Dejana

So, this was Brandon Bostick's latest tweet a few days ago: You can imagine how well that's going for him on social media now...

Right, American Sniper has no chance of overtaking Transformers but it might not fare horribly outside of the US. It's already off to a good start compared to other Eastwood movies overseas:

The early talk was that Blackhat might getting a qualifying Oscar run...that seems to have quietly dried up. I think without American Sniper, maybe it could've doubled or tripled its opening weekend, which still wouldn't be very good, given the budget ($70 million). If the studio cared at all about making money, they should've moved it the minute it was revealed Sniper would go wide the same weekend. I think they decided it would tank no matter what, so why bother? As of yet, Chris Hemsworth simply hasn't proven himself a draw outside Thor.

January 16-18, 2015 Estimates: 1 (21) American Sniper $90,205,000 | 3,555 Theaters | $25,374 Avg. | $93,630,000 2 (N) The Wedding Ringer $21,000,000 | 3,003 Theaters | $6,993 Avg. | $21,000,000 3 (N) Paddington $19,287,000 | 3,303 Theaters | $5,839 Avg. | $19,287,000 4 (1) Taken 3 $14,050,000 | 3,594 Theaters | $3,909 Avg. | $62,837,000 5 (2) Selma $8,300,000 | 2,235 Theaters | $3,714 Avg. | $25,964,000 6 (6) The Imitation Game $7,192,000 | 1,611 Theaters | $4,464 Avg. | $50,798,000 7 (3) Into the Woods $6,542,000 | 2,758 Theaters | $2,372 Avg. | $114,296,000 8 (4) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies $4,860,000 | 2,220 Theaters | $2,189 Avg. | $244,537,000 9 (5) Unbroken $4,267,000 | 2,602 Theaters | $1,640 Avg. | $108,610,000 10 (N) Blackhat $4,030,000 | 2,567 Theaters | $1,570 Avg. | $4,030,000 American Sniper will be over $100M for the four-day weekend. It will have to collapse not to make $300M and could challenge for the number one movie of 2014! I knew the ads were good, but this is one of the all-time box office shockers. An R-rated Iraq War drama having a $90M weekend in January might even get studios to consider releasing blockbuster action movies in the month (some are speculating Mission: Impossible 5 might move to this weekend in 2016 to get some breathing room from Star Wars). Blackhat, OTOH...I guess Chris Hemsworth can take comfort in it having a better first weekend than Paranoia and be glad that at least one more Huntsman and several more Marvel movies are in the works.

This. Hakeem just seems sort of self-involved and oblivious, the type of teenager who thinks politics is boring and noise and is wrapped up in friends/music/girls. The writers just took Bieber doing this and swapped out Clinton for Obama, with more pointed remarks. Possibly, I could buy that he's parroting what he's overheard from smarter people at the dinner table/barber shop. If Jamal is the son someone supposedly Jay Z/Dre famous, with an underground following of his own, living with a boyfriend, realistically, it would be at best an open secret about his sexuality. I guess in this world, there's no Media Take Out or All Hip Hop?

They actually get the real songs this time, plus a strong performance from Yaya and it's all wasted on portraying Bobby Brown as a Boy Scout (a sexy Boy Scout, but still). Seriously, you can show that he didn't drag the pure, innocent pop angel from her pedestal into a life of drugs and trashiness, without making him out to be Mr. Squeaky Clean Father of the Year. Also, given the pacing the movie is going to conveniently stop short of the worst of Whitney's downward spiral. Fits right in with Lifetime taking on interesting topics only to back away from the edgiest elements.

Per Oscars.org, final voting this year runs from February 6 to February 17.

American Sniper being huge in limited release ($3 million over three weekends in 4 theaters—3 of them being in NY/LA) was a big sign it would break out, once it was finally available everywhere, though it's overperforming even the wildest expectations. AMPAS is probably breathing an enormous sigh of relief that it made the cut. I really think Cooper could challenge for the Best Actor win, or make it interesting. The movie was also "late" to the season and didn't hit all the precursors, but quite a few of his fellow actors (and Academy members) have raved about his performance, it's his third nomination in a row and he's getting great reviews in The Elephant Man on Broadway (last year McConaughey had True Detective during the voting window), which shows "range" and projects the image that he's all about the craft and not the red carpet. If the whisper campaign about the "real" Chris Kyle starts making the Oscar blogs, it's a sign that someone is very afraid... I'm only half joking; there have already been write-ups about the movie overly sanitizing the man, even compared to his own book, but they weren't necessarily on the radar of the awards sites.

AMPAS probably thinks so and would love to go back to the days that the Oscars were the only game in town, but there's really nothing they can do about it. They moved up the ceremony a month in the early 2000s to stem the tide, but the others awards bodies/critics circles simply moved their ceremonies up. The actors and studios all love having additional chances for publicity and the more awards groups there are to impress, the more ads that are taken out in the trades and blogs of awards prognosticators, so they aren't going to call for a shortening of the season any time soon, either. It's essentially a vicious cycle.

