300: Rise of an Empire rose to the top of the box office, easily besting the weekend’s second new release, DreamWorks Animation’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  Another new release of note, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, notched a 17th spot on the box office listing, having opened in a four-theater limited release.  Animated features The LEGO Movie and Frozen lead the total box offices to date this weekend, and newly minted Oscar-winner 12 Years a Slave gets a post-Academy Awards box office bump.  Hit the jump for more.

Every Sunday Amazon rotates a number of their DVD/Blu-ray deals and I’ve grabbed the highlights and linked them below by price.  Some of these deals won’t last, so if you see something you like don’t wait too long.

• Up to 74% Off Joss Whedon shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse
• Airplane! [Blu-ray] – $4.99 (68% off)
• Captain Phillips (Two Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD + Digital Copy) – $14.00 (63% off)
• Dallas Buyers Club (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD) – $17.99 (40% off)
• The Sopranos: The Complete Series – $139.99 (50% off)
• All In The Family: The Complete Series – $79.99 (60% off)
• Gilligan’s Island: Complete Series Collection - $24.99 (78% off)
• Over 200 DVDs Under $5
• Over 700 Blu-rays Under $10

[Note: Collider earns a small referral fee when our readers purchase something on Amazon through one of our links. The money generated helps pay our staff and keep the site running. Thank you for reading and supporting Collider.]

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne versus a horde of out-of-control frat boys with Zac Efron at the helm; who wouldn’t want to see how that battle plays out?  Neighbors is light on character development, ridden with logic issues and doesn’t flow particularly well, but director Nicholas Stoller never loses sight of that chief appeal, resulting in a feature that may not be particularly memorable, but is still a fun watch. Hit the jump for my full review of Neighbors from the SXSW Film Festival.

If you’ve ever struggled to find a balance between nurturing a career and making time for friends and family, Jon Favreau’s latest should hit home.  He leads Chef as Carl Casper, a successful chef whose career is decimated by one abysmal review.  In an effort to regain some stability while also giving himself the freedom to take risks with his craft, Carl leaves the Los Angeles restaurant scene behind to run a food truck featuring his own, unique menu.  For more on the film, here’s my review.

While in Austin, Texas for Chef’s world premiere at SXSW, Favreau took the time to sit down with Collider and talk a bit about the passion that fueled this project.  Despite his appreciation for big budget productions, Favreau was thrilled to seize a particular opportunity that comes with making smaller ones, the chance to make a movie for an audience with in interest in a very specific set of challenges.  Catch what Favreau had to say about bringing the issue of choosing work over family to screen as well as his plans for The Jungle Book and the status of Magic Kingdom after the jump.

From writer/director Michael James Johnson, The Wilderness of James (playing at the SXSW Film Festival), tells the story of a lost teenager named James (Kodi Smit-McPhee). He’s crawled into his shell as he struggles to deal with the tragic death of his father, and he lives in a world of his own making that is defined by his bizarre fascination with death. As tensions mount with his mother (Virginia Madsen) at home, he begins to explore the wilderness of the city, finding himself drawn to a girl (Isabelle Fuhrman) and a charismatic stranger (Evan Ross).

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee talked about how he came to be a part of this film, why he was so drawn to the role, what his typical process is for finding a character, letting himself be free with the character, why the set was such a good environment, why he prefers being on the giving rather than the receiving end for fight scenes, and how much he enjoyed working with this cast.  He also talked about his experience on the upcoming blockbuster sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, reuniting with his Let Me In director Matt Reeves, and that he can’t wait to see the film.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

A revival of Carl Sagan‘s seminal work Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was a massive hit on PBS in the 1980s, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey goes on a visually masterful trek through space at the hands of popular astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and his “ship of imagination.”  The 13-episode series, which will be running on a myriad of Fox networks, is the first time a documentary has aired in primetime in a very long time, thanks to a big push from executive producer Seth MacFarlane.  Hit the jump for whether it deserves its high-profile slot.

Now playing in theaters is director Noam Murro’s 300: Rise of an Empire.  In the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300, Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), and Artemisia (Eva Green), the vengeful commander of the Persian navy.  The film also stars Lena Headey, Hans Matheson, David Wenham, Igal Nao, Callan Mulvey, Jack O’Connell, and Andrew Tiernan.  I’ve seen the film twice now and am happy to report the sequel kicks ass.  The fight scenes are extremely well done, the 3D actually adds to the story, and Eva Green’s performance is worth the price of admission.  It also might have the best sex scene of 2014, and it’s only February.  While many might have wondered if we needed a sequel to 300, I’m very happy they made it.

Earlier tonight, director James Gunn and star Chris Pratt joined Marvel’s Kevin Feige in a half-hour Q&A on all things Guardians of the Galaxy.  While you didn’t miss any new footage or surprise guests, the trio was surprisingly open in their answers to questions from both fans and AMC’s John Campea who moderated the event.  Gunn described the film as being in “The Marvel flavor, but [having] a lot of old-school space opera about it.”  He also shared a story about how Pratt almost missed on the audition for Star-Lord completely.  The charismatic Pratt shared an anecdote of his own, and Feige teased a possible Easter egg in the films for fans of the comics.  Hit the jump for the highlights.

