The Virginia Film Festival is returning for its 24th year from November 3-6, 2011, with a lineup of more than 100 films and a long list of special guests set to bring some serious star power to Charlottesville.
-
Director Oliver Stone, Larry Flynt And Sissy Spacek headed to 2011 Virginia Film Festival
Opening Night Film – The Descendants starring George Clooney
-
Tucson Film & Music Festival Kicks off Today
[caption id="attachment_1696" align="alignnone" width="550"]
Better Than Something: Jay Reatard[/caption]The 7th Tucson Film & Music Festival (TFMF) opens up today October 6 and runs through Monday, October 10, 2011.
The Southwest Premiere of Better Than Something: Jay Reatard is the opening event. Directed by Alex Hammond & Ian Markiewicz, the film is described as Tirelessly devoting his entire life to music, Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, better known as Jay Reatard, has become a garage rock icon, having created a massive discography spread out over dozens of singles, EPs, and full-length albums. A relentless live performer, Jay toured the world with dozens of bands including The Pixies, Spoon, Beck and many more. A devoted – and oftentimes notorious – fixture in his hometown of Memphis, Jay celebrated and continued the city’s long-standing history of American music. In BETTER THAN SOMETHING, filmmakers Alex Hammond and Ian Markiewicz present an intimate portrait, captured just months before Jay’s untimely passing, which brings us incredibly close to Jay and his complicated punk-rock world.
The festival’s 2011 film lineup include a list of documentary films including Bloodied But Unbowed,Kumaré, Barbershop Punk, Color Me Obsessed: A film about The Replacements, Blood, Sweat + Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century and The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi. Narrative features include the Southwest Premiere of the indie comedy Pleasant People and the Arizona Premiere of Take Me Home directed by and starring Sam Jaeger of NBC’s Parenthood. Short films, music videos and live music performances are also part of the exciting program slate.
The Centerpiece Film event is the Southwest Premiere of Bloodied But Unbowed. Directed by Susanne Tabata, BLOODIED BUT UNBOWED is the first in-depth chronicle of Vancouver’s original and groundbreaking punk scene. Told by key participants who helped create this unique musical era, the documentary captures the raw essence of the kids who lived through it (and some who didn’t) and the rise and fall of an epic era. Performances by D.O.A., The Subhumans, Pointed Sticks, The Modernettes, Young Canadians and more, as well as interviews with Henry Rollins, Joe Keithley, Ron Reyes, Randy Rampage, Zippy Pinhead and other icons of punk, offer a rare glimpse at a music scene that inspired decades of rock and hard living. Not to be missed.
Closing night film event is the Arizona Premiere of Vikram Gandhi’s Kumaré. Into a society of people searching for something real to cling to, filmmaker Vikram Gandhi spawned KUMARÉ. Portraying an enlightened guru from the East, Gandhi (as Kumaré) builds a following of loyal disciples in the West. As the social experiment continues, he begins to forge profound, and real, spiritual connections with people from all walks of life. At the same time, in the absurdity of living as an entirely different person, Gandhi is forced to confront difficult questions about his own identity. A fascinating and insightful look at belief and spirituality, Kumaré’s ultimate teaching of finding your true self, becomes a revelation for both the filmmaker and his unwitting followers.
-
55th BFI London Film Festival Release Shortlist for 2011 Festival Awards
[caption id="attachment_1694" align="alignnone" width="550"]
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, Lynne Ramsay[/caption]The 55th BFI London Film Festival announced the shortlists and juries for the 2011 Festival Awards, which will take place at LSO St Luke’s on 26 October.
