD HEIL
JOHN WILLIAMS, LINCOLN

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
FOR YOU, ACT OF VALOR
Music by: Monty Powell, Keith Urban Lyrics by: Monty Powell, Keith Urban
NOT RUNNING ANYMORE, STAND UP GUYS
Music by: Jon Bon Jovi Lyrics by: Jon Bon Jovi
SAFE & SOUND, THE HUNGER GAMES
Music by: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett Lyrics by: Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett
SKYFALL, SKYFALL
Music by: Adele, Paul Epworth Lyrics by: Adele, Paul Epworth
SUDDENLY, LES MISERABLES
Music by: Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyrics by: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg
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At least Chris Rock isn’t wearing drag.

Even before the weekend started, it was already a sure bet that Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted would repeat as box office champ. And why shouldn’t it. It’s the summer, kids are out of school and they just love computer animation. They don’t care about the actors who voice their favorite characters – totally oblivious to their names in the advertisements – but they love the visuals, especially in three dimensions. Having opened to $60 million a week ago, the only place it can go now is down. When a kid’s flick falls by more than 40% in its second week (M3 dropped 41.1%), studios executives may get antsy. But its already at $120 million, and that’s $7 million better than its predecessor, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, after two weeks. 3-D surcharges and the amount of screens probably have something to do with that. It’s big test will come on Friday when Pixar unleashes Brave into theaters, which will by vying for the 3-D screens that Madagascar holds now.

Repeating in the second spot is Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Word of mouth hasn’t been kind to this science-fiction tale that’s been billed as the prequel to 1977′s Alien. Seeing the attendance for its $50 million opening drop by 60% in week two is a recipe for success. Not when the film’s conclusion promises a sequel. The saving grace may be how it performs on an international level. Currently, overseas it has grossed $128 million to bring its total to $217 million worldwide. With an estimated budget of $125 million and eventual DVD/BD sales a sequel could very well happen. Story-wise, Prometheus offers questions with little answers. But the real reason that it will be a hot-seller on Blu-ray is the visuals. Both the video and audio are sure to be top-notch; perfect for videophiles looking to show off their home theaters.

With last week’s one and two remaining the same, it meant that the mainstream newcomers of the weekend, Rock of Ages and That’s My Boy, had to vie for third place. Both skewed to particular demographics. It was PG-13 ’80s jukebox musical versus the R-rated raunchy comedy, which meant that couples had to split up their movie viewing or significant others had to waive the white flag and see whatever the “other” wanted to see. Both were bolstered by stars, with Tom Cruise headlining the musical as rock god Stacee Jaxx, and mullet-sporting Adam Sandler trying to instill laughter with That’s My Boy. Both had an ’80s campiness about them, though the Sandler comedy included something Rock of Ages did not, which is Def Leppard’s signature song of the same name.

If the barometer was to compare Ages to Adam Shankman’s other musical, Hairspray, well there’s no contest. Hairspray was the cheerier musical and had the better talent on board. Besides would you rather see Scientologist Cruise show off Abs of Steel or Scientologist John Travolta in drag? Exactly.

As for the failure of That’s My Boy, it may be proof that Adam Sandler’s fanbase may be waning. Despite Just Go With It being a hit – barely – Jack & Jill proved that the once Teflon comedian/box office star has no idea what his fans want to see. One would think a full-on restricted comedy would appeal to those teenage boys now men who first saw Billy Madison back in the mid-’90s. But the face of comedy is changing. It’s the same reason that Kevin Smith is pretty much an afterthought after a successful run with the View Askewiverse. After attending the screening of That’s My Boy, a critic friend of mine said having witnessed the same comedic train wreck that I did that it’s movies like this where you wished Punch Drunk Love had made $200 million in theaters. That was one of Sandler’s experiments with renowned writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, of Boogie Nights and Magnolia fame. Sandler’s audience didn’t take to the film. They also refused to see Reign Over Me and Funny People. As such, Sandler has retreated to his usual comic schtick. That may explain the upcoming sequel to Grown Ups. At least that’s a comedy where he doesn’t have to be the central character. He’ll have his comic friends – Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin James – to play off of.

Snow White and the Huntsman performed well enough to slip in between Rock of Ages and That’s My Boy to claim fourth position with $13.8 million. Not a bad haul, but with only $122.6 million after three weeks, it will be lucky to scrape to $150 million, which is $25 million short of its production budget. Thankfully, international grosses should be far more lucrative (it’s already amassed $124 million overseas).

