Fault in Our Stars wins at MTVs, Rebecca Hall joins BFG and Stallone in first still from Creed

BIrdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, Guardians of the Galaxy and Boyhood were among the most celebrated films of the previous awards season but the MTV Awards have a history of selecting mainstream flicks. Previous films to have been crowned include Terminator 2, A Few Good Men, Scream, There’s Something About Mary, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, Napoleon Dynamite, Wedding Crashers, Transformers, Twilight, The Avengers and The Hunger Games: Caching Fire. Last night’s results are in on the 2015 awards (novelty awards included).

Best Movie:

The Fault in Our Stars
American Sniper
Boyhood
Gone Girl
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Selma
Whiplash

Best Male Performance:

Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Ansel Elgort – The Fault in Our Stars
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy
Channing Tatum – Foxcatcher
Miles Teller – Whiplash

Best Female Performance:

Shailene Woodley – The Fault in Our Stars
Scarlett Johansson – Lucy
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Emma Stone – Birdman
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Breakthrough Performance:

Dylan O’Brien – The Maze Runner
Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood
Ansel Elgort – The Fault in Our Stars
David Oyelowo – Selma
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

Best Scared Performance:

Jennifer Lopez – The Boy Next Door
Zack Gildford – The Purge: Anarchy
Dylan O’Brien – The Maze Runner
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Annabelle Wallis – Annabelle

Best On Screen Duo:

Zac Efron & Dave Franco – Bad Neighbours
Bradley Cooper & Vin Diesel – Guardians of the Galaxy
James Franco & Seth Rogen – The Interview
Channing Tatum & Jonah Hill – 22 Jump Street
Shailene Woodley & Ansel Elgort – The Fault in Our Stars

Best Shirtless Performance:

Zac Efron – Bad Neighbours
Ansel Elgort – The Fault in Our Stars
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy
Channing Tatum – Foxcatcher
Kate Upton – The Other Woman

Best Fight:

Dylan O’Brien vs Will Poulter – The Maze Runner
Chris Evans vs Sebastian Stan – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Jonah Hill vs Jillian Bell – 22 Jump Street
Edward Norton vs Michael Keaton – Birdman
Seth Rogen vs Zac Efron – Bad Neighbours

Best Kiss:

Ansel Elgort & Shailene Woodley – The Fault in Our Stars
Rose Byrne & Halston Sage – Bad Neighbours
James Franco & Seth Rogen – The Interview
Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone – The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Scarlett Johansson & Chris Evans – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Best WTF Moment:

Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne – Bad Neighbours
Rosario Dawson & Anders Holm – Top Five
Jonah Hill – 22 Jump Street
Jason Sudeikis & Charlie Day – Horrible Bosses 2
Miles Teller – Whpilash

Best Villain:

Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Jillian Bell – 22 Jump Street
Peter Dinklage – X-Men: Days of Future Past
(Spoilers) – Gone Girl
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Musical Moment:

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Bill Hader & Kristen Wiig – The Skeleton Twins
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy
Seth Rogen & Zac Efron – Bad Neighbours
Miles Teller – Whiplash

Best Comedic Performance:

Channing Tatum – 22 Jump Street
Rose Byrne – Bad Neighbours
Kevin Hart – The Wedding Ringer
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy
Chris Rock – Top Five

Best On Screen Transformation:

Elizabeth Banks – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Steve Carell – Foxcacher
Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Zoe Saldana – Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Hero:

Dylan O’Brien – The Maze Runner
Shailene Woodley – Insurgent
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Martin Freeman – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy

Trailblazer Award:

Shailene Woodley (The Descendants, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, The Spectacular Now)

Comedic Genius Award:

Kevin Hart (Get Hard, Ride Along, Think Like a Man, The Wedding Ringer)

Generation Award:

Robert Downey Jr (The Avengers, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Sherlock Holmes, Zodiac)

Here’s the winners’ leaderboard:

Bad Neighbours, The Fault in Our Stars, The Maze Runner – 3
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – 2
22 Jump Street, American Sniper, The Boy Next Door, Into the Woods – 1

With various big names already attached to his fantasy adventure The BFG, famed director Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln) has enlisted even more cast members for the project. Rebecca Hall, the Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated star of Iron Man 3, The Town, The Prestige and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, was the first major addition in an announcement that included Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows, Flight at the Conchords) and Penelope Wilton (Shaun of the Dead, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). The cast already includes Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall, Bridge of Spies), Bill Hader (Superbad, The Skeleton Twins) and Martin Freeman (Fargo, Sherlock, The Hobbit trilogy).

