This Day in Movie History: January 9

This Day in Movie History – January 9 – Tim Burton’s Big Fish opened wide domestically and placed second at the box office behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The film was looked at as a potential Oscar contender, but it didn’t pan out. Still, Burton’s father/son tale with numerous fantasy elements managed a respectable $66 million domestic gross. It starred Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Billy Crudup, and Burton regulars Helena Bonham-Carter and Danny DeVito. Originally planned as a vehicle for Steven Spielberg, the project was transferred to Burton who at one time considered Jack Nicholson as the lead to play the roles both McGregor and Finney portrayed. That would’ve been done with some CGI magic. Obviously that plan was scrapped and since its release a decade ago, Fish has enhanced its reputation as one of the filmmaker’s better efforts in recent years.

As for birthdays, J.K Simmons turns 59 today. Known just as much for his television work on “Law&Order”, “Oz”, and “The Closer”, Simmons has also had a stellar career in film. He appeared in the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy as J. Jonah Jameson and had supporting roles in noteworthy pics such as The Cider House Rules, The Gift, Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Burn After Reading, I Love You Man, Up in the Air, and Jobs.

Joey Lauren Adams is 46 today. You may have first seen her in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused before she became a favorite of Kevin Smith, appearing in Mallrats and in the title role of his critically acclaimed Chasing Amy alongside Ben Affleck. Other roles include Big Daddy and The Break-Up.

As for Six Degrees of Separation between the two:

J.K. Simmons was in Juno with Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman was in The Break-Up with Joey Lauren Adams

And that’s today – January 9 – in Movie History!

2014 Golden Globe Awards: Todd’s Predicted Winners

In four days, we’ll have the Hollywood Foreign Press bestow their honors to the film and television world at the Golden Globe Awards with return hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Readers of my blog will note that I’ve extensively and frequently been posting my Oscar predictions. I don’t pay nearly as much attention to the Globes, but I did want to put my two cents in and predict the winners in the picture, directing, and acting categories.

The Globes are different from the Oscars because categories are divided between Drama and Musical/Comedy categories for Picture, Actor, and Actress. Director and Supporting Actor and Actress are awarded regardless of genre. If you would like to read my detailed analysis of awards contenders, I suggest you look on the blog for my Oscar predictions posts. For the purposes of this post, I’ll simply predict who I think will Globes this Sunday and note the other nominees. I am noting my second choice if my primary choice doesn’t win in bold. I am not predicting the TV categories except for one: it should be an interesting showdown in Best Drama between the final season of “Breaking Bad” and first season of “House of Cards”, but ultimately I think Walter White and company win out.

And with that, my predictions:

BEST DRAMA

Predicted Winner: 12 Years a Slave

Other Nominees: Captain Phillips, Gravity, Philomena, Rush

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Predicted Winner: American Hustle

Other Nominees: Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR

Predicted Winner: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Other Nominees: Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), David O. Russell (American Hustle)

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Predicted Winner: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Other Nominees: Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyer’s Club), Robert Redford (All is Lost)

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Predicted Winner: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Other Nominees: Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), Kate Winslet (Labor Day)

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Predicted Winner: Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Other Nominees: Christian Bale (American Hustle), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Joaquin Phoenix (Her)

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Predicted Winner: Amy Adams, American Hustle

Other Nominees: Julie Delpy (Before Midnight), Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said), Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Predicted Winner: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyer’s Club

Other Nominees: Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Daniel Bruhl (Rush), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Predicted Winner: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Other Nominees: Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Julia Roberts (August: Osage County), June Squibb (Nebraska)

And there you have my predictions for your Golden Globe winners on Sunday!

This Day in Movie History: January 8

When we think of horror characters that have had legacies lasting over the past two decades, we think Freddy or Jason or Michael Myers. And yet – a green pint sized horror character made his debut in theaters twenty years ago Today in Movie History when Leprechaun opened domestically. It barely made a blip on the box office radar two decades ago, debuting at #8 with $2.4 million. And yet its staying power has been surprisingly lasting. It spawned five (yes five) sequels – Leprechaun 2, Leprechaun 3, Leprechaun 4: In Space (naturally), and who can forget Leprechaun: In the Hood and Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood? These sequels, with the exception of the second installment, were direct to video/DVD but the series longevity is nevertheless impressive. This February, we’ll see a reboot of the franchise with Leprechaun: Origins, coproduced by WWE Studios. Warwick Davis (who also appeared in Return of the Jedi and Willow) would play the title character and reprise the role in every subsequent follow-up. It’s Warwick’s costar in the original whose name you may also know – Jennifer Aniston, who I believe was on a TV show and in a few movies.

