Author: Edward

Thanks to films from Marvel, DreamWorks Animation and the team of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Paramount Pictures has become the first studio to sell $1 billion worth of tickets in the domestic marketplace this year. Paramount bettered the record that it set last year by nearly three weeks. In 2007, it took Paramount, then fueled by Shrek the Third and Transformers, until July 9 to get the “first to $1 billion” record. Sony had established the standard on July 11, 2002, on the strength of the first Spider-Man movie. Paramount also is the first studio of 2008 to blow past the nine-zero mark in foreign box¬office. It reached that last weekend, six weeks faster than it did in setting the same record last year. (Internationally, Fox is on Paramount’s heels as it closes in on $1 billion.) The Melrose Avenue studio also boasts the year’s three top-grossing movies: Iron Man ($305 million), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($291 million) and Kung Fu Panda ($156 million).

Fandango, the movie-ticketing company owned by Comcast since 2007, announced on Monday that it has acquired Movies.com, a movie news and reviews aggregator. Movies.com had previously been owned by Disney’s Walt Disney Internet Group. The aim of the acquisition is to provide a one-stop movie hub for the Web, executives said.

Netflix announced on it’s blog last week that starting on September 1 the rental-by-mail service  would be doing away with separate user profiles on the same account. The reason, the post explained, is that it’s a little-used feature that some people found complicated: only a percent of Netflix members use it. “We will do our best to find better ways for families to share accounts than the existing profiles feature,” it read, “and will continue to invest in improving the Web site experience in many different ways.”

You Dont Mess With The Zohan seems to be a hit in Israel. The movie tries to bridge Jews and Arabs by making fun of them. But in Israel, where the movie opened Thursday, people are drawn in more because of its Israeli protagonist and the cadre of Israeli actors and musicians featured in the film. Israelis didn’t seem too slighted by the not-too-favourable portrayal of them. At Wednesday’s premiere in Tel Aviv, the packed crowd burst out in ovation and laughter at each sighting of an Israeli actor and at each over-the-top cliche of their behaviour – like when Zohan brushes his teeth with hummus, disco dances with a huge bulge in his pants or plays paddle ball with hand grenades. “I wasn’t insulted at all. It was funny. Exaggerated, but funny,” said Guy Ben-Yaacov, 23. “Besides, I know a few guys like Zohan.” Amir Kaminer, movie critic for the Yediot Ahronot daily, said Sandler’s Zohan is the most prominent Israeli character out of Hollywood since Paul Newman played the Jewish fighter Ari Ben Canaan in “Exodus” in 1960.

Dame Judi Dench has been honoured by Scotland’s oldest university for her work on stage and screen. The Oscar-winning actress was given an honorary degree at a ceremony at St Andrews University. She said she was surprised but delighted to be made a doctor of letters. “I feel very excited and I’m absolutely delighted to have an association with St Andrews.” she said  “I had never been to St Andrews before, so I’m very pleased and I’m going to boast about it a lot.”

THR
webware.com
The Canadian Press
USA Today

Tuesday, June 24

The Tattooist: R. At a tattoo expo in Singapore, American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer (Jason Behr) glimpses the exotic world of traditional Samoan tatau in the work of the fiercely proud Alipati (Robbie Magasiva). Fatefully, Jake is attracted to Alipati’s beautiful cousin, Sina (Mia Blake). When Jake impulsively steals an ancient Samoan tattooing tool, he unleashes a powerful spirit. Suddenly, his art takes on a frightening new dimension, exposing everyone he touches, including Singaporean Victoria (Caroline Cheong), to mortal peril. Seeking help from the Samoans Jake follows them to Auckland, where he runs into an old adversary, tattoo artist Crash (Michael Hurst) and a new one, the respected Samoan elder Aleki Va’a (David Fane). His investigation takes him on a journey into the dark heart of Pacific mysticism. There, Jake must recover his own soul if he is to save the woman he loves and escape with his life. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Wednesday, June 25

Shotgun Stories: PG-13. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, two sets of half brothers feud following the death of their father, discovering the lengths to which each will go to protect their family. A Lucky Old Sun Production

