Weekend box office – 13th to 20th December 2013 – will The Hobbit’s Smaug melt Frozen or will it have A Madea Christmas

It’s no surprise to find that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at the top at this week’s box office, as I predicted last week. It is a surprise however that one of the worst reviewed films of the year has launched itself into the US box office top 5.

US

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Director: Peter Jackson – $73.7 million
2. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – $22.2 million
3. A Madea Christmas – Tyler Perry – $16.2 million
4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence – $13.2 million
5. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor – $2.7 million

UK

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Peter Jackson – £9.3 million
2. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – £4.2 million
3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence – £1.3 million
4. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron – £0.6 million
5. Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock – $0.4 million

Written, directed by and starring Tyler Perry, A Madea Christmas’ presence is just bizarre. Anchorman 2 with its midweek opening didn’t make it into the top 5 but it’ll open strong next week. The Hobbit and Frozen’s entry this week was expected but Gravity’s remarkable amount of legs led to a quite unpredictable week in the box office. 2/5 in the US and 3/5 in the UK leads to a weekly total of 5/10 and a running total of 47/70.

US

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Peter Jackson
2. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – Adam McKay
3. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
5. A Madea Christmas – Tyler Perry

UK

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Peter Jackson
2. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – Adam McKay
3. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
4. American Hustle – David O’Russell
5. Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie – Neil Nightingale

Luke Evans and Orlando Bloom in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, this week’s UK and US box office number one.

Weekend box office – 5th to 12th of December 2013 – will Frozen chill Catching Fire or will it get Out of the Furnace

Last week’s predictions really weren’t that far off. Besides a couple of releases being the wrong way around. Out of the Furnace is the only major release of the month and that’s possibly the most grim release of the year, which could put people off besides the fact that Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson and Willem Defoe. It’s just going to be a quick shuffle of those at the top but it’s not surprising that Frozen managed to overtake Hunger Games baring in mind the time of year and Frozen’s Christmas theme.

US

1. Frozen – Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – $31.6 million
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence – $27 million
3. Out of the Furnace – Scott Cooper – $5.3 million
4. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor – $4.7 million
5. Delivery Man – Ken Scott – $3.8 million

UK

1. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – $4.7 million
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence – $2.7 million
3. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron – $1.1 million
4. Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock – $0.5 million
5. Homefront – Gary Fleder – $0.4 million

A 3/5 in both the UK and US, I’ve a weekly total of 6/10 and a running total of 42/60 now! Here’s my predictions for next week:

US

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Peter Jackson
2. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
3. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
4. Out of the Furnace – Scott Cooper
5. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

UK

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Peter Jackson
2. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
4. Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock
5. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron

Anchorman 2’s initial opening on Burgundy Wednesday isn’t a great move but it should rocket up next week meanwhile The Hobbit 2 will be dominating the box office and could do for the next couple of weeks. By for now!

Josh Gad’s character in Frozen, this week’s US and UK box office number one.

Weekend box office – 28th of November to 4th of December 2013 – can Catching Fire melt Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks

This week’s box office results are varying in the accuracy of my predictions from last week. Catching Fire is dominating hugely and its success was unpredictable but the UK’s later box office is where most of the surprises are.

US

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Director: Francis Lawrence – $110.2 million
2. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – $82.4 million
3. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor – $15.5 million
4. The Best Man Holiday – Malcom D. Lee – $11.1 million
5. Homefront – Gary Fleder – $9.8 million

UK

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence – £5.5 million
2. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron – £1.7 million
3. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward – £1.0 million
4. Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock – £0.8 million
5. Carrie – Kimberly Pierce – £0.6 million

So, The Hunger Games has still held in with huge figures despite all coming in Frozen, Carrie, Saving Mr. Banks, Free Birds and Homefront. Gravity is still doing brilliantly in the UK thanks to a great word of mouth, as oppose to a opening day advertising blitzkrieg that leads to a sharp fall afterwards. Free Birds opened very well in the UK but Saving Mr. Banks hasn’t done as well as I predicted leading to 1/5 in the UK but 4/5 in the US brings the total to 5/10 and a running total of 36/50.

