The MTV Movie Awards have officially (almost anyway…) moved away from the Twilight series into new territory with some of their choices that were seen in last night’s ceremony that hosted by Rebel Wilson, now an MTV Movie Award winner herself. With sketches that included a wink from Oscar host James Franco, the show started off with a singing Wilson in a female-Iron Man suit and it couldn’t be funnier.
What’s disappointing is so many stars, and winners, were not in attendance. Granted, I don’t think this is the most anticipated party for a celebrity, especially for stars like Jennifer Lawrence who went through the awards season hull and is now filming one of many upcoming projects. Marvel’s The Avengers was the big winner of the night winning three Popcorn statues for Best Movie, Best Fight, and Best Villain for Tom Hiddleston. David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook captured just as many awards for Best Male and Female Performances for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. The two also won a dual award for Best Kiss, nudging out the cuteness and beauty of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Moonrise Kingdom couples.
The full winners are listed below. I think it’s safe to say we are OFFICALLY done with 2012 films from now on. If you’re in the post-awards season funk, don’t forget to vote in our Awards Circuit Community Awards for Year 1999.
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
You can add Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo to the growing list of presenters on Oscar night. The Avengers was the highest grossing film of the year, and four out of the five actors are former Oscar nominees, so it is a nice addition to a growing lineup that includes Mark Wahlberg (and Ted), Meryl Streep, Jean Dujardin, Octavia Spencer, and Christopher Plummer. I’m curious why Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson were not invited, but maybe they just weren’t available? See the official release after the jump.
The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Daniel Sudick, Jeff White, and Guy Williams Oscar Scene: Hulk smashing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – David Clayton, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, and R. Christopher White Oscar Scene: The introduction to Gollum Life of Pi – Erik De Boer, Donald Elliott, Guillaume Rocheron, and Bill Westenhofer Oscar Scene: Any involving Richard Parker Prometheus – Charley Henley, Martin Hill, Richard Stammers, and Trevor Wood Oscar Scene: The Opening Scene Snow White and the Huntsman – Phil Brennan, Neil Corbould, Michael Dawson, and Cedric Nicolas-Troyan Oscar Scene: The Mirror Man
A category often filled with summer blockbusters, it’s not every day that the Best Visual Effects field has a Best Picture nominee contained within it. That alone makes it one of the more interesting categories, but it’s hardly the only reason for that. Many of the other tech categories are harder for layman to comprehend and as such feel a bit exclusionary (Film Editing or Sound Mixing, for example), whereas this category is a lot simpler to wrap your brain around. This year, happen to have a bit of mix between high octane and low key contenders, which I find unique. Of the 5 nominees, it seems like more or less a 2 horse race. Which are they, you ask? Well, lets dive right in and find out!
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced their nominees for the VES Awards, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey leads the pack with seven nominations. Life of Pi (presumed by many to be the favorite come Oscar time) and The Avengers are right behind the furry-footed hobbits with six nods. We’ll have to wait until February 5th to find out who wins, but you can have a look at the entire slate of nominees after the jump.
And the Oscar goes to…Homeland? Wait…what?! Oh, that’s right, I meant the The Emmys — only the second-most substantial entertainment awards ceremony of the year! The Awards Circuit was on hand Sunday to talk Emmys on our first LIVE Blog since the 84th Academy Awards in February. Not only was it an eventful night to come together as a community, but I’m sure for many of you it was a treat to chat live with staff newcomers Terence and Mark Johnson (no relation, though their lighthearted bickering says otherwise!). Were your predictions on strong foundation like Editor-in-Chief Clayton Davis’ or did they crumble to pieces like yours truly once the winners were announced (for such Emmy Chatterboxes, Terence and I sure couldn’t predict Emmy wins if our prognostication lives depended on them). We thank those that joined our LIVE Blog, and look forward to many more now that we’re in the thick of awards season. Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 9/30)…
After being left on the Lionsgate shelves for a fair amount of time, The Possession finally got its opportunity to play at the multiplex and won the final weekend at the box office, earning an estimated $17.2 million, wrapping up an interesting 2012 summer box office season. Outpacing the Prohibition-era crime drama Lawless, The Possession was the second consecutive teen-oriented horror film to not screen for critics, following last week’s virtually ignored The Apparition. However, unlike The Apparition, audiences were much interested in being possessed it seems. 2016: Obama’s America attempted to build on its big numbers last weekend on the back of the Republican National Convention, and this week also witnessed an opening of historic proportions. Believe me when I say, it is historic for all the wrong reasons.
