Moviefone Editorial

Tag: jurassic-world

  • Producer Frank Marshall Teases Next ‘Bourne’ Movie, ‘Jurassic World 2,’ and ‘Indiana Jones 5’

    Frank Marshall knows how to turn films into franchises as effectively as Jason Bourne knows how to turn the contents of any given room into deadly weapons.

    With over four decades of producing films to his credit, Marshall occupies a rarefied status in Hollywood thanks to his role in shepherding mega-hit franchises to the big screen — a blockbuster list that includes all four (and counting) Indiana Jones movies, the “Back to the Future” trilogy, two “Gremlins” films, the modern “Jurassic World” series and, of course, the Jason Bourne franchise, not to mention his storied and ongoing association with Steven Spielberg across many of that filmmaker’s iconic canon, as well as career high-water marks like “Paper Moon,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and, most recently, “Sully.”

    With “Jason Bourne,” the latest entry in the Bourne filmography, now available on DVD and Blu-ray, Marshall joined Moviefone to discuss the philosophies behind bringing Rubert Ludlum’s reluctant operative back to the multiplex, updates on his future installments in the Indy and Jurassic franchises, making a move to the small screen in the age of peak TV, and even making a bid for applause on Broadway with a forthcoming musical using the margarita-soaked melodies of his longtime friend, Jimmy Buffett.

    Moviefone: What are you thinking, big picture, now that you know that audiences are still hungry for “Jason Bourne,” seeing how the film performed all over the world. Where are you guys now in your thinking process?

    Frank Marshall: We’re still in the infant stages of discussing what we’re going to do next, but certainly, I think we took the opportunity here to give ourselves a lot of options at the end of his one, to expand the world. We have several new characters that are operating, both in the world of the CIA, but also in the world outside, and big business, and cyberspace. So I think we want to stay current, but we’re probably going to look to expand the world.

    When it came time to return to “Bourne,” you obviously have a wealth of experience building out and sustaining franchises, but what was the biggest challenge that you faced, in particular, on this one to make sure that the franchise was going to go forward successfully?

    The big challenge that we have is really how to keep the character of Bourne going, which is, how do we get him back into the fray? Certainly, he was living, when the movie opens, he’s just still trying to find himself and find a life that he can live, even though he’s tormented by his past. So it’s always that question of how do you get him back? So we thought that the cyber warfare that’s going on now was a good reason to tap into that again, and then with the idea of Nicky being the conduit to get him back into the fray.

    Do you have a list — whether it’s mental or actually written down — of what a “Bourne” movie is: the ingredients that a “Bourne” movie should always have and the things that it should maybe avoid going into? Is there a master template for making a “Bourne” movie?

    Well, no. There’s a couple of elements or ingredients that we always look towards. One is the realism and the grittiness of the movie. We do like to go to real locations and not just either CG them or fake them. Again, on this movie we were in five or six different countries, as we were on all the rest. We also, we have this element of a flashback where Bourne flashes back on previous things to help us tell his story.

    One of our signature elements are the fights that Bourne has and using everyday objects to figure out things. There are a few of those elements that we always look for. Plus, I think you can look back on all of the movies and say we’ve had extraordinary supporting characters in the movie, wonderful actors and actresses that give it that signature feel. It’s not just the same characters in every movie, like they do with “Bond,” but they’re different, new characters, for example Riz Ahmed, Alicia Vikander, and Tommy Lee Jones in this one.

    It would be easy to underestimate Matt Damon‘s contribution because the character is so minimalist, but I want to hear from you why Matt is so integral to the success of the “Bourne” franchise.

    I think he’s the perfect spy. He looks like your college roommate, and he doesn’t look like he can hurt anybody, and he’s very empathetic. So the audience is really sympathized with his place where he doesn’t know who he is. I think that’s a really cool problem that they want to see him try and solve, even though they think that he’s this nice guy, but he’s actually an assassin. That’s a conflict they want to see him work out. But he’s just this wonderful actor and, as you said, he doesn’t have a lot of lines. So he has to do it in his actions and the way he behaves.

