On Thursday The Avengers passed the $400 million mark and, as promised some time ago, here are the top 10 fastest films to reach that number at the box office in North America, unadjusted for inflation.

Did you know The Avengers is only the 10th film to ever reach $400 million (in a single box office run)? So if you think about it for a second, this is the not just the top 10 fastest to $400 million, it’s the entire damn list. Now for those wondering, The Hunger Games sits at $388.5 million after 56 days and should pass $390 million by the end of the weekend. There is still a good chance that Katniss Everdeen will eventually make her way to $400 million.

10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) – It took 74 days for this mess to reach $400.1 million, finishing with $402.1 million.

9. Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace (1999) – Only the 2nd film to ever pass the mark in a single theatrical run, The Phantom Menace needed 67 days to make $401.4 million, stopping at $431 million.

8. Spider-Man (2002) – Taking 66 days to reach $400 million, arguably one of the most popular superheroes of all time, Spider-Man ended its run with $403.7 million. This year’s reboot of the series, The Amazing Spider-Man, can only dream of such heights. But crazy things can happen, just look at The Avengers.

7. Titanic (1997) – The highest grossing film of all time for 12 years, Titanic hit $402.5 million in 66 days, closing its initial theatrical run with $600.7 million. Thanks to a 3D re-release back in April this year, the film now sits at $658.4 million.

6. Toy Story 3 (2010) – This animated masterpiece made it to $400 million in 58 days, running out of juice at $415 million.

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) – Johnny Depp, pirates, Jerry Bruckheimer, Legolas, Keira Knightley, and a huge Kraken were just some of the ingredients of this Disney blockbuster. It needed 45 days to reach $401.2 million and the film ran out of booty to plunder at $423.3 million.

4. Shrek 2 (2004) – While not exactly on the same level as Toy Story 3 quality-wise, it made a lot of money, and still the highest grossing animated film of all time. This one took 43 days to gross $400.9 million, totalling $441.2 million in the end.

3. Avatar (2009) – This little film made $415 million in 23 days and didn’t stop until $749.7 million during its initial run. Now Avatar, the current highest grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation), has made $760.5 million, a number you won’t see beaten for quite some time.

2. The Dark Knight (2008) – While Avatar made the most green, this film is the undisputed king of reaching milestones in record time. Unfortunately that statement is no longer true because there is a new champion in town. Regardless, The Dark Knight made $400 million in 18 days and with a total of $533.3 million it is still the #1 highest grossing superhero film of all time in North America, at least for two more weeks or so.

1. The Avengers (2012) – After an opening weekend of $207.4 million, this film was bound to break more than a few records during its box office run. So it was fastest to $100 million, $200 million, $300 million, and now $400 million in just 14 days. Right now not even the sky seems to be the limit for this superhero juggernaut, ready to win yet another weekend.

With more and more movies making epic amounts of money extremely fast, reaching $400 million is not as hard as it once was and there are definitely a few contenders on the horizon. No matter how you look at it, The Dark Knight Rises will make a lot money, very much guaranteed a top 5 on the chart above. Then there’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Avatar 2 (2015), Avengers 2 (?) which are all very likely to end up on this list in the years to come.

So besides The Avengers, what other film you see making over $500 million next?

Read similar posts to Box Office: Fastest films to $400 million on Filmonic

A week ago we looked at the highest 10-day grossers of all time, now I bring you sort of a sequel to that list, the top 10 fastest films to ever reach $300 million in North America. Now as is with most sequels, there might be more than a few similarities, after all, sequels come from a lack of original ideas, right? But you’ll notice a few changes like, for example, the complete absence of a certain web crawler that was featured twice last time around. And yes, The Hunger Games has a spot on this top 10.

10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – This took 19 days to reach $302.8 million and ended up with $352.3 million. Interestingly, Dark of the Moon just barely missed the last top 10 with $223.3 million in 10 days ($225.1 million was the number for 10th place).

9. Toy Story 3 (2010) – The 3rd entry in the Pixar animated series needed 18 days to get to $301.8 million. That’s like 3 weekends and a day, very impressive and hopefully, when Toy Story 4 comes out (and as long as it’s just as good), it will get there faster. Toy Story 3 finished with $415 million.

