Firearms in films have evolved massively overly the years. From the simple handgun through to the high-tech, futuristic death machines you now find in science fiction films, the Silver Screen has seen big developments.
Below, we have looked at five of our favourite firearms from films, along with the gun in action and a little bit of background information about each; which is your favourite?
Han Solo’s DL-44 Blaster – Star Wars
The firearms of the Star Wars films are often overlooked due to the presence of the lightsabres, but one example that is near-impossible to ignore is Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster.
Even though he was meant to be a supporting character, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo stole the limelight in many scenes of the original Star Wars trilogy, which helped to promote his signature sidearm even further (as did the controversy as to who shot first!).
Behind the Scenes
The majority of the Star Wars blasters were based on real firing guns with tweaks made, and Solo’s blaster is no different. The DL-44 design is based on the German C96 “Broomhandle” Mauser pistol; a sidearm that was manufactured from 1896 to 1937.
To make it appear more like a science fiction weapon, the large flash hider from the German MG81 machine gun found on fighter planes was added, while the air conditioning vent on the front of the magazine came from a model plane.
The scope is a Hensoldt Wetzlar Ziel Dialyt 3x scope which was more commonly found on German sniper rifles, such as the K98.
Wonder Woman defies the odds to join the top five superheroes of all time.
We all like a little wager from time to time, but it seems that you can bet on just about anything these days. Bookmakers are offering just 3/1 odds on us being contacted by another planet within the next 12 months – perhaps they know something we don’t – and even the traditional wagers on things like football have an unusual twist, with bookies offering odds on which manager will be the next to be fired or whether the Rooneys will get divorced (20/1 if you think it will happen this year, incidentally).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlwHKphUU_Y
The world of film is certainly not immune to the gambling craze that is taking the nation, and the world, by storm via the vast array of sites at https://www.thecasinodb.com, and just like the football examples, it goes way beyond simple questions like which film will be the biggest grossing of the year. The most recent stir concerned superhero devotees and their certainty that Wonder Woman would join the elite top five grossing films in the genre.
Given that Patty Jenkins’ film is now just a few thousand dollars short of knocking Iron Man 3 from the number five spot, bets are no longer being taken and it is a question of when, not if, Wonder Woman takes its place in superhero film history. So which films will it be joining? Jot down your guesses for positions 4-1 and then read on, to see if you were right.
Well, we’ve made it to that awkward time of year. That time of year where Halloween has been and gone and all you really want to is get in the Christmas spirit right? Whilst some of you, like myself, will shamelessly be watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Elf, sticking on your Christmas playlists, others of you may choose to be slightly more reserved for the time being considering it’s still November. Whether this out of guilt, wanting to save all the best stuff for closer to Christmas or simply because you’re a massive scrooge who hates all the typical Christmas films, I’m not judging. Well, maybe a little, but that’s not important.
Anyway, if you do find yourself wanting to get into the festive mood without being too “Christmassy”, here are ten alternatives to the typical holiday classics.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
The fact that as soon as you see this film mentioned you’ll immediately picture CS Lewis’s Narnia winter wonderland says it all, with the opening hour of the film almost entirely set in the snowy setting. If hot chocolates and log fires in the snow-covered forest aren’t enough to get you in the festive spirit, Father Christmas and his reindeers briefly show up to give the children presents. I mean sure they’re not your average stocking filler, unless of course you too are preparing to go into a battle for your fantastical kingdom, but it’s Christmassy nonetheless.
Trading Places
This is a film set over Christmas, with quite a few Christmas themes and scenes, but fear not, it’s certainly not your typical Christmas film. I mean the plot itself actually has very little to do with Christmas itself, I promise. It’s a hugely hilarious, ever entertaining, and sometimes touching film, with Eddie Murphy at his best and a happy ending to make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Oh, and it has Dan Ackroyd dressed as a drunken, mentally broken and beaten Santa Claus yielding a gun and eating meat through his fake beard. Ho, Ho, Ho.
In new research, TotallyMoney looks at the major film franchises that have come to our screens over the years, to find how they’ve gone from strength to strength years…Or strength to slip-up.
Plenty of films make it to a sequel. Many even make it into a trilogy. But there are those that we see in the cinema year after year: fan favourites like Die Hard and Alien, generational updates like Rocky launching into Creed, and the ever-confusing titles of the Fast and Furious franchise.
But what does pumping out so many films around the same ideas and characters do for the series? A new interactive data explorer from TotallyMoney looks at the rises and falls in quality of some of the longest and most popular film franchises from the last 50 years, taking into account opening weekend box office takings, and both critical and public reviews.