    What has it meant for you, throughout your career, to be able to take characters like Jason Bourne, who existed on the page, and like Indiana Jones, which was a cinematic creation, and have made a good run at creating and shepherding characters that are going to exist in the pop culture imagination for decades to come, like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan. What has that accomplishment meant to you?

    I’m a storyteller. I love telling stories. Certainly, the fact that these characters are enduring, and keep on going, and people love them is a great feeling because I think, as you get to know them, they become like security blankets. When you’re flipping to the channels, and there’s Jason Bourne in “Bourne Supremacy,” you want to watch him. So it’s nice to have been able to be a part of creating these characters and making them feel comfortable for people.

    You’ve certainly had a tremendous impact on today’s filmmakers from your amazing body of work with all of the different filmmakers you’ve worked with. Give me a sense of how you feel about that, when people tell you how much certain movies that you made have meant to them and have influenced them, professionally and creatively.

    My first reaction is it makes me feel old! But I don’t feel old — I feel young. I feel like I was when I was making those movies. It’s a thrill because we love making movies. I always have, and to have it as entertainment, and to have the audience or people say that they appreciate the movies that I’ve made is a great feeling because that’s the ultimate compliment. That’s why I do it. I’m an entertainer. So that’s a roundabout way of saying I love it.

    I know that you’re in the early stages of a new “Indiana Jones” movie. Can you give me a sense of where you are in the development process right now?

    Just the early stages. David Koepp is our screenwriter and we’re all talking, but there’s really nothing down on paper yet.

    What has you creatively excited about returning to that character?

    Again, it’s just the team. It’s a wonderful team like we had on “Bourne.” It’s nice to have your friends that you’ve known. Look, I’ve known Harrison [Ford] and obviously Steven {Spielberg] and the whole group for 30 years now. So it’s nice to have everybody back together as kind of a reunion.

    Are you intrigued to see how Harrison rises to the challenge of reprising that role and the physicality of it at this stage of his career?

    Listen, I watched him in “Star Wars [The Force Awakens],” and I don’t think he’s going to have any problem!

    Probably a little further along in development is the next “Jurassic World” film. Give me a sense of where you are with that.

    I’m excited about that one. We’re much further along. Actually, we start shooting in February in London. But I’m excited by the filmmaker, Juan Antonio Bayona, and what his take on the franchise and on the world of “Jurassic” is going to be. He’s an exciting young filmmaker, and a lot like Colin Trevorrow was, he’s an extraordinary filmmaker, but also a fan. So it’s going to be nice to see what he comes up with.

    Do you have a sense of how he is continuing what Colin set up, and how he is making it his own?

    Well, yes. He’s very meticulous in his preparation and in his doing storyboards and pre-viz, and he’s a real shooter. If you’ve seen his other movies, you know that he has a dark side to him as well. So I’m kind of excited about what he’s going to bring to the franchise.

    You’ve got some projects headed to television. Can you talk to me about the TV projects that you’ve got lined up right now?

    Yeah, we’re developing a couple of things at CBS that we’re kind of excited about, and a couple of documentaries that we’re doing that are either going to be on cable or released and on something like Netflix or Amazon. So we’ve got a lot of things going.

    Do you have any of your film franchise properties that you’re interested in bringing to TV, either in a direct way or with a bit of a twist or a tie-in kind of a way?

    No, we talk about it all the time, because it’s just a nice new opportunity to tell a story in a different way. Was just, last night, [were] looking at “Goliath.” I don’t know if you’ve seen that, but there are some great new series, limited series, and series out there. So I think we might be looking at one or two, but I can’t talk about them yet.

    Obviously, you’ve had such a fruitful partnership with Steven Spielberg. As he continues forward in his career, what are the kinds of things that you’re looking for to keep him on the cutting edge as a filmmaker, the kind of material you’re trying to find for him and develop for him?