The acerbic, sly, and captivating drama series Veronica Mars was slightly ahead of its time.  In addition to having a complex, compelling female character at the center (shock!), the cult TV show arrived before it could find a wider audience through new streaming platforms.  Thanks to an overwhelmingly successful Kickstarter campaign, the smart-ass, cynical private detective has returned and moved to the big screen.  As a feature film, Veronica Mars is able to cut straight to the A-plot, ditch the bloat of filling a 22-episode season, and get to the heart of a more complicated protagonist and her corrupt hometown.  Although it overreaches by trying to tease out extraneous plotlines, creator and director Rob Thomas has created a film that will make the fans cheer but still appeal to those who aren’t “marshmallows”.

After having put their differences aside to work together and save the day, the fairy tale characters from the ABC drama series Once Upon a Time will be facing a new threat, in the form of the Wicked Witch of the West (Rebecca Mader).  When things pick back up, Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) has come calling on Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) in New York City, in an attempt to jog her memory, which had been wiped clean in order to save the residents of Storybrooke, so that she can once again help her fairy tale family and friends out of a desperate situation.  The show also stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Lana Parrilla, Josh Dallas, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Raymond-James, Jared S. Gilmore and Robert Carlyle.

During this exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Colin O’Donoghue talked about how Hook really believed that he would just swoop in and save the day, that the relationship between Hook and Emma is a complicated one, how big of a part of the story the Wicked Witch of the West will be, what fans can expect from the interaction between Hook and Blackbeard (Charles Mesure), how shocking the upcoming major character death will be, what he thinks of Hook’s backstory, that he believes Hook’s feelings for Emma are genuine, and what he’s enjoyed most about bringing this version of Captain Hook to life.  Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers. 

Jon Favreau very clearly has something he’s eager say in his latest directorial endeavor, Chef, but there’s no harm in letting him use the film to express his feelings when he’s doing so in a highly entertaining and motivating manner.

Carl Casper (Favreau) is a talented chef working in a popular Los Angeles restaurant. The problem is, it’s not his restaurant and the owner is afraid of losing a good thing so demands that Carl push creativity aside in order to maintain their clientele with the familiar menu. When a popular food critic calls Carl out for playing it safe and sticking to the same old dishes, Carl loses his temper in the midst of a packed night and winds up an Internet sensation. Trouble is, Internet infamy doesn’t equal job opportunities and now, the only way for Carl to clear his name and get back on his feet is by taking the plunge and finally trying to do things his way – in a food truck.  Hit the jump for my full review of Chef from the SXSW Film Festival.

While on our set visit to Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, our small group of journalists had a chance to interview screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus.  The pens behind the sequel, McFeely and Markus are responsible for sending Cap (Chris Evans) along a path fraught with danger and betrayal, as befits their inspirational material: Ed Brubaker’s “Winter Soldier” storyline and 70s political thriller movies.

While on set, McFeely and Markus talked about deciding to write a conspiracy thriller, Steve Rogers as “A Man Out of Time”, comic book and film influences, the conflicting moral styles of Captain America and Black Widow, and having the movie stand on its own merits rather than setting up a future installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Hit the jump for the interview.

With the recent 86th Academy Awards ceremony, the Oscar race has finally come to a close—for now.  We just spent the past five months here on Oscar Beat deconstructing every inch of the Oscar season, and while we still have quite a while to wait before the next race heats up, now seems like a fine opportunity to take a quick preview of what just might be on tap for next year’s ceremony.  Obviously it’s way too early to take the 2015 Oscar race seriously, but there are plenty of anticipated films slated for release this year that could turn out to be the serious contenders in the next awards race.  After the jump, I preview 10 of the films that might pop up in next year’s Oscar conversation.

While many wondered whether the opportune time had passed to capitalize on the massive success of 2007’s 300 with a sequel, it appears that a sizable audience for the franchise still exists.  300: Rise of an Empire earned an impressive $17.7 million on Friday, and while that won’t come close to 300’s insane $70 million weekend, it should be enough to hit a solid $40-$45 million for the weekend.  Again, that’s a notable feat given the large time gap in between the original film and the pic’s R-rating, but it was no doubt given a boost by 3D ticket prices.  The other new wide release of the weekend was DreamWorks Animation’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman, which debuted with $8 million on Friday and is on track for a modest $30 million weekend.  DreamWorks has been pretty hit and miss at the box office lately, but Peabody and Sherman looks to fall somewhere in between.

On the returning films front, Non-Stop dipped 54% in its second week and took in $4.6 million on Friday, while the Biblical saga Son of God saw a large 70% drop from its opening weekend to a $3.2 million take on Friday.

Ping Pong Summer does have a few glaringly weak components, but overall, the uniqueblend of nostalgia and satire gives the experience an oddly absorbing and charming quality.

The film stars Marcello Conte as Rad Miracle, a 13-year-old growing up in Mount Airy, Maryland in 1985.  Every summer his family packs up and heads off to Ocean City, and this one is no different – except for the fact that Rad actually makes a friend (Myles Massey), meets a girl (Emmi Shockley) and buddies up with the town crazy lady, Randi Jammer (Susan Sarandon).  The only thing threatening to keep the summer of ’85 from being Rad’s best yet is the local bully, Lyle Ace (Joseph McCaughtery).  Rad can’t compete with Lyle’s wealth or hot ride, but if he practices enough, he might just have a shot at beating him at ping pong and finally putting him in his place.