'The Rite' finds disciples and audiences crown 'The King's Speech'

By Sarah Sluis

Exorcism-themed The Rite led the box office this weekend with $15 million. More a thriller than a horror movie, the film lured a slightly older audience, and attracted both genders equally. Back in August, The Last Exorcism opened to $24 million, so this movie did well considering its inferior January timeslot.

Action-fueled The Mechanic tied with The Green Hornet, earning $11.5 million. Distributor CBS Films has been struggling to get some hits. This film will be their second-highest opening weekend after The Back-Up Plan.

In the wake of its twelve Oscar nominations, Weinstein Co. release The King's Speech launched an expansion that led to a 40% increase from last week and $11.1 million. Compared to other nominees, this story of friendship between a stuttering king and his speech therapist held back from pursuing a quick expansion. In terms of cumulative gross, it's still behind The Social Network, True Grit, and Black Swan, but it's approaching the total of The Fighter, which is currently at $78 million after eight weeks, compared to The King's Speech's $72 million in ten weeks. New York Times columnist David Carr recently wrote an article talking about Harvey Weinstein's comeback, comparing him to Jason rising from the dead in Friday the 13th. The King's Speech performance, both at the box office and awards shows (it recently won the DGA award for Best Feature Directing and the SAG award for Best Ensemble), is a big win for a distributor that was near bankruptcy a year ago.

127 Hours also launched an expansion in the wake of Oscar nominations, adding another $2 million to the film's coffers. Even as most of the nominated films dropped theatres, True Grit rose 4% to $7.6 million, and The Fighter dipped just 2.6% to $4 million. Black Swan glided down 33% to $5.1 million. Blue Valentine, farther down the list, rose 33% to bring in $1.1 million.

Hispanic-targeted romantic comedy From Prada to Nada opened outside of the top ten with $1.1 million, but its per-screen average of $4,300 bested half of the releases in the top ten.

This Friday, the Super Bowl's not getting in the way of male-targeted releases. Sanctum 3D will enter the fray, hoping to get the adrenaline-fueled crowd before the big Sunday football game. Targeting teen females not interested by the game, The Roommate, starring "Gossip Girl's" Leighton Meester, will also hit theatres.

'Rite' and 'Mechanic' compete against specialty pics flush with Oscar nods

By Sarah Sluis

The action thriller The Mechanic (2,703 theatres) sounds like typical late-January B-movie fare, but critic Maitland McDonagh begs to differ. The "sleek, brutally succinct thriller" comes along with an "emotional pitch [that] lies somewhere between those of King Lear and a Roadrunner cartoon, which doesn't sound like much until you stop to seriously consider the range of most mainstream action movies." Jason Statham also turns in a praise-worthy performance, projecting an "elusive warmth."

Marketed as a horror movie, The Rite (2,985 theatres) should draw in plenty of young females. McDonagh, however, feels that the exorcism movie does not fall within the genre, and "anyone who buys in expecting levitation, demonic apparitions and sundry other gross-out clichs will be disappointed." It's really about "the power of faith," told through "the relationship between a cynical seminarian and [an] unorthodox but devout exorcist." Warner Bros. has apparently been marketing this movie heavily to Hispanic viewers, many of whom are Catholic, and avid moviegoers to boot.

In the wake of the Oscar nominations, The King's Speech will up its screen count to 2,553 theatres, an addition of over 800 theatres. Studio head Harvey Weinstein has also reportedly talked about recutting the film to remove the F-word, and thus secure a PG-13 or PG rating. 127 Hours, which received nods for Best Picture and Best Actor for James Franco, is expanding to 916 locations. Franco is not only a nominee for Best Actor, but he's also doubling as one of the Oscar hosts, a nice increase in exposure for the movie.

Biutiful (57 theatres) reach more ticketbuyers this week, sure to benefit from its two Oscar nominations, one for Best Foreign Language Film and another for its star, Javier Bardem. While critic David Noh wasn't the biggest fan of the movie, he praised the "wearily weathered and better than ever" Bardem, who "proves the very heart and soul of this film."

The Sense and Sensibility-inspired From Prada to Nada (256 theatres) follows two wealthy young women who move in with their aunt after misfortune befalls their family. The romantic comedy is an attempt to woo the Latino market, which is a strong consumer of movies, especially in their first week. While few reviews are on the scene, the first-week receipts should predict whether this movie is among the likes of Prada, or nada.

On Monday, we'll return to analyze which Oscar-nominated films saw the biggest bumps over the weekend, and if The Rite and The Mechanic were able to pull in their respective audiences (apparently the Statham pic is tracking extremely well with older males).

Kristen Stewart in talks for 'Snow White'

By Sarah Sluis

On the screen and off, Twilight star Kristen Stewart always looks so...well, grumpy. Is she one of those people whose mien just comes across as sour, or is she actually always in a bad mood? Given her limited range of expressions, it seems that her tenure as an actress would be limited, but instead she's carved out a niche playing moody characters.

Stewart is currently in talks to star in the action fairy tale Snow White and the Huntsman, and no, she wouldn't be playing Grumpy the dwarf. She would play Snow White--you know, the one who delighted in the seven dwarves' song "Whistle While You Work"?

