Moviefone Editorial

Tag: arrival

  • 2017 WGA Awards Winners Led by ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Atlanta,’ ‘The Americans’

    The Writers Guild of America revealed its annual award winners in film, television, and other media on Sunday evening, crowning some critical darlings and providing a potential shakeup to the Oscars race.

    On the television side, Atlanta” took home two trophies, for best comedy and best new series, continuing its recent successful awards season run. And fellow FX series “The Americans” nabbed the prize for best drama series, finally gaining some awards attention after its excellent fourth season. (Its only previous WGA nomination came in 2014, for best new series.)

    But the real story was on the film side of the equation, with “La La Land” losing out on one of the night’s top two prizes. A nominee for best original screenplay, the musical was instead upstaged by “Moonlight,” which took top honors. “Arrival” was named the other big winner, taking the best adapted screenplay award.

    In an odd bit of category confusion, “Moonlight” and “La La Land” will not go head-to-head in the screenwriting category at the Oscars, with “Moonlight” landing among the Academy’s adapted screenplay nominees (alongside “Arrival”), and “La La Land” nabbing an original screenplay nod. But they’re both vying for Best Picture, and “La La Land” seems to be losing its once seemingly unstoppable momentum; could this latest setback spell trouble for its chances to take home Oscar’s biggest prize?

    A partial list of WGA film and television winners is below. For the complete list of honorees in all categories, visit the WGA website.

    FILM WINNERS:

    ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Moonlight
    Screenplay by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney; A24

    ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Arrival
    Screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang; Paramount Pictures

    DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY: Command and Control
    Telescript by Robert Kenner & Eric Schlosser, Story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; Based on the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser; American Experience Films

    TELEVISION WINNERS:

    DRAMA SERIES: The Americans
    Written by Peter Ackerman, Tanya Barfield, Joshua Brand, Joel Fields, Stephen Schiff, Joe Weisberg, Tracey Scott Wilson; FX

    COMEDY SERIES: Atlanta
    Written by Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Jamal Olori, Stefani Robinson, Paul Simms; FX

    NEW SERIES: Atlanta
    Written by Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Jamal Olori, Stefani Robinson, Paul Simms; FX

    ORIGINAL LONG FORM: Confirmation
    Written by Susannah Grant; HBO

    ADAPTED LONG FORM: The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
    Written by Scott Alexander, Joe Robert Cole, D.V. DeVincentis, Maya Forbes, Larry Karaszewski, Wally Wolodarsky, Based on the book The Run of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin; FX

    ANIMATION: “Stop the Presses” (BoJack Horseman)
    Written by Joe Lawson; Netflix

    EPISODIC DRAMA: “The Trip” (This Is Us)
    Written by Vera Herbert; NBC

    EPISODIC COMEDY: “Kimmy Goes on a Playdate!” (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
    Written by Robert Carlock; Netflix

    COMEDY / VARIETY TALK SERIES: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
    Writers: Kevin Avery, Tim Carvell, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, John Oliver, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Juli Weiner; HBO – WINNER

    COMEDY / VARIETY SKETCH SERIES: Saturday Night Live
    Head Writers: Rob Klein, Bryan Tucker Writers: James Anderson, Fred Armisen, Jeremy Beiler, Chris Belair, Megan Callahan, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Jim Downey, Tina Fey, Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, Tim Herlihy, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Zach Kanin, Chris Kelly, Erik Kenward, Paul Masella, Dave McCary, Dennis McNicholas, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, Josh Patten, Paula Pell, Katie Rich, Tim Robinson, Sarah Schneider, Pete Schultz, Streeter Seidell, Dave Sirus, Emily Spivey, Andrew Steele, Will Stephen, Kent Sublette; NBC

    COMEDY / VARIETY SPECIALS: Triumph The Primary Election Special 2016
    Written by Andy Breckman, Josh Comers, Raj Desai, David Feldman, R J Fried, Jarrett Grode, Ben Joseph, Matthew Kirsch, Michael Koman, Mike Lawrence, Brian Reich, Craig Rowin, Robert Smigel, Zach Smilovitz, David Taylor, Andrew Weinberg; Additional Materials by Ray James, Jesse Joyce, Jason Reich, Alex Scordelis; Hulu

    QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: Hollywood Game Night
    Head Writer: Grant Taylor; Writers: Michael Agbabian, Alex Chauvin, Ann Slichter, Dwight D. Smith; NBC

    DAYTIME DRAMA: General Hospital
    Writers: Shelly Altman, Anna Theresa Cascio, Andrea Archer Compton, Suzanne Flynn, Janet Iacobuzio, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Jean Passanante, Dave Rupel, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles, Chris Van Etten, Christopher Whitesell; ABC

    CHILDREN’S EPISODIC: “Mel vs. The Night Mare of Normal Street” (Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street)
    Written by Laurie Parres; Amazon Studios

    CHILDREN’S LONG FORM: Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas
    Written by Geri Cole & Ken Scarborough; HBO

  • 4 Oscars 2017 Myths That You Need to Stop Believing

    It just got real.

    Final ballots went out to Oscar voters on Feb. 13. After all the guild awards and prizes from groups that are Not the Academy, this is the vote that finally matters. With the ballots due on Feb. 21, five days before the envelopes open at the ceremony, it’s time to sort through all the noise — four Oscars 2017 myths, debunked.

    Myth 1: There’s a growing movement in Hollywood to cancel the Oscars this year, as a way of protesting the new presidency.

    Reality: This movement exists only in conservative memes, spread by wishful thinkers who’d like to see Hollyweird’s biggest annual spectacle of self-congratulation vanish. The meme is shared by folks who claim not to care about movies or about the political statements that out-of-touch actors will make at the podium, even though the very act of sharing indicates that they care much more than they’ll admit.

    Actually, in 89 years, the Oscars have never been canceled, though they’ve been postponed briefly after such events as the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981. But scrapped altogether? There’s too much money at stake and too many viewers watching worldwide, so, not a chance.
    Myth 2: The British Academy Awards (BAFTAs), handed out over the weekend, are an important predictor of the Oscars.

    Reality: There are a lot of Anglophiles in Hollywood, but it’s not clear that any of them will be influenced by the selections of BAFTA voters.

    No one even cared about the BAFTAs until 16 years ago, when they moved up their calendar to take place before the Oscars. The five-award sweep for “La La Land,” or the Viola Davis victory for Supporting Actress for “Fences,” don’t mean much, since everyone already expected similar results at our own Academy Awards.

    Casey Affleck‘s win for Best Actor for “Manchester by the Sea” means even less, since his chief Oscar rival, “Fences” star Denzel Washington, wasn’t even nominated. (He never has been, which says something about the BAFTAs’ blind spots.) Neither was Isabelle Huppert (“Elle“), currently the only Best Actress Oscar nominee with a shot at stopping “La La Land”‘s Emma Stone.

    About the only time the BAFTAs may have influenced the Oscars was back in 2002, when Russell Crowe won the Best Actor prize for “A Beautiful Mind” but then punched out a BAFTA ceremony producer whom he blamed for cutting short his acceptance speech. Oscar voters made sure that boorishness wasn’t repeated stateside by giving the trophy to Washington for “Training Day.”
    Myth 3: The relatively low box office of this year’s Best Picture nominees suggests that Academy voters are out of touch with popular taste.

    Reality: It’s true that huge blockbusters like “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” or “Titanic” are more the exception than the rule among Oscar winners. And while the Academy would surely like for some populist smashes to be among the nominees in order to increase rooting interest and TV viewership of the ceremony — indeed, that’s why it expanded the Best Picture category to include up to 10 nominees in recent years — the Academy also knows that the Oscars are not the People’s Choice Awards. They know that, for the trophy to be so highly coveted, it has to measure excellence by more than just ticket sales alone.

    Even so, the notion that the Academy goes out of its way to pick obscure movies that regular people don’t buy tickets to see is especially untrue this year. The biggest hit among the Best Picture noms, “Hidden Figures,” has earned $132 million, while “La La Land” is close behind with $126 million. “Arrival” will probably cross the $100 million line before the Feb. 26 awards show.

    All nine of the nominees — even “Moonlight,” which is the lowest earner, with $20 million — are in the 85th percentile of domestic box office receipts among all of 2016’s theatrical releases. All nine are profitable, and the fact that none of them has done Marvel-sized numbers should disappoint no one or suggest to anyone that these films lack popular appeal.
    Myth 4: This year’s nominees are sops to political correctness, an overreaction to last year’s #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

    Reality: Things don’t work that fast in the film industry, where it can take two years or more for a feature to go from greenlit idea to theatrical release.

