Jeff Daniels to play David in Divergent 3

It’s generally regarded as a less successful rehash of franchises such as The Hunger Games or Harry Potter but that hasn’t stopped the Divergent Series from gathering big names such as Kate Winslet and Octavia Spencer. The newest addition to the line up is Jeff Daniels, star of Looper, Dumb and Dumber and The Newsroom. who’ll play the new villain David. Allegiant takes after the aforementioned films by splitting its finale into two parts. Robert Schwentke (RIPD, Flightplan) directs the cast of Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), Theo James (Underworld), Miles Teller (Whiplash), Ansel Elgort (Men Women & Children) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible, Mulholland Drive, Birdman).

Allegiant: Part 1 – March 19th 2016

Weekend box-office – 28th of March to 3rd of April 2015 – will Divergent 2 surge at the box-office?

Marketing for the action sequel Insurgent will have you believe that it is a worldwide phenomenon but in fact the first film had a lukewarm commercial response at $290 million, outgrossed by the less hyped and far less expensive The Maze Runner ($340 million), and was mainly reliant on the US box-office. Critics particularly picked up on the unoriginality of the film, drawing major similarities to the far more popular Harry Potter, Matrix and Hunger Games franchises. Insurgent, under the new leadership of RIPD’s Robert Schwentke, may not succeed in fooling audiences once more.

US:

1. Insurgent – Director: Robert Schwentke – $52.3 million
2. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – $35 million
3. Run All Night – Jaume Collet Serra – $5 million
4. The Gunman – Pierre Morel – $5 million
5. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – $4.6 million

UK:

1. Home – Tim Johnson – £6 million
2. Insurgent – Robert Schwentke – £2.9 million
3. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – John Madden – £0.6 million
4. Focus – Glenn Ficarra, John Requa – £0.5 million
5. The Gunman – Pierre Morel – £0.4 million

By no means a disappointment, Insurgent’s takings are actually slightly down from its previous instalment ($54 million) and is nowhere near the blockbusting triumph of Catching Fire, whose financial success this is desperately trying the replicate. While Cinderella keeps up its money making, the rip-off-of-Taken-from-the-director-of-Taken The Gunman has flopped despite boasting the cast of Sean Penn, Idris Elba and Javier Bardem. In the UK, animated adventure Home has had a surprisingly profitable opening and easily surpassed Insurgent. This week I’ve scored 4/10.

US:

1. Home – Tim Johnson
2. Get Hard – Etan Cohen
3. Insurgent – Robert Schwentke
4. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh
5. While We’re Young – Noah Baumbach

UK:

1. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh
2. Home – Tim Johnson
3. Insurgent – Robert Schwentke
4. Get Hard – Etan Cohen
5. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – John Madden

Theo James, Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller in Insurgent, this week’s US number one.

The characters of Rihanna and Jim Parsons in Home, this week’s UK number one.

The Top 10 Internet-Buzzed Films of 2014

Defining success is a difficult thing to categorise: critically, the likes of Boyhood, Birdman, The Imitation Game, Foxcatcher and Gone Girl lead the pack; commercially, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Guardians of Galaxy, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and Maleficent thrived. A digital word of mouth is another interesting definition and Google Trend’s end of year report publishes the most searched, and perhaps most popular, releases of 2014.

1. Frozen – Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee – Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad
2. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – Matthew MacConaughey, Mackenzie Foy, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Michael Caine
3. Divergent – Neil Burger – Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort
4. Gone Girl – David Fincher – Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris
5. Lone Survivor – Peter Berg – Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster
6. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Elizabeth Olsen
7. 22 Jump Street – Phil Lord and Chris Miller – Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Wyatt Russell
8. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams – Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, TJ Miller, Maya Rudolph, Alan Tudyk
9. Annabelle – John R Leonetti – Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton
10. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Juno Temple, Imelda Staunton, Sharlto Copley

The most surprising entry hear is Annabelle, a low budget and universally trashed horror flick that’s beaten off the likes of The Fault in Our Stars, The Lego Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Edge of Tomorrow, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Marvel’s four smash hits (Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past) has conceded to a Disney triple bill (Maleficent, Big Hero 6, Frozen).

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 – 19th to 25th of April 2014 – can The Winter Soldier chill Rio 2?

