13: 'Zootopia' Wins Box Office for 2nd Week

Disney's hit Zootopia held up even better than expected this weekend, falling a mere 33 percent as it brought in another 50 million, after a 75 million opening weekend last week. That brings its ten day total to 142 million, while its global gross reached 431 million, as it has now become the highest grossing Disney film in China ever, passing Big Hero 6 for the title this last weekend. Meanwhile, the only new release to make a dent this week was 10 Cloverfield Lane. The spiritual sequel to 2008's Cloverfield landed in second place with 25 million, good for its 15 million budget but not close to the original's 40 million opening 8 years ago.

No other new release cracked the top five, with The Brothers Grimsby opening to a dismal 3.2 million, marking it Sasha Baron Cohen's worst opening in the U.S. ever. Deadpool took in 10 million, bringing its new total to 328 million, while Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and London Has Fallen rounded out the top five. Neither of those films are hits, so that tells you something about how badly the new releases fared this weekend.

Top 5:

Zootopia- 50 million
10 Cloverfield Lane- 25.2 million
Deadpool- 10.8 million
London Has Fallen- 10.7 million
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot- 4.6 million

In limited release, the Helen Mirren/Alan Rickman drone movie Eye in the Sky opened in 4 theaters with 117k, a solid PTA of 23k. Next week it's the latest Divergent movie Allegiant, if anyone still cares about that, opening against the faith based Miracles From Heaven and Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special. We'll see if Zootopia can hold onto the box office for one more week before Batman v Superman comes out. See you then.

New Trailer for 'Kubo and the Two Strings' Dazzles

In case anyone wasn't already sold on this from the first teaser released, I think this one ought to do it. A new film from Laika Studios that looks breathtaking in both visuals and scope- I'm really excited to see this when it comes out in August.

Meryl Streep Dons Another Accent for 'Florence Foster Jenkins'

This is a Stephen Frears film, so people thought it could potentially be an Oscar movie, but then its release date was moved to May, so who knows how good it is. Looks a little bleh, but Meryl has cornered the market on her own brand of films now. I like seeing Hugh Grant in something again though, so I hope it's good for his sake.

Spidey Shows Up in New 'Civil War' Trailer

Well, that's the last two seconds, but I'm pretty sure that's all anyone will be talking about today. It's amazing that we can have six Spider-Man movies over the last decade and a half, but people still get more excited to see him than anyone else. The cast is really hyping this movie as the end all be all of superhero epics, but watching all the Avengers split up and fight each other doesn't look that interesting to me. And there's just no way this movie isn't going to feel insanely bloated with a two and a half hour runtime AND all these characters showing up. I know it's trying to compete with the Batman/Superman movie this year, but sometimes it's just too much.

International 'Ghostbusters' Trailer Shows More Chris Hemsworth

Okay, this international trailer is better than that first one- even if there's not a whole lot particularly funny in it, at least the cast chemistry is more cohesive. That was the most surprising thing about that other trailer, and we can clearly see now that Kristen Wiig is NOT sleepwalking through this, which is good. There's still some hope. I actually have to wonder if this may have been released so quickly in light of the response to the first one...

'Star Wars' Leads the MTV Movie Award Nominations

So these things have devolved into a complete joke in recent years, but hey, they took pains to make sure at least they didn't get accused of lack of diversity in these nominations. As you'd expect, it's a bunch of blockbusters plus Deadpool, but funnily enough, they seem to have taken pains to include the category of documentary, for some reason. They also got rid of some of their funner, weirder categories this year too. Maybe this was a play at a more respectable MTV Movie Awards? They're airing on April 10th and being hosted by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.