Keep Rolling
The research includes films from different corners of the industry, ranging from horror films like Saw and Halloween to fun-for-all-the-family titles like Harry Potter and Shrek.
One of the most surprising features was that the most popular film by opening weekend box office earnings in a series on average was the 8th, should the franchise make it that far. The average opening weekend for an eighth film was $97.5 million – compared to $45.2 million for the first film, and only $17.2 million for the 10th.
In terms of specific films and their popularity, and taking into account the user scores on IMDb and the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, these were the top results:
1. Indiana Jones – the general public on IMDb rate Harry Potter and Indiana Jones equally – a rating of 7.65/10 on average – but critics on Rotten Tomatoes put the Harrison Ford classic up over the wizarding world by 1.37%, making it the most popular series of all time.
2. Harry Potter – having had the 20th anniversary of the first book’s publication this year, Harry Potter is now a venerable name in the film industry. The series earned an average rating of 84.63% Rotten Tomatoes, with its highest-rated film being the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at 96%.
3. The Hunger Games – despite IMDb users marking it as peaking on the second film and going downhill from there, The Hunger Games took an average of effectively 7.38/10 (if the Rotten Tomatoes score is converted to a figure out of ten). In earnings, however, the average opening weekend for each film was the highest in the research, and over $13 million higher than the next most successful, Jurassic Park.
4. Mission Impossible – defying a traditional belief that a sequel is never better than the original, Mission Impossible hit its top scores on the fourth and fifth films – Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation – with the former reaching 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, a higher score than 95% of the films included in the research.
5. The Bourne Films – viewers weren’t keen on ditching Matt Damon in the Bourne Legacy, which scored only 56% on Rotten Tomatoes compared to 93% on the previous iteration in the series. But even bringing him back didn’t win any points: it scored even lower on Rotten Tomatoes and reached the same score as Legacy on IMDb, a disappointing 6.7.
The Biggest Film War: Users vs Critics
While for the most part where critics didn’t like a film, users agreed, there were a few films included in the research where professional review didn’t account for taste. In the cases where there was significant disagreement between film critics on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb users, it was almost always the case that the users enjoyed the film while critics rated it poorly – with the sole exception of Spy Kids, which the professionals gave nearly 4 points (out of 10) more than the users.
Spy Kids
In the top ten for critical disagreement, the Saw series showed up three times, more than any other franchise – with fans giving far more points than critics to Saw 3D: The Final Chapter, Saw V, and Saw IV.
The top critical battle, however, was Underworld: Evolution – the second film in the Underworld series, it was panned by the critics at only 16%, lower than 90% of the scores in the research. But fans felt it warranted more than that, giving it a healthy 6.8/10 – 5.2 points higher than the critic score, when they’re converted to the same scale.
“Conventional wisdom has always said that sequels are rarely better than the original, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said Joe Gardiner, TotallyMoney’s Head of Brand and Communications, “Many of our favourite film series just get better and better, and the peak could come anywhere. We all have our favourite films – it’s hard to predict which will be a winner in the box office and in the reviews.”
To see the other stories – from start to finish – and see how franchises have risen and fallen from film to film, have a look at the interactive guide here or the infographic here.
Welcome to the second episode of the FilmFrame podcast. On episode two, co-hosts Orla Smith and Scott Wilson discuss Yorgos Lanthimos‘ latest The Killing of a Sacred Deer, as well as listing their top 5 ‘films that prove cinema can still surprise us’, and talking about Murder on the Orient Express, Thelma and more.
Listen to our first episode on Call Me by Your Name here. Find a playlist of all our episodes here.
TIMECODES
0.00-1:36 – Introduction
1:36-7:05 – Pokemon: I Choose You
7:05-13:52 – Murder on the Orient Express
13:52-14:50 – Revisiting Thor: Ragnarok
14:50-18:13 – Thelma
18:13-52:10 – Top 5 films that prove cinema can still surprise us
52:10-1:03:50 – Dogtooth and The Lobster
1:03:50-1:29:58 – The Killing of a Sacred Deer (spoiler discussion)
1:29:50-1:40:43 – Film swap: Happy-Go-Lucky
1:40:43-1:51:15 – Film swap: Under the Skin
1:51:15-1:54:15 – Film swap recommendations for next week
1:54:15-1:56:27
We’re accepting Q&A questions for next week’s episode. Send them either to @orlamango or @scottaawilson on Twitter, or send us an anonymous question on our Sarahah page: filmframe.sarahah.com/
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor’s life in gradually unsettling ways. Soon, the full scope of Martin’s intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter his domestic bliss forever.
