Thompson on Hollywood

'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Opens Big Worldwide, Leads Strong Easter Weekend Box Office Top Ten

Box Office

"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" opened to a solid domestic three-day $41-million gross and twice-as-big international $80-million total to lead a strong Easter holiday weekend. The top ten grossed $139 million, improving on last year's one-week later holiday by $24 million while equaling the total for the exactly one year ago. The weekend total improved $12 million from last week. Business is not yet exactly booming, but it seems to have stabilized, marking a big improvement on 2013 thus far.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 31, 2013 1:16 PM
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Watch: 'Oz the Great and Powerful' Opening Credit Sequence, Where All the World's a Stage

Video

As Sam Raimi's "Oz the Great and Powerful" makes its way towards $200 million at the domestic box office (and $400 million worldwide), check out the film's inventive opening credit sequence, which features CG pop-up cutouts that progressively become trippier and trippier.

By Beth Hanna
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March 25, 2013 12:32 PM
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Weekend Box Office Top Ten: 'Oz' is Magic, 'Call' Marks Berry Comeback, 'Wonderstone' Warners' 5th Loser

Box Office

With “Oz: The Great and Powerful” holding well and “The Call” opening better than expected, this weekend showed more 2013 weakness. Total gross for the top 10 films was around $93 million, up from last year’s $88, but down from last weekend’s $124 million. Although several lower budget films are finding steady audiences and Warner Bros.’ big flop “Jack the Giant Slayer” has stabilized, the total take still represents a sign of ongoing concern for where this year is heading.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 17, 2013 1:33 PM
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Weekend Box Office Top Ten: 'Oz: The Great & Powerful' Boosts Overall Box Office, 'Dead Man Down' Is DOA

Box Office

Led by a strong $80-million opening for “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” the total gross for the weekend was up from both the previous week and the previous year, something that has rarely happened this year so far. The uptick wasn’t enough to reverse the trend so far -- $125 million for the top 10 this year compared to $117 in 2012 and $90 million last week – but it still is welcome, more so after the flop of “Jack the Giant Slayer” last weekend. “Oz” had the biggest opening since “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” pre-Christmas, at around the level predicted by industry sources.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 10, 2013 1:34 PM
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'Oz' Brings Boffo Box Office, Rest of Field Is Anemic

Box Office

Disney's "Oz: The Great and Powerful" had a strong opening yesterday, grossing $24 million for the best opening of the year so far--heading toward a likely $75-million-plus total-- and greatly outpacing last week's "Jack the Giant Slayer," which also cost $200 million. But despite the relief both Disney and the industry will feel from this big gross, the underlying problems otherwise seen since the holidays remain.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 9, 2013 4:18 PM
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Weekend Preview: From Artful 'Beyond the Hills' to Mainstream 'Oz'

Reviews

Cristian Mungiu's brilliantly slow-to-burn "Beyond the Hills" (which people might start referring to as "the Romanian exorcism movie") opens this weekend, with critics appropriately impressed with the Cannes winner; leads Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan both won Best Actress at the fest last May.

By Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
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March 8, 2013 3:12 PM
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Immersed in Movies: Puppet Cams, China Girl and VFX Wizardry in 'Oz the Great and Powerful'

Features

Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi both embraced lighter, kid-friendlier fables with "Jack the Giant Slayer" and "Oz the Great and Powerful," tapping into their inner child while pushing virtual production and 3-D with theatrical flair. While the results have been mixed (it's hard to pull off innocence after the post-modern "Shreking" of our culture), Disney placed serious pressure on Raimi, whose return to "Oz" was a bumpy ride.

By Bill Desowitz
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March 8, 2013 2:23 PM
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'Oz' Brings Riches, from Needed Boffo Box Office to Kunis Viral Breakout to Yet Another Sequel (VIDEO)

Box Office

This weekend marks the watershed moment in 2013 when the box office will finally lift some boats around the nation's multiplexes. That's thanks to Disney's "Oz: the Great and Powerful," which is expected to deliver some $80 million, which means that other struggling movies in theaters such as "Jack the Giant Slayer" might actually reap some side benefits.

By Anne Thompson
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March 8, 2013 1:04 PM
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Review: Likable 'Oz the Great and Powerful' Is Overstuffed With Digital Wizardry

Reviews

Disney’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a $190-million prequel to the turn-of-the-century L. Frank Baum 14-book series. Directed by Sam Raimi, the film is bloated in length and overstuffed with digital 3-D wizardry, yet somehow manages to be a horse of a pleasing -- if not particularly different -- color.

By Beth Hanna
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March 6, 2013 6:07 AM
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Raimi and Cast Talk 'Oz the Great and Powerful' in EW: Off-Limits Ruby Slippers, Franco Finds His Brain and More

News

This week's Entertainment Weekly (on newsstands March 1) goes inside Disney's reported $200 million yellow brick road prequel "Oz the Great and Powerful." The mag sits down with director Sam Raimi and stars James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz to talk all things Oz. Highlights below.