Movie Hit List: Summer 2012 Winners and Losers
Let's take a closer look at this summer's winners and losers with our listing:
Winners :
1. Joss Whedon and "The Avengers": The summer's opening and best studio tent-pole blockbuster. Now, Whedon will direct the sequel, too.
2. Matthew McConaughey: The hunky actor got a career infusion with his Oscar-baiting male stripper in the surprise hit "Magic Mike."
3. Wes Anderson and "Moonrise Kingdom": Anderson's most successful live-action movie also boosted the careers of Bill Murray and Bruce Willis.
4. Jeremy Renner and "The Bourne Legacy": Renner proved that he could open a movie and make audiences forget Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.
5. Tom Hardy and "The Dark Knight Rises": Hardy is the summer's breakout action star with dramatic chops and he rises with the Dark Knight franchise.
6. Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, and "Ted": A sleeper hit about a dirty-mouthed stuffed bear and his arrested-development owner drew on "The Family Guy" fan-base and Wahlberg's ability to pull off comedy or action with understated charm.
7. Quvenzhané Wallis and "Beasts of the Southern Wild": The indie Oscar-bait movie has its staunch supporters and cynical detractors, but no one is doubting the eight-year-old star's performance and we're betting on an Oscar nom
Losers:
1. Kristen Stewart: With the unfaithful kiss seen round the world, Stewart put a stake in the heart of her participation in the sequel to "Snow White and the Huntsman” and her fairy-tale romance with Robert Pattinson.
2. "Battleship": Sunk.
3. "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”: This big-budget fiasco sucked at the box office.
4. "Total Recall": The most forgettable of the big-budget remakes.
5. "Dark Shadows": It is more disappointing because expectations were so high.