At this year’s ceremony, the BFI will bestow its highest honor, the BFI Fellowship, on Canadian filmmaker David Cronenber and British actor Ralph Fiennes.This shortlist for Best Film Award is:
360, Fernando Meirelles, UK/Austria/France/Brazil
THE ARTIST, Michel Hazanavicius, France
THE DEEP BLUE SEA, Terence Davies, UK
THE DESCENDANTS, Alexander Payne, USA
FAUST, Aleksandr Sukurov, Russia
THE KID WITH A BIKE, Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium/France/Italy
SHAME, Steve McQueen, UK
TRISHNA, Michael Winterbottom, UK
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, Lynne Ramsay, UK/USAThe shortlist for Best British Newcomer is:
Nick Murphy, Director, THE AWAKENING
Tinge Krishnan, Director, JUNKHEARTS
Candese Reid, Actress, JUNKHEARTS
Nirpal Bhogal, Writer/director, SKET
Aimee Kelly, Actress, SKET
Tom Cullen, Actor, WEEKEND
Chris New, Actor, WEEKEND
D.R. Hood, Writer/Director, WRECKERS
The previously announced Sutherland shortlist is:
CORPO CELESTE, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/Switzerland/France
ETERNITY, Sivaroj Kongsakul, Thailand
HERE, Braden King, USA
THE HOUSE, Zuzana Liová, Czech Republic
LAS ACACIAS, Pablo Giorgelli, Argentina/Spain
LAST WINTER, John Shank, Belgium/France
MICHAEL, Markus Schleinzer, Austria
MOURNING, Morteza Farshbaf, Iran
SHE MONKEYS, Lisa Aschan, Sweden
SNOWTOWN, Justin Kurzel, Australia
THE SUN-BEATEN PATH, Sonthar Gyal, China
WITHOUT, Mark Jackson, USA
The Grierson Award for Best Documentary shortlist is:
BERNADETTE: NOTES ON A POLITICAL JOURNEY, Lelia Doolan, Ireland
BETTER THIS WORLD, Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, USA
THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975, Goran Hugo Olsson, Sweden/USA
DRAGONSLAYER, Tristan Patterson
DREAMS OF A LIFE, Carol Moley, UK/Ireland
INTO THE ABYSS: A TALE OF DEATH, A TALE OF LIFE, Werner Herzog
LAST DAYS HERE, Don Argott & Demian Fenton, USA
WHORES’ GLORY, Michael Glawogger, Austria/Germany
-
The Deep Blue Sea to close the 2011 BFI London Film Festival
The 55th BFI London Film Festival will close on Thursday 27 October with the UK premiere of Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea.
Set in post-war Britain, this deeply moving story is an adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s classic play. Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) leads a privileged life in 1950s London as the beautiful wife of high court judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale). To the shock of those around her, she walks out of her marriage to move in with young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), with whom she has fallen passionately in love.
Festival Artistic Director Sandra Hebron comments:
“It’s a great pleasure to be able to close the festival with this exquisite new feature from one of our most cherished directors. Terence Davies is a filmmaker who the BFI has supported from the very beginnings of his career, and in Terence Rattigan’s centenary year, this beautifully directed and acted film is the perfect closing night film.”
Director Terence Davies adds:
“As a British filmmaker, to get into the BFI London Film Festival at all is bliss – to get a Closing Night film is sheer heaven! The festival is now, rightly, seen as one of the major European and World Film Festivals; championing not only British but World cinema.”
-
Fernando Meirelles’s 360 to open the 2011 BFI London Film Festival
The 55th BFI London Film Festival will open on Wednesday 12 October with the European premiere of 360.
360 is a modern and stylish kaleidoscope of interconnected love and relationships linking characters from different cities and countries in a vivid, suspenseful and moving tale of contemporary romantic life. Starting in Vienna, the film weaves through Paris, London, Bratislava, Rio, Denver and Phoenix into a single, mesmerising narrative.
Directed by Fernando Meirelles and with an original screenplay by acclaimed writer Peter Morgan,the film stars Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Festival Artistic Director Sandra Hebron said:
“I’m delighted that 360 will be our opening night film, and very pleased to welcome back Fernando Meirelles and Peter Morgan to the festival. With its impeccable film making credentials and intriguing premise, 360 combines masterful visual story telling with a modern and moving narrative, helped by strong performances from a terrific ensemble cast.”
Linking stories of chance, temptation and unexpected friendship while travelling through Vienna, Paris, London, Bratislava, Rio de Janeiro, Denver and Phoenix (and back again), 360 takes us around the world, surveying the breadth of human experience at every stop.