    As many observers noted last year, the Academy Awards come at the end of the process; it takes decision-making at the beginning of the process, in Hollywood’s executive suites, to put more inclusive films into the pipeline in the first place. That there are a wealth of black acting nominees and movies about the lives of African-Americans this year seems fortuitous, but there’s no guarantee that it will happen again next year, or ever.

    There are also just two or three movies among the nine (“Hidden Figures,” “Arrival,” and arguably “La La Land”) that have female protagonists. And as far as inclusivity goes, Hispanic and Asian and other viewers are still waiting to see movies about people who look like them. They may see this year’s progress, including the Best Picture nomination for “Lion,” as an incremental step, not a giant leap.
    And while this year’s Oscar winners are almost certain to mention Trump from the podium, the movies themselves don’t necessarily have much to do with contemporary politics. Sure, there are themes in “Hidden Figures,” “Fences,” “Moonlight,” “Lion,” and even sci-fi drama “Arrival” that may echo current issues, but the only nominee that addresses current events directly (specifically, the foreclosure crisis) is “Hell or High Water,” and it does so in the context of a cops-and-robbers thriller.

    For all the backlash that’s arisen in recent weeks against “La La Land,” it’s still the front-runner for most categories, and the only politics on its mind are cultural politics (the future of jazz, the cookie-cutter sameness of mass-appeal studio filmmaking).

    The likeliest scenario sees “La La Land” winning Picture, Actress, Director, and Original Screenplay, while “Moonlight” wins Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor (for Mahershala Ali) and “Fences” wins Actor and Supporting Actress. In other words, a split between the escapist (and predominantly white) musical and the poetic African-American dramas.

    You could try to make ideological sense of that, or you could acknowledge that this year’s Oscars might actually be as much about merit as about political correctness.

  • Oscars 2017: Amy Adams & Tom Hanks Mistakenly Nominated on Official Site

    Oops! Some #alternativefacts made their way onto the official Oscars website this morning, accidentally giving Academy Award nominations to Amy Adams and Tom Hanks.

    Visitors to the Oscars site shared screen grabs of the gaffes, showing Amy Adams in the Actress in a Leading Role category for “Arrival,” and Tom Hanks as a sixth (!) nominee in the Actor in a Leading Role category for “Sully”:

    Sadly for Amy Adams, but happily for Ruth Negga, the “Loving” star was the correct fifth nominee. Not sure why Adams was placed in there, or how Hanks got shoved in as the sixth name in a five-person category, but it’s all good now. That is, it’s good for everyone but the fans who feel like Adams and Hanks were snubbed.

    Later Tuesday morning, ABC released a statement on the error:

    “This morning, in an attempt to release breaking news as announced, ABC Digital briefly posted inaccurate nomination information on the Oscar.com website. The nominees announced by the Academy on Twitter were accurate. ABC quickly identified and corrected the errors. We apologize to the Academy, press and fans for any confusion.”

    Hey, it happens to the best and worst of us alike. Here’s the full list of actual nominees. The Oscars will be handed out in a live ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 26 on ABC.

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  • BAFTA Nominations Hail ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Fantastic Beasts’

    The British Academy of Film and Television Arts released its slate of nominees for the best films of 2016 on Tuesday, hailing current awards season favorites as well as some outliers that have so far flown under the radar this year.

    It’s no surprise that recent juggernaut “La La Land” racked up the most BAFTA nominations, scoring 11 nods including best film, director, original screenplay, actor, and actress, as well as citations in a bunch of technical categories. Tied for second place with nine nominations apiece were “Arrival” and “Nocturnal Animals,” with recent surprise Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson receiving another nod for the latter film.

    “Harry Potter” spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” also racked up an impressive number of nominations, with citations in five categories, including Outstanding British Film. But “Potter” author J.K. Rowling missed out on a screenwriting nod for her feature film debut, and also failed to earn a spot among nominees in the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer category.

    The full list of film nominations is below. The 2016 British Academy Film Awards will be handed out at a ceremony in London on February 12.