8. Shrek 2 (2004) – Another film that wasn’t in my last top 10, Shrek 2 made it to $300 million in 18 days but unlike Toy Story 3, it got there with $302.6 million. Box office wise, this was the highpoint of the franchise with a total of $441.2 million.

7. Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith (2005) – 17 days to reach $300.3 million and it ended up with $380.2 million. While this is the fastest in the series to reach that mark, it’s only 3rd when taking into account the overall totals (if we don’t include re-releases, it’s 2nd after Phantom Menace).

6. The Hunger Games (2012) – The newest film on this list, it got here in 17 days with $302.4 million. Since every single film found here ended up with at least $350 million, it’s safe to say The Hunger Games should at the very least match that number at the end of its run.

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) – 16 days with $311.3 million and this one finished with $423.3 million. It remains by far the highest grossing film in the franchise.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) – The last Harry Potter adventure needed 15 days to hit $303 million and finished with $381 million. This was only the 3rd Potter film to pass $300 million and it got there much faster than The Philosopher’s Stone (52 days) and Half-Blood Prince (77 days).

3. Avatar (2009) – The current highest grossing film of all time got to $308.8 million in 15 days and didn’t stop before $749.7 million (during its initial run). What’s more surprising than the success of this film is the fact we doubted James Cameron again, just like we did when Titanic was on the verge of release. While I don’t think Avatar 2 will match the total of the original, it should reach $300 million much faster.

2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) – Here stands probably the most hated film on this top 10. Trashed by everyone, Revenge of the Fallen still managed to hit $305.5 million in just 14 days and was out of juice at $402.1 million, where it stopped.

1. The Dark Knight (2008) – Batman got to $313.7 million in only 10 days, absolutely trashing every gross speed record by a wide margin. The film went on to a $533.3 million total, making it (at the time) only the 2nd film to ever pass the $500 million mark. This summer The Dark Knight Rises has a lot to live up to and I’m hoping it can deliver.

A few last words are supposed to come here and since I’m all out of ideas, I’ll finish this in a very factual way while trying to maintain my serious face in the process. You see, only 37 films have made it past $300 million in North America and while The Dark Knight was the fastest (10 days, in case you skipped to the end, cheater), Forest Gump came in last place (193 days). Also for the Lord of the Rings fans out there (I’m one) that might be wondering why there’s no film from the trilogy on here, well, they were a few years ago. Now Return of the King is the highest of the franchise in 14th with 24 days to hit 300 million.

I promise I’ll do a fastest to $400 million top 10 as soon as we have a new film reach that mark. What film you think will be the next to make $400 million?

Read similar posts to Box Office: Fastest films to $300 million on Filmonic

The first 10 days of a film’s release usually cover the debut weekend and the following week up to the end of the 2nd weekend. The Hunger Games made $248.4 million in that time and while it’s a lot of money, other movies made more. I thought this would be an interesting chart to look at so today I give you the top 10 highest 10-day grossers of all time in North America, unadjusted for inflation. Interesting fact, The Hunger Games is the only non-sequel you’ll find in this top 10.

10. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $225.1 million ($373.5 million total) – Spider-Man films have always made a lot of money in a short amount of time, so obviously the 2nd one was no different. It should be noted this opened on a Wednesday, so it had a different gross pattern compared to other films found here.

9. Toy Story 3 (2010) $226.8 million ($415 million) – The 3rd and, at the time, supposedly last Toy Story, was a huge success. With its 10-day accounting for only 54.7% of the total gross, Toy Story 3 has no other equal on this chart when it comes to box office legs.

8. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) $230.9 ($296.6 million) – The fastest selling Twilight is not the biggest. New Moon was a very frontloaded flick that in fact made 77.9% of its total in the first 10 days of release. For reference, the first Twilight made $119.7 million in 10 days, or about 62.1% of its $192.7 million total.

7. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) $236.9 million ($380.2 million) – Can’t have a “top something of all time” without a Star Wars flick, now can we. Take The Phantom Menace, that was the biggest 10-day grosser of all time for a good 2 and a half years. Then Revenge of the Sith held that same title for about 1 year and 2 months.

6. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $240.2 million ($336.5 million) – Notice how this one was $15 million ahead of Spider-Man 2 after 10 days yet it finished $37 million lower, ouch. This year in July Sony is rebooting the series with The Amazing Spider-Man. Expectations are high and it won’t be an easy task for that film to match previous incarnations of the friendly neighborhood spider.

5. The Hunger Games (2012) $248.4 million ($248.4 million, still running) – Oh look, something that isn’t a sequel! Really impressive for Katniss Everdeen’s first adventure and I’m looking forward to seeing Catching Fire or the two part Mockingjay crack this top 10 in the future.

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) $258.3 million ($423.3 million) – Arghhh, there be pirates here matey, one is Jack Sparrow, nay, Captain Jack Sparrow! The 2003 origin was one of the most popular films of that year, both with audiences and critics, so a sequel was expected to perform well. Funny that On Stranger Tides made less in its entire run than Dead Man’s Chest made in just 10 days. Those Pirates aren’t as popular as they used to be.

3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) $269 million ($402.1 million) – Like Pirates, this came after a very successful first entry. But, while Dead Man’s Chest isn’t exactly a favorite among Pirate fans, although still decent, Revenge of the Fallen is considered the black sheep of the Transformers series.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) $273.5 million ($381 million) – The final chapter in the most popular movie franchise of all time, Deathly Hallows Part 2, for the most part, did not disappoint. Interesting enough, at one point Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) was the biggest 10-day grosser of all time, for about 6 months. That’s one thing the final Potter could not achieve.

1. The Dark Knight (2008) $313.7 million ($533.3 million) – If you didn’t see this one coming, then you are a terrible liar. With The Dark Knight Rises just 3 and a half months away, I can’t wait to see where that will fall into this top 10. My best bet is at the very least 4th with a chance of 1st.

With movies making more money and faster than ever before, these kinds of charts change all the time so over the years the title of highest 10-day grosser of all time went to films that aren’t here anymore. In order we’ve had Jurassic Park (1993) with 120.1 million ($357 million), then stolen by Independence Day (1996) with $124.2 million ($306.1 million) and after that The Lost World: Jurassic park (1997) with $138.9 million ($229 million).

If you have any favorites on this list, maybe even contributed to their gross by purchasing a ticket, which one was it?

Read similar posts to Box Office: Highest 10-day grossing movies of all time on Filmonic

Top Tom Hanks movies

Besides Sandra Bullock, the newly Oscar nominated Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close also stars Tom Hanks. Now he might not have had the best couple of years but he is still frigging Tom Hanks. The legendary actor, producer, writer, and director has been around for over 30 years, so quite a career. Since he is just as much an international star (and has been for a long time) we’re going to count the top Tom Hanks movies based on his biggest box office hits worldwide, unfortunately unadjusted for inflation.

10. Catch Me if You Can (2002) $352.1 million – Directed by Steven Spielberg and also starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr., a teen that successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks. Tom Hanks plays the FBI agent assigned to catch Frank. Catch Me if You Can is great film from start to finish, never boring, definitely worth your time.

9. Apollo 13 (1995) $353.5 million – Tom Hanks plays Jim Lovell in this Ron Howard film about the true story of the troubled Apollo 13 mission. Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon and Ed Harris also star in this great movie.

8. Toy Story (1995) $362 million – The first big screen feature film of now famous animation studio Pixar, Toy Story is a wonderful movie that answers a simple question: What happens with your toys when there’s no one around? I was 8 when I first saw this in theaters and 23 when I last saw it at home. Still a great movie regardless of age. Tom Hanks voices the lovable cowboy Woody and two more equally fantastic sequels followed over the next 15 years.

7. Cast Away (2000) $429.6 million – “Wilson! Wilson!” Screams that, 11 years later, I still remember. Wilson is a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball and Tom Hanks’ co-star in the movie Cast Away. It sounds crazy if you haven’t seen the film, I know, but Wilson really was for Tom Hank’s character, Chuck, what Friday was for Robinson Crusoe. This is obviously a castaway story and for fear of not spoiling anything else, I’ll stop here by saying that you simply must watch Cast Away.

