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There are many ways to determine the best and worst movies of the year. You can look at movie reviews — Rotten Tomatoes has Kirby Dick's The Invisible War at the top of the list with a rating of 100% and the Eddie Murphy vehicle A Thousand Words at the bottom with a rating of 0% — or you can tabulate box office receipts — The Avengers is the clear leader with global sales in excess of $1.46 million, while Playback starring Christian Slater earned just $264 (that's no typo!). But, we at Reelz know that the opinions of the moviegoing public — your opinions — matter just as much as those of the critics and bean-counters, which is why we took to the streets to ask which movies were the best and the worst of the year (so far).
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| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| The Lorax | $39.1M | $122M | Dropping just 44% from its opening weekend, Universal's Dr. Seuss adaptation is now 2012's highest-grossing movie (so far). |
| John Carter | $30.6M | $30.6M | As expected, Disney's $250M sci-fi adaptation stumbled at the box office; predicted to be one of the 2012's biggest bombs | .
| Project X | $11.6M | $40.1M | Teen party movie holds up well in its second weekend, falling just 45%, impressive for a "found footage" pic. |
| Silent House | $7M | $7M | Elizabeth Olsen's horror pic becomes the second movie of 2012 to earn the dreaded F CinemaScore from audiences (The Devil Inside was the first); movie should drop out of the top 10 by next week. |
| Act of Valor | $7M | $56.1M | Even in its 3rd week of release, these real-life Navy SEALs beat out Eddie Murphy's A Thousand Words for the fifth spot. |
Posted 03.11.12 by reelz -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| The Lorax | $70.7M | $70.7M | Universal's Dr. Seuss adaptation had a monster debut, breaking the record for the best opening ever for a non-sequel animated title. The movie recouped its budget in a single weekend |
| Project X | $20.8M | $20.8M | Strong debut make this teen party flick this year's third "found footage" hit after The Devil Inside and Chronicle |
| Act of Valor | $13.7M | $45.2M | Started out as a military recruitment video but has become a box office hit |
| Safe House | $7.2M | $108.2M | Denzel Washington actioner still in the Top 4 even after four weeks, becoming a much needed hit for Ryan Reynolds |
| Tyler Perry's Good Deeds | $7M | $25.7M | Proving to be not as strong of a hit as Tyler Perry's previous movies; maybe Madea needs to make a return |
Posted 03.04.12 by reelz -
Opening this weekend at the box office is the raunchy Project X and the movie adaptation of a beloved children's book, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. One's about being environmentally responsible while the other is about being completely irresponsible but should you go see either one?
ReelzChannel movie experts Richard Roeper and Leonard Maltin give their takes on both movies. Roeper said halfway through Project X, which he called Risky Business mixed with Paranormal Activity, he was going to give the party movie an F but changed his mind in the third act. In his review, watch what made him change his mind and find out what grade he ended up giving the movie. Maltin said the "found footage" teen movie was a different animal compared to its predecessors and that it holds nothing back. While the movie might appeal to teenagers, Maltin said Project X is a horror movie for parents.
Maltin didn't have very nice things to say about The Lorax, saying the Dr. Seuss adaptation, featuring the voices of Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Danny DeVito, and Taylor Swift, had no charm and that Seuss' simplicity and wit are trampled on by the movie's script. Roeper was a bit kinder, saying it's filled with delightful characters and is a solid piece of animated family entertainment.
watch Roeper's and Maltin's reviews >> Posted 03.02.12 by Chris -
The Lorax co-stars Zac Efron and Taylor Swift appeared on Ellen yesterday to promote the upcoming Dr. Seuss movie. While they definitely brought on the cute, true to Ellen DeGeneres form, things got "weird."
After denying any rumors of dating (multiple times), discussing the animated movie, and even talking about Swift's cats, the duo serenaded DeGeneres with their own special version of Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks." With lyrics like "every single time I come on this show it's really weird, really weird, all because of Ellen" the host couldn't help but laugh .
watch the clip >> Posted 02.22.12 by reelz -
Universal Pictures made its biggest push yet for the animated feature The Lorax by ponying up for a 30-second TV spot during last weekend's Super Bowl. Now, the studio has released nearly six minutes of new footage from the movie in a series of seven preview clips.
