The Oscars may have been announced last week, but there are still a few more award shows before we get to Hollywood’s Big Night—case in point, last night’s 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, held at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium and honoring the best acting in television and film over the past year. Check out the list of winners after the jump.
The award show season is probably still a mystery for some, but for those paying attention, the possible nominees have been narrowed down, and even before the Oscar nominations are announced the playing field is clear. After its Golden Globe wins, BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has now cemented The Artist as the horse to beat. The film was nominated for twelve awards, with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy following it with eleven. Check out the full list below…
The 69th annual Golden Globes nominees have been announced, and this year they’re big on definite articles. The Help, The Artist and The Descendents lead the pack of nominees. Which is interesting because – if the Globes have a weakness – it’s that they chase the famous names, and these noms aren’t that celeb-heavy. Then again, George Clooney has received three nominations directly (for actor, writing and directing) between The Ides of March and Descendents, and surely a fourth for producing March. Check out the full list…
Steven Soderbergh‘s plague thriller Contagion brought down The Help this weekend, as we predicted. The Warner Brothers picture made $23.1 million during its opening weekend, conquering other new releases like Warrior and Bucky Larson: Born to Be A Star. Contagion hit strong, winning over both audiences and critics – so far, the film holds an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an even better rating from our critic Damon Houx who also interviewed the stars and director. Following its three-week streak at the top of the box office, The Help came in at No. 2, making $8.7 million (bringing its total to $137 million). Warrior, another hit with the critics, landed quietly at No. 3, earning $5.6 million. As for Adam Sandler‘s new project Bucky Larson, well, the film didn’t make it to the top ten. During its weekend debut, the porn comedy landed thirteenth, making only $1.45 million.
After a couple of weeks of super weak titles, Contagion is the first A-lister vehicle in quite some time. You’d think summer would be loaded with them, but you can’t really call The Help or Rise of the Planet of the Apes star vehicles. Then again, look at the business Larry Crowne did. That is to say – very little. Forty years ago, a film like this would be a huge event picture ala The Towering Inferno. Now it’s a borderline art film. So let’s talk box office, shall we?
This Labor Day weekend marked the end of the 2011 summer movie season, and it all belonged to The Help. For three weeks now, newcomers have been no competition for the Disney and Dreamworks’ movie. The film brought in $14.2 million, bringing its total to a staggering $118.6 million. From the pile of new releases, The Debt was the biggest hit. Helen Mirren and company surprised us by coming in second place with $9.6 million. The delayed Sci-Fi thriller Apollo 18 followed The Debt with $8.7 million. And lastly, coming in at No. 4, was Relativity’s monster movie Shark Night 3D. The film failed to bring in serious cash, even with the inflated ticket prices.
It’s September now, so summer is officially over. Labor Day is Monday, which makes this a four day weekend at the box office, but while summer movies try to take advantage of holiday schedules, this weekend is the beginning of the fall slump (even if Summer A titles dried up nearly a month ago). There may be some money movies in the next two months, but big business titles won’t get released again until the first week of November. Which means last weekend‘s big winner The Help has a shot of taking the #1 slot yet again…
In the mist of power outages and evacuation alerts, The Help was able to stay on top of the box office (as we predicted). But overall, this weekend hurt the studios harder than the hurricane hit the cities. This weekend was the release of big pictures like Colombiana and Guillermo Del Toro‘s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – but neither were able to known down the leader. The Help stayed on top with $14.3 million. The new Weinstein picture Our Idiot Brother came in fifth with $6.5 million.
The Help had a busy weekend. After being overshadowed by Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Help came back strong and claimed the No. 1 spot in its second week, as we predicted. In that time, the $25 million budget film has managed to pull in a grand $71.8 million. But the success of one film, means the lack of to another (or, in this case, others). This weekend all debuts flopped. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World landed third and grossed $12 million. Lionsgate blockbuster Conan the Barbarian (the film has a $90 million budget) barely managed to scoop in $10 million. Also new were Fright Night and One Day – both landed in the bottom half of the top 10. Take a look at the numbers…
