Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Hobbit Takes December US Box Office Record With $84m

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The-Hobbit-poster-1There was no doubt that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey would top US the box office in its first weekend of release. The only real question was how big it would be. The film has taken $84.7 million in its first three days, which is a record for a December weekend, beating out the opening of I Am Legend, which took $77.2 million back in 2007.

Despite this, some are still seeing The Hobbit as an underperformer, simply because many thought it should have cracked $100 million. However December is an unusual month as while most of the year you have to get what you can in the first few days and then hope the drop off is slow, the festive season tends to give movies longer legs than they’d usually have, and so The Hobbit is likely to continue to find audiences through the New Year, especially as it’s getting strong word of mouth.

As for whether the higher frame rate screenings have made a difference, Warner hasn’t released a breakdown, although 49% of tickets were sold across all the 3D playdates, and IMAX has reported a significantly higher per screen average for venues showing the movie at 48fps. Anecdotal evidence suggests there’s still confusion over the format, and that some people are being put off by bad notices given to HFR and are assuming all screenings are in that format, while others apparently don’t realise HFR is also in 3D.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of December 14th-16th.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $84.7 $84.7
2 Rise Of The Guardians $7.4 $71.3
3 Lincoln $7.2 $107.9
4 Skyfall $7.0 $272.2
5 Life Of Pi $5.4 $69.5
6 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 $5.1 $276.8
7 Wreck-It Ralph $3.2 $168.7
8 Playing For Keeps $3.2 $10.8
9 Red Dawn $2.3 $40.8
10 Silver Linings Playbook $2.0 $16.9
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Skyfall Rises Back To The Top Of The US Box Office

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The couple of weeks after Thanksgiving always tend to be dominated by holdovers at the US box office, but this year it’s been particularly light on new entries, seemingly because everyone is running scared of The Hobbit, which is expected to completely take over cinemas this coming weekend.

This has allowed Skyfall to rise back to the top of the US box office on its fifth weekend, taking $11.4 million over the three days. It’s not a huge amount to make it to the top of the chart, and indeed overall it’s been the third worst weekend at the boox office this year. However it’s good news for Skyfall, as no movie has toped the box office on its fifth weekend since 2010.

The only major new release tanked, with the Gerard Butler soccer themed rom-com Playing For Keeps taking just $6 million on its first three days.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of December 7th-9th.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 Skyfall $11.4 $261.6
2 Rise Of The Guardians $10.5 $61.9
3 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 $9.2 $268.7
4 Lincoln $9.1 $97.3
5 Life Of Pi $8.3 $60.8
6 Playing For Keeps $6.0 $6.0
7 Wreck-It Ralph $4.9 $164.4
8 Red Dawn $4.2 $37.2
9 Flight $3.1 $86.2
10 Killing Them Softly $2.7 $11.7
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Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 Tops US Box Office Again, With Killing Them Softly Bombing

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The post Thanksgiving box office is traditionally dominated by holdovers and that’s certainly true this year, with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 topping the US chart again, taking another $17 million to hit $255 million in America so far. It also hit a franchise record internationally over the weekend, taking $447 million outside the US, ahead of Breaking Dawn Part 1’s total of $430.9 million.

New releases didn’t do very well at all, with Brad Pitt’s latest, Killing The Softly, only placing seventh on the chart with $7 million, way below what the distributors had hoped. Even worse, it’s getting terrible notices from audiences, suggesting it will quickly disappear with trace.

The only other new entry is the horror flick The Collection, which took $3.4 million to place 10th on the chart.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of November 30th-December 2nd.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 $17.4 $255
2 Skyfall $17 $246
3 Rise Of The Guardians $13.5 $48.9
4 Lincoln $13.5 $83.7
5 Life Of Pi $12 $48.4
6 Wreck-It Ralph $7 $158
7 Killing The Softly $7 $7
8 Red Dawn $6.5 $31.3
9 Flight $4.5 $81.5
10 The Collection $3.4 $3.4
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Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Rips Into US Box Office

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It might not have hit the $150-$160 million opening some were predicting, but The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn Part 2 was certainly no slouch at the US box office, taking $141 million, which is the eighth biggest first three-day take ever. It was slightly behind New Moon, which still holds the franchise record with $142 million, but slightly ahead of Breaking Dawn Part 1.

Globally the movie made $340 million over the weekend, which ain’t a bad total at all. It’s the franchise’s best opening internationally.

While there were no other brand new openers in the US top 10, Lincoln made its first appearance after its strong opening on just 11 screens last week. After expanding onto 1700 screen, it took $21 million to place third on the chart. It’s a very healthy take considering the subject matter and period setting – and the fact it doesn’t promise vast amounts of action.

Take a look below for the US box office Top 10 for the weekend of November 16th-18th.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 $141.3 $141.3
2 Skyfall $41.5 $161.3
3 Lincoln $21.0 $22.4
4 Wreck-It Ralph $18.3 $121.4
5 Flight $8.6 $61.3
6 Argo $4.0 $92.0
7 Taken 2 $2.1 $134.6
8 Pitch Perfect $1.2 $62.0
9 Here Comes The Boom $1.2 $41.0
10 Cloud Atlas $0.9 $24.8
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Lincoln Writer Tony Kushner Discusses If The President Was Gay

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Tony Kushner moved into the upper echelons of US writers with his two-part, Pulitzer Prize winning play Angels In America – A Gay Fantasia On National Themes. However his latest job has seen him take on Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg’s biopics. When he was hired many wondered whether the gay writer would touch on Lincoln’s sexuality and the long-stand rumours that the President was gay.