Marvel fans can breath a sigh of relief, Joss Whedon is coming back to the Marvel universe. Slashfilm is reporting that the writer/director has been signed on to perform the same duties for the anticipated sequel to the 3rd highest grossing film of all time, The Avengers. Marvel has also released a statement confirming that Whedon will be involved in helping develop a new live action series for Marvel Television at ABC. Whedon has previously expressed doubts about returning to the franchise citing the amount of work associated with telling someone else’s story, but has signed on for a much more expanded role within the Marvel franchises. Read more on Joss Whedon signed on to write/direct The Avengers 2, develop Marvel TV series!…
Most years, at least a few films from the first half of the year manage to get the attention of the Academy in one way or another. The end result is usually a few Best Picture contenders (even if they’re in the minority overall), but this year there seems to be a dearth of real contenders for the top prize. This is not to say that one can’t cross their fingers for some love for ‘The Cabin in the Woods’, expect that a film like ‘John Carter’ could wind up with some technical citations, or look towards any number of indie films to make a surprise leap into the Oscar race with some precursor love, but at the moment there doesn’t seem to be a lot on Oscar’s plate from January through the end of June. That’s not to say that there aren’t possibilities out there, and I’ve actually collected 10 potential contenders that pretty much represent the best first half hopes of 2012 and listed them in alphabetical order. These aren’t necessarily the ones I’d like to see in play, just the ones realistically under any sort of consideration. Most will wind up excluded from many, if not all, categories, but some of these will score nods for sure. The question is just where. By my count, there are 3 legitimate Best Picture contenders in the group, but none of them is anywhere close to a lock (in fact, I’m actually only predicting one of them to get nominated in my own predictions). Time will tell though, so all we can do right now is ponder the potential possibilities…and ponder we shall! Let’s get started, shall well?
The Dark Knight Rises ($64.1 million) repeats as the box office champion in its second week to no one’s surprise. However, after a 60 percent drop from its week one totals it’s looking less likely that Nolan’s final Batman film will catch The Avengers’ incredible box office mass (its running about $84 million behind The Avengers’ numbers after 10 days). So it seems you can toss out my prediction that the film would finish as the third highest grossing film ever. But money isn’t everything, and while the film is still earning a boatload of cash, I’m sure the folks at Warner Brothers are more than proud of the film they are distributing.
Now that ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is out in theaters, it sort of feels like we’ve reached a milestone point in the realm of superhero flicks…perhaps even an apex if you will. Everything that will come next for the genre will be judged on a different playing field due to that film and this year’s ‘The Avengers’ as well (essentially you now have to go big or go home). Those two films were as anticipated as any other major comic book film out there, and some might say the hype has been as much as any other big flick in general. As most people would argue that 2012 has seen the release of two of the best superhero movies of all time, I thought it was only proper to give a little rundown of what I think are the 10 best of all time (at least so far). Obviously there are lots of contenders for a list like this one, some more universally embraced than others, and it’s fair to say that no two people would come up with the same combination of flicks, but this is mine, so just keep that in mind as you read on. Of course I’ll want you all to give your picks later in the comments, but for now let’s get started and focus on my picks and see where things go from there. Which filmmakers who took multiple dips into the superhero pool got a citation from me here? Did I give any love to Tim Burton’s contributions to the genre? What about Jon Favreau’s? Presumably Christopher Nolan’s, right? Perhaps Sam Raimi’s? Bryan Singer’s could be in play, couldn’t they? Maybe even Joel Schumaker’s? (I assure you I did not go that route). First off, here are some that just missed the cut for me when compiling this list of lifesavers…
It’s the first of the month. Not only that, it’s the first day of the second half of the year. Anybody else feel like that was fast? Yet, here we are.
