It has been quite a year for both Irish and International film. However now it’s time to see who just made the cut and who was a cut above the rest as IFTN takes a look back at the films that made us part with our hard earned cash in cinemas up and down the country in 2011. It’s the IFTN countdown to the Top Ten Box Office Smashes of 2011.
10. ‘Rise of Planet of The Apes’- In the number ten spot from English director Rupert Wyatt and with a $93 million dollar budget this Hollywood sci-fi action movie saw Pierre Boulle’s imaginings come to life once again. It grossed just over €2million at the Irish box office. Total gross; €2,004,742
9. ‘Transformers; Dark of The Moon’- The action film tour de force that is Michael Bay and Paramount Pictures managed to snag movie goers with yet another instalment in the Transformer movie series starring Shia LeBeouf and the glamorous Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Total gross; €2,025,309
8. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean; On Stranger Tides’- Well who doesn’t love Captain Jack Sparrow? Just like the current Transformers trilogy, Johnny Depp and co are riding the high seas of their success with this continuation of the series from Walt Disney. Total gross; €2,066,157
7. ‘The Smurfs’- They are small, blue and utterly adorable. For the first time ‘The Smurfs’ have moved from the small screen onto the big in both 2D and 3D. With the help of popular comedic talent like Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and the voicing talent of pop star Katy Perry ‘The Smurfs’ take our lucky number seven spot. Total gross; €2,088,423
6. ‘The King’s Speech’- An absolute triumph in cinema, winning British actor Colin Firth an Academy Award last year and a stellar performances from supporting cast to the calibre of Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter. ‘The King’s Speech’ gave Irish cinema-goers the royal treatment and grossed near to €3million at the box office. Total gross; €2,796,9277
5. ‘The Inbetweeners; The Movie’- The highly anticipated movie of the hugely successful Channel 4 series, about a group of friends in their awkward teen years ‘The Inbetweeners’ didn’t disappoint with Irish cinema goers forking out to watch Will, Simon, Jay and Neil get up to no good on holidays. Total gross; €3,085,312
4. ‘The Hangover; Part 2’- They must be gluttons for punishment because the wolf pack were back this year for the sequel to the hugely successful ‘The Hangover’. This time the movie sees them travel to Bangkok for Stuart’s wedding but as usual all Hell breaks loose. This film grossed near to €4million at the box office. We are sure it had nothing to do with a certain Mr. Cooper. Total gross; €3, 888, 913
3. ‘The Guard’- Standing on the podium in our number three spot is this year's Irish success story ‘The Guard’. Directed by Irish director John Michael McDonagh it became the most successful independent Irish film of all time. Not only that but it stars such top notch Irish and International talent like Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Fionnuala Flanagan, Liam Cunningham and Pat Shortt. This movie was a knock out and it appears you all agreed, with the black comedy about a badly behaved Galway guard, hitting over the €4 million mark in ticket sales. Total gross; €4,026, 644
2. ‘Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows; Part 2’- - With the success of the books and the movie chain to date it is no surprise that Harry Potter fans turned up in their droves to wish farewell to the much loved movies in this the final instalment. The wizarding gang worked their magic on us Muggles to get hold of the silver medal in our top ten. Total gross; €4,223,619
And then there was one. This film grossed a whopping €4,310,172 million at the Irish box office. It grossed over $26 million at the US box office in its opening weekend.
You guess it, it's ‘Bridesmaids’. There can be little surprise that the comedy smash came first in our Top Ten Movies of 2011. Irish audiences flocked to see our very own Chris O’Dowd hold his own in Hollywood playing the lovable Officer Rhodes and enjoyed the comedy styling of Saturday Night Live actress Kirsten Wiig as she played a down on her luck pastry chef trying to rally a truly unruly and dysfunctional group of bridesmaids around their bride for her big day.