This Universal reboot of the fairy tale has signed on Viggo Mortensen to play the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as the witch. Universal wanted Stewart back in December, then changed its mind and decided to pursue an unknown actress (including Sundance ingnue Felicity Jones), before returning back to Stewart.

It's a logical fit for Stewart to stay within the fantasy category. Can I point out that the book cover of Twilight has a character holding an apple, the same symbol that figures so prominently in the Snow White story? In Snow White and the Huntsman, the Huntsman character serves as a mentor and protector to Snow White, not so far from good vampire Robert Pattinson protecting Bella (Stewart) from evil vampires.

I suppose there's a danger of Stewart being typecast, but she's done plenty of films outside of the Twilight series: a rocker in The Runaways a young prostitute in Welcome to the Rileys, a teen theme-park employee in Adventureland. She can definitely break outside of the supernatural romance category, but why not sidestep into a fairy tale romance/action film? Stewart will also need a blockbuster hit outside of the Twilight series to prove she's a commercial draw(and avoid the Mark Hamill syndrome), and this project may be it.

Sundance Film Festival a hot market for pickups

By Sarah Sluis

Recently, all the talk has been about how slow the indie film market has been. Well, that stops with Sundance 2011. This year there has been pickup after pickup. Indie film lovers, it's time to get excited, because many of these movies will hit theatres this year.

The Details: The Weinstein Co. picked up this spiraling-out-of-control comedy, in which a couple's battle with raccoons in their home escalates, threatening their marriage and also leading to "extortion, organ donation, and murder." Elizabeth Banks, Tobey Maguire, and Laura Linney star. One of my biggest gripes is comedies that aren't funny, so if this film charmed the Sundance crowd I'm willing to bet it will give me some chuckles. Also, doesn't the dark comedy kind of sound like Election, in which Matthew Broderick's attempt to sabotage Reese Witherspoon's class president campaign ends up sabotaging everything in his own life?

Another Earth: Fox Searchlight was the recepient of this drama, which centers on a young woman who's looking up at the stars (another planet) and crashes into another car, killing a man's family. She's imprisoned, but later seeks redemption and contacts the surviving patriarch of the family. The storyline doesn't really sum up well, and sounds rather morbid in summary, but its "standing ovations" at Sundance mean this film will be one to watch (while keeping your eye on the road!).

Homework: Fox Searchlight is definitely releasing this high school comedy this year. It's about a boy who doesn't do his homework all through high school, and the girl who loves him (Emma Roberts). What more can you say, but hope that this follows in the footsteps of zeitgeist-y movies like Mean Girls and last year's well-regarded Easy A, starring Emma Stone.

Like Crazy: This romance, which will release through Paramount, has been described as a lighter version of Blue Valentine, one of my favorite moves from 2010. A girl and boy fall in love, but she violates her visa and is trapped in England, leading to a series of just-misses and just-in-times. Star Felicity Jones has received praise along the lines of "the next Carey Mulligan," and Winter's Bone Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence and Anton Yelchin also star.

Of these four films, The Details and Homework look most like they're treading a familiar path, albeit with a fresh look at a story whose outline is somewhat familiar. Like Crazy has a little bit of a Crash/Babel feel to it by bringing visas and politics into the story (though this is hardly the kind of immigrant that inspires political debate, much like the Canadian book editor who overstayed her visa in The Proposal). Another Earth tackles mourning, not one of my favorite movie subjects, but after comparing the film to loss-of-a-child drama Rabbit Hole, critic Kirk Honeycutt also calls this movie "science fiction at its best." With young casts, and off-the-beaten-path plots, this year's Sundance pickups have me eagerly waiting for their release dates.

Oscar snubs: A history of overlooked performances

By Kevin Lally

Ryan Gosling, Mila Kunis, Andrew Garfield and Julianne Moore, you're not alone. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a history of neglecting great performances when the five nominations in each acting category are announced each year. In fact, the roll call of overlooked actors includes some of the most beloved and indelible portrayals in screen history. Here's our personal list of remarkable performanceswhich did not receiveanOscar nomination. We welcome your own additions to the Academy's (dis)honor roll.

James Stewart in Vertigo

Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter

Humphrey Bogart in Treasure of the Sierra Madre

James Cagney in White Heat

John Wayne in The Searchers

Anthony Perkins in Psycho

Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity

Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt

Teresa Wright in Shadow of a Doubt

Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd

Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve

Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz

Ray Bolger in The Wizard of Oz

Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz

Charles Chaplin in Modern Times

Toshiro Mifune in The Seven Samurai

James Mason in Bigger Than Life

Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success

Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby

Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis

Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet

Robert De Niro in Mean Streets

Myrna Loy in The Best Years of Our Lives

James Stewart in The Naked Spur

Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

Carole Lombard in Twentieth Century

Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train

Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday

Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair

River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho

Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands

Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby

Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers

Robert Preston in The Music Man

Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot

Liv Ullmann in Scenes from a Marriage

Orson Welles in Touch of Evil

Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night

Clark Gable in The Misfits

Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, The Wrath of God

Paul Giamatti in Sideways

Steve Martin in All of Me

Ralph Richardson in The Fallen Idol

Spencer Tracy in Fury

Carmen Maura in Law of Desire

Gloria Grahame in The Big Heat

Claude Rains in The Invisible Man

Gary Oldman in Sid and Nancy

James Cagney in One, Two, Three

Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory

Denzel Washington in Philadelphia

Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns

Unpacking the Academy Award nominations--and snubs

By Sarah Sluis

Early this morning, the Motion Picture Academy announced its nominees. With ten movies in the Best Picture section, this category actually had the least amount of drama. The five-nominee sections actually narrowed the field, removing strong contenders who had critics rooting for them.