As for birthdays, we have two legendary musicians who also made their mark in film. Elvis Presley would have turned 79 today. His movie career mostly consisted of playing variations of himself in over 30 features. They included well-regarded hits such as Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, and Blue Hawaii. His biggest success was Viva Las Vegas with Ann-Margret from 1964. There was plenty of forgettable fare too.

David Bowie is 67 today. His storied musical career will be his lasting legacy, but he’s had a decent film career with titles such as the lead role in 1976’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, Tony Scott’s The Hunger, Labyrinth, Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, and Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.

As for Six Degrees of Separation between these musical legends:

Elvis Presley was in Viva Las Vegas with Ann-Margret

Ann-Margret was in Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson was in The Two Jakes with Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel was in The Last Temptation of Christ with David Bowie

And that’s today – January 8 – in Movie History!

This Day in Movie History: January 7

On this Day in Movie History – January 7 – the Coen brothers remake of True Grit would jump into the top spot at the box office in its third weekend. Budgeted at only $38 million, the Western (based on the 1969 John Wayne original) would end up grossing a fabulous $171 million domestically. Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, Grit would earn ten Oscar nominations including Picture, Director, Actor (Bridges), and Supporting Actress (Steinfeld), but would go home empty-handed. The Coen Bros, meanwhile, continue to make pictures that tend to garner Academy attention. Their latest is Inside Llewyn Davis.

The Coens comedy classic, 1987’s Raising Arizona, was only their second feature and it stars one of today’s birthday boys, Nicolas Cage. He turns 50 years old today. Delving into Cage’s filmography would take all day… pretty sure he’s appeared in about 487 movies over the past quarter century or so. To say the least, his catalog has been varied, interesting, and wildly inconsistent. Here’s a sampling: he won an Oscar for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and was nominated for 2002’s Adaptation. He’s starred in successful romantic comedies and dramas like Moonstruck alongside Cher, Honeymoon in Vegas, and City of Angels. He’s been a huge action star in hits like The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, and the National Treasure franchise. There’s been critical favorites and cult flicks that run the gamut from Vampire’s Kiss to Wild at Heart to Red Rock West to Lord of War. He’s worked with his Uncle Francis Ford Coppola in Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, and Peggy Sue Got Married. And he’s worked with Martin Scorsese (Bringing Out the Dead), Ridley Scott (Matchstick Men), and Oliver Stone (World Trade Center). He’s also been Ghost Rider in two moderately successful pics. And yet, there’s also been a bunch of junk: Bangkok Dangerous? Next? Season of the Witch? Snake Eyes? Drive Angry? And, of course, there’s his work in the so-bad-it’s-good remake of The Wicker Man where we all learned Cage’s aversion to “THE BEES”!!!!

Jeremy Renner is 43 today. He broke through in 2009’s The Hurt Locker, which won Best Picture and earned him a Best Actor nomination. The following year he received a Supporting Actor nod for Ben Affleck’s The Town. Since then, he’s immersed himself in successful franchises like the Mission: Impossible series, The Avengers, and as the new Jason Bourne. He can currently be seen in David O. Russell’s Oscar hopeful American Hustle.

As for Six Degrees of Separation between the birthday leading men:

Nicolas Cage in Kiss of Death with Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L Jackson was in The Avengers with Jeremy Renner

And that’s today – January 7 – in Movie History!

Admission Movie Review

Tina Fey has been one of the most important figures in American comedy in the 21st century and yet her latest film Admission gives her an opportunity to delve into sometimes more dramatic territory. While she passes the test with flying colors, the script doesn’t come close to matching her fine performance.

Director Paul Weitz has had an up and down directorial career from high points like 1999’s American Pie, 2002’s About a Boy, and the underrated In Good Company from 2004. Low points include American Dreamz and Little Fockers. Those titles alone show Weitz is capable of directing both raunchy comedies and those more grounded in reality. Admission falls more on the “serious comedy” side like In Good Company, but with a strange mix of supporting characters who are caricatures and the occasional raunchy gag that seems out of place.