A lonely English businessman (Jude Law) is blackmailed by a colleague who discovers his plans to meet a prostitute while travelling abroad. A married woman (Rachel Weisz, also appearing in The Deep Blue Sea and the Gala presentation of Page Eight) tries to break things off with her younger paramour. A Brazilian student (Maria Flor) decides to leave her London-based boyfriend and return to Rio. A recovering alcoholic (Anthony Hopkins) flies to Phoenix on the off chance that a new Jane Doe might turn out to be his long-missing daughter. A paroled sex offender (Ben Foster) stuck in a Denver airport has his hard-won composure tested when a beautiful stranger unexpectedly propositions him. These are but a handful of the narrative threads woven into 360’s alternately seductive and unnerving roundelay. How they slide against one another constitutes a large part of the film’s mesmerizing allure. [TIFF]Director Fernando Meirelles added:
“The BFI London Film Festival is one of the best festivals in the world due to its selection of films and the number of theatres the films are shown in. I am very honoured 360, an intimate film that talks about our options in life, has been chosen to open the festival this year, and I want to thank Sandra Hebron for extending this prestigious invitation to me for a second time, following The Constant Gardener, which opened the festival in 2005.”
-
Arpa Film Festival Award Winning Comedy My Uncle Rafael Gets A Theatrical Release Deal
Following its successful showing at the Arpa International Film Festival where it garnered three major awards, producers of indie comedy “My Uncle Rafael” have officially announced finalizing an agreement for a North American theatrical release. Slater Brothers Entertainment handle the domestic release which is expected to hit theaters in early 2012.
Hailed as as the first American comedy in history with an Armenian lead character, “My Uncle Rafael” follows an old Armenian Uncle who gets cast in a reality show and has one week to save a dysfunctional American family from breaking up. Directed and edited by filmmaker and former Spielberg assistant Marc Fusco, the film stars comedy veterans Missi Pyle (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory), John Michael Higgins (Couples Retreat), Anthony Clark (Yes, Dear), Joe Lo Truglio (Paul), Rachel Blanchard (Flight of the Concords), and introduces Vahik Pirhamzei as Rafael.
After the North American premiere at the Arpa International Film Festival, ‘Rafael’ took home the festival’s Breakthrough Performance Award for Vahik Pirhamzei and his remarkable comedic portrayal of the film’s outspoken, yet beloved Uncle Rafael. The Best Director trophy went to Marc Fusco and Best Screenplay Award to Scott Yagemann and Vahik Pirhamzei.
{youtube}KTY8PCDji7U{/youtube}
-
Inaugural Palo Alto International Film Festival Winners
[caption id="attachment_1685" align="alignnone" width="550"]
Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom, right, during filming of her documentary Miss Representation.[/caption]The Palo Alto International Film Festival (PAIFF) wrapped up after its inagural four day run, September 29 thru October 2, 2011, with the presentation of the Sallie Gardner awards, including the presentation of the Audience Award to Jennifer Siebel Newson’s documentary “Miss Representation.”
The inaugural awards gala featured the presentations of the following awards:
Christie Audience Award was presented to Jennifer Siebel Newsom for her documentary “Miss Representation.”
Muybridge Award for the Advancement of Art and Technology was presented to visual effects artist John Knoll.
Innovation in Film Award was presented to SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s X-ray Laser team and accepted by Uwe Bergmann Deputy Director of the LCLS.
Palo Alto middle school students Charlie and Henry Badger received the Local Student Short Audience Award for their film “127 Minutes.”
The PAIFF and Dolby Excellence in 3D Award was presented to Takashi Miike for “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai.”
“Two Cars, One Night” by filmmaker Taika Waititi was the recipient of the Live Action Short Award.
The Animated Short Award was presented to “Something Left, Something Taken,” by Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata.
PAIFF/Talenthouse Short Film Contest Award. In Spring 2011, PAIFF and Talenthouse announced an international Short Film Contest to celebrate the digital age of cinema, an age in which anyone can tell his or her story visually because of great strides made in technology. Cedric Vella’s “YouTube My Facebook,” was selected from over 170 entries. Talenthouse Vice President of Marketing Frederik Hermann presented the award.
-
2nd DOC NYC Runs November 2 thru 10 Opens With Premiere of Werner Herzog Into the Abyss
[caption id="attachment_1683" align="alignnone" width="550"]
Into the Abyss by director Werner Herzog[/caption]New York’s documentary film festival, DOC NYC, returns for its second year to Greenwich Village, running from November 2-10, 2011. The festival will showcase 107 events, including screenings of 52 feature-length films and 40 shorts as well as 15 doc-related panel discussions. All events will take place at IFC Center, New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts and NYU’s Kimmel Center.
