‘The Lego Movie’ enjoys awesome debut

The Lego Movie successfully built upon the popularity of the Lego toy brand to earn $69 million over the weekend, a stellar debut, and notable for this time of year. The film’s haul is the second highest for the month of February, just behind The Passion of the Christ, which raked in $83.8 million in 2004. The comedy from the team behind the acclaimed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs stacks up favorably against other animated original movies – those that are neither prequels nor sequels – as well. Fellow fiscal over-achievers include Up ($68.1 million), The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and reigning champion The Simpsons Movie ($74 million). In terms of a demographic breakdown, the kids flick found broad appeal among older viewers: 59% of attendees were over the age of 18 and were, unsurprisingly, majority male (55%). With strong reviews fueling positive word-of-mouth, The Lego Movie will likely enjoy a healthy theatrical life, one which may boast a cume of around $200 million by the time it has run its course.

As expected, The Monuments Men clocked in at No. 2 this weekend, with returns that were a little higher than predicted. George Clooney in fact enjoyed his most successful opening yet as a director: The Monuments Men earned $22.7 million. That’s even better than Oscar-winner Argo’s debut ($19.5 million) and places the film in good company alongside contemporary Captain Phillips ($25.7 million). However, the movie’s viewers – most of who were over the age of 35 (75%) – only gave Men a B+ Cinemascore grade, and reviews continue to be unfavorable, with the movie tracking 33% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. Both these factors portend a steep dropoff this coming weekend, though it’s just as likely the movie’s megawatt cast will continue to draw a steady stream of curious viewers for a little while longer.

Ride Along’s comedic chops have and continue to lure audiences week after week. The film dropped just 22 percent to land the No. 3 spot at the box office, grossing $9.4 million. This weekend’s earnings have bumped Ride Along’s cume to $105.2 million, making it the first 2014 release to pass the $100 million mark.

Experiencing a similar slight downturn of only 23%, Frozen added another $6.9 million to its ridiculous total that now stands at $368.7 million. There’s really not much else to say about the animated hit, other than to reiterate widespread delight that the power of the Disney princess has been reinvigorated.

Female audiences were less enthused by the latest vampire offering, Vampire Academy, a disappointing showing from the once dependable director Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday). As predicted, amid poor reviews, a weak marketing campaign and general blood-sucker fatigue, Academy bombed with $4.1 million. Although a new release, the film did not manage to crack the weekend’s top 5. Instead, the No. 5 slot went to That Awkward Moment, which surprised some pundits with its steady hold. The Zac Efron vehicle eased 37% to gross $5.5 million. Both films target young women, though only one, it seems, is appealing enough for the demographic to really sink its teeth into.

Our critics’ takes on the 9 Best Picture nominees

The writers here at Film Journal seem to agree with The Academy and its selection of the top films of 2013. Each of the nine Best Picture nominees found favor with our critics when it first premiered last year.  Spike Jonze’s dystopian love story, Her, came the closest to receiving what could be considered a negative review, with critic David Noh singling out “eternal sufferer” protagonist, Theodore Twombly, for being too passive a hero. Yet, even with Twombly’s persistent moroseness, the character's world was nonetheless full of “droll moments and real surprise,” Noh acknowledged. As is the case with several directors whose films received nominations, Spike Jonze turned in one of his finest works in years.

Here’s what the FJI critics had to say about the best films of 2013:

12 Years A Slave:
12 Years a Slave is a landmark film, complete with a terrific ensemble (Paul Dano, Sara Paulson and Brad Pitt need to be mentioned in certain key roles), and the vision and skill required to do justice to such historically complex material. It is one of those rare pieces of art that all its successors taking a shot at the same topic will be measured against.

Click here for the full review.

American Hustle:
With a crackling script and masterful direction, Russell has made a fiction that is stranger—and way more fun—than the truth. He has the help of a dream cast of actors, all at the top of their games.

Click here for the full review.

Dallas Buyers Club:
Screenwriters Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack don’t fall back on any heroic or clichéd turns but keep Woodroof on an outlaw course where no pro-gay marches or quilts sweeten the way or soften the character’s macho, prejudicial core. Yet it’s McConaughey’s savvy incarnation of this Lone Star brute that makes this gritty tale worth the ride.

Click here for the full review.

Captain Phillips:
But Captain Phillips functions most as a handsomely, elaborately produced “hardware” movie that satisfies in both its details and the sustained suspense of its action elements.  And by having Hanks in the starring role.

Click here for the full review.

The Wolf of Wall Street:
Unlike its mostly slimy characters, The Wolf of Wall Street favorably impresses on every level. Perversely enjoyable and entertaining, this wild ride of a film offers a motor-mouth chorus of really bad boys whose rousing cantata celebrates the recent era of easy money and financial funny business. Audiences—their values be damned—will sing along.

Click here for the full review.

Nebraska:
Like a Hitchcock MacGuffin, the non-existent prize is the peg on which screenwriter Bob Nelson hangs an alternately charming and caustic road movie about the often exasperating bonds between parents and children and how we could all benefit from taking the time to get to know those sometime-strangers we call Mom and Dad.

Click here for the full review.

Philomena:
Philomena is as much a sharp exploration of class, sexuality, faith and relationships as it is a wittily written, devastating account of the barbaric treatment of unwed mothers in Ireland as recently as the 1950s, with a plum role for the remarkable Judi Dench.

