Tag Archives: Actresses

Top 10 Actresses at the Box Office 2017

22 Friday Sep 2017

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As with the list of the Top 10 Actors at the Box Office 2017, this has been returned to its usual slot in September, thanks to a number of changes within the list itself, including a goodbye to Anne Hathaway, and some interesting jockeying for position. With only a few months left to go before 2018 potentially changes things even more, the list continues to reflect the popularity of older movies made by these actresses, and the likelihood that the top six all are here to stay indefinitely. Last year‘s list was interesting because of how many changes there were and this year is no different, making it look as if the Top 10 Actress list can provide more surprises than its male counterpart. And with many of the stars on the list appearing in some big movies in 2018, where they land up this time next year is just as open to debate as previous years.

NOTE: HGM stands for Highest Grossing Movie, and the figures represent the worldwide gross. And all figures are courtesy of boxofficemojo.com.

10 – Sandra Bullock / HGM: Minions (2015) – $1,159,398,397

Down two places from last year, Bullock has been quiet of late, and at the moment has only Ocean’s Eight next year ready to hit our screens. It’s too early to tell if this female-centric reboot will attract audiences in the same way that Steven Soderbergh’s own reboot/remake did, but if it doesn’t, then there’s a good possibility that Bullock will be off the list next year and back to the fringes.

9 – Jennifer Lawrence / HGM: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) – $865,011,746

Up one place from last year, Lawrence has had a patchy couple of years recently, but though Passengers (2016) made over $300 million, her place on the list is just as liable to be taken over by someone else as it is to be retained. Watch this space then, because Lawrence’s upcoming slate of releases consists of just three movies, one of which is the not-exactly-wanted-right-now X-Men: Dark Phoenix, due next year. If she’s to stay on the list, that movie needs to be more like X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), and less like X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

8 – Zoe Saldana / HGM: Avatar (2009) – $2,787,965,087

The newbie on the list, Saldana arrives thanks to her involvement in not only Avatar (and just think where she could be in a few years’ time if that movie’s sequels are anywhere near as successful as James Cameron hopes they’ll be), but also through her work for Marvel, and to a lesser extent, her thankless role in the latest Star Trek franchise. It’s as much a certainty as you could get that she’ll be on this list now for quite some time to come. The only question is: how far will she go?

7 – Julia Roberts / HGM: Pretty Woman (1990) – $463,406,268

Dropping two places a la Bullock, Roberts keeps a firm grip on her place in the Top 10, but with her workload getting lighter and lighter – just one TV episode lined up for 2018 at the moment – and with everyone immediately around her appearing in movies that have the potential to bring in blockbuster-sized returns, her place on the list isn’t quite as assured as it has been since it started back in 2014. It would be a shame too, as she’s the only person on either list whose HGM earned less than $500 million.

6 – Cate Blanchett / HGM: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – $1,119,929,521

Also dropping two places (is this a theme?), Blanchett is unlikely to be any lower on next year’s list thanks to her upcoming appearances in the eagerly awaited Thor: Ragnarok later this year, and that Ocean’s Eight reboot. There’s also the (hopefully less than) small matter of Andy Serkis’s version of The Jungle Book in which she plays Kaa. She may even bound back up a place in the process. But a mid-place position seems to be where she’ll remain whatever happens.

5 – Elizabeth Banks / HGM: Spider-Man 3 (2007) – $890,871,626

Roberts and Blanchett’s misfortune is Banks’s gain as she moves up one place from last year, and does so thanks to her appearance in the moderately successful Power Rangers. However, with only her supporting role in Pitch Perfect 3 (this year’s most dubious Xmas present), and high concept The Happytime Murders along with her directorial turn on the Charlie’s Angels reboot keeping her occupied, Banks’ rise up the list may come to a halt, or even a decline, a lot sooner than expected.

