Say What? Lara Croft 2.0

Amuse us! Add a caption or dialogue to this image set of Alicia Vikander on the set of Tomb Raider (2018)

2016's Box Office Scorecard. Big & Minor Hits (Some Flops due to Budget)

Each day for the past two weeks we've been looking back on the year that was from different angles. Today, the biggest hits of 2016 in two different categories (franchise vs original).

It will surprise no one that the year's biggest hits continue to prove Hollywood right (sigh) in pursuing nothing but animated and superhero pictures and franchisable intellectual property and neglecting the nurturing of movies for adults. On the bright side quality pictures do occassionally break through audience resistance to original concepts and voices, often with the help of awards at year's end. So next time you hear people complain about awards season, remind them that we might never get movies made for adults if there weren't shiny gold statues to chase.

How many of these 35 pictures have you seen and which will you hit next? 

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Box Office Christmas: Star Wars, Hidden Figures, and More...

Star Wars is just going to be a thing every Christmas as ubiquitous as Santa one supposes. Rogue One continued to dominate the box office though if you ask your editor here it's kind of... dull (*dodges tomatoes*) and people wouldn't care much about it if it wasn't "a Star Wars". At the very least it's a bummer that it turned out to be just an exact prequel to the original Star Wars -- it really ought to have had an Episode III½ header -- and not a stand-alone adventure with some fresh ideas about that galaxy far far away.

Box office charts with a few points of discussion after the jump. What did you see this weekend? 

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Doctor Strange and the Comic Book Movie Dilemma

by Deborah Lipp

I have a pet peeve about comic book movies, and Professor Spouse is sick of hearing it, so I’m imposing on you all. When Professor Spouse and I got back from seeing Dr. Strange, I said, “I have one* complaint—it’s an origin story.” She said, “I knew you would say that.” 

*Well, only one complaint that is the subject of this essay.

The fundamental problem in comic book movies is the shift into a different medium, though in many ways the mediums are a natural fit...

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Girl, where do you link you're goin'?

Comics Alliance The Flash movie, starring Ezra Miller, loses its Dope director
MNPP Matthias Schoenaerts and Jane Fonda on set together!
The New York on The Handmaiden and lesbian historical fiction
EW will give us an extensive first look at Beauty and the Beast in the new issue

The Film Doctor on Woody Allen's Cafe Society - have you caught up with this on dvd?
i09 because once you are all about being on-brand, like Johnny Depp, you can't ever leave franchise-verse, he'll be joining the Potterverse for a Fantastic Beasts sequel
/Film speaking of Ezra Miller is giving a history of the Potterverse to promote Fantastic Beasts
Time Out Two time Tony winner Tammy Grimes (mother of Amanda Plummer) dies at 92
D List after a brief internet freakout Idris Elba denies that he's dating Madonna
Superhero Hype set photos from The Defenders (Netflix's answer to The Avengers) though for now its mostly just Jessica Jones in her trademark leather jacket, blue jeans, and perma-scowl

NY Times "Warren Beatty wants six hours of your time" a profile
Jezebel ,,,Rich Juzwiak on the write-around of that piece
I Like Things That Look Like Mistakes Kyle Turner on the camp value of Lady Gaga's "Joanne"
IndieWire you can now stream Michael Giacchino's Dr Strange's score in its entirety 
Reel Talk time for reunion TV to go? 

P.S. Jason's Polling Skills are Formidable
Two Sophie's Choices in a single day? Right here he asked us to choose between Juliet & Pauline, two such Heavenly Creatures, and at his own blog My New Plaid Pants, this showdown between topless begloved sex gods. How will you vote in both polls?