Tag Archives: God’s Not Dead

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 – 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.

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.