Among the highlights:
GALAS – Opening Night (Nov. 2) will feature the New York premiere of Into the Abyss presented by director Werner Herzog in person at NYU’s Skirball Center. Critics have hailed this true crime story as “extraordinary” (New York Times) and “undeniably profound” (Variety), and the festival is especially pleased to welcome back the master filmmaker after presenting his box office hit Cave of Forgotten Dreams last year. The Centerpiece Gala(Nov. 4), introduced by Russell Simmons, will be the US premiere of Lemon, directed by Laura Brownson and Beth Levison, chronicling the theatrical comeback of Tony Award-winner Lemon Andersen. The Spotlight Gala (Nov. 8) selection is The Island President, directed by Jon Shenk, a look at the Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed and his campaign to save his country from environmental destruction. The film recently won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
COMPETITION SECTIONS – The Viewfinders Competition showcases 10 films notable for their distinct directorial vision. The selection ranges widely, including the comedic Kumaré, about a fake guru; and the investigative Scenes From A Crime, a look into a questionable murder conviction in upstate New York. The Metropolis Competition features 7 films rooted in New York City. Included are the world premieres of I Want My Name Back, about hip-hop pioneers The Sugarhill Gang battling music industry corruption; and This Space Available, based on the writings of Marc Gobé (Emotional Branding), about the commercialization of public space. The two juried competitions each offer a prize of a 35mm blow-up and Digital Cinema Package courtesy of Post Works New York.
SPECIAL EVENTS – Five stand-out events include Charlotte Rampling in person to present Charlotte Rampling: The Look, a journey through the actress’s remarkable career; An Evening With Elliott Erwitt, featuring the great Magnum photographer on hand to discuss his lesser-known forays into doc filmmaking; A Force of Nature, Barbara Kopple’s profile of journalist and philanthropist Ellen Ratner; Werner Herzog’s reworking of Dmitry Vasyukov’s Happy People: A Year in the Taiga; and director Sarah McCarthy present for The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical, a unique Indo-twist on The Sound of Music.
NEW SECTIONS – The festival introduces five new sections this year:
Icons – Six films profiling iconic figures: Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears (featuring an in-person appearance by the boxing great); Eames: The Architect and the Painter; A Good Man, about choreographer Bill T. Jones;With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story; God’s Fiddler: Jascha Heifetz; and Beyond Iconic, a portrait of Magnum photographer Dennis Stock.
American Perspectives – Six films with diverse views on the national scene: Jonathan Demme profiling a proud resident of New Orleans in I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful; Nelson George exploring a cultural renaissance in Brooklyn Boheme; a Harvard lesbian basketball star in No Look Pass; a rising star of Ultimate Fighting in Fightville; women in prison raising children in Mothers of Bedford; and a controversy over sex abuse in Baltimore’s Jewish community in Standing Silent.
International Perspectives – Four globe-spanning films take us to Ireland (Ballymun Lullaby); Germany (Jealous of the Birds); Ukraine (My Father Evgeni); and Mexico (Perdida).
Shorts – Six programs of shorts grouped under the themes of “NYC Uncovered”; “The Power of Images”; “For Love or Money”; “DOC NYU @ DOC NYC” (featuring student work from New York University); “Latin American Visions”; and “Views on Japan” featuring a new work from Academy Award nominee Lucy Walker, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.
Short-List – Four films that stand to be contenders in the coming awards season, presented by their directors or other special guests: Buck; The Interrupters; Page One: Inside the New York Times; and Project Nim.
KALEIDOSCOPE FAMILY DOCS – Three films that will delight all ages: First Position, about a student ballet competition; Empty Hand: Real Life Karate Kids, about youths excelling at martial arts; and a 3D double feature from National Geographic, Sea Monsters 3D: A Prehistoric Adventure, playing with Flying Monsters 3D.
MIDNIGHT ROCK DOCS – Four films for the late night crowd: Better Than Something: Jay Reatard, a portrait of the garage rock icon; Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, about the lead singer of Morphine; Inni, which looks at the first ten years of beloved Icelandic band Sigur Rós; and the rarely seen gem from 1989, Depeche Mode 101, directed by David Dawkins, Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker.
PANELS – Four days of discussion, comprising fifteen panels, bring experienced filmmakers and industry players to share their insights under the themes of “State of the Industry”; “State of the Indie Doc”; “State of the Art”; and more.
