Month: July 2008

#1 The Dark Knight from Waner Bros. steamrolls into the #1 spot this weekend bringing in $155.3 million from 4366 theaters and setting at least 5 box office records in the process. Dark Knight cost $180 million.

#2 Mamma Mia! from Universal debuts in the #2 spot taking in $27.6 million from 2976 theaters. Mamma Mia! cost roughly $52 million to make.

#3 Hancock from Sony holds its own dropping only one spot to #3 this weekend pulling in $33 million, thats down 56.4% from last week. Hancock showed in 3965 theaters, down 189. Hancock’s 3 week total is $191.5 million. Hancock cost roughly $150 million.

#4 Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D from New Line drops one this week to the #3 position taking $11.9 million, down 43.3%, bringing its total so far to $43 million. Journey showed in 2830 theaters, thats up 19 over last week, and cost roughly $60 million to make.

#5 Hellboy II: The Golden Army from Universal tumbles to the #5 spot bringing in $10 million for the weekend, thats down 70% from last week, bringing its 2 week total to $56.4 million. Hellboy II: The Golden Army showed in 3212 theaters, up 8, and cost roughly $85 million.

#6 Wall-E from Disney and Pixar drops to the #6 position this weekend bringing in $9.8 million, thats a 47% drop from last week, bringing it total earnings to $182.4 million. Wall-E showed in 3310 theaters, down 539 from last week and cost roughly $180 million to make.

#7 Space Chimps from Fox debuts in a disappointingly low #7 position this weekend. Chimps showed 2511 theaters and cost $37 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#8 Wanted: Weekend Gross: $5,097,000 million, down 57.5% / Theaters: 2,433 down 724 / Gross:$123,347,000 / Budget: $75 million.

#9 Get Smart: Weekend Gross: $4,085,000 down 43% / Theaters: 2135 down 951 / Gross $119,569,000 / Budget: $80 million.

#10 Kung Fu Panda: Weekend Gross: $1,750,000 down 60.3% / Theaters: 1505 down 1199 / Gross $206,506,000 / Budget: $130 million.

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

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Tuesday July 15

Asylum: Rated R. A group of beautiful coeds discover that their dorm was once a mental hospital where unspeakable experiments were performed by a deranged physician trying to “cure” troubled teens. But now the mad doctor’s ghost is back to continue his torturous work…and he’s running out of patients! Sarah Roemer (Disturbia) and Travis Van Winkle (Transformers) star in this spine-tingling thriller from the director of Final Destination 2 and Cellular. MGM

Friday, July 18th

The Dark Knight: Rated PG-13. The follow-up to the action hit “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne. In the new film, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. Warner Bros. Pictures

Mamma Mia!: Rated PG-13. Meryl Streep will play the rebellious single mother of a bride-to-be who never met her father. The daughter invites three likely paternal candidates to her wedding, and the ensuing conflict triggers the performance of 22 Abba hits including “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance on Me” and “The Winner Takes It All.” Based on the crowd-pleasing musical that has played in 130 cities around the world and has grossed $1.6 billion since its 1999 opening. Universal Pictures

Space Chimps: Rated G. “Space Chimps” is a comedy adventure about two NASA chimps that are sent to a galaxy far, far away. One chimp has ‘The Right Stuff,’ and the other, a good natured goofball, has ‘The Wrong Stuff.’ The two chimps find themselves on a strange, uncharted planet, where they embark on a fantastical journey to save its inhabitants from a tyrannical leader. Barry Sonnenfeld will produce animated laffer. 20th Century Fox

Mad Detective: Rated: UNRATED. A rookie cop teaming up with a former officer to hunt down a serial killer. Milky Way Image Company

Transsiberian: Rated: R. “Transsiberian” revolves around an American couple, Roy (Harrelson) and Jessie (Mortimer), who travel on the famed Trans-Siberian train from China to Moscow. They soon encounter another couple, Abby (Mara) and her boyfriend, Carlos (Noriega), and what seems to be a simple train journey turns into a chase full of deception and murder. Filmax Animation

Falling For Grace: Rated: PG-13. Grace Tang is an ambitious Wall Street banker determined to work her way up the ladder of life and out of working-class Chinatown. Mistaken at an opera soiree as the heiress of a famous Hong Kong fashion dynasty, Grace is suddenly swept into the inner circle of Manhattan’s elite and ushered into the arms of New York’s most eligible bachelor. What follows is a whirlwind of romance and white lies, as Grace carefully negotiates her personal ties to Chinatown and the politics of Wall Street and high society. Canal Street Pictures

The Doorman: Rated: UNRATED. In “The Doorman,” a film crew has set out to make an insiders guide to the legendary New York City club scene with its most famous gatekeeper, Trevor W., “starring” as their host. Trevor has the power. He knows people. But more importantly (as Trevor points out), he knows people who know him. After mysteriously losing his job, Trevor fails to inform the film crew following him. He struggles to keep up appearances in front of the camera while his glamorous, jet-set “celebrity” lifestyle goes into an abrupt and awkward tailspin. Gigantic Pictures

Felon: Rated: R. A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system. Stage 6 (Sony)

Take: Rated: R. The lives of two strangers – a struggling mother and a gambling addict – meet in tragedy. Years pass, and they must come to terms with themselves, and one another. Liberation Entertainment

A Very British Gangster: Rated: UNRATED. A Very British Gangster is a documentary about Dominic Noonan, a notorious leader of a powerful Blighty organized crime family who was openly gay and championed the working class. Anywhere Road Entertainment

Lou Reed’s Berlin: Rated: UNRATED. Lou Reed’s 2006 live concert performance of his 1973 concept album “Berlin”, filmed over five nights at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. Third Rail Releasing

Danny DeVito is set to direct Oscar-nominated “Atonement” actress Saoirse Ronan, Morgan Freeman and Pierce Brosnan in the family adventure “The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.” The 19th century tale of a young girl who joins in a shipboard rebellion.