Click here for the full review.

Gravity:
Cuarón and his team have created screen spectacle with a searing human dimension, and bring a true sense of wonder to a groundbreaking movie experience.

Click here for the full review.

Her:
It's a fiendishly clever concept, his most satisfying outing since the brilliant Being John Malkovich, rife with droll moments and real surprise.

Click here for the full review.

The Internet is of course full of Oscar lists and countdowns today, posing much more of a distraction than usual for film-lovers. In-keeping with this spirit of enjoyable diversions, here’s another (brief!) list outlining What the Internet Has to Say About Oscar:

Film.com: The 12 Best Acceptance Speeches in Oscar History
Replete with video and fully subjective commentary.

Entertainment Weekly: The 10 Most High-Powered Oscar Races of the Past 25 Years
A fun trip down commemorative lane. Who knew Kate Winslet had already received three nominations by age 26? More importantly: Can Jennifer Lawrence best her record?

Vulture: Where to Stream This Year’s Oscar-Nominated Documentaries
A fantastic resource.

Indiewire: Interview: Lupita Nyong’o
Months before she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for 12 Years a Slave.

Vanity Fair: Celebrating The Oldest-Ever Class of Best Actress Nominees
Take that, Sexist Agism.

2014 Academy Awards nominees revealed

And they’re here! After months of speculation, campaigning and enduring those obnoxious for-your-consideration pop-up ads (all of which will now, unfortunately, only intensify) the nominations for the 2014 Academy Awards have been announced.

If you haven’t read through them already, odds are, you’ll be able to guess the major categories.

Nine features earned nods for Best Picture: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Not a dark horse among the aforementioned. This year, who and what got snubbed is a much more interesting topic of conversation than who and what made the cut. The award for Most Glaring Omission goes to the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, which not only failed to receive a nomination for Best Picture, but which was also shut out of the Best Actor (Oscar Isaac) and Best Director categories. A friend of mine may have inadvertently expressed the general sentiment when he explained his reasons for disliking the feature: The Coen Brothers made a very beautiful film about a very unlikable guy. He felt it lacked personal resonance. It was a movie he could appreciate for its technical and aesthetic mastery, but which ultimately left him cold. The Academy may have felt similarly.

Others may be surprised favorites Tom Hanks and especially Emma Thompson were left out of the Best Actor and Actress groups. Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass failed to impress members of The Academy as well, and, although we’ve known for some weeks that, having been left off the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Feature, Iran’s The Past wouldn’t receive a nomination, the snub of Asghar Farhadi’s complex drama is still a shame.

Having acknowledged the fallen, however, the focus must now land on those left standing. It’s a mighty strong group of contenders that features American Hustle and Gravity at the front of the pack with their 10 nominations each, and 12 Years a Slave following close behind with nine nods.

Without further vamping, then, here is the complete list of nominees for the 2014 Academy Awards (slated to air March 2, on ABC):

Best Picture
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Christian Bale, American Hustle (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Bruce Dern, Nebraska (Paramount)
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount)
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight)
Matthew McConaughey,  Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Amy Adams, American Hustle (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sandra Bullock, Gravity (Warner Bros.)
Judi Dench, Philomena (The Weinstein Company)
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County (The Weinstein Company)

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
June Squibb, Nebraska
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Best Animated Feature
Frozen
The Croods
The Wind Rises
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine

Achievement in cinematography
The Grandmaster, Philippe Le Sourd
Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis, Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska, Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners, Roger A. Deakins
 
Achievement in costume design
American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson
The Grandmaster, William Chang Suk Ping
The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin
The Invisible Woman, Michael O’Connor
12 Years a Slave, Patricia Norris
 
Achievement in directing
American Hustle, David O. Russell
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón
Nebraska, Alexander Payne
12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen
The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese
 
Best documentary feature
The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cutie and the Boxer, Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
Dirty Wars, Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
The Square, Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
20 Feet from Stardom, Nominees to be determined
 
Best documentary short subject
CaveDigger, Jeffrey Karoff
Facing Fear, Jason Cohen
Karama Has No Walls, Sara Ishaq
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall, Edgar Barens
 
Achievement in film editing
American Hustle, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club, John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
12 Years a Slave, Joe Walker
 
Best foreign language film of the year
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium
The Great Beauty, Italy
The Hunt, Denmark
The Missing Picture, Cambodia
Omar, Palestine
 
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club, Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Stephen Prouty
The Lone Ranger, Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny
 
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
The Book Thief, John Williams
Gravity, Steven Price
Her, William Butler and Owen Pallett
Philomena, Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr. Banks, Thomas Newman
 
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

Best motion picture of the year
“American Hustle” Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
“Captain Phillips” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
“Dallas Buyers Club” Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman, Producers
“Her” Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers
“Nebraska” Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, Producers
“Philomena” Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers
“12 Years a Slave” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers
“The Wolf of Wall Street” Nominees to be determined
 
Achievement in production design
“American Hustle” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
“Gravity” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
“The Great Gatsby” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
“Her” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
“12 Years a Slave” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker
 
Best animated short film
“Feral” Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
“Get a Horse!” Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
“Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
“Possessions” Shuhei Morita
“Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer
 
Best live action short film
“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” Esteban Crespo
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
“The Voorman Problem” Mark Gill and Baldwin Li
 