Men in Black III is also doing gangbusters overseas, where it has collected 72% of its total gross. Currently, it is sitting at $544 million worldwide. An impressive number, but factoring in the production budget that ballooned to over $225 million as well as what stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, and director Barry Sonnenfeld will get in back-end profits and that number doesn’t look as rosy. Well, Sony Pictures does have that Karate Kid sequel in the pipeline for Big Willie’s son, Jaden. So there’s that.

If you were wondering about that film that kickstarted the summer blockbuster season, The Avengers – yep, it’s still in the top ten. In fact, it also had the smallest percentage drop in viewership of recent releases in the top ten. It’s been getting a lot of repeat viewers, even seven weeks into its domestic run. In a few weeks we could be talking about how it has surpassed more than $600 million domestic. That would put it as the third film to reach that milestone, behind James Cameron’s one-two punch of Avatar and Titanic.

Some of the best stories relating to box office are those small films that become unexpected hits. And this week we have two near the bottom of the top ten list. Fox Searchlight’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has made $117 million worldwide with $35 million of that coming from the United States and Canada. Then you have Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. Despite playing on less than 200 screens, it continues to play to packed audiences and it had the best per-screen average ($12,253) of any film in the top ten. Look for Focus Features to expand this release in future weeks, because good movies are in short supply, and great ones need to seen by wider audiences.

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After a small lull when Battleship sank its opening week, insiders were wondering if it was going to start a trend. However, two straight weekends of strong openers is making those same insiders reassess and think the box office is rebounding. Over the weekend, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted opened to $60.4 million, a few million shy of its predecessor’s $63 million opening, which played on 200 less screens four years ago. Still, Madagascar continues to be a strong franchise for DreamWorks Animation, a franchise that is already a billion strong after two previous releases. Europe’s Most Wanted should continue the trend and make over $500 million (maybe even go as high as $600 million). So we can expect Alex and the rest of the gang to be back by summer 2016.

Seriously, if it is a CG-animated kids film with talking animals, you have to royally screw the ad campaign to not have people show up. And it only makes sense that the fourth Ice Age flick, Continental Drift, was among one of the major trailers attached to prints of Madagascar 3. That’s a franchise that continues to get bigger with each release. Hell, the third one almost made $700 million from overseas receipts alone!

The rule of thumb is that restricted movies don’t open as well as PG-13 fare. And for the most part that is true. 20th Century Fox could have easily had director Ridley Scott make a few alterations to ensure that Prometheus got a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, but the studio was firmly behind the director and his “vision.” But an expensive R-rated science-fiction flick released in the middle of summer could have been problematic to the studio’s bottom line. Luckily, the studio didn’t have the same marketing team behind John Carter doing the advertising for Prometheus. With an estimated gross of $50 million (thanks 3D surcharges!), Ridley Scott’s is it or is it not Alien prequel became the highest-grossing R-rated release since Paranormal Activity 3. Chalk up most of the film’s success to a great marketing campaign with intriguing teaser and theatrical trailers, strong viral videos, and an interesting ensemble including Charlize Theron, who is coming off back to back $50 million dollar plus film openings, Michael Fassbender, an unrecognizable Guy Pearce and Noomi Rapace, better utilized here than in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

With a production cost of only $125 million, Prometheus shouldn’t have a problem making it past that number domestically, and it should do well this upcoming weekend against the likes of Adam Sandler’s That’s My Boy and ’80s rock musical Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise. Scott has said in interviews that he’s readying a sequel to Prometheus but that may all depend on the reaction from audiences overseas.

Last week’s number one, Snow White and the Huntsman, took a 59% drop. Looks like Universal was a little bit premature when it came to announcing a sequel. The showbiz chatter about the potential franchise have the sequels centering on Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman character with Kristen Stewart also involved. Considering that the film cost $170 million, Universal will have to trim some of the fat and have the budget be at a more reasonable figure. Rupert Sanders would probably still be on board, though if he’s not I’m sure Scott Sawitz could get his wish and have Tarsem Singh board the sequel. Honestly, watching it over the weekend it wasn’t as offensive as I thought it would be – actually, it would be a solid rental – but it wasn’t until Snow White ventured into Sanctuary and the dwarves arrived that it finally got interesting. I mean there were hardly any ROUSes in the Dark Forest for crying out loud. How is that possible?

Has it really been three weeks since Men in Black 3 entered theaters? I figured that sucker would be on DVD any day now. Had it not been for Josh Brolin’s interpretation of young K I may have written it off completely. Now the first half of my review was pretty much a condemnation on why it was even made. I would turn that into mishmash of see it/skip it. Sony Pictures is in a world of hurt if its reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t take off. Some internal discussions have the higher-ups not happy with the mopey Spider-Man, but you have to wonder if that is the fault of filmmakers or Marvel? Seriously, Sony would be better off letting the character revert back to Marvel Studios and allow for crossovers with The Avengers and other superheroes. Same thing goes for Fox and X-Men, Fantastic Four and Daredevil.

