Once upon a year in Hollywood

This year saw a mixed bag of releases. We take a look at how a few of them fared at the box office....

Sequel duds and wins: Like every year, 2011 too saw numerous sequels flooding the theatres. Almost all of them had one thing in common the hype. However, very few managed to deliver the box office numbers as well as impress critics. The ones who accomplished this feat were


Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower

X-Men: First Class, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Fast and Furious: Fast Five and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Those who found themselves left out in the cold were Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hangover II, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Thrillaaaaa: The thrillers had a field year! A clear majority who hit the theatre came out with flying colors. This included The Adjustment Bureau, Source Code, Contagion, The Whistleblower and The Ides of March.

Special effects: There was a slew of forgettables like Happy Feet Two, The Smurfs 2 and Cars 2. But the ones that left a mark were The Adventures of Tintin, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rango, The Puss in Boots, Winnie the Pooh and The Muppets.


The Tree of Life

Meaningful cinema's cameo: Unlike last year when art took a backseat, this year witnessed a moderate resurgence. The Tree of Life took the cake along with the violent yet stoic Drive. The racial drama The Help was noteworthy. And it's a shame Melancholia never released.

Underrated vs overrated: Immortals, The Rum Diary, Warrior and Machine Gun Preacher got less than what they deserved both commercially as well as critically. On the other hand, Super 8, Thor and Crazy, Stupid, Love. somehow received much more than expected.