Weekend Movie Guide (12/19/13)

Ryan

3780 days ago.

Weekend Movie Guide 12/19/2013 — ‘Saving Mr. Banks’, ‘Anchorman 2’ and ‘American Hustle’ are all available to you this weekend. Plus, see what you need to catch while you can and what you can rent on the way home.

Two movies with big-time names will make their debut this weekend. A third actually debuted yesterday. All three should post quality numbers at the box office. American Hustle and Saving Mr. Banks will both expand into wide-release on Friday and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues opened yesterday. Among the stars drawing viewers out this weekend are Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Will Ferrell, Colin Farrell, Emma Thompson, Bradley Cooper, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.

Recapping Last Weekend

In its first weekend of release The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug drove a box office to a 56% increase over the previous week. Hobbit brought in $73.6 million and the overall box office saw $147.5 million in sales. The sequel failed to match the original’s opening, however. 2012’s An Unexpected Journey opened to the tune of $84.6 million on its way to a $303 domestic theater run and just over $1 billion worldwide. In five days of release, Samug has passed $221 million worldwide. Frozen had a strong fourth weekend of release, bringing in $22.5 million to increase its total to $165 million. The latest film in in the Madea franchise, A Madea Christmas, brought in $16 million in its opening weekend. It will likely continue to draw decent crowds through the holiday season. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire brought in $13.7 million in its fourth weekend and now has hauled in $733 million worldwide in 26 days of release. The original film in that series brought in $691 million in its 168 day theater run last year. Thor: The Dark World rounded out the top 5 with $2.8 million in its sixth week. It has now brought in just shy of $200 million domestically and $621 million worldwide.

Opening This Weekend

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Heads exploded back in March when the legendary Ron Burgundy showed up playing a musical instrument on a late-night talk show. It’s really hard to believe that the world was first introduced to the legendary Ron Burgundy back in July of 2004. The film brought in $28 million in its opening weekend and $85 million domestically during its theater run. It stands a very good chance of getting 60% of the way to that mark by this Sunday. Will Ferrell has pretty much been everywhere to promote this film and most sites are projecting it to pull in somewhere in the $50 million neighborhood this weekend.

If you want to experience this movie in a way unlike most of your friends, check out this event put on by Rally Saint Louis and Cafepress.com tomorrow at MX Movies.

American Hustle

This film from David O. Russell, director of The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, has been getting rave reviews. Russell coincidentally was also the executive producer of the first Anchorman movie. Russell is also credited with producing Wake Up, Ron Burgundy. In Hustle, Bale and Adams play con artists that work with Cooper’s FBI agent character to bring down some Mafia characters. Jennifer Lawrence plays Bale’s wife and will probably make you fall in love with her even more. Robert De Niro also has a role in the film but is uncredited for whatever reason. Christian Bale reportedly gained 43 pounds for his role. BoxOffice is projecting Hustle to bring in $15 million this weekend. American Hustle is loosely based on the Abscam fiasco that happened in the later 1970s.

Saving Mr. Banks

Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney in this story of the making of Mary Poppins back in the 1960s. Emma Thompson plays P.L. Travers, the British novelist who first wrote into existence the character that Julie Andrews would make famous on the screen. Travers, born Helen Lyndon Goff in Australia in 1899, published the first of four books featuring Poppins in 1934. It took Disney 20 years to convince Travers to let them make a movie based on the character. Travers apparently hated the finished movie, although this movie won’t tell you that. Despite the film not staying very true to the story, it is said to be quite enjoyable. Enjoy the trailer below. Disney also put out a series of short videos about the making of this film about the making of another film. We put them together for you in a Huzzaz playlist.

Catch It Before It’s Gone

Remember our big news in the “land of misfit movies” from last week? Well the changeover is all complete. Keller 8 is now fully digital. This weekend sees the opening of Last Vegas and Bad Grandpa at Keller. Miracle on 34th Street and The Christmas Candle will also be playing for a limited time.

Make It A Redbox Night

The World’s End, Elysium, 2 Guns and We’re The Millers all make their way to the magic box that distributes movies on fancy AOL cds this week. Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington are at least worth 65 cents each.

Brought to you by Mills Properties.

Ryan

Ryan is a weird dude. He doesn't cook, yet owns a plethora of kitchen gadgets. He rationalized buying a SodaStream while unemployed. He counts Step Up 2: The Streets as one of his favorite movies along with Footloose, Rent, Grease and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. He loves Mizzou but only wants them in the SEC so he can tailgate in Nashville. He owns a ShakeWeight and AbLounger, but still loves him some John Donut and Billie's Fine Foods. You can get more of Ryan at iLoveSoulard.com or just check the stool on the far end of the bar at iTap in Soulard.