In Contention

Author: Kristopher Tapley

  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Harry Potter’ and the Record-Breaking Hit

    We all saw this coming. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the culmination of 10 years of filmmaking that racked up tons of dollars along the way, won the box office this weekend. Things started with the highest opening day gross of all time ($92 million, blasting away the record previously held by “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” by $20 million), before the film zipped past “The Dark Knight”‘s opening weekend record and settled at a whopping $168.5 million for the weekend. In other news, at a more modest $41.7 million, “Midnight in Paris” popped back into the top 10 and became Woody Allen’s highest grossing film to date, while “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is now the year’s first $300 million grosser. It’s now a battle between the boy wizard and the robots for the year’s domestic crown. It just depends on how front-loaded the former is. We’ll keep an eye on it throughout the rest of the summer.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’

    I’ve already given my take on this weekend’s big release, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” People have been lining up for hours, days, whatever, to see this closing installment, so it’s time to offer a place for you to have your say on the film. Let us know when you get around to it. And keep an eye on that box office.

  • ‘Hugo’ trailer

    Annnnddd…another trailer. This one for the hotly anticipated “Hugo,” from Martin Scorsese. And a film that really should have had some sort of presence at Comic-Con, I think, especially with folks like Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg making the trip. It just would’ve been a treat. In any case, some have awards doubts on this one due to the children’s movie aspect, but I’m not sure that’s real cause to doubt just yet. One thing we can certainly tell by the trailer, which just hit Apple, is that the design elements are off the chain. I can’t wait to see this one in 3D, and I don’t say that often (if ever). Check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • ‘John Carter’ teaser trailer

    Tons of trailers in the lead-up to Comic-Con this week. Today, it’s Andrew Stanton’s live-action debut, “John Carter” (which won’t have a presence at Comic-Con because Disney wants to be competitive with its D23 event). I’m not too sure about this one, and I think the reasoning for diminishing the brand appeal by shortening the title from “John Carter of Mars” is flimsy at best. But this will certainly be unique against the fray next year. Check out the new teaser trailer, via Apple, by clicking the image below, or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • Spielberg to make first-ever Comic-Con appearance

    I’m still wishy-washy on Comic-Con this year. I’ll be there for this and that, but I’m not that jazzed about extensive coverage. But this nugget is worth noting. Via the LA Times’ Hero Complex:

    The Oscar-winning director who ushered in the blockbuster film era with “Jaws” and brought sci-fi to the masses with movies such as “E.T: the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Minority Report,” will make his first appearance at Comic-Con International when he takes the stage in Hall H July 22.

    The 64-year-old filmmaker will receive an Inkpot Award, which has been presented since 1974 to signature figures in comics and genre entertainment, among them Ray Bradbury, Jack Kirby, Hayao Miyazaki and R. Crumb.

    Naturally, he’ll also be screening footage from “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.”

    Coppola and Spielberg at Comic-Con. Paramount should have cooked something up for “Hugo” and got Scorsese in on the action, too.

    [Photo: Forbes]

  • ‘Contagion’ trailer

    Warner Bros. showed Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” to a handful of journalists a few weeks ago. I wasn’t on the cool-kids list for that, but I hear the film is a cross between “Traffic” and the first half of “The Stand,” or whatever happened before “The Road,” or some such. That’s basically the vibe we get from the trailer, which just landed at Apple. The film is set for a September 9 release and looks to be a commercial play more than anything else, but personally, I can’t get Wolfgang Peterson’s “Outbreak” out of my head every time I think of it. Anyway, check out the trailer by clicking on the image below, or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • Simply brilliant

    (Courtesy: Daily Blam via /Film)

  • ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ trailer

    I dug Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” enough two years back. I thought it had the best production design of that year and a brilliant score to boot. Both were recognized at the Oscars. Judging by the trailer for “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” just-premiered at Apple, the design is richly detailed once again. I’m left a bit cold overall, mainly because I have literally no idea what’s going on (beyond the fact that Jared Harris looks predictably awesome as Moriarty). Not that I need the plot rolled out in full or something, but anyway, check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • ‘50/50’ poster

    One comedy that could light up the awards circuit later this year is Jonathan Levine’s “50/50.” I noted some potential awards prospects when the trailer hit two months ago (and I think we can add Anna Kendrick to the list of possibilities, too). Today, courtesy of /Film, we get a look at the poster for the film. Check it out in full after the jump.

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  • My only friend, the end

    I’ll make this brief.