4 – Helena Bonham Carter / HGM: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) – $1,341,511,219

Bonham Carter slips one place to four (she’s never been lower), and retains her position in the top five despite making a number of low profile, barely-registered-at-the-box-office movies in the last few years. She too is in Ocean’s Eight, and so it’s likely she’ll remain in the top five, but with little else on the horizon, there’s equally a chance that she’ll be even further down the list come next September. If there’s one actress on the list who it’s hard to determine if they’ll suffer or not in the rankings, Bonham Carter is that actress.

3 – Cameron Diaz / HGM: Shrek 2 (2004) – $919,838,758

Diaz’s top three place on the list is all the more astonishing due to the fact that she hasn’t made a movie since the ill-advised remake of Annie in 2014. Since then, Diaz hasn’t been attached to a single project and appears to be in some kind of semi-retirement, seemingly content to write self-help books instead. Whatever the future may bring, it’s still unlikely that she’ll slip from the list altogether, but her tenure in the top three – unassailable until now – may not last too much longer.

2 – Emma Watson / HGM: Beauty and the Beast (2017) – $1,262,852,042

A leap of five places from last year’s number seven spot sees Watson challenging hard for the number one spot, but even though Beauty and the Beast will keep her near the top for some time to come – probably – she is currently on something of a sabbatical, with no projects currently lined up in the near future. This may see her drop a place or two next year, but again, like so many others on the list, suffering that kind of result in future years won’t necessarily mean au revoir but à bientôt instead.

1 – Scarlett Johansson / HGM: The Avengers (2012) – $1,518,812,988

Perhaps an inevitable outcome, Johansson retains the top spot she grabbed last year, and like her Marvel co-star Samuel L. Jackson on the Top 10 Actors list, looks set to stay where she is for quite some time to come. Beyond Avengers: Infinity War there’s nothing else lined up for her (not even a Black Widow solo movie – surprise, surprise), but it won’t matter a bit; Johansson is here to stay and no one else can touch her.

Top 10 Actresses at the Box Office 2016

20 Sunday Nov 2016

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As with the list of the Top 10 Actors at the Box Office 2016, this was meant to be posted back in September, but with some wholly expected box office successes this year it seemed prudent to wait to see if these successes had any effect on the list as a whole. As it turns out, there were quite a few changes to the list from last year, with only one actress not returning, and several of the other actresses on the list leap-frogging all over the place. So much so, in fact, that it’ll be even more interesting to see who’s on the list next year – and where.

NOTE: HGM stands for Highest Grossing Movie, and the figures represent the worldwide gross. And all figures are courtesy of boxofficemojo.com.

10 – Jennifer Lawrence / HGM: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) – $865,011,746

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Replacing Sigourney Weaver on the list, Lawrence trades on her role as Katniss Everdeen to make the Top 10, but whether or not she stays here is another matter, as the likelihood of her making any more movies in her other franchise, the X-Men series, are dwindling thanks to the poor reception given to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). With nothing too blockbuster-like on the horizon, expect Lawrence to be absent from the list come this time next year.

9 – Anne Hathaway / HGM: The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – $1,084,939,099

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The Christopher Nolan effect keeps Hathaway in ninth place, and while her return to the role of the White Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) has helped her cause, she may yet be a casualty come next year’s list, as the only potential money spinner ahead of her is the all-female Ocean’s Eleven reboot – and that’s not due until 2018.

8 – Sandra Bullock / HGM: Minions (2015) – $1,159,398,397

minions-trailer

Down one place from last year, Bullock is becoming less and less of a presence on our screens, and right now, won’t be seen until 2018 with Anne Hathaway in the Ocean’s Eleven reboot. Potentially then, Bullock may drop down (or be completely out of) the list come 2017, but even if she is, chances are she won’t be in that position for long, though again, right now, nothing can be relied upon.

7 – Emma Watson / HGM: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) – $1,341,511,219

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Down three places from last year’s number four, Watson’s post-Harry Potter career continues to be sporadic, yet interesting for the choices she’s made, but it’s clear that she’s unlikely to feature in another box office juggernaut like the Harry Potter franchise anytime soon. Whether or not she’ll maintain her position next year is uncertain at this point, but she should still be with us – somewhere on the list – but what is certain is that a return to the top five isn’t on the cards.