US

1. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
2. American Hustle – David O’Russell
3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
4. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
5. Delivery Man – Ken Scott

UK

1. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
3. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron
4. Homefront – Gary Fleder
5. Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock

With Christmas spirit kicking in, Frozen should boost itself up to the top while Hunger Games may have burnt up with its huge opening release. American Hustle’s five huge stars, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper, and the popularity of O’Russell’s most recent work, Silver Linings Playbook, could launch it into great box office. In the UK, Gravity will continue to prove itself as a sleeper hit while Saving Mr. Banks will have more legs than Free Birds.

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Weekend box office – 20th to 27th November 2013 – will Hunger Games: Catching Fire light up Gravity, Thor and Doctor Who

In memory and in celebration of the great work of Paul Walker, 1973 – 2013

Last week’s predictions for were quite exemplary. Find out how I did now!

US

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $158 million – Director: Francis Lawrence
2. Thor: The Dark World – $14.1 million – Alan Taylor
3. The Best Man Holiday – $12.5 million – Malcom D. Lee
4. Delivery Man – $8.2 million – Ken Scott
5. Free Birds – $5.3 million – Jimmy Hayward

UK

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – £12.2 million – Francis Lawrence
2. Gravity – £2.4 million – Alfonso Cauron
3. Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor – £1.8 million – Nick Hurran
4. Thor: The Dark World – £0.7 million – Alan Taylor
5. The Butler – £0.6 million – Lee Daniels

I scored a stunning 5/5 in the US while my UK score was a less than stellar 3/5 taking this week’s overall to an impressive 8/10 and my total to 31/40. There’s a couple of surprises this week. The Hunger Games did brilliantly while The Day of the Doctor unexpectedly soared into third place, despite only being on release for three days. Both Thor 2 and Philomena sank dramatically but Gravity and The Butler held strong.

New comedies Best Man Holiday and Delivery Man both did well but the latter was swamped by The Hunger Games. Catching Fire flew to an astounding $158 million. That’s near double Thor: The Dark World’s opening gross so I reckon Catching Fire could be making about 50% more than its predecessor and I think future instalments will speed past $1 billion. Thor is still doing impressive in the US and animation the seasonally themed Free Birds has held strong due to America’s current strong Thanksgiving spirit. Here’s my predictions for next week

US

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
2. Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
3. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
4. The Best Man Holiday – Malcom D. Lee
5. Delivery Man – Ken Scott

UK

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
2. Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock
3. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron
4. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
5. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward

In the UK, it’s a battle for fifth place between Free Birds and The Best Man Holiday. Neither of them look like they’ll appeal to British audiences but a blitzkrieg ad campaign could see the kids dragging the family into viewings.

Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, this week’s UK and US box-office number one.

Weekend box-office – 12th to 19th of November 2013 – will Best Man creep up on Thor and can Gravity defy The Butler

Last week’s predictions weren’t horrific but I do hope to get my total up again. This weeks results don’t see too much change at the top due to a lack of successful new releases but there’s a couple of fresh faces in the current box office.

US

1. Thor: The Dark World – Director: Alan Taylor – $38.5 million
2. The Best Man Holiday – Malcom D. Lee – $30.6 million
3. Last Vegas – Jon Turteltaub – $8.9 million
4. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward – $8.3 million
5. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine – $7.7 million

UK

1. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron – £4.8 million
2. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor – £1.8 million
3. Philomena – Stephen Frears – £1 million
4. The Counsellor – Ridley Scott – £0.81 million
5. The Butler – Lee Daniels – £0.8 million