Achievement in sound editing
“All Is Lost” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
“Captain Phillips” Oliver Tarney
“Gravity” Glenn Freemantle
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Brent Burge
“Lone Survivor” Wylie Stateman
 
Achievement in sound mixing
“Captain Phillips” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
“Gravity” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
“Lone Survivor” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow
 
Achievement in visual effects
“Gravity” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
“Iron Man 3” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
“The Lone Ranger” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
“Star Trek Into Darkness” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton
 
Adapted screenplay
“Before Midnight” Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
“Captain Phillips” Screenplay by Billy Ray
“Philomena” Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
“12 Years a Slave” Screenplay by John Ridley
“The Wolf of Wall Street” Screenplay by Terence Winter
 
Original screenplay
“American Hustle” Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” Written by Woody Allen
“Dallas Buyers Club” Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
“Her” Written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” Written by Bob Nelson

SAG Announces 2014 Nominees

With four nods, including a Best Actor bid for Chiwetel Ejiofor and one for the coveted Best Cast, 12 Years A Slave has racked up the most 2014 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

In the next tier down, SAG awarded three nominations each to Dallas Buyers Club, August: Osage County and Lee Daniels' The Butler. Nebraska, American Hustle and Captain Phillips have all earned two nods per film.

The list of this year's movie nominees is outlined in full below. Combined with last week's NYFCC awards, which film do you think has the edge at this year's Oscars?

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
BRUCE DERN / Woody Grant – “NEBRASKA” (Paramount Pictures)
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Solomon Northup – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
TOM HANKS / Capt. Richard Phillips – “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” (Columbia Pictures)
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY / Ron Woodroof – “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” (Focus Features)
FOREST WHITAKER / Cecil Gaines – “LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER” (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
CATE BLANCHETT / Jasmine – “BLUE JASMINE” (Sony Pictures Classics)
SANDRA BULLOCK / Ryan Stone – “GRAVITY” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JUDI DENCH / Philomena Lee – “PHILOMENA” (The Weinstein Company)
MERYL STREEP / Violet Weston – “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY” (The Weinstein Company)
EMMA THOMPSON / P.L. Travers – “SAVING MR. BANKS” (Walt Disney Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
BARKHAD ABDI / Muse – “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” (Columbia Pictures)
DANIEL BRÜHL / Niki Lauda – “RUSH” (Universal Pictures)
MICHAEL FASSBENDER / Edwin Epps – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Albert – “ENOUGH SAID” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JARED LETO / Rayon – “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” (Focus Features)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Rosalyn Rosenfeld – “AMERICAN HUSTLE” (Columbia Pictures)
LUPITA NYONG’O / Patsey – “12 YEARS A SLAVE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
JULIA ROBERTS / Barbara Weston – “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY” (The Weinstein Company)
JUNE SQUIBB / Kate Grant – “NEBRASKA” (Paramount Pictures)
OPRAH WINFREY / Gloria Gaines – “LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER” (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
12 YEARS A SLAVE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / Ford
PAUL DANO / Tibeats
GARRET DILLAHUNT / Armsby
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Solomon Northup
MICHAEL FASSBENDER / Edwin Epps
PAUL GIAMATTI / Freeman
SCOOT McNAIRY / Brown
LUPITA NYONG’O / Patsey
ADEPERO ODUYE / Eliza
SARAH PAULSON / Mistress Epps
BRAD PITT / Bass
MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS / Robert
ALFRE WOODARD / Mistress Shaw
 
AMERICAN HUSTLE (Columbia Pictures)
AMY ADAMS / Sydney Prosser
CHRISTIAN BALE / Irving Rosenfeld
LOUIS C.K. / Stoddard Thorsen
BRADLEY COOPER / Richie DiMaso
PAUL HERMAN / Alfonse Simone
JACK HUSTON / Pete Musane
JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Rosalyn Rosenfeld
ALESSANDRO NIVOLA / Federal Prosecutor
MICHAEL PEÑA / Sheik (Agent Hernandez)
JEREMY RENNER / Mayor Carmine Polito
ELISABETH RÖHM / Dolly Polito
SHEA WHIGHAM / Carl Elway
 
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (The Weinstein Company)
ABIGAIL BRESLIN / Jean Fordham
CHRIS COOPER / Charles Aiken
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / “Little” Charles Aiken
JULIETTE LEWIS / Karen Weston
MARGO MARTINDALE / Mattie Fae Aiken
EWAN McGREGOR / Bill Fordham
DERMOT MULRONEY / Steve
JULIANNE NICHOLSON / Ivy Weston
JULIA ROBERTS / Barbara Weston
SAM SHEPARD / Beverly Weston
MERYL STREEP / Violet Weston
MISTY UPHAM / Johnna
 
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Focus Features)
JENNIFER GARNER / Dr. Eve Saks
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY / Ron Woodroof
JARED LETO / Rayon
DENIS O’HARE / Dr. Sevard
DALLAS ROBERTS / David Wayne
STEVE ZAHN / Tucker
 
LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER (The Weinstein Company)
MARIAH CAREY / Hattie Pearl
JOHN CUSACK / Richard Nixon
JANE FONDA / Nancy Reagan
CUBA GOODING, JR. / Carter Wilson
TERRENCE HOWARD / Howard
LENNY KRAVITZ / James Holloway
JAMES MARSDEN / John F. Kennedy
DAVID OYELOWO / Louis Gaines
ALEX PETTYFER / Thomas Westfall
VANESSA REDGRAVE / Annabeth Westfall
ALAN RICKMAN / Ronald Reagan
LIEV SCHREIBER / Lyndon B. Johnson
FOREST WHITAKER / Cecil Gaines
ROBIN WILLIAMS / Dwight D. Eisenhower
OPRAH WINFREY / Gloria Gaines