    BEST FILM
    ARRIVAL Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, David Linde, Aaron Ryder
    I, DANIEL BLAKE Rebecca O’Brien
    LA LA LAND Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt
    MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward,
    Kevin J. Walsh
    MOONLIGHT Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski

    OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
    AMERICAN HONEY Andrea Arnold, Lars Knudsen, Pouya Shahbazian, Jay Van Hoy
    DENIAL Mick Jackson, Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff, David Hare
    FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM David Yates, David Heyman, Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling, Lionel Wigram
    I, DANIEL BLAKE Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
    NOTES ON BLINDNESS Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison
    UNDER THE SHADOW Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh

    OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
    The Girl With All the Gifts: MIKE CAREY (Writer), CAMILLE GATIN (Producer)
    The Hard Stop: GEORGE AMPONSAH (Writer/Director/Producer), DIONNE WALKER (Writer/Producer)
    Notes on Blindness: PETER MIDDLETON (Writer/Director/Producer), JAMES SPINNEY (Writer/Director), JO-JO ELLISON (Producer)
    The Pass: JOHN DONNELLY (Writer), BEN A. WILLIAMS (Director)
    Under the Shadow: BABAK ANVARI (Writer/Director), EMILY LEO, OLIVER ROSKILL, LUCAN TOH (Producers)

    FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
    DHEEPAN Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
    JULIETA Pedro Almodóvar
    MUSTANG Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Charles Gillibert
    SON OF SAUL László Nemes, Gábor Sipos
    TONI ERDMANN Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski

    DOCUMENTARY
    13th Ava DuVernay
    THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK- THE TOURING YEARS Ron Howard
    THE EAGLE HUNTRESS Otto Bell, Stacey Reiss
    NOTES ON BLINDNESS Peter Middleton, James Spinney
    WEINER Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg

    ANIMATED FILM
    FINDING DORY Andrew Stanton
    KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS Travis Knight
    MOANA Ron Clements, John Musker
    ZOOTROPOLIS Byron Howard, Rich Moore

    DIRECTOR
    ARRIVAL Denis Villeneuve
    I, DANIEL BLAKE Ken Loach
    LA LA LAND Damien Chazelle
    MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Kenneth Lonergan
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Tom Ford

    ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
    HELL OR HIGH WATER Taylor Sheridan
    I, DANIEL BLAKE Paul Laverty
    LA LA LAND Damien Chazelle
    MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Kenneth Lonergan
    MOONLIGHT Barry Jenkins

    ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
    ARRIVAL Eric Heisserer
    HACKSAW RIDGE Andrew Knight, Robert Schenkkan
    HIDDEN FIGURES Theodore Melfi, Allison Schroeder
    LION Luke Davies
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Tom Ford

    LEADING ACTOR
    ANDREW GARFIELD Hacksaw Ridge
    CASEY AFFLECK Manchester by the Sea
    JAKE GYLLENHAAL Nocturnal Animals
    RYAN GOSLING La La Land
    VIGGO MORTENSEN Captain Fantastic

    LEADING ACTRESS
    AMY ADAMS Arrival
    EMILY BLUNT The Girl on the Train
    EMMA STONE La La Land
    MERYL STREEP Florence Foster Jenkins
    NATALIE PORTMAN Jackie

    SUPPORTING ACTOR
    AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON Nocturnal Animals
    DEV PATEL Lion
    HUGH GRANT Florence Foster Jenkins
    JEFF BRIDGES Hell or High Water
    MAHERSHALA ALI Moonlight

    SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    HAYLEY SQUIRES I, Daniel Blake
    MICHELLE WILLIAMS Manchester by the Sea
    NAOMIE HARRIS Moonlight
    NICOLE KIDMAN Lion
    VIOLA DAVIS Fences

    ORIGINAL MUSIC
    ARRIVAL Jóhann Jóhannsson
    JACKIE Mica Levi
    LA LA LAND Justin Hurwitz
    LION Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Abel Korzeniowski

    CINEMATOGRAPHY
    ARRIVAL Bradford Young
    HELL OR HIGH WATER Giles Nuttgens
    LA LA LAND Linus Sandgren
    LION Greig Fraser
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Seamus McGarvey

    EDITING
    ARRIVAL Joe Walker
    HACKSAW RIDGE John Gilbert
    LA LA LAND Tom Cross
    MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Jennifer Lame
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Joan Sobel

    PRODUCTION DESIGN
    DOCTOR STRANGE Charles Wood, John Bush
    FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock
    HAIL, CAESAR! Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
    LA LA LAND David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Shane Valentino, Meg Everist