And what about those Avengers? The blockbuster hit finished its sixth weekend in theaters and it is still getting solid returns. There’s a good chance that it could make it to $600 million domestic, but that’s nowhere close to supplanting James Cameron’s Titanic, which is firmly ensconced in second place in the all-time domestic earners list with $658 million. Avatar holds the record with $760 million.

When it comes to features in the top ten that cost less than nine figures you have The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is the most improbable of $100 million global earners. Even $31 million domestic is a crazy figure as it is playing on less than 1300 screens. What to Expect When You’re Expecting may be cost in the area of $60 million, but people seeing that this chickified comedy has made $35 million and you could convince the unsuspecting that this is actually a good return. But look for it to hang around for a few more weeks in the top ten before it becomes a rental-heavy success by stay-at-home moms.

As for the films that are best to be avoided (at least theatrically), Battleship is floundering and The Dictator did okay but will make its moola on home video. Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom rounds out the top ten thanks to its expansion to more cities. Once again it has the highest per-screen average and it only played at 96 locations.

On the limited release front, Film District’s Safety Not Guaranteed took in $100k at 9 locations, while IFC Films’ Peace, Love and Misunderstanding with Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener earned $102k at 30 locations. Then there’s Fox Searchlight unspooling its latest, Lola Versus. It made $34k at 4 locations. Remember to seek out smaller releases boys and girls. One of them might surprise you. My review of Headhunters (now only playing at 34 locations – it opened in 53) is a testament to that.





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Did Universal pull a rope-a-dope this weekend by underselling the tracking numbers of Snow White and the Huntsman? Because while the advertisements were definitely geared for the female demographic, young adult males were more than willing to fly solo or go with a date to see Kristen Stewart yield a sword and Chris Hemsworth an ax. Registering a $56.3 million opening, Snow White doubled the numbers that Universal’s Battleship raked in when it opened three weekends ago. This is good news for the studio, because it was sweating this release hoping to not sink like Peter Berg’s big, alien boat-sinking movie. And in the battle of the two Snow White movies this year (Mirror Mirror being the other one), Huntsman‘s opening almost matched Mirror‘s total domestic earnings of $63 million.

The big winner in all this has to be Chris Hemsworth, who has starred in a string of box office hits that opened to $55 million or more during their opening weekends. This does not include the mishandled horror release The Cabin in the Woods which has only made $41 million overall. Granted Thor and The Avengers sort of get lumped together with the Marvel Studios brand and all. Charlize Theron as the evil queen is relevant again as an actress in a strong supporting star capacity after starring in that rare Jason Reitman misfire, Young Adult last year. Her presence will be diminished in the upcoming Prometheus release from Ridley Scott, but she will be in franchise mode in the coming years working on the long-awaited Mad Max sequel from George Miller and possibly a second Hancock movie.

As for Kristen Stewart’s profile it also gets raised. She had been overshadowed by the likes of Dakota Fanning in The Runaways, and the ’80s nostalgia trip Adventureland failed to connect with audiences. Snow White is proof that Stewart can open a film if it is of blockbuster quality, but she still has yet to attain that wow factor of someone like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone. Not helping her situation is the adamant disdain fans of the Twilight novels have for her as the choice to play Bella.

Dropping to second was Men in Black 3. It has passed that once-celebrated monetary marker for grossing over $100 million, but with a production budget ballooning to $250 million and P&A costs, it still has a way to go before Sony Pictures can call this third entry a box office success. Chances are slim that we’ll see MiB4 and that’s fine by me.

So this Avengers movie – perhaps you’ve seen it. In five weeks it has outgrossed all movies not directed by James Cameron. What’s impressive is that five weeks into its release it can earn $20 million over a weekend. Most non-blockbuster type films would kill to have a first weekend gross like that. With $1.355 billion earned worldwide (and counting), it is both the #3 domestic earner and international grosser of all time. It won’t catch Avatar or Titanic but that’s okay. Because its performance thus far will ensure that Joss Whedon can afford to have a spotless mind procedure and forget he ever wrote Alien: Resurrection.

Beyond the blockbusters there are small success to be found. The British comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has surpassed $100 million worldwide with domestic receipts account for $25 million and change. When it comes to small arthouse releases, you have to know when to expand. You move too fast and the buzz dies quickly. You have to let the word of mouth carry a bit before moving it to more theaters. And Fox Searchlight is a studio that gets it right (see Little Miss Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire) more often than not (see Win Win). As someone who champions small- to mid-size releases that find an audience and take off, films like Marigold Hotel, Chronicle and Screen Gems’ double threat of The Vow and Think Like a Man are worth appreciating purely weighing the numbers of cost versus success.

