Jake Gittes

March 20 or April 3, 2015 could both work. So could early October if they're feeling adventurous enough. (Another huge, attention-grabbing set-piece or two shot in IMAX would really help as well). I don't really think there's a good spot left for it during Summer '15 unless Paramount decides to push Monster Trucks or Terminator 5 to a different part of the year.

I think either Dec 25, 2015 or May '16. March '16 could work if they figure they could earn more money in a less competitive environment. Angels & Demons didn't fare as well as they'd hoped in May '09.

I'd really love it if he went all out and combined two puns. "Box Office 'Catches Fire' With 'Hunger Games' Sequel Blazing In"

Moviegoers hungry for 'Catching Fire'

Right, and Inferno is scheduled for December 2015. It's got no chance of getting pushed forward if Howard stays at the helm.

Inferno is definitely not moving up because Ron Howard is shooting another film right now, likely for the late 2014 release. If anything it's gonna get pushed back.

A much more positive example than TESB, Godfather or something else like JP2, though. I'm sure plenty of people, myself included, will be happy if TA2 "only" decreases 7.5% from TA.

Didn't a lot of critics dislike TESB in its original release? I'm sure audiences liked it because you don't make $200m in 1980 without that, but the acclaim wasn't universal. It certainly wasn't considered better than ANH.

I think it has a very tiny chance to increase if it opens to 225+ and is as good as TA. I'd say 650 is the ceiling, while 500 is the floor.

Age of Ultron would need to be a SM3-like disappointment to peak at 450.

I think you're putting too much stock in The Past there.

I think he misspelled it as "richzang", which made it all the funnier.

I'd say 105-120 and 260-280, respectively. They should reach the important milestones (100 and 250) before the end of the year, and then the final numbers will depend on their post-Oscar noms expansion.

They're both Top 5 Cronenberg IMO.

FYC:

I still listen regularly to the sequels' scores as well. Mona Lisa Overdrive rocks.

THR's writers roundtable with Clooney, Grant Heslov, Julie Delpy, Nicole Holofcener, John Ridley, Danny Strong and Jonas Cuaron http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/roundtable-george-clooney-6-top-653250

Last time I saw The Matrix sequels (around three years ago), I still enjoyed them a lot - even the Wachowskis' more misguided ideas always go hand in hand with original, daring stuff, and especially in this day and age I appreciate Reloaded and Revolutions as $150 million blockbusters that never stop being interesting on some level. They go all-out in terms of action, too, and they get away with it - all the action sequences in Reloaded and the final, ridiculously epic (but not quite epically ridiculous) fight in Revolutions could still make me all giddy, whereas the destruction in something like STID would sooner put me to sleep than excite me. Regarding Trinity's death, I agree that it could've been handled better, but I think it's worth it just for that beautiful tiny moment when she sees the sun for the first and the last time. That bit honestly never failed to make me tear up.

Granted I have yet to see the film, but I think it's still extremely important to strike the perfect balance when dealing with a subject like this. You can't just throw two hours of people suffering on screen and expect everyone to be at your feet, otherwise McQueen would never have been the first filmmaker to attempt to make such a serious, confronting film about the subject. People suffering is inherently powerful, yet there can always be either too much or not enough of it, it can always be sugarcoated to some extent or made so relentless and brutal for its own sake that at some point it's not effective anymore and the audience just becomes numb. If McQueen truly avoided all those traps - and according to almost every review of the film I've read, he did - it's no small achievement on his part.

No, but it's only the 4th worst third weekend hold of all time! http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/theaterdrops.htm?sort=bochange&order=ASC&p=.htm

You bet

'Smaug' something something Box Office 'Desolation'

Assuming 12YAS gets a legit wide release next weekend, it might do $35m by the time the Oscar noms are announced, and who knows how much more after that. $60-80 million total is definitely possible for it.

The ending of Claire Denis' BEAU TRAVAIL. I'm a bit undecided about just how good the rest of the film is - it's definitely very good, but I suspect it might be even better on a second viewing - but that final scene is so completely unexpected and yet so perfectly fitting, absurd, beautiful and tragic all at once. Made Denis Lavant even more awesome in my eyes, which I didn't think was possible after Holy Motors and all his other collaborations with Carax.

Avengers.