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Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #54

Amongst the hosts, Andrew and Tony tied for first this week with 22 points while Jonathan came in third with 20 points. Three weeks into Season Two Tony and Andrew are tied for first with 23 points while Jonathan is in third with 20 points.

Visit our scoreboard for a comprehensive list of results as well as an explanation of our scoring system. Play along at home, email or call your picks in before noon on Saturday and get on the board.

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are 50/50, Courageous, Dream House and What’s Your Number?.

Picks for the week:
Andrew

  1. Lion King 3-D
  2. What’s Your Number?
  3. 50/50
  4. Dolphin Tale
  5. Moneyball

Jonathan

  1. Lion King 3-D
  2. Dream House
  3. 50/50
  4. Moneyball
  5. Dolphin Tale

Tony

  1. Lion King 3-D
  2. Dolphin Tale
  3. Moneyball
  4. 50/50
  5. Dream House

Got something to say? Head over the the Back Seat Producers forum and let us know what you think.

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies 15: The Lion King (in 3D)

In the seat:

  • Sam
  • Scott

Recorded 09/25/11 in between choruses of Just Can’t Wait to be King and tired groans.

Note: Hans Zimmer did actually win an oscar for the score to this film, though Thomas Newman probably deserved it more that year.

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Back Seat Box Office BSBO Results Shows

Back Seat Box Office #53 Results and Voice Mail

Congrats to Tad for his high score of 24 this week.

Thanks also to Tad and Art for their voice mail contributions.

Categories
News

Weekend Box Office: September 23 – 25

#1 The Lion King 3D from Buena Vista holds at #1 with a weekend gross of $21.9 million (-27.3%) in 2330 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $61.4 million. Budget is unknown.

#2 Moneyball from Sony debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $19.5 million in 2993 theaters. Budget was $50 million.

#3 Dolphin Tale from Warner Brothers debuts at #3 with an opening weekend gross of $19.1 million in 3507 theaters. Budget was $37 million.

#4 Abduction from Lionsgate debuts at #4 with an opening weekend gross of $10.9 million in 3118 theaters. Budget was $35 million.

#5 Killer Elite from Open Road Films debuts at #5 with an opening weekend gross of $9.3 million in 2986 theaters. Budget was $70 million.

#6 Contagion from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #6 with a weekend gross of $8.4 million (-41.9%) in 3136 theaters (-86). Total gross to date is $57.0 million. Budget was $60 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 Drive (2011) drops from #3 to #7 with a weekend gross of $5.7 million (-49.2%) in 2904 theaters (+18). Total gross to date is $21.4 million. Budget was $15 million.

#8 The Help drops from #4 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.3 million (-32.9%) in 2695 theaters (-319). Total gross to date is $154.4 million. Budget was $25 million.

#9 Straw Dogs (2011) drops from #5 to #9 with a weekend gross of $2.0 million (-60.0%) in 2408 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $8.8 million. Budget was $25 million.

#10 I Don’t Know How She Does It drops from #6 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.0 million (-54.5%) in 2490 theaters (+14). Total gross to date is $7.9 million. Budget was $24 million.

#11 The Debt drops from #7 to #11 with a weekend gross of $1.2 million (-57.2%) in 1067 theaters (-764). Total gross to date is $28.9 million. Budget was $20 million.

#12 Rise of the Planet of the Apes drops from #9 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.1 million (-56.3%) in 1178 theaters (-1162). Total gross to date is $173.6 million. Budget was $93 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $105.9 million (+22.8%).

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are 50/50, Courageous, Dream House and What’s Your Number?.

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

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Categories
Back Seat Producers Season 06 Shows

BSP Episode 198: One Hour Photo

Your producers for this episode are:

  • Tony
  • David
  • Darrell

This episode was recorded: 9/21/11.

Categories
Announcement

Theatrical Review: Killer Elite

It’s 1981 and Danny Bryce, an ex-special ops agent believes he’s finally out of the game and has retired for good.  That retirement is relatively short-lived when he discovers that his long time friend, partner and mentor, Hunter is being held against his will by a wealthy oil sheik in Oman.  The sheik will free Hunter only after Danny performs a specific task: killing three British soldiers who were responsible for the murder of the sheik’s sons. Bryce begins the job successfully, but soon catches the attention of Spike Logan, the enforcer of a secret British watchdog society.

That’s the premise to Killer Elite which is not a re-make of the Sam Peckinpah film, but is inspired by the true story told in Ranulph Fiennes book The Feather Men. It’s also the first big screen feature for director Gary McKendry who was previously nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2005 ( a film called Everything In This Country Must).  Now, I’ve not read The Feather Men and I’ve not seen McKendry’s short film, but from the moment that I saw the trailer for Killer Elite the first time, I pretty much knew that I had to see the movie on release.

What this movie puts me in the mind of is what you might get if you crossed the late John Frankenheimer’s film Ronin with Steven Spielberg’s Munich and I consider that high praise.  McKendry really knows how to make an action movie and there is a lot here that puts me right in the mind of John Frankenheimer’s films in particular.

