BadAtGender

1) No 2) No 3) No 4) Yes 93.4m

Yes. I mostly wanted to check the list to see how likely it is that Frozen turns into the biggest non-Japanese film of all time. While I hope it can get there, the 26.2 billion that Titanic earned is a huge hurdle to cross. If mfantin turns out to be right regarding the size of Golden Week, then I'll start to believe it's possible.

It's a few days old, but I was curious how the chart of non-Japanese films looks at the moment. I trimmed this down from Corpse's chart of the top films of all time in Japan. Frozen is #17 on the list: 01 ¥26.20 billion - Titanic (1997)02 ¥20.30 billion - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)03 ¥17.30 billion - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)04 ¥15.60 billion - Avatar (2009)05 ¥13.70 billion - The Last Samurai (2003)06 ¥13.50 billion - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)06 ¥13.50 billion - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)08 ¥13.40 billion - Armageddon (1998)09 ¥12.85 billion - Jurassic Park (1993)10 ¥12.70 billion - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)11 ¥11.80 billion - Alice in Wonderland (2010)12 ¥11.00 billion - The Matrix Reloaded (2003)12 ¥11.00 billion - Finding Nemo (2003)12 ¥11.00 billion - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)15 ¥10.90 billion - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)16 ¥10.80 billion - Toy Story 3 (2010)17 ¥10.73 billion - Frozen (2014) [6 weeks in release] It probably cracks the top 10 next week?

The plot is convoluted and it takes a while to ramp up, but I love that even while there were plotting issues with the film, the pacing is really good. It does a slow burn with a few action scenes here and there, but it never blows the good stuff. In the last half, it's basically action sequence after action sequence and each somehow manages to be more thrilling and amazing than the previous. I was a bit surprised to come out of it and see that, including trailers, I'd spent almost three hours in the theater, because it really didn't feel that long. As for the plot, I think that this was the film Evans wanted to do when he realized the scope was too big, so they went and made The Raid instead. It feels like the connection between the two was a bit forced, because Rama could have been pretty much anyone and this film would have worked. Even so, what works in here works so damn well that it blows away any other action film released this year. Also, with how good that car chase sequence was, I kinda want Evans to get a crack at a FastFurious film.

Yes! It's a rare sequel that manages to increase the scope from the first without feeling like it's lost what made the first so great. Now I need to update my sig.

Just finished The Raid 2. Now that was a goddamn amazing film.

How the hell will this work with Bekmambetov as director? Are they going for deliberately campy?

I kinda hope it does break out like that, just for Films' sake in the Casino.

I'm mildly surprised that Frozen is putting up a good fight. I like it better than TDK, but I generally assume I'm in the minority in that opinion. I'm astounded that The Avengers is even a consideration against FotR, though. Seriously, way back at the beginning, I expected FotR to take it the entire way.

Yeah, OS, PotC 4 didn't drop. It was the highest grossing of all four films. In fact, each film has grossed more OS than the previous, and seen an overall increased percentage of the total gross come from OS.

1. How to Train Your Dragon 22. Big Hero 63. The Boxtrolls4. Edge of Tomorrow5. Maleficent6. Inherent Vice 7. Jupiter Ascending8. Cinderella9. Fas7 & Furious10. Into the Woods

Total? That seems about right.

Is Maleficent counted as a May release?

$8,675,309

Fellowship Frozen

Heaven is for Real $1,870,128 -23% 2,417 0 $774 $36,350,186 1 Sony / TriStar 2 Captain America: The Winter Soldier $1,773,553 -20% 3,825 -113 $464 $207,075,438 3 Disney

So far: 1 Transcendence $763,412 -26% 3,455 -- $221 $13,679,504 1 Warner Bros. 2 Draft Day $482,041 -15% 2,781 0 $173 $20,933,692 2 Lionsgate / Summit 3 Divergent $460,848 -16% 2,486 -624 $185 $135,437,501 5 Lionsgate / Summit 4 A Haunted House 2 $450,763 -27% 2,310 -- $195 $10,575,242 1 Open Road 5 Oculus $433,440 -17% 2,648 0 $164 $22,656,829 2 Relativity Media 6 God's Not Dead $402,304 -11% 1,796 -64 $224 $49,502,911 5 Freestyle / Pure Flix 7 Noah $400,171 -19% 2,537 -745 $158 $94,669,031 4 Paramount

Which?

I really want to see Kosinski work when he's not also a writer on the project. His visual sense is outstanding. I've yet to be convinced that the writers selected are going to do a good job, though.

As producer, I believe. I don't think he's ever intended to direct them himself. Last I heard, he was exploring TV options.

Final tally: $193,435,058

It's taking me a bit of time to think through them all.

Thor is an upper tier superhero film. It's got the best hero/villain dynamic of any MCU film, by a pretty considerable margin. It's a personal favorite. Cap 1 is very good, but the second half is pretty messy. Also, Red Skull is oddly not compelling as a villain. Thor 2 is terrifically fun, but there are a number of questionable choices therein. It works best when playing up the relationships that existed in the first film. Cap 2 has some good ideas, but the whole package is a mess, and is a pretty bad film. The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am. Thor > Cap 1 > Thor 2 > Cap 2 (This past weekend, I had a conversation with a man who was wearing a Captain America t-shirt. I asked him what he thought of the new film. He didn't like it, and mentioned that his sixteen-year-old son nearly walked out of the theater in disgust.)

That was a good weekend for me.