I managed 2/5 in the US with only Thor and Best Man Holiday in the correct places. I had Free Birds and Bad Grandpa in there but in all the wrong positions. Alexander Payne’s Nebraska didn’t open particularly well. Place 1 and 4 were the only ones I predicted correctly in the UK taking this week’s total to 4/10. Philomena has held its own very well at the box office with finishing well above new releases like The Counsellor (4th), The Butler (5th), Don Jon (11th) and Dom Hemmingway (12th), the latter two of which opened poorly. Comedic animation Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 fell to 6th and tense thriller Captain Phillips sank to 7th while Ender’s Game dropped to a remarkably disappointing 14th. My predictions for next week are:

US

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
2. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
3. The Best Man Holiday – Malcom D. Lee
4. Delivery Man – Ken Scott
5. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward

UK

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Francis Lawrence
2. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron
3. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
4. Philomena – Stephen Frears
5. The Butler – Lee Daniels

I think any new releases will be swamped down by The Hunger Games. Delivery Man is the new Vince Vaughn comedy which brings in brilliantly funny stars like Cobie Smulders and Chris Pratt so I predict a strong US opening. My current overall is 13/30 so I hope the aforementioned predictions are accurate. By for now.

Tom Hiddleston in Thor: The Dark World, this week’s US box office number one.

George Clooney in Gravity, this week’s UK box office number one.

Weekend box-office – 4th to 11th of November 2013 – can Thor fly to the top and can it defy Gravity?

There’s been two huge openings both sides of the Atlantic this week and they’ve both risen to the top of their respective charts, as I predicted last week. Let’s take a look at how I did in a week that looks like places 2 – 5 were decided by the flip of a coin in the US.

US

1. Thor: The Dark World – Director: Alan Taylor – $86.1 million
2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine – $11.3 million
3. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward – $11.2 million
4. Last Vegas – Jon Turteltaub – $11.1 million
5. Ender’s Game – Gavin Hood – £10.2 million

UK

1. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron – £6.2 milliom
2. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor – £2.9 million
3. Philomena – Stephen Frears – £1.4 million
4. Captain Phillips – Paul Greengrass – £1 million
5. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – Kodi Cameron, Kris Pearn – £0.9 million

Well, it seems I was a bit two optimistic about the more indie releases of About Time, The Book Thief and Parkland, none of which scratched either top 5. Only $1.2 million separated places 2 – 5 in the US. Ender’s Game has dropped dramatically while Free Birds has gone up a place, likely because we’re getting closer to Thanksgiving which is Free Birds’ theme. Philomena is holding much stronger than I thought it would. I had incorrectly predicted Last Vegas in it’s place last week as the latter has been pushed back to January next year. I scored a dismal 1/5 in the US and a non overwhelming 2/3 in the UK taking my total to a disappointing 3/10 but I’m new at this! Here’s what I feebly foresee for next week:

US

1. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
2. The Best Man Holiday – Malcom D. Lee
3. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward
4. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine
5. Nebraska – Alexander Payne

UK

1. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron
2. The Butler – Lee Daniels
3. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
4. The Counsellor – Ridley Scott
5. Don Jon – Joseph Gordon Levitt

I’m hoping for more pleasing results next week. My current total is 9/20 so let’s see if I can take it up to over 50%. Find out next week, here on Tuorhoth Movies. There’s a whole quartet of major but not quite mainstream releases in the UK next week. They are The Butler, The Counsellor, Don Jon and Dom Hemmingway. I think that they’ll rank commercially as I just listed them.

Chris Hemsworth and Jaimie Alexander in Thor: The Dark World, the US number one.

Sandra Bullock in Gravity, the UK number one.