The two tiniest films in the Best Picture nominee section, The Kids Are All Right and Winter's Bone, both assembled a smattering of nominations in other sections. Especially for Winter's Bone, this was a big accomplishment. John Hawkes, who hadn't received nearly as much buzz as Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence, scored a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. After adding in the Ozark drama's Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, Winter's Bone scored a total of four nominations.

The Kids Are All Right had a similar scorecard: two acting nominations (Annette Bening for lead female, Mark Ruffalo for supporting male), Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. Julianne Moore, who was just as worthy as Bening in my book, was left off. Maybe it's a question of seniority? Or Moore's terrible Boston accent on "30 Rock"?

One tiny movie that barely got any love from the Academy was Blue Valentine. Michelle Williams is in the mix for Best Actress, but her co-star Ryan Gosling was left off the ballot. A bit of an indie dark horse, it's not that surprising this movie struck out at the Oscars. In all honesty, I think it skewed a little young. There was a lot more talk about Another Year, which skewed older, than Blue Valentine. It's only the fact that Valentine is distributed by Weinstein Co. that it got as far as it did. Another Year's Lesley Manville failed to get an acting nomination despite getting raves for her performance, though director Mike Leigh's script is nominated in the original screenplay category. With just one nomination each, both of these films just barely made it into the Oscars.

The Academy treated a few films very well: 127 Hours rallied with six nominations, though some in lesser categories. Director Danny Boyle didn't get a nod, but he and his co-writer (Slumdog Millionaire Oscar winner Simon Beaufoy) are nominees for the Adapted Screenplay Oscar. True Grit, which got completely snubbed at the Golden Globes with Z-E-R-O nominations, received an astonishing ten nominations, leading the Coens to release a statement saying "Ten seems like an awful lot...we don't want to take anyone else's."

This summer's blockbuster Inception scored eight nominations, but the only big ones were for its script and Best Picture. Director Chris Nolan has now made three Oscar-worthy films (Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception) without earning a directing nomination for himself. One thing's sure, however: Inception will bring home a lot of those more technical awards. Whatever the movie was lacking, jaw-dropping special effects and technical prowess were not among them.

The announcement of the Oscars still puts us over a month away from the big day (33 days away!). Awards fatigue has definitely set in, at least for me--I mean come on, giving out awards for 2010 three whole months after the year ends? Now that the nominations have been announced, however, there will be plenty of time to strategize Oscar picks (hint from Awards Daily: The Social Network) and win the office pool.

'No Strings Attached' reels in female audiences

By Sarah Sluis

The sex-first/romance-second comedy No Strings Attached overperformed this weekend, tipping over the twenty million mark to finish with $20.3 million. 70% of the turnout was female. Star Natalie Portman hasn't really done anything in the romantic comedy genre, so this shows she can come across as an appealing, likeable heroine to female viewers.

In its second week, The Green Hornet dove 46% to $18.1 million. Its performance is better than last year's fanboy extravaganza Kick-Ass, and has also held onto audiences better than star Seth Rogen's stoner comedy Pineapple Express. Might there be buzz of a sequel soon?

Director Peter Weir's The Way Back drew in paltry audiences despite positive reviews and a well-known cast. With $1.4 million in receipts, the Siberian prison-escape movie finished outside of the top ten due to its meager $2,100 per-screen average.

The Weinstein Co.'s The Company Men fared better, averaging $7,300 per screen on its 106 playdates. By comparison, however, this season's heavy-hitters were averaging $20,000-$40,000 per screen before expanding, so this is not a film that's going to be in for the long haul. Count this as one strikeout in the Weinstein Co.'s rebounding batting average.

Among platform releases in the top ten, The King's Speech showed the most traction, holding onto fourth place and $9.1 million by sliding just .2% from last week while adding a conservative 137 screens for a still-small 1,637-screen run. True Grit and Black Swan both fell in the 25% range, posting $8 million and $6.2 million weekends, respectively. The Fighter followed with $6.5 million and a smaller 11% drop from the previous week.

IFC's The Housemaid brought in a strong $18,000 per screen at two locations, a sign this movie will perform well across all of IFC's platforms, including on-demand.

This Friday, Jason Statham-led action film The Mechanic will open alongside the religious-tinged horror movie The Rite. A targeted release of From Prada to Nada, a romantic comedy from Lionsgate's Latino-focused Pantelion Films, will also enter the arena.