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.
‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Post-Credits Scene Teases Another Sequel
A sequel to 1994’s ‘Dumb and Dumber’ seemed like a silly idea until ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ went and made $36 million in its opening weekend. Now, the sky is the limit for the aging idiots played by Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels and the thought of a third film (‘Dumb and Dumberer’ is not official canon) doesn’t seem all that crazy. In fact, the new film is already waaay ahead of you. If you stuck around through the end credits of ‘Dumb and Dumber To,’ you already know that the post-credits scene teases a theoretical third entry in the series.
Our Worst Fears Realized; They’re Turning the Universal Monsters Into Superheroes
The likes of Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man have no business aping the Marvel “shared universe” structure in the first place. They're monsters! Let them monster! Any of our well-intentioned blogging-into-the-wind was too little, too late because the head of Universal has pretty much come and out said that they're taking the horror out of their horror icons.
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.
Despite Leaking Online, the ‘Avengers 2′ Trailer Broke All Kinds of Records
Every few months, someone on the internet loudly declares that we're probably nearing the end of the superhero movie as a popular genre. And then, every few months, another trailer arrives that proves that we're going to be watching movies starring people wearing capes and tights for a long time yet. The new trailer for 'Avengers 2' lit the internet on fire, as you'd expect from the sequel to one of the most popular blockbusters in recent years. In fact, if success can be measured in trailer views, then Marvel and Disney can already call this one a big winner.
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.
‘I Am Legend’ Reboot Moving Forward Without Will Smith
Despite being one of the bigger hits of 2007, a sequel to 'I Am Legend' failed to materialize. Blame star Will Smith's unwillingness to do sequels or blame the film's rather definitive ending, which made a follow-up difficult. Seven years later, the franchise that wasn't is being rebooted and, no, Smith will not be involved.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Equalizer’ Triumphs While ‘The Boxtrolls’ Underperforms
When you put Denzel Washington in an action movie, you've written your meal ticket for the foreseeable future. Few actors are as consistent as Washington with their opening weekends, even when the project looks like something everyone has seen countless times before...
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Maze Runner’ Outpaces Liam Neeson’s ‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’
Young adult movies are big business. 'The Maze Runner' took over the box office this weekend, proving that the audience for films were young people in science fiction dystopias are forced into violent and terrible predicaments extends beyond the 'Hunger Games' franchise.