Blasters ablaze, ‘Rogue One’ dominates in opening weekend

LOS ANGELES, United States — The latest blockbuster episode in the “Star Wars” anthology dominated weekend box offices in North America, humbling another popular Disney film, “Moana,” according to industry estimates.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” raked in $155 million for the three-day weekend, Exhibitor Relations said. It has brought in $290 million globally, and has yet to open in the vast Chinese market.

The North American figure was less than last year’s $248 million weekend opening of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” but still ranked the new film as 12th among all-time openings and third-best this year, according to Forbes.

“The movie lived up to expectations,” said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst with comScore. Based on the success of these latest two films, “The next film in the Star Wars saga has the potential to claim the title as the biggest movie of all time,” he said.

“Rogue One” blew away the $11.7 million weekend take of second-place film “Moana,” the computer-animated musical fantasy about a brave Polynesian teenager, which had ruled the box office for three straight weekends and has grossed $161.8 million to date.

Produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Gareth Edwards, “Rogue One” stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna and Forest Whitaker. The first stand-alone chapter in the Star Wars epic — it is set shortly before the events of the original 1977 film — it tells the story of Rebel Alliance fighters trying to steal plans for the Empire’s feared Death Star.

Placing third in weekend box offices was “Office Christmas Party,” a Paramount comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, which took in $8.4 million.

Fourth was the Warner Bros. film “Collateral Beauty,” which notched $7 million in its opening weekend. With an ensemble cast including Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren, it tells the story of a man trying to cope with his daughter’s death.

In fifth place was the Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” which chalked up $5 million, for a total so far of $207.6 million. Based on a 2001 book by J.K. Rowling, the Warner Bros. film stars Eddie Redmayne as a wizard in 1920s New York.

Rounding out the top 10 films were:

“Manchester by the Sea” ($4.2 million)

“La La Land” ($4 million)

“Arrival” ($2.8 million)

“Doctor Strange” ($2 million)

“Nocturnal Animals” ($1.4 million)

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Disney reaches for the skies with 'Planes'

LOS ANGELES -- As a lifelong aviation enthusiast and qualified pilot, filmmaker Klay Hall was the logical choice when Disney was seeking a director for its latest animated offering, "Planes."

A spin-off of Pixar's phenomenally successful "Cars" franchise, "Planes" was initially envisioned as a video project, released through the Disney Toon Studios division.

However, Disney took the rare step of giving the movie a theatrical release, confident the film, which opens in the United States this week, has potential to be a commercial success at the box office.  



The sky-high hopes for the project are a testament to the work of Hall, a pilot who comes from a long line of aviators. Both Hall's father, a former US Navy pilot, and grandfather were fliers.

As a child growing up in California, Hall would accompany his father to a local airfield to watch planes taking off and landing, often sketching what he saw.

Decades later, Hall's affinity with aircraft meant the director was in his element as he got to work on "Planes."

While the project bears obvious similarities to "Cars," Disney's legendary animation chief John Lasseter -- who directed both "Cars" and "Cars 2" -- encouraged Hall to "create his own universe."

"John told me: 'Cars is established, we've got that whole world. That's all good. Learn from that world, learn what we did over there as far as personality and animation and then forget about it ... I want you now to go out and create a whole new world, a whole new universe,'" Hall told AFP in a recent interview.

"The aesthetics are the same. We have eyes and the characters talk, and it's a charming design of a vehicle. But that's where the similarities stop," the director added.

"Planes" follows the adventures of a feisty crop-dusting plane called Dusty who dreams of competing in a prestigious round-the-world race.

"I always loved the underdog stories, the little guy, the weak guy able to rise above. I think it's a classic story, it's universal," Hall said.

"I also like the idea that he's built one way but deep down he feels he can do more."

Hall paid particular attention to the mechanics of his characters' flying sequences.

"One of the hardest things is to make airplanes fly and make their flight believable," he said. "It took us at least six months to crack that code. We had aviation experts in, flight experts and consultants."

The other main challenge was deciding how to "humanize" the planes at the center of the action.

"A car is on the ground. Everyone knows how a car rolls and works -- they have a big windshield for the eyes, a big grill area for the mouth," he said.

"We have wings, that are constantly in the way, we have little windshields, the mouth is on the bottom. Then we have the propellers, always in the way of the camera. Tons of challenges," he added.