The Must Sees of November 2013

This one comes a few days late but we need a round up of November’s huge releases. First up, we’ve got the new film from Stephen Frears (two time Oscar nominated director famed for The Queen and High Fidelity). Philomena is the true story of a pregnant Irish teenager who’s child was stolen by nuns and put up for adoption in America. Decades on in the present day, the old woman’s (Judi Dench – Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love, Iris) story is found by political journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan – Alan Partridge, The Look of Love, Despicable Me 2) and they set out to America to find Philomena’s son. This bitter comedy is sweeping up recognition from everywhere, BAFTAs are certain and Oscars are a possibility, and opens November 1st.

Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent star in Closed Circuit. John Crowley is the director of this mystery thriller which sees a regular court case uncovering a huge terrorist plot (Nov 1st). Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, James Badge Dale and Paul Giamatti play characters in their response to the death of President John F Kennedy in 1963 for the new drama Parkland from director Peter Landesman (Nov 8th). Last Vegas is the new big billing comedy. The premise is four sixty something guys (played by four Oscar winners – Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline) hitting Vegas for the final bachelor party of their lives as the last on of them ties the knot. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is the director (Nov 8th).

The biggest release of the month has got to be Gravity. It’s burst into IMDB’s Top 250 films of all time and sits at about 50th. Alfonso Cauron (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) is the director of what’s being praised as one of the most technically astonishing films of all time. Sandra Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first trip to space. She’s on a spacestation with veteran Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) when debris crashes into them leaving them stranded and tumbling towards Earth (Nov 7th).

Kill Your Darlings is the new biography drama set in 1944. A murder draws in great Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William Burroughs (Ben Foster). Also with Dane DeHaan, Elizabeth Olsen, David Cross and director John Krokidas (Slo-Mo) (8th). Shia LaBeouf (Lawless, Transformers) is the titular character Charlie Countryman. Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelson, Melissa Leo, James Buckley and John Hurt. Countryman is an American traveller who falls for a Romanian criminal. Frederick Bond is the director (Nov 8th).

The Counsellor is Ridley Scott’s new thriller. Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem star in this Oscar tipped feature about a lawyer getting too deep into drug trafficking (Nov 15th). Iain De Caestecker is currently starring on the small screen as one of the Agents of SHIELD. He’s also starring with Alice Englert for In Fear. Jeremy Lovering’s horror sees a young couple thrown into the tormenting of a dark forest after a night out (Nov 15th). Richard Shepard (The Matador) directs and writes his new crime filled comedy Dom Hemmingway where Jude Law has the role of the ex-con titular lead alongside Richard E. Grant and Emilia Clarke (Nov 15th) while Joseph Gordon Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Looper) directs, writes and stars in edgy rom-com Don Jon about a regular guy struggling to maintain a happy relationship. Also with Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. Rounding off the stellar releases of November 15th is Blue is the Warmest Colour, winner of the Palme D’Or award earlier this year at the Canne Film Festival after being voted by an elite panel of judges including Steven Spielberg. This foreign language hit is from Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche and is tipped to be this year’s Amour.

Escape Plan sees the 1980s’ two greatest action stars,  Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), teaming up for the first proper time, The Expendables wasn’t really about them. They play two prison experts locked away in the most secure cell on the Earth and devise a route out in this mystery thriller from director Mikael Hafstrom. Also with 50 Cent, Sam Neill and Vinnie Jones (Nov 22nd).

We now have a trio of award contenders. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones star in The Family. Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) is the director and the story is the one of the Manzoni family, a notorious Mafia clan now hiding out in Normandy, France, but are soon noticed (Nov 22nd). A Most Wanted Man is the story of a Muslim immigrant in Hamburg caught  in the crossfire of the international war on terror. Rachel McAdams, Daniel Bruhl, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright and Phillip Seymour Hoffman all star for director Anton Corbjin, famed for The American, (Nov 22nd). Nicole Kidman is the current Oscar favourite for Grace of Monaco. It’s the true story of legendary actress Grace Kelly who, at the age of 25, has just one her first Oscar and is the rising star of the moment, that moment being 1955. But she gives up her career just as it was taking off she marries the Monacan Prince Ranier III (Tim Roth). Director Oliver Dahan explains frequently that it’s not a biography but an exploration of the reasons behind a seemingly bizarre decision (Nov 29th).

