In Contention

Tag: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

  • Makeup bake-off leaves seven

    Christopher Plummer in The Imaginarium of Doctor ParnassusVia AMPAS press release, the final group includes:

    “District 9”
    “Il Divo”
    “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
    “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”
    “The Road”
    “Star Trek”
    “The Young Victoria”

    Well, there was always one spot in flux for me here and most recently I was giving it to “Cirque du Freak” for some great work by a veteran of the branch.  If I were to hazard a guess as to which of these gets it, I guess I’d say “Parnassus,” its one and only nomination.  There is some good work in “Il Divo,” too (from the artist who brought the natives of “Apocalypto” to prosthetic life), so maybe that could come around.  Or “The Road.” The rest seem like non-starters to me.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume II

    Sharlto Copley in District 9As more films have been unleashed, the race for the visual effects Oscar now appears clearer than it did three months ago.  I’m starting to feel the race for the final three will really be down to a handful of films.

    As I explained in August, a shortlist of seven films will be announced in December or January.  After the branch screens the films, the three nominees will be announced on the same day as all the other categories.  We can expect the nominees to be big budget films – and also big hits, which is why how they perform on release is so important.

    Summer titles such as “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” strike me as highly unlikely to survive to the year’s end.  Nor do I believe “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will able to distinguish itself enough from its predecessors, only one of which was nominated here.

    Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” did not have the reliance on visual effects that I thought would be necessary for a nomination and I frankly doubt its chances. “Watchmen,” on the other hand, has slightly more potential in my opinion but still remains almost too innovative for a berth here.

    The two summer films which I do fully expect to be in the running had very different critical reception – though I’m not sure if that will determine their fate in this category.  I felt significantly dumber after watching “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” That said, the box office was nothing short of massive, as were the effects.  It’s certainly still among the top contenders.

    (more…)

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume I

    Avatar“How did they do that?”  Movie-goers often ask this in response to spectacular visual effects, one of few elements of a film, apart from acting, directing or story, that a studio might choose to sell a film directly on.

    Not surprisingly, the Academy’s award for Best Visual Effects is definitely the most mainstream-friendly of all of all.  $100 million grosses and higher are the norm.

    This branch also has a somewhat unusual process for choosing the nominees.  A shortlist of seven films will be announced in December or January and members of the branch will screen effects presentation reels of the films from that collective to nominate three contenders announced alongside the rest of the Oscar nominees.

    Probably leading the field this year, sight unseen, is James Cameron’s “Avatar.”  Cameron’s last five films have all been nominated in this category…with four of them winning!  Moreover, “Avatar” seems certain to be, like most Cameron efforts, a showcase for the visual effects.  Of course, the film could also be an unmitigated disaster, but barring that I would be quite surprised if it did not find itself among the nominees.

    On the other hand, we have already seen several films likely to end up in the running.   Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was absolutely wretched in this viewer’s opinion.  But considering its massive box office take, not to mention the nature of the effects and the success of Bay’s films in this category in the past, I feel a nomination is quite likely.

    (more…)

  • ‘Up’ becomes Pixar’s second-highest grosser ever

    UpI expect Chad may get into some of this later in today’s Sunday Cents column (unless his silly inflation observation gets in the way), but Pixar’s “Up” grossed another $6.5 million today, bringing the domestic total to $264.8 million, surpassing the $261.4 million “The Incredibles” racked up in the fall of 2004 to become the studio’s second-highest domestic grosser ever behind 2003’s “Finding Nemo.”

    I would assume the answer here is lack of demographic comeptition to an extent.  “Monsters vs. Aliens” was the only animated film within earshot of “Up”‘s May 29 release date until “Ice Age” came along this weekend.  And there hasn’t been much else for the kids beyond “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian.”  That’s a solid month of focused box office play for the film.

    Obviously “Nemo”‘s $339.7 million is safe and will likely remain safe for a long time to come (and it’s worth noting that “Up” opened in the same frame), but Pixar’s latest has nevertheless become a personal record-breaking success for the studio?  And yet it’s not even in the top 25 for the decade, which tells you the leaps and bounds box office has made in the last 10 years.

    So, congrats to all involved.  Well-deserved.  Check out my interview with “Up” director Pete Docter here if you missed it.

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Stocked ‘Up’

    UpIn the biggest non-shock of the year, Pixar has released a unanimously acclaimed new film and it has topped the box office. What is a little surprising is that “Up” managed to make $68.2 million despite a distinct lack of anthropomorphism. While Disney suits will have to continue to sweat over how they are going to make money out of Pixar on dolls and theme park rides, they certainly don’t have to worry about making money at the box office. This is their fifth biggest debut yet and puts “Up” in a very good position to out-gross both “WALL-E” and “Ratatouille” by the end of its run (but not “Cars” — go figure). That certainly won’t hurt it when the inevitable Best Picture discussion pops up at the end of the year.