6. Saving Private Ryan (1998) $481.8 million – A World War 2 epic set during the invasion of Normandy, it tells the story of a group of soldiers lead by Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) and their search for private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), the last surviving of four brothers. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it’s one of the best war movies of all time, in my opinion.

5. Toy Story 2 (1999) $485 million – Often enough sequels don’t live up to expectations but that wasn’t the case with Toy Story 2, considered by some actually superior. Personally, I’m split here; it’s like having to choose between your kids. So again, Woody, Buzz and the rest of Andy’s toys return for a new adventure.

4. Angels & Demons (2009) $485.9 million – Based on the Dan Brown mystery novel with the same name, Angels & Demons is a prequel to The Da Vinci Code and a superior flick in every way. Ron Howard directs Tom Hanks again here.

3. Forrest Gump (1994) $677.4 million – A fantastic movie that won Tom Hanks his second Oscar, Forest Gump is based on the novel with the same name by Winston Groom. While not the smartest tool in the shed, Forest Gump lived quite a life, he taught a young Elvis how to dance, became part of the All-American Collage Football Team, meet John F. Kennedy, joined the army, fought in Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor, meet another president (Lyndon B. Johnson), played ping-pong for the US Army Team against China, meet yet another president (Richard Nixon) and so on. Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away), Forest Gump is a phenomenal movie that can’t be missed by anyone.

2. The Da Vinci Code (2006) $758.2 million – Now this is a movie you can miss. It’s the very definition of how to spoil a good premise with a mediocre and boring movie. Yeah sure, it’s controversial and stuff but is that enough? If so then go right ahead, The Da Vinci Code is not a bad movie but I’m certainly not one to recommend it.

1. Toy Story 3 (2010) $1,063.2 million – 11 years worth of expectations and Toy Story 3 did not disappoint one bit. The end of a trilogy and a series, at least until rumors of Toy Story 4 started circling. You know, Pixar hasn’t failed us yet, why start now, Cars 2 be damned.

Two Oscars and five Golden Globes later, there are many other noteworthy Tom Hanks movies that didn’t make this top 10 but only two of those have a special spot in my heart. One is The Green Mile, a superb film based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. The other is Sleepless in Seattle, a heart-warming film just as great now as it was 19 years ago. Now that I think about it, I really love Big also. So what’s your favorite Tom Hanks film? Comment below!

What are your top Tom Hanks movies?

Read similar posts to Box Office Analysis: Tom Hanks on Filmonic

While appearing on BBC Breakfast in the UK promoting Larry Crowe Tom Hanks revealed that work has begun on a Toy Story 4. You can view the video here, and Hanks makes his revelation around the 2:40 mark.

When asked if there will be a Toy Story 4 for his new granddaughter to see Hanks says, “Yeah…yeah, I think they’re working on it now”.

Toy Story 3 couldn’t have been a more perfect ending to the trilogy, but with it making over $1 billion worldwide at the box office Pixar and Disney have a very big incentive to continue on with the franchise. Do you want to see Toy Story 4?

Read similar posts to Toy Story 4 in the works according to Tom Hanks on Filmonic

The Academy Awards didn’t do much to surprise us this year. All the acting categories were won by the expected nominees, and The King’s Speech took home the Best Picture prize. The royal biopic also picked up Best Actor for Colin Firth, Best Director for Tom Hooper, and Best Original Screenplay for David Seidler.

Inception tied The King’s Speech for the most awards with a whopping four statuettes, winning Cinematography, Visual Effects, and both Sound prizes. The Social Network followed with three wins: Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, and Original Score.

The biggest eyebrow raise, in terms of awards, came when Tom Hooper grabbed the Best Director trophy. Although going in it appeared to be a toss-up between him and David Fincher (The Social Network’s director), I think a lot of people expected Fincher to win on the grounds that he is a much more familiar face around Hollywood. Hooper’s win seems to reinforce the correlation between Best Picture and Best Director winners, as well as between DGA and Oscar winners.

One of the biggest disappointments of the night was Inside Job’s victory over Exit Through the Gift Shop for Documentary Feature – not because Inside Job is undeserving of the award, but because I really wanted to see notoriously secretive graffiti artist Banksy accept an Oscar.