Fey plays tightly wound Princeton admissions officer Portia, who thinks her life is going just fine with her snooty professor boyfriend (Michael Sheen) and a valued job in which only .01 of applicant students get through to the prestigious school. Her world is turned upside down when her relationship ends and she gets a call from John (Paul Rudd), who runs an unconventional high school. John is looking for his child prodigy student Jeremiah (Nat Wolff) to gain acceptance to the Ivy Leagues… but oh there’s more! He also believes Jeremiah is the son that Portia gave up for adoption when she was in college.

This leads Portia, who has her own parental issues due to her eccentric mother (Lily Tomlin), to a journey of self-discovery about the joys of parenthood… and, well, you get it. Of course, Portia and John begin to fall for one another, too. A lot of my problems with Admission is that we often see where it’s going and it follows Screenplay 101 to get there. While the screenplay from Karen Cromer attempts to make Fey’s character fairly multi-dimensional, the same cannot be said for the rest of the characters. We’ve seen Rudd play this type of role before (the somewhat flaky but ultimately likable chap) and he is pleasant in the part, but has little character to play with. Tomlin’s role could best be described as cartoonish and slightly annoying. Sheen, such a talented actor, is wasted. And Nat Wolff’s character isn’t particularly memorable either. We’re told he’s a child prodigy, but don’t get any true sense of why except that he reads a lot.

The positive aspect of Admission is Fey and really Fey alone. We know she’s funny, but there are scenes in which we glimpse just how great she might be with a well-written dramatic role. It would help if that role doesn’t come in an uncomfortable mix of drama and comedy where a comic “highlight” involves a cow giving birth.

** (out of four)

This Day in Movie History: January 6

On this day in Movie History – January 6 – Eli Roth’s Hostel opened domestically. The horror flick surprised box office prognosticators by taking in $19.5 million for its opening with an eventual gross of $47 million, against a meager $4.8 million budget. Hostel continued a genre that came to be known as “torture porn” in horror circles. That classification of film had started just three months before with megahit Saw and would continue with its many sequels, as well as two further sequels for Hostel.

As for birthdays, Rowan Atkinson is 59 today. The British comedian is best known for his TV work with “Mr. Bean” and “Blackadder”, but he translated that success with the film version of Bean (1997) and its sequel from 2007, Mr. Bean’s Holiday. He had another film franchise with Johnny English (2003) and Johnny English Reborn (2011). Other notable film appearances: Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Scooby Doo (2002), and Love Actually (2003).

Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi is 33 today. She broke through the American audiences in 2006 with her Oscar-nominated Supporting Actress turn in Babel and has continued to work stateside in The Brothers Bloom, Pacific Rim, and 47 Ronin.

As for Six Degrees of Separation between the two birthday performers:

Rowan Atkinson was in Love Actually with Chiwetel Ejiofer

Chiwetel Ejiofer was in 12 Years a Slave with Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt was in Babel with Rinko Kikuchi

And that’s today – January 6 – in Movie History!

Box Office Predictions: January 10-12

The second weekend of 2014 brings three new wide release offerings for your consideration – the war drama Lone Survivor with Mark Wahlberg, Renny Harlin’s The Legend of Hercules, and Spike Jonze’s critically acclaimed Her with Joaquin Phoenix. You can peruse my individual prediction posts on them here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/01/05/lone-survivor-box-office-prediction/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/01/05/the-legend-of-hercules-box-office-prediction/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/01/05/her-box-office-prediction/

My predictions reflect a belief that Lone Survivor should fairly easily open at #1. The Legend of Hercules could completely bomb, but I’m giving it enough credit to reach double digits at the three spot. Her likely won’t reach double digits.

Last weekend’s champ Frozen should slip to second while I am predicting holdovers The Wolf of Wall Street and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will battle Her for slots 4-6.

And with that, my predictions for the weekend box office:

1. Lone Survivor

Predicted Gross: $21.7 million

2. Frozen

Predicted Gross: $13.5 million (representing a drop of 31%)

3. The Legend of Hercules

Predicted Gross: $11.9 million

4. The Wolf of Wall Street

Predicted Gross: $8.5 million (representing a drop of 36%)

5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Predicted Gross: $8.4 million (representing a drop of 46%)

6. Her

Predicted Gross: $8.3 million

Blogger’s note: For the past several months, I’ve been doing box office results analysis every Sunday. Starting next week, I will be combining the results from the previous weekend with this here weekly predictions post for the next weekend which comes every Monday. The main reason: I’m usually busy Sunday doing my predictions posts for the next week’s newcomers, which will continue without interruption. Secondly, the final box office numbers come in Monday so I can more accurately update how I performed. Until next time, my friends!