    Sam Raimi returned to his horror roots and debuted in third place with $16.6 million. Obviously, that’s a disappointing figure in a world where “The Haunting in Connecticut” and “The Unborn” can each hit $20 million. It may seem like the world is one big “Evil Dead” fan but the truth is that it’s a rather small pocket and they alone can’t guarantee good business. The film got better reviews than normal for the genre but alarming declines from Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday seem to have pegged this one as a quick burnout. Summer continues to be the worst place to open a horror film and Universal may have been better off waiting till October.

    Last week’s champ “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” took a hit from “Up” and dropped 54%. That’s not great for a family film but it should rebound in the next few weeks and slowly work towards $175 million or so. Fox can’t be too disappointed with that since they essentially remade the same film, adding the bare minimum in terms of new characters or settings. With a cast of comedy legends old and new, you shouldn’t have a trailer relying on laughs from Hank Azaria.

    “Terminator Salvation” fell a harder 62% and cemented its status as a misfire. It’ll take another half-week to hit $100 million and not much more can come after that. Continuing the franchise without James Cameron or Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have eliminated most of the target audience and an unwatchable product has done the rest.

    (more…)

  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Terminator’ frustration

    Night at the Museum: Battle of the SmithsonianHollywood tried something it rarely does this Memorial Day weekend: it opened two huge sequels at the same time. The last time anything remotely similar happened was the same holiday weekend in 2005 with “The Longest Yard” and “Madagascar.” They were really just fighting for second place, though, as the second weekend of “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” was a safe bet for number one.

    This year’s Memorial Day champ is Ben Stiller with “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.” The family comedy earned $53.5 million for the weekend and will have another solid day of business during the holiday tomorrow. That’s better than the $33.4 million debut of the original but that film opened during Christmas and had outstanding legs through early 2007. Its total gross of $266 million is completely out of the question for the sequel now.

    The debut is pretty much exactly the same as the second place debut of “Madagascar” from the aforementioned 2005 time frame and that film wasn’t even a sequel. With no other family films in the market, this has to be considered a little soft for Fox.

    Second place goes to “Terminator Salvation” with $43 million for the weekend and $56.4 million since opening on Thursday. Again, Warner Bros. has to see this as a little soft as after four days in 2003, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” was already at $70.4 million. Terrible reviews, as well as competition from “Star Trek,” helped seal McG’s fate and I can’t see word of mouth getting this anywhere higher than $135 million. International grosses will decide whether his planned trilogy comes to fruition or not.

    (more…)

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Holy hit

    Angels & DemonsGod is so 2006. “Angels & Demons” was the number one movie at the box office this weekend but the $48 million it raked in is barely more than half of the $84.5 million registered by “The Da Vinci Code” in its opening frame. What happened? Three things.

    First, the free publicity generated by the media and the “controversy” surrounding the first film’s opening was nowhere to be found this time. Second, the source material was much less popular. And third, the first film was generally considered pretty dull by critics and audiences. Add all that up and you have a lackluster debut when compared to the original, but on its own terms, you gotta be pretty happy with close to $50 million for an adult-leaning summer thriller. Especially when the film racked up $100 million in overseas territories this weekend as well.

    “Star Trek” showed “Wolverine” and Mr. Hanks what happens when audiences love your product by dropping a solid 43% for a $43 million weekend. It even out-grossed “Angels & Demons” on Saturday and Sunday, so expect the weekday grosses to be neck and neck.  It will pass “Wolverine”’s gross on Monday or Tuesday. J.J. Abrams clearly got it right with moviegoers and this one could see as much as $250 million before it’s done. Don’t think that doesn’t affect the Oscars because it does, and nominations in the sound and visual effects categories, and perhaps other technical fields, are a safer bet than they were a few weeks ago.

    Since “Wolverine” is pretty much already a box office non-factor, there’s not much else to report in the top 10, except that “Monsters vs. Aliens” dropped only 8% due to the fact that families have no other options out there. Expect that to bode well for “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” as parents clearly want something to take their kids to and Ben Stiller is ready to deliver.

    (more…)

  • 5/18 Web Round-up

    Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian• “Star Trek” looks to be a hit off-world. [The Carpetbagger]

    • It looks like Kenneth Branagh and Marvel have found their Thor: Chris Hemsworth from “Star Trek.” [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

    • Jeff Sneider takes a long, hard look at the MTV Movie Awards. [Examiner.com]

    • Tom O’Neil poses the obvious question: Will “Angels & Demons” bring another Razzie bid for director Ron Howard? [Gold Derby]

    • Speaking of which, someone finally calls out the two worst writers in the business as responsible for the clunky film. [Peter Bart]

    • Dan Jolin wonders if the latest 3D craze is a bunch of hogwash. [Empire]

    • Laughing stock Roger Friedman gets a new gig as “senior correspondent.” [Hollywood Reporter]

    “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” premieres in D.C. [Washington Post]

    • On the stamina of fan-movie filmmakers. [The Independent]

    • Sad to see a once-great magazine reduced to nothing but constant top 10 lists, but here’s another one: top 10 “safe for work” movie strip scenes.  Oy. [Premiere]

    • Tom Shone talks to Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, writer/directors of the brilliant “Sugar.” [The Guardian]