    Well, it’s pretty basic. We’re always just looking for a good story. Steven has eclectic tastes just like [Kathleen Kennedy] and I do. We made a lot of different movies in a lot of different genres. So I’m just always looking for a good story, and then, hopefully, if he likes it too, he’ll have a space in his schedule to try and do it. Our company is there at DreamWorks. So we’re talking all the time about new things.

    How have the demands of your wife, Kathy Kennedy, running Lucasfilm over the past few years affected your professional partnership, if at all? Are you two able to collaborate as closely as you prefer to, Or does she have her hands full with the Lucasfilm properties?

    No, we’ve had to sort of separate ourselves on the business front. She runs Lucasfilm, and I now run Kennedy/Marshall, but obviously we still talk about things, and we recommend things to each other, and it’s the same but different.

    What are the goal posts that you still have in your career, the things that keep you getting up and going to work with a smile on your face?

    I love the process of this. I branched out now, as the Kennedy/Marshall company makes a lot of documentaries which I’m very excited about, telling real stories. It’s different than my day job where I know exactly what I’m doing every day on a movie. But on a documentary, you don’t know what could happen every day, and it can do a 90-degree turn like we had on “The Armstrong Lie.” So I’m excited about the documentaries we’re doing.

    I’m also dipping my toe into Broadway. I’m producing a musical based on Jimmy Buffett’s music called “Escape to Margaritaville,” which will open at the La Jolla Playhouse in May, and then hopefully go across the country and end up on the East Coast somewhere.

    That was a project I definitely wanted to ask you about. Tell me about that collaboration with Jimmy Buffett. How did this come about, and what are you hoping to accomplish with it?

    We’ve sort of been dabbling in each other’s worlds for many, many years, and love working together. There was an idea tossed around about how we would take his songs — I think they call them a “jukebox musical” — and put them into a story that really reflects his lifestyle and his world. A couple of years ago we got a couple of other people who are in the Broadway world that thought that this was a good idea, and we started working together.

    It’s really the tone of something like “Mamma Mia!” or “Jersey Boys,” where we have all the hit songs but they’re woven into a story. It is a time when audiences want to forget about the real world and go have a good time, and this is what this musical is going to be — certainly the world that Jimmy lives in. So it’s been really fun, and it’s happening!

  • Why Bryce Dallas Howard Isn’t Afraid to Go ‘Weird’ & ‘Extreme’

    Bryce Dallas Howard‘s star rating just keeps going up.

    After an increasingly high-profile movie career that includes standouts like M. Night Shyamalan‘s “The Village” and “Lady in the Water,” “Spider-Man 3,” the “Twilight,” saga and “The Help,” in 2015 Howard appeared in “Jurassic World,” which became the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time and solidified her status as a full-fledged movie star.

    This year, the actress demonstrated her continuing appeal, first headlining Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon,” the engaging, critically praised reimagining of its ’70s-era live-action/animation hybrid (the new film debuts on Blu-ray and DVD on Nov. 29), as the kind-hearted small town sheriff confronted with an orphaned child apparently raised in the wilderness alongside a not-so-imaginary friend in the form of a dragon.

    Howard then followed it up with a downright bravura performance in the not-too-far-futuristic “Black Mirror” episode “Nosedive,” playing a woman whose increasingly consuming obsession with her own popularity rating on her society’s dominant — and sometimes domineering — social media platform threatens to take it — and her — on a precipitous plunge.

    The actress joined Moviefone to reflect on her recent string of successes, consider the evolution of her career, and even look back on what it’s meant to her to see performances by her acting dynasty family — including her father, actor and filmmaker Ron Howard — captured on film and video forever.

    Moviefone: You’ve had an unabashed love of the source material, Disney’s 1977 film “Pete’s Dragon,” since you were little. It must have been especially cool to reinvent it so dramatically and have people fall in love with this version.

