WB Remains The Only Studio In History To Surpass $1 Billion Domestically For 14 Consecutive Years

WARNER BROS. PICTURES CROSSES BILLION-DOLLAR MARK AT U.S. BOX OFFICE

 Warner Bros. Pictures became the only film studio in history to earn more than $1 billion at the domestic box office for 14 years in a row. In fact, the division has crossed the billion-dollar mark for 15 of the past 16 years. The announcement was made recently by Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures’ President of Domestic Distribution.

The studio passed the billion-dollar threshold thanks to a huge first quarter, featuring the box office success of New Line Cinema’s and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the second in Peter Jackson’s Trilogy, which opened in late 2013 but which enjoyed substantial returns in the first quarter of this year.

2014 continued to build with Warner Bros. Pictures’, Village Roadshow Pictures’ and LEGO System A/S’s blockbuster animated feature “The LEGO Movie”—which was the #1 movie for the first half of 2014—and “300: Rise of an Empire,” the heavy-hitting follow up to Zack Snyder’s groundbreaking “300,” from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Summer started with a bang thanks to the monster hit “Godzilla,” from Warner Bros. and Legendary, IMAX’s largest opening this year, followed by Doug Liman’s action thriller from Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, “Edge of Tomorrow,” starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, and one-of-a-kind comedy from Melissa McCarthy as New Line’s “Tammy.”

In making the announcement, Fellman said, “This is a proud day for our studio. To cross such an extraordinary milestone once again is a direct reflection of the high standards and incredible efforts of the dedicated and creative individuals at work here, both on and off the screen. We still have an exciting roster of films yet to open this calendar year and, together with the talented teams bringing them to the theater, we look forward to continued success.”

Still to come in 2014 from Warner Bros. Pictures are: New Line’s and MGM’s “If I Stay”; Alcon Entertainment’s “Dolphin Tale 2”; the dramatic comedy ensemble of “This Is Where I Leave You,” starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Jane Fonda; “Annabelle,” another chapter in New Line’s highly successful “The Conjuring”; David Dobkin’s “The Judge,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall in tour-de-force performances, from Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow; New Line’s sequel to the hit comedy “Horrible Bosses,” “Horrible Bosses 2,” reuniting the stars from the original, including Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day; “Inherent Vice,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “surf noir” adaptation of author Thomas Pynchon’s cult favorite novel; and from New Line and MGM, the much-anticipated finale to Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” Trilogy, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”

Godzilla Rises to Restore Balance

The world’s most revered monster is reborn as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic action adventure “Godzilla.”  From visionary new director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) comes a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring Godzilla rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.

The film stars an international ensemble cast led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass”), Oscar® nominee Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai,” “Inception”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Oscar® winner Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient,” “Cosmopolis”), and Oscar® nominee Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), with Oscar® nominee David Strathairn (“Good Night, and Good Luck,” “The Bourne Legacy”) and Emmy® and Golden Globe Award winner Bryan Cranston (“Argo,” TV’s “Breaking Bad”).

Edwards directed “Godzilla” from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, story by David Callaham, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO CO., LTD.  Thomas Tull produced the film, along with Jon Jashni, Mary Parent and Brian Rogers.  Patricia Whitcher and Alex Garcia served as executive producers, alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar-nominated director of photography Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC (“Anna Karenina,” “The Avengers”); production designer Owen Paterson (“The Matrix” trilogy); film editor Bob Ducsay (“Looper”); Oscar-nominated costume designer Sharen Davis (“Dreamgirls,” “Django Unchained”); and Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Jim Rygiel ( “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy).  Allen Maris is the visual effects producer.  Dave Jordan was the music supervisor.  The score was composed and conducted by Oscar-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat (“Argo,” “The King’s Speech”).

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures present a Legendary Pictures production, a Gareth Edwards film, “Godzilla.”  The film will be presented in 3D, 2D and IMAX® in select theatres and is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it is distributed by Toho Co., Ltd.  Showing on May 15 at your favorite theaters.

Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment. 

"Godzilla" Made Aaron Taylor-Johnson into the Big League

“GODZILLA” CATAPULTS AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON INTO BIG LEAGUE!

For Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass,” “Savages”), the combination of a cinematic icon and director Gareth Edwards’ vision for his epic rebirth made “Godzilla” an irresistible prospect.

“When Gareth and I first talked about the film, he told me to forget that it was a big monster movie,” recalls the actor. “I loved what Godzilla meant to him, and that he wanted to bring him to the screen in a big disaster spectacle, but to tell the story with a high level of artistry and emotion. That’s what made me want to do this project, and Gareth made the experience incredibly special.”
Taylor-Johnson takes on the central role of Ford Brody, a Naval officer specializing in disarming bombs, who has just reunited with his wife and young son in San Francisco when he is called away to help his troubled father in Japan.

“Ford is the hero of our film and sees a lot of action,” Edwards comments. “And because so much of the storytelling is visual, it was critical that we understand what he’s thinking and feeling, so we needed an actor capable of communicating a lot in a single look. I’d seen ‘Nowhere Boy,’ in which Aaron played John Lennon, and it was such a soulful performance. There was so much intensity and emotion behind his eyes. I knew from that moment we’d found the guy.”

Ford’s expertise at disarming bombs draws him to the frontlines of humanity’s united defense against the greatest threat it has ever faced, but he's torn between duty and the need to find and protect his young family. “He’s the kind of specialist the military needs and it’s all hands on deck,” Taylor-Johnson explains. “At the same time, his mission is to get back to his family, and his work in the military becomes the only way he can maneuver himself closer to San Francisco. But it’s heartbreaking because he knows he might not make it home at all.”

Ford carries with him the weight of an incident from his childhood that tore his family apart 15 years earlier, when he lived with his parents in Japan. But the events leading up to that fateful day in 1999 originate farther south, in the Philippines, where the film begins. A remote mine in a Philippine jungle collapses, revealing beneath it the fossilized, highly radioactive remains of something very big and very old.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is currently working on Joss Whedon’s action adventure “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” in which he joins the super hero ensemble as Quicksilver. The film is slated for release in 2015.

He came to prominence in the title role of Sam Taylor-Wood’s 2009 feature “Nowhere Boy,” portraying future Beatle John Lennon during the musician’s turbulent teenage years. His riveting performance earned him a London Critics’ Circle Film Award nomination for Young British Performer of the Year, a British Independent Film Award nomination for Best Actor, and the Empire Award for Best Newcomer. Screen International also named the young actor as one of its “Stars of Tomorrow.”

Taylor-Johnson followed this triumph the following year, starring in Matthew Vaughn’s hit movie “Kick-Ass,” for which he earned another Empire Award nomination, this time for Best Actor. Based on the Mark Millar comic, the film also starred Nicolas Cage, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. The director and cast reteamed for the sequel, “Kick-Ass 2,” which hit theaters in the summer of 2013.

His recent film work also includes starring roles in Oliver Stone’s “Savages” and Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina,” with Keira Knightley and Jude Law.

Slated to open across the Philippines on May 15 in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D in select theatres, “Godzilla” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.