APEX Hollywood Shortlist: Horror Films, Hobbits and Violent Years Make News in Final B.O. Weekend of 2014
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- The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, Relativity Media
Hammer Films and Relativity Media’s The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death gave Bilbo Baggins a real run for his money by scaring up $7.7M to The Hobbit finale’s $8.3M on its opening day. But when all was said and done, Woman ended the last weekend of 2014 with a solid fourth place finish of $15M. Finishing in first place for the third weekend in a row was The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with $21.7M, followed closely by Disney’s Into the Woods with $18.7M and Universal’s Unbroken with $18.1M.
Also opening wide over the weekend was Oscar-nominated writer-director J.C. Chandor’s much-buzzed about crime world saga, A Most Violent Year (A24). Starring Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, and Selma lead David Oyelowo – all three of whom have been nominated several times this season for their work in the film – Violent took in a bloody good $43M, 197K per screen on four screens over the weekend, and looks to be a heavy-hitter come Oscar time.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fox Searchlight Pictures
And with just nine days remaining until the Academy Award nominations, award season got a lot more interesting yesterday when the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA) announced the 10 films nominated for its prestigious Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. Coming off a banner year, Fox lead all comers with three nominated titles, Birdman, Gone Girl, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, followed closely by Sony Pictures Classics, which scored nominations for the producing teams behind their films Foxcatcher and Whiplash.
- American Sniper, Warner Bros. Pictures
Broken down by studio, the other contenders were Warner Brothers Pictures’ American Sniper, IFC’s Boyhood, The Weinstein Company’s The Imitation Game, Open Road’s Nightcrawler and Focus Features’ The Theory of Everything.
Long considered one of the industry’s leading Oscar indictors, Zanuck Award winners have gone on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards 18 out of the past 25 years. So, this is one shortlist you definitely want to be on.