No one wants their movie to be forgotten in favor of something that came out later, and ideally, the awards season publicity/hype draws people into theaters, rather than just the home market, with a movie that came out months ago (and might be ignored). Oscar potential is probably what's keeping the low/mid-budget adult drama afloat.

Best Picture slate the lowest-grossing since 2007 (before the expanded Best Picture lineup). American Sniper is the lowest grossing now but that will change, in a big way, by the end of the weekend. The Imitation Game also might make it over $100 million. Best Picture nominees: The Grand Budapest Hotel $59,100,318 The Imitation Game $42,024,194 Birdman $26,601,455 The Theory of Everything $26,202,405 Boyhood $24,339,423 Selma $16,548,467 Whiplash $6,154,000 American Sniper $3,372,722

Here's a list of all the movies that vied for Oscar nods this year. Obviously, some can be skipped, but that would be a lot of trips to the theater.

Maybe a frontrunner will pull a Melissa Leo and at least make it a contest. From what I've seen of Cooper's reviews for American Sniper, they're excellent, career-best. He seems a million miles away from The Hangover Dude in the incessant ads for it. It's really his American Hustle nomination last year that was probably superfluous. As for this year's Best Actor race, I'd swap out Carell and Cumberbatch for Oyelowo and Gyllenhaal. Selma is going to be studied by awards watchers for years as a case study in how to massively screw up an Oscar campaign. I doubt the LBJ controversy helped, but the Zero Dark Thirty furor was even bigger and it got more nods. I think Paramount counted on the guild award momentum to help the box office and then it would ride the crest of Oscar glory, but it simply never came. Not even the public is here for it; it might end up making the same amount Malcolm X did back in 1992, which had Denzel and Spike Lee, granted, but still, 20+ years of inflation.

Bieber meets Chris Brown. His close relationship to Jamal seems to be the sole redeeming factor so far.

David Poland (Movie City News and the wonderful DP/30 series) on the cost of screeners: The post has more about the timing issues with the screeners for Selma—basically, the movie itself wasn't finished until Thanksgiving week, the screeners didn't start being made until December 1, let alone being delivered. Academy members got screeners, but pretty much none of the other guilds (PGA, DGA, SAG).

Here's a list of the youngest Best Actor nominees (age listed is as of date nomination was announced): 1. 9 years, 20 days Jackie Cooper Skippy 1930/31 2. 19 years, 142 days Mickey Rooney Babes in Arms 1939 3. 23 years, 137 days Mickey Rooney The Human Comedy 1943 4. 24 years, 3 days John Travolta Saturday Night Fever 1977 5. 25 years, 10 days James Dean East of Eden 1955 6. 26 years, 10 days James Dean Giant 1956 (both posthumous nods for Dean) 7. 26 years, 72 days Ryan Gosling Half Nelson 2006 8. 26 years, 279 days Orson Welles Citizen Kane 1941 9. 26 years, 302 days Heath Ledger Brokeback Mountain 2005 10. 27 years, 112 days Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network 2010 The Jackie Cooper nomination happened before there were even supporting categories (or the now-retired Juvenile Oscar). There seems to be a flawed sense of thinking at play, that the "great roles" only happen for actors as 30 approaches and the young stars will have time to get their awards later. Of course, time flies, and yesterday's young leading man is tomorrow's Honorary Winner. Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey were the same age when they won Best Actor and Best Actress last year (44). You probably aren't going to get a Best Actor winner as young as JLaw any time soon, but Cate, Meryl, Helen Mirren and Sandra Bullock have all won Best Actress at 40+ in the past ten years, so perhaps trends are changing.

I love the MegaCast and wish the Super Bowl had it, too. Oregon looked a lot faster against Florida State.

Darn that JK Rowling for not writing in a character I'd have been the right age to play, but I suppose this Divergent will still help pay for the summer house...Theo James had a short-but-memorable arc on the first season of Downton Abbey that definitely included shirtlessness.

Trai Byers (Andre) has a small role in Selma.

Apparently, Katy Perry and John Mayer have gotten back together. Maybe he'll show up as another special guest for her halftime show.

