Continuing on with our look at the 2012 Oscar race, today we delve into Best Animated Feature and the technical categories. As Pixar’s Cars 2 was the studio’s worst-received feature to date (it currently sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes), we’ve got ourselves an actual competition in the Animated Feature category. Not only that, but if all 18 films that were submitted to the Academy are deemed eligible, we’ll have a total of five nominated films. This leaves us to debate the merits of Rango and The Adventures of Tintin against the likes of Puss in Boots and Arthur Christmas.

Additionally, we’ve taken a stab at Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the technical categories. As these are incredibly tricky to predict this far out (and my picks would be doomed to haunt me come February), I’ve simply listed a couple of frontrunners in each category instead of going in depth. Though it’s still early, we’ve got an overall picture of how things look like they’ll stack up; so hit the jump to check out the state of the race so far. If you missed our previous preview articles, be sure to take a look at our picks for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actor and Best Actress.

After months of buildup, Super 8 took top honors this weekend with an estimated $37 million from 3,379 locations.  That figure is significantly higher than the film had been tracking just five days ago.  Is it higher than the studio was hoping for five months ago?  Not exactly.

I can’t remember the last time Woody Allen made a film as delightful as Midnight in Paris.  He’s certainly done it before and it’s not one of his comedy classics like Annie Hall and Sleeper, but Midnight in Paris is undoubtedly one of Woody Allen’s best films of the past ten years.  It’s the rare Allen comedy where he doesn’t insert an Allen-like neurotic character, and the script finds inventive ways to be funny and thoughtful.  Johanne Debas and Darius Khondji’s cinematography is gorgeous, the film is filled with wonderful performances where you can tell that all of the actors are having a marvelous time, and Allen brings it all together with a joy rarely seen in his movies these days.

Here are the estimates for the top ten films this Memorial Day Weekend.  Note that the weekend figure includes only the three days of a traditional box office weekend, even though both of the week’s major new releases (The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2) debuted last Thursday.  We’ll have a full analysis of the four/five day holiday tomorrow, but today I would just like to give a quick shout out to Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris which has made it into the top ten on the strength of just 58 venues. It is the first time I’ve personally seen an Allen film in the weekend top ten since… ever

In the romantic comedy Midnight in Paris, from writer/director Woody Allen, actor Michael Sheen plays Paul, an intellectual visiting Paris with his wife (Nina Arianda), while he lectures at the Sorbonne. At the same time, Inez (Rachel McAdams) is there with her fiancé Gil (Owen Wilson), who is taking time away from his successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter to pursue his aspirations to be a serious novelist, much to her dismay. When Inez unexpectedly runs into Paul, who she has had a crush on since college, she immediately finds him as charming as he is cerebral, while Gil finds him to be an insufferable know-it-all that he can’t stand to be around. As Gil is increasingly absent to focus on his writing, Paul and Inez find themselves growing increasingly closer.

At the film’s press day, Michael Sheen talked about how much he enjoyed working with Woody Allen, how amazing it was to have some of the film’s Paris locations all to themselves, how much fun his character was to play, and how he thought Owen Wilson found a really good balance between having the angst, anxiety and neurosis of a Woody Allen character. He also talked about what’s in store for his character Aro in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, and said that the talk of him doing Dark Shadows was a bit premature. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

It is quite clear that Woody Allen loves Paris, and even though her character in his latest film, Midnight in Paris, is quite the contrary, actress Rachel McAdams admits to loving Paris too. In this romantic comedy set in the City of Lights, Gil (Owen Wilson) is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who is following his dream of becoming a novelist, much like his idols Hemingway and Fitzgerald. When he and his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) tag along on a trip to Paris with her father, his literary ambitions seems to annoy everyone and makes them question his focus. When Inez realizes that this is more than just a slight preoccupation for Gil, she begins to question whether or not they still have the same aspirations.

At the film’s press day, Rachel McAdams talked about working with Woody Allen and the type of director he is on set, how much she enjoyed working in and around Paris, working with the First Lady of France (Carla Bruni), and how the best acting advice she’s ever received is just to be as honest and present as you can be. She also talked about reprising her role as Irene Adler for a cameo in Sherlock Holmes 2, and working with director Terrence Malick on a still untitled film. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

The weak link is always the villain.  It’s like the writers and filmmakers assume they don’t need a strong villain if they have great action.  If you think about some of your favorite movies, they always have a kick ass villain.  Zod in Superman 2.  Darth Vader in Star Wars.  Agent Smith in The Matrix.  Kathy Bates in Misery.   And now Tom Hiddleston as Loki in director Kenneth Branagh’s Thor.  Trust me, when you go to see Thor this weekend, you’ll quickly discover that Hiddleston is a great actor who brings a lot of depth to the complicated role.