The SAG awards will be broadcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, January 18 at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

12 Years A Slave
 

American Hustle
 

August: Osage County
 

Dallas Buyers Club
 

Lee Daniels' The Butler
 

Nebraska
 

Captain Phillips
 

'Bad Grandpa' schools 'The Counselor'

It finally happened: Gravity has been dethroned. The reigning victor, Bad Grandpa, debuted to a successful $32 million this past weekend. While the film’s opening haul is a good $20 million less than 2010’s Jackass:3D, the last movie released by the popular Jackass franchise, it’s still more than double Grandpa’s $15 million production budget. In other words, the old man’s antics didn’t disappoint. Certainly, fans of the series, its spate of films and Johnny Knoxville himself have remained loyal: 63% of viewers were over the age of 25, meaning they were most likely those same teenagers, now all grown up, who first watched the "Jackass" TV show in their parents’ basement when it aired in the early 2000s.  Never underestimate the pull of nostalgia. Pundits believe Grandpa’s older crowd and relatively even gender breakdown (56% male) bodes well for its continued box-office success.

Though Gravity has finally slipped from the top slot, its fall hasn’t been from grace. These past three days have seen the thriller rake in another $20 million, experiencing a dip of 32%. The weekend’s sales have helped the film inch ever closer to the $200 million domestic mark. Unfortunately, Gravity’s earning power will likely wane come Friday, when Ender’s Game opens and overtakes the country’s IMAX theatres. By the time Gravity does fade, many speculate the film will have earned $250 million overall.

Chugging along at No. 3 is the ever-solid Captain Phillips. Tom Hanks’ pirate drama and something of a career comeback vehicle dropped just 28% to earn a little under $12 million. Its respectable total domestic earnings have been tallied at $70 million.

And then there’s The Counselor. With everything going for it – acclaimed director, acclaimed writer, acclaimed x 5 cast of actors – how could it have gone so wrong? The much-maligned chatty drama earned a disappointing $8 million, although, to be fair, its earnings are on par with Fox’s predictions. Critics didn’t like it, and either audiences listened, or determined for themselves from viewing the film’s trailer there just wasn’t enough there there to be of interest. Another week or two and The Counselor will most likely pack up and bow out.

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 completes this weekend’s top 5. The kid favorite has tenaciously and consistently ranked among the box office’s top performers, even if it is tracking a little behind the first Cloudy. This weekend may have seen the last of its glory days, however – Free Birds is looking to take a sizable peck out of the family market when it opens this Friday.

Wrapping up with two films heavily weighted beneath their considerable buzz – and efficiently moving tickets for all that – 12 Years a Slave and Blue Is the Warmest Color made the specialty box office a great success over the weekend. After expanding to 123 theaters, Steve McQueen’s Slave earned a little over $2 million, bumping its total to $3.4 million. The film’s wide release is slated for this coming weekend, when audiences across the country will have their pick of 400 theatres from which to view the harrowing artistic achievement.

Despite (because of?) the public controversy surrounding French flick Blue Is the Warmest Color, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner did very fine business. Its weekend earnings amount to $101,000, with, hopefully, more $$ on the way.

'Gravity' holds strong amid weak box office

To no one’s very great surprise - albeit to much industry excitement - Gravity completed another successful box-office orbit this past weekend. With yet another $30 million haul, the intergalactic thriller has now earned over $170 million in domestic sales.  At 28%, its fiscal drop was a little steeper this weekend (compared with last weekend’s dip of 23%), but at this point in the film’s wildly successful run, focusing on five percentage points is akin to splitting hairs.

Furthering the déjà vu nature of today’s roundup, Captain Phillips again clocked in at No. 2. Tom Hanks’ suspense tale suffered from a larger slip in sales than Gravity did during its sophomore outing: Down 33%, to gross $17.3 million. In all, the Paul-Greengrass directed, modern day-pirate touting, Oscar-chasing Phillips has earned $53.3 million.

Unfortunately, it seems the rest of the domestic box office offered little audience incentive. Even with Halloween right around the corner, the lone horror feature, Carrie, proved itself unable to scare up business. The film didn’t perform nearly as poorly as the worst of the box-office naysayers had predicted Friday morning, though neither did it justify those optimists who thought (wished?) it could compete with Gravity. Instead, Carrie made an all right $17 million. Compared with Gravity, which skews slightly male, and Phillips, which draws an older crowd, those viewers who did see Carrie were mostly female (54%) and under the age of 25 (56%). Maybe it’ll fare better when it streams on Netflix?

Rounding out the top five (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 took the No. 4 slot with another solid weekend, earning $10 million to boost its overall gross to $93.1 million) Escape Plan earned roughly $9.8 million. The mostly male audience (66%) was also mostly over the age of 30, neatly aligning the Stallone/Schwarzenegger vehicle with this weekend’s theme of “to no one’s great surprise.”

Well, almost no one. Even given The Fifth Estate’s middling reviews, fans of Benedict Cumberbatch may not have expected the film to fare quite as poorly as it did. Apparently, American audiences found little of interest in the Julian Assange/WikiLeaks feature. The Fifth Estate raked in just $1.5 million, earning the lowest gross of any film that opened in over 1,500 theatres this year.

