‘Ride Along’ eases ahead of ‘Awkward’

As expected, the domestic box office turned in a series of soft numbers over this past, Super Bowl weekend. The top 12 films earned a combined $72.4 million – which, however, is still a small improvement over this same weekend last year. Clocking in at No. 1 yet again, Ride Along experienced a slight downturn of 42% to earn $12.3 million. The cop comedy has now raked in a little under $93 million in total, and has officially pulled up ahead of Kevin Hart’s last hit film, Think Like a Man, which grossed $91.5 million in 2012. This is the third weekend in a row Ride Along finished the weekend ahead of its competitors. Such a distinction has earned it a place among lucrative company: Gravity and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug also reigned as kings of the box office for three or more consecutive weekends.

Speaking of royalty, the princess protagonists of Disney’s Frozen have yet to lose their appeal. The Mouse House released a sing-along version of its tenacious hit film, and the gambit paid off. Frozen climbed right back up the box-office charts to land at No. 2 this weekend, adding another $9.3 million to its staggering cume of $360+ million. It’s on track to out-gross Despicable Me 2 ($368.1 million) by mid-month.

That Awkward Moment will likely be on its way out by the time Frozen reaches the aforementioned benchmark. Moment marks the worst opening yet for a Zac Efron vehicle: The film debuted to $9 million. With an underwhelming Cinemascore rating of a “B” and less than laudatory reviews from the critics, That Awkward Moment will probably flame out to $20 million or so by the time it finishes up its theatrical run.

At No. 4, The Nut Job earned $7.6 million and crossed the $50 million mark on Sunday (we should have opted for a lively kids’ film over yesterday’s ho-hum football game, too). Lone Survivor just missed besting the animated caper, grossing $7.2 million and enjoying a box-office milestone of its own: The film has now earned $100 million. In fact, Survivor is the last 2013 release to do so, making it the 35^th movie in the past year to earn $100 million or more – a new box-office record.  The last year to have seen so many $100 million successes was 2009, when 32 movies earned the distinction.

Unfortunately, Labor Day’s distinction is not nearly so positive. The Jason Reitman romance had the worst opening of the weekend. Day bombed with $5.4 million. Technically speaking, the film’s debut is better than previous Reitman efforts Young Adult ($3.4 million) and Thank You for Smoking ($4.5 million), however, those films both had much smaller releases, opening in roughly half the number of theaters than Labor Day. Reitman’s contemporary David O. Russell, on the other hand, is in the midst of a career upswing. American Hustle is now the director’s most successful movie, beating Silver Linings Playbook with its current standing of $133.6 million.

Finally, Gravity added $2 million to its domestic cume of $264 million. Over half its earnings stemmed from IMAX screenings.

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

‘Thor’ hangs tough amid a happy ‘Holiday’

Far exceeding expectations, The Best Man Holiday enjoyed a very merry debut. In 1999, The Best Man netted $9 million its opening weekend, or $14 million when adjusted for inflation. Its holiday reunion sequel, featuring several cast members who have grown in popularity over the last decade-and-a-half, took in $30 million this past weekend – double the original’s haul. Audiences were overwhelmingly African American (87 percent) and female (75 percent), prompting many pundits to reiterate their claim that African Americans are a largely underserved demographic.

Be that as it may, audiences of all stripes continued to pack the theatre for Thor. The Dark World held on to its no. 1 slot with $38.5 million. Although the Marvel  blockbuster can now boast a $147 million domestic cume, it did slip 55 percent from last weekend. The original Thor only slid 47 percent its sophomore weekend, although, to be fair, Iron Man 3, featuring arguably the most likable superhero of the crowded bunch, suffered a 58 percent dropoff its second weekend out of the gate. As it stands now, Thor: The Dark World will likely reap $250 million by the end of its run, so there’s really no need to lament the inevitability of a slipping grip.

Last Vegas and Free Birds also continued to fulfill their roles, as box-office filler, to the best of their abilities. Once again, the two comedies targeted toward audience members at opposite ends of the life cycle clocked in at nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Last Vegas dipped just 20 percent to earn $8.85 million, while Birds pecked out a respectable $8.3 million profit. Rounding out the weekend's top 5, Bad Grandpa took in over $7 million, bringing its total domestic earnings to $90.2 million. The film will likely stick around until it’s crossed the impressive $100 million mark.

