In Contention

Tag: The Secret of Kells

  • SUNDAY CENTS: For real this time, ‘Dragon’ ‘Back-Up’ to #1

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    No photo finishes and no Monday recounts needed. “How to Train Your Dragon” has definitely topped the chart this weekend, four weeks after debuting there. The last time a film leapt back up to number one after a three week hiatus was “The Passion of the Christ,” which had the help of Easter weekend to do it. It is, quite simply, a feat that isn’t possible in today’s box office climate and Paramount should be congratulated for their efforts. The film dropped a tiny 24% to $15.0 million and is well on course to pass the $200 million mark that “Monsters vs. Aliens” couldn’t hit last year. It’s also the lowest gross for a number one film since September.

    Jennifer Lopez proved she still has some of the goods by lifting “The Back-Up Plan” to second place and $12.3 million. That’s already more than “Extraordinary Measures” made total and gives CBS Films reason to keep their doors open for a few more months. I have no idea why this film did this well except that there hasn’t been an old fashioned romantic comedy since “Valentine’s Day.” I’m still also not sure why there are even hijinks or complications in this plot. The guy falls in love with her… but she’s pregnant! So?

    “The Losers” became a self-fulfilling prophecy for Warner Bros., entering the chart at number four with $9.6 million. To give you some perspective, some terrible movie called “The Marine” starring a wrestler opened to $8.3 million a few years ago. That’s the calibre of performance we’re talking about. The studio might have had better luck naming the film what it actually is, “The Cocky Douchebags.”

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  • 3D effects for ‘Secret of Kells’ follow-up?

    (Earlier, this story accidentally credited the incorrect source — apologies to Brendon Connelly and /Film UK.)

    Following his surprise Oscar nomination for “The Secret of Kells,” which only recently landed in U.S. theaters, Irish animator Tomm Moore is already deep into his follow-up, “Song of the Sea.”

    The film, which should go into production later this year, will be another excursion into Irish folklore, this time taking the mythical Selkie creatures — also the subject of John Sayles’s 1995 film “The Secret of Roan Inish,” if memory serves — as its inspiration.

    Most intriguing is Moore’s admission that he is “experimenting” with 3D stereo effects within his handdrawn 2D aesthetic, though he makes no promises that they’ll turn up in the final film. After the cut, meanwhile, a conceptual trailer for “Song of the Sea” promises more of the stylized stained-glass visuals that so impressed the Academy’s animation branch. (Thanks to /Film UK’s Brendon Connelly for the link.)

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: A very important date

    Alice in Wonderland*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    May I introduce the film with the 14th biggest debut of all time, “Alice in Wonderland.” It’s also the biggest March debut, biggest 3D debut and third biggest non-sequel debut of all time. If your goal was to ensure that Tim Burton continues to lazily adapt his gothic style to beloved material over and over again, job well done America.

    Let’s just take a step back for a second. $116.3 million is the figure we’re looking at, which places it right between “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “The Matrix Reloaded.” Those are both huge sequels, released around Memorial Day and are expected to be in this kind of vicinity. No film has ever opened with $100 million outside of May, June, July or November before today but the combination of Burton, Johnny Depp and a bunch of characters made out of McDonalds happy meal toys proved too irresistible to ignore.

    Somehow Burton has built an entire career out of franchises, remakes and studio product aimed at merchandise as much as artistry, yet still maintained auteur credibility and worldwide acclaim. Congratulations to him for that, but a little more “Edward Scissorhands” and a little less “Alice in Wonderland” would be nice.

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  • ‘Secret of Kells’ poster

    The Secret of Kells

  • The making of a surprise

    The Secret of KellsI think it’s fairly inarguable that this year’s most unexpected Oscar nomination was the deserved Best Animated Feature nod for “The Secret of Kells,” the Irish festival creeper that some journos even admitted to not having heard of. If you had your money on that one, you have my respect in addition to your fortune.

    But behind every Oscar surprise that nobody sees coming lies a lot of planning and calculation: this Wall Street Journal piece looks at how fledgling distributor GKIDS stealthily orchestrated the film’s nomination.

