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Where The Wild Things Are In Jeopardy?

The L A Times reports that Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are has apparently been removed from the Warner Bros. release schedule. Scripted by Dave Eggars, Wild Things, which finished principle photography in the second half of 2006, has been under steady assault since its reportedly abysmal research screening in December of last year in which children are said to have walked out on the movie in tears.

Wild Things is a potentially dark material to begin with and no doubt poses a challenge to Jonze to walk the line between childhood wonder and childhood fear of monsters.

One of the problems may be the star Max Records whose portrayal of the movie’s lead, also named Max, appears to be being perceived as mean spirited rather than likable and mischievous.

Re-shoots have also been an issue with some of the originally live action shoots having to be converted to CGI.

Rumors have been swarming about impending doom for Where The Wild Things Are but Warner chief Alan Horn has shown strong support for Jonze and the project in an interview with Patrick Goldstein of The Big Picture Blog. He denied all rumours that Jonze has been taken off the picture saying: “We’ve given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film,” Horn said. “We’d like to find a common ground that represents Spike’s vision but still offers a film that really delivers for a broad-based audience. We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn’t call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we’re just trying to get it right.”

Horn went on to say: “We try to take a few shots,” he said. “Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. The jury is still out on this one. But we remain confident that Spike is going to figure things out and at the end of the day we’ll have an artistically compelling movie.”

Sources:

LA Times

The Big Picture Blog

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Weekend Box Office For July 11 – 13

#1 Hellboy II: The Golden Army from Universal takes the top spot brining in $35.8 million for the weekend. Hellboy II: The Golden Army showed in 3204 theaters and cost roughly $85 million.

#2 Hancock from Sony gets bumped to the second spot pulling in $33 million for the weekend, thats down 47% from last week. Hancock showed in 3965 theaters and cost roughly $150 million.

#3Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D from New Line debuts in the #3 position this weekend taking $20.5 million. Journey showed in 2811 theaters and cost roughly $60 million to make.

#4 Wall-E from Disney and Pixar drops to the #4 position this weekend bringing in $33.4 million, thats a 43% drop from last week, brining it total earnings to $162.7 million. Wall-E showed in 3849 theaters, down 143 fro last week and cost roughly $180 million to make.
Rounding out the top 10 are:

#5 Wanted: Weekend Gross: $11,586,000 million, down 42.2% / Theaters: 3157 down 26 / Gross:$112,045,000 / Budget: $75 million.

#6 Get SmartWeekend Gross: $7,105,000 down 36% / Theaters: 3086 down 488 / Gross $111,468,000 / Budget: $80 million.

#7 Meet Dave: Weekend Gross: $5,300,000 / Theaters: 3011 / Gross: $5,300,000 / Budget: $60 million.

#8 Kung Fu Panda: Weekend Gross: $4,300,000 down 41.2% / Theaters: 2704 down 643 / Gross $202,043,000 / Budget: $130 million.

#9 Kit Kittridge: An American Girl: Weekend Gross: $2,357,000 down 28.5% / Theaters: 1,849 up 6 / Gross: $11,046,000 / Budget: $13 million

#10 Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: Weekend Gross: $2,250,000 down 40.4% / Theaters: 1664 down 528 / Gross $310,477,000 / Budget: $185 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo