Monster Opening Coming For JURASSIC WORLD

JURASSIC WORLD will be taking a huge bite out of the box office this coming weekend - but just how huge? HUGE. Estimates are now pegging the opening at $115 million and while still behind FURIOUS 7 and AGE OF ULTRON it's still a massive opening. I look for it to do more than that - in the $125 million range because I feel the 3D surcharge uplift will be greater than expected.

If you haven't secured your IMAX or premium large format 3D screen now for the weekend, do it SOON. It will be selling out and you don't want to miss this event.

From THR: "Fandango reports that the latest chapter in the “Jurassic Park” franchise is outselling all major 2014 summer blockbusters — a group that includes “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” — at the same point in those film’s sales cycles. The picture accounts for over 90% of all weekend ticket sales."

Here's the movie's storyline:
Steven Spielberg returns to executive produce the long-awaited next installment of his groundbreaking Jurassic Park series, Jurassic World. Colin Trevorrow directs the epic action-adventure from a screenplay he wrote with Derek Connolly. Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley join the team as producers.

JURASSIC WORLD opens this Friday!

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Throws Down Gauntlet, But Original Holds Box Office Opening Title

Yes, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is a force at the box office and justifiably so. It's an amazing movie - again offering up superb editing and character development despite the fact that this assemble cast is not only large, but growing. Was it perfect? No. More on that in my review coming up, but DEFINITELY worth while going to see. It's one of Marvel's top 5 movies.

Ultron opened to $187.7 million in North America, shy of the original's $207.4 million). Yes, the original had the uniqueness of being the first to show off all these heroes on the same screen, but I think even more importantly the villain was well known and adored. Loki. Ultron, while a fairly cool concept was not up to the Loki standard in my opinion. More on that this week.

Internationally Ultron is cleaning up! It's raked in $439 million and it hasn't even opened in China yet, the world's second largest (and soon to be largest) market. Japan's opening is coming up as well.

In total AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON has amassed a staggering $626.7 million already. One would think it has a lock on the yearly box office crown - but not so fast, or should I say fast and furious - FURIOUS 7 has hit $1.43 billion worldwide. I don't think it will have a problem surmounting that figure and perhaps hitting $1.5 or $1.6 billion worldwide, overtaking the original AVENGERS - good enough for third place behind the rare air of James Cameron's space: TITANIC and AVATAR. But we'll see. China will play a huge role in this.

One more movie to throw into the yearly competition is of course STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. That movie is just plain scary when it comes to projecting box office. It could be up in the top 2 of all time.

GOLD! THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Will Open $75M+, Already At $122M+ Overseas - Over 70% Of Total From 3D Screens!

This is it guys. The last trip we will have to Middle-earth for a long time. So go out and enjoy it! Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES opened last night to massive midnight screenings and is projected to hit north of $75 million for the weekend. Add on the $122 million it has already made overseas and we're well on our way to another gigantic release for Tolkien's imagination. Well mostly Tolkien and some kind liberty by a fella known as Peter Jackson.

After seeing the first two releases in this franchise series, it really makes me wonder what Guillermo del Toro's versions would have been like. More practical effects I'm sure, but what would be the big differences? I'm hoping that perhaps some of those concepts get included in the upcoming trilogy blu-ray set for THE HOBBIT next year. They've got my money already, but that would be the icing on the cake.

Back to the matter at hand - I won't be able to see the finale until the weekend, but Tim says he's seen it already so it will be great to see his review on the movie and the native 3D. Mine will be coming forthwith! Can't wait to see all that native 3D goodness, all from the amazing 3D rigs of 3ality Technica. Bring it on!

Here's the movie's storyline:
From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, the third in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.

Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain. As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is now playing in 3D, HFR 3D, IMAX 3D and flat.

Weekend Movie Review: BRAVE 9 Stars, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER 7 Stars

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In a showdown of 3D movies opening this weekend (indeed 4 out of the top 5 movies are 3D), Pixar's BRAVE easily comes out on top. In fact another 3D animation holdover, MADAGASCAR 3 may very well win second place over Timur Bakmambetov / Tim Burton's ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER. It's a shame too because I was looking forward to seeing how well this "newer" type of mash-up genre film could perform.

There are some MINOR, minor spoilers in these reviews. Nothing to worry about in my mind.

BRAVE is an amazing movie. I live in Nova Scotia (Canada) means New Scotland - our landscape, music and culture is deeply tied to Scotland. Many have the accent to some degree as well here. So who knows, I may be a little biased toward the content of BRAVE, but I had my reservations about the movie right from the start. Pixar proved me wrong.