This Day in Movie History: January 5

Director Alfonso Cuaron may be getting all sorts of deserved attention for his visual mastery in Gravity, but it was seven years ago today in Movie History that his previous feature Children of Men opened wide domestically. In many ways, Children of Men is just as much a visionary achievement for the director. Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, and current Best Actor frontrunner Chiwetel Ejiofer, this futuristic thriller was easily one of the best films of 2006. While it was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, and Production Design, it was robbed of a Best Picture nomination. Men only managed a just OK $35 million at the box office, but Cuaron would more than make up for it in 2013 with his Sandra Bullock space picture.

As for birthdays, Robert Duvall is 83. One of the finest actors in his generation, Duvall’s resume includes To Kill a Mockingbird, the original True Grit, the first two Godfather films, MASH, The Conversation, Network, Tender Mercies, The Natural, Colors, “Lonesome Dove”, Days of Thunder, A Civil Action, Get Low, and many more. He’s been nominated six times for an Oscar and won in 1983 for his role in Tender Mercies.

Diane Keaton is 68 today. Like Duvall, she too appeared in Coppola’s Godfather films (all three, unlike her costar). She’s also known for her collaborations with Woody Allen which brought her an Oscar in 1977 for Annie Hall. Other notable films with Woody: Sleeper, Love and Death, Manhattan, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. Further high-profile pictures featuring Ms. Keaton: Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Reds, Baby Boom, Father of the Bride and its sequel, The First Wives Club, Marvin’s Room, and Something’s Gotta Give. She’s been nominated three other times for an Oscar other than her winning role for Hall.

As for Six Degrees of Separation between the birthday performers – well pretty simple. Duvall and Keaton starred together in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.

And that’s today – January 5 – in Movie History!

Her Box Office Prediction

Combining comedy with science fiction and drama and romance in a critically-acclaimed awards contender? That means Spike Jonze is back in theaters and his fourth feature Her is released wide this Friday. Jonze was a prominent music video director who broke through with 1999’s Being John Malkovich and went on to helm 2002’s Adaptation and 2009’s Where the Wild Things Are.

Her stars Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and the voice of Scarlett Johannson. It’s being touted as an Oscar contender and I am currently predicting both the picture and Jonze receive nominations. Her is a favorite of critics with a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

How this translates into box office success is a question mark. Opening in approximately 1700 theaters, one must wonder if many casual moviegoers will look at this as more of an art house picture and skip it. On the positive side, it could appeal to a female audience whereas the weekend’s other newcomers Lone Survivor and The Legend of Hercules are marketing toward the male crowd. With a relatively low number of screens (Lone Survivor will debut on about one thousand more), Her could flirt with a double digits opening. I suspect, however, that it will fall a bit under that.

Her opening weekend prediction: $8.3 million

For my prediction on Lone Survivor, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/01/05/lone-survivor-box-office-prediction/

For my prediction on The Legend of Hercules, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/01/05/the-legend-of-hercules-box-office-prediction/

For my prediction on August: Osage County, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/01/09/august-osage-county-box-office-prediction/

The Legend of Hercules Box Office Prediction

Last year it was dueling White House in danger movies and in 2014, there are two Hercules pics and it begins Friday with The Legend of Hercules, Renny Harlin’s effort starring Kellan Lutz. In July comes Hercules: The Thracian Wars from director Brett Ratner and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The Legend of Hercules is highly likely to be the least successful of the pair. Lutz is mostly known for his role in the Twilight franchise and recently for possibly being Miley Cyrus’s boyfriend. He is not a known box office commodity and shouldn’t bring in moviegoers like The Rock probably will. With a reported $70 million budget, The Legend of Hercules is surely looking for a debut above $20 million, but I don’t see it happening. It doesn’t help that Lone Survivor with Mark Wahlberg opens against it and that picture is competing for essentially the same audience.

Perhaps this first Hercules of 2014 could surprise with a healthy gross, but I suspect it’ll struggle to get much past double digits.

The Legend of Hercules opening weekend prediction: $11.9 million