At the Los Angeles press day for Thor, I got to speak to Hiddleston about playing the God of Mischief.  We also talked about the huge press tour he’s been doing, what it’s like knowing he’ll be playing Loki in multiple films, he talked about meeting with Joss Whedon right after filming Thor to talk about the character and “swap stories” while Whedon was working on The Avengers script, and he talked about working for Steven Spielberg on War Horse and Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris.  Hit the jump to watch.

A number of images from Woody Allen’s latest film Midnight in Paris have been released. The romantic comedy centers on a man (Owen Wilson) who is in Paris with his wife (Rachel McAdams) but begins going off on his own a midnight to explore the nightlife the city has to offer. The trailer for the film was released last month, and actually shows a bit of promise given that Allen hasn’t really made a worthwhile film in quite some time.

The cast includes Wilson, McAdams, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, and Adrien Brody. Hit the jump to check out the images. Midnight in Paris opens May 20th and will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

The trailer for Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris has gone online.  The film centers on a man (Owen Wilson) who is in Paris with his wife (Rachel McAdams) but begins going off on his own a midnight to explore the nightlife the city has to offer.  It’s tough to be excited for Midnight in Paris since Woody Allen insists on turning out one film per year regardless of whether or not it’s a film worth making.  While he has a great cast lined up (Michael Sheen especially looks to be having some fun), a Woody Allen film these days is a crapshoot and at best he feels like he’s repeating himself.  Hopefully Midnight in Paris will offer a change of pace, but nothing in the trailer hints that it will.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Midnight in Paris also stars Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, and Adrien Brody.  It opens May 20th and will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Universal has just released a new poster for Fast Five that doesn’t emphasize the cars or even the actors.  No, this new poster puts the emphasis on a clear blue, tranquil sky, because when I think of the Fast and the Furious franchise, I think tranquility.  Also, I’m definitely not a fan of the “Summer begins April 29th” tagline.  The summer movie season begins the first Friday in May.  If Universal thought the movie could compete in the summer, then they would have kept it at June 10th.  They didn’t because April, while not the summer movie season, has been good for the franchise’s box office.  You’re a late-spring movie, Fast Five.  Deal with it.

There’s also a new poster for Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.  I’m not sure what Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” has to do with the plot (also, Van Gogh was Dutch so again, I’m missing the French connection), but it’s on the poster along with star Owen Wilson.  Hit the jump to check out the posters.

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, a romcom which was shot in Paris last year, is set to open the 64^th Cannes Film Festival on May 11^th and will be released in French theaters on the same day. The movie features an international all-star cast, including Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Léa Seydoux and Gad Elmaleh.

But the talk of the town is the very special cameo appearance by a certain French leading lady. Find out who after the jump.

There has been a steady stream of casting and plot information for the upcoming Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris, but we now finally have it all in one place in an official capacity.  The romantic comedy follows “a family travelling to the city for business. The party includes a young engaged couple that has their lives transformed throughout the journey.”

The all-star cast is toplined by Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen and Owen Wilson, with Nina Arianda, Kurt Fuller, Tom Hiddleston, Mimi Kennedy, Alison Pill and Corey Stoll co-starring.  Midnight in Paris will be Allen’s followup to the likewise forthcoming You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,  which recently premiered at Cannes 2010.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Adrien Brody has joined the cast of Woody Allen’s upcoming romantic comedy Midnight in Paris.   According to THR, the film will start shooting this summer and will be about “a family traveling to the City of Lights for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.”  The cast already includes Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, and Michael Sheen.  It’s still unknown who each actor will be playing in the film but Brody’s role is currently being described as “flashy”.

You can next see Brody in Predators on July 9th.  Meanwhile, Allen’s latest film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, just debuted the other night at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and will be released theatrically sometime this fall.

In a rare move, Woody Allen has revealed details on his upcoming film, Midnight in Paris.  Allen usually remains secretive on his projects until they’re in the can, but today he announced [via Variety] that Midnight in Paris is “a romantic comedy that follows a family traveling to the city for business, including a young engaged couple that has their lives transformed throughout the journey. The film celebrates a young man’s great love for Paris, and simultaneously explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better.”

The film has a diverse cast of actors including Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Tom Hiddleston, Corey Stoll, Mimi Kennedy, and Kurt Fuller.  Filming is set to begin this summer in Paris.  Allen’s new film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, will debut out of competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  It will be released domestically this fall.