6 – Elizabeth Banks / HGM: Spider-Man 3 (2007) – $890,871,626

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Firstly, an apology to Elizabeth Banks and any of her fans who felt that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) couldn’t be her HGM; you were absolutely right. Due to an oversight, and the way in which boxofficemojo.com only regards starring roles in their deliberations, Banks’ appearance as Miss Brant, J. Jonah Jameson’s secretary, wasn’t given its box office due in last year’s list, so it’s only right that amends are made here and now. And she’s moved up two places from last year’s number eight, which is like icing on the cake.

5 – Julia Roberts / HGM: Pretty Woman (1990) – $463,406,268

pretty-woman

Another non-mover, Roberts’ HGM is the only movie on either list – Actor or Actress – that has a box office take of less than $500,000, proof that the actress has made some astute choices throughout her career, even if some of them recently have felt a little underwhelming – Secret in Their Eyes (2015) and Mother’s Day (2016) in particular. But she’ll remain on the list for a while to come it seems, though she only has next year’s Wonder wrapped and almost ready to go, which could mean a lower ranking come 2017’s list.

4 – Cate Blanchett / HGM: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – $1,119,929,521

lotr-the-return-of-the-king-487

Last year’s number two drops two places, but with outings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – and that darned Ocean’s Eleven reboot still to come, it’s likely that Blanchett will find herself climbing back up the list in the next couple of years. If she does she’ll be the first person on either list to reverse a downward trend… and you wouldn’t write off that possibility, now, would you?

3 – Helena Bonham Carter / HGM: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) – $1,341,511,219

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The last non-mover on the list, Bonham Carter’s place is assured thanks to her roles in Cinderella (2015) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016). These should keep her in the top five for now, but where, say, Emma Watson’s place in the Top 10 seemed assured, Bonham Carter may find herself slipping down the list come next year, as the majority of her upcoming projects look unlikely to boost her box office returns.

2 – Cameron Diaz / HGM: Shrek 2 (2004) – $919,838,758

shrek-2-2

After two years at the top, Diaz drops to second place. With no projects in the works and her last movie having been Annie (2014), it’s likely that Diaz will find herself slipping even further down the list as time goes on and some of her fellow actresses align themselves with blockbusters and franchise money-grabbers. Of course, this isn’t Diaz’s fault, but it would be a shame if she decided to continue to cut back so drastically on acting as she seems to have done since 2014.

1 – Scarlett Johansson / HGM: The Avengers (2012) – $1,518,812,988

scarlett-johansson-in-marvels-avengers-assemble

To borrow a line from Russell Mulcahy’s Highlander (1986): “There can be only one.” On the 2014 list, Johansson was in ninth place; last year she’d jumped to sixth. Now she’s sitting head and shoulders above everyone else in the top spot and all thanks to a certain black leather-clad assassin she’s played five times now. She’s unlikely to be dethroned anytime soon, but if she is it’s unlikely that it’ll be anyone on this current list (unless they can rack up an overall box office success that amounts to over $8.5 billion).

Happy Birthday – 19 November

19 Saturday Nov 2016

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Usually, the Happy Birthday post features one actor or actress and focuses on five of their movies that may have passed people by, or maybe don’t get the recognition they deserve. And today was going to see one of those posts hit thedullwoodexperiment, but when I looked more closely, it became impossible to choose just one actress from the following five, all of whom were born today. So, in recognition of the sheer versatility these incredible women embody, here’s just one movie from each of them (the usual rules apply).

Jodie Foster (19 November 1962 -)

Nim’s Island (2008) – Character: Alexandra Rover

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Foster portrays an author whose agoraphobic nature is challenged when a young girl, Nim (played by Abigail Breslin), needs help after a storm ravages the island she lives on. Alexandra’s nervous, pedantic nature is brought to vivid life by Foster in a role that calls for a great deal of comedy – not something Foster has attempted too often in her career, and certainly not as an adult. But she gives one of her most enjoyable and suitably “loose” performances, and the movie as a whole is one that you can appreciate time and time again.

