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Arrivals || ||

'Killing Them Softly' Scene Stealer Scoot McNairy Discusses Acting With Brad Pitt & Playing Rob Pattinson's Brother

'Killing Them Softly' Scene Stealer Scoot McNairy Discusses Acting With Brad Pitt & Playing Rob Pattinson's Brother

If you'd like one good reason to see Killing Them Softly in spite of its "F" Cinemascore and anemic opening box-office numbers, I'll give you a great one:  Scoot McNairy's portrayal of the tragi-comic hood Frankie in Andrew Dominik's contemporary film noir is the kind of breakthrough performance that will stick with you long after the financials are forgotten. more »

Weekend Receipts || ||

'Twilight' Number One At The Box Office As Newcomers Fizzle

'Twilight' Number One At The Box Office As Newcomers Fizzle

Newcomers Killing Them Softly and The Collection bowed soft over the weekend, with the latter barely making it into the top ten. Holdovers including Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Skyfall and Lincoln remained the top three pics domestically. The Weinstein Company's Silver Linings Playbook, meanwhile, placed just outside the top ten over the weekend, though the Oscar hopeful played in comparatively far fewer locations and is showing strength as it continues to roll out slowly.

1. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Gross: $17,410,000 (Cume: $254.6 million)
Screens: 4008 (PSA: $4,344)
Week: 3 (Change: - 60%)

Number one for three weeks, the final Twilight scored the top spot after a weak showing from newcomers. The feature dropped 62 locations from its second weekend and its $4,344 average was significantly lower than its $10,723 showing in week 2. Still, it is a bit better off than its previous installments and is within $1 million from matching New Moon.

2. Skyfall
Gross: $17 million (Cume: $246 million)
Screens: 3,463 (PSA: $4,909)
Week: 4 (Change: - 52%)

The highest grossing Bond film continues to show strength one month into its U.S. run. The pic averaged a solid $4,909, compared to Twilight's $4,344 average in its third week, though it is in 545 fewer theaters. Globally, Skyfall has grossed over $869 million, a good return for its $200 million budget. A $300 million domestic run is not out of the question.

3. Lincoln
Gross: $13,509,000 (Cume: $83,698,000)
Screens: 2,018 (PSA: $6,694)
Week: 4 (Change: - 47%)

Steven Spielberg's big Oscar contender remained in the same number of theaters in its third weekend, though its per screen average was almost halved from the previous weekend's $12,724. Still, it had the highest PSA in the top 10 for the weekend. Its nearly $83.7 million gross is outpacing the filmmaker's 2011 movies The Adventures of Tintin ($77.6 million) and War Horse ($79.9 million).

4. Rise of the Guardians
Gross: $13,500,000 (Cume: $48,947,253)
Screens: 3,672 (PSA: $3,676)
Week: 2 (Change: - 43%)

The Paramount/Dreamworks animation added 19 theaters and remained fourth in the overall top ten. Still, it will struggle to reach $100 million.

5. Life of Pi
Gross: $12 million (Cume: $48,361,141)
Screens: 2,018 (PSA: $4,098)
Week: 2 (Change: -46.6%)

The Ang Lee 3-D feature added just one location over the weekend, rounding out the top 5, though. Globally, it has grossed nearly $109 million ($60,500,000) abroad and is said to be performing well.

6. Wreck-It Ralph
Gross: $7,020,000 (Cume: $158,257,000)
Screens: 3,087 (PSA: $2,274)
Week: 5 (Change: - 57.6%)

The animated feature remained at the sixth position, though dropped 172 locations and had a fairly steep 57-plus percent drop from the week prior. Its $2,274 average compares to $5,085 last week and $5,131 the week before that. Still, it's had a good run and combined with foreign box office of $44 million, it topped the $200 million mark over the weekend.

7. Killing Them Softly
Gross: $7 million
Screens: 2,424 (PSA: $2,888)
Week: 1

The Cannes 2012 feature is one of Brad Pitt's worse performing openings ever, though not as bad as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which only made $3.9 million. The pic should fade from theaters soon.

8. Red Dawn
Gross: $6,550,000 (Cume: $31,322,708)
Screens: 2,781 (PSA: $2,355)
Week: 2 (Change: - 54%)

The film had a relatively steep 54% decline in gross compared to its first weekend, though it added 57 more venues. Its $2,355 average compares to its $5,241 opening. It may struggle to match its $65 million production budget domestically.