The rest of the top ten is just taking up space, to be replaced by new releases coming up. The Dictator was meant to be a success on home video, not in theaters. And I’ve already talked about Battleship already. Dark Shadows is still limping along to the tune of $71 million, while new release For Greater Glory made it into the top ten playing in only 757 theaters. As for the hit of the spring, The Hunger Games is just $1.9 million away from eclipsing $400 million domestic. Are the odds in their favor of surpassing that milestone?

In limited release, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom continues its impressive box office success. Having already set a record for the all-time highest per-screen average in movie history last weekend, this weekend it expanded from 4 to 16 screens and finished with a per-screen average of $53,063, easily the top performer on a screen by screen basis. Piranha 3DD was unceremoniously dumped into theaters prior to its DVD release and even with 3D pricing it could only muster $179l at 79 theaters. And for those who have been anticipating that long delayed pot comedy High School with Adrien Brody, well it played at 200 locations with a per-screen return of $403. Let’s just say thought of profits have gone up in smoke.





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You know what the difference between you and me is?
I’ve graduated from stale franchises for my amusement.

With the tagline “Back in Time” (hey, wasn’t that ZZ Top’s song for Back to the Future Part III?), Sony Pictures hoped that audiences were primed to wax nostalgia for a movie property that had made two films in a five year span, then had a ten-year break between the first and second sequel. Men in Black 3 had a three-day total of $55 million. Not bad considering the amount of time between sequels, but bad when you consider Men in Black II made $52 million a decade ago. And that was without the benefit of inflated 3D ticket prices. So more money but less viewers overall. In my review, I said that there was no reason this movie should have been made, but also added that it adheres to the original’s sense of fun – with the addition of Josh Brolin being the comedy’s biggest strength. Scott pretty much eviscerated the film (read his review) wanting to know why Will Smith turned down the opportunity to play the titular Django in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained for this. Perhaps Smith is content with just going the safe route to appease his audience. His previous effort, Seven Pounds, got a tepid response from his fans, so for his big-screen comeback after four years of letting his children be stars – son Jayden starred in The Karate Kid and daughter Willow gave us the neck spasm hit single “Whip My Hair” – Big Willie decided to take the easy route with something familiar instead of something difference.

The development of MIB 3 is probably more entertaining in a comedy of errors sort of way. Especially knowing that shooting commenced without a finished script, only to later have production cease operations for a six-week span to fix the problems. Rumored to be in the ballpark of a $225 million production, Sony better hope that Smith’s appeal overseas will make the comedy a certifiable winner in the numbers department. Because it will need huge numbers if it is to turn a profit. A 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes means that two-thirds of critics sampled liked the third installment to an extent, and it has already accumulated $132 million worldwide.

It goes without question that the start of the summer blockbuster season has been a dud. The lone exception is the exceptional performance by Marvel’s The Avengers. Neither Dark Shadows nor Battleship could dethrone the superhero team movie. Law of averages when it comes to box office is that eventually a film will come along to dethrone. Usually it is done within a week or two, but The Avengers had reigned supreme for three straight weeks. Even coming in second position, its $37 million was better than the opening weekend grosses of Shadows and Battleship individually. The Avengers‘ success here and oveseas has seen its total eclipse the $1.2 billion mark, and it is just $20 million away from overtaking The Dark Knight in domestic earnings.

So where does that leave Battleship and Dark Shadows. That ship movie based on a board game saw a 57% drop from its opening weekend of $25.5 million. Thankfully, it has quickly left this writer’s memory. Universal Pictures seems to be a studio that would be best specializing in small- to mid-sized releases. But even that isn’t a sure thing. January’s Contraband could be viewed as a minor hit. Sadly, the same could not be said for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The studio still has plenty of time to generate some hits this summer, including Snow White and the Huntsman, Ted, and The Bourne Legacy – the last of which is a strong franchise for the studio but this time is without its star Matt Damon.

As for the latest Johnny Depp/Tim Burton pairing, Dark Shadows falls to the sixth spot for its third week of release. With a three-day haul of an estimated $7.2 million, that’s only $900k better than the UK import The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which got a hefty expansion this Memorial Day Holiday with 879 new locations. The Dictator finds itself benefitting from the lack of mainstream comedies at the cineplex right now. Granted, its second weekend total of $9.6 million is nowhere near as good as Borat, but the comedy is destined to butter its bread on DVD. It did just enough to not be overtaken by yet another found footage horror picture from Oren Peli (of Paranormal Activity infamy), Chernobyl Diaries.

