MCN Originals Archive for December, 2013

20 Weeks To Oscar: Why Amy Adams Deserves To a Win Best Actress This Year (Spoilers)

American Hustle is about the human condition. And almost everyone in the film is on some kind of con. At the center of the emotional parallelogram of the film is Sydney Prosser, played by Amy Adams. She is not a good girl. She is perfectly willing to play the game… whatever game will get her where she needs to get right now.

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Best Of 2013: Features

The twenty-five films that follow all possess a “wow” factor. There’s a wealth of disparate, eye-widening goodness. Movies, large and small alike, are going interesting places. Then, alphabetically, thirty-four more samples of 2013’s bounty.

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The Top Ten Lists: 2013

With more than 70 lists, there are 146 films on the scorecard. There’s a lot of agreement in the top spots, with Gravity still leading the lists, but a few are climbing the chart. Dallas Buyers Club and Short Term 12 break the top 20.

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The DVD Wrapup

Una Noche, Sweetwater, Berlin File, Bellman Equation, Love Marilyn, Zombie Hamlet, Hell Baby, Wolfblood and so much more.

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The Weekend Report

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug got the hat trick as it edged ahead of Frozen to lead weekend box office with an estimated $29.8 million. The record-breaking holiday session saw a lot of new films opening Christmas day, but for the industry it appeared that Santa had stuffed a lot of coal in its stocking. The top opener was the freewheeling The Wolf of Wall Street , with a first-weekend gross of $18.4 million (all box office 3-day figures) that ranked fifth overall. The remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a couple of daydreams back with $13 million and the beleaguered 47 Ronin sliced off $9.9 million.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

Frozen pulls out ahead of Hobbit: Smaug, not only for Friday, but for the total domestic runs of both films. Solid numbers continue for Anchorman 2, American Hustle, and The Wolf of Wall Street. In limited, August: Osage County looking at a 30k per-screen for the 3-day weekend and Lone Survivor should beat that, but on 3 fewer screens.

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2013 Year End: Leonard Klady

Most year-end reviews tend to lead with: “(fill in year) was better/worse than ….” Personally the annual challenge has invariably been finding a minion of cinematic efforts I’ve wanted to revisit. Ultimately time is the great leveler of this sort of exercise but it’s nonetheless somewhat helpful to this writer to have a record of what turned his crank in the heat of the moment.

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20 Weeks To Oscar: The Great Settling 2013

Yes, it’s that time again. Time for all good voters to spend a week with their screeners (and hopefully, screenings), deciding for themselves who really does deserve their votes. But this may be the least predictable season I have ever witnessed. There is… and will be… only one legitimate blockbuster in play. Gravity. $652 million worldwide.

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Gurus o’ Gold: Holiday Contender Watch Guide

The Gurus are heading out for the holiday. But we have suggestions for your awards viewing over the holidays.

What Screeners You Should Dig Out Of The Pile (Short Term 12 and Before Midnight lead); What Films You Should You See On The BIG Screen (Gravity leads), and What Films We Will Watch Again Over The Holiday (Her leads).

May you all have a merry Christmas and a Gurus new year!

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Wilmington on DVDs: A Christmas Carol (1951); It’s a Wonderful Life

It’s one of those movies that almost all moviegoers know, many love and a few (the unhappy few) pooh-pooh. But Capra‘s populist gem deserves its primal place in our Christmas memories. It‘s a stirring, exhilarating mix of Norman Rockwell and film noir.

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The Weekend Report

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug once again held top position with an estimated $31.7 million in its second weekend. However, there was colorful competition from the debuting Ron Burgundy with his Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues taking a deep $26.3 million bow. The session’s only other national debut was the animated Walking with Dinosaurs that lumbered toward the tar pits with $7.3 million. Following last week’s appetizer, both American Hustle and Saving Mr. Banks rapidly expanded with respective box office of $19.3 million and $9.3 million, keeping both titles in the race. And also hot on the awards trail, Her bowed on six screens and wooed an impressive $259,000.

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Wilmington on Movies: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay created what became a classic movie character: the cheerfully narcissistic Ron Burgundy. a mirthfully-mustachioed would-be super-stud San Diego TV news anchor, whose ego and self-delusions were as immense as his (temporarily) high San Diego ratings (or, in Ron‘s slightly demented translation “Sawn Dee-ah-go“) and the erections he could never quite disguise.

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The DVD Gift Guide Wrapup

“Omnibus” was one of the most enlightening, prestigious and fondly remembered series in the history of television. In a very real sense, the 1950s’ variety show was “The Ed Sullivan Show” for intellectuals and people who spell “culture” with a capital-C. The only thing like it today is “CBS News: Sunday Morning,” which is buried so deep on the television grid even Tivo can’t always find it.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

It’s Bilbo with a slight lead over Burgundy with the new dinosaurs pulling up the rear.

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Gurus o’ Gold: Have Yourself A Merry Little Oscar

The Gurus offer their take on the “Top 6” categories one last time before the holiday break. Big changes in Supporting Actor and Mr. Banks might need some saving.

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The Top Tens of 2013: The Big Scoreboard

The first of the Top Ten lists are in and counted. 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and Inside Llewyn Davis lead the chart by a wide margin. But there are still a lot of lists yet to be tallied.

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The DVD Wrapup

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Lone Ranger, Prisoners, Elysium, Family, Percy Jackson, Justified, Devil’s Pass and so much more.

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The Weekend Report

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug handily dominated weekend box office with an estimated debut frame of $73.7 million. The session’s only other national release, A Madea Christmas made merry with $16 million and ranked third in the lineup.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

Don’t cry for Smaug, b.o. talkers. Naysayers are abundant and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug‘s opening may be only the 114th best day in the history of movies. But December box office is different and Hobbit 2‘s opening day is the third best single day ever in the month of December, behind only Hobbit 1 and Return of the King… both $300m+ domestic grossers and billion $+ worldwide grossers.

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MCN Originals

Leonard Klady's Friday Estimates
Friday Screens % Chg Cume
Title Gross Thtr % Chgn Cume
Venom 33 4250 NEW 33
A Star is Born 15.7 3686 NEW 15.7
Smallfoot 3.5 4131 -46% 31.3
Night School 3.5 3019 -63% 37.9
The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls 1.8 3463 -43% 49.5
A Simple Favor 1 2408 -50% 46.6
The Nun 0.75 2264 -52% 111.5
Hell Fest 0.6 2297 -70% 7.4
Crazy Rich Asians 0.6 1466 -51% 167.6
The Predator 0.25 1643 -77% 49.3
Also Debuting
The Hate U Give 0.17 36
Shine 85,600 609
Exes Baggage 75,900 62
NOTA 71,300 138
96 61,600 62
Andhadhun 55,000 54
Afsar 45,400 33
Project Gutenberg 36,000 17
Love Yatri 22,300 41
Hello, Mrs. Money 22,200 37
Studio 54 5,300 1
Loving Pablo 4,200 15
3-Day Estimates Weekend % Chg Cume
No Good Dead 24.4 (11,230) NEW 24.4
Dolphin Tale 2 16.6 (4,540) NEW 16.6
Guardians of the Galaxy 7.9 (2,550) -23% 305.8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4.8 (1,630) -26% 181.1
The Drop 4.4 (5,480) NEW 4.4
Let's Be Cops 4.3 (1,570) -22% 73
If I Stay 4.0 (1,320) -28% 44.9
The November Man 2.8 (1,030) -36% 22.5
The Giver 2.5 (1,120) -26% 41.2
The Hundred-Foot Journey 2.5 (1,270) -21% 49.4