SNUBBED FOR BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR NOD, AFFLECK WINS DGA’S TOP HONOR

Ordinarily Ben Affleck would be considered a sure bet to win the Best Director Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 24. After all, he continues to pile up top awards for his work as director of Argo, which itself has jumped ahead of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln to become the clear front-runner for Best […]

ARGO CAST CAPTURES TOP SAG AWARD

Argo extended its lead as the frontrunner in the Oscar race Sunday night when the cast received the top honor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The actors branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences contributes the largest number of votes. Moreover, the award comes just one day after the Producers Guild […]

AFTER PGA WIN, ARGO TAKES LEAD IN OSCAR RACE

In what is regarded as the surest indicator of which film will win the Academy Award for best picture, Ben Affleck’s Argo took the top feature-film award from the Producers Guild of America on Saturday night. Over the last five years every PGA winner has gone on to triumph at the Oscars. Accepting the trophy […]

SNUBBED BY OSCAR VOTERS, AFFLECK IS HONORED BY CRITICS

Bypassed this week by Academy members in their choice of Oscar nominees for best director, Ben Affleck was the winner of the director award presented by the 250-member Broadcast Film Critics Association at its Critics Choice Awards ceremony Thursday night. Accepting the award for his work on Argo, in which he also starred, Affleck began […]

IN ITS THIRD WEEK ARGO RISES TO THE TOP (Updated)

Propelled by terrific word of mouth, Facebook, and Twitter, Ben Affleck’s Argo rose to the top of the box office in its third weekend, falling just 24.9 percent from a week ago to an estimated $12.26 million. With solid weekday business, the film has now grossed $61 million. In an interview with the Associated Press, […]

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY SHOCKS PUNDITS WITH $30.2M OPENING

Paranormal Activity 4 displayed what for the franchise was subnormal activity at the box office over the weekend. Expected to gross $50-55 million — in line with what Paranormal Activity 3 earned during its opening last year — the film wound up making “only” around $30.2 million, according to studio estimates. The quotes around “only” […]

TAKEN 2 TAKES DOWN ARGO (Updated)

Taken 2, starring Liam Neeson, held off a strong challenge from Ben Affleck’s Argo to remain at the top of the box office for the second week in a row. The 20th Century Fox thriller brought in an estimated $22.5 million in its second week, down 54 percent from its opening. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. figured […]

TAKEN 2 EXPECTED TO OVERTAKE NEW RIVALS

Five new films are being given wide releases this weekend, but many box office pundits are predicting that it will be last weekend’s winner, Taken 2, that will take the No. 1 spot when ticket sales are tallied. Hedging their bets a bit, however, they’re saying that the outcome is likely to be close. If […]

MALICK’S NEW FILM BOOED BY AUDIENCE, PRAISED BY CRITICS

Film critics and cineastes in general adore Terence Malick. General audiences, not so much. That was clear last year when his The Tree of Life was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a best picture Oscar but earned only $13 million at the box office. (To be fair, […]

ROM-COM PREDICTED TO BE WEEKEND WINNER

It will be Ladies Day once again at the box office this weekend as the female-skewing romantic comedy No Strings Attached, starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, debuts. Box office forecasters are predicting it will beat out the male-skewing The Green Hornet, but not by a lot. Strings is likely to earn about $20-23 million […]

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