Those wanting to know if The Hunger Games has eclipsed $400 million in the U.S., the answer is no. It’s inching ever so close that that marker, though. Spending its tenth consecutive week in the top 10, Games also posted the lowest audience drop for a top 10 release. And it looks like Think Like a Man won’t become a $100 million film after all. It will have to settle for finishing just above $90 million before it leaves theaters.

Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom saw limited release this weekend grossing $509k from four locations. The ensemble piece that played to strong response over at Cannes (minus Rex Reed’s review) set an indie-release record with a per-screen average of $127k. Kingdom‘s expansion in the coming weeks could attain the same success as Marigold Hotel. It has a long way to go if it is to challenge the overall earnings of Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums ($52 million).

The other big indie release was France’s The Intouchables. The feel-good film has already become one of the most successful international releases of all time with $330 million in receipts. For its American debut it pulled in $101k at four locations. Look for The Weinstein Company to expand this crowd pleaser in the next few weeks.




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Battleship – You lack conviction.

The same week that Facebook became a publicly traded stock on Wall Street, Marvel’s The Avengers became Disney’s highest grossing film of all time. The correlation between the two is like this. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Disney saw a lucrative cash cow in the Marvel Studios after the first few films made hundreds of millions of dollars. So Mickey Mouse went into his trust fund and dolled out a few billion to acquire the Marvel brand. The result thus far has been astronomical earnings for the superhero flick The Avengers. For a third weekend it tops the box office with a $55 million haul. This is after a $207 million first week and $103 million second week. Obviously, the film peaked in its second weekend – scoring the largest second weekend ever. But $55 million in week three isn’t too shabby. It’s not Avatar $68.1 million territory, but over a billion earned over the course of the month, I don’t think the Magic Kingdom is hurting for money.

Now the question is how long before we see an Avengers sequel? Proudcer Kevin Feige has referred to this culmination of the Marvel Universe as “Phase One.” The second phase would consist of sequels to the characters of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America before the next Avengers adventure takes place. The second phase could also consists of another Hulk movie with Mark Ruffalo and Edgar Wright’s Ant Man may fall under the “Phase Two” umbrella as well.

Studios love brand names because they have the misguided notion that the audience is already built-in. Um, no. Brand names are more about pop culture relevance than a sustained fan base. Take my childhood for instance. I played with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and watched G.I. Joe cartoons introduced by Sgt. Slaughter. In the case of the Turtles, the timing was right for a film adaptation in the late ’80s. But how relevant are the Ninja Turtles and G.I. Joe toys with today’s youth? Such inconsistency with brand names and built-in audiences is why we have Michael Bay retooling the Ninja Turtles by changing their origins. Audiences may be familiar with the product, but if lacks crossover appeal to the unfamiliar then it won’t make money. For Hasbro, it’s union with Paramount proved profitable for three Tranformers releases, all directed by Michael Bay. They got progressively worse as the series went on, but their profits increased. Paramount hopes the same with its sequel/reboot of G.I. Joe by putting the focus on Dwayne Johnson’s “Roadblock” character. But when Hasbro teamed up with Universal for the release of Battleship it was an unholy union, because let’s face it – Battleship is a recreation game versus an action figure. Action figures stimulate the imagination, creating stories and situations. Battleship stimulates the mind in terms of strategy. So what happens, we get a terrible picture that doesn’t bare any resemblance to the original game. It opened at $25 million versus an estimated production budget of $209 million. Overseas, it made $215 million prior to its North American debut, but the film will be lucky to break even in terms of production and P&A costs.

And the marketing for Battleship was a joke. Presented as Transformers on Water! it had a very Michael Bay, pro-navy feel about it. Not helping was that the trailers seem to mimic several other alien invasion properties of recent years like Battle: Los Angeles and Skyline. And if you did a straw poll asking people the relation of the aliens to the original recreational game you’d probably get a lot of confounded looks and “huh?” expressions.

I still feel that this was a one-off project for Peter Berg, who did this so Universal would secure distribution on his dream project of Lone Survivor. The film is set to star Mark Wahlberg and Taylor Kitsch, who is getting run over the coals as the star of two blockbuster duds in John Carter and Battleship. The breakout star of TV’s Friday Night Lights, he had a small role as Gambit in the forgettable X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Neither 2012 release has marketed him as much as they have marketed the brand name. So to say the fault of each film is because of Kitsch primarily is unfair. Hopefully, working with Oliver Stone and a strong supporting cast in the upcoming Savages will be the one that stands out. Third times a charm and all that.

