Robert Downey Jr weighs in on Black Widow and LFF line up announced

In just six years, Marvel have introduced and greatly developed seven central characters – Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury – three of whom now have their own mulit-billion franchises. There’s now a great demand for Black Widow, played by Lost in Translation’s Scarlett Johansson, to at last get her own standalone film; she’s so far only had supporting roles in Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers. X-Men and Watchmen’s writer David Hayter and Game of Thrones’ Neil Marshall have both expressed interest in directing the project while Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) has criticised Marvel for not yet confirming the film.

Robert Downey Jr is now weighing in on the discussion. “It just seems like whatever Scarlett does people want to go see it,” the star of Zodiac, Chaplin, Tropic Thunder and Sherlock Holmes explained. “The funny thing is honestly at this point everyone deserves a franchise,” Downey continued. “I think Jeremy Renner is — when folks see the Avengers: Age of Ultron –  he’s just a rockstar. And Ruffalo is pumped. He does great work. I’d like to hear them talk even more seriously about a Hulk franchise, because that’s been one of the toughest ones to get right. But I’m sure that my parent company is feeling expansive and bold after the summer they’ve had.”

The British Film Industry’s London Film Festival (BFI LFF) is back this autumn and at last the full line up has been announced. The festival opens with wartime drama The Imitation Game. Headhunters’ Morten Tyldum directs the biopic of codebreaker Alan Turing. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness), Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean, Never Let Me Go), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kick-Ass), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Gosford Park), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker) and Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Southcliffe).

Also featuring in the festival are the following: Sporting drama Foxcatcher, although it is far from its wide release, is already an Oscar favourite after causing a great stir at Cannes. Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) directs the cast of Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Mark Ruffalo. Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, JK Simmons, Jennifer Garner and Emma Thompson star in Jason Reitman’s (Juno) comedy Men Women & Children. Timothy Spall is the title character of multi-award winning Mr Turner, from Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy, Another Year).

Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Mud) may be on her way to a second Oscar with Wild, the new directorial effort from Jean Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, The Young Victoria). A slightly more mainstream event arrives in the form of epic sequel Monsters: Dark Continent, from first time director Tom Green. The festival’s conclusion will be marked by a screening of WW2 thriller Fury. David Ayer (End of Watch) directs the cast of Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jason Isaacs.

London Film Festival – October 8th-19th

Black Widow – 2017?

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.