Sandrine Holt (19 November 1972 -)

Black Robe (1991) – Character: Annuka

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Although best known for TV roles in series as diverse as House of Cards and 24, Holt has made some interesting movie choices over the years, but none more so than Black Robe, an absorbing and compelling story set amongst the Indian tribes in Canada in the 17th century. Holt is the chief’s daughter who falls in love with a Jesuit priest’s companion, and her performance is impressive for a feature debut, her youth helping to belie the ease with which she inhabits the part and expresses both the character’s uncertainty in love and her sense of honour to her tribe.

Allison Janney (19 November 1959 -)

Hairspray (2007) – Character: Prudy Pingleton

HAIRSPRAY, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, 2007. ©New Line

Rarely the lead in a movie, Janney has fashioned a solid, and wide-ranging, career as an actress you can rely on to nail a supporting role with accomplished ease. Such is the case in Hairspray, playing the ultra-conservative mother of Amanda Bynes’ “checkerboard chick”. Janney is magnificently vile as Prudy, the character’s right-wing religious attitudes allowing Janney lines of dialogue that she can sink her teeth into and deliver with just the right amount of blinkered vitriol; lines like, “You see? You see! If I let you leave the house right now, you’d be in prison, fighting whores for cigarettes.”

Kathleen Quinlan (19 November 1954 -)

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) – Character: Deborah Blake

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One of Quinlan’s earliest roles, what is impressive is that she’s playing a sixteen year old whose immersion in a childhood fantasy world has continued as she’s gotten older. Now in a mental institution and under the care of a sympathetic doctor (played by Bibi Andersson), Quinlan’s character begins to come to terms with reality, and does so in a way that’s heartfelt and powerful to watch. Quinlan was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Deborah, and when you see the movie you realise what a shame it’s been that her career didn’t climb the heights it so clearly could have done.

Meg Ryan (19 November 1961 -)

The Doors (1991) – Character: Pamela Courson

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As the combination muse/girlfriend/ornament of The Doors’ lead singer Jim Morrison (played here by Val Kilmer), Ryan holds her own in a movie that has more than its fair share of testosterone flying around. Courson was ultimately a tragic figure, and Ryan deftly and intuitively highlights the emotional instability that was triggered by Morrison’s treatment of her. Easily one of Ryan’s best roles, and one that serves as a reminder that romantic comedies don’t have to define her career, it’s worth seeing just for “the dead duck” scene alone.

Question of the Week – 20 October 2016

20 Thursday Oct 2016

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This week the question is a simple one, and is based on a simple premise. How do some actors and actresses manage to find regular employment in movies when they clearly can’t act their way out of a paper bag? (That’s not this week’s question, that’s just part of the preamble.) These are actors and actresses that are well-known, have appeared in many well-known movies, but have yet to give a decent performance in any of them (well, maybe once, to be fair). And yet they keep getting hired… and hired… Is it because they have great agents who are very good at getting them parts time after disappointing time? (That’s still not the question.) Or are they just very, very, lucky – or always available? (Wait for it…) So, in the light of all this, this week’s Question of the Week is:

Just how do Liam Hemsworth and Chloë Grace Moretz manage to keep on working?

liam-hemsworth-eric-snowden-movie__opt

“Science or no science, a girl’s got to get her hair done” – 10 Female-centric Sci-fi Quotes from the 1950’s

19 Friday Aug 2016

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The Fifties were a great time for sci-fi movies. But if you were an actress appearing in a low budget sci-fi movie – in a starring role or even further down the cast list – then chances were you’d be saddled with some of the lamest, dumbest, sometimes sexist dialogue this side of an Ed Wood feature. To “celebrate” those “difficult roles” that actresses such as Joan Taylor, Mara Corday and Andrea King did their best to play straight (against almost impossible odds), here are ten quotes that show just what they were up against.