After setting alight the US box-office last week with a $95 million debut, Marvel’s thriller Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s real test comes this week when we discover if it’ll have a lasting effect. However, it faces a huge threat in the form of star-studded animated sequel Rio 2. Meanwhile in the UK, The Winter Soldier is attempting to regain its financial hold after slipping down last week.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – $41.4 million
2. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – $39 million
3. Oculus – Mike Flanagan – $12 million
4. Draft Day – Ivan Reitman – $9.8 million
5. Divergent – Neil Burger – $7.5 million

UK:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £1.8 million
2. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – £1.6 million
3. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £1.6 million
4. Divergent – Neil Burger – £1 million
5. The Quiet Ones – John Pogue – £0.7 million

Subversive superhero action adventure The Winter Soldier has slashed into its critical and financial expectations with five star reviews all round and a recent push past $500 million worldwide but horror flicks Oculus and The Quiet Ones have had to make do with modest entries. Biblical epic Noah has sank from second to sixth suddenly while Kevin Costner baseball comedy has fared poorly with the competition. From last week’s predictions, I’ve scored 5/10, taking my running total to 115/240.

US:

1. Transcendence – Wally Pfister
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
4. A Haunted House 2 – Michael Tiddes
5. Oculus – Mike Flanagan

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
4. Locke – Stephen Knight
5. Divergent – Neil Burger

Robert Redford and Chris Evans in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s UK and US number one.

Weekend box-office – 12th to 18th of April 2014 – can Captain America shield its success from Rio?

Last week, Marvel’s Captain America sequel The Winter Soldier made an excellent entry into the UK box office but it was a fair bit behind recent Marvel instalments such as Thor: The Dark World in terms of financial success. We were unsure of its fortune in the US but it seems as if the patriotic hero has triumphed in his home country. Meanwhile in the UK, The Winter Soldier came into its second week in the chart against three huge new entries: animated sequel Rio 2, biblical epic Noah and teen-novel adaptation (and number one US smash hit) Divergent.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – $96 million
2. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – $17 million
3. Divergent – Neil Burger – $13 million
4. God’s Not Dead – Harold Cronk – $7.7 million
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – $6.3 million

UK:

1. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £2.9 million
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £2.8 million
3. Noah – Darren Aronkofsky – £2.5 million
4. Divergent – Neil Burger – £1.8 million
5. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – £0.9 million

The Winter Soldier has done excellently in the US, a cut above Thor: The Dark World’s $86 million, while Noah is quickly surpassing financial expectations. Quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel made a surprise entry at fifth place and God’s Not Dead, despite possessing no famous stars and no critical acclaim, has now taken eighteen times its small budget at the box-office. Rio 2 has taken the UK top spot while Noah makes a decent debut. Divergent however has fallen surprisingly flat of its expectations. This week, I’ve scored a solid 6/10, taking my running total to 110/230.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
2. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
4. Draft Day – Ivan Reitman
5. Divergent – Neil Burger

UK:

1. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. The Raid 2 – Gareth Evans
4. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
5. The Quiet Ones – John Pogue

Anne Hathaway in Rio 2, this week’s US number one.

Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s US number one.

Mystique in line for X-Men spin off, Divergent sequel splits into two and Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur raises flag in 2016

Jennifer Lawrence is undoubtedly the most popular actress of the moment; she’s won a Leading Actress Oscar and has a further two Academy Award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook, Winter’s Bone and American Hustle and has the iconic lead role of Katniss Everdeen in blockbuster franchise The Hunger Games at the age of 24. She’s also a major character (hero or villain we’ll discover soon) in the X-Men franchise where she plays the shapeshifting mutant Mystique. Fox seem to be riding on Lawrence’s success however: they’ve dramatically bumped up her rank in the promotion for this May’s X-Men sequel Days of Future Past (which marks Bryan Singer’s return to the series) and they’ve taken that one step further.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner has let slip that Raven could be one her way to a solo movie. The mutant spin-off isn’t an unheard of occurrence. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has received two already, X-Men: Origins Wolverine and The Wolverine, and for a while standalone adventures for Gambit (Channing Tatum) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) have been in production, with the latter’s Tim Miller determined to bring the fan favourite to the big screen. Meanwhile Singer’s Apocalypse, James Mangold’s next Wolverine and Jeff Wadlow’s X-Force (chronicling the story of time traveller Cable) will be Fox’s priority so we may have to wait a fair while till we get to see Mystique: The Movie.