The last time Disney turned a plane into a cartoon character was way back in 1942, when the animated short "Pedro" was released in conjunction with "Saludos Amigos."

"That plane sort of bent and picked things up with its wings, it was really cartoony, charming in its own right," Hall said. "But we would never do anything like that. I don't think the audience would see them as real airplanes."

While perfecting the look of the aircraft in "Planes" was a lengthy process, it was second nature to Hall, who joined Disney as an animator when the studio's fabled founding fathers -- the so-called "Nine Old Men" -- were still around.

"Sometimes I would go back with a drawing and ask them 'What do you think about this?'" Hall recalled. "And they would ask 'How many times have you drawn this? Three or four times. Do it another 20 times and then come back.'"

"It was all about due diligence and put your very best foot forward before you show anything that represents yourself. Go for the gold, always." - Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

'2 Guns' shoots past 'Smurfs', 'Wolverine' to claim box office

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK - "2 Guns," starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as rival federal agents, shot through its weekend competition at movie theaters, collecting $27.4 million to lead the North American box office, according to studio estimates.

"The Wolverine," last weekend's box office leader, finished second with $21.7 million in ticket sales, and has totaled $95 million during its two weeks in theaters.

"Smurfs 2," the newly-released sequel to Sony's 2011 movie "The Smurfs" starring Neil Patrick Harris and a band of small blue elf-like creatures, was third with $18.2 million in ticket sales. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

James Bond soars to box office record with 'Skyfall'

James Bond can don the tuxedo and break out the Dom Perignon after the super spy returned to theaters in record fashion at the weekend, blowing away box office rivals with $87.8 million in ticket sales for the U.S. and Canadian debut of new movie "Skyfall" for the biggest opening in the franchise's history.

The best North American opening for the 50-year-old Bond franchise adds to a strong tally of $428.6 million for "Skyfall" overseas. Globally, the movie starring Daniel Craig as 007 has now earned $518.6 million since first hitting international theaters on Oct. 26, distributor Sony Pictures said.

"Skyfall" handily beat Walt Disney Co animated movie "Wreck-It Ralph," the story of a video game character who destroys everything in his path. The family film that topped last week's charts grabbed $33.1 million from Friday through Sunday and slipped to second place.

Denzel Washington drama "Flight," about an airline captain who saves a plane from crashing, pulled in $15.1 million to finish third.

Bond's allure proved unbeatable in "Skyfall," the third movie starring Craig and the first in four years. The last Bond film, "Quantum of Solace" in 2008, opened with a then-record $68 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters.

"We've always been very bullish about the film, but I don't think anyone expected the kind of stunning numbers that we've seen," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Corp's Sony Pictures studio.

"How many pictures in just over two weeks have earned more than half a billion already?" he told Reuters.

"We've seen huge openings in every country that it's opened in. It's going to be one for the history books," Bruer added.

In the new movie, Judi Dench returns as Bond's supervisor, "M." Bond travels between Istanbul, Shanghai and London as his loyalty to M is tested, while MI6 comes under attack from an unknown threat. Javier Bardem plays the villain Bond must stop.

Bond's return has been hailed by the critics as a triumph for the 23-film franchise after a tepid response to "Quantum of Solace." Ninety-two percent of "Skyfall" reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website were positive, and audiences polled by CinemaScore awarded the film an "A" grade. The film has already exceeded the "Quantum" lifetime box office total.

The $200 million movie was produced by MGM, Sony and Eon Productions. Its release comes 50 years after the franchise premiered with "Dr. No" in 1962, and the producers highlighted the anniversary in the film's marketing. The 22 previous Bond films have grossed $5 billion at box offices over five decades.

"Skyfall" was the only major new nationwide release this weekend. Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Lincoln" opened in 11 theaters with sales of $900,000, or $81,818 per theater on average. The movie which stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president expands to 1,500 locations next Friday.

Rounding out the top five, Ben Affleck drama "Argo," about the rescue of U.S. diplomats from Iran in 1979, finished in fourth place with $6.7 million. In fifth place, Liam Neeson hostage thriller "Taken 2" grabbed $4.0 million.

Sony Corp's movie studio released "Skyfall." "Flight" was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. "Lincoln" was produced by Dreamworks and released by Disney. Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros. studio released "Argo." "Taken 2" was distributed by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com