Last month The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 15 films had been selected for consideration for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 84th Academy Awards. Today those 15 movies were narrowed down to 10.

Here are the movies still in the race:

“Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”
“X-Men: First Class”

For those wondering, the 5 movies no longer in the race are Thor, Sucker Punch, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Cowboys & Aliens, and Super 8.

On January 19th the 5 official nominations will be selected after members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee view 10-minute excerpts from each film. The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. Billy Crystal will host the actual ceremony on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Which movies do you think should get a VFX nod?

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the 15 films that have been selected for consideration for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 84th Academy Awards.

In early January members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee will narrow the list down to 10, and then on January 19th the 5 official nominations will be selected after members view 10-minute excerpts from each film.

Here’s the list of films in alphabetical order:

“Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Cowboys & Aliens”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
“Sucker Punch”
“Super 8″
“Thor”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”
“X-Men: First Class”

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. Billy Crystal will host the actual ceremony on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Which movies do you think should get a VFX nod?

Read similar posts to 15 movies in line for VFX Oscar at Filmonic

Update: Amazon has now made Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides available to pre-order for its October 18th release via the links below:

- DVD
- Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo
- Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides producer Jerry Bruckheimer today sent out a tweet informing his followers that the release date for the movie on DVD and Blu-ray is October 18, 2011.

No specifications were released, but on his official blog Bruckheimer hinted they would be forthcoming. He also posted the cover for the Limited 3D Edition:

To date Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has made $1.022 billion at the worldwide box office, $785.4 million of which is from international markets. The movie is already highly profitable, so the DVD and Blu-ray sales will probably go towards filling the hole Mars Needs Mom left in Disney’s pockets when it flopped back in March (made only $40 million on a budget of $150 million).

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides crossed the $1 billion dollar mark over the weekend and overtook The Dark Knight to become the 7th highest grossing movie of all time (without taking inflation into account).

The fourth movie in the franchise has only made $233 million in the US (the next lowest franchise performer The Curse of the Black Pearl is way ahead at $305 million), but overseas it has amassed a total of $774 million, mainly thanks to strong performances in Japan ($95m), Russia ($63m) and Germany ($60m).

Here’s the all-time list as it stands today:

1. Avatar – $2.7B
2. Titanic – $1.9B
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – $1.1B
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – $1.066B
5. Toy Story 3 – $1.063B
6. Alice in Wonderland – $1.02B
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – $1.007B
8. The Dark Knight – $1.001B
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – $974M
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $963M

Out of the 10 Disney produced 5 of them and Johnny Depp stars in 4. Disney + Johnny Depp = $$$

A script for Pirates of the Caribbean 5 has already been turned in to Disney by writer Terry Rossio, so we can expect another outing for Captain Jack sometime over the next 3-4 years.

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While it might have disappointed in North America, Kung Fu Panda 2 is doing well just about everywhere else setting itself on track to pass the original Kung Fu Panda, at least internationally thanks in no small part to the more expensive 3D tickets. Some spots under, Pirates again while The Hangover Part II passed a certain original and obviously, a lot more after the break.

It was June 2008 when Kung Fu Panda was unleashed in theaters to awesome box office results, finishing with a hefty total of $631.7 million worldwide. No surprise that 3 years later we have Kung Fu Panda 2, a sequel with a lot to live up to. 3D was a major new addition that Dreamworks thought would propel Panda to new heights for the series. 26 days later and only $148 million in North America makes it look like they failed but, like with many movies now, international markets save the day once again. Kung Fu Panda 2 made another $58.2 million from 54 countries last weekend for a grand total of $288.2 million so far and $433 million worldwide. With still a few big markets left to open and only Cars 2 stealing audiences (starting this week), Kung Fu Panda 2 is poised to finish with over $600 million worldwide, more then enough to give DreamWorks and Paramount confidence in the already planned Kung Fu Panda 3.

Pirates, arrrrrgh, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the Bloomless and Knightless 4th part in the absurdly popular Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney series, grossed another $26.3 million for a bloody gigantic $735.2 million internationally,. That is more then any in the series and second only to 3 other major releases, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Titanic and Avatar. The first one will be surpassed in a few days, second and third are out of reach. If we count the rather disappointing North American gross, we get a worldwide total of $956.7 million and that means a few things:

• this is only the 11th movie to ever pass $950 million;
• this is now the 3rd Pirates entry in the top 10 and the 5th Disney movie worldwide;
• just a week or so more and it will become the 8th movie to pass the billion mark;
• Johnny Deep is in 4 of the top 10 highest grossing movies ever worldwide;
• did I mention Pirates are insanely popular?

The Hangover Part II, some might say an average sequel to a great comedy. I would definitely agree with that statement, but this is all you need really, a good first movie and the rest can be mediocre because it will sell regardless. $22.4 million from 55 markets and $257.6 million so far. Worldwide The Hangover Part II is at $490.3 million, more then the $467.4 million of The Hangover, all done without the help of 3D inflated tickets, just a damn good first movie.

This is already longer then it should be so I will keep it real short from here on. X-Men: First Class made another $21 million for $164.6 million and a worldwide of $286.4 million. It passed the original X-Men internationally ($139 million). Green Lantern, number 1 in North America, opened in a few markets with $16 million and will expand in weeks to come. Super 8 is slowly growing with $12.1 million and $21.5 million so far internationally.