    Bryce Dallas Howard: Yeah. Whenever you do anything where there is a source material like an original film or a novel, or it’s a sequel of something, there’s always that element of pressure. But even more so, when it’s something that meant something to you personally as a child, I don’t know why I keep putting myself in these situations. I’m very lucky too, honestly.

    But yeah, what I loved about it when I read the script — and I’m so happy that people have seemed to have similar reactions to this — is that it didn’t step on the toes of the original movie. We’re not doing the same music.

    It’s taking the central idea of that first film and keeping that intact, that it’s a story of a boy and his best friend who’s a dragon. And it’s a live-action film with an animated character, and it’s a Disney film. But other than that, there were so many different things, new storylines. I was nervous about that, but I appreciate that as well. So I’m glad that folks seem to appreciate that.

    I met you when you were first starting out doing this, and I was first starting out in my field. Now you have this amazing body of work that you’ve been able to build. When we met, you were, I’m sure, an actress that was just excited to have opportunities.

    Exactly, yeah!

    Now, you’ve got these great collection of films that you’ve made, films that people love and have embraced. Tell me what that aspect of your professional life means to you.

    Thank you. It’s really amazing. I think because I’m a third-generation actor, I really knew to not expect success at all. I knew the statistics. I knew how difficult it is. When I was a teenager, my grandparents — my dad’s parents — brought me to Vegas when I was 16 years old, because I could walk the floor, and my grandmother loved to play the nickel slot machine. And she knew I was doing high school plays, I was going to apply to NYU. They knew that I was definitely going to pursue it in some capacity.

    And my grandmother said to me, “Do you know what the rate of the average working actor in SAG is, in terms of how many auditions it takes for them to get a job?” The average working actor, which means they’re making a living as an actor. I thought maybe one in 10. It was one in every 64 auditions.

    So, going into my career that way, knowing the very real odds, having seen the ups and downs with my family, and also knowing that theirs was actually a success story, I hedged my bets like crazy. I was always working side jobs and saving as much as I could. When I first started working in theater, but in particular when I got my first break in film with M. Night Shyamalan, and that being my first movie, I was like, “Oh my goodness — this is crazy!”

    Then getting to continue to work — while also I’ve had times away, during pregnancies and after giving birth, and all of that — and the fact that I’ve been able to continue to work is really a serious privilege, and exciting, and moving to me. It’s incredible. It’s really, really incredible.

    Yeah, to get to be in a movie like a Disney film, that I know that my kids enjoy and that they’ll grow up with, and providing those memories for my kids — as well as the same experience that I had growing up on film sets, that they’re able to do that, it’s really something that I don’t think I’ll ever take for granted.

    Potentially your work is, like so much of your dad’s work, immortal. It’s with us for generations now.

    When it works, when it’s working, it’s a euphoric experience in so many different levels. Because, like you said, there is that thing. That’s not the goal for any of us: immortality. But I know what it means having been a child and being able to watch my dad as a kid in “The Andy Griffith Show.” I know what that meant to me. I know what it means to me getting to see my dad at different ages of his life, and what his work was like, and what he sounded like.

    So, for me, all of my family who have worked in creative fields, I have that forever, and that’s something that’s priceless. So to think that that’s something that my kids could, when I’m long gone, that my relatives — even relatives that I don’t meet down the road — could maybe see that, that’s wild and surreal! I actually have never thought about that specifically until you just mentioned that. That my great grandkids and stuff … Oh, I’ve got to stay on my game!

    You are most certainly on your game in your episode of “Black Mirror,” “Nosedive.” Let’s talk about the response to that. People are just going nuts for that, and deservedly so.

    Thank you. Oh man — that job was amazing. I said yes to that without there even being a script. It was just Joe Wright, “Black Mirror”? “Yes, please!”

    It was just one of those really freeing, collaborative, sort of idyllic working experiences. It was great because it was also weird, and we were allowed to be weird — and I gained 30 pounds for it. I felt that the nature of the piece, and the subject matter of the piece, it was an extreme circumstance. Therefore, I felt like I had permission to go to extreme places.