The Dictator, Sasha Baron Cohen’s first foray into scripted comedy under the direction of Larry Charles, failed to open as strong as 2006′s Borat ($26.4 million) or 2009′s Bruno ($30.6 million). With a $17.4 million weekend, that has to be disappointing for Paramount who had acquired The Dictator with the assumption that it would open in the low-to-mid $20 million range. Still this comedy about a self-centered genocidal world leader should have a longer shelf life on video than its domestic box office gross.

While I may be of the opinion of believing that Johnny Depp is not a box office star, he has tremendous pull internationally. The reason I don’t consider him a star is because outside of the of Pirates of the Caribbean series and the occasional Tim Burton/Depp team-up that does gonzo business, he’s failed to turn such films as Secret Window, The Rum Diary or Public Enemies into bonafide hits. And looking at the drop Dark Shadows took in week two, it appears that Depp is out of his element. Funny, considering it was yet another pairing of Depp and Burton. Seriously, who was the target audience? People who remember the original series? Depp fanatics? The comedy elements failed to deliver much laughs, and the horror aspect failed to illicit many thrills. I’d say Depp should try his hand at supporting work, but technically he will be as Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger release. Expect most of the marketing to be pushed behind him versus Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger.

In fifth place with $10.3 million, What to Expect When You’re Expecting couldn’t match the success of April’s Think Like a Man. Both were based on non-fiction works and had talented ensembles comprising each comedy. But only Man did more with less. It could be that mainstream audiences are just growing apathetic to the romantic comedy ensembles that include a bunch of stars that have no business being involved in projects where they are given brief roles with little substance. Just because Richard Curtis made a brilliant romantic ensemble with Love Actually doesn’t mean filmmakers should try to ape him.

Speaking of Think Like a Man, it finished the weekend with $2.7 million, just below The Hunger Games, which has collected a global total of $635 million. Man has an outside shot at $100 million domestic, while Games is looking to pass $400 million. It should achieve that goal within the next four weeks. Because telling people you have a $400 million dollar hit on your hands just sounds better than saying “yeah, we got a $394 million hit.”

For counterprogramming this summer, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is proving to be a good elixir for the Battleships of the world. Filled with a number of old people (strike that) British thespians, it has already proven to be a hit overseas. Now in 354 theaters it is the only film in the top 10 to be playing at less than 1700 locations. So while $8.25 million after three weeks may not sound like much, just realize that its per-screen average of $18,258, makes The Avengers‘ per-screen gross of $12,958 look like small potatoes.

Opening in limited release was the Brandon Routh starrer Crooked Arrows. Seriously, I saw a trailer for this like a week and a half ago and had never heard about the Native American sports drama up until then. It got a 55-screen release and collected $280k. But the big winner in the arthouse scene continues to be Richard Linklater’s Bernie. Expanding to 95 locations, the $511k weekend brings its four-week total to $1.1 million.

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Okay, so last week Marvel’s The Avengers completely obliterated the record for a three-day weekend opening. The total was so big that early estimates by studio Walt Disney were lower than predicted. Considering its record-breaking $207 million, what would the movie do for an encore? Well, it has already boosted the sales of shawarma thanks to Tony Stark. And unlike Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which saw its attendance drop by more than 70% in its second week of release, The Avengers only fell by 50%. As a result, it easily scored the largest second weekend in film history (by nearly $30 million). It’s $103 million earnings this past weekend make it the first film to finish two straight weekends with nine figures. Worldwide it has joined that exclusive club of billionaire earners. It didn’t beat Avatar‘s record of reaching that milestone in 17 days, but 19 days ain’t half bad. If the momentum keeps like this, Joss Whedon’s superhero team film could very well become the third highest-grosser of all time behind James Cameron’s $2 billion behemoths.

In terms of box office, the only likely contenders to compete with The Avengers‘ earnings are The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit. A mark against The Dark Knight Rises is that it will not have the added surcharge benefit of being presented in three dimensions. But The Hobbit is likely to confuse viewers with its multiple variations of presentation. I can only imagine the scenario where a family of four has to decide if they want to see The Hobbit in 2-D at 24 fps, 2-D at 48 fps, 3-D at 24 fps, or 3-D at 48 fps. It’s enough to make you lose your mind and rock yourself back and forth in the fetal position saying “My precious” over and over.