Other noteworthy movies:

• Fast Five is now at $591.9 million, 60th worldwide;
• Rio has $468.4 million, 99th worldwide;
• Thor is at $435.3 million, 118th worldwide;

Read similar posts to Panda takes top spot internationally at Filmonic

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the worst performing movie of the franchise in the US, having just reached $220 million when the next lowest performer The Curse of the Black Pearl is way ahead at $305 million.

That doesn’t matter though, not when you have the rest of the world literally throwing money into Disney’s pocket. As of today it’s international gross stands at $735.2 million, and it’s just $7 million away from surpassing The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to become the third highest-grossing movie ever overseas behind James Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic. I blame 3D.

Johnny Depp’s fourth outing now sits at $956.8 million worldwide, and has taken Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1‘s spot as the 10th highest grossing movie of all time (without taking inflation into account). At its current rate On Stranger Tides could very well cross the $1 billion mark and end up at #7 or #8 on the all time list.

Here’s the all-time list as it stands today:

1. Avatar – $2.7B
2. Titanic – $1.9B
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – $1.1B
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – $1.066B
5. Toy Story 3 – $1.063B
6. Alice in Wonderland – $1.02B
7. The Dark Knight – $1B
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – $974M
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $963M
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – $956M

Out of the 10, Disney produced 5 of them. This success pretty much guarantees that Pirates of the Caribbean 5 will happen at some point over the next 3-4 years whether US audiences are interested or not.

Read similar posts to Pirates of the Caribbean 4 now one of the 10 highest grossing movies of all time at Filmonic

Update: Amazon has now made Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides available to pre-order for its October 18th release via the links below:

- DVD
- Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo
- Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy

Blu-ray.com noticed that Disney have set plans to release this collector’s treasure chest of 15 discs which will include all the Pirates of the Caribbean films, including On Stranger Tides, on Blu-ray and DVD.

No release date or specifications have been revealed, but I imagine it will be released towards the end of 2011.

Read similar posts to Disney to release 15-disc Pirates of the Caribbean DVD/Blu-ray chest set at Filmonic

At the beginning of 2011 Disney had already hired Terry Rossio to start writing the script for Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Rossio has co-written all of the Pirates films with his writing partner Ted Elliott, but went solo this time.

Now The Hollywood Reporter has word that Rossio handed in his script to Disney over the weekend, but it doesn’t look like filming will begin anytime soon as Johnny Depp wants to “hold off for a bit” to keep the movies “special”.

From THR:

In an interview published in the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine, Depp says he hasn’t seen the new Rossio screenplay but he isn’t opposed to reprising his iconic Jack Sparrow character yet again.

“It boils down to story, script and filmmaker,” Depp tells THR. But the actor isn’t clamoring to jump back into the puffy shirt until a little time has passed after Pirates 4. He didn’t relish the brutal schedule that saw him making Pirates 2 and Pirates 3 back-to-back in order to meet studio-mandated release dates in summer 2006 and 2007, respectively.

“It’s not something where I would say, ‘Let’s shoot it next month to get it out by Christmas 2012,’” he says. “We should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me.”

Disney waited 4 years between At World’s End and On Stranger Tides, so depending on when Depp wants to get going again it may be another 2 or 3 years before we see Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which is fine by me.

If Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is received well on May 20th Disney are likely to re-hire director Rob Marshall (that’s if he wants to make another one). It may be too early to tell whether Geoffrey Rush will return as Barbossa or Penélope Cruz as Angelica, but we will probably find out once the film is released.

Read similar posts to Don’t expect Pirates of the Caribbean 5 anytime soon at Filmonic

For some reason i’m not as hyped for Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as I was for the previous movies. There’s no Kraken, no giant maelstrom and no impending Pirate battle (even though it only ended up being between two ships, the anticipation and expectation was still here). Nothing seems epic. However, on the flip side it seems to be returning to the style of The Curse of the Black Pearl, which many fans have been wanting.

Today Disney have released a new featurette introduced by director Rob Marshall which runs though the characters, both new and returning, and shows off some new footage.

Watch below:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is released May 20th, will include “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids and… Penelope Cruz” as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa sail to find the Fountain of Youth under the orders of King George II, only to find Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after it too. Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter who is a woman from Sparrow’s past and he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s just using him to find the Fountain of Youth.

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Update: You can now pre-order the soundtrack from Amazon on CD or Digital Download

Despite having a new director in Rob Marshall for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides composer Hans Zimmer is back once again to provide the music for the soundtrack.

Film Music Reporter got their hands on the score track list, which provides the titles of the 11 tracks from the original score by Hans Zimmer and Rodrigo y Gabriela, as well as four remixes by electronic music artists Photek, Static Avenger, Ki:Theory and Adam Freeland.

Minor spoilers in the track-listing below:

1. Guilty of Not Being Jack Sparrow
2. Angelica
3. The Pirate That Should Not Be
4. On Stranger Tides
5. Palm Tree Escape
6. Angry and Dead Again
7. Blackbeard
8. Mermaids
9. South of Heaven’s Chanting Mermaids
10. Mutiny
11. End Credits
12. The Pirate That Should Not Be (Remix)
13. Angry and Dead Again (Remix)
14. Palm Tree Escape (Remix)
15. Angelica (Remix)

The soundtrack will go on sale on May 17, 2011, three days before the release of the movie on May 20th. You can listen to samples below:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will include “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids and… Penelope Cruz” as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa sail to find the Fountain of Youth under the orders of King George II, only to find Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after it too. Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter who is a woman from Sparrow’s past and he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s just using him to find the Fountain of Youth.

Read similar posts to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides soundtrack details at Filmonic