Three other films will finish our November preview. Their all likely to make great box-office hits but two of them are in contention for Oscar noms. Carrie is one of them and I reckon stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore are in the running for an Academy Award shortlist. The story, based on the Stephen king novel and Brian De Palma film, is of the titular teenage girl Carrie who finds herself with strange abilities as she enters puberty. She decides to use them to gruesome effect against her tormentors. Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry which won Hilary Swank an Oscar) is the director (Nov 29th).

Homefront boasts an impressive cast in the form of Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo as well as screenwriter Sylvester Stallone and director Gary Fleder (The Express, Runaway Jury). A former DEA officer hopes to start a new life when he moves to a new quiet town with his young daughter but he gets on the wrong side of local meth dealer Gator and violence soon follows. We like to call it: Breaking Dad! (Nov 29th)

Destined for greatness is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sequel to last year’s surprise sci-fi success and adaptation of the Suzanne Collins young adult novel. Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) is the director this time as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) realises that her Hunger Games victory with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) may have sparked the ideals of revolution within the starving people of Panem. Confronted by President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland), she must dampen the rebellious fire before it causes a head on collision with the Capitol. Also with Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffery Wright, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Sam Clafin, Jena Malone, Willow Shields and Phillips Seymour Hoffman (Nov 21st).

Thanks for reading the whole of this one through. It means that you now have November 2013’s releases laid out in front of you for you to pick and that you have a much longer attention span than I d

Sunday’s Blockbusters – 20th to 27th of October 2013 – will Gravity come down and can Captain Phillips see through Cloudy 2?

This is a brand new feature on Tuorhoth Movies which’ll tell you the box-office status from both sides of the Atlantic. It’s the top 5 for the UK and the US according to the BBC News reports. Remember that not all of these films were released at the same time so while Gravity is sitting near the top in America it’s absence in the UK is because it’s yet to be released, not because of it failing in Britain.

UK:

1. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – £3.65 million – Director(s): Kody Cameron, Kris Pearn
2. Captain Phillips – £2.44 million – Paul Greengrass
3. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – £1.94 million – Jeff Tremaine
4. Turbo – £1.32 million – David Soren
5. Ender’s Game – £1.15 million – Gavin Hood

US:

1. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – $32 million – Jeff Tremaine
2. Gravity – $20 million – Alfonso Cauron
3. Captain Phillips – $11.8 million – Paul Greengrass
4. The Counsellor – $8 million – Ridley Scott
5. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – $6.1 million – Kody Cameron, Kris Pearn

I must say that it’s a shock to see Ender’s Game at the bottom of the pile in the UK but it’s likely to have a better reception in the US next month. Cloudy 2 was received coldly by critics compared to the original but despite this it’s soared to a staggering $150 million worldwide gross. Gravity has only just been brought to Earth by Bad Grandpa as it’s been on top of the chart for the three weeks prior. It’s disappointing to see how quickly Carrie and Escape Plan have fallen out of the US’ top 5.

My predictions for next week are as follows:

US

1. Ender’s Game – Gavin Hood
2. Last Vegas – Jon Turteltaub
3. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron
4. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward
5. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine

UK

1. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
2. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – Kody Cameron, Chris Pern
3. Captain Phillips – Paul Greengrass
4. Philomena – Steven Frears
5. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine

That brings us to the end of our first box-office recap. Tell us what you thought of it in the comments. Was it too long, too short or is the information not relevant to you? We want to have a better website and your feedback is the most efficient way of doing that so please help us to shape our future. Thank you and, in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight*.

*First person to correctly comment the film reference will be awarded a very minor sense of satisfaction.