TRIBUTE TO RICHARD LEACOCK – In honor of the cinéma vérité pioneer, who died on March 23, 2011, the festival will showcase his contributions to classics such as Primary and Crisis as well as rare gems such as Chiefs and Happy Mother’s Day, introduced by noted filmmakers and Leacock family members.
-
Amy Rich Selected As Winner of 2012 Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship
[caption id="attachment_1681" align="alignnone" width="550"]
The exterior of the San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema. [/caption]Amy Rich was announced today as the winner of the 2012 Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship for her project The Insect Princess.
The Insect Princess is a feature-length, fantasy-infused family drama set in rural Yorkshire about Romilly, a lonely little girl who discovers she can communicate with insects. While she quickly accepts this odd turn of events, those around her don’t, so she learns to hide the relationship with her new friends. Gradually with the help of her fantasy friends, Romilly learns to stand up to the school bully, to accept herself and to develop friendships with her classmates.
Previous recipients are Adam Chanzit (2011) for his psychological thriller The 15th Stone and Kathryn Mockler (2010) for her project Weak People Are Fun to Torment.
-
Crazy Wisdom to open in NY on November 25 and LA on December 2
Crazy Wisdom, a documentary by Johanna Demetrakas will open at the Rubin Museum in New York on Friday, November 25 (for a full week run), and at a Laemmle theater in Los Angeles on Friday, December 2.
Crazy Wisdom Productions is proud to announce the US Theatrical release of CRAZY WISDOM, a documentary by Johanna Demetrakas. After sell out screenings at the Maui, Santa Barbara and Boulder film festivals, the film will open at the Rubin Museum in New York on Friday, November 25 (for a full week run), and at a Laemmle theater in Los Angeles on Friday, December 2. Other cities will follow.
We speak casually of good parking karma, Samsara is a perfume, and Nirvana is a rock band. A recent survey by Germany’s Der Spiegel revealed that Germans like the Dalai Lama more than their native-born Pope Benedict XVI. Tibetan Buddhism is doubling its numbers faster than any other religion in Australia and the U.S.A. How did it happen? CRAZY WISDOM explores this profound cultural shift through the story of Chogyam Trungpa, the brilliant “bad boy of Buddhism.” Born in Tibet, trained in their rigorous monastic tradition, Trungpa fled the Communist invasion in 1959. In Britain, seeing the cultural gap blocked his students from any deep understanding of Buddhism, he renounced his vows, eloped with a sixteen year-old, and lived as a westerner. In the U.S., he openly drank alcohol and had intimate relations with students.
Was this the “crazy wisdom” that his Tibetan colleagues recognized as an authentic way to manifest in the world? And was it “crazy wisdom” that helped him build the first Buddhist university in the western hemisphere and articulate the Buddhist path in a way that would sweep across the country in one short decade?
Trungpa landed in the U.S. in 1970 and legend has it that he said to his students: “Take me to your poets.” He drew a following of the country’s prominent spiritual teachers and intellectuals – including R.D. Laing, John Cage, Ram Dass, and Pema Chodron. Poet Allen Ginsberg considered Trungpa his guru; Catholic priest Thomas Merton wanted to write a book with him; music icon Joni Mitchell wrote a song about him. Trungpa became renowned for translating ancient Buddhist concepts into language and ideas that Westerners could understand. Humor was always a part of his teaching – “Enlightenment is better than Disneyland,” he quipped, and he warned of the dangers of the “Western spiritual supermarket.”
Initially judged harshly by the Tibetan establishment, Trungpa’s teachings are now recognized by both western and eastern philosophers and spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama, as authentic and profound. Today, twenty years after his death, Trungpa’s books have been translated into thirty-one languages and sell worldwide in the millions. His organization thrives in thirty countries and five continents. Yet Trungpa’s name still evokes admiration and outrage. What made him tick, and just what is crazy wisdom anyway?
Veteran director Johanna Demetrakas uses archival footage, visual effects, interviews, and original imagery to build a film that mirrors Trungpa’s challenging energy and invites viewers to go beyond fixed ideas about our teachers and leaders.