    That isn’t always the case. I feel like sometimes with films, you not only want to look smaller, you feel like you need to act smaller, you feel like you need to not step on certain things within the scene. Whereas, that story was this person. It was like bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And to get to be that was really awesome.

    That concept — once I got what was happening in this episode, I realized it’s something that you, as an actress, have lived in — “How big is your following? What do you bring to a movie as far as audience numbers?” But now we’re all doing it with our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.

    Absolutely.

    Tell me about your thoughts on just seeing that culture go from your occupation specifically to include everyone, around the world?

    That’s another thing that I only kind of recently realized. I think it was just in talking about “Black Mirror.” When I first started doing social media, which was only not even a year ago, I was like, “What should my line be? Who am I? What kinds of photos do I post?” People are like, “Just be yourself.” I’m like, there’s folks who are going to be seeing this. I need to keep that in mind.

    And I think that there’s a certain amount of awareness of self that as someone who has any kind of a public life, you fight it a little bit, you accept it a little bit, you don’t want to be aware of it, but then you are aware of it, and you don’t want to be weird about it. That is something that I think has been very specific to folks in a public life, and that now everyone experiences.

    Everybody now is like, there’s that filter for everyone. Or there’s no filter, but there’s consequences, in a way that there wasn’t consequences before. So in a way, in talking about social media, I feel like everyone can relate a little bit to that experience of being like, “Whoops, I said something.” And it’s not just a one-on-one thing now, or just in your work place, or in your family. It’s global. Your words, your images, for everybody, are global.

    And, as of right now, even more relevant than ever.

    Absolutely. Absolutely. We’re seeing how technology is rapidly affecting our lives. “Black Mirror” in a way, each episode is a cautionary tale. We’re definitely seeing how fast our world is changing and what can result from that.

  • ‘Jurassic World 2’ Will Be ‘More Suspenseful,’ ‘Scary,’ & Surprising

    “Jurassic World” is upping the dino drama in the 2018 sequel, making it more and more difficult to hold onto your butts. Colin Trevorrow directed the 2015 film, and he’s involved in “Jurassic Park 2” but — since he’s busy with a little indie film called “Star Wars: Episode IX” — he passed the directing torch to “A Monster Calls” director J.A. Bayona.

    Trevorrow and (briefly) Bayona recently had a great interview with the Jurassic Outpost podcast, teasing what’s ahead in the sequel. Here are some highlights from the full chat, which you can listen to below.

    • “Jurassic World 2” does have a title, the directors revealed, but they wouldn’t share it or reveal when it would be made public.

    • Spanish director Bayona is known for his horror films, and Trevorrow hinted to that influence in the “Jurassic World” sequel: “It will be more suspenseful and scary. It’s just the way it’s designed; it’s the way the story plays out. I knew I wanted Bayona to direct it long before anyone ever heard that was a possibility, so the whole thing was just built around his skill set.”

    • Trevorrow noted that the kids who saw “Jurassic World” will be three years older by the time the sequel comes out. This is about making the story grow up for them, which is part of why he brought in a horror director. He said the structure of “Jurassic World” was about getting bigger and bigger as the story progressed. This sequel is inspired by the structure of the original “Jurassic Park.”

    • Bayona said of the sequel “I was very surprised by the story. … There are things you really don’t expect and it is very exciting.”

    • A real-world theme of the movie is “a mistake made a long time ago just can’t be undone. … You can’t put it back in the box.”

    • Trevorrow said the movie is about our relationship with animals, and how we share the planet with other living things. Jurassic Outpost noted there’s mention of militarization in the sequel, but there’s also mention of open source and humans living along dinosaurs, with Trevorrow favoring the latter for the sequel’s story.

    • Trevorrow said “Jurassic World 2” is “built upon the concepts and stories” created by author Michael Crichton’s novels. Trevorrow: “‘Jurassic World’ had to restart the engine. This movie has to prove it has a reason to exist.” He added that it doesn’t need to be “bigger,” and it’s not about “bigger better dinosaurs” or “bigger action sequences.”