MTV MOVIE NOMINATIONS

MOVIE OF THE YEAR
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Creed
Deadpool
Jurassic World
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Anna Kendrick, Pitch Perfect 2
Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Morena Baccarin, Deadpool

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
Chris Pratt, Jurassic World
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Matt Damon, The Martian
Michael B. Jordan, Creed
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Will Smith, Concussion

BEST ENSEMBLE
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Furious 7
Pitch Perfect 2
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2
Trainwreck

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Brie Larson, Room
Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Dakota Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey
John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
O’Shea Jackson Jr.: Straight Outta Compton

BEST ACTION PERFORMANCE
Chris Pratt, Jurassic World
Dwayne Johnson, San Andreas
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2
John Boyega, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Vin Diesel, Furious 7

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Kevin Hart, Ride Along 2
Melissa McCarthy, Spy
Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect 2
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Will Ferrell, Get Hard

BEST VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE
Amy Poehler, Inside Out
Andy Serkis, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Jack Black, Kung Fu Panda 3
Lupita Nyong’o, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Seth MacFarlane, Ted 2

BEST HERO
Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris Evans, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Dwayne Johnson, San Andreas
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2
Paul Rudd, Ant-Man

BEST VILLAIN
Adam Driver, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ed Skrein, Deadpool
Hugh Keays-Byrne, Mad Max: Fury Road
James Spader, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Samuel L. Jackson, Kingsman: The Secret Service
Tom Hardy, The Revenant

BEST FIGHT
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) vs. Ajax (Ed Skrein), Deadpool
Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) vs. The Bear, The Revenant
Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) vs. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), Mad Max: Fury Road
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) vs. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Avengers: Age of Ultron
Rey (Daisy Ridley) vs. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) vs. Lia (Nargis Fakhri), Spy

BEST KISS
Amy Schumer & Bill Hader, Trainwreck
Dakota Johnson & Jamie Dornan, Fifty Shades of Grey
Leslie Mann & Chris Hemsworth, Vacation
Margot Robbie & Will Smith, Focus
Morena Baccarin & Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Rebel Wilson & Adam DeVine, Pitch Perfect 2

Susan Sarandon Stars in 'The Meddler'

It's been a long time since Susan Sarandon headlined a movie, hasn't it? Now she's starring in the new film by Lorene Scafaria, director of indies Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Seeking a Friend For the End of the World, as an older mom getting back into the dating scene. It actually looks kinda cute, but I may be giving it the benefit of the doubt, because Seeking a Friend was totally underrated and ought to be seen by more people.

REVIEW: "Zootopia" (2016) Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman. Dir. Byron Howard and Rich Moore

If there was ever a time when we needed a film to reaffirm the values of diversity, tolerance, acceptance, empowerment and rejection of bigotry and stereotypes, I'd say it was now, wouldn't you? And to have that film be an expertly fashioned, completely entertaining buddy cop movie and neo-noir from the Mouse House itself, that's nothing other than a complete triumph, and a totally unexpected one at that.

To say that Disney's 55th animated feature film has more on its mind than yuks and warm fuzzies is an understatement, and yet it gives you all of that and more. An original idea from directors Rich Moore (Wreck-it Ralph) and Byron Howard (Tangled), takes the premise that the animal kingdom has evolved thousands of years past the "savage" days of the Stone Age, and now predators and prey occupy the same lands as anthropomorphic creatures who dress snazzy, speak English, use iphones and go to work, same as us. But things are not perfect, because they suffer from the same kinds of prejudices and preconceived notions that will feel all too familiar to those of us that live in the human world.

Our heroine is Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), a bunny rabbit from the country who more than anything wants to grow up to be a police officer, get off the farm, and move to the big city of Zootopia, where animals of all stripes live in supposed harmony together. But her parents discourage her from those dreams, telling her there's never been a bunny cop before, and to settle for what she can most realistically achieve- selling carrots on her family's farm with her 235 brothers and sisters. Judy doesn't take that lying down though, and of course grows up to graduate from the Academy and become the first bunny (re: female) cop of Zootopia, where she is surrounded by bigger, more aggressive mammals (re: men) and demoted to meter maid immediately. As she struggles with attempting to break the glass ceiling of her own profession, she comes in contact with Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a sly fox and con man whose own species renders him labeled with all kinds of adjectives from shifty to deceptive and untrustworthy, even by Judy herself, who fears the long antagonistic history of foxes towards rabbits. Their relationship sparkles with friction and dry, snarky exchanges from a perfectly cast Bateman who provides Nick with an instantly appealing, sarcastic personality, a tragic backstory of his own, and visually resembles a CGI version of Disney's Robin Hood from the old 1973 classic.

