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The West Coast is just waking up, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has already finished announcing their nominations for this year’s Oscars. It’s the first year since 1943 that there are 10 nominations for Best Picture, and it’s refreshing to see some films that might usually get overlooked receive some much-deserved kudos.
Most of the list is nothing surprising though, as the usual suspects that have been picking up noms and wins throughout the awards season are the ones filling out the categories for the Academy Awards. Leading the pack are James Cameron’s Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, with 9 nominations apiece. There are still a few surprises here and there, though, so be sure to check out the full list of nominees after the jump.
Here are your nominees…
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Between Christmas falling on a Friday and a slew of strong new releases, this past weekend became the highest-grossing ever as Avatar repeated at the number 1 spot with a smashing $75.6 million.
Avatar claimed the title of highest-grossing second weekend ever, narrowly edging out The Dark Knight’s $75.2 million, after dipping only 2% from its opening weekend’s numbers. $57.9 million of its Christmas haul was from 3D sites, a new record for the format. After 10 days, Avatar’s domestic total sits at a lofty $212.7 million, and with its $410.9 million foreign take, James Cameron is once again king of the world as his latest film’s worldwide total is at a staggering $623.6 million.
The new wide releases all pulled their weight, with Sherlock Holmes leading the pack. The star power of Robert Downey, Jr. helped vault the film into 2nd place with a $62.4 million bow, and its Friday take of $24.6 million handily set the new record for best Christmas day opening. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (I want to destroy that title) meanwhile defied all odds by not only being worse than the original, but out-grossing it as well. It had a weekend haul of $48.9 million for 3rd place, and tallied with its Wednesday opening, the film has hit an unconscionable five-day total of $75.6 million. Numbers like that have me living in terror that a third installment is inevitable. Thanks a lot, kids.
Nancy Meyer once again showed that romantic comedies with adults over 50 years old do, in fact, have an audience. It’s Complicated’s 4th place debut with $22.1 million outdid Meyer’s Something’s Gotta Give, anchored by Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin’s on-screen indiscretions. The Blind Side kept up its impressive run, rounding out the top 5 with $11.5 million. Read»
Awards season is starting to kick into full swing in Hollywood. Plenty of regional organizations have already announced their picks for best movie of the year and, unsurprisingly, Up in the Air is claiming most of those distinctions. The Hurt Locker, however, is also scooping up a ton of top spots on the year-end best-of lists, despite being released way back in June. Anyone who was paying attention to the reviews that film was getting, though, shouldn’t be too surprised with the kudos it’s scoring now.
Today morning, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its nominations for the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards (in a televised event hosted by Justin Timberlake, John Krasinski, and Diane Kruger). Up in the Air scored the most nominations with six, while Rob Marshall’s Nine was right behind with five nominations. Avatar and Inglourious Basterds tied for third with four nominations each.
In the running for Best Drama are Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious and Up in the Air. (500) Days of Summer, The Hangover, It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia, and Nine will compete for the Best Musical or Comedy award. I’m glad to see a non-traditional film like The Hangover score a nom, and I’d love to see (500) Days of Summer win, but I think it’s a foregone conclusion that the usually-safe HFPA is going to dish the Golden Globe to Nine (which isn’t to say that Marshall’s film isn’t fully deserving of the prize).
Hit the jump to see what we thought of the other nominations, as well as a look at the full list of nominees!
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Disney’s The Princess and the Frog took the top spot at the weekend box office, expanding wide to earn an estimated $25 million. While not shattering too many records (though it did set the record for highest grossing start for an animated movie in December), Princess‘ numbers were strong considering how 2D animation has declined in recent years. Also, the family-friendly flicks typically build steam through the Christmas season, where slow and steady tends to win the race.
Invictus, the other new wide opener, was unable to gain a foothold in its debut however. Bowing in 3rd place with $9.1 million, the figures were rather disappointing for the star-studded pedigree of the movie’s cast and crew. Director Clint Eastwood and stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were unable to drum up enough interest in the political/sports hybrid picture, perhaps due to the South African and Rugby setting not clicking with American audiences.
The Blind Side, last week’s reigning champ, fared much better. The football movie held on to 2nd place with only a 23% drop, pulling in $15.5 million in its fourth weekend of release for a $150.2 million total. The Twilight Saga: New Moon continued its steady decline with a 48% drop to $8 million, good enough for 4th place. A Christmas Carol however only dropped off 11.5%, with its holiday theme aligning with the Christmas mood. It finished in 5th place with $6.9 million, bringing its total to $124.5 million. The box office has been particularly strong this year as, in the middle of last week, 2009 officially became the highest grossing year in Hollywood history (though the attendance record in the modern era still belongs to 2002). Read»
Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air continues the talented director’s trend of smart, sharply-executed, and slyly sweet films. It delivers a splendidly rounded cast of characters and a genuinely moving tale while managing to remain topical in the best of ways. Reitman’s policy of “let the film play, and the humor will come” works brilliantly, and turns out to work just as well for the entire range of emotions the movie engenders. It’s this demonstration of restraint, and the ability to execute it without losing any sense of artistic adventurousness, that makes the movie one of the year’s best.
Up in the Air excels in peppering itself with little details and subtle flourishes, fortifying the expression of its biggest and most poignant ideas through a chain of miniscule movements that quietly reveal themselves with lingering effect. The film is exceptionally good at sticking to the telling of an honest story, avoiding the pitfalls of faux grandiosity by letting the truth of the characters power the story. This is what makes it so effective a movie about the present. Read»
The Blind Side finally surpassed The Twilight Saga: New Moon at the weekend box office, taking the number 1 spot with $20.4 million (versus New Moon’s 2nd place $15.7 million) in its third weekend of release. That brought its domestic total to $129.3 million, making Blind Side the highest grossing sports drama on record.
Jim Sheridan’s Brothers finished tops amongst the newcomers, grossing a modest $9.7 million for 3rd place. A Christmas Carol held on for 4th place with $7.5 million, while Old Dogs rounded out the top 5 with $6.9 million. Armored debuted in 6th with a weak $6.6 million, while Robert De Niro’s family dramedy grossed $4 million for 10th place. Transylmania, last among the new wide releases, only scrounged up a woeful $274,000 at 1,007 sites, or a $272 per-theater average. That total is the new record for lowest opening for a movie playing at over 1,000 theaters, and was less than Up in the Air made in limited release at 15 sites. George Clooney’s latest captured a healthy $1.2 million, or a $79,000 average. Read»
Usually, we like to preface our trailer posts with a little bit about the movie, a synopsis or maybe a few interesting tidbits about the cast and crew, some sort of hook to get you interested in seeing the movie. All you need to know about Up In The Air is that it’s written and directed by Jason Reitman, the director of Thank You For Smoking and Juno, and that it stars George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, and J.K. Simmons. With such a talented group behind the movie, that should be more than enough. If it isn’t, just watch the trailer below.
Aw geez, I can’t help myself – here goes: I think Up In The Air is going to be one of the special ones, a movie that comes along every few years that quietly blows people away. These movies, they’re never too showy about it; they just sort of appear and surprise audiences with a truly engaging story. We’ve seen a teaser for this already, and now Apple has released the full theatrical trailer. It seems to reveal more of what we here at c,vt have long suspected: that this film – one that Reitman has said could be his most personal ever – is going to amaze.
I’m not saying this because it’s a particularly bold or original statement. There’s been a lot of positive buzz coming out of festivals and I know I’m not the first to proclaim this thought. I’ve just got a good feeling about this one. I’m excited, and I hope you are too. Catch the trailer after the jump. Read»
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