    • Asked how much he had planned for the trilogy when making “Jurassic World,” Trevorrow said, “I knew the end. I knew where I wanted it to go.”

    According to Collider, pre-production on “Jurassic World 2” is continuing in London, while Trevorrow works on early development for Episode IX and Bayona does press for “A Monster Calls.”

    “Jurassic World 2,” which will eventually be called something else, is scheduled to open in theaters June 22, 2018.

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  • 15 Sequels That Took Effing Forever to Get Made

    %Slideshow-374221%Waiting a decade — or more — to make a sequel isn’t exactly a widely practiced business model in Hollywood. Lately, the longest you have to wait is two or three years before the next installment in whatever potential or established franchise hits theaters.

    In the last few of years, however, waiting a decade (or more) for a follow-up isn’t such a crazy proposition. (Um, hello, “Mad Max: Fury Road.”)

    To celebrate the release of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2“, one of Hollywood’s longest-gestating sequels, we present the widest gaps between two movies of the same franchise, along with whether or not they were worth the wait. (Spoiler alert: A lot of them are not.)

  • 15 Sequels That Took Effing Forever to Happen

    %Slideshow-374221%Waiting a decade — or more — to make a sequel isn’t exactly a widely practiced business model in Hollywood. Lately, the longest you have to wait is two or three years before the next installment in whatever potential or established franchise hits theaters.

    In the last few of years, however, waiting a decade (or more) for a follow-up isn’t such a crazy proposition. (Um, hello, “Mad Max: Fury Road.”)

    To celebrate the release of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2“, one of Hollywood’s longest-gestating sequels, we present the widest gaps between two movies of the same franchise, along with whether or not they were worth the wait. (Spoiler alert: A lot of them are not.)

  • Kylie’s Korner: Top 10 Films of 2015

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    Awards season is in full bloom. And while we can discuss the most-talked about films in the running for Oscar gold, I think it’s also important to look back on other noteworthy films from the last year.

    Below, my favorites of 2015.

    1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

    Quite possibly the most anticipated film of the decade, “The Force Awakens” brought tears of joy to not only my non-crying-self, but to grown men around the world. The franchise’s over-branding of consumer products over the last year, alone, brought curiosity and excitement to fans in galaxies far, far away about what the sequel had in store.

    The cast’s tight-lipped appearances and interviews made us even more anxious to see the film… and it totally delivered! The film was EPIC. Director J.J. Abrams reminds us why we fell in love with “Star Wars” in the first place. I left the theater feeling exhilarated and, although I couldn’t, I wanted to spread the word immediately about how amazing I thought it was. The fact that I would pay to go see “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” again in a theater, and cannot wait to own it on Blu-ray, solidifies this film as my No. 1 movie of the year.

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    2. The Martian

    Up until I watched “Star Wars Episode VII”, “The Martian” held the top spot on my list of favorite films for months. Most people have jumped on the “Spotlight” bandwagon, but I’m just going to put it out there: Among the list of award show Best Picture nominees, “The Martian” is the best. Great ensemble cast, awesome visual effects, perfect amount of humor, solid heart-felt film score, and a creative, well-researched screenplay. “The Martian” has exactly the right amount of ingredients to make a Best Picture recipe.

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    3. Jurassic World

    Say what you want, but the big kid inside me absolutely loved “Jurassic World,” the highly anticipated fourth film of the “Jurassic Park” franchise. With today’s technology, the dinosaurs and visual effects looked exceptional. Pure nostalgia–boosted by set pieces from the original film–is what made me really like the film. Add to that “Jurassic Park” composer John Williams’ original melodies were maintained in the sequel’s musical score.

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    4. Avengers: Age of Ultron

    As a major Marvel fan, I’m always excited for every movie the studio churns out. I find them to be made exceptionally well. Fun, bright costumes, great humor, creative and detailed storylines, and epic, well-casted characters. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is MARVEL-ous.

