The Playlist

Weekend Box Office: 'Underworld: Awakening' Sucks Its Way To #1, While 'Red Tails' Shoots Into #2

By Gabe Toro
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January 22, 2012 12:08 PM
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9 Comments

News

If there was ever a weekend that better illustrated the divide between audience and critics, we certainly can't remember it. Following a financially successful franchise pattern thus far, "Underworld: Awakening" joined the other films in the series in opening to over $20 million. In the grand scheme of this vampires vs. werewolves franchise, this opening comes in lower than the second installment, but a shade beyond the first and third.

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Weekend Box Office: Audiences Smuggle 'Contraband' Into The Number One Spot Over 'Beauty & The Beast 3D'

By Gabe Toro
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January 15, 2012 1:43 PM
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2 Comments

Box Office

After a year which sported the lowest attendance numbers in sixteen years, studios are looking for all the bright sides they can find. Thus far, 2012 has provided them, with big number one debuts for a cheap horror acquisition and, now, a solidly mid-budgeted star vehicle. "Contraband" nailed the top spot this weekend, of the four day holiday weekend, that was slightly down from last year. However, this is a solid win for Universal, who spent $40 million on the Mark Wahlberg project, gambling that the film would open uncharacteristically big for an R-rated January offering.

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In Theaters: Sneak Some 'Contraband' Into 'Beauty And The Beast 3D' Or Make Some 'Joyful Noise' About 'We Need To Talk About Kevin'

By Katie Walsh
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January 13, 2012 3:14 PM
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1 Comment

News

Hello chickadees, once again we have another weekend of random January releases so that we may have some time to catch up on our awards contenders. Time is running out! The Golden Globes are THIS VERY WEEKEND. Who will be the drunkest?? Probably some country singer with a best song nominee (never forget, T-Bone Burnett). So the studios are throwing us a bone and not releasing anything worth our time and effort. I will be liveblogging the Globes action, so won't you please come back on Sunday night and join our party?

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Mark Wahlberg Talks "First Choice" Casting & Giovanni Ribisi Reveals What Docs Helped Him Prep For 'Contraband'

By Jen Vineyard
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January 12, 2012 4:08 PM
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0 Comments

News

Whenever Mark Wahlberg is a producer on a film he's starring in, he sits down with the director and the casting director (usually Sheila Jaffe) and comes up with a wish list of who he'd like to be in the cast -- "Contraband" is the first time he got "our first choice for most of the parts in the film."

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Review: In 'Contraband' The Humans Aren't Nearly As Compelling As The Bullet Holes

By Gabe Toro
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January 11, 2012 6:30 PM
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0 Comments

Reviews

Chris Farraday, the protagonist of “Contraband,” is a popular movie construct. Handsome, wide-shouldered, and with a movie-star smile, he’s tough enough to have done some Very Bad Things, but also principled enough to be retired by the time we meet him. Chris is an ex-drug smuggler, and the life doesn’t seem to have done much for him. Clad in form-fitting jeans and tee-shirts, he still hangs out at the same ratty bars with his low-life former criminal acquaintances. It’s a character as walking, talking movie shorthand: we know what he was, what he is, and, likely, what he’ll have to become again.

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Giovanni Ribisi Says Josh Brolin Is A "Berserker" In 'Gangster Squad'; Reveals In The Works Skateboarding Documentary

By Jen Vineyard
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January 10, 2012 3:18 PM
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0 Comments

News

Giovanni Ribisi's been playing a string of less-than-savory guys in his films of late -- the corporate shill Selfridge in "Avatar," the Hitler-loving drunk Moburg in "The Rum Diary," and the violent drug-smuggler Briggs in this week's "Contraband." So is it any wonder that Ribisi would want to explore a few characters who aren't quite dirtbags?

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Watch: New International Trailer For 'Contraband' Shows Off Lots Of New Footage From The Film

By Ben Shearn
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November 16, 2011 9:21 AM
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4 Comments

News

When the first “Contraband” trailer hit in September, its conventional action pacing, strong doses of Mark Wahlberg machismo and virile use of the song "Red Nation" promised two possible outcomes: 1) A passable or even solid genre flick or 2) Yet another inhabitant in the forgettable Mark Wahlberg action-movie ghetto (“Four Brothers,” “Shooter,” “Max Payne”).

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'X-Men: First Class' Star Caleb Landry Jones To Lead Brandon Cronenberg's 'Antiviral'

By Simon Dang
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November 3, 2011 4:36 AM
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0 Comments

Sarah Gadon, Malcolm McDowell, Douglas Smith, Matt Watts & James Cade Also On BoardUpdate: THR reveals that Sarah Gadon (who is in David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis"), Malcolm McDowell, Douglas Smith, Matt Watts and James Cade are also on board.

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Watch: Mark Wahlberg Gets Pulled Back Into The Life In Gritty, Familiar 'Contraband' Trailer

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 29, 2011 5:37 AM
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5 Comments

Ruh roh. Mark Wahlberg is getting pulled back into DA LIFE. If you ever wondered what a Liam Neeson thriller mashed up with your average Jason Statham movie -- with a much better cast -- would look like, here's "Contraband" to give you an idea.

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Empire Big Screen '11: First Footage From 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' Is Flat-Out Terrific

By Oliver Lyttelton
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August 12, 2011 3:07 AM
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6 Comments

Plus Glimpses Of 'Contraband,' 'The Raven' & 'Immortals'After a mixed summer ("Fast Five" and "Bridesmaids" performed well over expectations, "Cowboys and Aliens" well under them), it's interesting to see where Universal goEs from here, considering recent changes in management and all. They've got a fairly strong commercial line-up heading into the end of 2011 and the start of 2012, and gave punters a first look at many of those films in London's O2 arena as part of the Empire Big Screen event.

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