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10 articles
Box Office - 'Avatar' Debut Better Than Estimated
2 hours ago
We reported yesterday that the estimates for James Cameron's Avatar were very strong, if not monumental enough for the record books, but it turns out the new film did just barely eclipse I Am Legend for the biggest December weekend in box office history.
Yesterday, of course, we were looking at estimates, but the real numbers painted a rosier picture for Avatar. The film held almost all of its Saturday audience - a very rare feat - to drop only 3% on Sunday, giving the film a three-day totla of $77.3 million. If you're wondering, that's about $100,000 more than I Am Legend made when it rolled out in December 2007.
The adjusted number also pushes the international box office a little higher, to $236.5 million, according to Variety, the sixth-best simultaneous worldwide opening ever. However, we should point out that the majority of blockbusters don't open internationally on the same weekend, so as impressive as that number is, …
- Colin Boyd
More 'Machete'? Rodriguez, Trejo Talk Sequels
5 hours ago
From extremely humble beginnings, Machete may turn into a franchise for Danny Trejo and co-director/producer/creator Robert Rodriguez. The first feature-length film will be released next April, apparently, and already there is talk of not just one but two sequels.
"Well, Robert had been training me...god, that sounds really silly...for Machete since we did Desperado, Trejo says in a new article at MovieWeb. Everybody thinks that Machete came out of a trailer, but it didn't," explained Trejo. "Robert told me that he wanted to do this movie called Machete when we were doing Desperado."
"It is a culmination of Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and there's even a little bit of From Dusk Till Dawn in there. I think it's going to be one of his (Rodriguez') best and I'm not just saying that because I'm the lead, it's just a great movie."
"I think …
- Colin Boyd
Second Poster for the Romero Remake 'The Crazies'
8 hours ago
It could be just me, but The Crazies looks like it might be a pretty good 90 minutes of sci-fi/horror paranoia - scihorronoia, if you will. The trailers have worked, the first poster was good enough, and here's the new one Overture just sent over this morning. Click to see the whole enchilada.
There are, of course, plenty of reasons to remain skeptical. First, most movies just aren't that good. We often overlook that. Beyond that, most remakes just aren't that good, as our readers often remind us. Director Breck Eisner has to prove himself here, because Sahara isn't something to hang your hat on. That is a lot to overcome, and we need to throw in there that trailers and posters are supposed to be convincing; their only job is to sell tickets, whether the actual movie is good or not. …
- Colin Boyd
YouTube Short Film Director Gets $30 Million Deal
11 hours ago
Federico Alvarez' short film Panic Attack! hit YouTube last month and became the latest example of viral video, a term I genuinely despise because studios have co-opted the idea to try to force marketing maneuvers to "go viral." Doesn't work that way. But Alvarez' short, produced for $300, has already grabbed over 1.5 million hits, the attention of Sam Raimi, and now, a $30 million contract for Alvarez to develop a feature film.
The BBC reports that the deal has been consumated, although based on the success of something like Paranormal Activity, the amount may seem quite high, given what Alvarez was able to accomplish for 1/100,000th of the new contract. There is some symmetry here, though, because $30 million was what director Neill Blomkamp used to create District 9 with producer Peter Jackson. And there are some real similarities between the two sci-fi projects.
"I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and …
- Colin Boyd
Harrowing Updates on the Marvin the Martian Movie
13 hours ago
As much as I love Marvin the Martian, I'm not sure he's worth a feature film. In much the same way SNL sketches don't transfer to the big screen because the characters are designed to work for five minutes at a time, not 90. So a secondary cartoon character, one whose glory days are about 50 years old, may not be able to carry film, or open one, for that matter, which might be more important to Warner Bros.
The Los Angeles Times - a popular daily newspaper in southern California, if I'm not mistaken - says that the film has writers, Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove, who are also handling the script for a CHiPs movie, sure to have an Erik Estrada cameo. But the remake insanity doesn't end its connection to Marvin the Martian there. Hong Kong Phooey update director Alex Zamm has taken the reins on this film, too, …
- Colin Boyd
Weekend Recap: Brittany Murphy, 'Avatar,' Year-End Lists and More
16 hours ago
Although it would have been nice to focus just on the box office output for Avatar (basically the same thing 2012 managed), the weekend hit a sad note with the passing of actress Brittany Murphy, who passed away at 32. We won't speculate on it, but cardiac arrest at such a young age is definitely unpredictable. More news is sure to follow.
Beyond those two stories, we also got some end-of-the-year round-ups as well as a possible destination for the Hangover sequel, which will go into production next fall for a May 2011 debut.
So let's rewind, shall we?
Brittany Murphy dead at 32
Avatar takes in $73 million
Cool video - 2009 at the movies
New updated chart of the Best Picture hopefuls
Hangover 2 headed to Thailand?
Two top ten lists from the Entertainment Weekly critics …
- Colin Boyd
Very Hip First Poster for 'Knight and Day'
19 hours ago
I mentioned this a couple days ago, but the trailer for Knight and Day has been released, at least in theaters. I saw it before Avatar and it was pretty good, really. Not great, but the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz action comedy formerly known as Wichita had more life to it than I expected. And now there's what is for my money an excellent movie poster.
…
- Colin Boyd
Roger Ebert's Top Films of 2009
22 hours ago
We're all entitled to our own opinions, and here are Roger Ebert's. He has 20 films on his Best of 2009 countdown, ten he calls "mainstream" films and ten that are "independent." Seven of Ebert's top ten mainstreamers are in the Oscar hunt in the major categories, and another one could wind up the Best Foreign Language Film winner. Makes me wonder why it's in the mainstream category, but whatever.
So that leaves two movies that would be unexpected at best. And, curiously, both star Nic Cage. And, curiously, Ebert may have really overestimated them.
Here are his top ten "mainstream" films of the year, in alphabetical order: …
- Colin Boyd
'Clash of the Titans' Gets Re-Shoots, The Good Kind
20 December 2009 9:03 PM, PST
Even though the Clash of the Titans trailer(s) debuted this week and showed us quite a bit, there is still work to do be. That's according to Sam Worthington, star of Avatar and the Clash remake's Perseus, who tells The Los Angeles Times that the re-shoots aren't a result of the studio being unhappy. Quite the contrary.
"We're going to be going back and shooting more scenes for it; they cut loose with some money so we can add to it," Worthington said. Who knows when the decision was made, but the actor says the shooting will happen in January, cautioning, "so we're going to be right up against it -- the movie comes out in March."
Yep, March 26th, in fact. Worthington did acknowledge that Clash of the Titans had "some creaky parts," which he says the studio was fully aware of going in, and now the new …
- Colin Boyd
First 'Toy Story 3' Clip
20 December 2009 6:15 PM, PST
Disney and Pixar have released the first clip from next summer's Toy Story 3, which we just reported a couple of days ago will be in standard format and IMAX theaters on June 18th. It's hard to believe that the original Toy Story is now 15 years old, and with all this talk about Avatar being a game-changer and all that, Toy Story fully ushered in the digital animation revolution and established Pixar as not just a powerful filmmaking force but also a big brand name audiences have identified with ever since.
This new clip is referenced in the trailer for Toy Story 3, so it's not like we're seeing something wholly new. But it's a much longer version, introduced by director Lee Unkrich. The reason for that is because this clip is premiering during an ABC Family presentation of The Incredibles, and this is an added bonus. Or was, I guess, …
- Colin Boyd
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