The weekend of the Super Bowl is generally a pretty quiet one at multiplexes across this great and strange nation of ours, as the annual NFL championship game completely hijacks national attention.  Nobody's really thinking about movies, since there's too much anticipation for commercials interrupted by spurts of football.  Accordingly, with the New England Patriots and the New York Giants squaring off in Indianapolis, nobody expected much from this weekend's new releases, but lo and behold, two of the three newbies surprised.  Both Chronicle and The Woman in Black debuted to over $20 million, with the former edging out the latter for first place.

In 1988, the news cycle didn't work with the same rapidity that it does today, when a story can go from the center of global attention to virtually nonexistent in a matter of days or even hours.  Almost 25 years ago, big stories became big stories without so many competing 24-hour news networks, all manner of social media, immediate meme-dom, and the eventual backlash. 

It was a year that included an American presidential election and the release of Die Hard, but one particular story that captured the imagination and attention not just of America but of the world at large was that of three California gray whales surrounded by encroaching ice in the Arctic Circle.  Multiple nations and even conflicting interests united to find a way to get the whales, known affectionately as Fred, Wilma, and Bam Bam, through miles of ice to the safety of the open ocean.

Operation Breakthrough, as it was known, was chronicled by Tom Rose in the 1989 book Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event.  That book inspired the new film Big Miracle, which dramatizes the events and stars Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, who respectively play a Greenpeace activist and the journalist who first discovered the whale family.  With the new family-friendly drama arriving this Friday, both stars were recently on hand for a Los Angeles press conference, along with fellow actors Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, Dermot Mulroney, Vinessa Shaw, and director Ken Kwapis.  IAR's own Jami Philbrick was present to get these creative figures' thoughts on telling the story of Fred, Wilma, Bam Bam, and all those who aided in their journey.

Synopsis: Inspired by the true story that captured the hearts of people across the world, the rescue adventure Big Miracle tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Local newsman Adam Carlson (Krasinski) can't wait to escape the northern tip of Alaska for a bigger market. But just when the story of his career breaks, the world comes chasing it, too. With an oil tycoon, heads of state and hungry journalists descending upon the frigid outpost, the one who worries Adam the most is Rachel Kramer (Barrymore). Not only is she an outspoken environmentalist, she's also his ex-girlfriend. With time running out, Rachel and Adam must rally an unlikely coalition of Inuit natives, oil companies and Russian and American military to set aside their differences and free the whales. As the world's attention turns to the top of the globe, saving these endangered animals becomes a shared cause for nations entrenched against one another and leads to a momentary thaw in the Cold War.

Going the Distance is directed by Nanette Burstein, who created the wonderfully charming documentary American Teen and The Kid Stays in the Picture. With ‘Teen’ she was able to create likable characters around five teenagers who seemed to fit together like a modern day The Breakfast Club. It was a documentary that was able to make these kids relatable and yes, likable. With her latest, a narrative feature, she tackles the hellish theme of long distance relationships, with real life (on and off again) couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long.

Ted Danson and Vinessa Shaw (Eyes Wide Shut) have joined the cast of Everybody Loves Whales, the 80s-set drama that also stars John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Bell and Tim Blake Nelson. Ken Kwapis (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is directing.

Going the Distance is a rom com with balls. Dirty jokes, foul mouth and some rocking good tunes, the film tells the long distance story of two people in love. The couple happens to be Drew Barrymore and Justin Long who meet, spend time together and fall in love. The problem is, one lives in New York, the other lives in San Francisco.