Wowzer for all three of these box office stories. The first, Les Miserables hits $18 mil for its opening. That makes it the second highest opener on Christmas, behind Sherlock Holmes and the highest grossing opener for a musical ever. Django Unchained, in more theaters, came out with less of a take, at $15 million. But Les Mis really had the Must-See thing in its favor,...
Monthly Archives: December 2012
Les Miserables was considered an early frontrunner Oscar’s Best Picture before the race really began. That put it at a disadvantage immediately because most frontrunners are bigger targets when the collective believes they are going to win. It’s better, always, to fly under the radar. The film enters the race now with two major obstacles in its path: 1)...
1. Wuthering Heights If there’s an element of Terrence Malick-like cinematic abstraction and landscape photography to this “Wuthering Heights,” it feels more pre-modern than postmodern, as if it’s trying to dig backward through all the costume-drama adaptations to the physical, elemental truths of life and love on the frigid moors of Yorkshire. As a visual and...
In 2010, British filmmaker Tom Hooper and his film The King’s Speech seemingly came out of nowhere, to gross over $400 million worldwide and win four Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture. For his next project, Hooper decided to take on a film adaptation of Les Misérables, the longest running musical of alltime. In anticipation of the film’s Christmas Day...
Since Christmas falls on Tuesday this year, the usual sources of box-office savvy have been more cautious with forthcoming weekend predictions and it’s not easy to find estimates for the weeklong haul. Nikki Finke is down sick (get well soon!) so we don’t have the benefit of the inside track she taps for ticket-sales estimates. Although a holiday release...
Awards Daily’s Predict the Producers Guild contest now open for business! Back in 1994 and before that, the Producers Guild nominees matched the Oscar Best Picture five fairly well. But since 1995 and onward, there has been at least one mismatch. Usually the end of December would represent the earlier part of the race but this year everything is smushed together...
Congratulations to Ben Gordon and (I decided to give out another) of the Tarantino disk set to Cameron (charvey81208). Please email for prize info. And now onto our special Christmas giveaway. For this contest you have a choice. You can enter a haiku about awards season, if you’re feeling up to it, or you can put down your favorite movie to watch around the holidays. The...
Vulture: Despite earlier reports that any sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman would likely take place without her (thanks to that whole Rupert Sanders thing), the actress obliquely confirmed her involvement in a recent interview. “Oh, it’s gonna be f*kin’ amazing. No, I’m so excited about it, it’s crazy. I’m not allowed [to talk...
Nevada Film Critics Best Film Argo Best Director Ben Affleck (Argo) Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) Best Actor John Hawkes (The Sessions) Best Actress Helen Hunt (The Sessions) Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) (Cont’d after the cut. Thanks once again to Paddy Mulholland at ScreenOnScreen.) ...