Thankfully for Cumberbatch, his other movie out this weekend, 12 Years A Slave, managed to exceed expectations. On Friday we speculated the film might make $30,000 or so at each of its 19 locations. This morning we learned Steve McQueen’s latest, acclaimed feature averaged $50,000 per theatre. Its total weekend haul amounts to $960,000, a wonderful start for an art-house flick. Fox Searchlight will screen the film in 100 more theatres this coming weekend.

Fellow critical darling All Is Lost may end up competing with Slave at the Academy Awards, but it proved itself a weak opponent at the box office. Robert Redford’s one-man drama took in just $97,400.

To pull the camera out, so to speak, and take a wider view of this weekend’s earnings: Those films that made up the top 12 earned a total of $96.4 million. Even given the endurance of Gravity’s run, that number still signals a 20% drop in earnings from this time last year. Let’s see if this coming weekend can improve October’s outlook.

High hopes for 'Carrie' still fall short of 'Gravity'

For the third week in a row, we feel compelled to frame our box-office speculations using the rhetoric of comparison. How will this weekend’s movies fare… in relation to Gravity? Does Carrie have what it takes to topple the thriller from its tall, tall pedestal? Or will Captain Phillips prove its real-life tenacity and inch ahead into the No. 1 slot? Perhaps Escape Plan will find unexpected power in the pull of nostalgia, and ride dark-horse success past Alfonso Cuaron’s 3D stunner? Will audiences line up for yet another man-against-the-odds survival tale, and help Robert Redford’s All is Lost reign supreme?

Can anyone out-gross Gravity?

Unlikely.

Pundits have predicted a $30 million haul for director Cuaron’s box-office king. As of Wednesday, the film had earned $204 million internationally. Some are speculating Gravity will hit the $300 million mark by weekend’s end.

Though backed by a strong marketing campaign (including this hilarious video), Carrie has received a chilly critical reception. The horror remake and Steven King adaptation is currently tracking 47% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes.  Opinions on the movie’s likely success – or failure – are mixed: Some see the film earning a figure that falls somewhere in the mid-teens, others the low 20s, and a few optimists (they just want to see the Gravity tyrant tumble!) are predicting Carrie could pull in as much as $30 million.

In its second weekend out of the gate, Captain Phillips will most likely land somewhere in the high teens, suffering from a less-than-catastrophic drop of just 25% (Gravity dipped 23% its sophomore weekend). Tom Hanks’ enjoyable tale of human fortitude had, as of October 16, earned $34 million.

Robert Redford is looking to give Hanks a run for his considerable money with his own Oscar-bait vehicle, All is Lost, opening tonight. While the suspense feature isn’t expected to match Phillips’ gross, Redford’s turn as a lone yachter lost at sea has fellow Best Actor nominee scrawled all over it. 

Speaking of leading men with more than their fair share of talent, Benedict Cumberbatch may be one of the industry’s hottest up-and-coming stars to land increasingly serious, high-brow roles, but his The Fifth Estate is unlikely to add to his caché. A biopic/thriller about Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks, Estate has been called (by our critic, Daniel Eagan) “trumped-up Hollywood hokum.” Audiences are expected to react accordingly – by staying away.  Most likely, The Fifth Estate will clock in around $5 come Monday morning.

Opening in limited release to much buzz among specialty circles/Fassbender cults, 12 Years A Slave (also co-starring Cumberbatch) is expected to do great art-house business: around $30,000 per location. Nineteen theaters will play the slavery feature, which, though difficult to watch, is reportedly yet another artistic achievement for director Steve McQueen, whose slim albeit impressive oeuvre includes Hunger and Shame.


Is there a graceful way to transition from the realities of our brutal national history to… Stallone? Nonetheless, the Rocky writer and sexagenarian action star also has a new film opening this weekend, co-starring fellow golden oldie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in which the two plot their escape from a maximum-security prison. To small surprise, Eagan called Escape Plan “a guilty pleasure,” or rather, “the movie equivalent of junk food.” Odds are, Plan will pull in around $10 million.

In sum: It’s still very much Gravity’s game.

'Gravity' proves its staying power, plucky 'Phillips' is No. 2

Continuing to monopolize film industry headlines and ticket receipts, Gravity soared through a banner sophomore weekend. The film experienced only a minor drop-off in sales these last several days, slipping just 21% to gross $44.3 million. That’s the strongest box-office hold any non-holiday movie that debuted over $50 million has ever experienced.  To further contextualize: Gravity had the second best weekend ever in IMAX sales, grossing $9 million – ahead of previous IMAX juggernaut The Dark Knight Rises.

All in all, Alfonso Cuaron’s trendy thriller – and we’d imagine one of this year’s most popular Halloween costumes – has managed the difficult task of impressing both critics and audiences alike,  earning itself the title of bona fide success story. The early Oscar favorite currently boasts a $123 million haul – and counting.

Itself no financial slouch, Captain Phillips grossed a respectable $26 million its opening weekend. While this stable debut may not elicit the awe of, say, a $50 million premiere weekend, it’s a much-needed hit for Tom Hanks: His last few movies, including Cloud Atlas, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Larry Crowne, were financial disappointments.

