Brits At The Box Office: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Ewan McGregor & More!

(Weekly feature written for BritScene)

From thrillers to vampires to an adaptation of Shakespeare, we have some great films set to be released over the next week which include some brilliant British actors. With Kate Beckinsale making it to the top of the box office from last week in Contraband, we see her turn to a much darker world in a new release with Underworld: Awekening, whilst there’s a bloody battle ongoing between Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler in Coriolanus and an action-packed Haywire starring Ewan McGregor and Micheal Fassbender as well.

The first film to be released over the next week is Steven Soderbergh’s action thriller Haywire, which stars British actors Ewan McGregor (Salmon Fishing in The Yemen) and Micheal Fassbender (Shame). The film follows an elite Black Ops soldier, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano), who goes on the run and seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up by her superiors. Haywire is set to be released on 20th January, see if it is playing in a theater near you here and watched the action-packed trailer below:

Underworld: Awakening, the fourth instalment in the Underworld franchise that sees the return of Kate Beckinsale to the role of vampire warrioress Selene. Directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, when human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences as the vampire warrioress Selene leads the battle against humankind. See if Underworld: Awakening is playing in a theater near you here and Beckinsale in action below:

British actor Ralph Fiennes‘ directorial debut, Corriolanius, based on the tragedy by English playwright William Shakespeare, is set to be released on 20th January too, for which we found out this week that Fiennes has been nominated for a BAFTA in the Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer category for his work on the film. This adaptation also stars Fiennes (Harry Potter) as Coriolanus, a great Roman general of the 5th century BC and a banished hero of Rome, alongside Scottish actor Gerard Butler (Machine Gun Preacher) as his nemeses Aufidius, who join forces to take his revenge on the city. The adaptation seems to follow in the steps of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet from 1996, with a modernised version of Shakespeare’s play that retains the original dialogue, just with a lot more blood and violence. The film also stars British actors James Nesbitt, Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave, and will open as a limited release, before expanding over the coming weeks. Unfortunately I was unable to find a detailed theater listing, so check your local theaters for its release and you can see the epic looking trailer below:

From last week, Contraband has made it to the top of the box office after taking a total gross of $24M in its first week. This is the second film in theaters this week that features British actress Kate Beckinsale, as this time she stars in Baltasar Kormákur‘s action thriller, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The film is a remake of the Icelandic 2009 film Reykjavík-Rotterdam which Kormákur starred in, and follows a former smuggler who heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in counterfeit bills to protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord. You can see if it is showing in a theater near you here, and the trailer below:

The Iron Lady also made it into the Top 10 at the Box Office after making $5.4M from its official release last week. The film looks at the life of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (played by Meryl Streep) in London in the 1980′s, showing how she smashed through the barriers of gender and class to make her voice heard in a male dominated world. Whilst the film was eliminated from the Best Film and Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs, Streep has received a nomination for the Best Actress category, which she won at the Golden Globes over the weekend, and British actor Jim Broadbent is also up for Best Supporting Actor. The Iron Lady also stars British actors Anthony Head, Richard E. Grant, and Olivia Colman, and you can see where this film is showing here.

We Need To Talk About Kevin also did well last weekend although it was only shown in two theaters. Starring British actress Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia), the film won best movie at the recent London Film Festival and is adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name, written by American author Lionel Shriver. The story is told from the perspective of Eva (Swinton), the mother of a troubled teenage boy (Ezra Miller) who embarks on a high-school killing spree. As Eva recounts the events in her son’s life, she must also attempt to deal with her grief and feelings of guilt by writing to her estranged husband (Jon C. Reilly). The film has also grabbed some nominations for the BAFTAs, with Lynne Ramsay being nominated for the Best Director and Swinton for the Best Leading Actress. The film will expand across California this weekend, you can see if it is coming to a theater near you here, and see what fellow BritScene writer Daniel thought of the tough subject matter and Swinton’s performance in his review here.