It’s time to start getting serious, Oscar-wise. Not many things have come out, and not many films are looking like Best Picture nominees from the first half. Some will argue The Avengers with a $600 million dollar bank is in talks. Some think the little indie-film Moonrise Kingdom from Wes Anderson could be our “Little Miss Sunshine” of the year. In limited release, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild has opened and received one of the best word-of-mouth reviews of the year. Is that a contender for the big prize? I’d say it is.
I’m ready to start getting down and dirty with these predictions.
Why is this such big news, you ask? By crossing the $600 million mark domestically, Marvel’s The Avengers becomes only the third film to ever register such a feat. The film’s global total is now estimated at $1.438 billion, and it stands as the number three film of all time both globally and domestically.
Check out some of the records The Avengers has shattered after the jump…
Chris Hemsworth is having a fantastic summer at the box office and is using his rising star to chose interesting roles. Deadline is reporting he rising star is attached to star in In the Heart of the Sea, the disaster story that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Based on the National Book Award-winning book by Nathaniel Philbrick, In The Heart Of The Sea is the fact-based tale of Nantucket whaling ship the Essex, which was stalked and ultimately destroyed by a sperm whale in 1820. Stranded thousands of miles from home, the crew struggled to survive; they were lost at sea for 90 days. The script is written by Charles Leavitt (Blood Diamond) and word is that Dreamworks is in talks to produce the picture.
It was a fairly successful weekend at the box office for two new films in release. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted took top honors, hauling in an impressive $60.4 million. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus finished second with $50 million ($23 of which came out of my pocket after an encore viewing). Between the sale prices of 3-D tickets and the built-in fan base for both franchises, the early success of the two movies is no surprise. How they will each hold up over the next few weeks will be the real test – especially with Disney/Pixar’s Brave right around the corner. You can read Michael’s 3-star review for Prometheus here, Robert’s 1 and a half-star review here, or listen to Terence, Joey, and I discuss the film on our podcast, here.
The Avengers has conquered the globe to the tune of over $1 billion and counting, and now looks set to cross another frontier. Marvel Studios has announced that with the help of NASA, they have arranged plans to broadcast the film to the International Space Station, 220 miles above the earth. This pretty cool news is part of NASA and Marvel’s partnership that began when the film shot at the Space Power Facility at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. Check out the press release after the jump for more information about the program.
That’s right folks, The Avengers is out of the top spot this weekend after Men in Black 3 raked in over $55 million (domestically) to dethrone the former champ. MiB3 took in an additional $132 million overseas, and is well towards earning back its massive $230 million budget (read Michael’s 2-star review of the film here). But fans of The Avengers need not worry, as their film still brought in another $37 million, passing the ridiculous $500 million mark in 23 days, breaking yet another record (it took Avatar 32 days to get to $500 mil). Battleship (10.8 mil), The Dictator (9.6 mil), and Chernobyl Diaries (8.0 mil) took what scraps were left by these two juggernauts to finish 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively this Memorial Day weekend.
