Zero Dark Thirty – Entertainably

11:08 am, January 19th, 2013

BOX OFFICE

(Sony)

(Universal)

Jessica Chastain is Queen of the Box Office.

The Oscar nominee’s new horror movie Mama is expected to open at #1 for the long holiday weekend with approximately $30 million, while the actress’ manhunt thriller Zero Dark Thirty should hit second place at about $20 million for the Friday-Monday period.

Silver Linings Playbook, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, is on pace for $13 million and a Top 3 finish.

Things get very crowded after that.

Gangster Squad will probably be #4 with a projected $11 million, followed closely by a pack of films all expected to earn between $9 and $10 million: Broken City, A Haunted House, Django Unchained, and Les Miserables.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is tracking toward $8.5 million and ninth place, following by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comeback The Last Stand, which is expected to earn $6 million.

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Zero Dark Thirty Hunts Down Top Spot; A Haunted House & Gangster Squad Follow

January 13, 2013Gossip Cop

A Haunted House Django Unchained Gangster Squad Les Miserables Zero Dark Thirty

9:24 am, January 12th, 2013

BOX OFFICE

(Sony)

Zero Dark Thirty, about the CIA manhunt for Osama bin Laden, is expected to top the weekend box office.

The Oscar-nominated thriller, starring Jessica Chastain, is tracking toward $26 million in its first week of expanded nationwide play.

That would be enough to beat Gangster Squad, the new mob period piece featuring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin and Sean Penn, which is projected to earn $18.5 million.

A Haunted House, the horror spoof, should be right behind with $17.5 million.

Django Unchained ($11 million) is at #4, followed by Les Miserables ($9.5 million) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($8 million).

The family comedy Parental Guidance and the historical drama Lincoln are battling for seventh place, with both movies at approximately $6 million.

Last week’s champ, Texas Chainsaw 3D, has tumbled all the way down to #9 with $5.5 million, just ahead of the Tom Cruise movie Jack Reacher ($5 million).

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Zero Dark Thirty Criticized By Acting CIA Director: “Not A Realistic Portrayal”

December 22, 2012Gossip Cop

Truth rating: 10

Michael Morell Osama bin Laden Zero Dark Thirty

2:49 pm, December 22nd, 2012

(Columbia Pictures)

Zero Dark Thirty is generating controversy to go with its Oscar buzz.

The Kathryn Bigelow-directed thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden has drawn criticism by observers who believe it justifies the use of torture, and now acting CIA director Michael Morell has written a letter undermining the movie’s accuracy.

Morell’s memo to CIA employees was made public on Friday.

“I would not normally comment on a Hollywood film, but I think it important to put Zero Dark Thirty, which deals with one of the most significant achievements in our history, into some context,” writes Morell.

He states that the movie “takes significant artistic license, while portraying itself as being historically accurate.”

“What I want you to know is that Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatization, not a realistic portrayal of the facts,” continues the intelligence chief. “CIA interacted with the filmmakers through our Office of Public Affairs but, as is true with any entertainment project with which we interact, we do not control the final product.”

Morell finds that the movie “departs from reality” in boiling down the efforts of hundreds of officers “to just a few individuals” and in creating “the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program” were to key to locating Bin Laden.

“That impression is false,” write Morell.

In his letter, the nation’s top spy raises other issues with Zero Dark Thirty and tells his CIA personnel to remember that it is “not a documentary.”