If you get the clumsy baseball references in the title than you get that this weekend was won by 42. The Jackie Robinson biopic earned an estimated $27+ Million, giving the film one of the strongest baseball movie debuts of all time. The film took advantage of perfect timing and well delivered advertising to get out of the gate strong. Despite the impending the parade of competition, the new baseball season should continue to allow the film to stay relevant for a few more weeks than it really should.

Bombing into second place is Scary Movie 5 which managed to pull in $15 Million, and providing tangible proof that no one cares about the spoof franchise any more. If any one is a victor in this instance it would be the Wayne’s Brothers. They conjured up the franchise with the first brilliant film, but eventually parted ways by the third film. The brothers Waynes got back into the horror spoof game earlier this year with A Haunted House, which shines an even larger light on Scary Movie 5‘s failure.

Sticking in third place is the newest hit from Dreamworks, The Croods. Easing a very light 36%, the film brought in another $13 Million giving the film a total haul of nearly $150 million, which is huge for a new animated IP from a studio with a mixed track record. There still remains scant children entertainment competition in the upcoming Box Office calender, so the film should still perform well in the coming weeks.

Hitchcock is one of those handful of films that in any other year would be at the top of the heap for the award bait season we are about to head into. You have several high-profile actors in a biopic about one of the greatest directors of all time, and nearly everyone is playing someone else famous.

Yet with the huge number of “prestige” films hitting cinemas in the next four months, flicks like this one can get lost in the shuffle. Hoping to avoid that fate, the studio has released a brand new poster and trailer for Hitchcock and it is worth taking a look at. If only for seeing Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, who seems ridiculously perfect for the role.

On the other end of the spectrum is Anthony Hopkins as the titular director. As a still his look seems jarring and distracting, but it will be Hopkins acting that will be the pivot point for this film. If he is not fantastic in the part, the whole thing will probably fall on its face, but if he can nail it, Hitchcock could be a real contender for one of the best films of the year.

That is probably what makes this film so intriguing, even with the film so close to release it could still land anywhere between best picture or bomb of the year. Keep your eyes peeled to The Flickcast for any new updates on this fast approaching project and check out the trailer and full poster after the jump.

Every year there are certain cinematic trends. This can manifest in a couple different ways, one such way is the return to popularity of the Bow and Arrow this year. Another way this manifests is two movies with similar core concepts get released in close proximity.

Like Dante’s Peak & Volcano or Armageddon & Deep Impact, these cousin films share a lot in common on paper. 2012 looks like it might have finally found it’s pairing, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter & Lincoln.

Deadline is reporting that Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic has finally set a release date, just in time for the award season push:

The Abraham Lincoln movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe will get an exclusive release November 9, 2012, and expand wide November 16, Disney just announced

A relatively ballsy spot to place this movie on the calendar. A Spielberg biopic about Abe Lincoln starring Daniel Day-Lewis could very well be a financial hit as well as a critical darling, but opening limited on the day Skyfall is released and wide the same day as Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 seems to really limit its potential audience.

It is true that the winter season is loaded with high-profile films, but this seems like a bad move on the part of Dreamworks. Unless of course all they care about is Oscar posturing. In that case this is a potential smart move to let this movie’s quality seem even greater by comparison of the big blockbusters it is up against.

In any event, we now know when Lincoln hits the screens in the states, and truthfully we here at The Flickcast are eager to see it.

Paul Verhoeven has been trying to make a biopic on the life of Jesus Christ for years. That is a sentence that feels odd writing, but it is true. After many failed attempts to get the project off the ground Verhoeven published much of his research in the form of a book a few years back.

Well that book might have finally broken the clogged dam that was stopping that project as a screenwriter has just been attached. Coming Soon is reporting that Roger Avary has been brought on to adapt Verhoeven’s book into a feature:

A passion project of his for decades, Verhoeven released a book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” in 2010 that collected his years of research. In it, he attempts to construct a secular view of the religious icon. Deemed controversial by some, Verhoeven’s historical account paints Jesus not as the son of God, but as a remarkable, mortal thinker whose innovative principles are responsible for the creation and spread of Christianity.

Roger Avary and Paul Verhoeven are likely two of the last people anyone would ever expect to be involved with a serious biopic on the historical side of who Jesus Christ was. Both are actually coming off of years of industry silence, with Verhoeven taking most of the last decade off and Avary having been spending serious time in jail for a tragic manslaughter case.

The symmetry of this film being a bit of a redemption for these two filmmakers is not lost on us here at The Flickcast. We will no doubt be keeping a close eye on Jesus of Nazareth so stay tuned for any and all updates as they come in.

One of the most intriguing films currently filming is Hitchcock. The movie that tells the tale of the making of Psycho, arguably Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous work. Sir Anthony Hopkins plays the titular director and before now it was hard to really envision the famous actor as the equally famous director.

Then People Magazine released this picture.

Wow, that has to be the penciled in favorite for best make-up at the 2013 Oscars. He looks amazing in one of the most recognizable silhouettes in cinema history. Hitchcock is fast becoming one of the must see films of next year with an all star cast that includes Hopkins, Jessica Biel, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, Kurtwood Smith and Michael ‘flipping’ Wincott!

That is a must see cast, and considering they are telling the story of how one of the most iconic and important films ever made came to be, it is easy to get excited. Of course as famous as Hitchcock’s visage is, his voice is also very specific, so it will would still behoove us all to wait on the first trailer before we set our final expectations.

The film is directed by Anvil! The Story of Anvil director Sacha Gervasi, and is set for release some time in 2013.