The Best Films of 2014 – the Half-Way Point

Looking at any annual film schedule, its evident that the first half of the year can never quite live up to the second and 2014 is no exception. This year really did get off to a rotten start with 47 Ronin, The Legend of Hercules and I Frankenstein dragging their heals at the box-office but this did pave a way for others; The Wolf of Wall Street and Ride Along both enjoyed three consecutive weeks at the top of the UK and US box-office respectively. Following that came some genuine surprises. Wes Anderson’s ensemble comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel reached 1st and 3rd in the UK and US against all odds and The Lego Movie, one of the most poorly marketed films in recent years, was an unexpected treat and certainly and future cult classic.

The biblical format seemed to increase in popularity around Easter with the low-key Christian dramas Heaven is For Real, Son of God and God’s Not Dead taking nearly thirty times their micro-budgets but these religious flicks aren’t proving successful outside of America, besides Aronofsky’s star-driven epic Noah. The “Katniss-effect” of The Hunger Games has evidently given studios the faith to put stronger female characters into the fray of action and adventure with Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent and Shailene Woodley’s Divergent winning out over Johnny Depp’s Transcendence or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Sabotage financially. Edge of Tomorrow even managed it to the extent of Tom Cruise needing saving from Emily Blunt’s ultimate warrior.

In the last six months, certain individuals are lighting up the box-office left, right and centre. Former comedian Kevin Hart has lead a trio of success, Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too, while the Jump Street quartet (director Phil Lord and Chris Miller/stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) have a cinematic Midas-touch. It’s evident that Lego’s Chris Pratt can do no wrong and, with Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy coming soon, he’s well on his way to man-of-the-year status. The biggest winners of the year have to be Marvel. Even though their heroes are divided across Sony, Fox and Disney, Stan Lee’s creations of Spider-Man, Captain America (kind-of) and the X-Men are currently the three biggest films of the year so far and they’ll only continue to grow bigger.

Below you can find the international box-office top ten followed by our own personal picks of the year so far as well as the ten to look for in the rest of 2014:

International Box-office Top 10:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones – Box-office: $710.8 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper – $703.3 million
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till – $700 million
4. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville – $531.8 million
5. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche – $478.7 million
6. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Bruno Mars, Jemaine Clement, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am – $469.4 million
7. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders – $467.2 million
8. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins – $356.2 million
9. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Headey, Jack O’Connell, Rodrigo Santoro, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham – $331.1 million
10. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong – $298.8 million

Tuorhoth’s Top 10:

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till
2. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones
5. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong
6. The Two Faces of January – Hossein Amini – Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst
7. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Justin Chadwick – Idris Elba, Naomi Harris
8. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh – Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner, Nonso Anozie, Gemma Chan
9. RoboCop – Jose Padilha – Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Michael Keaton, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Jackie Earle Haley, Aimee Garcia, Michael K Williams, Samuel L Jackson
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper

Top 10 Anticipated:

1. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – Matthew MacConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Topher Grace, Casey Affleck, David Oyelowo, John Lithgow, Matt Damon
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy, Lee Pace, Manu Bennett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee
3. Gone Girl – David Fincher – Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosamund Pike
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, John C Reilly
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, James Franco, Judy Greer, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit McPhee
7. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jena Malone, Sam Clafin, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Natalie Dormer, Philip Seymour, Hoffman
8. Fury – David Ayer – Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Jason Isaacs, Michael Pena, Shia LeBeouf
9. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott – Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley
10. The Judge – David Dobkin – Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga

Weekend box-office – 28th of March to 4th April 2014 – will Divergent be dauntless against The Muppets?

It’s likely that this week is the one to cram in your major but risky releases before Captain America arrives to dominate the box office and so we’ve got a battle between sci-fi thriller Divergent and comedy sequel Muppets Most Wanted. On paper, Muppets should triumph due to it’s huge fan base but it’s possible that the young adult novel adaptation Divergent could follow the likes of Twilight and Hunger Games with huge success and not sink like Mortal Instruments, Beautiful Creatures or The Host. Find out what we thought would happen last week before checking out what went down at the box office below.

