One film to rule them all. There’s little doubt it will be the top banana, but could it break the $100 million threshold for the weekend? It’s entirely possible.
Individual Commentaries
Wesley Lovell: I went so far as to get the prior film from Netflix so I could be caught up and possibly watch this new film. On the limited release front, Boyhood is an easy winner. Peter J. Patrick: Finally, a week with two potentially strong Oscar contenders; one for Best Picture and one for Best Special Effects. Tripp Burton: One of my most anticipated movies of the year comes out this weekend, so I’ll be there. Thomas LaTourrette: The reboot of Planet of the Apes was surprisingly good, and this one also has strong word of mouth, so I am looking forward to it. Boyhood sounds interesting, but I am not as sure of it.
4 responses to “Looking at the Weekend: Jul. 11-13, 2014”
Mike Kelly
Question: Have Andy Serkis’s motion capture performances been eligible for Academy Award consideration, or has he just not received enough votes for a nomination? Also, the same question for Screen Actors Guild eligibility. His work in LOTR has earned him inclusion in the SAG cast award.
They have been eligible in that there is no rule against it, but the mindset among actors has always been that what is “on screen” counts. If they can’t see you, they won’t vote for you, a sentiment that goes at least as far back as Claude Rains in The Invisible Man.
Andy Serkis has been on the fringe of a nomination since Lord of the Rings. The only really serious “novelty” contender, though, has been Scarlett Johanssen in Her. She was deemed ineligible by the Globes, but eligible by SAG who failed to vote for her anyway. There may have more than prejudice against the novelty with that omission though. It was Samantha Morton who originated the role on set opposite Joaquin Phoenix but was then unceremoniously replaced by Johanssen who dubbed all her lines without interacting with the other actors.
Thanks for the explanation, Peter. Didn’t a similar thing happen to Martin Balsam when Stanley Kubrick replaced his voicing of HAL with Douglas Rain? I can’t imagine Balsam would have matched Rain’s wonderful reading. I think Brad Pitt’s nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button cracked open the door a little bit, considering the many digital enhancements to his on screen image.
Either I didn’t know or don’t remember Martin Balsam being the original voice of HAL, but it seems odd for Kubrick to have used an actor with such a distinctive well-known voice as Balsam’s. The unknown Douglas Rain brought an other-worldly mystique to the role that would be hard to top.
One film to rule them all. There’s little doubt it will be the top banana, but could it break the $100 million threshold for the weekend? It’s entirely possible.
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