Weekend box-office – 28th of January to 3rd February 2014 – Can I, Frankenstein cause a scare for Ride Along?

It’s fair to say that Stuart Beattie’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel and Jevin Grevioux’s comic book has received an appalling reception from all. However, the film, which stars Aaron Eckhart, Miranda Otto and Bill Nighy, could have redeemed itself with a box office surpassing its $65 million budget but, to do that, I’d have to reach around the top three. Last week, we predicted it’d come first but what really counts is the results themselves. Find out how I, Frankenstein did at the box-office:

US:

1. Ride Along – Director:  Tim Story – $21.2 million
2. Lone Survivor – Peter Berg – $12.6 million
3. The Nut Job – Peter Lepeniotis – $12.3 million
4. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – $9 million
5. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh – $8.8 million

UK:

1. The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese – £3.6 million
2. 12 Years a Slave – Steve McQueen – £2.3 million
3. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh – £1.3 million
4. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – £1.1 million
5. American Hustle – David O’Russell – £1 million

Yep, Frankenstein hasn’t scratched the Top 5 with a dismal $8.3 million opening. The Wolf of Wall Street seems to be a huge hit in the UK, despite some of the gross-out features – take note of it thrashing Oscar favourite 12 Years for a second week running. Jack Ryan’s UK opening was less than stellar and it isn’t really hanging on at all in the US. Sadly, last weeks predictions were terrible, scoring me 1/5 in both US and UK and taking my running total to 68/130. Here’s my predictions for next week:

US:

1. That Awkward Moment – Tom Gormican
2. Ride Along – Tim Story
3. Lone Survivor – Peter Berg
4. The Nut Job – Peter Lepeniotis
5. Labor Day – Jason Reitman

UK:

1. That Awkward Moment – Tom Gormican
2. The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese
3. 12 Years a Slave – Steve McQueen
4. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh
5. I, Frankenstein – Stuart Beattie

Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street, this week’s UK box-office number one.

Kevin Hart in Ride Along, this week’s US box-office number one.

Gerard Butler confirms London Has Fallen and new Muppets Most Wanted and Hunger Games 2 posters

Gerard Butler (300, How to Train Your Dragon, Rock ‘n’ Rolla) is easily Scotland’s most popular current actor. Earlier this year, his White House set terrorist action flick Olympus Has Fallen delivered the box-office goods with a remarkable $161 million off a $70 million budget. The sequel has been greenlighted and will move action to London.

The plot sees the death and funeral of the Prime Minister being interrupted by a new series of terrorist threats. Agent Mike Banning (Butler), Speaker Trumbull (Morgan Freeman – The Shawshank Redemption, The Dark Knight) and President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart – The Dark Knight, Thank You For Smoking) are all caught up in the action.

We know that Olympus’ writers Katrin Benedikt and Creighton Rothenberger will return for London. However, director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Shooter, King Arthur) won’t return so the producers are looking for a replacement.

Finally, we’ve got a new poster for Muppets Most Wanted. It’s a caper sequel to the success of the 2012’s The Muppets as well a readaptation of the classic 1970s puppet comedy show. James Bobin, director of the 2012 Muppet adventure and co creator of TV comedy Flight of the Conchords, will call the shots. Tom Hiddleston, Danny Trejo, Salma Hayek, Lady Gaga, Christoph Waltz and Bridgit Mendler will all cameo while Tina Fey, Ty Burrell and Ricky Gervais replace Jason Segel and Amy Adams for the main human cast alongside Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo and the gang.

The better of the two of today’s posters is for the IMAX release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It features just it’s key protagonist Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and antagonist President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) despite a stellar cast. Constantine and I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence is directing what is possibly this year’s biggest action sci-fi event.

This post isn’t very long so I thought I’d find you some other fun stuff from across the internet. I have a brilliantly animated youtube video from Sincerely Truman called Dear JJ Abrams urging Episode VII’s director to make Star Wars great again. Also, the ever reliable muppets at Screen Junkies managed to get the cast of Last Vegas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro and Michael Douglas (a team with six Oscar wins and an additional 10 nominations) to read the lyrics of today’s pop hits, Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus, Best Song Ever by One Direction, Chinese Food by Alison Gold and brilliantly What Does the Fox Say by Norwegian comedy sensation Ylvis. Here’s the link.

London Has Fallen – 2015/16

Muppets Most Wanted – March 28th 2014

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – November 21st

First trailers for The Invisible Woman and I, Frankenstein plus Tarantino’s films of 2013 and new casting for Home

Aaron Eckhart’s upcoming action I, Frankenstein looks like it could be the big dark fantasy of 2014. Stuart Beattie was the writer of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and director of teen adventure Tomorrow, When the War Began and now this effects filled horror. The Frankenstein Monster (Eckhart) is now a 200 year old living in present day hiding under the name of Adam. He’s recruited to end a war between two immortal clans with his surprising superhuman strength and agility. Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Yvonne Strahovski (Dexter), Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings) and Caitlin Stasey (Tomorrow, When the War Began) make up the cast for this film and all feature in this new trailer which offers a first glimpse at the film.

Our next trailer is for The Invisible Woman. Ralph Fiennes (Skyfall, Harry Potter, Schindler’s List, The English Patient) stars in and directs the new period drama in which he portrays Charles Dickens in the classic Victorian author’s relatively untold true story. Despite being married and at the height of his career, finds himself obsessed with his younger secret lover Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones). Kristn Scott Thomas (Only God Forgives), Michelle Fairly (Game of Thrones) and Tom Hollander (Rev, Gosford Park) also star.

Moving on, there’s been some new additions to the cast of Home. This Dreamworks (Kung-Fu Panda, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon animation is about a quirky group of aliens called the Boov landing on Earth to seek refuge from their villainous enemies. Joining three time Emmy award winner Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and pop star Rihanna (who had brief acting experience in Battleship) are 5 time Golden Globe nominee Steve Martin (The Jerk, Three Amigos) and Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight)

Finally, we have the Top Ten films of the year so far according to legendary director Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs and many others). The two time Oscar winner has released his expert view on the year’s releases so far and it’s got a good mix of mainstream hits and indie dramas.

1. Afternoon Daylight (Jill Soloway)
2. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)
3. Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
4. The Conjuring (James Wan)
5. Drinking Buddies (Joe Swanberg)
6. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
7. Gravity (Alfonso Cauron)
8. Kick-Ass 2 (Jeff Wadlow)
9. The Lone Ranger (Gore Verbinski)
10. This is the End (Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg)

There’s quite a few surprises in this list. Before Midnight, Blue Jasmine, Frances Ha and Gravity were likely due to their good (excellent, in Gravity’s case) reviews. Drinking Buddies and Afternoon Daylight I haven’t seen but they didn’t seem to be major critical successes with US critics (mainly 3 star reviews) but they seem to have struck a chord with Tarantino. There’s also four massively mainstream releases in the list (which is surprising for the director known for making the kind of action films that flip the genre). Kick-Ass 2 wasn’t a hit with even some of the fans of the first film but the increased violence of the sequel was unlikely to put off the director of Pulp Fiction. The Lone Ranger (which I applauded in my review of Verbinki’s Western) pushed many US critics into the zone of reviewing the film before they’ve seen it but Tarantino’s interest in the Western genre after his huge success with Django Unchained. The most surprising perhaps are This is the End which seemed a just above average comedy and The Conjuring which is a fairly soft-core horror.

The Invisible Woman – February 7th 2014

I, Frankenstein – 24th January 2014

Home – 5th December 2014