January 9–11, 2015 Estimates: 1 (N) Taken 3 $40,400,000 | 3,594 Theaters | $11,241 Avg. | $40,400,000 2 (24) Selma $11,200,000 | 2,179 Theaters | $5,140 Avg. | $13,487,000 3 (2) Into the Woods $9,750,000 | 2,833 Theaters | $3,442 Avg. | $105,272,000 4 (1) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies $9,435,000 | 3,402 Theaters | $2,773 Avg. | $236,517,000 5 (3) Unbroken $8,368,000 | 3,301 Theaters | $2,535 Avg. | $101,602,000 6 (7) The Imitation Game $7,624,000 | 1,566 Theaters | $4,868 Avg. | $40,840,000 7 (5) Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb $6,700,000 | 3,371 Theaters | $1,988 Avg. | $99,523,000 8 (6) Annie (2014) $4,919,000 | 2,856 Theaters | $1,722 Avg. | $79,437,000 9 (4) The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death $4,825,000 | 2,602 Theaters | $1,854 Avg. | $22,334,000 10 (8) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 $3,750,000 | 2,063 Theaters | $1,818 Avg. | $329,525,000 Awards Watch: Inherent Vice $2,900,000 | 645 Theaters | $4,496 Avg. | $4,480,000 Wild $2,700,000 | 1,286 Theaters | $2,100 Avg. | $30,339,000 Big Eyes $1,300,000 | 1,044 Theaters | $1,245 Avg. | $12,262,000 Interstellar $1,150,000 | 674 Theaters | $1,706 Avg. | $184,799,000 Birdman $590,000 | 228 Theaters | $2,588 Avg. | $26,338,000 American Sniper $555,000 | 4 Theaters | $138,750 Avg. | $3,150,000 Top Five $550,000 | 636 Theaters | $865 Avg. | $24,891,000 Gone Girl $250,000 | 253 Theaters | $988 Avg. | $167,122,000 Mr. Turner $242,000 | 39 Theaters | $6,205 Avg. | $1,290,000 Whiplash $153,000 | 69 Theaters | $2,217 Avg. | $6,154,000 A Most Violent Year $121,000 | 4 Theaters | $30,250 Avg. | $457,000 Two Days, One Night $71,400 | 14 Theaters | $5,100 Avg. | $201,100 Nightcrawler $69,000 | 75 Theaters | $920 Avg. | $32,100,900 Boyhood $24,000 | 20 Theaters | $1,200 Avg. | $24,340,400 Global Totals: BIG HERO 6: $194.5M Overseas Total | $408.9M Global Total GONE GIRL: $198.7M Overseas Total | $365.8M Global Total PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR: $207.9M Overseas Total | $287.7M Global Total NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB: $148.5M Overseas Total | $248M Global Total EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS: $168M Overseas Total | $231.6M Global Total INTO THE WOODS: $15.3M Overseas Total | $120.5M Global Total UNBROKEN: $14M Overseas Total | $115.7M Global Total TAKEN 3: $52.2M Overseas Total | $92.6M Global Total

It's Hollywood, so old-looking teenagers are par for the course, but my wild guess about this "thriller" is that it's supposed to be a shocking twist when the boy next door is revealed to be a grifter pushing 30, which lets our heroine JLo off the hook for any sort of statutory rape charges. Still, they cast an obviously adult man to quell any sort of protests about the teacher being portrayed sympathetically (at least in the trailer), given the subject matter. Also, they probably hope Ryan Guzman appeals to a wider age range of women than someone who looks 17. Shockingly, I saw The Boy Next Door trailer before Selma, and the audience howled at "Love your mother's cookies!" A 28-year-old teenager adds to the unintentional comedy of it all.

Jerrod Niemann (Morgan's groom) isn't Blake Shelton/Luke Bryan/Keith Urban big, but he would actually count as a real celebrity in the country music world, and not just some guy with a video or two on Youtube. His wedding would rate coverage in Country Weekly or People Country, though I don't know if readership for either is in the millions. I liked the sketch, with its yellow tinge, a bit more than the actual dress.

Judging by how she labeled her son's boyfriend a Mexican just by looking at him, and asked why "La Cucaracha" wasn't keeping the apartment clean, I would say that's a good assessment.

I think David O. Russell just likes working with Jennifer Lawrence and looks for reasons to cast her in things. He's not the easiest person to work with, so he probably likes surrounding himself with familiar faces. He's worked more than once with Amy Adams and Melissa Leo is going to be in the Joy movie. Russell doesn't seem to have an issue with writing juicy roles for female characters, maybe more of the firecracker variety, but judging by that on-set tantrum, perhaps that's a familiar personalty type for him to write. Part of the criticism JLaw gets is probably down to her celebrity and the baggage people bring when they see her in a role. You didn't hear boo about Margot Robbie being too young to play the wife of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. Her character was the trophy wife, but it wasn't played up like there was this enormous age difference, unlike the one American Hustle actually wrote into its story, but people still complained it was so unbelievable and an excuse for Hollywood's sexist, ageist ways, it should have been Marissa Tomei, etc. Perhaps it's because Margot Robbie was more of an unknown quality and if everyone had to guess how much older she was than JLaw, they'd venture six years (at least) rather than six weeks. It isn't that you could really say Jennifer Lawrence looks young for her age, physically (a big problem for Natalie Portman at the same age). I think it's more her image, that IRL, is of being more than a little goofy/crass, and that she's still mired to the YA world in films, to an extent. It's all baggage that doesn't scream, "poised, mature adult", and it probably can't help but bleed into the perception of her performances. Sometimes I see awards watchers complain that Meryl Streep hasn't been in that many overall good films (relative to her stature as an actress) or worked with many of the directing greats, but how many of the "great directors" make movies featuring female leads or co-leads? It's often a man's story with the "supporting wife" in the background, but you do get male directors who actually find women interesting and it's reflected in their filmographies. Actors aren't totally immune to being passed over due to age, even if they are given more latitude than women in show business. Yes, Liam Neeson is an action star in his 60s, but only because he doesn't really look it (IMO). He doesn't look 25 or anything, but I bet a lot of less informed moviegoers who just know him from Taken and movies along those lines, would easily buy it to be told he's 10-15 years younger.