Turns out he wasn’t going to do much about it in Lincoln, as the film is more interested with Honest Abe’s manoeuvring to get slavery finally abolished and not what he might have wanted to get up to in the bedroom.

However in has touched on his personal thoughts about Lincoln’s sexuality in an interview on GoldDerby. He says “I wanted to write about a very specific moment and I chose this moment and I don’t feel that there’s any evidence at this particular moment that Lincoln was having sex with anybody. He seems to have not slept and taken no time off and during this period I think he was beginning to feel ground to a pulp by the war and by the pressures of his job. I find it difficult to believe that Lincoln was ‘banging anybody’. Now maybe he was. I personally believe that there is some reason to speculate that Lincoln might have been bisexual or gay….

“There are, unfortunately, no memoirs, no diaries, nothing to say for sure. I don’t say in the movie whether the Lincoln character that I wrote was gay or straight. You could ask Daniel (Day-Lewis) what he was playing, but it did not seem to me a thing to make a movie about now….

“I absolutely believe that the Lincoln’s marriage was a real marriage. These two people loved each other…Whether he was gay or straight or bisexual, they had a real deep, meaningful relationship that was probably the most significant relationship in Lincoln’s life…

“It wouldn’t be the first time that a gay man and a straight woman hooked up and had a great marriage. But I don’t know. I really don’t know. And I think that’s what we have to say about it. We keep the door open and people should talk about it. I don’t feel, finally, that my politics are entirely determined by the fact that I’m a gay man.”

You can see Kushner’s remarks below.

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New Lincoln International Trailer – Take a look at Spielberg’s film in all its glory

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During its US preview screenings, Spielberg’s Lincoln has been getting pretty good reviews, and while we in the UK have to wait until January 25th, 2013 to see it, a new trailer has arrived giving us a look at the film’s scope and intricate production design. Personally we reckon it’ll be worth watching just for Tommy Le Jones’ lovely wig.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.

‘Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln” is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, based in part on the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox film, in association with Participant Media, releases in UK cinemas on January 25th, 2013.’

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Lincoln Trailer – Daniel Day Lewis gets Presidential in Spielberg’s film

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It’s taken a long time to get a trailer for Spielberg’s Lincoln, but now it’s here, showing the director in full on soft-tint epic historical mode. It all looks very worthy and Oscar-bait, but we’ll have to wait and see if Spielberg can get over his tendency to get slightly boring when he goes back beyond the Second World War. The movie concentrates on the last years of Lincoln’s life, when with the Civil War raging, many believed the only way to end conflict and save the union was to rescind the Emancipation Proclamation (which freed slaves and was relatively flimsy legally, as it was a Presidential order that had never been backed by the Congress, Senate or courts). However Abraham pressed forward trying to find support for a Constitutional Amendment, which would ensure black people could not be enslaved in the US ever again.

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First Tease For Spielberg’s Lincoln Arrives

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The full trailer for Lincoln will hit the net on Thursday, but before then we get a tease and an epic tone in this brief look at the movie. Daniel Day Lewis certainly look very Lincoln-y as we hear a few lines from the Gettysberg address. The movie concentrates of the final years of Lincoln’s life, around the time of the Civil War and his efforts to ensure that once the conflict ended, slaves would remain free. The films currently due for UK release on January 25th.

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First Poster For Spielberg’s Lincoln Debuts

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The first poster has popped up online for Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln, which stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the famed president.

The movie is going to ignore Lincoln’s vampire fighting exploits and concentrate on the non-supernatural, focussing on the time around the Civil War. Spielberg was recently quoted as saying, “Our movie is really about a working leader who must make tough decisions and get things done in the face of overwhelming opposition… [The film begins with] Lincoln’s realization that the Emancipation Proclamation, the thing he is most known for, was simply a war powers act that would easily be struck down by any number of lawyers after the cessation of hostilities after the Civil War. He needed to abolish slavery by constitutional measure — and that’s where we start.”

Now a poster has arrived, a trailer can’t be far behind, so expect to see that soon. Lincoln is due to hit the UK on January 25th, 2013.

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First Pic Of Daniel Day Lewis In Lincoln

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Nope that’s not a colour photo of Abraham Lincoln himself, it’s Daniel Day-Lewis as the famed president in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming biopic. The movie is going to ignore Lincoln’s vampire fighting exploits and simply concentrate on the non-supernatural, focussing on the time around the Civil War. As well as premiering the image, EW has a quote from Spielberg saying, “Our movie is really about a working leader who must make tough decisions and get things done in the face of overwhelming opposition… [The film begins with] Lincoln’s realization that the Emancipation Proclamation, the thing he is most known for, was simply a war powers act that would easily be struck down by any number of lawyers after the cessation of hostilities after the Civil War. He needed to abolish slavery by constitutional measure — and that’s where we start.”

Lincoln is due to hit the UK on January 25th, 2013.

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