British writer director Guy Ritchie is probably more associated with his hardcore crime/comedy/thrillers Snatch, Rocknrolla, Revolver and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as Madonna rom-com Swept Away but let’s not go there. More recently, he’s become better known for his surprising critical and commercial success with cracking detective adventure Sherlock Holmes and its sequel A Game of Shadows. We’re still begging for Holmes 3 (hopefully starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly and Eddie Marsan) but Ritchie is plowing through to other things with the reboot of 1960s comedy The Man from UNCLE as well as developing project King Arthur, which we haven’t heard anything about since January.

All we know so far is that, after the tanking of 2004’s Arthur and 1995’s First Knight, Ritchie is reinstating the fantasy elements of the story and could be planning as far ahead as six instalments. It’s now confirmed that Warner Bros have slotted Arthur into a July 2016 release, booking early to avoid conflict with the likes of Star Trek 3, Batman vs Superman, X-Men: Apocalypse, Captain America 3 and Avatar 2. You may remember that this version of the story was chosen by the studios, pushing aside David Dobkin’s plans involving Kit Harrington as the young king and Gary Oldman as the magician Merlin.

Divergent may have lost its “the new Hunger Games” potential but it has still done impressive box office numbers, seems to have charmed numerous critics (far more in the US than in the UK however) and is leaps and bounds ahead of The Mortal Instruments, Beautiful Creatures and The Host, other recent failed candidates of the genre. The production was confident enough to greenlight its sequel Insurgent although that’ll be directed by RED’s Robert Schwentke, taking over from Tomorrow When the War Began’s Neil Burger. We’ve got our first piece of news about the third instalment, and adaptation of last year’s novel from Veronica Roth, Allegiant.

It’s not overly surprising to discover that Lionsgate are pulling the same cheap money-extorting approach taken by Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games: they are splitting the final novel into two films. You may have picked up that we’re not fond of this strategy but we’d be more assured if the studios actually bothered to come up with a different name instead of a generic Parts One and Two, how about Hunger Games: Capitol or Harry Potter and the Lost Diadem. The Hobbit managed that three times with excellent success. The Divergent series will likely star Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Zoe Kravitz and Miles Teller.

King Arthur – July 22nd 2016

X-Men: Mystique – 2018?

Allegiant: Part One – March 18th 2016

Allegiant: Part Two – 2017

Weekend box-office – 5th to 11th of April 2014 – can Noah flood Divergent away?

Religion focused films seemed to have taken a hold on the recent US box office, despite having no genuine stars in them IE God’s Not Dead and Son of God. Now, genesis story Noah has arrived to take the weekend by storm, with heavy biblical themes, huge star quality and immense directing talent. Last week, we predicted that it’d shove aside the recent strong entries Divergent and Muppets Most Wanted. Meanwhile, The Winter Soldier’s UK debut could tell if the sequel could live up to the financial success of other recent Marvel work.

US:

1. Noah – Director: Darren Aronofsky – $44 million
2. Divergent – Neil Burger – $26.5 million
3. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – $11.4 million
4. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – $9.5 million
5. God’s Not Dead – Harold Cronk – $9 million

UK:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £6 million
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – £2.2 million
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – £0.8 million
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £0.4 million
5. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh – £0.3 million

Noah has, unsurprisingly, made a deep impression into the box office in the States but the more interesting events are in the UK. A low taking week all-in-all but Captain America seem to have done well. Still, it’s way off from Thor: The Dark World’s initial takings of £8.8 million but the latter has Tom Hiddleston, a hugely popular presence in the UK, in a lead role while the latter, being the most patriotic of all superheroes, should dominate more in the US. Muppets Most Wanted performed well against competition but the previous films total UK earnings were near £30 million – a figure this film can’t hope to achieve. This week’s score of 6/10 takes our running total up to 104/220.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
2. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
3. Divergent – Neil Burger
4. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
5. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff

UK:

1. Divergent – Neil Burger
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
5. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin

Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s UK box-office number one.

Russell Crowe in Noah, this week’s US box-office number one.

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.