There were no blockbusters on this September frame but, after last weekend’s dismal returns, it’s hard to feel disappointed. Aided by 3D technology, Resident Evil: Retribution reigned with $21.1 million – more than twice what The Possession earned in first place last weekend. Finding Nemo 3D also had a ticket-price advantage although, in this case, the 2003 Pixar classic could not match the gross of last year’s 3D The Lion King re-release.

In the spirit of TIFF 2012 winding down this weekend, I’m interested in hearing what some of our readers most anticipated pics coming out of the festival are. For me, I was already psyched for films such as Looper, Cloud Atlas, and The Master, but early buzz has also peaked my interest in The Place Beyond the Pines, End of Watch, Spring Breakers, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, Dredd 3D, and At Any Price among others. What about you? Where there films that showed up on your radar while following the festival? What about a film you were looking forward to that you were disappointed didn’t fare quite as well as you had hoped (for me, this was Passion)? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check out this week’s fifth spot for a link that can help you get caught up on all of our TIFF 2012 coverage.

In addition to that fifth spot, also on the docket for this week’s Top 5 is a slew of video interviews for Paul W. S. Anderson‘s Resident Evil: Retribution, the first full trailer for Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln, James Cameron talking the future of Avatar and what his take on Jurassic Park would have been like, and Steve’s video interviews with some of the major names behind Finding Nemo 3D. Brief recaps and links to each lie after the jump.

After enduring the worst weekend since 2008 (and a couple more low weekends besides), the box office received a much-needed boost on Friday from a pair of familiar features. Resident Evil: Retribution was yesterday’s clear winner, earning an estimated $8.4 million from 3,012 locations. The fifth entry in the Resident Evil franchise, Retribution is expected to take in $22 million through Sunday – a slight decline from the $26.6 million posted by Resident Evil: Afterlife on this weekend in 2010. The last RE feature (and the first to feature 3D effects), Afterlife went on to earn almost $300 million worldwide – 79% of that from international audiences. 3D technology also claimed second place at the Friday box office with the debut of Finding Nemo 3D. The first Pixar classic to get a 3D make-over since the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature, Nemo 3D earned an estimated $5.1 million from 2,904 runs for what is expected to be a debut weekend in the $18 million range. Finally, in just 5 theatres in New York and LA, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master broke records for a limited release with a giant per-screen average of $48,425. Full details and analysis tomorrow.

Pixar’s Finding Nemo 3D opens in theaters this weekend, and unlike some post-converted movies that are released as a cash grab, Finding Nemo 3D is absolutely worth seeing again, especially in 3D.  When the movie was first released almost ten years ago, the gorgeous ocean-set pic looked beautiful and the animation was stunning.  However, when Pixar converted the film, they also re-rendered it (without changing anything), and it’s now even more vivid with higher resolution.  Finding Nemo has never looked this good, and the 3D actually helps tell the story.  Another reason to see Finding Nemo 3D is Pixar’s latest Toy Story short, Partysaurus Rex, which is playing before the movie.  In the short, Rex (Wallace Shawn) gets to shed his nerdy persona as he becomes a party star after saving bath time for some tub toys.   Here’s a clip.

Pixar recently held a press day for the film at The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  While there, I was able to speak with director Mark Walsh.  We talked about how he got the job directing the short, how the film changed during production, Easter Eggs, the music (which was done by BT), and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Opening this weekend is Pixar’s Finding Nemo 3D.  Unlike some post-converted movies that are released as a cash grab, Finding Nemo 3D is absolutely worth seeing again, especially in 3D.  When the movie was first released almost ten years ago, the gorgeous ocean-set pic looked beautiful and the animation was stunning.  However, when Pixar converted the film, they also re-rendered it (without changing anything) and it’s now even more vivid with higher resolution.  Finding Nemo has never looked this good and the 3D actually helps tell the story.

Recently, Pixar held a press day for the re-release at The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  While there I was able to speak with Stereoscopic Supervisor Bob Whitehill and the Director of 3D Production Josh Hollander.  We talked about the collaboration process with directors when converting films to 3D, the technical challenges of turning older Pixar movies into a 3D release, how technology has helped make 3D easier, and what fans can look forward to with the 3D release of Monsters Inc..  Finally, Whitehill and Hollander answer whether they have started to think about 3D re-releases for The Incredibles and Ratatouille.  Hit the jump to watch. 

Opening this weekend is Pixar’s Finding Nemo 3D.  Unlike some post-converted movies that are released as a cash grab, Finding Nemo 3D is absolutely worth seeing again, especially in 3D.  When the movie was first released almost ten years ago, the gorgeous ocean-set pic looked beautiful and the animation was stunning.  However, when Pixar converted the film, they also re-rendered it (without changing anything) and it’s now even more vivid with higher resolution.  Finding Nemo has never looked this good and the 3D actually helps tell the story.