    Specializing in high-end family fare, GKIDS was founded a year ago by Eric Backman, with the objective of landing an Oscar nomination within two years. He’s now one year ahead of schedule, thanks to a passive campaign relying on the film itself to generate buzz.

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  • 2/12 Oscarweb Round-up

    Rick Baker• Steve Weintraub sits down with likely the only major Oscar play for forthcoming flop “The Wolfman,” Rick Baker. [Collider]

    • Guy Adams on “Crazy Heart”‘s crazy trip to the screen. [The Independent]

    • Harvey Weinstein is pretty damn sure “Inglourious Basterds” is winning Best Picture. [Notes on a Season]

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  • ‘Secret of Kells’ trailer

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Animated Feature Film

    The Secret of KellsThis year’s Best Animated Feature Film race featured five nominees for just the second time in the category’s existence.  It was the result of a robust slate of qualifying contenders that reached the magic number of 16, and yet there was still quality work left lying in the also-rans pile.

    There was a wide open fifth slot throughout most of the season as a generally agreed-upon four slowly coagulated.  Come nomination morning, the field therefore offered one of the many exciting surprises as a foreign independent project from a first-time filmmaker one-upped films both critically (“Ponyo”) and commercially (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”) successful.

    The nominees are:

    “Coraline” (Henry Selick)
    “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Wes Anderson)
    “The Princess and the Frog” (John Musker and Ron Clements)
    “The Secret of Kells” (Tomm Moore)
    “Up” (Pete Docter)

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  • SANTA BARBARA: ‘Kells’ screens and the writers talk

    The Secret of KellsIt’s been a slow ramping up for me in Santa Barbara, coverage wise.  I’ve had some Wi-Fi difficulties that are being sorted and I’ve posted when I can from where I can, but a couple of notes on the last two days.

    Yesterday I took in a late afternoon screening of Tomm Moore’s “The Secret of Kells,” the film that probably served up the biggest surprise last Tuesday when it slid into the animated feature field over the populist, branch-respected “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and the less-respected “Ponyo,” which nevertheless comes from a titan of the medium.

    The film is beautiful in so many ways, offering a rich, artistic palette of shapes and color to paint a portrait of a well-circulated Irish story revolving around the non-fictional Book of Kells.  The artwork ultimately mirrors, in some way, the Insular art featured in the book, and the narrative itself, abstract as it feels at times, seems to be about the persistence of art and history.

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  • The bright side

    Abbie Cornish in Bright StarWell, I’ll start the good news selfishly, by noting that I didn’t entirely embarrass myself with my predictions: not counting the short categories (which I was too cowardly and uninformed to predict) I nailed 78/106, just two points behind Kris’s round tally of 80.

    But while I was pleased to see at least one of my out-on-a-limb guesses come good — seriously, why didn’t more people call that Art Direction nod for “The Young Victoria?” — I was better at predicting what wouldn’t get nominated.

    So, my season-long hunches that Julianne Moore would be frozen out in the supporting race, that “(500) Days of Summer” would be blanked, that “Up in the Air” would miss that crucial Film Editing nod, and so on, were all on the money. And my increasing sense that nobody really liked “Invictus” enough to put it atop their ballot proved right too.

    Now, if I only I’d known what would land in their place. You can’t have it all, I suppose.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Cartoon network

    Mary and MaxAs the year winds down, and critics and entertainment journalists search for neat blanket tags with which to label the year that was, “the year of animation” is a phrase that is getting increasingly bandied about – some going so far as to declare 2009 the greatest year of all time for animated product. (Certainly, TIME magazine has fed that narrative, by naming a trio of ‘toons the year’s three greatest films.)

    It’s up for debate whether such talk is a result of extraordinary across-the-board quality, or sheer numbers. Make no mistake, this year has turned up more visible animated titles, in a broader range of artistic formats, than any in recent memory.