All in all the awards ceremony seemed to be a battle between the older generation and the younger generation. Case in point: The Social Network vs. The King’s Speech – Facebook vs. British Royalty. This battle was also nicely represented by 94 year old Kirk Douglas fighting over his cane with the young guy staged as his assistant.  Likewise, 29 year old Natalie Portman (Black Swan) beat out 52 year old Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) for Best Actress.

On the surface it seemed like the Academy was going for younger, cooler feel, having fresh-faced Anne Hathaway and James Franco host, and presenting goofy videos like the autotuned sound bites from Toy Story 3, Eclipse, The Social Network, and Harry Potter.  Ultimately, however, the older side won out, with the traditional feel-gooder, The King’s Speech, walking away with top honors, and Randy Newman winning his second Oscar for Best Original Song after a mind-boggling twenty nominations over his career.

While I enjoyed the new face of the Oscars (following James Franco’s twitter feed over the course of the evening was highly entertaining), I hope its classy, old school vibe never dissipates completely. The tributes to Bob Hope, Gone With the Wind, and Lena Horne, were all very nice. Especially compared to Melissa Leo’s wonderfully uncensored acceptance speech.

You can see a list of all the winners and nominees here.

Read similar posts to Post-Oscar analysis: Few surprises on Filmonic

The Academy Awards are less than a week away and all the other major awards shows have made their opinions known; it is time for final predictions to be made. Here is my mildly self-indulgent Oscar predictions list.

Best Picture:
Let’s start with the big one. A month ago I would have said (and I believe I did say) that The Social Network had this one in the bag. I was wrong. The Facebook film has lost most of its Best Picture buzz in the last few weeks and The King’s Speech has taken over top spot, crushing the competition at the BAFTAs last week. With any luck this momentum shift hasn’t come too late and The King’s Speech will take home the prize. It all depends on how many stubborn Academy voters are still clinging to The Social Network’s bandwagon.  If it were up to me Inception would reign victorious, with Black Swan and Toy Story 3 as the other top contenders. Unfortunately for me (and Christopher Nolan) the Academy didn’t ask for my opinion.

Official Prediction: The King’s Speech

Best Documentary Feature:
I’ll be honest – I haven’t seen all the documentary nominees and it’s not a category that develops a lot of discussion. This year there just isn’t a Bowling for Columbine or March of the Penguins to create huge buzz. However, based on what I’ve seen so far this awards season, only one of the nominees has been a regular presence: Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Official Prediction: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Foreign Language Film:
Like the documentary category, there hasn’t been a huge Foreign Language standout either.  Biutiful probably has the best shot, as it has consistently been nominated this season. Also, it is the only nominee with a nomination in another category (Javier Bardem’s Best Actor nom), which will likely give it more credit in the eyes of Academy voters. Still, I won’t be surprised of the Canadian drama, Incendies, wins instead.

Official Prediction: Biutiful

Best Supporting Actor:
Up until the BAFTAs Christian Bale had won almost every single Supporting Actor trophy he could find for his role in The Fighter. And for good reason. Bale is well-known for his astonishing physical transformations (see The Machinist), and The Fighter is no exception. Any trace of Bruce Wayne is gone and Bale’s acting totally immerses you in the character of Dickie Ecklund. However, Geoffrey Rush, who pulled off a phenomenal performance in The King’s Speech has been a consistent nominee this season, and was finally rewarded at the BAFTAs. His win may be partly attributed to the BAFTA’s favoritism toward British films and the strong momentum The King’s Speech has been gaining. Whatever the reason, Rush’s win makes him a viable contender for the statuette. The other three nominees, while all putting forth incredible performances, don’t have the buzz or the critical reception surrounding them to garner a victory.

Official Prediction: Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Best Supporting Actress:
This category has been a delightfully unpredictable crapshoot this year. No single nominee has stood out above the pack. The momentum of The King’s Speech might propel Helena Bonham Carter toward a win, especially after her BAFTA victory, although I hope that won’t be the case.  Jacki Weaver (The Animal Kingdom) had some decent buzz early in the awards season, but it has mostly faded away. Hailee Steinfeld, the True Grit darling, has a decent shot since the Academy loves the Coen brothers and has a history of favoring young actresses in this category. Where we are mostly likely to see a win, however, is from The Fighter duo – Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. Both of them have been ubiquitous this year (minus a couple notable snubs – I’m looking at you BAFTAs) and the fact that there are two nominations from the same movie adds clout to their chances. Melissa Leo has been the stronger nominee, winning a Golden Globe and a number of other awards, so I’m placing my bets on her.