Recently, Pixar held a press day for the re-release at The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  While there I was able to speak with co-director Lee Unkrich.  We talked about the all-star group of filmmakers that brought Nemo to life, his reaction seeing the film in 3D, how technology has changed Pixar and things have changed ten years after Nemo, his relief that he didn’t screw up the Toy Story franchise (he directed Toy Story 3), and what he has coming up.  Hit the jump to watch.

Last week, the Toronto International Film Festival announced their 2012 line-up for the Special Presentations and Galas programs.  They’ve now announced their other line-ups including Midnight Madness and Documentaries as well as TIFF Kids, Vanguard, and Cinematheque.  The Kids program only has four films, but two of them are Hotel Transylvania and Finding Nemo 3D.  Vanguard, which is “international works that defy convention and ride on the pulse of cutting-edge cinema, includes the British remake of Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Pusher, the great Shining documentary Room 237, Michel Gondry‘s The We and the I, and Sightseers, the new film from Kill List director Ben Wheatley.  Finally, Cinematheque is for the classic films and it includes the digital 3D presentation of Alfred Hitchcock‘s Dial M for Murder, and a 4K restoration of Roman Polanski‘s Tess.

Hit the jump for all the line-ups.  The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.

As much as I enjoy film, my first entertainment love will always be music. As such, this weekend finds me in Chicago in anticipation of what could be my final Warped Tour appearance. That’s right, I’m a 26 year-old man (I use the term “man” lightly, of course) who still finds immense joy in the pop-punk genre. Nevertheless, it’s becoming harder and harder for my oldness to blend in with a predominantly sub-18 crowd without looking like a total creep and, therefore, today may very well be my last Warped experience. On the bright side, I still have XBox Live to remind me that I’ve never completely grown up.

Maturity issues aside, on tap in this week’s version of the Top 5 is a slew of interviews for The Amazing Spider-Man, the first trailer and new images for Tom Cruise‘s Jack Reacher, our most anticipated movies from July to September, Savages interviews with Oliver Stone, Blake Lively, etc., and more The Dark Knight Rises coverage than most humans are capable of comprehending. Links and brief recaps for each reside after the break.

We’re halfway into summer 2012 and, with the exception of The Avengers, it’s been a bit of a disappointing blur.  The third-quarter of 2012 is now upon us and we hope that the second half of the summer season will turn around (possibly with the help of a caped crusader) and then lead us into a fall packed with the smaller dramas that signal the beginning of the awards race.

There’s a lot to look forward to in the next three months, so hit the jump for lists of our most-anticipated films from July to September.

We’ve got a few poster debuts to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Dredd – The first poster for director Pete Travis’ reboot of the comics character.  Karl Urban stars as the titular law-keeper and is joined by Olivia Thirlby and Lena Heady (Game of Thrones).  The film opens in 3D on September 21^st.
• End of Watch – The debut poster for the gritty cop drama from writer-director David Ayer (Training Day), starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena.  The film opens on September 28^th.
• Finding Nemo 3D – Continuing with Disney’s theatrical 3D re-release of older films, the first poster has arrived for the 3D iteration of Pixar’s Finding Nemo.  The film hits theaters (again) on September 14^th.
• Katy Perry: Part of Me– The title really speaks for itself, but for those confused as to who Katy Perry is, this new poster announces the concert documentary about the pop singer.  The film opens in 3D on July 5^th.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.

3D has become almost a dirty word in the current moviegoing environment, but it’s a useful tool when done with purpose and precision (see: Hugo).  One of the genres in which 3D really shines is animation, and with Disney’s announcement that they’ll be releasing a number of classics back into theaters we’ll get the chance to see some excellent 3D put to good use.  First up on Disney-Pixar’s theatrical re-release slate is Finding Nemo, and a full trailer for the 3D release is now online.  The trailer plays up the 3D aspect, and I’m assuming it’s more effective when seen in three dimensions.  While 3D seems like a perfect fit for Pixar’s gorgeous ocean-set pic, I’m also just eager to see Andrew Stanton’s incredibly sweet, funny, and heartfelt film on the big screen once again.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer for Finding Nemo 3D, and brace for the 3D re-releases of Monster’s Inc. and The Little Mermaid which will follow.  Finding Nemo returns to theaters on September 14th.

This year and in 2013, Disney is re-releasing four of their movies in 3D.  The first out the gate is Beauty and the Beast (it looks great and I’ll have my full review up tomorrow night), and next up is Finding Nemo.  Disney has put a 2D trailer online for Pixar’s film but you’ll likely see the 3D version if you check out Beauty and the Beast.  I saw this version of the trailer and it looks fine.  Pixar’s 3D work always looks good and doesn’t induce headaches.  But as I said when the re-releases were announced, I’m more interested in seeing them back on the big screen than seeing them in 3D.

Hit the jump for what’s really just an announcement trailer.  Finding Nemo 3D opens September 14th.