As many pundits speculated last weekend, Phillips drew an older crowd. The film’s demographic breakdown is unequivocal: 62% of audience members were over the age of 35. Fifty-two percent were also male, so we think Sandra Bullock’s Oscar campaign should begin in full force… yesterday.

If the adults were all out gripping their armrests in a wonderfully fun state of suspense at Captain Phillips and Gravity, where had the kids got to this weekend? The littlest ones were watching, and perhaps re-watching, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, which took a bit of a tumble, down 32% with a $14.2 million draw. The movie has earned $78 million so far, which is just a little less than what the first Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs had taken in at the same point in its theatrical run.

Older kids/teens were most certainly not out mooning over Romeo & Juliet. The poorly received reimagining of the Bard’s story of doomed love and overactive hormones earned a meager $509,000 at the box office. While R&J’s decided flop may come as no surprise to those who read our David Noh's review of the adaptation, more disappointing is the poor showing of the generally well-received The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, which grossed just $260,000 after playing in 147 theatres.

The box-office doom and gloom for those films that are not either Gravity or Captain Phillips continues with the intake (or lack thereof) reaped by Machete Kills. The sequel to the more successful Machete can now claim one of the poorest openings of the year. It did just a third of the business its predecessor managed, bombing with $3.8 million. Not even a wacked turn by Charlie Sheen/Carlos Estevez as the leader of the free world could drum up much interest in the lackluster effort.

Escape From Tomorrow amounts to another debut unable to spin novelty into profits. Though the film had generated early buzz for its unique/stunt shooting – all on location at Disney World, without the consent or approval of Walt’s camp – the end product doesn’t appear to be nearly as interesting as the story of its creation. It earned just $66,100.

Ending this Monday’s weekend wrapup on a lighter, promising note, the little rom-com that could, Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said, earned another $1+ million this weekend after expanding to 606 theatres. That boost has brought the film’s total up to over $8 million, and, with strong word-of-mouth continuing its laudatory chatter, it’s looking as if next weekend will only see more gains.

Can anyone free herself from 'Gravity's' orbit?

For the past week, Gravity has dominated the box-office discussion – and it doesn’t look as if anyone else will be sneaking a word in edgewise any time soon. The blockbuster thriller managed to compound its record-breaking opening weekend by earning roughly an additional $18 million over the last several days. That brings the movie’s total domestic earnings up to around $73 million.  Interestingly, however,  it seems Gravity’s word-of-mouth buzz hasn’t been quite as effusive as its critical reception, leaving some industry experts to predict a (small) financial dropoff this coming weekend.

Given the general trendiness of #Gravity though, not to mention the success the movie has enjoyed (and one can imagine will continue to enjoy) from pricey 3D ticket sales, we think it'll be just fine. Odds are Gravity will pull in another $35-$40 mil this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Less certain is the opening weekend fate of Tom Hanks’ Captain Phillips. Hanks has been generating the expected Oscar buzz for his turn as sea-captain-turned-pirate-hostage Richard Phillips, and the film has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Giving the movie a timely if perhaps unnecessary publicity boost is news that the real-life crew of the Maersk Alabama is suing Captain Richard Phillips for allegedly ignoring maritime warnings and putting all their lives in danger. (Tom Hanks would never.) Far from keeping audiences away, however, it’s likely the scandal will only help drive sales. According to Deadline, the movie has already raked in $600,000 in late-show tickets.

But even with this seemingly fortuitous alignment of stars, does Captain Phillips really have what it takes to outshine Gravity? Many believe Phillips’ core demographic is a 25+ crowd, which doesn’t bode well; consensus has Millennials opting for director Alfonso Cuaron’s more visually innovative work, eschewing Paul Greengrass’ “traditional” suspense flick. We’ll see how the generation wars play out when the receipts are tallied come Monday.

While these two Oscar giants battle it out this weekend, a few other releases will vie for the rest of the country’s eyeballs. Machete Kills is another major release bowing tonight. The sequel to 2010’s Machete, itself a spinoff of Grindhouse, Machete Kills includes an eclectic mélange of cameos: Charlie Sheen (using his real name, Carlos Estevez) as the POTUS, as well as Mel Gibson, Lady Gaga, and Sofia Vergara. The Hollywood Reporter critic Justin Lowe wasn’t a fan, but if nothing else, the film’s rollout of wacky should provide just what the movies ought: entertainment.

Our David Noh wishes the same could be said of the latest film to tackle Bill Shakespeare’s greatest (or at least his most famous/oft-adapted) love story, Romeo & Juliet. The talented Hailee Steinfeld of True Grit fame has nabbed the starring role of poor dopey (er, doomed) Juliet, reciting Julian Fellowes’ (“Downtown Abbey”) odd mix of Elizabethean/modern-English lines with great and unfortunately stultifying care. This is no Baz Luhrmnan reimagining. The film opens in 461 theatres tonight.

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete will also open tonight, in 147 theatres. Though the film revolves around the hard-luck life of two impoverished Brooklyn kids (Skylan Brooks and Ethan Dizon, both newcomers, both critically lauded for their ability to tug on the viewer’s heartstrings) Lionsgate’s newest release has two famous adult draws to its name: Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson and her fellow “American Idol” alumna Jordin Sparks. Film pundits see the movie earning around $1 million. Escape From Tomorrow, a black-and-white dramedy whose claim to fame includes a “guerrilla-style” shoot on location in Disney World, will also most likely reap a smaller haul.