Official Prediction: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Best Animated Feature:
Toy Story 3, hands down. I’ll be stunned and horrified if anything else wins. I liked How To Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist has a cool retro thing going on, but they just don’t compare to Pixar’s latest gem. Don’t believe me? The fact that it’s the only nominee in this category that also has a Best picture nomination should convince you.

Official Prediction: Toy Story 3

Best Adapted Screenplay:
While The Social Network has been losing some serious Best Picture momentum, Aaron Sorkin has not lost any for his script. He has won at the WGAs, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, the Scripters, and too many more to mention. Even in awards where there is only one screenplay prize (like the Globes, where they don’t split original and adapted screenplays), Sorkin has won.

Official Prediction: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay:
The only reason any of these nominees has a chance is because The Social Network is in the other category. That being said, the battle is likely between David Seidler (The King’s Speech) and Christopher Nolan (Inception). Nolan is in contention purely due to his WGA win – the WGA’s strict eligibility restrictions prevented Seidler from being nominated, which left the field wide open for Nolan to step in. The fact is, however, that Seidler has the upper hand at the Oscars thanks to his huge number of other wins.

Official Prediction: David Seidler (The King’s Speech)

Best Actor:
This one shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Colin Firth has been cleaning up this category right from the beginning. His performance as King George VI in The King’s Speech is about as close to flawless as you’re going to find. In another year we might have seen a younger actor like James Franco (127 Hours) or Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) take home the top prize. Javier Bardem (Biutiful) and Jeff Bridges (True Grit) have both received honors recently, so the Academy shouldn’t feel obligated to snub Firth in order to honor them.

Official Prediction: Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

Best Actress:
Earlier on this season this was actually a tight race. Both Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan) came strong out of the gate. Since then, however, Bening has all but disappeared off the radar and Portman has continued to soar. I like to think that this is because people have good taste. The other three nominees shouldn’t pose much of a threat. The only way I can see Natalie Portman losing is if a whole bunch of Academy voters decide Annette Bening is too long overdue for a win.

Official Prediction: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Best Director:
This one might be a bit of a heads or tails call. Personally, I’d scrap all five nominees and hand the award to Christopher Nolan (Inception). Unfortunately, the Academy won’t allow me to do that. Trust me, I asked. The Best Director race looks like it has come down to Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) and David Fincher (The Social Network), which is more or less a reflection of the Best Picture race. The Academy has a long history of giving Best Director and Best Picture to the same movie. In fact, in the last 30 years, the Best Picture has won Best Director 24 times. Similarly, the Directors Guild of America award has been nearly perfect in predicting the Best Director Oscar, only missing the mark six times since its inception over six decades ago. In light of the fact that The King’s Speech is the Best Picture frontrunner and Tom Hooper won the DGA award, it would seem that he is the one to beat. But Fincher has continued to snag directing awards even when The Social Network loses the Best Picture category (ie. at the BAFTAs).  Fincher also has the “long overdue” card in his hand, having directed films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fight Club, and Se7en, whereas before The King’s Speech Hooper was almost exclusively a TV director. It’ll be close, but I expect Fincher will end up getting love from ol’ Oscar.

Official Prediction: David Fincher (The Social Network)

All of those other minor/technical awards:
I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m an expert on sound editing or sound mixing (or even really understand the difference between the two) or any of the other minor/technical awards. I expect that Inception will walk away with a number of them (the rotating hallway scene alone should give it the Visual Effects award) and Alice in Wonderland is looking good for the Costume Design statuette. The Social Network’s musical score (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) looks to be the front runner in that category, and my makeup artist mother says that Barney’s Version should nab the makeup award.

The 83rd Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 27 and will be hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. You can see all the nominees here and feel free to make your own predictions in the comments section below!

Read similar posts to Filmonic’s Oscar Predictions on Filmonic

Sequel after sequel, adaptations and for once (in a long time) the worldwide top 10 matched the North American top 10. By matched I mean the same 10 movies that were there are here, the difference is in their order as you will see after the break.