1 – “So I decided after one bad marriage to bury myself in science.” – Ann Anderson, It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)

It! The Terror from Beyond Space

2 – “The only reason I open my trap is to keep my teeth from chattering.” – Vicki Harris, Target Earth (1954)

3 – “Well, flying battleships, pink elephants, same difference.” – Sally Caldwell, The Giant Claw (1957)

4 – “How is it you’re so strong, Ro-Man? It seems impossible.” – Alice, Robot Monster (1953)

Robot Monster

5 – “Can’t I just dust around the fingerprints?” – Mrs. Porter, The Blob (1958)

6 – “Miz Hawthorne, she deal with the Evil One.” – Louann, the maid, The Alligator People (1959)

7 – “It’s the Sermon on the Mount… from Mars.” – Linda Cronyn, Red Planet Mars (1952)

Red Planet Mars

8 – “I love you, Doug, and I must kill you!” – Lambda, Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)

9 – “For a few dollars you can hire a woman who’ll fulfill all your fetishes. And when you get tired of her you can run down to the employment agency and hire another.” – Claire Anderson, It Conquered the World (1956)

10 – “Caught me unprepared. I’ve been cooking over a hot creature all day.” – Marisa Leonardo, 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

20 Million Miles to Earth

NOTE: The quote in the title is from Tarantula (1955), and is spoken by Stephanie ‘Steve’ Clayton.

10 Stars Who Weren’t Born in the Country You Think They Were

13 Monday Jun 2016

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When we see certain stars in their movies we’re prone to making subconcious conclusions about them: what they’re like off-camera (how nice or how nasty), what they might like to do in their spare time, and sometimes, if they’re single, that we’d be the perfect partner for them (creepy yes, but in a non-stalker kind of way, you know?). Some stars have been around long enough for most people to know that they’re not originally from the country we associate them with. For example, Mel Gibson is generally regarded as Australian but was actually born in the good old US of A. And Audrey Hepburn – American? British? – was born in Belgium. In the spirit of full disclosure, here are ten stars who weren’t born in the country you think they were. See how many of them you knew already.

1 – Emma Watson – the star of the Harry Potter movies, and more recently, Regression (2015), looks and sounds like the quintessential English rose, but guess again. Although both her parents are English, Miss Watson was actually born in Paris, France.

Emma Watson

2 – Eva Green – the mercurial, fearless star of movies such as Casino Royale (2006) and 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) has a classical beauty that could have originated in any of a dozen countries around the globe, but like Emma Watson, Green was born in Paris, France.

3 – Keanu Reeves – with his Hawaiian Christian name and chiselled good looks, you could be forgiven for believing Reeves to be as American as they come, but in fact the star of The Matrix (1999) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) was born in Beirut, Lebanon.

4 – Bruce Willis – the tough-as-nails star of Die Hard (1988) and The Sixth Sense (1999) – like so many others in this list – is generally regarded as American through and through but again, appearances can be (and are) deceiving, as Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein in the former West Germany.

Bruce Willis

5 – Rose Byrne – an actress whose career began back in 1994 as the unfortunately named Rastus Summers in Dallas Doll, Byrne has made a name for herself in recent years in a number of R-rated comedies, and while she seems as American as the next actress, she was actually born in Balmain, Australia.

6 – Oscar Isaac – with his dark, brooding looks, Isaac has a cosmopolitan aura about him that, like Eva Green, could mean he was born just about anywhere, but while he’s played a Russian in Pu239 (2006), and a Mexican in For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada (2012) – amongst others – Isaac actually heralds from Guatemala.

7 – Michael Fassbender – despite having grown up in Northern Ireland and having made a name for himself in a handful of well-received British movies, including Hunger (2008) and Fish Tank (2009), the younger incarnation of Magneto in the X-Men movies actually hails from Heidelberg in the former West Germany.

Michael Fassbender

8 – Joaquin Phoenix – while most of his siblings were born in the US, including his brother River, the star of Walk the Line (2005) and Her (2013) was born in a country where his parents were serving as Children of God missionaries at the time. The country? None other than Puerto Rico.