    COSTUME DESIGN
    ALLIED Joanna Johnston
    FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Colleen Atwood
    FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS Consolata Boyle
    JACKIE Madeline Fontaine
    LA LA LAND Mary Zophres

    MAKE UP & HAIR
    DOCTOR STRANGE Jeremy Woodhead
    FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS J. Roy Helland, Daniel Phillips
    HACKSAW RIDGE Shane Thomas
    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Donald Mowat, Yolanda Toussieng
    ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Nominees tbc

    SOUND
    ARRIVAL Sylvain Bellemare, Claude La Haye, Bernard Gariépy Strobl
    DEEPWATER HORIZON Dror Mohar​, Mike Prestwood Smith, Wylie Stateman, David Wyman
    FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Ian Tapp
    HACKSAW RIDGE Peter Grace, Robert Mackenzie, Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright
    LA LA LAND Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Ai-Ling Lee, Steve A. Morrow, Andy Nelson

    SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
    ARRIVAL Louis Morin
    DOCTOR STRANGE Richard Bluff, Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner
    FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Tim Burke, Pablo Grillo, Christian Manz, David Watkins
    THE JUNGLE BOOK Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez
    ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Neil Corbould, Hal Hickel, Mohen Leo, John Knoll, Nigel Sumner

    BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
    THE ALAN DIMENSION Jac Clinch, Jonathan Harbottle, Millie Marsh
    A LOVE STORY Khaled Gad, Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara, Elena Ruscombe-King
    TOUGH Jennifer Zheng

    BRITISH SHORT FILM
    CONSUMED Richard John Seymour
    HOME Shpat Deda, Afolabi Kuti, Daniel Mulloy, Scott O’Donnell
    MOUTH OF HELL Bart Gavigan, Samir Mehanovic, Ailie Smith, Michael Wilson
    THE PARTY Farah Abushwesha, Emmet Fleming, Andrea Harkin, Conor MacNeill
    STANDBY Jack Hannon, Charlotte Regan

    EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
    ANYA TAYLOR-JOY
    LAIA COSTA
    LUCAS HEDGES
    RUTH NEGGA
    TOM HOLLAND

    [via: BAFTA]

  • 2017 WGA Awards Nominations Announced: ‘La La Land,’ ‘Deadpool’ Score Nods

    The Oscars race continues to heat up, with the Writers Guild of America announcing its nominees for best screenplays of the year.

    As expected, frontrunners “La La Land,” “Manchester By the Sea,” and “Moonlight” all scored nods in the original screenplay category. But the adapted screenplay category had a surprise nomination for “Deadpool,” the snarky superhero movie. Then again, the Writers Guild has shown appreciation for superhero movies, with “Guardians of the Galaxy” previously landing a nomination.

    The outcome of the WGA Awards may not be a reliable predictor of the Oscars, since there is some category differentiation — “Moonlight” and “Loving” are considered adapted screenplays by the Academy.

    Here is the full list of nominees. The awards will be handed out Feb. 19.

    ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

    “Hell or High Water,” Written by Taylor Sheridan; CBS Films

    “La La Land,” Written by Damien Chazelle; Lionsgate

    “Loving,” Written by Jeff Nichols; Focus Features

    “Manchester by the Sea,” Written by Kenneth Lonergan; Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions

    “Moonlight,” Written by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell McCraney; A24

    ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

    “Arrival,” Screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang; Paramount Pictures

    “Deadpool,” Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick; Based on the “X-Men” Comic Books; Twentieth Century Fox Film

    “Fences,” Screenplay by August Wilson; Based on his Play; Paramount Pictures

    “Hidden Figures,” Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; Based on the Book by Margot Lee Shetterly; Twentieth Century Fox Film

    “Nocturnal Animals,” Screenplay by Tom Ford; Based on the Novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; Focus Features

    DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

    “Author: The JT LeRoy Story,” Written by Jeff Feuerzeig; Amazon Studios

    “Command and Control,” Telescript by Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser, Story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; Based on the book “Command and Control” by Eric Schlosser; American Experience Films

    “Zero Days,” Written by Alex Gibney; Magnolia Pictures

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  • 7 Reasons Why ‘Doctor Strange’ and ‘Arrival’ Dominated the Box Office

    This weekend, it was a showdown between Marvel’s newest Avenger, aliens, and trolls. And all three won.