UK’s number one Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2

US’ number one Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

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

Tuorhoth’s first predictions for the 2014 Academy Awards

October and November are seeing the releases of some of the huge contenders for the Oscars next year well before award season has begun. We’ve no idea how well any of these films are going to do critically seeing as none of them have actually been released to mainstream audiences. This isn’t an award by award breakdown but we’re giving you a brief guide as to what could be nominated in “the big six” awards at world’s biggest annual movie event. I’m also ranking the potential nominees by their likelihood of winning by colour: red means most likely to win, blue means second most likely and green means I’ve ranked them third.

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett – The Monuments Men

Cameron Diaz – The Counsellor

Julianne Moore – Carrie

Michelle Pfeiffer – The Family

Kristen Wiig – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Benedict Cumberbatch – 12 Years A Slave

Jean Dujardin – The Monuments Men

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tommy Lee Jones – The Family

Best Leading Actress

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Nicole Kidman – Grace of Monaco

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Chloe Grace Moretz – Carrie

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Leading Actor

George Clooney – Gravity

Steve Coogan – Philomena

Leonardo di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips or Saving Mr. Banks (undecided)

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Director

Alfonso Cauron – Gravity

George Clooney – The Monuments Men

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Picture

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

The Counsellor

Gravity

The Monuments Men

Out of the Furnace

Saving Mr. Banks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Wolf of Wall Street

So, these are my beginning of season suggestions for who will be nominated at this prestigious event. We’re now going to talk through those films and actors that I haven’t included but could be major contenders. There’s a huge cast for The Monuments Men which I haven’t fully gone over. I’ve put George Clooney, who I’ve already selected for Best Director for this film, in for Best Leading Actor for Gravity not The MM but he could easily win for both. Stars of The Monuments Men like Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban could squeeze into the supporting actor position that I placed Dujardin in. Dujardin is already popular with the academy after his Lead Actor win in 2012 for The Artist and as likely could get a nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street instead of The Monuments Men.

Wolf of Wall Street could do very well. Jonah Hill may seem like a surprise nominee but remember that he got similar recognition at the 2012 Oscars for Moneyball. I’ve only put Nicole Kidman forward for this film but Grace of Monaco is a noteworthy contender for a Best Pic nomination. American Hustle is only in one award on my list but the stellar cast of Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence (whose already in for Hunger Games 2), Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale. I think it will win Best Original Screenplay however.

Other potential nominees are the aforementioned Bale for Out of the Furnace, for which Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana could also be in contention. Dame Judi Dench could get into the actress categories for Philomena. Robert De Niro stars in both American Hustle and The Family and could crack into the shortlists. Colin Farrel and Paul Giamatti came close to my lists for Saving Mr. Banks. 12 Years A Slave could through in Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano and Quvenzhane Wallis back into the award scene while The Counsellor could do the same for Fassbender, Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as well as it’s director Sir Ridley Scott. We can’t rule out other entries like All is Lost with Robert Redford, The Book Thief with Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson or Inside Llewyn Davis (the Coen brothers’ folk tale with Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan). Spike Lee’s mysterious action remake Oldboy could creep in with it’s stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Hannah Simone and Sharlto Copley.

It’s not too late to remove this year’s earlier hits like The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann directing Leonardo di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton), Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen directing Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin), Prisoners (Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Jake Gyllenhaal in the directing of Denis Villeneuve) and Rush (Ron Howard’s biopic with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl). Blockbuster action films like the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Ender’s Game or 47 Ronin have been known to do well as the Oscars (see The Dark Knight, Inception and a few others) and there’s usually a surprise foreign language film in the mix (like Amour). There’s a whole variety of films that could be next year’s nominees but I think the leaders are: Gravity, Captain Phillips, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Monuments Men and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Find out more about these films at our Future Films pages for 2013 and 2014.

The 86th Academy Awards will be hosted by Ellen De Generes and will be on ABC on March 2nd 2014

Tell us in the comments who YOU think will win big at the 2014 Oscars.