9 – Amy Adams – as quintessentially American in appearance as Emma Watson is quintessentially British in appearance, the actress who was billed as Gorgeous Woman in Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006), and who is now Clark Kent/Superman’s go-to gal, was actually born in Vicenza, Italy.

10 – Kim Cattrall – the star of Sex and the City and, going further back, Big Trouble in Little China (1986), looks American, sounds American, and appears steeped in all things American, but again, appearances are deceiving as the truth is she was born in Liverpool, England.

Kim Cattrall

Ten Stars and the Movies You Might Not Realise They Were In

10 Sunday May 2015

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Sometimes, watching old movies can provide the occasional surprise, like seeing an actor or actress in an early role – or movie – when you least expect it. This happened to me recently when I saw National Lampoon’s Senior Trip (1995) (I’m a National Lampoon movie completist – what can I say?). Imagine my surprise when I saw Jeremy Renner’s name come up in the title credits. Imagine my further surprise when it turned out he gave one of the best performances in the movie (though not that much of a surprise if you’ve seen it).

It got me thinking about other stars and their early appearances, and what other movies are out there with fledgling – or fleeting – performances from today’s big name actors and actresses. So, a few quick searches on imdb.com later, and voilà!, this post was born. I hope you have some fun with it, and if there are any other examples that you think should have been included, or are worth mentioning, feel free to let me know.

Leonardo DiCaprio – Poison Ivy (1992)

While it’s well-known that DiCaprio’s first movie role was in Critters 3 (1991), what’s perhaps less well-known is his participation in Katt Shea Ruben’s perverse shadow play of teenage sexuality run amok. But before anyone gets too excited, his role in the movie (as ‘Guy”) amounts to a walk-on part where he comes out of a school building and crosses in front of the camera. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part, and perhaps best regarded as an example of how good DiCaprio’s agent was back then: out of nothing he got ninth billing.

Robert Downey Jr – Weird Science (1985)

Way back before he became Marvel’s go-to guy for the grounding of their Cinematic Universe, Downey Jr made an appearance in this fondly remembered ode to teenage hormones and the fetishisation of Kelly LeBrock. Cast as “Ian”, Downey Jr plays a bit of a douchebag who acts as a bully to the two main characters. It’s not a particularly memorable role, and there’s nothing to suppose that his career would take off in the way it has – twice – but it’s in keeping with John Hughes’ studied look at teenagers and their idiosyncrasies, and isn’t too embarrassing when looked back on from thirty years later.

Robert Downey Jr

Julianne Moore – The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

As the realtor who holds the key to the reason for Rebecca De Mornay’s psychotic dismantling of Annabella Sciorra’s life, Moore made only her second movie, and met a memorable end in a booby-trapped greenhouse. Feisty and forthright – almost a template for some of her future roles – the Oscar-winning actress catches the eye but still doesn’t quite give notice of how good an actress she really is. That would be left to Short Cuts (1993), one of her most memorable performances.

Julianne Moore

Colin Firth – The English Patient (1996)

As the movie’s star-crossed lovers, everyone remembers Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas, but when it comes to the actor playing Thomas’s jilted husband, that’s when the mind may well go completely blank. But Firth matches his (then) more illustrious co-stars, and shows that, only a year after playing Mr Darcy in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice, that he can play a cuckold just as well as a romantic heart-throb.

Colin Firth

Ian McKellen – Last Action Hero (1993)

In amongst Last Action Hero‘s gunfire and car chases and explosions, you may remember towards the end of the movie, the character of Death from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957) stepping out of the big screen and into the real world. As audacious homages go it’s a great example of what made the movie so uneven, but McKellen brings the necessary gravitas to the role, and even adds a degree of nonchalant amusement.

Ian McKellen

Amy Adams – Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Though Adams has a track record in comedies before and since Talladega Nights, it’s unlikely that most people would place her as Will Ferrell’s love interest, whatever the circumstances (though the glasses may have helped). But as Susan, Ricky Bobby’s assistant-cum-paramour, Adams more than holds her own amidst all the manic goings-on and provides a welcome distraction from the otherwise testosterone-laden script.

