Friday Estimates: January 6, 2012

The only new wide release was The Devil Inside, which turned out to be another remarkable opening for another faux-und footage movie by Paramount. The Top 4 Holdovers fell in the 40s. And the expansion of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is looking at around $6k per screen on 809… pretty good.

Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Pick of the Week: Classic. The Four Feathers (Korda)

The Four Feathers (Three and a Half Stars) U.K.: Zolta Korda, 1939 (Criterion Collection) Four adventure-loving upper class British soldiers — best friends who are about to leave for the 1896-98 colonial wars in Sudan — symbolically exchange four white feathers, plucked from  the plume of the beautiful Ethne (June Duprez), daughter of the harrumphing and…

20W2O: 51 Days To Go

Guilding The Lily

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that we are locked into 60% or so of the nominations for all groups by Thanksgiving and that the rest of the slots will be filled by a pool of films and talent that pretty much represents fewer than 15 films legitimately vying for Best Picture slots and 8 or fewer actors/directors/writers and other top talent competing for each of the other nomination slots?

DP/30: War Horse, Team Kaminski, Kahn, Carter, Burwell

Some key members of Steven Spielberg’s below-the-line team on War Horse: Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, Editor Michael Kahn, Production Designer Rick Carter, Costume Designer Lois Burwell talk about their experiences on the film.

The Top Tens of 2011: 210 Lists And Counting

The top 20 stay the top 20, but Drive has moved around The Artist into the third position. The Tree of Life is too far out in front to chase, but overtaking The Descendants may still be possible.

See the individual Top Ten lists here.

Wilmington on DVDs. The Rest: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark; I Don’t Know How She Does It; Devil’s Angels

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Three Stars) U.S.: Troy Nixey, 2011 (Sony Pictures Home Entertaiment)    What’s that noise over there? What’s that knocking in the walls? Those ashes stirring in the fireplace? Ah, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. Don’t worry. Even though you’re all alone and I know you’re anxious…that there may be something…wrong….

The DVD Wrapup: Contagion, Brighton Rock, The Guard, Tokyo Drifter, Don’t Know How She Does It, Santa Mesa, Glad My Mother Is Alive, X: The Unheard Music, Justified …

Contagion: Blu-ray If the cast and creative team behind “Contagion” were a baseball team, it would be the New York Yankees. It would be managed by Academy Award-winner Steven Soderbergh and feature a lineup that includes such Oscar- and BAFTA-level talent as Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Marion…

Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Pick of the Week: New. Mildred Pierce (Haynes), Mildred Pierce (Curtiz)

  Mildred Pierce (Also DVD/Blu-ray Collector’s Edition) (Two Discs) (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Todd Haynes, 2011 (HBO Home Video) Mildred Pierce (Four Stars) U.S.: Michael Curtiz, 1945 (Warner Bros.) If you’re a hard core movie lover, and you haven’t already sampled the curious and perverse (and sometimes classic) delights of HBO’s Tv mini-series adapted…

Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Pick of the Week: New. Contagion

Contagion (Blu-ray/DVD Combo, with UV Digital Copy) (Also Movie Only) (Two Discs) (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Steven Soderbergh, 2011 (Warner Home Video) 　 Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion begins with a cough in the dark — something mundane, and ordinary, if irritating, that soon grows into something else: an explosion of fear, death, lawlessness and hysteria….

Analyzing The Top 10 List of Lists 2011

MCN’s List of Lists, charting a wide spectrum of year end Top 10 lists from critics, has become surprisingly prescient about the Oscar race to come. The #1 on the chart has won 2 of the last 4 Best Picture races and in the other two seasons, it was #3 and #6 (that would be The King’s Speech).

Have the critics become Oscar whores or has The Academy raised its game? Hard to say. But if you want to see the future, this chart is one of the best places to start in all of OscarLand.

Dispatches: Marrakech International Film Festival II: Terry Gilliam

Smack in the middle of the nine days of the tribute-laden 11th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival in early December, three sentences kept popping up among English-speaking journalists: “We’re in Africa“; “That’s a lot of food” and “Where’s Terry?” As in… Terry Gilliam. (Insert characteristic giggle.) A packed late-afternoon masterclass of largely young…

Wilmington on Movies: We Bought a Zoo

  We Bought a Zoo (Also Blu-ray) (Two and a Half Stars) U.S.: Cameron Crowe, 2011 (20th Century Fox)   1. Once Upon a Time, There were all these animals…   In Cameron Crowe’s new movie We Bought a Zoo, Matt Damon — using every bit of nice guy vibes at his disposal — plays…

The Top Tens: Updated January 2

There’s little movement among the top ten, but further down the list, We Need to Talk About Kevin moves into the Top 20. 50/50 climbs nine spots, Warrior fights into the top 50 and The Muppets continue their steady rise up the chart.

See the individual Top Ten lists here.

The Weekend Report: January 1, 2012

The three-day portion of 2011’s final weekend generated roughly $170 million worth of ticket sales. Following weeks of declines, the final surge posted a 28% boost from the prior weekend and was up 4% from last year’s 52nd weekend when Little Fockers posted $30.8 million and True Grit was the bridesmaid with $24.6 million.