    “Arrival,” a cerebral movie about aliens starring Amy Adams, was not expected to beat Benedict Cumberbatch‘s “Doctor Strange” in its second weekend. The Marvel sorcerer’s film held on remarkably well, declining less than 50 percent to finish with an estimated $43.0 million. And last week’s other new hit, “Trolls,” had even better staying power, losing less than 25 percent of last week’s business and holding on to second place with an estimated $35.1 million. That is very good (and rare) for an animated film.

    “Arrival” opened at No. 3 with a stronger-than-expected $24.0 million, according to studio estimates, which amounts to a very good $10,358 per screen. Maybe Paramount is kicking itself right now for releasing “Arrival” in only a modest 2,317 theaters; another thousand, and it could have beaten “Trolls” for second place. Nonetheless, this was a good weekend for nearly everyone at the multiplex, with an overall gross of about $157 million. Here’s who, besides Cumberbatch and Marvel, came out on top.

    1. Disney and Marvel
    On Saturday, Marvel’s step-parent company announced it has beaten its own domestic record and sold $2.3 billion worth of movie tickets in North America this year. (Disney is also having a record year in international ticket sales.) “Strange” is a major contributor to that total, with $153 million earned stateside so far and a global take of $493 million.

    2. IMAX
    So far, $54 million of “Strange’s” worldwide take comes from the giant screens, as viewers cough up premium fees to catch the film’s spectacle in all its eye-grabbing glory.

    3. Fox Knows Kids Movies
    With $94 million earned in 10 days, “Trolls” has already surpassed this fall’s fellow family toon hit “Storks” ($70 million) and will soon overtake “The Angry Birds Movie” ($108 million). The movie’s strong holding power is also good news for Fox, since “Trolls” has less than two more weeks to hoard cash before Disney’s “Moana” opens.

    4. Amy Adams
    She’s an acclaimed actress, but she doesn’t usually sell movie tickets unless she’s part of an ensemble (“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “American Hustle“). But with her newest film coming in almost $7 million higher than predicted, the numbers suggest she really can carry a movie.

    That bodes well for her thriller “Nocturnal Animals,” opening next weekend, unless audiences feel Adamsed-out.

    5. Paramount
    The studio has had a terrible 2016, with such massive flops as “Ben-Hur” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” as well as box office disappointments like “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” and “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.” No wonder Paramount was too wary to give “Arrival” a release on 3,000+ screens.

    Still, it spent just $20 million to acquire “Arrival,” and if the movie finishes around $80 million in North America, that modest investment will be money well spent.

    6. Will Packer
    The producer of seemingly every hit African-American ensemble comedy in recent years that didn’t feature Tyler Perry, Packer scored another modest hit this weekend with “Almost Christmas.”

    The holiday-themed family-reunion comedy opened in fourth place with an estimated $15.6 million, about what was predicted. That’s not “Strange” money, but with a budget of just $17 million, and with Christmas on viewers’ minds for the next few weeks, the film looks like a profitable hit in the making. It’s certainly a crowd-pleaser, judging by the healthy A- it earned from ticket buyers surveyed by CinemaScore.

    7. Grown-ups
    Box office pundits have been wondering throughout the fall where all the adults are who’ve been expected to show up for the season’s prestige dramas and thoughtful thrillers. They finally showed up this weekend, it seems, with “Arrival” drawing 85 percent of its crowd from viewers 25 or older.

    The 25+ audience made up 60 percent of “Almost Christmas” viewers. And of course, it’s also older viewers who’ve been coming out to see World War II drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” in fifth place in its second weekend with an estimated $10.8 million (down just 22 percent from a week ago) and a total so far of $32.2 million. The grown-ups are out there; they just didn’t much care for Hollywood’s offerings this fall, until now.

    One movie that did not benefit from the weekend? Naomi Watts‘ new thriller, “Shut In.” It premiered in seventh place with a poor $3.7 million. This is one movie grown-ups didn’t flock to see, maybe because the critics found it more laughable than thrilling. Paying customers seemed to agree, judging by the film’s dismal C grade at CinemaScore.