For the third week in a row, Marvel’s The Avengers will claim the title of Box Office champion, as the film brought in another $55 million or so. This weekend brought the domestic total for the film to over $457 million, making it the fastest movie ever to reach the $450 million mark (in just 17 days!!). The previous record was held by The Dark Knight, which took a full ten days longer to reach such an astronomic tally. Not only is it on pace to be the highest grossing film of all time, but The Avengers is now Disney’s highest grossing film ever, both domestically and worldwide. It has settled into fourth place all-time, behind Avatar, Titanic, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
As anyone who read my review of the film, I’d pretty much discounted the possibility that ‘The Avengers’ could be a player for any major Academy Awards outside of the technical categories (though I did sort of make the case for SAG to notice the ensemble, as much as that might be wishful thinking), but as the box office continues to break records, I’m beginning to amend my position somewhat. I’m not completely changing course here, but I’ve begun to ponder a few things, leading to this piece. It’s still a long shot, but there could be a way for the film to get a Best Picture nomination, and much of it revolves around Marvel partnering with Disney on the flick’s distribution and marketing. Yes, as much as that initial partnership decision had no impact on the creative product that Marvel Studios was producing, it could have a major impact on a potential Oscar campaign. Just think about what the folks at Disney were able to do with ‘The Help’ last year, and ‘Toy Story 3′ as well. Backed by a studio with experience in awards campaigning and major connections to the Oscar race, ‘The Avengers’ could wind up, even more than ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ potentially, being the blockbuster that makes a play for Best Picture. Factor in its previously unheard of box office numbers, and there’s a case that can be made for Joss Whedon’s film. Let’s dive into that right now, why don’t we?
It took only 19 days for Disney/Marvel’sThe Avengersto pass the $1 billion pinnacle worldwide. The film also became the first ever to pass the $100 million mark (domestically) in its second week. Its earnings of $103.2 million shatters the previous second week record held by Avatar ($75.6 mil). The Avengers domestic box office now stands at $372.3 million, and the film is certain to pass the current 2012 box office champ (The Hunger Games; $386.9 million) sometime this week.
Read the rest of the box office report after the jump…
The $4billion acquisition of Marvel is looking better and better for Disney. With a $373.2 million domestic and $628.9 million international box office gross, The Avengers only took 19 days to reach $1 billion, the fastest movie ever, and Dinsey has released a press release to celebrate the achievement. In the press release after the jump, also gives hints as to where the Avengers heroes will be going from here.
So last week, I made what I thought was a rather bold prediction that The Avengers might actually beat Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’s opening weekend record with just over $170 million! Gosh, could it really happen? Well, yes…and then some. So with that, let’s get some obvious things out of the way. The film will make $1 billion in its theatrical run. Period. This will also put it in prime position for the top ten highest-grossing films of all time. That’s not a leap of faith. Finally, I’m not going out on a limb in predicting that The Avengers will be the first movie in history to rake in $100 million during its second weekend in theaters. What will be the unfortunate victim of this juggernaut’s second go-round?
Luckily, it’s arguably the most tired actor/director collaboration of modern times returning again to trot out tired macabre “kookiness” as the most banal form of recognizable cinematic branding. Their last work together, Alice in Wonderland, was the absolute worst film I saw in 2010. Of course, it also happened to be a smash hit. Dark Shadows – loosely, loosely, loosely based on the cult gothic fantasy soap opera – stars Depp as Barnabas Collins, a wealthy aristocrat who breaks the heart of a vengeful witch is cursed as a vampire and buried alive. Finally freed in 1972, he sets out to restore honor to the family name. Very little of this is based on the original story beyond a few characters, but hey, a vampire comedy might be refreshing in this age of sparkly vampires in theaters and oft-screwing creatures of the night on HBO. Then again, maybe not, since critics are characterizing the film as a tonally and narratively scattershot mess. I can’t imagine a lot of die-hard fans of the show itching to see this film and families won’t be as eager to see this the way they suffered through flocked to Alice in Wonderland. It’ll be making $25-30 million under the shadow of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Read more on Weekend Openings (May 11-13)…
The MTV Movie Awards have officially (almost anyway…) moved away from the Twilight series into new territory with some of their choices that were seen in last night’s ceremony that hosted by Rebel Wilson, now an MTV Movie Award winner herself. With sketches that included a wink from Oscar host James Franco, the show started off with a singing Wilson in a female-Iron Man suit and it couldn’t be funnier.