Killer Elite stars Jason Statham, Robert DeNiro and Clive Owen.  Jason Statham plays Danny Bryce. Now I am a big fan of Statham’s and I think consistently he’s one of the best in action films today.  His characters may not vary that widely, but he always seems authentic like he really could do a lot of the things that he does in these films.  This isn’t as over-the-top as say the Crank films or The Transporter movies.  I’d actually put Statham’s work in Killer Elite more in line with his work in The Bank Job or The Mechanic. Regardless, he’s always fun to watch and he doesn’t disappoint in this movie.

Robert DeNiro is more support than anything else in this film and I think he’s pretty good here.  I wouldn’t necessarily ever imagine him working with Statham in anything and yet, he does look like he’s having fun here.  DeNiro plays Hunter and he and Statham really do have some good chemistry together, so much so that you actually wish  they could’ve been paired together for more of the film.

Clive Owen plays Spike Logan and it’s easily one of his more threatening roles.  Like Statham, Clive Owen is money in the bank for this type of movie.  One of the better action scenes in the film involves a brutal hand-to-hand fight between Bryce and Logan and to both Statham’s and Owen’s credit it damn near seems like they did the whole thing themselves.

These three are terrific and I’d expect them to be, but the real standout of the cast for me had to be Dominic Purcell.  Purcell plays Davies a Welsh associate of Bryce’s and Hunter’s who’s just a little more headstrong than those two.  Purcell is better known for his work on Prison Break and I have to admit, when I first saw him here, I honestly did not recognize him.  It wasn’t until after the credits rolled that I realized who this actor was who was playing this character.  Now, a lot of that is due to a really good make-up job that basically portrays Purcell in a way we haven’t seen him before, but… it’s also a really good performance on his part and he certainly does stand toe-to-toe with the three leads.

Killer Elite is really more of a throwback tough guy film more than anything else.  It doesn’t go for some of the more over-the-top action that’s atypical of today’s action movies and it’s tightly and intricately paced.  I don’t know how true it is to it’s source, but it certainly does seem like there’s been a lot of attention to detail here.  It’s very well cast and director Gary McKendry is certainly a guy that I’ll be watching in the future.

Categories
Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #53

Explicit tag on!

Amongst the hosts, Andrew and Tony tied for first this week with 23 points while Jonathan came in third with 18 points. Two weeks into Season Two Tony and Andrew are tied for first with 23.5 points while Jonathan is in third with 20 points.

Visit our scoreboard for a comprehensive list of results as well as an explanation of our scoring system. Play along at home, email or call your picks in before noon on Saturday and get on the board.

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are Abduction, Dolphin Tale, Killer Elite and Moneyball.

Picks for the week:
Andrew

  1. Lion King 3D
  2. Moneyball
  3. Abduction
  4. Dolphin Tale
  5. Contagion

Jonathan

  1. Moneyball
  2. Lion King 3D
  3. Dolphin Tale
  4. Contagion
  5. Killer Elite

Tony

  1. Lion King 3D
  2. Moneyball
  3. Abduction
  4. Killer Elite
  5. Contagion

Got something to say? Head over the the Back Seat Producers forum and let us know what you think.

Categories
Contests

CONTEST: AMULET Book Four: The Last Council

Written and Illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi

Kazu Kibuishi’s thrilling, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling series continues!

Emily and her friends think they’ll find the help they need in Cielis, but something isn’t right.  Streets that were once busy are deserted, and the townspeople who are left live in fear.  Emily is soon escorted to the Academy, where she’s expected to compete for a spot on the Guardian Coucil, a group of the most powerful Stonekeepers.  But as the number of competitors gets smaller and smaller, an awful secret is slowly uncovered – a secret that, if left buried, means the certain destruction of everything Emily fights for.

The cover to Amulet Book Four

Praise for AMULET:

“Five – no, three pages into Amulet and you’ll be hooked.”

-Jeff Smith, creator of Bone

“A must for all fantasy fans.”

-Kirkus Reviews

Two page spread from Amulet Book Four.

Download Free Desktop Wallpapers

Desktop 1

Desktop 2

Visit the Websites:

http://www.boltcity.com/amulet

http://www.scholastic.com/amulet

Five (5) winners will receive:
a copy of AMULET Book Four: The Last Council

Send an email to contest at backseatproducers dot com with your name and mailing address to enter.

Contest ends 10/02/11 at 11:59 PM Central Time.Shipping Guidelines:
Giveaway is open to participants with a United States mailing address only (international readers can enter if they have a friend in the States who can accept their prizes by mail.)
Categories
Back Seat Box Office BSBO Results Shows

Back Seat Box Office #52 Results and Voice Mail

Congrats to Tony and Andrew who had the high score of the week, and for maintaining a tie for 1st place on the leaderboard.

Thanks to Tad for the solo voice mail of the week.

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies 14: Gundam 00: Awakening of a Trailblazer

Giant robots seldom have backseat but we’re still gonna review this one. Hosts:

  • Scott

Recorded 09/19/11 while it was raining.

Scott is playing games for charity, support his efforts at this link.