Amy Adams

Cameron Diaz – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

One of a number of cameos in Terry Gilliam’s spirited psychedelic imagining of Hunter S. Thompson’s book, Diaz’s appearance as “Blonde TV Reporter” is brief, but a great example of the kind of “roles” that some stars will take either as a favour to the director, or just to be involved in a particular movie project. Plus it’s always fun to see someone pop up unexpectedly in a movie, even if it’s only for a moment.

Cameron Diaz

Nicolas Cage – The Cotton Club (1984)

Working with his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, Cage’s turn as Richard Gere’s unpredictable, violent brother is another of the actor’s mercurial early roles, and a reminder of the raw, vital talent that has been lost in the welter of tired, mortgage-paying performances Cage has given us in recent years. Taking what could have been a stereotypical role and giving it the kind of spin only he could, it shows Cage acting up a storm and commanding the viewer’s attention.

Nicolas Cage

Jason Statham – Collateral (2004)

Billed as “Airport Man”, Statham has a small but pivotal role in Michael Mann’s L.A.-set thriller, and he more than holds his own in his scene with Tom Cruise. It’s the kind of unexpected appearance that enriches a movie, and lets the audience know that Statham – already an established star in his own right – can still do character work when required… and very effectively.

Jason Statham

Natalie Portman – Mars Attacks! (1996)

Three years before she became Queen Amidala in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Portman took a supporting role as the President’s daughter, Taffy, in Tim Burton’s anarchic alien invasion romp. Sharing scenes with Jack Nicholson and Glenn Close, Portman enters into the spirit of things with gusto, and has one of the best lines in the movie: “Guess it wasn’t the dove.”

Natalie Portman

Top 10 Actresses at the Box Office

04 Saturday Oct 2014

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Having looked at who makes up the Top 10 Actors at the Box Office, it’s time to see which ten actresses are the most popular with the cinema-going public.  There are a couple of actresses you might not expect to see in the list, but with the preponderance of movie series’ that are out there, most shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

NOTE: HGM stands for Highest Grossing Movie, and the figures represent the worldwide gross.  And all figures are courtesy of boxofficemojo.com.

10 – Anne Hathaway / HGM: The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – $1,084,439,099

Anne Hathaway

While you might not hear the phrase, “Let’s go see the new Anne Hathaway movie” very often, nevertheless she has made some good commercial choices over the years, from The Devil Wears Prada (2006) to Alice in Wonderland (2010), all the way to her Oscar winning performance in Les Misérables (2012).  With a role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Interstellar, and a return to Wonderland in 2016, her place on the list seems assured for some time to come.

9 – Scarlett Johansson / HGM: The Avengers (2012) – $1,518,594,910

Scarlett Johansson

Outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Johansson has made a number of movies that have performed well (if not spectacularly), and she’s often the best thing in them.  With some canny choices behind her – The Prestige (2006), We Bought a Zoo (2011) – it will be interesting to see how her career develops, as, Black Widow aside, she doesn’t seem to gravitate to one particular kind of role.  But with multiple trips to the Marvel well ahead of her, her place on this list is assured.

8 – Sandra Bullock / HGM: Gravity (2013) – $716,392,705

Sandra Bullock

With a career that now spans over twenty years, and with a proven track record in both drama and comedy, it’s Bullock’s more recent forays into drama that have won her the most acclaim and industry kudos.  She doesn’t always make the right choices – Gun Shy (2000), All About Steve (2009), a certain sequel that Keanu Reeves wisely side-stepped – but she has a loyal fan base that will probably keep her in the Top 10 for the foreseeable future, even though at present, the only movie she definitely has on the horizon is next year’s Minions.