    Still, some pundits were predicting that the much-ridiculed “Shut In” would open as low as $1 million, yet it did nearly four times as well as expected. So it’s a victory of sorts for Watts. A cup of holiday cheer for everyone!
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  • Box Office: ‘Doctor Strange’ Stays No. 1 With $43M, ‘Arrival’ Impresses

    box officeBy Brent Lang

    LOS ANGELES, Nov 13 (Variety.com) – Alien invasion thriller “Arrival” capitalized on strong reviews to score an impressive debut, while Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” topped the box office for the second consecutive weekend.

    The superhero adventure picked up $43 million to bring its domestic total to $153 million. DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls,” another holdover, came in second, earning $35 million to bring its stateside haul to $94 million after two weeks of release.

    “Arrival” took third, easily outpacing pre-release tracking with a debut of $24 million. Heading into the weekend, the film was expected to launch to $16 million. “Arrival” was directed by Denis Villeneuve, who has built a steady following with the likes of “Prisoners” and “Sicario.” It focuses on a linguist (Amy Adams) who is recruited to try to communicate with alien visitors. Paramount picked up domestic rights to the film for $20 million. FilmNation, Lava Bear and 21 Laps financed the $47 million production.

    “Arrival’s” strong box office result is a shot in the arm for Paramount, which has weathered a string of flops such as “Zoolander 2,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” and “Ben-Hur.” The instability starts at the top. Viacom, Paramount’s corporate parent, was engulfed in an internecine war for much of the past year, as Shari Redstone, the daughter of founder Sumner Redstone, successfully worked to oust Philippe Dauman from his perch as the company’s CEO. Paramount chief Brad Grey is trying to convince Shari Redstone that he has the vision to lead the company out of its doldrums, and has pointed to films like “Arrival” as proof that the studio’s slate is improving.

    Universal’s “Almost Christmas” debuted to a solid $15.6 million across 2,376 locations for a fourth place finish. The comedy about a dysfunctional family gathering for the holidays after their mother dies was economical to produce and carries a $17 million budget. It stars Danny Glover, Gabrielle Union, Kimberly Elise, and Jessie Usher.

    Liongate’s “Hacksaw Ridge” rounded out the top five, earning $10.8 million to bring the war drama’s total to $32.3 million.

    Among the weekend’s other wide releases, EuropaCorp’s “Shut In” stumbled out of the gate, kicking off to a paltry $3.7 million from 2,058 locations.

    Sony bowed “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” on two screens where it made $120,300. The Iraq War drama is shot at an accelerated framerate, but few theaters will be able to exhibit the film at that speed. The limited release did exhibit the picture in the immersive format that director Ang Lee has pushed theaters to incorporate. It was screened in 4K, 3D, and at 120 frames per second. “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” will expand next weekend on to more than 800 theaters.

    In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics debuted “Elle” on two screens where it earned $56,012. The thriller stars Isabelle Huppert as a woman who plots revenge against the man who raped her.

  • ‘Arrival’ Screenwriter Eric Heisserer Reveals a Version of the Movie You May Never See

    After seeing “Arrival,” the best compliment one could give the film is that they wish they wrote it.

    The man who did write the film, Eric Heisserer, endured an uphill battle since 2010 to see his adaptation of Ted Chiang’s resonate short story “Story of Your Life” on the big screen. With director Denis Villeneuve at his side, it was a trek occasionally fraught with vision-less development execs that finally ends Friday with the film’s release. The types of notes the writer received about his grounded, sci-fi tale — which centers on Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguist forced to communicate with first-contact aliens that use non-linear language — are the types of notes that could have undone all that critics seem to love.

    “We did have a note that would come back on a regular basis to get rid of all the flashbacks,” Heisserer said, “which — if you’ve seen the movie — is problematic.” Other notes the writer received: “Does she have to be a linguistics expert?” and “you should have made the lead a male.”
    The writer was thankful that, despite these suggestions, his intents for the story mostly made it to the big screen intact, thanks to “making the film largely outside that process” as “Arrival” was packaged at Cannes with unique terms built into the acquisition.

    “One of the terms was — we don’t have to take these notes. We’ll listen to them, we’ll certainly do our best to find a good common ground, but we want to preserve the whole reason why we made the film.”

    Some filmed scenes were unable to survive that preservation, including two centered on fleshing out key supporting characters: Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), who oversees the U.S. operation at the alien landing site in Montana, and Banks’ closest colleague, mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner).
    “To show you the kind of military leader Weber is, there was a moment where we saw him at the encampment, near the edge of the zone at the Montana site, where we saw it get more and more populated by average citizens coming to get a view of the ship,” Heisserer revealed.

