12 Years a Slave
Box Office Weekend: 300 Conquers Peabody In Number, If Not Critics
Lackluster reviews for 300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to the 2007 big budget story of the 300 Spartans, were not enough to keep audiences away as it earned the top spot at the box office. At an estimated $45.1 million, it beat Mr. Peabody & Sherman which, despite good reviews, earned an estimated $32.5 million, which leaves it at a fair pace behind its $145 million costs. Still, both are d...[Read More]
The Detroit Film Critics Society Announces 2013 Nominations
The Detroit Film Critics Society is pleased to announce the best of 2013 nominees in ten categories. The society was founded in Spring 2007 and consists of a group of twenty Michigan film critics who write or broadcast in the Detroit area as well as other major cities within a 150-mile radius of the city including Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Flint, Michigan. Each critic submit...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Catching Fire Not Just a Clever Name, Breaks Box Office Records
While Thor: The Dark World sizzled briefly at the box office (and had to settle this week for an estimated $14.1 million, still a few million short of its costs), it has nothing on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Much like the first film, it has earned critical and financial praise, and made an estimated $161.1 million…not only the best weekend for a film in November, but the best opening weekend...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Best Man Holiday a Hit, But Not Mighty Enough to Defeat Thor
Thor: The Dark World had a bit of an Ender’s Game moment at the box office, slipping massively from its debut after a successful opening day. However, when your opening weekend is $85.7 million, to earn an estimated $38.5 million the second is hardly cause for alarm, as Marvel continues its unstoppable press of successful films here and worldwide. It managed to beat out the debut of the positively...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Thor In Valhalla, Takes Box Office by Storm
Box office receipts have been tepid as of late, but Thor: The Dark World changed that for the better by absolutely trouncing the competition. While other films have been doing decent enough business, the latest Marvel blockbuster came into November with a hearty and decisive bang, picking up an estimated $86.1 million. The second highest earner, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, while a rousing succe...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Ender’s Game Starts November with a Minor Victory
The new sci-fi action adventure Ender’s Game took first place at the box office to begin November, but its estimated $28 million was not exactly a rousing start to financial success, despite it getting fairly positive reviews. This week’s second-place finisher, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (an estimated $20.5 million) had a better opening weekend, and had already made back its costs and then some...[Read More]
Movie Review: 12 Years a Slave
On first encountering the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup, a free black man drugged and kidnapped from an educated, domestic life by opportunistic slave-traders in Washington D.C., director Steve McQueen felt he had read the “[American version of the Anne Frank story]” – two historical people fated to represent institutionalized evils through very personal words and experiences. Northup, as embodie...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Bad Grandpa Defies Gravity
Leave it to Johnny Knoxville to achieve the impossible…namely, to take a mega-hit, blockbuster film and send it to slot number two on the top ten. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa took first place for the weekend with an estimated $32 million, making twice its production costs in a single weekend. It sent Gravity, which has scored well domestically and abroad, to second place with an estimated $20.3 ...[Read More]
Enter to Win Tickets to an Advance Screening of 12 Years a Slave
CinemaNerdz readers have a chance to be one of the first to see the new film 12 Years a Slave from director Steve McQueen starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, and Brad Pitt. For your chance to receive complimentary passes to see the film at the Maple Art Theater in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on Tuesday, October 22nd at 7:0...[Read More]
The Ten Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2013
The summer passed by quickly didn’t it? Remember when we were wondering whether Star Trek Into Darkness would be any good? Spoiler: It was. Or whether The Lone Ranger would be an uncontested box office champion? Another spoiler: It wasn’t. Or whether a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters would appeal to audiences made up of more than just nerds? And how would Iron Man 3 perform as the...[Read More]