Placing second this weekend was Warner Bros.’ Dark Shadows from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Now I can understand people being outraged by the cost of John Carter and its pathetic box office gross, but Shadows somehow cost $150 million and made less than $30 million its opening weekend. Sure, Johnny Depp is loaded, having made a King’s Ransom from those Capt. Jack Sparrow movies, so he can flirt with side and passion projects until the next big payday comes. But what’s Tim Burton’s excuse? He may be very well off, getting some back-end profits of Alice in Wonderland‘s billion dollar gross, but considering his last crop of films he appears creatively bankrupt. With the exception of Corpse Bride, his recent titles have been adaptations of fairy tales, Broadway musicals, and classic movies (depending on your definition of classic when discussing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). Scott’s review pretty much matched my own thoughts. Actually, I became so bored after Barnabas’ stranger in a strange world situation and implied fellatio action via Helena Bonham Carter’s doctor character that when the final fifteen minutes arrived I wasn’t sure I was watching the same movie. Seriously, who the hell was Dark Shadows for anyway? Fans of Depp? Fans of Burton? Fans who still remember watching the original soap on ABC some forty-plus years ago? Fans of the ’90s TV revival that flopped? Seriously, did some suit at Warner Bros. see Depp and Burton on the prospectus and say “GREEN LIGHT THIS BITCH!”? Still, while it may not light the box office on fire here, overseas it should do well. They are in love with Depp and made his co-star vehicle with Angelina Jolie (The Tourist) a hit.

Coming in third is one of the box office surprises of the year, Think Like a Man. Passing the $80 million mark versus only costing $12 million to produce, the romantic ensemble is another winner for Screen Gems, which has already had a pair of hits in Underworld Awakening and The Vow. Rounding out the top five were the Nicholas Sparks’ weepie The Lucky One and The Hunger Games, the latter of which has made $623 million worldwide.

Audiences could care less about Jason Segel and Emily Blunt’s Five Year Engagement and Aardman’s animated Pirates! Band of Misfits has to play second fiddle to a bunch of leather in spandex, as more kids are going to see The Avengers. Honestly, have you seen the aisles at Target lately? Lanes filled with Avengers toys and tie-ins.

Popping into the top ten with its expansion to 178 screens was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It had the the second-best per-screen average in the top 10 behind The Avengers. Already a hit overseas, as counterprogramming to the summer blockbusters that will clog theaters weekly, Hotel could make upwards of $15 million in the U.S. to bring its overall total to $90 million, thus insuring that Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Bill Nighy get steady employment. More counterprogramming appeared in the form of Lionsgate’s Girl in Progress as Eva Mendes playing an unfit mother to newcomer Cierra Ramirez. Perfect for Mother’s Day, right?

In terms of arthouse and extremely limited release, Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America played at 13 locations to the tune of $28k. And the horror flick The Road (no relation to Cormac McCarthy’s novel) was able to scare $61k from viewers as it played on 50 screens.

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A multi-quadrant release, The Avengers combined the talents of four blockbuster superhero stars and it was looking to surpass the earnings of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 which, in 2010, had set an opening weekend record for the studio with $128 million earned in three days. That release didn’t have the benefit of 3D to add to its earnings; had the Iron Man sequel been enhanced by three dimensions it could have made upwards of $145 million. Still, I don’t think anyone could have expected the final tally this weekend. The Avengers was able to better the combined opening grosses of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger on its way to finishing higher than previous opening weekend record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. While Potter still hold the opening day record of $91 million, Marvel’s The Avengers looks to finish the weekend with a record setting $200 million.

And if you’re not down with that, Iron Man has two words for you. “Avenge This!”

Worldwide it should have hit $600 million by the end of Sunday. With an A+ CinemaScore and unbelievable word-of-mouth from audiences, rival studios are no doubt shaking as an uneasiness begins to creep in. Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows sees him pairing up again with Johnny Depp for the one-billionth time to blow the cobwebs off an old ’70s gothic soap and freshen it up for a whole new audience. Then in two weeks time we have the arrival of Battleship, which has done little to present any type of character in its advertisements. It’s mostly just wall to wall explosions for two and a half minutes.

Though The Avengers may have Paramount Pictures name on it, this is mostly a win for Disney who acquired the Marvel Comics brand in 2009, then in 2010 bought Paramount out of the final two films of its 6-picture distribution deal with Marvel Studios (The Avengers and Iron Man 3). As such, this is the first Marvel Studios film owned, marketed and distributed by The Walt Disney Studios. The $200 million success will make it that much easier for the studio to stomach the monetary loss it suffered with the release of John Carter back in March. It will also make it easier to move into sequel mode as we can expect a third Iron Man in May 2013, a Thor 2 in November 2013, and the studio is eying a May 16, 2014 release date for an Avengers sequel, one month after a Captain America sequel sees its arrival in theaters. If anything the success of The Avengers will give its writer/director, Joss Whedon, untold riches. At least he won’t be dickish about it, unlike Brett Ratner.