    “And then, there was a panic — and a mob mentality, which started to get unruly and scary and intense. Because you have thousands of people on the edge of this military blockade. And Weber, he visited the frontline and spoke to a sergeant there, the latter said: ‘Look at this situation here. Look at how easily it could escalate. What I need here are 200 more men — armed.’ And Weber goes: ‘If I do that, what message does that send? To them, and to our [alien] visitors?’

    This scene would have added more pressure to Banks and Donnelly’s efforts, which were already time-sensitive as China threatens military attack against the ship hovering near their country.
    To alleviate some of that pressure — just because the movie tackles serious subject matter, doesn’t mean it lacks moments of levity — there was a scene (ironically) cut that provided a laugh or two with math wiz Donnelly.

    “We’d discover more about how much science he knew — there was almost a flirtatious competition between Louise and him — You’d see the progress she made with her language versus what he was making with his math. Listening to Jeremy Renner, in the barracks, at a cafe table, using a salt shaker to describing Bayes Theorem as it applied to global population was just a delight.”

    But the writer acknowledges that this scene “took away from the main journey” of the film’s female lead, a journey we never would have had the privilege to watch if executives got their way.

    “Arrival” opens in theaters Friday.
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  • ‘Arrival’ Star Amy Adams Reveals the Hardest Scene She Had to Shoot

    [SPOILERS: If you haven’t seen the trailer yet for “Arrival,” or the movie, this interview reveals a key element to the plot. Stop reading now if you do not want to be spoiled.]

    “Arrival” is about as great as movies get — especially if you listen to the critics.

    It’s also an emotionally powerful film, one that’s impact star Amy Adams felt while filming it. The Oscar-nominated actor plays Dr. Louise Banks, an expert linguist struggling with grief prior to an alien species’ attempt at first contact with humanity. Her job is to do that which most sci-fi films gloss over or wave away with technobabble-y exposition: she must find a way to communicate with the aliens without the help of a universal translator.In the course of doing so, Banks is confronted with significant hurtles and ticking clocks as the world finds itself on the brink of potential war with either itself or the visitors. (So, it’s a comedy, clearly.) Moviefone recently sat down with Adams and found out what her hardest scene was in the film, and how it was one that hit close to home.

    “Arrival” hits theaters this Friday.

  • Guys, ‘Arrival’ Is 100 Percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (Update: Never Mind)

    Amy Adams (right) as Louise Banks in ARRIVAL by Paramount PicturesUPDATE: We jinxed it. Mea culpa. Right after posting about the 81 fresh reviews for “Arrival,” two “rotten” reviews showed up. Party poopers. It’s still doing well, though. Sigh.

    Original post:

    Look! We found something everyone agrees on: “Arrival” is a good movie. The sci-fi drama starring Amy Adams hits theaters this Friday, November 11 and — at the risk of jinxing it — it is holding steady with a 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, after 81 reviews.

    It will probably have more reviews by the time you read this, and it’s possible someone out there will rain on the alien parade. But it’s a marvel to see any major movie like this stay 100 percent positive through that many critiques. You can see how rare that is.

    “Arrival” has yet to be “Certified Fresh” but it appears to have met the criteria so it’s only a matter of time. Here’s the criteria for that:

    Movies in wide release with a Tomatometer of 75% or better and at least 80 reviews from Tomatometer Critics (including 5 Top Critics).

    Movies in limited release with a Tomatometer of 75% or better and at least 40 reviews from Tomatometer Critics (including 5 Top Critics).

    Movies designated with the seal retain the Certified Fresh status as long as their Tomatometer remains above 70%. The Certified Fresh designation may be held at the discretion of the Rotten Tomatoes editorial team.

    “Arrival” currently has fresh reviews from 14 Top Critics, with zero “rotten” reviews at all.

    The movie hasn’t opened yet in several countries, beyond the U.S., but audiences got to see it at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals, among other screenings, and it currently has an impressive 8.5 rating from IMDb users, and an 81 percent rating from Metacritic.

    But seeing anything hold a 100 percent rating at a time when the world seems divided on everything … well, that gives us hope. Hope that maybe it takes an alien species to bring us together. So be it!

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