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 Weekend US Box Office, But Les Miserables & Django Still Strong

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The-Hobbit-poster-1Despite some stiff competition from newbies Les Miserables and Django Unchained, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey held them them off to top the box office for a third weekend, taking another $32 million. That takes its US total past the $200 million mark, while worldwide it moves past $600 million.

Although the new entries couldn’t beat The Hobbit, Les Miserables, Django Unchained and Parental Guidance have all outpaced most people’s expectations since their Christmas Day release. Django took second place over the weekend with $30 million and $64 million since its release. With many expecting the film to have a strong awards run, it should continue to do well over the coming weeks.

Les Miserables was in third spot with $28 million and $67 million since its release. It’s one of the strongest starts ever for a musical and while the film began to tire after its incredibly strong first couple of days, it still suggests the movie will have legs over the coming weeks, especially if it scores a few Oscar nominations.

The Bette Midler and Billy Crystal comedy Parental Guidance also had a stronger than expected showing with $14.8 million over the weekend and $29.5 million since Christmas. Although not an amazing take, it’s good for a family comedy with older leads and has had decent reaction from audiences.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of December 28th-30th.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $32.9 $222.7
2 Django Unchained $30.6 $64.0
3 Les Miserables $28.0 $67.4
4 Parental Guidance $14.8 $29.5
5 Jack Reacher $14.0 $44.6
6 This Is 40 $13.1 $37.1
7 Lincoln $7.5 $132.0
8 The Guilt Trip $6.7 $21.1
9 Monsters, Inc (3D) $6.3 $18.4
10 Rise Of The Guardians $4.9 $90.2
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Hobbit Stays Atop The US Box Office, With New Movies Struggling

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The-Hobbit-poster-1The weekend before Christmas is often fairly quiet, but this year a slew of new movies were released, hoping to line themselves up for the festive period (when they’ll be joined by the likes of Les Miserables and Django Unchained). However none of the new entries could beat the Hobbit, which itself isn’t holding up as well as many had hoped.

It dropped 56% from its first weekend, adding $36.7 million to take its total to $149.9 million. While by no means a disaster (and it’s still doing good business internationally), it not as much as many had expected and significantly lower than the second and third Lord Of The Rings movies had made at this stage.

The Tom Cruise starrer Jack Reacher took $15.6 million to take second spot on the chart, lower than most of the star’s movies, but about what many had expected, especially for the weekend it was release. In third place is Judd Apatow’s This Is 40, which took $12 million to place fourth. Again it could be worse, but many had hoped for more from the sort-of Knocked Up sequel.

Barbra Streisand’s first starring role since 1996’s The Mirror Has Two Faces, The Guilt Trip, landed with a thud taking $5.3 million to place sixth, despite the presence of Seth Rogen. Middling to bad reviews certainly didn’t help. The 3D re-release of Monster’s Inc. took seventh spot with $5 million, suggesting interest in 3D versions of Disney movies is waning.

The final new nationwide release, Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away, placed outside the top 10 at number 11, but it’s difficult to judge exactly how well it did, due to the fact that it only played on 840 screens and had just two showing a day. That means the screenings were fairly well attended, but it’s difficult to judge it against other movies as it was screened in a different way. We’ll be able to tell more in the next few weeks whether the film – which is partway between narrative and concert movie – will be a success.

Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty also did well in its opening very limited release, taking $410,000 on just five screens, suggesting it will do very well as it expands onto more screens.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of December 21st-23rd.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $36.7 $149.8
2 Jack Reacher $15.6 $15.6
3 This Is 40 $12.0 $12.0
4 Rise Of The Guardians $5.9 $79.6
5 Lincoln $5.6 $116.7
6 The Guilt Trip $5.3 $7.4
7 Monsters, Inc (3D) $5.0 $6.5
8 Skyfall $4.7 $279.9
9 Life Of Pi $3.8 $76.1
10 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 $2.6 $281.6
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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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New Rise Of The Guardians Trailer – Jack Frost must save the world

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Normally Dreamworks Animation films look like they’ll be fun but a bit lightweight and fluffy, however Rise Of The Guardian feels as if there’ll be a bit more too it than that, not least a more intricate and beautiful animation style. The film tells the story of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost – legendary characters with previously unknown extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere. Rise Of The Guardians is due out in November.

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Rise Of The Guardians Trailer

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Dreamworks Animation has largely stuck to movies that are knockabout fun, but from the evidence of this trailer, there might be a bit more meat to Rise Of The Guardians – it’s certainly gonna look pretty. The film tells the story of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost – legendary characters with previously unknown extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere. Rise Of The Guardians is due out in November.

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