And then there are those still holding strong: the tenacious Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, and Enough Said, which expands nationwide to 606 theatres this weekend.

Early Oscar 2014 predictions: best actor

With fall comes more than just a cooling of temperatures – within the film industry, the advent of chillier weather signals the heating up of that grand poobah competition, the Oscar race. This year’s crop of contenders is one of the strongest in recent memory. Already, records are being set (Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Gravity’ pulled in the largest October opening-weekend haul to date), expectations exceeded (haven’t we already seen a million or two little-kid-gone-missing films? Not like Prisoners, we haven’t) and nerves shot (thank you, Paul Greengrass, for inducing a lingering headache after I felt compelled to hold my breath over and over again while watching Tom Hanks attempt to outwit a band of determined Somali pirates in your Captain Phillips). While the women of this season’s Oscar-bait films will be given their kudos in good time – Meryl’s back! – the men vying for the industry’s most coveted, or at least its shiniest, prize are worthy of particular note. The five-nominee limit seems particularly restrictive this year.

Those with the largest amount of buzz surrounding their performances include Chiwetel Ejiofor for Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, Robert Redford in All is Lost, Forest Whitaker in The Butler, and the aforementioned pirate captive, Tom Hanks, in Captain Phillips. So that’s five, right? Technically speaking, yes. But with such a talented group to choose from, we wouldn’t be surprised if five or six other actors slipped into one of the coveted nominee slots.

Take Bruce Dern in Alexander Payne’s (Sideways) latest film, Nebraska. The twilight (referring to age, happily no association with the franchise) actor took home the Cannes Film Festival prize for Best Actor for his performance as a sick old man who travels with his son (Will Forte) from Montana over to the titular state in the hopes of claiming a $1,000,000 lottery prize. Word has it Nebraska was a festival crowd-pleaser, a sentimental favorite whose popularity (assuming the Cannes enthusiasm translates to a wider viewership when the film opens next month) could boost Dern’s chances.

Prisoners certainly has widespread appeal on its side, if box-office numbers are anything to go by (according to Rotten Tomatoes, the film is currently tracking at $47.5 million). And Hugh Jackman has been turning the heads of critics who’ve felt a bit lukewarm about the actor since his turn in the “mild box office hit” The Wolverine. In Prisoners, Jackman plays the father of a six-year-old girl gone missing, a man whose natural paternal anxiety evolves into something far darker when the investigation stymies and he feels compelled to take matters into his own hands. Prisoners boasts solid performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano as well, but the movie really is the Jackman show.

Making a strong showing of his own, Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela in the upcoming biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom should also not be discounted. The Academy loves an epic, loves a romance, loves a history film, loves great actors playing giants of politics… it may very well love Elba and the vehicle behind him enough to give him a nomination.

For a few longer, though by no means faulty, shots, there’s Leo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming The Wolf of Wall Street, as well as Oscar Isaac in the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. After five films together the pairing of DiCaprio and Scorsese could almost be called classic, and certainly one which highlights Leo to great effect. And who doesn’t love a Coen film?

Finally, my particular vote for underdog (for all the aggressive campaigning behind his film) nominee goes to Michael B. Jordan for his star turn in Fruitvale Station. Our Tomris Laffly said Jordan turned in a “remarkably mature and humanistic performance,” one which proves the former cult TV staple (he’s previously appeared on “The Wire” and “Friday Night Lights”) is an eminently watchable adult force to be reckoned with.

In alphabetical order, then, here is our list of would-be Best Actor contenders for the 2014 Academy Awards:

-Ejiofor, Chiwetel (12 Years A Slave)

-Elba, Idris (Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom)

-Dern, Bruce (Nebraska)

-DiCaprio, Leonardo (The Wolf of Wall Street)

-Hanks, Tom (Captain Phillips)

-Isaac, Oscar (Inside Llewyn Davis)

-Jackman, Hugh (Prisoners)

-Jordan, Michael B. (Fruitvale Station)

-McConaughey, Matthew (Dallas Buyers Club)

-Redford, Robert (All is Lost)

-Whitaker, Forest (The Butler)

'Gravity's' record-setting haul flies past expectations

While many of us were expecting Gravity to achieve great financial heights over its opening weekend, the 3D thriller performed even better than predicted. The latest film from Alfonso Cuaron, his first since 2006’s Children of Men (don’t call it a comeback), earned a soaring $55.6 million this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It now holds the record for the largest opening in October, outpacing previous record-holder Paranormal Activity 3, which clocked in at $52.6 million back in 2011. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Gravity’s impressive haul is its breakdown: 80% of the film’s revenue came from 3D showings, amounting to roughly $44 million in sales. With #Gravity blowing up social media, I think it’s safe to call the movie a cultural phenomenon, granting pop-culture enthusiasts a much-needed trend on which to expound following the end of last week’s hot topic, “Breaking Bad.” Both star Sandra Bullock and her chatty partner-in-space George Clooney can also thank the survival flick for giving them their best – biggest – domestic opening ever.

More in-line with last week’s expectations and predictions, Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck’s Runner Runner failed to drum up much foot traffic. The stars’ action/drama feature earned a disappointing $7.6 million in domestic box-office; its international gross has been tallied at $23.6 million. Luckily, the movie only cost roughly $30 million to make, so stars and studio alike can pretty much cut their losses on this one and, much like Gigli or JT’s blonde curls, move beyond it in the interest of making wiser choices. (Let’s hope Ben Affleck’s turn in the new Batman movie falls into the latter category!)