“Hancock” led the foreign box office for a second weekend, earning $70.4 million from 67 markets, according to data issued Monday. The Will Smith superhero comedy opened at No. 1 in 12 foreign markets, including Russia ($11.4 million), France ($9.9 million), and Mexico ($4.6 million). After two weekends, the U.K. has contributed $33.4 million, Germany $24.2 million and Korea $14.7 million. Its foreign total rose to $180.6 million.

Talk of Heath Ledger’s Oscar chances are apparently getting out of porportion. Leonard Maltin, film critic for TV program “Entertainment Tonight.”  had this to say: “All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age that I like to call ‘a wish-fulfillment rumor.’ If people say it often enough, they think it will happen. That’s not to say it might not happen,” he said, citing a “great performance” by Ledger. “But I assure you that the people who are spreading all this are neither Oscar voters nor (Hollywood) movers and shakers.”

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console will soon be streaming thousands of movies over the Internet straight to your TV. A deal announced between Microsoft and Netflix has opened the way for subscribers to stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Xbox consoles for viewing on television sets. The program will begin in two months. While Xbox has had movies and shows available for download before, the range has never been so comprehensive. The $50 a year Xbox gold membership, will be required for the new service.

Writer and director J.J. Abrams says his upcoming Star Trek movie will focus on the relationship between Kirk and Spock. At a Television Critics Association panel, Abrams said: “We never saw how Kirk and Spock became so connected, and this movie [reveals that].”

Warner Bros. Pictures is adapting the Capcom  video game Lost Planet for the big screen. The game revolves around an expedition to an ice planet that harbors an energy source with the potential to save mankind. Capcom is also developing all new film versions of the Street Fighter and Onimusha games.

According to Variety, Universal Pictures has resigned Wanted’s Marc Platt for five years. And one of the producer’s first tasks will be to get a Wanted sequel up and running. Platt said that the creative team is still working on the challenge of continuing the movie’s story, considering most of the principal characters – including Angelina Jolie – ended the original in no position for an encore. The film was however designed as a potential franchise and it is still performing strongly worldwide, having grossed $192.6 million to date. “The writers are at work already, and those creative discussions are taking place,” said Platt.

Michael Bay the blockbuster film director and producer spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the “Friday the 13th” remake due out Friday, March 13, 2009. “You’re just not going to believe the first 12 minutes!” He added: “I haven’t seen the director’s cut because he’s still cutting, but I know this one will really be scary,” Bay says. “It’s also funny, as well. It’s a fun college adventure that goes awry. It’s not a movie I would ever show my mom! We don’t make these for our mothers; we make these for the fans out there.”

The develoment of “Scream 4” has been confirmed via press release. Here are excerpts from the release: In a move that enhances its slate of theatrical motion pictures, Showtime Networks Inc. has entered into an exclusive seven-year film distribution arrangement with The Weinstein Company (TWC). The joint announcement was made today by Matthew C. Blank, Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks and Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairmen of TWC. The new output deal is effective with TWC’s 2009 release schedule and includes such highly anticipated films as “Nine,” directed by Rob Marshall (“Chicago“) and featuring an all-star cast including Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren, and Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards.” Additional titles included from TWC are the remake of David Cronenberg’s “Scanners,” re-starting the “Scream” franchise with “Scream 4,” and “Piranha 3D.” This deal furthers the relationship between Showtime Networks and TWC’s Dimension Films which began in 1997 with SHOWTIME airing “Mimic,” and “Scream 2.” “Dimension Films has enjoyed an outstanding relationship with Showtime and we are glad to be re-united with Matt Blank,” added Bob Weinstein. “We are excited to build upon our past success with this new partnership and our upcoming slate.”  

Kate Hudson has joined the cast of Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard. The movie is scheduled to begin lensing Oct. 10 in Britain. Hudson last starred opposite Matthew McConaughey in “Fool’s Gold.”

Reggie Lee (“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”) has booked a role in Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell,” starring Justin Long. Lee will next be seen in “Tropic Thunder.”

Sources:

MovieWeb.com
BombayNews.net
Reel Movie News.com
Esplatter.com
Variety

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

Slate has an excellent review of the George Carlin 8 DVD box set retrospective George Carlin: All My Stuff. All My Stuff is 800 minutes of Carlin’s HBO greatness spanning the width of his 40 year career, from the ’77 performance at USC to 2005 and “Life Worth Losing”. Slate says that All My Stuff offers “a window on how his routine adapted across the decades.” The article goes on to describe Carlin’s early observational style of comedy “his expertise, he says, lies in “reminding you of things you already know but forgot to laugh at the first time they happened.” George Carlin: All My Stuff is available from Amazon. The Slate article gives a great summary of the DVDs and an interesting insight into the man.

Sources:
Slate
Amazon