Alice throws a tea party atop the UK Box Office Chart
Having smashed the opening day record for a March release across the pond, Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland has repeated the trick on these shores having scooped £10.5 million on its debut. That‘s, officially, the biggest March bow ever in the UK (topping the previous record by none other than Mr. Bean no less) and the biggest opening gross of Tim Burton‘s career in Blighty. On the way to this particular milestone the Johnny Depp–starring spectacular found time to be crowned the biggest 3D opening of all time in the UK – beating Avatar‘s previous record of £8.5 million. Needless to say then that Burton‘s quirky adaptation takes its rightful place at the summit of the Chart forcing Avatar, in its twelfth week on general release, down to number 2.
It‘s been a remarkable showing from the George Romero–inspired The Crazies. Still going relatively strong, the zombie–fest has dug its heels in and stays at number 3 with Peter Jackson‘s The Lovely Bones falling two places down to 4. The hand–drawn charms of Disney‘s The Princess and The Frog are still winning over the little ones at 5 as John Travolta‘s all–out actioner, From Paris With Love, actually climbs two places to 6 this week.
Greek mash–up Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief is finding it tough going at 7 this week and is forced to duke it out with the Amy Adams–starring rom com Leap Year at 8. Speaking of insipid love–ins, Valentine‘s Day continues to fall down the Chart at 9 with Colin Firth‘s Oscar–nominated performance all that‘s keeping A Single Man from falling from our graces at 10.
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Liv Tyler and Patrick Wilson near The Ledge
Liv Tyler, whose elfin–like charms were last seen in home invasion thriller The Strangers, will be lighting up our screens once more in the suspense–a–thon The Ledge. First–time writer/director Matthew Chapman is doing his damndest to fill this slow–boiler with some A–list talent including the likes of Terence Howard (Iron Man) and Patrick Wilson (The Watchmen).
The Hollywood Reporter has the full scoop with The Ledge revolving around one man precariously standing on a high–rise ledge. Apparently, he must jump by noon for reasons unknown forcing the policeman below (Howard) from preventing the stranger buying the farm in spectacular fashion whilst solving the suicide–inducing riddle.
The film is already in gear and shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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Bigelow puts the Hurt Locker on Avatar at the 82nd Academy Awards!
Very much unlike the continuing travails of Cheryl and Ashley, the 82nd Academy Awards was an affair purely between two people. In the red corner stood the self–proclaimed King of The World with his sci–fi game–changer Avatar whilst in the blue corner was his ex–wife and a woman with an eye on the record books. The result of this titanic tussle? Well, Oscar does like to throw one or two surprises our way and last night was no different. Kathryn Bigelow bested her former beau by nabbing the Best Director gong AND Best Picture accolade for incendiary Iraq war pic The Hurt Locker. Bigelow became the first woman to have ever won the director‘s prize. Scooping up six awards in total, The Hurt Locker was the night‘s big winner. That left James Cameron and his Na‘vi kinsmen with their tails between their legs as Avatar could only muster three technical award nods – on this night, at least, Avatar was consigned to the annals of history with the Academy neglecting its record–breaking Box Office haul.
True to form the acting awards offered no surprises whatsoever. It was fifth time lucky for Jeff Bridges as he took home the Best Actor prize for his turn in Crazy Heart whilst Sandra Bullock impressed with her acceptance speech for Best Actress in The Blind Side. Christoph Waltz, in perhaps the most one–sided category of the evening, danced off with Best Supporting Actor for his barnstorming work in Inglourious Basterds. Meanwhile Mo‘Nique quite rightly won her Best Supporting Actress gong for Precious.
Pixar‘s phenomenal Up, in a clear formality, got its hands on the Best Animated Feature Oscar with Argentina‘s entry El Secreto de sus Ojos (The Secret of Her Eyes) taking home gold in the Best Foreign Language Film stakes – a real surprise considering it was up against A Prophet and The White Ribbon.