7 – Sigourney Weaver / HGM: Avatar (2009) – $2,787,965,087

Sigourney Weaver

Weaver’s inclusion on this list is due mainly to her role in James Cameron’s epic, and the combined totals for the Alien series – even Alien Resurrection made over $161m – as, like Scarlett Johansson, she’s made a number of movies that have performed well enough at the box office but which aren’t as repeat-friendly as you might expect.  Still, with three Avatar sequels in the pipeline, Weaver’s likely to be heading on up the list come 2017, but with a career that’s often been more about the material than the box office, it should be the other movies she makes that will be the more interesting to watch.

6 – Kathy Bates / HGM: Titanic (1997) – $2,186,772,302

Kathy Bates

Betcha didn’t see this actress being on the list anywhere!  Cameron’s blockbuster aside, Bates has appeared in some well-received movies over the years, from Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) to About Schmidt (2002) to The Blind Side (2012), as well as her Oscar winning role in Misery (1990).  She’s an actress you can rely on whatever the movie, and while she’s not a box office draw by herself, she’s definitely earned her place on the list (though how long she’ll remain here will probably be down to her fellow listees).

5 – Cate Blanchett / HGM: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – $1,119,929,521

Cate Blanchett

Perhaps of all the actresses in the list, Blanchett has the best resumé, her movie choices over the years having proved that she has a keen eye for a good script.  Even where a movie hasn’t quite worked out as its makers would have hoped – Bandits (2001), Robin Hood (2010) – she’s still been eminently watchable and, as in the wretchedly disappointing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), has risen above the constraints of the material.  Her alliance with Peter Jackson and the realm of Middle Earth has certainly propelled her to this point in the list, so she’s another actress who won’t be dropping out anytime soon.

4 – Helena Bonham Carter / HGM: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) – $1,341,511,219

Helena Bonham Carter

Your husband is a gifted, visionary filmmaker who regularly finds roles for you in his movies.  Do you turn him down, afraid of cries of favouritism?  Or do you take every opportunity he gives you, and so cement your place in the list of the top ten actresses at the box office?  It’s a no-brainer really, but Carter’s place at number four does rely heavily on her work with Tim Burton and the latter entries in the Harry Potter saga.  But even so she’s a remarkably talented actress who does some of her best work in movies that get very little exposure – Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002), Enid (2009) – and with a return trip to Wonderland fast approaching, she’s not moving from this list for some considerable time.

3 – Julia Roberts / HGM: Pretty Woman (1990) – $463,406,268

Julia Roberts

Is it really almost twenty-five years since Pretty Woman made an overnight star of Julia Roberts?  (Well, yes of course it is.)  One of the most consistently successful actresses of the last quarter century, she’s achieved her place on the list without the benefit of being part of a franchise (the first two Ocean’s movies are the nearest she’s come to being in a series), and by virtue of making some very astute choices; a case in point: Charlotte’s Web (2006) took over $144m.  Despite a couple of missteps in recent years, she’s still an actress who commands attention, and with a role in the upcoming remake of The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), it seems she’s not about to slow down anytime soon.

2 – Emma Watson / HGM: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) – $1,341,511,219

Emma Watson

The youngest member of the Top 10 owes her place to a certain bespectacled wizard, but with This Is the End (2013) and Noah (2014) both taking over $100m at the box office (and Noah considerably more), she seems to have secured her future (and put Hermione firmly behind her).  Watson effectively has the world at her feet and it’ll be interesting to see if she continues to make as many interesting movies as she’s made in the last few years.  Whatever happens, her place on the list is assured (and especially if J.K. Rowling bows to popular demand and comes up with Harry Potter: The Adult Years).

1 – Cameron Diaz / HGM: Shrek 2 (2004) – $919,838,758

Cameron Diaz

Ruling the roost is an actress whose career has had its ups and downs in recent years, but even the critical duds have made money (The Green Hornet (2011) somehow made $227,817,248 – incredible).  With the Shrek franchise, plus fourteen other movies that have broken the $100m barrier, Diaz is an A-lister who consistently brings in the audiences (especially when she’s starring in a comedy).  With the remake of Annie due later this year, and a return to being a Bad Teacher also on the cards, Diaz’s mix of safe movies interspersed with more edgy fare looks set to continue to keep her in the top spot.