Box Office: Tom Cruise On Top... Again

Amir here, to fill in for Nathaniel for the 411 on this weekend's box office. I haven't seen any new releases in quite a while, but I'll definitely get to Oblivion later in the week. Looking at the top ten, it turns out I'm not the only one who can't resist Tom Cruise on the screen. The man can do (almost) no wrong when it comes to opening a film at #1, his star power having endured many couch-jumpings, turbulent relationships, rock musical failures and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Oblivion's 38 million dollar gross isn't stellar but it's good enough to put the film on course to easily make its budget back. Ooh, what's that you say? International sales? Well, yes, considering that, Oblivion has already grossed more than its production budget, so we'll count it as a solid success. 

 

Box Office (Wide)

1. Oblivion ($38.1) (new) REVIEW

2. 42 ($18) (cum. 54)

3. The Croods ($9.5) (cum. 154)

4. Scary Movie 5 ($6.3) (cum. 22)

5. G.I. Joe: Retaliation ($5.7) (cum. 111)

6. The Place Beyond the Pines ($4.7) (cum. 11) REVIEW

7. Olympus Has Fallen ($4.5) (cum. 88)

8. Evil Dead ($4.1) (cum. 48)

9. Jurassic Park 3D ($4) (cum. 38) MEMORIES

10. Oz: The Great and Powerful ($3) (cum. 223) REVIEW

There were no other wide releases this weekend, but here's the story I'm interested in: The Croods has quietly become a sensation. It's barely lost any screens and is holding on to its sales really well. I threw a hissy fit when my aunt forced me to take my little cousin to watch it, but I ended up enjoying its cliched thrills quite a bit, high-fiving my cousin frequently when the unlikely cave-superheroes escaped doom at every turn. Could an Oscar nomination be on the cards? I'm skeptical but the massive box office might count for a lot if the field is weak and team DreamWorks play their cards right. 

Three new films ruled the day among limited releases. I'd personally only heard of Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem before I sat down for this post, but Home Run (a sports drama) and Filly Brown (a hip-hop drama) took the top two spots. Further down the screen count pecking order, Francois Ozon's superb new film In the House had the best screen average of any film this weekend ($11,738) and if you haven't seen it, get yourself to a theater as soon as possible. If your thirst for francophone cinema is still not quenched, hilarious Canadian sperm donation comedy, Starbuck, is still playing on 30 screens. 

What did you all see this weekend?
Tom Cruise in a space suit? Tattooed Ryan Gosling? Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and the has-been team?

Review: Oblivion

David here, with a review of this week's biggest super-massive release, Oblivion, while Nathaniel's off in Nashville.

"Seconds left on the clock. So Hubie throws a Hail Mary. Touchdown!" He may be seventy years in the future, and one of only two humans currently living on planet Earth (maybe), but Tom Cruise is still Just Like You. Cruise’s Jack just a regular Joe who likes baseball, Conway Twitty and younger women. Not only has he got one back at base – Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) is his partner on their mission monitoring the planet and repairing the drones roving the barren planet – but he’s got one in his head. Images of the world that was haunt him, as he dreams constantly about Julia (Olga Kurylenko) atop the Empire State Building. When the woman herself crash lands on the planet, impossibly replicated from his dreams, Jack’s uncomplicated life starts to disintegrate.

Oblivion’s title promises the vast grandeur of the most epic blockbusters – the mononymic title booms out of the dark to a blast of noise that’s somewhere between the Inception meme and the THX blast on the aggressive-noise scale. More...

Click to read more ...

Somewhere Over the Link Roll

/Film character posters for Hunger Games: Catching Fire with clotheshorse Effie (she's so Technicolor) and more...
Pajiba set photos before fx. So much green screen & weird stuff on people's bodies/faces
Towleroad first listen of Oblivion score from M83
MNPP Quote of the day from Stoker author Wentworth Miller. Apparently he wrote it with Matthew Goode in mind! Good taste he has.
In Contention Django Unchanied and Ted leave the MTV Movie Award Nominations

The Land of Oz
Tonight "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" Oz celebration is almost here (update: it's here!) I'll still add links for latecomers if you post your favorite shot -- next week's entry is Barbarella with Jane Fonda as the titular sci-fi babe so that should be fun too.  We were thrilled to have so many new voices (aka new eyes) for this group series when we hit Oz. So please check out the first-timers who'd never done "Hit Me" before...

We Recycle Movies' favorite mantra: "Technicolor!" | Cinema Enthusiasts soaks in the details | 
Academy A finds the perfect babysitter | Seen Said like 'tracing a tiny finger along the dotted line of a treasure map' | Cinema Door a super-sized threat | Muniel Muniel and Movies makes some inter-film connections |  Mount Hollywood thinks Tin Man gives good face (as do I) but saves the "best" for Kansas 

My Best Shot Article (and a full link list)

Solo Silhouette, Foreground

I snapped this photo at my local multiplex earlier this week. Matchy-matchy!

If you hadn't been paying any attention you'd be forgiven for thinking that Oblivion, 3, and Into Darkness (not the full titles) were a trilogy arriving in marathon form within one month as summer movie season kicks off.

All of these posters with solo (male) silhouettes against an imposing backdrop. Will cinema ever tire of one man shows, Our Hero against the world. They'll even sell ensemble films that way -- everyone knows that Star Trek Into Darkness will be an ensemble picture as all Star Treks are but you'd think Captain Kirk* was the sole survivor of a futuristic apocalypse by the looks of this.

Oh and the movie I was there to see that day...

I don't know if only one man will survivie a future apocalypse but only one graphic designer survived 2012; all movie posters for summer 2013 look the same!

* Readers are telling me that this silhouette belongs to the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Either way the point remains, a solo silhouette that could be anyone... for the reader to project themselves into. Just one solitary hero against a harsh imposing world!