9. Flight
Gross: $4,540,000 (Cume: $81,526,836)
Screens: 2,603 (PSA: $1,744)
Week: 5 (Change: - 46.3%)

Flight shed 35 theaters in its fifth week after adding locations over the past month. Still, the Denzel Washington-starrer has performed well at the box office with a domestic come over $81.5 million vs its $31 million production budget. It may be a reach to hit the $100 million mark.

10. The Collection
Gross: $3,409,224
Screens: 1,403 (PSA: $2,430)
Week: 1

In its debut, The Collection barely made it into the top ten and its nearly $3.41 million opening is slightly off from its predecessor, The Collector's 2009 $3.57 million bow.

11. Silver Linings Playbook
Gross: $3,341,000 (Cume: $10,990,981)
Screens: 371 (PSA: $9,005)
Week: 3 (Change: - 23.8%)

Though not in the top ten, The Weinstein Company's Oscar hopeful Silver Linings Playbook has continued to gain traction after an opening that was a bit of a disappointment. It ranked 11th for the weekend, though it is in far fewer theaters than titles in the top ten and its $9,005 average was far better than any in the top ten. Word-of-mouth is clearly driving the title.

The Movieline Interview || ||

INTERVIEW: 'Killing Them Softly' Star Ben Mendelsohn Talks Ryan Gosling, AC/DC & Not Watching His Own Work

INTERVIEW: 'Killing Them Softly' Star Ben Mendelsohn Talks Ryan Gosling, AC/DC & Not Watching His Own Work

Ben Mendelsohn has played a lot of memorable criminals over the last two years, but it's sign of his chops that the performances have virtually nothing in common. The son of a neuroscientist and a self-described "autodidact," Mendelsohn, 43, began as a TV actor  in his native Australia in 1980s and encountered film stardom there in 1987 as the ill-fated juvenile  delinquent Trevor in The Year My Voice Broke.   more »

Watch This || ||

WATCH: Ray Liotta Talks About Taking A Beating In 'Killing Them Softly'

WATCH: Ray Liotta Talks About Taking A Beating In 'Killing Them Softly'

After an illustrious career playing intimidating characters, Ray Liotta got to see how the other half lives (and begs for mercy) in Killing Them Softly. I sat down with the actor to discuss his harrowing beating scene — which will be much-discussed after the movie's opening weekend — and the underlying politics of Brad Pitt and director Andrew Dominik's stylish film noir. more »

Review || ||

REVIEW: Brad Pitt Makes One Glorious Bastard In Stylish, Self-Conscious 'Killing Them Softly'

REVIEW: Brad Pitt Makes One Glorious Bastard In Stylish, Self-Conscious 'Killing Them Softly'

Killing Them Softly is set in Boston, maybe. Someone mentions living in Somerville, a scattering of the characters have the accent, and they talk about going down to Florida. But the film was shot in New Orleans, often in the industrial edges still ragged from Hurricane Katrina, and the only people who seem to inhabit its universe are gangsters — high level ones with pretentions of civility and hardscrabble losers struggling to get a few dollars together by way of hazardous schemes. more »

The Movieline Interview || ||

INTERVIEW: 'Killing Them Softly' Director Andrew Dominik Discusses His American Horror Story

INTERVIEW: 'Killing Them Softly' Director Andrew Dominik Discusses His American Horror Story

Andrew Dominik does not look like a guy who could teach this country a lesson. With his floppy hair, fashionable glasses and ever-present cigarette, he resembles the kind of international hipster you'd find brandishing his American Express black card in Manhattan's Meatpacking District on a Thursday night. But don't be fooled by appearances. more »

Newswire || ||

Brad Pitt Turns Furniture Designer

Brad Pitt Turns Furniture Designer

Besides commanding millions for his heavy rotation of films, co- shepherding a large brood and building housing in New Orleans, Brad Pitt is adding another set of skills to his resume - designing furniture. His pieces will likely not be heading to an Ikea near you any time soon, but it is not just a passing fancy either. Pitt has been designing buildings and furniture since the 1990s and some of his pieces will be on display in New York in the coming days.
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Cannes || ||

Cannes: Brad Pitt Talks Killing Them Softly, Politics, Violence and Marriage

Cannes: Brad Pitt Talks Killing Them Softly, Politics, Violence and Marriage

Politics lurched to the forefront Tuesday in Cannes as director Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly took its turn as the spotlighted world premiere here. But this isn't just any world premiere: This one featured Brad Pitt, who manages to still excite even some otherwise jaded festival attendees.
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