10. How to Train Your Dragon $494.9 million

Just $1.7 million made the difference between this and Clash of the Titans. In the end we can say quality triumphed.

9. Despicable Me $527.8 million

What more can I say that wasn’t already said here, impressive, impressive and impressive again. $69 million budget, $527.8 million worldwide box office, now that’s what I call return on investment.

8. Tangled $522.3 million – projected to finish with over $550 million

$194 million in North America was impressive but to get $328 million more from around the world is really something and this is still going strong in many countries. Sure, the reported budget is somewhere around $260 million, making this by far the most expensive animated flick ever, but as I mentioned some time ago, that cost also includes development of previous versions of Rapunzel, all ultimately canned. Tangled managed to not only pay for itself but also those projects, all the more amazing.

7. Iron Man 2 $622.1 million

Less amazing was Iron Man 2 with only a slightly higher number then the $585.1 million that Iron man made worldwide back in 2008.

6. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $693.5 million

While this made a bit more in North America, it actually made less around the world ($393 million versus $413.2 million) so it came short of the $709.8 million of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. This series might have hit the maximum it can ever expect to achieve. Breaking Dawn Part 1 in November this year can prove me right or wrong.

5. Shrek Forever After $750 million

While in the US Shrek is dropping with every new release, outside the thing actually grows (in money, not attendance, obviously). This 4th Shrek reached an all time series high of $511.2 million, more then twice as much as it did in North America. We might just see Shrek again after all, I mean who can say no to so much money.

4. Inception $823.6 million

We finally get to the big boys starting with Inception. Also not much more to say here so I will leave it to this, The Dark Knight made $468.5 million outside North America, Inception made $531 million. All in all this should be good news for The Dark Knight Rises, coming in 2012.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 $948.3 million

The first Harry Potter made $974.7 million worldwide and the closest to that has been this one. Part 2 coming this summer should ultimate become (thanks in no small part to 3D) the highest grossing in the series.

2. Alice in Wonderland $1,024.3 million

Maybe we didn’t get another Avatar in2010 but what we got instead are 2 titles grossing over $1 billion worldwide, each. Alice in Wonderland was the first one and it was also the first 3D movie that came after Avatar, definitely no coincidence here.

1. Toy Story 3 $1,063.2 million

This is what happens when you have a highly anticipated movie that actually manages to meet expectations, this is the kind of movie that you just have to see regardless of age, skin color or religion. Yeah sure, if you start digging you notice that it is number 1 mostly thanks to the $415 million it has made in North America and that Alice in Wonderland with $690.1 million and Harry Potter 7 with $654.8 million made more internationally but Toy Story 3 is the highest grossing Pixar movie to date, both in North America and around the world and those two numbers put together add up to more then any other title this last year.

Note: I put a picture of Alice in Wonderland up there because Toy Story 3 already had its picture a week ago when I did the top 10 for North America, so it was only fair to give Alice a bit of credit also, after all it did make more money internationally.

Read similar posts to 2010 top 10 box office worldwide on Filmonic

Now that nothing is moving up and down anymore and everything is finally in place we can take a final (we not really, you’ll see soon) look at 2010, more specifically the 10 highest grossing 2010 released movies in North America, after the break.

10. Tangled $193.4 million

What is that you say, a mistake? How can an animated Disney movie not made by Pixar be in a top 10, why you would have to go all the way to 1999 to see another such feat. Tarzan with $171 million was 6th that year. Well no mistakes here, Tangled is the hit Disney waited a decade to come.

9. How to Train Your Dragon $217.5 million

Ok, quick reminder here, action + animation – talking animals =  bad box office prospects. Well obviously since this is in 9th place you can guess we have right here the exception to that rule not to mention it got a frigging Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. DreamWorks are moving forward with a sequel scheduled for 2013.

8. Shrek Forever After $238.7 million

The final chapter in the Shrek saga is also the worst box office performer but all is good for DreamWorks because as one falls (Shrek), another will rise (Dragon). Now don’t get me wrong, $238 million is still a lot of money but coming from a series that peaked at $441.2 million in 2004 with Shrek 2, it looks like this ogre is starting to run on fumes.