It’s so far unclear if the new film Creed will be an Oscar favourite or a limp reboot of the lagging Rocky franchise (one that began with a Best Picture win in 1976 steadily declined through four sequels in the 1980s and returned with the minor hit of 2006’s Rocky Balboa). The new addition of the franchise has Michael B Jordan (Chronicle, The Fantastic Four) reteaming with his Fruitvale Station (an acclaimed urban drama) director Ryan Coogler to play Creed’s grandson who recruits Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone – First Blood) as his new mentor to become a new boxing legend. The film’s first still has been revealed. Graham McTavish (The Hobbit, Outlander) and Tessa Thompson (Selma, Dear White People).

Creed – November 25th

The BFG – July 22nd 2016

Weekend box-office – 7th to 13th of January 2015 – will Kingsman be a service to the UK?

Some of the UK’s most influential filmmakers of the past few years include Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Interstellar), Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, The Bourne Ultimatum) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trance) while James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything is flying our flag at the Oscars but today’s focus is on London born Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Stardust, Layer Cake) who is releasing the Colin Firth-starring spy thriller Kingsman: The Secret Service this week. It’s a major departure from his more studio-oriented material of late so it’ll be interesting to see how it fares. Meanwhile last week, we predicted that (in the US) American Sniper would keep on top.

US:

1. American Sniper – Director: Clint Eastwood – $30.7 million
2. Project Almanac – Dean Israelite – $8.3 million
3. Paddington – Paul King – $8.3 million
4. Black or White – Mike Bender – $6.2 million
5. The Boy Next Door – Rob Cohen – $6.1 million

UK:

1. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams – £4.3 million
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – £4.2 million
3. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood – £1.6 million
4. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – £1 million
5. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – £0.8 million

Kingsman has arrived in second but it’s still a very respectable entry. Disney’s animated superhero adventure Big Hero 6 has beaten it to the post in a very tight competition. While it slipped up in the UK, American Sniper is still reigning in the US for the third week is a row, fending off rivals such as time-travel action Project Almanac and racial drama Black or White. This week I’ve scored 2/10.

US:

1. Jupiter Ascending – The Wachowskis
2. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood
3. The Seventh Son – Sergei Bodrov
4. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paul Tibbitt
5. Paddington – Paul King

UK:

1. The Interview – Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
2. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams
3. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn
4. Shaun the Sheep Movie – Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
5. Jupiter Ascending – The Wachowskis

Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller in American Sniper, this week’s US number one.

The character of Scott Adsit in Big Hero 6, this week’s UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 31st of January to 6th of February 2015 – Will American Sniper target Boy Next Door?

America’s adoration of its military fuels the success of Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper’s new entry American Sniper. A January smash hit, it ought to prove what a massive year Hollywood have ahead of them. Its $90 million debut will be challenged by three new entries: Lucasfilm animation Strange Magic; Johnny Depp comedy caper Mortdecai; Jennifer Lopez domestic thriller The Boy Next Door. Last week, we predicted that Sniper will hold off competition but they may bomb more than we expected.

US:

1. American Sniper – Director: Clint Eastwood – $64.6 million
2. The Boy Next Door – Rob Cohen – $14.9 million
3. Paddington – Paul King – $12.7 million
4. The Wedding Ringer – Jeremy Garelick – $11.3 million
5. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – $7.4 million

UK:

1. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood – £2.5 million
2. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – £1.8 million
3. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – £1.6 million
4. Into the Woods – Rob Marshall – £1.3 million
5. Ex Machina – Alex Garland – £1.1 million

American Sniper is continuing to dominate while artificial intelligence thriller Ex Machina makes a respectful debut. Crashing and burning are Strange Magic and Mortdecai in seventh and ninth places. British adventure Paddington, comedy The Wedding Ringer and action sequel Taken 3. This week I’ve scored 2/10.

US:

1. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood
2. The Boy Next Door – Rob Cohen
3. Project Almanac – Dean Israelite
4. Paddington – Paul King
5. Black or White – Mike Bender

UK:

1. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn
2. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams
3. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood
4. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton
5. Trash – Stephen Daldry

Bradley Cooper in American Sniper, this week’s US and UK number one.