Jacob Hall
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Mockingjay’ Crushes Thanksgiving Weekend
Appropriately, the Thanksgiving holiday box office was all about the leftovers. While two high profile new releases struggled to open, films from the past few weeks continued to do solid business. In fact, this was one of the most varied weekends at the box office in quite some time, with YA adaptations, animated family movies, epic blockbusters, and small independent films all performing better than expected.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’ Makes All of the Money and It’s Still Not Enough
There‘s going to be a lot of blood and ink spilled across the internet on the subject of the opening weekend for ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.’ Yes, the third film in the series did open significantly lower than its predecessors. Yes, there are definitely people at Lionsgate wringing their hands and trying to figure out why the film opened below expectations. And yet, that opening weekend is still massive. It’s three day total is larger than most movies ever have a chance to make in their entire runs. So, let's have some perspective as we dive into this week’s top 10.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Proves That It Pays to be Stupid
‘Dumb and Dumber To’ arrives two decades after the first film was one of the bigger hits of 1994 and no one knew what to make of it ... until it topped the box office this weekend and made it look easy. Now, the idea of two middle-aged actors returning to two of the most idiotic characters in modern movie history doesn't seem so desperate and crazy. It seems canny.
There Will Be At Least Three More ‘Fast and Furious’ Movies
Earlier this week, it was reported that Justin Lin was being courted by Universal to return to the ‘Fast and Furious’ series after taking ‘Furious 7’ off and giving the director's seat to James Wan. It was also reported that his return would be be part of a two film “grand finale” that would send this beloved franchise driving off into the sunset. But that second part is just plain silly. Have you seen the box office receipts for these movies? So it should come as no surprise that the studio has “at least three” more Dominic Toretto and company adventures in the pipeline.
‘SNL’: Woody Harrelson Sings Taylor Swift With His ‘Hunger Games’ Co-Stars
When Woody Harrelson was revealed to be hosting ‘SNL’ just a few days before the new ‘Hunger Games’ movie was set to open in theaters, it was obvious that the massively popular franchise would, somehow, figure into at least one sketch. Surprisingly, that ended up being the opening monologue, which featured Harrelson performing his own version of Taylor Swift's ‘1989.’ With a little help from some friends.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Big Hero 6′ Have a Showdown
The showdown between 'Interstellar' and 'Big Hero 6' has got to be one of the most interesting things to happen to the box office in 2014. After all, it would be tough to find two movies that are simultaneously so different and so alike. Both are pro-science adventures that are all about using your intelligence to save your friends and family. However, one is an animated, family friendly release from Disney and the other is a three-hour epic from the ever-serious Christopher Nolan. In other words, they represent opposite ends of the blockbuster spectrum.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Nightcrawler’ Edges Out the Competition in a Very Close Race
Although 'Nightcrawler,' the only new wide release of the week, did end up taking the top spot at the box office this weekend, it did so in one of the tightest races we've ever seen. The top six films all came within $3 million of each other and the order could have radically changed by a stiff breeze for all we know. Heck, some titles may get swapped around by tomorrow when the studios release some more official numbers.
‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1′ Final Trailer: Katniss Goes to War
The final trailer for 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' is here and it's strictly business. At just over a minute long, it's packed full of big emotions and even bigger explosions, never even bothering to pause and fill you in on the plot because it already assumes that you saw the first two movies. Yeah, this movie is going to be huge.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Ouija’ Scares Up a Victory Over ‘John Wick’
It feels like common sense: of course the horror movie released a week before Halloween is going to win the weekend war at the box office over the action movie. And yet, most horror movies continue to get released as far away from the season of the witch as possible. Can the recent success of 'Annabelle' and this weekend's 'Ouija' change that?
Clever New IKEA Commercial Parodies Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’
We live in a world where commercial directors speak (and breathe and live) the same pop culture language as the people they've been hired to peddle all kinds of products to. The result: television advertisements have gotten more clever, more specific, and most importantly, more ready to become instant viral sensations on the internet. A new IKEA commercial, whose release in the chilly weeks of October is no coincidence, cleverly parodies one of the most famous horror movies of all time and it's pretty cool.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Fury’ Rages Into First Place
Brad Pitt's new World War II drama 'Fury' opened at number at the box office and has officially defined what this October has been about: long, R-rated movies featuring huge movie stars bucking the usual trends and out-grossing their family friendly competition. Between this and 'Gone Girl,' it looks like grown adults are heading to their multiplex more than ever these days.
How ‘Batman vs. Superman’ Will Explain Wonder Woman’s Origin
We really don't know much about how Wonder Woman will fit into the plot of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.' We do know that she's being played by Gal Gadot and that she will, somehow, get some screen time alongside Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck's Batman and Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. But that's about it ... until now! Thanks to a tiny snippet (caught on Vine, no less) we now know that DC's Amazon warrior will forego her classic origin story in favor of her modern beginning.