7. Despicable Me $251.5 million

Ok, notice a trend going on here? Let me see, animated, animated, animated and animated, yeap, definitely something is going on here. Basically Despicable Me performed beyond even the most wild expectations and to make things even more impressive, this was the first animated feature for studio Illumination Entertainment. Best of all, it only cost $69 million (a fraction of the normal cost of this movies), obviously a sequel is already in production.

6. Inception $292.5 million

Hail to the king baby, Nolan somehow managed to do it again. This and Despicable Me are the only original works found in this top 10, everything else is either a sequel or adapted from something so give it up once again for Chris Nolan cause he really is the man. He had the guts to take his dream project and make it into a $200 million epic (props to Warner also because it takes a lot of confidence in a man to finance this kind of thing) without sacrificing nothing of his vision while also making it a huge commercial hit. Anyone else might have tried to dumb this down but not Nolan, nope, not Nolan.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 $293.4 million

The 7th in the Harry Potter series exactly in line with what we have come to expect from this already historical box office performing franchise. Next summer the final chapter will go for the Potter record ($317.5 million) with the help of 3D.

4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $300.5 million

Ok, I have to hand it to the vampire soap opera, it finally managed to beat Harry Potter (but only in North America). Also in the tradition of Harry Potter the final chapter of this series will be split in 2 parts, first one coming in November.

3. Iron Man 2 $312.4 million

Don’t know about you guys but I was expecting more from this, at least more then what Iron Man made in 2008 ($318.4 million). I mean everything was in place but it just forgot to click. So, can the 3rd make more or is this the best we’ll ever see from Iron Man, The Avengers will tell us in 2012.

2. Alice in Wonderland $334.1 million

In 2005 Warner released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to $206.4 million. Alice in Wonderland comes from the same Tim Burton – Johnny Depp collaboration this time with Disney behind it. A year ago I could not picture this making Charlie and the Chocolate Factory numbers and look at it now. But this is nothing, wait until you see the worldwide numbers.

1. Toy Story 3 $415 million

What a wonderful history this series has, Toy Story back in 1995 was the first feature film for Pixar and it made $191.7 million. I was 8 years old when I first saw it in a theater with my class, I remember like it was yesterday. Back then it was something to behold, unlike anything I had ever seen. Toy Story was the highest grossing movie of 1995. Forward to 1999 and Toy Story 2 is released to even more success, $245.8 million, enough for 3rd that year. 11 years later and a total of 15 years since Pixar started this series, Toy Story 3 is out finishing one of the most beautiful and loved stories of all time with the success it deserved. While it took Pixar 15 years to get back on top at the box office, they have always been number 1 when it comes to quality animation.

Read similar posts to 2010 top 10 box office in North America on Filmonic

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts displayed their unabashed favoritism toward British films this Sunday by showering The King’s Speech with seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Colin Firth. The biggest surprise is probably the fact that Tom Hooper did not grab the directing prize after his DGA win. Instead, he watched David Fincher (The Social Network) walk away with that one.

The other huge shocker was Christian Bale’s (The Fighter) Supporting Actor loss to Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech). Bale has swept almost every single Supporting Actor prize, big and small, this awards season, so it was unexpected to have him go home empty handed, especially this close to the Academy Awards. I truly hope it doesn’t hurt his chances at an Oscar win.

The King’s Speech also nabbed the Supporting Actress award for Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Queen Elizabeth. It makes me wonder if the BAFTAs would have blindly given The King’s Speech the Best Actress prize too, had there been a nominee.

Most of the rest of the awards were predictable: Darren Aronofsky (director of Black Swan) accepted Natalie Portman’s Best Actress award (she’s super pregnant and didn’t attend the ceremony); Aaron Sorkin was honored for The Social Network’s Adapted Screenplay; Toy Story 3, of course, won Best Animated Film; and Inception was given three of those awards that nobody is very interested in (Sound, Production Design, and Special Visual Effects).

It’ll be interesting to see how much of an impact the BAFTAs have on the Academy Awards. You can see the full list of BAFTA nominees and winners here.

Read similar posts to The King’s Speech cleans house at BAFTA awards on Filmonic