In case you were wondering, there were other movies playing this weekend. The success of that certain superhero team movie caused the end of Think Like a Man‘s two week reign at the top of box office. But it has passed $70 million in three weeks. Not bad for a romantic ensemble comedy that was mostly seen as something with little crossover appeal. Taking the bronze this weekend was Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games, which just passed $380 million. It now sets its sights on $400 million and could get there considering that it has been in the top 3 mix since its bow in late March.

There’s a bit of a logjam in spots 4, 5, 6 and only a few $100k separate all three contenders. Nicholas Sparks’ The Lucky One did just enough business to stay above The Pirates! Band of Misfits. It’s looking at $50 million, while the only animated film in the top ten took a tumble in its second week of release. The Aardman ‘toon had a steep drop even with the added benefit of 3D. Thankfully it’s a decent hit overseas with $70 million already earned. And The Five-Year Engagement, though marketed as this year’s Bridesmaids, is performing like Judd Apatow’s Drillbit Taylor. For lightning to strike twice in terms of repeating the success of Bridesmaids, Universal would have been better off putting a call in to Thor to expedite the process.

The Raven and Jason Statham’s latest starring vehicle, Safe, both took massive drops in attendance, losing more than 65% of its first-week viewership. Chimpanzee and The Three Stooges round out the top ten because not enough people wanted to see The Cabin in the Woods or John Carter, I’m afraid. In the case of Chimpanzee, Disney’s latest nature documentary surpassed the earnings of Oceans to become Disneynature’s second-highest grossing documentary release.

New in limited release was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Already a hit worldwide with $73 million in earnings, it added another $750k in the States at 27 locations. Richard Linklater’s Bernie saw expansion from three to eight screens this weekend and brought in $140k as a result. Newcomer First Position amassed $51k on five screens, while the Kate Hudson starrer A Little Bit of Heaven could only pull in $9.8k from 11 theaters. And to think she had a string of $21 million openings at one time. But that probably had more to do with her co-stars (Matthew McConaughey, Owen Wilson) more than her own star status.

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Scott Sawitz leads off the month of May.

May 4^th

The first week of the Summer 2012 blockbuster season begins this week with what might be the biggest film of the year: Marvel’s The Avengers. It’s been a number of films away as they establish the universe everyone exists in, of course, but it’ll be the one that dominates screens in every multiplex across the country. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel also comes out this week in under 30 theatres, a holdover from 2011 that’s being dumped into theatres as counter programming in a handful of markets. At this point The Avengers will probably be the safer pick; Hotel  is about a bunch of British expatriates living in India and will be much more of an older audience appeal.

Pick of the week: Marvel’s The Avengers (watch the trailer)

May 11^th

Johnny Depp’s big film of the summer finally hits as the movie version of gothic soap opera Dark Shadows finds its way into theatres this week. It’ll be the pick of the week, of course, as there isn’t much competition and there aren’t any other wide releases coming out this week.  On the indie scene Girl in Progress and God Bless America are hitting big screens in limited release but getting fairly poor early buzz. Depp is nothing if not reliably entertaining.

Pick of the week: Dark Shadows (watch the “Vampire History” feature)

May 18^th

The first true week of the summer has two of the year’s least anticipated films as well as the latest from Sacha Baron Cohen. Battleship has had any number of turgid trailers so far, making it appear to be the sea version of Transformers more than anything else. It has a terrific director behind it in Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights) but so far a good trailer hasn’t been able to be cut for the film. What To Expect When You’re Expecting is another in the “cram as many stars into a film as possible” type of clichéd genre films, based off an advice book of the same name ala Think Like a Man. The week’s best film comes out on Wednesday in The Dictator; Sacha Baron Cohen adapts Saddam Husseein’s novel about a dictator who saves his country from the evils of democracy and freedom. It’ll also be the only film of the week that’s intentionally funny, too.

Pick of the week: The Dictator (watch the trailer)

May 25^th

Will Smith hasn’t been in a film in nearly four years. It doesn’t seem like it but the only really bankable movie star in Hollywood today last had a film in theatres with the remarkably underperforming Seven Pounds, the first film in many to not break $100 million domestically for the star. Now he’s back with a film nearly guaranteed to be a hit in the third Men in Black film, the film that helped establish his bonafides as a movie star. Also being released is Chernobyl Diaries, another found footage horror film. This time it’s teenagers in Chernobyl being attacked by something living there. In limited release is Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, about a pair of summer camp runaways. It’ll also be the best film of the week as well.

Pick of the week: Moonrise Kingdom (watch the trailer)


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