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    5. Creed

    This film was a pleasant surprise. I’ve had this screener for a while but only recently watched the film after all of the buzz it received. Michael B. Jordan’s physical transformation is visible proof of the commitment he made to the role. Unexpected chemistry between Jordan and veteran actor Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa himself, made me fall in love with the duo. Genuine chemistry and genuinely loveable actors is what makes an audience truly care about what happens to the characters in the film. It’s rare, but it was found in “Creed.”

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    6. The Divergent Series: Insurgent

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suZcGoRLXkU

    As a fan of “The Divergent” book series, I always look forward to the movie adaptations. Shailene Woodley steals the show in the franchise. Shai, who is well known as a “hugger,” is so genuine, kind and intelligent in interviews that it’s hard not to love every movie she’s in. There is one scene in particular in “Insurgent” that really made me fall in love with her–and that is when her character Tris is forced to confront her demons and, through truth serum, must share her darkest secret. It’s an incredibly emotional scene that rips at my heart every time. “Insurgent” is currently running on HBO and is one of those films I find myself automatically clicking on even though I’ve seen it more than 10 times.

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    7. Room

    “Room” is astounding. Following the film, I found myself mentioning the storyline and young actor Jacob Tremblay to everyone I had a conversation with. Tremblay deserves to be nominated as a Supporting Actor. Although he is only nine years old, he is incredible and delivers an impressive performance in the film- and he’s adorable in person!! “Room” is a heart-stopping, gripping and remarkable film. One of the most powerful films of the year.

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    8. The Danish Girl

    Although the film didn’t garner as much attention and love as I thought it would–and wanted it to–“The Danish Girl” is still one of my favorite films of the year. Breakout star Alicia Vikander is incredibly talented and one of my new favorite actresses. Vikander surprised industry observers when performance earned her a Golden Globes Best Actress nomination and another nod for Supporting Actress for “Ex Machina.” Personally, I think Vikander should have been placed in the Supporting Actress category for her role in “The Danish Girl.” I worry that because of her placement, the award will slip away from her when placed with names like Brie Larson (“Room”) and crowd-favorite Cate Blanchett (“Carol”). My fingers are crossed for her to win the Globe for “Ex Machina,” purely because I love her the most as a person and actress!

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    9. Spotlight

    The critics’ darling of the year, I found “Spotlight’s” true story to be shocking and an eye-opener. The most impressive thing about the film is watching interviews with the cast and the actual Boston Globe reporters. Learning about how much research the actors (Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams) did in order to portray their characters physically and mentally makes you appreciate the film even more.

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    10. Joy

    Two words: Jennifer. Lawrence. The actress shines in every role she plays, and “Joy” is no exception.

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    Although I appreciated the filmmaking of many of the awards contenders, I still go back to the films that I know I would want to watch over and over again. That is why these are my favorite films of 2015!

    Which films were your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!!

  • Box Office Passes $11 Billion Record, 2015 Is Officially Biggest Year Ever

    And what do we say, domestic box office? “Thank you, Star Wars.”

    Thanks in part to the record-breaking success of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the overall North American box office record has also been broken. For the first year ever, the domestic box office has reached — and passed — the $11 billion mark.

    According to Deadline, Rentrak confirmed on December 29 that the domestic film revenues had crossed the $11B mark for 2015, with $11.1 billion projected as the final tally by Thursday, December 31. They also gave the bulk of the $11B credit to the estimated $250 million opening weekend for “Star Wars,” writing, “In fact, if we didn’t have Force Awakens in the holiday mix, we would definitely fall short of that number.”
    Variety offered a box office comparison, noting that 2015’s total will be about $200 million more than the previous record in 2013 of $10,919,694,802. It’s also 7.2 percent ahead of the 2014 tally of $10,356,099,042.

    Of course, “Star Wars” did not save the 2015 galaxy alone. “Jurassic World” had a head start, and it is currently third on the list of domestic champs of all time at $652 million. “Force Awakens” could pass that any day now, but the dinos deserve credit for boosting the box office this year, too. “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Inside Out,” “Furious 7,” and “Minions” also did their bits to reach these record numbers.