Having earned $140,000 from four locations, Alexander Payne’s Nebraska has divided pundits as to whether or not it enjoyed a successful debut. For a specialty feature, $140,000 is a respectable and certainly solid figure. However, as this is also a Payne movie and the followup to the director’s Oscar-winning The Descendants, there are those who felt disappointed by Nebraska’s $35,000 per-theatre average. The black-and-white film will also likely prove a marketing challenge beyond the arthouse contingent. Awards buzz might help, but the movie’s popular success is far from certain.

The same couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to the season’s largest success story, Gravity. Just because the 3D feature has been missing from the headlines these past few weeks doesn’t mean viewers have forgotten about it. On the contrary: Gravity passed the $500 million international benchmark this weekend.

Can The Hunger Games: Catching Fire hope to match that? T minus four days!

‘Thor’ proves its mighty earning mettle

As predicted, Thor: The Dark World ruled the multiplexes this weekend. The latest Marvel action (with a hefty dose of comedy) flick earned $86 million at the domestic box office and $180 million worldwide. It looks as if the lauded sequel will soon out-gross its predecessor: By the end of  summer 2011, Thor had earned a successful $450 million worldwide, while The Dark World has already amassed a stellar $327 million after only two weeks. Many are crediting Thor’s appearance in 2012’s The Avengers with increasing interest in his character. The “Avengers Effect” was certainly in play for Iron Man 3, which saw a significant boost in sales over Iron Man 2 (36%) after it opened post-Avengers. Not everyone is thrilled with what is undoubtedly a blockbuster debut, however. 3D attendance was down from the first Thor, and 3D sales made up just 39% of The Dark World’s overall gross, falling short of Gravity-influenced expectations. But that’s splitting hairs on a well-coiffed head. Lacking as it does any significant competition, Thor is expected to hold onto its title for some time.



Unfortunately for everyone else, standing next to a Norse god is bound to dwarf you.  This weekend’s No. 2, Bad Grandpa, earned just $11.3 million, down 44% from last weekend. The good news? Even with the inevitable dropoff, Grandpa is the second highest-grossing Jackass film of all time, on track to earn well over $100 million.

Third and fourth place just missed out-grossing Grandpa. Free Birds and Last Vegas earned $11.2 and $11.1 million, respectively. Their overall cumes are equally waddle-neck-in-neck:  Audiences have more or less ignored the critics and helped Free Birds earn $30.2 million and Last Vegas $33.5 million to date.



Dropping faster than an intergalactic deity to Earth, Ender’s Game suffered a sales dip of 62% to earn $10.3 million. That brings the film’s total up to $44 million, which, considering its advance hype, production costs and this weekend’s steep sophomore dropoff, qualifies it as a bomb. Expect the film to hang around for another week or two, but once Katniss and co. stage their multiplex takeover come November 22 for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Ender’s Game will be all but over.

Not so with Steve McQueen’s everyone-loves-it 12 Years A Slave. After expanding wide to 1,144 locations, Slave earned $6.6 million to bump its total earnings up to $17.3 million. The rollout, and profits, will continue this coming weekend when the film screens at roughly 1,300 theatres.



Finally, with the weekend’s smallest opening, The Book Thief earned a solid $108,000 from four locations. The film, though, isn’t tracking too hot on Rotten Tomatoes – 59% rotten – and Fox has yet to announce further expansion plans.

‘Ender’s’ does decent domestic business, ‘Thor’ nails the competition overseas

Thanks to Gravity, October’s box-office highlights were flush with excitement and the hyperbolic language of success: The film was record-breaking, Oscar-worthy, earth-shattering (more or less). Now that the fervor surrounding Alfonso Cuaron’s hit has cooled - Gravity dipped 35% this weekend, its largest drop in sales to date - box-office numbers have stabilized accordingly. The first weekend in November wasn’t a dud, simply one in which expectations were met without being exceeded. It’s back to business as usual.

At least until Thor: The Dark World opens domestically, that is. The Marvel comic-book flick and sequel to 2011’s Thor earned $109 million in 36 overseas markets.  It had the fourth best international debut this year, and will likely experience little trouble overtaking Ender’s Game when it opens in theatres across the country this weekend. Game proved a stable player, grossing $28 million domestically. That’s certainly a respectable bow, though many pundits are questioning the film’s tenacity. For how long can the sci-fi feature remain No. 1 in the face of the tough, hammer-wielding competition?  Is the scrappy Ender any match for big, blonde and beautiful Thor? The odds don’t seem to be in his favor.

