Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Bradley Cooper
Director: David O. Russell
Running Time: 122 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: April 1st 2013
Director: David O. Russell
Running Time: 122 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: April 1st 2013
It took many by surprise when Silver Linings Playbook picked up eight Oscar nominations, as while it got decent reviews, few thought it was a serious Academy Award contender. However, as the ceremony approached it picked up momentum to the point where many thought there was a decent possibility of it taking the Best Picture prize. In the end its only gong was a much deserved Bst Actress award for Jennifer Lawrence, but you can certainly see why it became a bit of a sleeper awards contender. [Read more…]
Oz The Great And Powerful has stayed top of the US box office, adding another $42.2 million. Disney will be pleased as while major movies often drop more than 50% of their take in their second weekend, Oz eased off by just 46%.
The question this weekend wasn’t whether Oz The Great And Powerful would top the US box office, but how much it would take. While expectations meant that anything under $80 million would have been seen as a disappointment, if the final figures hold up, Oz just scraped in with $80.2 million.
Bryan Singer’s Jack The Giant Slayer is the first mega-budget movie of 2013, but if Hollywood was hoping it would break the box office bank and point to a bumper year ahead, they’ll be disappointed. The film took $28.1 million in its first weekend in US cinemas, which isn’t a complete disaster, but considering the movie cost nearly $200 million to make, it’s now going to have to rely on becoming a major success outside North America if it hopes to make its money back.
Despite the box office usually being fairly open over the Oscar weekend, it was a particularly bad time for new movies, as the Dwayne Johnson action flick Snitch just missed out on the top spot, taking $13 million to place second. That allowed Identity Thief to return to the top, adding another $14 million, to take its total so far in American to $93 million.
It was undoubtedly one of the most open Oscar races for years, with the result that rather than one film sweeping the entire thing, the Academy has spread the cheer amongst a bunch of movie. The winner of the big prize was Argo, marking one of the few times the Best Picture Oscar has gone to a film whose helmer wasn’t even nominated for Best Director. The film also won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing
Despite some truly atrocious reviews, audiences’ love of John McLane won out over the weekend, with the movie topping the US box office with $25 million from Friday to Sunday and $33 million since it was released last Thursday.
The Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman grossout comedy Identity Thief may have been faced with some vitriolic reviews, but US audiences obviously didn’t care as the film significantly outperformed expectations, taking $36.5 million in its first three days in cinemas. It’s one of the best starts ever for an R-rated comedy, suggesting the film should have strong legs over the coming weeks.
Nobody seemed sure quite how well Warm Bodies would do at the US box office, but it turns out audiences were up for some zombie fun over the Superbowl weekend, as the Nicholas Hoult starring movie took $20 million in its first weekend to top the chart. It’s considered a pretty good opening for a relatively cheap movie that could easily have been ignored.
The Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton starrer, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, has topped the US box office on its first weekend of release, taking $19 million. While it came in number one, many are still seeing the grown-up fairytale as an underperformer, as most had expected an opening in the $20 million range.