The charming Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 continues to hold strong sway with audiences. The animated sequel boasted the second-best weekend behind Gravity, earning $21.5 million and bringing its total domestic earnings up to $60.5 million.

Tom Hanks’ new, captivating thriller Captain Phillips, based on a true sequence of events involving modern-day pirates, also saw some enthusiastic responses when it opened for several preview showings this past weekend.  On average, theaters at most of the 800 screening locations were 75% full, with many playing to sold-out crowds. The movie opens wide this coming weekend.

Though we could write all day about box office grosses and who’s out-drawing whom, we’ll end today’s recap with an update on the late James Gandolfini’s final feature, Enough Said. The romantic comedy co-starring the woman with an infallible sense of comedic timing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, finally cracked the top 10 over the weekend, earning $5.4 million.  It will expand to around 650 more theatres this Friday.

'Gravity's' Box-Office Should Be Out of This World, Make for Tough Competition

Alfonso Cuaron’s acclaimed intergalactic thriller Gravity is poised for a stellar opening weekend,with predictions running as high as a $40 million debut. That would amount to quite a few 3D glasses needing to be recycled. Given its heavy advance buzz (it’s currently trending 98% on Rotten Tomatoes), it seems the film’s plastic pileup is only fated to grow: Boasting a wonderful performance by Sandra Bullock, which has Academy Award pundits seeing Oscar (not to mention a charming turn by George Clooney, in which he plays George-Clooney-acting-charming-in-a-spacesuit), Gravity is already outpacing modern -effects posterchild Avatar in 3D pre-sales, with 91% of advanced tickets reserved for 3D viewings. In other words, expect this star vehicle to snuff the competition.

Looking to give Cuaron’s early Oscar contender a – pardon the phrasing – run for its considerable money, the Justin Timberlake/Ben Affleck vehicle Runner Runner also opens this weekend. Most critics have panned the action/suspense flick about gamblers acting shady, although our Maitland McDonagh is a bit more understanding. “Both Affleck and Timberlake have fought uphill battles to be taken seriously as actors,” she says, citing the difficulty many have encountered when they try to picture JT as the adult version of the boy who once matched denim outfits with Britney Spears, and when they attempt to look beyond Ben Affleck’s extraordinarily gifted face. However, “Runner Runner gives both room to show what they can do,” she concludes.

Parkland, boasting yet another all-star cast with turns by Billy Bob Thornton,
Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, and Colin Hanks, is being released (in 217 theaters) 50 years and a little over a month to the day JFK was assassinated.  Reviews of the feature, which takes place in the hospital where the president was rushed the afternoon of the shooting, have been mixed to negative. Even given its full talent roster, Parkland's box-office expectations are pretty grim.

More promising is the new feature starring the elder Hanks, Captain Phillips. The thriller based on the real-life captain and his harrowing encounter with a band of Somali pirates will have a sneak preview in 800 locations this Saturday, with a wide release scheduled for the following week.

Traveling to the world of smaller specialty releases, a pair of foreign dramas is slated for an American premiere. The French movie Concussion takes a frank look at a lesbian’s couple sexless marriage – and one partner’s risqué efforts to rebel.


Dramatic in a more over-the-top and epic way is the new Chinese film from director Jia Zhangke, A Touch of Sin, which, with its interconnected stories espousing  a dour view of modern China,  has been called by our Chris Barsanti “a sprawling tragicomedy” that amounts to an “exhilarating expose” on the country’s increasingly troubled state.

Metallica Through the Never will see a wider expansion this weekend, to 650 theaters. The documentary about the popular metal band had a solid opening weekend this past week, grossing$1.07 million from 305 Imax theaters.

In all, the nascent fall season is shaping up to be excitingly varied. However, it remains to be seen whether any of the above will have the popular appeal to match, let alone compete with, the Gravity juggernaut.

Trailer: Tom Hanks is all action in 'Captain Philips'

When the project Captain Philips was announced, it sounded like a hostage story, where the leading characters would spend most of their time tied up. Tom Hanks signed on to play Captain Philips, whose ship was attacked by Somali pirates and then eventually rescued by Navy SEALs. To disabuse anyone of that notion, the just-released trailer for Captain Philips is action, suspense, and then more and more action. It appears that director Paul Greengrass is drawing heavily on the action directing experience he honed in The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Supremacy, United 93, and The Green Zone.

Just from seeing the two-and-a-half minutes of Hanks, I'm convinced the casting is perfect. This kind of role matches well with both with his chronological age and his stature as an actor. He's likeable, authoritative, and has a pilot's ability to be cool under pressure. It's also clear he cares deeply about his crew, which only adds to his likeability.

Personally, I've been captivated by the life of cargo ships after reading this New Yorker article about a cargo ship voyaging through the Arctic Ocean. I hope that Greengrass also includes authentic details that immerse the viewer in what it means to spend months at a time on a ship--even without being held hostage--and how people cope with this lonely, dangerous existence.

Here's the trailer for the Columbia release. Although the action has summer release all over it, the Oct. 11 release date indicates that studio may also making a quality play for the feature. Who knows, maybe a Best Actor nomination is in the cards for Tom Hanks. After all, Denzel Washington received one as a pilot for last year's Flight.