From Shailene Woodley and Angelina Jolie to Seth MacFarlane and Veronica Mars , here are the actors, filmmakers, and studios with reason to celebrate for the first half of the year — and others who may wish it was over already.
20th Century Fox; Warner Bros. Pictures; Walt Disney Pictures; Universal Pictures; Screen Gems; Adam B. Vary / Buzzfeed
The first half of 2014 has been mighty odd for Hollywood. Box office numbers have been down roughly 1.5% from this same point last year, and no movies released so far this summer have come close to brining in $250 million at the domestic box office. In fact, after two years in a row of at least one summer movie cracking the $400 million mark, only one summer film looks like it could reach $300 million: Transformers: Age of Extinction. As it stands now, the two highest grossing films of the year in the U.S. — Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The LEGO Movie — were released before May.
Still, there are several actors, filmmakers, studios, and even audiences who have had big reasons to celebrate the period spanning from January to June — and others who probably wish this year was over already. Here are the biggest winners and losers of 2014, so far — and those who still have a chance of salvaging their 2014.
All box office figures are courtesy of Box Office Mojo.
Winner: Lupita Nyong'o
A year ago, no one had even heard of her. Today, 31-year-old Nyong'o has an Academy Award for her unforgettable debut performance in 12 Years a Slave. And she's on the cover of Vogue and People, as the latter's Most Beautiful Person of the Year. And she's developing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's acclaimed novel Americanah into a feature film. And she's signed with Lancome as the cosmetic giant's first black spokeswoman. And she's become a fashion icon. And one of her next big roles will be in Star Wars: Episode VII . It's worth noting that all of that happened within the last six months.
It's a lot, especially to start a career, and especially all at once. Yet, there is the distinct impression — or, simply, hope — that Nyong'o's best days are ahead of her.
What's next? Nyong'o's career is so brand new that she won't be in another film until 2015 — she'll also star along with Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, and Forest Whitaker in the boxing drama Southpaw from director Antoine Fuqua.
John Shearer/Invision / AP
Winner: Kevin Hart
As Chris Rock put it in his great BET Awards opening monologue, this man has been everywhere this year. I've already written at some length about Hart's tremendous career trajectory, and certainly, the man's bouncing-off-the-walls style is not for everyone. But with three box office hits in 2014 to his name already, Hart is also clearly winning over many more fans than he is detractors.
What's next? Hart doesn't have any more films until the first half of 2015, when he'll appear in the January comedy The Wedding Ringer and opposite Will Ferrell in Get Hard in March.
Universal Pictures
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