    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” hits this weekend. It will be massive. The devoted will turn out and love it. The sense of grand closure will settle for many. But I’ll just have to cop here at the beginning to the fact that I cannot connect the dots on this series and likely never will.

    I suppose I’ll just focus on what I did enjoy about the latest film, which I saw last night, rather than wallow in the overall displeasure. Who wants to be a spoilsport? A party-pooper? A wet blanket? A kill-joy? A fuddy-duddy?

    Mercifully, the film clocks in at just over two hours, rather than blowing right on past the two-and-a-half-hour mark like most of the other films in the franchise. And since it’s largely built around action sequences and an overall vibe of suspense, it moved along nicely. I liked that.

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  • ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ teaser poster

    Nailed it. This is a fantastic image. It kind of recalls the poster for “Batman Begins” with the Caped Crusader dropping from above, it carries in the urban nature of “The Dark Knight” and gives the overall vibe that all hell is gonna break loose. Check out the full teaser poster for “The Dark Knight Rises” after the jump.

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  • ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’ international trailer

    Last week’s Oscar Talk podcast dug into the possibilities of “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” in the Best Animated Feature Film category, while last Monday’s Off the Carpet column spent plenty of time mulling over 2011 as the year of Steve Spielberg. Today, a full international trailer for the film has been released via Yahoo! Movies. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • BOX OFFICE: ‘Horrible,’ ‘Zookeeper’ can’t stop ‘Transformers’

    Not much to say. “Super 8” had another good drop, while Woody Allen fell out of the top 10, but continues to chase himself (he’ll be on the heels of “Hannah and Her Sisters” next week). And finally something takes “The Hangover: Part II” off the top of the domestic chart this year.

    (Courtesy: Exhibitor Relations)

  • Oprah tops AMPAS wish list for Oscarcast host(ess)?

    UPDATE (6:40pm): Naturally, the Academy denies all this. Why would they confirm even if it was true? Why kill the suspense now? Anyway…

    EARLIER: Sasha Stone Twirected (get it? Tweet + directed?) me to a Chicago Sun-Times story that says Oprah Winfrey, fresh off her final daytime talk show stint, could be at the top of the Academy’s list of proposed hosts for the 84th annual Academy Awards. And, naturally, it would be a mutually beneficial kind of thing. Writes Bill Zwecker:

    If the widely seen gig is accompanied by a behind-the-scenes special and a post-Oscars show airing only on the Oprah Winfrey Network, it would give the struggling cable channel some added exposure. But I’m hearing that is a very separate potential deal.

    Furthermore, Zwecker says the feeling is that Winfrey would greatly expand the audience potential for the show, a continuous issue of debate and consideration behind the scenes.

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  • ‘Dark Knight Rises’ trailer attached to final ‘Harry Potter’

    Nothing much going on today, so why not toss up a good ole’ fashioned SEO-baiting post? Those of you planning to take in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” next weekend (which I imagine is most of you), you’ll be delighted to know that, according to Superhero Hype, Warner Bros. will attach the first teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” to prints of the film. Enjoy.

    Also hitting next weekend, the story says, will be the teaser poster. I don’t remember there being any teaser posters for “Batman Begins” (unless I’m mistaken), but “The Dark Knight” had that face-paint-on-a-brick-wall thing and the frosted glass Joker image. This could be where they tease the inclusion of Catwoman (and maybe a catch phrase a la “Why So Serious?”). Guessing.

    I had an exchange with a friend recently regarding the anticipation for this film. He argued that it’s at a higher fever pitch than any film since “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” but I don’t feel that way. Sure, it’s huge amongst the geek set (given the blurred footage of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that floated around two weeks ago). But I still think “Avatar” was a bigger deal. The media (not just online choir-preaching) was pushing the issue on that one pretty hard.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 57 — SPECIAL EDITION! — Oscar’s rule change, prospects at the mid-way point, Spielberg hitting the zeitgeist, lead actress race already looking contentious

    Oscar TalkWelcome to Oscar Talk.

    In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

    A month and a half since the last off-season podcast, we take the temperature one more time this summer, right at the year’s mid-way point. There have been some Academy rule changes and some news and notes in the interim, so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

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  • Happy trails (1981 – 2011)

  • Taking questions for Oscar Talk

    Anne and I will be recording Oscar Talk this evening for publication tomorrow. I failed to solicit queries last time for our post-Cannes installment, though I imagine we covered whatever you were curious about. But let’s see if there are any burning questions here at the mid-way point of the year. Ask as many as you want. I suppose it’s time to get this conversation going.