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I was actually a bit surprised by the intensity of the mother / daughter dynamics despite being slightly clued into it by the run up marketing. Perhaps because this type of movie is so rare. Certainly word of mouth within the female demographics should nicely ramp. Believe me, my surprise was a GOOD one and I really appreciated watching this movie.

I purposely studied the mother / daughter pairs in the theater after the film - very, very interesting. Some were hugging. Others wiping their eyes. Others were watching the credits, then seemed to gain some insight, turned to look at each other and smile, talking about the movie; seemingly talking for the first time in a long time. Seemingly so anyway. I feel BRAVE has that kind of power and it is so needed today. I hope the marketing team can push the affinity of the movie for mothers to take their daughters. Bravo to the team. Of course the visuals continue to improve and amaze, but BRAVE had me with the females.

The 3D is suitably used, but not to the degree I feel that they should be considering. Pixar could use more depth - like some scenes in PROMETHEUS, but it was a safe 3D movie. There should be no complaints. Bob Whitehill, Pixar's 3D supervisor contacted me last night to ask whether I had seen it yet and I let him know how I felt. A spectacular achievement and a must see for mothers and daughters out there.

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER on the other hand suffered. Suspension of disbelief was NOT achieved for me. I could not immerse myself in the movie at any time whatsoever so in that respect it was a total failure.

The redeeming qualities of the movie were that director Timur Bakmambetov has some skill so the action scenes were quite well orchestrated. I found the historical references interesting too - like the construction of the various Washington landmarks and what was on Lincoln's desktop in the White House.

Improvements? If the President were fighting criminals or some sort of normal human threat to the nation well then the movie would have scored significantly higher for me. But vampires? It never sold me. The madly waving axe all about Lincoln's body while he positioned for his next kill looked idiotic, just as it does in the trailers. A complete waste of energy and certainly not a offensive tactic. How he came to be able to chop down that tree in the trailer with a single blow is ridiculous too. Sorry doesn't work.

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The story and character development was flawed to me as well, even in the face of the best selling book of the same name. I found it incredulous that a young boy would remember the details of his mother's murder - that he wouldn't block out certain aspects of it. The movie would have been served to us so much more effectively had Lincoln had a breakdown as a young man and suddenly realized what really happened.  If he had inherited some sort of power from his father would have helped too. We are made to realize that ANYONE could be a vampire killer if they had a simple 2 minute instruction. **Sigh**

And the ending? Well I don't want to spoil that for you, but an obvious ending did NOT take place that would have set up a sequel - a sequel that MAY have improved the story quite a bit. In fact had this ending occurred, I would have rather seen the subsequent years afterward as a movie instead of this "prequel". We may never see this now. Anyway, it's hard to discuss something I can't divulge here. We can discuss in the comments if you wish!

Here are the anticipated box office returns for the weekend:
1. Brave - $64.7 million
2. Abraham Lincoln - $17.1 million
3. Madagascar 3 - $15.3 million (-55%)
4. Prometheus - $10.7 million (-48%)
5. Seeking a Friend - $8.2 million

Special thanks to Empire Theatres for the screening!

Box Office Estimates: Box Office Mojo

DESPICABLE ME Beats All Projections And Hauls In $60.1 Million!

Universal (and Illumination Entertainment) has a solid hit on their hands. Their family 3D animation DESPICABLE ME (DM) schemed up a remarkable $60.1 million (estimated) from 5,200 screens in 3,476 theaters. In fact, it is the second best launch of a non-Pixar animation ever. Dreamworks Animation's KUNG FU PANDA opened with $60.2 million in 2008 and yes, DM could claim that mantle when the official box office receipts come rolling in tomorrow.

Early estimates had the family movie doing about HALF of what DM actually wound up earning.

3D played a major role in the box office success but strangely not as high as it has been with past animations. 45% of the receipts has come from 1,551 3D locations. A great number to be sure, but not as high as say another original animation, last year's MONSTERS VS. ALIENS. MvsA's 1,550 3D locations brought in a 56% share of receipts.

Simply said, 2D played a slightly larger role with this film, at least for the first weekend. 3D still dominated 2D of course by representing so much of the total receipts through less locations, but it is interesting to watch.

Marketing has a LOT to do with the success of this film. Who has NOT seen those pesky, yellow little critters pasted everywhere of late? I can see the appeal of those minions to both boys and girls - they are pretty darn cute, but they can also wield fart guns. Not hard to see the appeal!