In the crowded summer months, there's always room for a sleeper hit that will fly under the radar on its way to a successful box office run. This year, that honor fell to Louis Letterier's wildly entertaining caper movie, which held well throughout blockbuster season on its way to a gross north of $350m. I could be in the minority here, but I wasn't expecting much from Now You See Me and was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of touch, inventive set-pieces and chemistry between the cast. Seeing as the movie was produced by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and directed by the man who delivered Clash of the Titans and The Incredible Hulk, I went in with my expectations low. Despite the third act reveal almost derailing the entire movie, I was hugely impressed. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco make for a dynamic central quartet, the opening Paris heist is one of the year's best set-pieces, and sterling support comes from the always-reliable trio of Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. Marketed as 'Ocean's Eleven meets The Prestige', it isn't as good as either of those movies but remains one of the more entertaining blockbusters of 2013, its breezy nature a welcome change amongst a slew of humourless genre fare. Runner-Up: World War Z After years stuck in development hell, and well-documented production problems that saw the budget spiral to almost $200m, it came as a surprise when World War Z opened strong in June on its way to $540m worldwide, currently placing it as the tenth highest-grossing movie of 2013 and the biggest hit of Brad Pitt's career. Sure, it has basically nothing to do with the book but it's the largest-scale zombie movie ever made, and the first hour is a hugely satisfying piece of Hollywood film-making. The reworked third-act deserves credit for doing the opposite of most blockbusters and reducing the scale of the movie, though its a jarring transition following several massive set-pieces. The Jerusalem attack is one of the year's best action sequences, and Brad Pitt carries the movie with an understated performance in his first blockbuster lead role since 2005's Mr and Mrs Smith. Bonus points to anyone who can spot Matthew Fox without hitting the pause button.
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