    So congrats to 2015. Do you think 2016 can top it, or perhaps 2017 when “Episode VIII” arrives?

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  • ‘Jurassic World’ Congratulates ‘The Force Awakens’ on Box Office Record

    jurassic world, frank marshall, box office, record, star wars: the force awakens, the force awakens, star warsReceipts are still rolling in for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” but the flick has easily broken the record for best domestic opening of all time — maybe by more than anyone ever imagined — and has now also claimed the crown for best global opening ever. Both those records were set this earlier year by a fellow long-awaited sequel to a long-dormant franchise, “Jurassic World,” and the filmmakers behind that project have proven that they’re good sports about their defeat with a clever new ad aimed at the “Force Awakens” crew.

    Frank Marshall, one of the producers of “Jurassic World,” tweeted out the ad on Monday, which features a T-rex giving a medal to droid BB-8 — the same one presented to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo by Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” flick. The text of the ad says, “Universal Pictures, Steven, Frank and Colin Congratulate Star Wars The Force Awakens on the biggest opening weekend in galactic history.”


    Such displays of goodwill are common in Hollywood, going back to a tradition begun by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas in the 1970s. Spielberg famously took out an ad congratulating Lucas on “Star Wars” unseating “Jaws” as the biggest-earning domestic flick; Lucas later returned the gesture when Spielberg’s “E.T.” took back the record in 1982, and addressed a similar ad to James Cameron in 1997, when “Titanic” made its “Wars”-shattering debut.

    Most recently, “Jurassic World” was on the receiving end of such congratulations when it broke Marvel’s box office record for the domestic debut of “The Avengers.” Disney is no doubt glad to once again own the title — and probably not too eager to draw up another concession ad anytime soon. Then again, based on “The Force Awakens”‘s blockbuster numbers, it seems unlikely that it will have to.

    [via: Frank Marshall, h/t Screen Crush]

    Photo credit: Frank Marshall

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  • ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Breaks Global Box Office Record

    That was fast: After shattering numerous box office records over the weekend — including obliterating “Jurassic World‘s” domestic opening weekend tally — “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has proven that it’s an international powerhouse as well, officially breaking “World’s” global record total, too.

    In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday morning, Disney chief Bob Iger said that while numbers are still rolling in, “The Force Awakens” is currently on track to earn approximately $528 million over its first three days, surpassing “World’s” opening weekend global total of $524.9 million. It previously bested that flick’s domestic opening total of $208.8 million, too, with early estimates suggesting “Force” had earned about $238 million.

    But the good news continues for Disney: Iger said Monday that those initial estimates were actually lower than what the company is currently tracking, and “The Force Awakens” could wind up with a domestic opening haul of a whopping $247 million — or possibly even higher.

    “That’s an incredible weekend,” Iger told Bloomberg, in one of the biggest understatements ever.

    With all the tickets it’s already sold, expect “The Force Awakens” to remain a box office powerhouse for the foreseeable future. The records can only keep falling from here.

    [via: Bloomberg, h/t Variety]

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  • Here Are Google’s Top 10 Trending Movies of 2015

    Everything right now is about “Star Wars” but, according to Google, that was not the top trending movie of 2015. Somehow, “The Force Awakens” didn’t even make the top 10.

    Google just dumped a ton of data to cap off 2015 (even though it’s not over) and tell us what we did with our computer time.

    Here’s the list of trending movies:

    There you have it. Dinos rule. Congrats, “Jurassic World.” However, “Star Wars” got its own separate section, with its own lists, and the note that the first official “Force Awakens” trailer, unveiled in October, is one of the most-viewed movie trailers of all time.

    Here are some other 2015 Google trends that may surprise you:




    Interesting, no? Here are more top 10 lists (the dog one is pretty funny). And here’s Google’s Year In Search 2015 video, in case you want to view down memory lane:

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