Based on acclaimed children's author Dr. Seuss' classic story about the environmental dangers of unregulated corporate greed, The Lorax centers around a young boy named Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) who lives in a completely artificial world. The only real plants and animals live in the stories told to him by his Grammy Norma (Betty White). Desperate to impress Audrey (Taylor Swift), the girl of his dreams, Ted sets out on a quest to find a real Truffula tree. After learning the sad story of the Lorax (Danny DeVito) from the reclusive Once-ler (Ed Helms), who entrusts him with the last Truffula seed, Ted returns to his home in Thneed-Ville to spread the message of the importance of nature only to run into opposition from Thneed-Ville's wealthy mayor, O'Hare (Rob Riggle).
watch all 7 clips >> Posted 02.10.12 by BrentJS -
While most of the movie spots — The Avengers, Battleship and John Carter, to name a few — that aired during yesterday's Super Bowl were geared toward male adults in the 18-35 age range, Universal Pictures bet on the fact that plenty of kids would be watching the game, too, and plunked down big bucks to air a new TV spot for Illumination Entertainment's (Despicable Me) latest animated feature, The Lorax.
Co-written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (Despicable Me), and co-directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me) and newcomer Kyle Balda, The Lorax brings Dr. Seuss' classic children's story about the dangers of corporate greed and environmental destruction to the big screen in dazzling "Tree-D." The story follows a young boy named Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) living in an artificial world who learns from his Grammy Norma (Betty White) of a time when real plants and animals were commonplace and sets out to find a real Truffula tree to try to win the affections of the girl of his dreams, Audrey (Taylor Swift). What Ted discovers instead is the reclusive Once-ler (Ed Helms), who tells him the sad story of the Lorax (Danny DeVito) and offers him the last of the Truffula Seeds.
watch the new tv spot for The Lorax >> Posted 02.06.12 by BrentJS -
Illumination Entertainment — the Universal-owned production company that burst onto the scene in 2010 with its wildly successful animated feature debut, Despicable Me — has released a new theatrical trailer for its latest animated feature, The Lorax, exclusively to Yahoo that not only contains new footage from the movie, but includes an introduction by the Lorax himself, Danny DeVito.
Adapted from Dr. Seuss' classic children's story about the dangers of corporate greed and environmental destruction, The Lorax follows a young boy named Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) who lives in a world where everything is plastic and there are no plants or animals. After hearing stories from his grandmother (Betty White) about how alive the world used to be, Ted sets out in search of the Once-ler (Ed Helms) in order to discover the truth about what happened to all of the Truffula Trees and to win the affection of the girl (Taylor Swift) of his dreams.
watch the new trailer >> Posted 12.07.11 by BrentJS -
Illumination Entertainment proved that it could compete in the competetive CG-animated movie marketplace, with its 2010 inaugural debut, Despicable Me- which not only charmed critics, but became a monster hit at the box office, easily besting DreamWorks Animation's similarly-themed 2010 release, MegaMind. For its second fully CG-animated movie, Illumination tackles one of the most beloved stories by one of America's most beloved authors, The Lorax, Dr. Seuss' classic children's story about the dangers of corporate greed and environmental destruction.
The first trailer for The Lorax debuted last month and we got to see a a bit more footage when an international trailer was released earlier this month. Now, Illumination has released a featurette that introduces some of the characters in the movie and gives us a look behind the scenes of the making of the movie, with commentary from voice actors Zac Efron ("Ted"), Taylor Swift ("Audrey"), Ed Helms ("Once-ler"), Betty White ("Grammy Norma"), Rob Riggle ("O'Hare") and Danny DeVito ("The Lorax").
watch the new featurette >> Posted 11.16.11 by BrentJS -
The first trailer for the upcoming, CGI-animated adaptation of The Lorax arrived online last week, and revealed the Once-ler (voiced by Ed Helms), Suess' embodiment of corporate greed that only appeared as a pair of thin, green arms in Dr. Seuss' 1971 parable about big business' effect on the environment.
Now, an international trailer has been released which shows that the Once-ler is still the creature who hides his identity from others, but once the idealistic Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) arrives at the Once-ler's home, we get to see the origin of the relationship between the the Lorax (Danny DeVito) and his nemesis after he started chopping down Truffula Trees.
watch the trailer >> Posted 11.01.11 by Ryan