Tag: Jennifer Garner

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Box Office Prediction

Walt Disney studios have given their latest effort one important distinction on this blog as Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is easily the longest title I’ve yet to make a box office projection for. Based on a well-known 1972 children’s book, Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner headline the adaptation which Disney hopes will capture the attention of family audiences.

The film chronicles the Cooper family’s day with all those negative adjectives listed above. In Disney’s favor is that competition for younger moviegoers is fairly light, even though The Boxtrolls and The Maze Runner are still performing well. Critical reaction has been positive so far with an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes at press time.

I am not expecting Alexander to be a huge performer out of the gate, but it’s likely to open decently and have sturdy legs in subsequent weekends. This certainly could surpass the $20 million mark in weekend 1, but I’ll project it falls just under that.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day opening weekend prediction: $18.7 million

For my prediction on The Judge, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/05/the-judge-box-office-prediction/

For my prediction on Dracula Untold, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/05/dracula-untold-box-office-prediction/

For my prediction on Addicted, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/05/addicted-box-office-prediction/

Todd’s Early Oscar Predictions: Best Supporting Actress

As the fall movie season officially gets underway, that means a host of Oscar contenders will be opening between September and December, with many of them screening at upcoming film festivals – including Toronto, Telluride, New York, and Venice. What does that mean? My first round of Oscar predictions has arrived at the blog!

You may say it seems too early to start predicting Oscar nominees? This is true… to a point. At this same time last year, I did my first early predictions. In today’s first category – Supporting Actress – those predictions yielded three out of the five nominees, including Lupita Nyong’o from Twelve Years a Slave, the eventual winner. For followers of my blog, you’ll know that I’ll be consistently refining and updating my predictions until nominations are announced in early 2015.

Today – we begin with Supporting Actress. Tomorrow: Supporting Actor. Sunday: Actress. Monday: Actor. Tuesday: Director. Wednesday: Picture.

We’ll keep it simple for the early predictions. I will just list my round of five that I’m currently predicting along with a subsection of other possible nominees. Enjoy!

Todd’s Early Best Supporting Actress Predictions

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Emily Blunt, Into the Woods

Laura Dern, Wild

Carmen Ejogo, Selma

Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

 

 
Other Possible Nominees:

Jessica Chastain, Interstellar

Jennifer Garner, Men, Women, and Children

Anne Hathaway, Interstellar

Anna Kendrick, Into the Woods

Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game

Vanessa Redgrave, Foxcatcher

Maya Rudolph, Inherent Vince

Emma Stone, Birdman

Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice

Emily Watson, The Theory of Everything

Naomi Watts, St. Vincent

Oprah Winfrey, Selma

That’s all for now, folks! I’ll be back with my early guesstimates for Supporting Actor tomorrow…

 

Draft Day Box Office Prediction

Kevin Costner headlines the football comedy/drama Draft Day, which opens Friday. The film focuses on Costner playing the Cleveland Browns GM and the action surrounding them receiving the #1 pick in the draft.

Costarring Jennifer Garner and Denis Leary and with Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman behind the camera, the question is whether Draft Day will do for the Cleveland Browns what 1989’s Major League did for the Cleveland Indians? That picture was a success and it was unfortunately followed by some weak sequels. Costner is not near the box office draw he was over two decades ago, as evidenced earlier this year with 3 Days to Kill.

Recent sports entries such as The Blind Side and 42 have posted solid grosses, but I don’t see Draft Day getting close to those. As a lifelong Cleveland sports fan, this shouldn’t surprise. We’re used to anything related to Cleveland sports ending in disappointment. The pic could certainly reach high teens, but I’m more inclined to believe lower teens is the likely scenario.

Draft Day opening weekend prediction: $13.2 million

For my Rio 2 prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/04/06/rio-2-box-office-prediction/

For my Oculus prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/04/06/oculus-box-office-prediction/

 

2013: The Year of Matthew McConaughey

Seventeen years ago, Matthew McConaughey burst onto the film scene with a starring role in A Time To Kill, Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of John Grisham’s bestseller. His luck continued into the following year with Steven Spielberg’s Amistad and Robert Zemeckis’s Contact.

After that, things went off the rails a bit as McConaughey headlined one lackluster pic after another. The Newton Boys. EDtv. Two for the Money. And there were too many predictable rom coms (some of which did decent business at the box office): The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Fool’s Good, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

The actor’s biggest flop came in 2005 with Sahara, a big budget action spectacle meant to turn McConaughey into the next action star. It failed grossing $68 million domestically against a reported $130 million budget.

For a while, it looked as if McConaughey’s film portfolio would consist of lame rom coms and not much else. In 2011, everything began to turn around with an acclaimed turn in the unexpected hit legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer. In 2012, McConaughey was lauded for his supporting roles in the indie comedy Bernie and especially Magic Mike, which was a major summer hit.

The actor’s transformation into critical darling has come full circle in 2013 and that’s why he earns a spot in this blog series. First there was Mud, a $10 million budgeted coming of age drama that sits at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. It has earned $28 million domestically and furthered McConaughey’s status as a performer who suddenly knows how to pick quality material.

It has continued this fall with Dallas Buyer’s Club, where he stars as a drug addicted cowboy in the 1980s who contracts the AIDS virus. McConaughey lost 50 pounds for the part, critics are raving, and chances are that he’s on his way to his first Oscar nomination.

And this Christmas comes a supporting role in The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s eagerly awaited film about Wall Street corruption. McConaughey is featured prominently in the pic’s brilliant trailer and this looks to be the actor’s third winner in a row for 2013.

McConaughey has been a terrific example of what happens when a quality actor stops slumming with projects he chooses and goes a different and more fascinating route. In 2013 and beyond, McConaughey is reaping the benefits of his decision. His next project up in 2014: starring in Christopher Nolan’s next feature Interstellar that is sure to be one of the next year’s most anticipated titles. For McConaughey lately, everything has indeed been alright alright.

Part five of my six part blog series focusing on performers with great 2013’s rolls on tomorrow with a comedic actress who broke out in 2011 and solidified her box office clout this year.