It was about - close to 800 people was there auditioning. RATH: So just a wide-open casting call and had to have been a lot of people showed up for that, right? : Casting call, Tom Hanks film, Somali actors. When I spoke with him last October, he told me that he learned about the "Captain Phillips" role from a TV ad. His family moved to Yemen when he was 7, and he didn't get to the U.S. It's not just his lack of movie experience that makes Abdi an unlikely Oscar nominee. Hank's was ignored in the Best Actor category and first-time actor Barkhad Abdi was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. RATH: But here's where the formula gets upended. The film star is Tom Hanks as the title character, Captain Richard Phillips, and Barkhad Abdi as the man who leads the charge to capture the ship and crew. Five years ago, pirates attacked the freighter ship off the coast of Somalia. It's based on the story of the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. 1 again ‘Captain Phillips’ sails to No 2."Captain Phillips" is one of those films, a true life story of war and drama. But it was stronger than his last three openings, going back six years. Its opening was weaker than four out of Hanks’ five movies between 19. But it would be too simple to say that “Phillips” lands in the middle of a pack - it represents a certain type of qualified resurgence. So where does that all leave us? Of these 10 films, five had stronger openings than “Captain Phillips” and five were weaker. “Larry Crowne” (2011) - We don’t need to analyze this one, do we? Advantage: “Captain Phillips” “Angels & Demons” (2009) - It took in $50 million but for a sequel of a beloved character - and another bestseller to boot - it probably should have done better. Still, a paltry $11 million and fourth-place opening-weekend finish isn’t going to win any box-office awards. “Charlie Wilson’s War: (2007) - OK, so it was in a tough category - political dramedy - and came out in a competitive holiday season. And the movie was in 700 more theaters than “Phillips.” But it’s hard to go against that dollar total. Sure, he had a lot of help with a bestselling book. “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) - Its opening weekend of $89 million in today’s dollars is the all-time best opening of all of Hanks’ movies. Sure, it was in a slightly tougher genre than the survival-action tale of “Phillips, but its opening is still lower than “Phillips.” “Terminal” also was beaten in its opening weekend (by “Dodgeball”), so no edge there. “The Terminal” (2004) - A character-driven story outside of a specific genre, it managed a solid $23.5 million and rode on long legs to a $95 million total in the U.S. But it was shown in barely half the number of theaters as “Phillips.” Advantage: “Road to Perdition” The gangster-themed graphic novel adaptation took in $28.6 million in today’s dollars on its opening weekend. “Road to Perdition” (2002) - Another close comparison, monetarily speaking. “Cast Away” (2000) - An opening of $38 million en route to a whopping total take ($233 million) puts that movie - the other nautical-themed stranded tale - squarely ahead of “Phillips.” Advantage: “Cast Away” “Captain Phillips’” $26 million can’t match that. Even so, a $44-million opening for an epic-length war picture is pretty great. “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) - Hanks had the Spielberg brand and a host of costars to help him, not to mention a general nostalgia for the Greatest Generation. The numbers are also offered with some context. (Not included are ensemble pieces such as “Cloud Atlas” or films that had limited openings, such as “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”) All figures are adjusted for inflation because, well, we’re accurate like that too. It was his first live-action movie to go truly wide at nearly 2,500 screens and it offers a neat 10-film sample to boot. To explore this question (we’re geeky like that) we decided to return to all of Hanks’ live-action starring vehicles over the last 15 years to see which wide releases had an opening-weekend edge over “Phillips.” Fifteen years is a good period to evaluate - 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan” marking a new phase of sorts after Hanks’ early-mid ‘90s Gumpian success.
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