Disney/Marvel Studios now has the top two opening weekends in box office history. “The Avengers” opened to $207 million and now “Iron Man 3” opened to $175.3 million. That opening is significantly higher than “Iron Man 2” and above such films as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” and “The Dark Knight”.
Lukas Eggen cna be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
You know, the Wachowskis are a rare breed of directors. They continue to make fun and unique films unlike anything we’re seeing in cinema today. They ushered in a new era of sci-fi and action films with “The Matrix”. “Speed Racer” was an underrated family film and of course “Cloud Atlas”, the amazing, best film of last year. Now they’re back with “Jupiter Ascending”, which stars Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum and Eddie Redmayne. The big budget sci-fi epic is, from Cinema Blend: a futuristic drama set in a future world where humans have become the lowest species on the intergalactic totem pole.
And now WB is giving it a release date of July 25, 2014. This is significant for a variety of reasons. First, it’s getting a summer release that’s not August. And this is the time of year WB has traditionally released it’s biggest guns of the summer: “The Dark Knight”, “The Dark Knight Rises”, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and “Inception”. So yeah, they’re putting a lot of faith behind this film. It will have stiff competition. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is getting released just a week before and Brett Ratner’s “Hercules” starring Dwayne Johnson is opening July 25 as well.
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
It’s finally here (thank goodness). “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II” hits theaters ending the series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson and features Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen and more. There’s always anticipation of a film being the last in a series. Anticipation is high as fans of the series will flock to this film all weekend. I don’t think it’ll open quite as high as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” only because the series appeal isn’t as wide. But, look for it to set a new franchise record on its way to more than $300 million.
Opening weekend: $150-155 million
Really, the only other new release is “Lincoln” which expands into more theaters. It’s been getting rave reviews, some of the best Steven Spielberg’s seen in years, and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones and a host of others. It’s still going to appeal to only older viewers, much like “Munich” from six or seven years ago, which will prevent this from reaching $20 million.
Opening weekend: $15-20 million
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
In the next week “The Avengers” will pass “The Dark Knight” to be the third highest grossing film domestically. It will also pass “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” to become the third highest grossing film worldwide. In both cases it’s behind “Avatar” and “Titanic”.
Was “The Avengers” so good that it’s on a historic level? Or did the hype carry this film to this huge gross? I tend to think its the hype. The film is great, don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed it a lot. But, on a historic level? In my mind, no way. It was fun, light hearted and exciting to watch. Yet, I didn’t leave the theater thinking that was a classic. Man, I have to rush out and see that movie again and again. But, what do you think?
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
“The Avengers” continues its hot streak, finishing No. one yet again, earning an estimated $55 million over the weekend. That brings its domestic total to $457 million and its worldwide total stands at $1.18 billion, the fourth highest total ever behind “Avatar”, “Titanic” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”.
“Battleship” took second, but opened lower than “John Carter” with $25.3 million while “The Dictator” took third with $17.4 million. Peter Berg can take solace, however, as his film wasn’t the only to bomb. “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” tanked with just $10.5 million.
Next weekend sees “Men in Black III” be released and one has to think it stands a great shot at ending “The Avengers” reign.
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
Yes, the people behind such gems like “Date Movie”, “Epic Movie”, “Meet the Spartans”, “Disaster Movie” and “Vampires Suck” are at it again with “The Starving Games”. It will spoof recent hits such as “The Hunger Games”, “The Avengers” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”.
There was a time when spoof movies were actually good. You know, like with “Airplane” and all. Even “Scary Movie” wasn’t half bad. But this…who gives these people money to make these films? They’re terrible.
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
So, Marvel Studios and director Joss Whedon has broken all expectations and taken down “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’s” opening weekend record. Not just broken it. Shattered it. That film earned $169 million. “The Avengers earned an estimate $200.3 million its opening weekend. It’s now made $641 million worldwide, more than any other Marvel Studio film…after 12 days.
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
“The Avengers” made $80.5 million on Friday. That’s the second biggest opening day ever behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”, which made $91 million. With an A+ score from movie goers, “The Avengers” looks like it will make a play at the opening weekend record, currently at $169 million.
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
For the first time in about a month, “The Hunger Games” is no longer the number one film in America. That went to “Think Like a Man” which opened to a surprisingly strong $33 million. Even more surprising (to me at least) is “The Lucky One” starring Zac Efron opened in second with $22.8 million. However, “The Hunger Games” is practically even with where “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” was after the same amount of days in theaters and it should surpass that Potter flick in total box office gross.
Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.
Another year, another Oscars are in the books. “The Artist” won big, taking Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Meryl Streep took home best Actress.
It was an overall, uneventful telecast. There were very few races that people weren’t 100 percent sure they knew who was going to win. Among the biggest surprises was Woody Allen’s Best Original Screenplay win for “Midnight in Paris”. You know, for the life of me, I can’t understand why everyone was so in love with this film. It was a good, light hearted whimsical film. But, it was also just that. It lacked any real depth and wasn’t exactly Oscar nominating worthy in my mind, let alone worthy to take home a statue.
Despite a little initial hope that it could be a big night for “Hugo”, it was shut out of the big categories. Martin Scorcese I do believe deserved Best Director. And, it was my favorite film out of the 10 nominated films for Best Picture. It didn’t surprise me it didn’t win the big categories, but it just goes to serve that the gap between the Academy and most movie goers is growing. However, one of its wins, Best Special Effects, was a little undeserved. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” probably deserved to win. But, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” was probably the fan favorite to win. It’s a little disappointing “Potter” never got any Oscar traction during its run, not even in the technical categories.
In the end, it was an average Oscars. It was fun to see Billy Crystal again. His simple approach to hosting the show was a nice breath of fresh air after last year’s debacle. And, there was one good joke I heard from someone to come out of this. After “The Artist” won Best Picture: “Americans do love the French, as long as they’re silent.”
Lukas Eggen 