    Confirmation of this deluge comes in the Academy’s official listing of 20 titles in the hunt for the Best Animated Feature Oscar – the largest number since the category’s inception in 2001, and one that ensures the first five-strong slate of nominees since 2002.

    Of course, 2002, despite the higher-than-usual proportion of contenders, was hardly a banner year for the medium: “Spirited Away” may have taken a well-deserved Oscar, but the amount of filler it had to beat in the process – including such already forgotten snoozes as “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” and “Treasure Planet” – was proof positive that quantity doesn’t equal quality in this particular race.

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  • Golden Globes announce 15 animated contenders

    Hardly something to stop the presses for, but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has revealed the 15 eligible titles vying for a Best Animated Feature nod at the Golden Globes.

    It’s the same as the 20-title longlist from which the Academy will pick its nominees, minus the following five films: “Astro Boy,” “The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer,” “Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure,” “A Town Called Panic” and “The Secret of Kells.” A pity in the latter two cases. (Irish festival hit “Kells” surprised many with a Best Feature nod at the Annie Awards earlier this week.)

    In case you forgot, the Globes have expanded the category to include five nominees this year. Nominations are announced December 15. As you were.

  • Animated feature contenders pushing 18 now

    The Secret of KellsOne of the titles we mentioned a couple of weeks ago that could slide in and help rescue the animated feature category (as in, push the field of qualifying contenders closer to 16, which would yield the potential for five, rather than three nominees) was something called “The Secret of Kells.”

    Since then, “The Missing Lynx: Paws on the Run” has come to the category’s aid, as has the stop-motion “A Town Called Panic,” so we’ve got 17 contenders before this news, but 19 gives a nice cushion.

    Peter Debruge reports at Variety:

    GKIDS picked up U.S. rights to “The Secret of Kells” just three days before the Oscar submission deadline and plans to open the 2D toon for a one-week qualifying run on Dec. 4 at the AMC Burbank 8 in Los Angeles, followed by a wider release in March 2010.

    The story of a ninth-century boy who rebels against his guardian’s orders and helps to illuminate a famous Irish manuscript, pic garnered numerous accolades abroad, including an audience award at the Annecy toon fest and a nomination for the European Film Awards’ animated feature prize.

    Also worth noting: the film won the audience award at the Edinburgh Film Festival in June.

  • Animated slate still in limbo

    The Missing LynxEarlier today Tom O’Neil reported that “Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone” will not qualify for the animated feature Oscar race because it was released in Japan in 2007.  That would bring the number of qualifying titles from 16 down to 15.

    However, there seem to be films in play that we hadn’t previously considered.  According to a commenter at the website Cartoon Brew, an Antonio Banderas-produced film called “The Missing Lynx: Paws on the Run” will receive a qualifying run on November 13.  I haven’t verified that info yet but it’s something to keep an eye on.  Here’s a quick profile of the project.  There is also the outside chance of “The Secret of Kells” making it’s way at the last minute.

    Nevertheless, for the moment, without “Evangelion,” we’re looking at a three-nominee race once again, unless something comes along to save the day.  Does Disney have anything else it would like to randomly shuffle from home video to theatrical run?

    More coverage of the category here, here and here.

  • ‘Moon’ takes top prize at Edinburgh

    Sam Rockwell in MoonThe Edinburgh International Film Festival closed today with an awards ceremony that culminated in Duncan Jones’s sci-fi debut feature “Moon” landing the fest’s most coveted prize, the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature. The jury, headed by Joe Wright and including Oscar-nominee Frank Langella, said of the film:

    We award “Moon” for its singular vision and remarkably assured direction as well as for the inspired manner in which it transcends genre. The central performance by Sam Rockwell embodies the film’s emotional complexity and compelling philosophical perspective.

    The award is an aupicious one; recent winners that have gone on to considerable international success include “My Summer of Love,” “Control” and Oscar-winner “Tsotsi” (yes, it’s British). I suspect Jones might land a few more citations, particularly of the Best First Film variety, before the year is out.

    (More details, and a full list of awards, after the cut.)

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