A full list of winners can be found below;
BEST PICTURE:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
DIRECTING:
**Winner** Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
**Winner** Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
**Winner** Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
**Winner** Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
**Winner** Mo‘Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
**Winner** Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
District 9, Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
An Education, Screenplay by Nick Hornby
In the Loop, Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Up in the Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds, Written by Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger, Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Up, Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
**Winner** El Secreto de sus Ojos, Argentina
Ajami, Israel
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru
Une Prophete, France
The White Ribbon, Germany
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
**Winner** Up
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
ART DIRECTION:
**Winner** Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
**Winner** Avatar, Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half–Blood Prince, Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker, Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds, Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon, Christian Berger
COSTUME DESIGN:
**Winner** The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell
Bright Star, Janet Patterson
Coco Before Chanel, Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Monique Prudhomme
Nine, Colleen Atwood
FILM EDITING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Avatar, Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9, Julian Clarke
Inglourious Basterds, Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, Joe Klotz
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
**Winner** The Cove
Burma VJ
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home
MAKEUP:
**Winner** Star Trek
Il Divo
The Young Victoria
ORIGINAL SCORE:
**Winner** Up, Michael Giacchino
Avatar, James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer
ORIGINAL SONG:
**Winner** "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from Crazy Heart, Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36, Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from Nine, Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
SOUND MIXING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
SOUND EDITING:
**Winner** The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up
VISUAL EFFECTS:
**Winner** Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
**Winner** Music by Prudence
China‘s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Rabbit a la Berlin
ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
**Winner** Logorama
French Roast
Granny O‘Grimm‘s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper
A Matter of Loaf and Death
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:
**Winner** The New Tenants
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
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Alice in a Box Office Wonderland!
Seriously. Who saw this coming? Tim Burton‘s jaunty take on Alice in Wonderland opened this weekend to rapturous Box Office figures claiming $116.3 million on its debut weekend! That‘s a new, all–time record for a film that‘s not a sequel/remake (although you could argue the case for both in this instance). Smashing the previous record for a March opener (previously held by 2007‘s 300), Alice easily claimed the top spot thanks to the sixth biggest debut weekend ever! Another new entry at 2 this week is crime pic Brooklyn‘s Finest. From the guys who brought you Training Day, and starring notorious hard men Wesley Snipes and Richard Gere (??), Brooklyn‘s Finest took a mighty fine $13.5 million in its opening weekend.
Last week‘s champion, Martin Scorsese‘s Shutter Island, has seemingly tired of setting its own records and falls down to 3 this week whilst managing to keep an arm‘s length away from Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan in buddy comedy Cop Out at 4. Having missed out on Oscar glory last night, there‘s more bad news for Jimbo as his Avatar falls one place to 5 although I‘m sure that domestic gross of $720 million lets him sleep easy tonight. Insanity might be infectious in The Crazies but punters are fleeing this George A. Romero redo as it falls to number 6.
Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief is down two places to 7 and keeping up its rivalry with mushy love fest Valentine‘s Day at 8. Thanks to The Dude‘s Oscar success, The Crazy Heart is still vying for a spot in our affections and climbs one place to 9 thus consigning Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried to the murky depths in Dear John at 10.
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Scott's Alien Prequel in 3D!
It seems that nary a day goes by without one film or another declaring their intent to film in 3D a la James Cameron‘s blue alien saga (the name of which escapes me). Even Shutter Island‘s very own Martin Scorsese has revealed his fondness for the medium and went a step further by suggesting that your more highbrow, Oscar–nominated offerings should get the hi–fidelity treatment. Could you imagine Precious in 3D? Frying pans literally flying out of the screen – terrifying.
Today it would seem that Ridley Scott has thrown his hat into the ring after Alien art–director Roger Christian, chatting to the guys over at Shadowlocked, hinted that the Alien Prequel will be shot entirely in 3D. Xenomorphs coming out of the walls and out of the screen? Yes please.
"Ridley told me some of his ideas when we were here in Toronto [Film Festival]. He has a very clear understanding of where this should go," comments Christian. "They kind of stopped dead one of the greatest horror franchises there‘s ever been, and it had legs to go on. So I‘m hoping he‘ll revive another three. The world certainly wants it, and the fans want it – everybody."
Scott has remained relatively tight–lipped about the prequel but did reveal his plans to take a closer look at the genesis of the space–faring killers. The film will be set some thirty years prior to Alien and may even feature the Space Jockies – the race of creatures that designed the Xenomorphs as a biological weapon.
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