Last Vegas performed as predicted, earning approximately $16.5 million. That’s a nice haul for CBS Films, whose highest grossing film, The Woman in Black, earned only a few million more ($20.9 million) when it debuted last year. Of course, Last Vegas’ opening doesn’t compare with many of its actors’ successes past (on more than one level) but it’s likely the enjoyable comedy will enjoy a nice run before ending up a footnote in its cast’s long list of credits.

Likewise, it doesn’t look as if Free Birds is in danger of becoming a children’s classic. Critics don’t like it, and, according to the film’s opening numbers, audiences are a bit lukewarm. Clocking in at No. 4, the animated feature about a group of turkeys who travel back in time to prevent their ritualistic slaughter from becoming a Thanksgiving tradition, earned $16.2 million. For weeks, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 has been the only kid-friendly feature available. There was certainly an opening for a new smart, fun and inventive cartoon. Unfortunately, Birds doesn’t fit the bill.

This weekend’s domestic box wasn’t all ho-hum, however. Bad Grandpa continued to do great business, earning a little over $20 million. To date, the Jackass film has earned $62 million and is on track to surpass the franchise’s most successful movie, Jackass: Number 2, sometime this week.

The specialty division  also chugged along at a good clip. One Oscar hopeful, 12 Years A Slave,  grossed $4.6 million from 410 locations, while another, Dallas Buyers Club, made $264,000 from nine theatres. Both are set to expand this coming weekend, and will most likely keep spinning their critical praise and positive word-of-mouth into more profits.

'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.

Latest 'Jackass' looks to unseat 'Gravity'

Jackass spinoff Bad Grandpa may finally have the popular heft to unseat Gravity this weekend, bringing the latter’s nearly month-long reign over the box office to a worthy end. It’s been quite a run for Alfonso Cuaron and co.: Gravity has earned $177 million domestically and close to $300 million worldwide. Business this weekend is expected to remain steady, if no longer stellar. Pundits predict a haul in the mid $20 million range, which would amount to a 25% downturn in sales.

Bad Grandpa, on the other hand, is reportedly on track to double its production value. The Borat-style comedy, in which Johnny Knoxville plays the titular geriatric pervert on an eventful roadtrip with his chip-off-the-ole’-block troublemaker grandson, was produced for approximately $15 million. Odds are the Jackass faithful will help carry the film to a $30 million opening weekend. As respectable a figure as that may sound, however, it nonetheless pales in comparison with the franchise’s last debut. Jackass: 3D , released in 2010, was buoyed by expensive 3D sales to earn a whopping $50 million its first weekend out of the gate (or should we say pen?).

Ridley Scott/Cormac McCarthy collaboration The Counselor, also bowing tonight, certainly has a fancier pedigree to its name, but the critical drubbing it’s received will most likely undercut its ability to perform, and certainly compete with wide-appeal Grandpa. Our Rex Roberts didn’t completely pan the film that attracted the likes of megawatt stars Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz, but neither did he place himself in the minority of lauders. “The Counselor isn’t a bad movie,” he wrote, “just a bombastic one.” Audiences aren’t expected to bang down the doors in their haste to view this exhibition of hubris (on multiple levels). Fox believes the movie will earn between $8 and $10 million.

On the other end of the critical spectrum, French film and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color may reap the benefits of universal praise and a healthy dose of salacious controversy. Not only does the three-hour drama about a young woman and her intense relationship with a female artist carry with it an NC-17 rating, but the film’s two leading ladies and their director have been engaged in a very public media battle over who was or was not exploited during the movie’s graphic lesbian sex scenes. The most recent installment of the he-said she-said argument/publicity gambit took the form of an open letter by director Abdellatif Kechiche, in which he charged actress Lea Seydoux with making “opportunistic calculations.” It all seems a bit juvenile for such high-brow fare, but let’s see if the nonsense helps move tickets. Blue Is the Warmest Color opens in just four theaters tonight.

12 Years A Slave expands considerably this weekend, playing in 123 theaters. After it over-performed at 19 locations last weekend the historical drama is expected to only gain momentum. Its recent Gotham Award nominations probably won’t hurt its earning potential, either.

'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.