US:

1. Divergent – Director: Neil Burger – $56 million
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – $16.5 million
3. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – $11.7 million
4. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – $8.7 million
5. God’s Not Dead – Harold Cronk – $8.6 million

UK:

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – £1.3 million
2. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh – £1 million
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – £0.8 million
4. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – £0.8 million
5. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £0.7 million

The Muppets have genuinely underperformed in the US but they’re an international sensation and could attempt to recoup oversees. Divergent’s success however may well have greenlighted it’s sequel, most likely called Insurgent. Anderson’s Budapest Hotel has crept up the box office to the top while Need for Speed, Lego Movie, 300 and Non-Stop have all slipped. This week I’ve scored 5/10 taking my running total to 98/210.

US:

1. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
2. Divergent – Neil Burger
3. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
4. Sabotage – David Ayer
5. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff

UK:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
4. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
5. The Legend of Hercules – Renny Harlin

Theo James and Shailene Woodley in Divergent, this week’s US number one.

Ralph Fiennes and Saoirse Ronan in The Grand Budapest Hotel, this week’s UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 21st to 27th of March 2014 – will audiences feel the Need for Speed?

Aaron Paul (better known as Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman) is having his qualities as a big-screen action star with his lead in Need For Speed which bids to make a mark on the box-office this week. It seemed like it had no major competition besides returning favourites Mr Peabody and Sherman, Grand Budapest Hotel and 300: Rise of an Empire. We predicted last week that it’d make a strong start but the real measure of success will be the opening numbers themselves.

US:

1. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Director: Rob Minkoff – $21.2 million
2. 300: Rise of and Empire – Noam Murro – $19.1 million
3. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh – $17.8 million
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – $10.6 million
5. The Single Moms Club – Tyler Perry – $8.3 million

UK:

1. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh – £2 million
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – £1.3 million
3. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – £1.2 million
4. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – £1 million
5. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £0.9 million

Mr Peabody has suddenly bounced into pole position in its second week while 300: ROAE and Non-Stop slipped places Tyler Perry’s Madea Christmas follow up Singles Moms Club made a poor start. Grand Budapest Hotel leaped up a place, thriving in the alternative to the blockbusters that sandwich it. Last week’s predictions score me 2/10 taking my running total to 93/200.

US:

1. Divergent – Neil Burger
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
3. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff
4. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro
5. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh

UK:

1. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh
2. A Long Way Down – Pascal Chaumeil
3. Starred Up – David Mackenzie
4. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson

Max Charles and Ty Burrell in Mr Peabody and Sherman, this week’s US box-office.

Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul in Need for Speed, this week’s UK box-office number one.

Weekend box-office – 14th to 20th of March of 2014 – will 300: Rise of an Empire slay its rivals?

Eight years on from the first film’s success, a sequel to 300 is finally being released but there’s no guarantee that the phenomenal financial triumph of the original can be replicated, particularly when only few cast return. Additionally, it faces tough competition in the form of debuting animation Mr Peabody and Sherman and Wes Anderson’s ensemble The Grand Budpest Hotel. We predicted that it’d go top but let’s find out how it really did.

US:

1. 300: Rise of an Empire – Director: Noam Murro – $45.1 million
2. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – $32.5 million
3. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – $15.4 million
4. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – $11 million
5. Son of God – Christopher Spencer – $10 million

UK:

1. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Nurro – £2.8 million
2. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – £1.6 million
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – £1.5 million
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £1.5 million
5. Ride Along – Tim Story – £0.8 million

Rise of an Empire has made a great start in the US with an excellent weekend’s takings, even if they are lower than 300’s debut. Sadly, the UK takings are far below expectations, the original started with £9 million. Budapest Hotel made a great entry, as did Peabody and Sherman, while Non-Stop, Lego Movie, Ride Along and Son of God slipped places. This week’s 6/10 takes my running total to 91/190.

