Weekend Preview 2015: 'A Most Violent Year', 'Project Almanac' to Take on Super Bowl Weekend
This week a number of small films will be released for the Super Bowl weekend.
The Super Bowl is known as one of the weakest weekends of the year as most audiences are home watching the big football game.
The releases this week include two failed awards contenders, a found footage film, a thriller and expansions of Oscar nominees. Latin Post takes a look at the biggest movies out in theaters for Super Bowl 2015 Weekend:
"A Most Violent Year"
Having been released on the last day of 2014, A24 had big plans for the film and expected it to be an Oscar nominee. However, "A Most Violent Year" flopped in its awards hopes. Instead it had to settle for a Golden Globe and Critics' Choice nomination for Jessica Chastain and a Best Picture award from the National Board of Review. The film directed by J.C. Chandor and also starring Oscar Isaac and Catalina Sandino Moreno tells the story of an ambitious Latin American immigrant who fights to protect his business and family during the most dangerous year in the city's history. When it was released Latin Post said Isaac's performance was "a revelation" and even named it the Best Film of the Year. The film has been a moderate success in limited release and A24 hopes that the great reviews and word-of-mouth will make the wide release a hit.
"Black or White"
Yet another awards contender, Relativity acquired the movie out of Toronto in hopes of securing Oscar nominations. However, the movie's terrible reviews hurt the company's efforts. The film, starring Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner, tells the story of a grieving widower who is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life. The film reunites Costner and Mike Binder after working together on the critically acclaimed film "The Upside of Anger." The movie is being released in 1,500 and box office analysts don't expect "Black or White" to be a huge success.
"The Loft"
Open Road will release "The Loft," a film that received little to no marketing. The movie stars James Marsden, Karl Urban and Wentworth Miller and tells the story of five married guys who conspire to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city, a place where they can carry out hidden affairs and indulge in their deepest fantasies. But the fantasy becomes a nightmare when they discover the dead body of an unknown woman in the loft, and they realize one of the group must be involved. The film has not received critics' screenings and box office pundits expect it to flop. According to boxoffice.com, the film is likely to open with $3.5 million, but with no marketing support and the film being targeted to the same audience that watches the Super Bowl, this number could easily go down.
"Project Almanac"
Paramount will release yet another found footage movie. The new film tells the story of a group of teens who discover secret plans to a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control. "Project Almanac" is the latest in a series of found footage films about young teenagers. Last year, Relativity released "Earth to Echo" to mixed response while Universal released "As Above/So Below." Both these films flopped at the box office and this new project is unlikely to have better response. While the movie is coming out a time where there isn't much competition, audiences are becoming wary of these types of movies.
Among the Indie releases of the week are the Oscar nominated film "Timbuktu," which will be released by Cohen Media Group. Well Go USA will unveil "Supremacy" while Strand will take out the highly anticipated film "Girlhood."
Freestyle Releasing has "The Devil's Violinist" while Drafthouse will release "Amira and Sam." Meanwhile, China Lion will release "Running Man" while International Film Circuit will have the documentary "Above and Beyond."
If none of these releases are of interest, six-time Academy Award nominee "American Sniper" will likely win its third weekend and continue to play strong among audiences. The Weinstein Company will continue to expand the eight-time Oscar nominee "The Imitation Game" while Fox Searchlight will push the Oscar front-runner "Birdman."
Outside of the awards contenders "The Boy Next Door," "The Wedding Ringer" and "Paddington" will still be available in theaters.