-
2011 Milwaukee Film Festival Award Winners
[caption id="attachment_1677" align="alignnone" width="550"]
Bibliotheque Pascal[/caption]The 3rd Annual Milwaukee Film Festival came to a close on Sunday, October 2nd, and handed out its awards to the top films. The Danish film Nothing’s All Bad took the top prize for fiction films and the documentary Somewhere Between by Linda Goldstein Knowlton took the top prize for documentary films.
And the winners are:
The Cream City Cinema award for local filmmaking was given to the short film “Don’t Go,” by Michael Hawkins-Burgos. Disco music propels this nonstop adventure, as a black cat chases a pink-bellied, one-eyed animated bunny around an apartment.
The jury prize for documentary was awarded to “Somewhere Between,” by Linda Goldstein Knowlton. Welcomed into American families during the era of China’s one-child policy, four Asian girls grow up with “Sesame Street,” hip-hop and Twitto er at their fingertips. As transracial adoptees, they’ve integrated their parents’ ethnicities into their identities, but connecting with their own can be a struggle, especially amid the shock and drama of adolescence. Sharing a common need to make sense of their roots, the teens track down their birth parents, reach out to the orphanages where they once lived and move audiences to tears as they tackle tough questions about race, gender and self-acceptance.
The jury prize for fiction was awarded to “Nothing’s All Bad,” by Mikkel Munch-Fals. Sex—or lack thereof—can make people do funny things. For the characters in this stylish Danish drama, desire and loneliness breed quirky adventures and unexpected outcomes. Longing for connection in her increasingly isolated world, a retiree has a one-night stand, then wrestles with the aftermath. A beautiful cancer patient copes with losing a breast, wondering how she’ll ever feel normal again. Young and gorgeous but low on cash, Jonas discovers how sex equals currency as his dad explores its power to shock and awe. A visually striking debut from Mikkel Munch-Fals, this film shines by weaving together these four stories with strong threads of humor and pathos.
The prize for cinematography was awarded to “Bibliotheque Pascal,” byAndras Nagy. Pinnochio doesn’t contain S&M scenes, except at Bibliothèque Pascal, a brothel where wealthy clients act out brutal fantasies with literature’s most famous characters. Mona, a beautiful Hungarian puppeteer, gets swept into the maelstrom of sex and violence, leaving her little girl in safekeeping at a relative’s house. Before long, the child-welfare agency seizes the child, demanding answers. Mona shares her story, which grows more colorful by the minute as magical fantasies collide with harsh realities. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu (White Palms), this bold and dazzling vision reminiscent of Terry Gilliam has emerged as a film festival favorite around the world.
-
The Dolphin Beats The Lion at the Box Office and Jeff Nichols Take Shelter Wins
[caption id="attachment_1675" align="alignnone" width="550"]
Margaret[/caption]The dolphin as in Warner Brothers’ 3D family film ‘Dolphin Tale’ beat the lion as in the recycled Disney ‘Lion King’ to win this week’s box office race. After debuting with $19.2 million last weekend, Dolphin Tale dropped just 27 percent to $14.2 million, followed by Brad Pitt’s baseball drama Moneyball with $12.5 million, and The Lion King 3D with $11.1 million.
1. Dolphin Tale – $14.2 mil
2. Moneyball – $12.5 mil
3. The Lion King 3D – $11.1 mil
4. 50/50 – $8.9 mil
5. Courageous – $8.8 mil
6. Dream House – $8.2 mil
7. Abduction – $5.7 mil
8. What’s Your Number? – $5.6 mil
9. Contagion – $5.0 mil
10. Killer Elite – $4.9 milIn the specialty box office, the Sony Pictures Classics release, Jeff Nichols’ “Take Shelter” took the top spot, grossing $56,171 from its 3 debut screens, averaging $18,724. while another Sarah Palin Palin film, this time the unauthorized documentary Sarah Palin – You Betcha!, also bombed grossing only $7,400 in six theaters.
Other new specialty films included the much delayed, Fox Searchlight’s “Margaret” from director Kenneth Lonergan starring Anna Paquin and Matt Damon not doing well with a weak $7,496 from 2 screens in New York. Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye’s documentary film “Benda Bilili!” released by National Geographic made just $1,722 from one theater.
Sergei Loznitsa’s “My Joy” grossed $2,800 on 1 screen in New York and Patrick Takaya Solomon’s “Finding Joe” grossed $9,571 on 1 screen in LA.