Nick and Judy get caught up in a missing mammals case which leads them through the underbelly of Zootopia (ala Chinatown or L.A. Confidential) as they happen upon the various denizens of each beautifully detailed and aesthetically rich district of the metropolis that caters to all kinds of animal life and habitats. The plot unravels a complicated conspiracy being strewn by those at the very top, meant to render the city's minority predator population feral as power is consolidated by those with fearmongering methods and an agenda meant to sow strife and discord among the citizenry. Fear always works, as one official proclaims, and eery rallies occur on the news as species turn against each other and yell "we want our city back..." does any of that sound familiar to you? It's hardly veiled commentary. This is a movie that wants to confront these issues, to give kids a funny, colorful and visually dazzling entertainment with gags referencing everything from The Godfather to Breaking Bad. But it does this while also making sure, through no uncertain means, to deliver a message of female and minority empowerment while rejecting the fear and racism stoked by those who seek to divide us and even that which is buried within our own psyches as a result of the long and painful history of our own evolution. I couldn't love this movie any more if I tried. It's Disney's best film in at least twenty years and could not have arrived at a better moment in time. Go see it. You’ll get more out of it than the kids do.

* * * *

BOX OFFICE 3/04-3/06: 'Zootopia' Scores a Huge Opening

The wonderful new Disney film Zootopia scored the studio's biggest ever opening, coming in with 73 million over the weekend, which beats Frozen's 67 million opening in 2013. If you're thinking Pixar has had bigger debuts you're right, but this is Walt Disney Animation Studios we're talking about. Helped by stellar reviews and an "A" Cinemascore, it knocked Deadpool off its throne and has the family market to itself at least for the next month until The Jungle Book opens. The other new release, London Has Fallen, opened to 21 million, under the 30 million opening of the original, which went on to gross 98 million a few years ago.

Deadpool fell to third, bringing in 16 million and crossing 300 million total domestic, while Tina Fey's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot fell flat with 7.6 million, way under expectations of a double digit debut. Rounding out the top five was Gerard Butler's other movie Gods of Egypt, which has only made 22 million so far.

Top 5:

Zootopia- 73.7 million
London Has Fallen- 21.7 million
Deadpool- 16.4 million
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot- 7.6 million
Gods of Egypt- 5 million

The only significant specialty release this week's was Terence Malick's badly reviewed and long delayed Knight of Cups, which made just 56k in four theaters. The Best Picture winner Spotlight, increased and has now crossed 41 million, making it yet another Oscar winner to not be widely seen by the public. Next week it's 10 Cloverfield Lane, the horror sequel to the JJ Abrams produced hit from a while back, so we'll see if there are any fans who've been awaiting for this to come along. See you then.

10 Animated Movies for March

It's a new month and with it comes a new theme here at The Movie Seasons. This month is dedicated to animated film, and with Disney's Zootopia set to take the box office by storm this weekend, I think it's appropriate. We have ten of my favorite animated films in the March movie page, complete with full trailers, from Disney and Pixar classics to some select Japanese anime picks and a very underrated film from Henry Selick, above. So head over to our Monthly Movie page to read about the theme of animated films and click here for the full list of ten. Happy movie watching!

First Look at Pedro Almodovar's New Film 'Julieta'

Now this on the other hand, looks good. Almodovar's last movie was pretty much dismissed, but he's not the kind of director who misses often, and this one looks to be back in his wheelhouse. I don't know when we'll get to see it, however. It's coming out in Spain in April, but nothing yet on release dates for other countries. Maybe it will show up in Cannes though.

Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig in New 'Ghostbusters' Trailer

This is one of the most hyped and anticipated comedies of the year, but I don't know. Does this trailer seem extremely underwhelming to anyone else? There's nothing particularly funny about it, everything just seems to fall flat. Not to mention the energy seems off, somehow. Kristen Wiig of all people looks like she just plain doesn't want to be there. I hope this is just a bad trailer and that the movie turns out to be a whole lot better, but I half wonder if the fact that the previous Feig/McCarthy collaborations all being R-rated might have something to do with the listlessness in this one, which is PG-13. Huh.