US:

1. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro
2. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh
3. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra
5. Bad Words – Jason Bateman

UK:

1. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh
2. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
4. The Zero Theorem – Terry Gilliam
5. The Stag – John Butler

Eva Green in 300: Rise of an Empire, this week’s UK and US box-office number one.

Weekend box-office – 6th to 13th of March 2014 – will Non-Stop take flight?

It’s a good time to be Liam Neeson! As if starring in Star Wars, Taken, Schindler’s List and Batman Begins wasn’t enough, he’s following the huge box office success of Taken 2 with the brilliant Lego Movie, were he plays the face-switching lawman Good Cop/Bad Cop, and new box office candidate Non-Stop. The plane-set thriller seems to be lauded by some and loathed by others but the true success of a blockbuster lies in the money but it faced, in the UK, the debut of America’s three-week number-one smash hit Ride Along and, in the US, biblical epic Son of God, which was tipped to follow in the footsteps of The Passion of the Christ to become a surprise box-office sweep. Let’s see how they did.

US:

1. Non-Stop – Director: Juanne Collet Serra – $28.9 million
2. Son of God – Christopher Spencer – $25.6 million
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – $20.8 million
4. 3 Days to Kill – McG – $5 million
5. The Monuments Men – George Clooney – $4.9 million

UK:

1. The Lego Movie – Chris Miller, Phil Lord – £3.2 million
2. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £2.7 million
3. Ride Along – Tim Story – £1.4 million
4. The Book Thief – Brian Percival – £1.3 million
5. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – £0.8 million

Non-Stop has cracked the box office this week but the Lego Movie held firm at the top against three major new entries in the UK. Non-Stop made nearly three times less than Taken 2. Compared to its US run, Ride Along made a poor UK opening while WW2 drama The Book Thief made a modest fourth place debut. This week I scored 5/10 taking my running total to 85/180.

US:

1. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro
2. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra
3. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff
4. Son of God – Christopher Spencer
5. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller

UK:

1. 300: Rise of and Empire – Noam Murro
2. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra
5. Ride Along – Tim Story

Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in Non-Stop, this week’s US number one.

Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Chris Pratt and Morgan Freeman (left to right from Batman) in The Lego Movie, this week’s UK number one.

Predictions: The Highest Grossing Movies of 2014

January’s been a fairly rough month in the box office. The big budget action fests have ranged from a little disappointing (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, $75 million) to really awful (The Legend of Hercules, $18 million, and I Frankenstein, $25 million – both from $60 million budgets). The studios behind The Nut Job ($40 million for $40 million) and Devil’s Due ($18 million for $7 million) will be disappointed and the only huge success were buddy cop movie Ride Along, $75 million from $25 million, and the franchising Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which cost just $5 million and took $82 million. Nothing yet has reached the blockbuster status of $100 million and so we may have to wait until the summer for the main, box office smashing events. Here’s what I think will be the biggest movie moneymakers this year.

1. The Hobbit: There and Back Again – Dir: Peter Jackson – Grossing: $1.3 billion
2. Transformers: Age of Extinction – Michael Bay – $1.1 billion
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – $900 million
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – $850 million
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – $800 million
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – $750 million
7. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $700 million
8. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois – $650 million
9. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – $600 million
10. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – $575 million
11. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – $500 million
12. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – $450 million
13. RoboCop – Jose Padhila – $400 million
14. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – $350 million
15. A Million Ways to Die in the West – Seth MacFarlane – $300 million

The hype surrounding Jackson’s sixth and final Middle-Earth adventure is just too immense for the ever disappointing Transformers anthology. The Hunger Games’ popularity only seems to rise and rise and so Part 3 should bring huge box office spills. The first while the star studding of Days of Future Past, Interstellar, Cap 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy should lead them to success. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 however won’t significantly increase from the first film’s takings; the interest in the franchise really doesn’t seem that great. Other releases that may just miss out on the top 15 include Edge of Tomorrow, Divergent, Muppets Most Wanted, Fury and Rio 2.