Thursday, June 26

Presto: G. The latest comical short film from Pixar Animation Studios follows the escalating high jinx of the amazing Presto, his rabbit Alec, and what happens onstage when a star magician’s ego provokes some clever revenge from his neglected costar. Pixar Animation Studios

Friday, June 27

Wanted: R. Based upon Mark Millar’s explosive comic book series and helmed by the stunning visualist director Timur Bekmambetov, creator of the most successful Russian film franchise in history, the “Night Watch” series, Wanted tells the story of one invisible drone’s transformation into a dark avenger. In 2008, the world will be introduced to a superhero for a new millennium: Wesley Gibson. Universal Pictures
 
WALL-E: G. A new animated film from Pixar. The year is 2700. WALL-E, a robot, spends every day doing what he was made for. But soon, he will discover what he was meant for. From Academy Award-winning director, Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”), WALL-E is the story of one robot’s comic adventures as he chases his dream across the galaxy. Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar

Tell No One: UNRATED. Alex Beck (François Cluzet), still devastated by the murder of his wife Margot (Marie-Josée Croze) in the early days of their marriage eight years ago, receives an anonymous email. When he clicks on the link he sees a woman’s face standing in a crowd and being filmed in real time – Margot’s face. Is she still alive? And why does she instruct him to ‘tell no one’? Revolver Entertainment

The Last Mistress: UNRATED. Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy. IFC Films

 Finding Amanda: R. A television producer (Matthew Broderick) with a penchant for drinking and gambling is sent to Las Vegas to convince his troubled niece to enter rehab. Magnolia Pictures

Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot: PG-13. On September 1, 2006, the top 24 high school basketball players in the nation stepped out on Rucker Park court that once saw the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Dr. J to compete in the first annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic. GUNNIN’ FOR THAT #1 SPOT follows eight of these players as they showcase their skills at the most legendary playground in the world – one that’s as intense an experience for NBA professionals as for budding young talent. Directed by Adam Yauch (founding member of Beastie Boys and director of Awesome;I F***ing Shot That!), the film trails these players on the fast track to the NBA, as they are adored by fans, wooed by colleges and sneaker companies, and face fierce pressures while being groomed to be in the spotlight of a multi-million dollar game. Combining Yauch’s unique directing style and the world’s most popular hip hop music, GUNNIN’ highlights these soon to be NBA All Stars as they wow the crowd with gravity-defying skills in a way never before seen on film. Oscilloscope Pictures

Trumbo: PG-13. A unique, star-studded film about Oscar-winning screen writer Dalton Trumbo and his heroic journey from Hollywood royalty to blacklisted writer to Academy Award winner. Samuel Goldwyn Films
 
Elsa & Fred: UNRATED. A romantic comedy about  two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it’s never too late to love… or to dream. Elsa has dreamt for the past 60 years of the moment that Fellini had already envisaged: the scene in “La Dolce Vita” at the Fontana di Trevi. Her dream however is not of Anita Ekberg, but Elsa instead rising out of the fountain in all her glory, and without Marcello Mastroiani, but with her true love that took so long to arrive. Alfredo is a bit younger than Elsa, a reserved meticulous man who becomes the object of Elsa’s desire. After losing his wife, he feels lonely and confused and his daughter decides that it would be best if he moved into a smaller apartment where he meets Elsa. From that moment on, everything changes. Elsa bursts into his life like a whirlwind, determined to teach him that the time he has left to live-be it more or less-is precious and that he should enjoy every minute of it. Fred surrenders to Elsa’s frenzy, to her youth, to her boldness, to her beautiful madness. And this is how Alfredo (or Fred, as Elsa calls him), learns how to live. Distrimax Inc & Mitropoulos Films

Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic: UNRATED. “Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic,” (A Little Love, A Little Magic). Ranbeer Talwar (Saif Ali Khan), one of the country’s top industrialists has lost everyone he ever loved. He is now faced with a very peculiar and uncomfortable situation. In a rare and landmark court verdict, he is to look after 4 orphan children. The orphans hate him and want revenge on him. The children do not want to live with a man they hate, he too cannot face them or look them in the eye. One day they pray to God for help and He sends his most mischievous, childlike, lovable angel to the rescue, with a mission to bring Ranbeer and the kids together. Geeta (Rani Mukerjee) comes bicycling down a rainbow… and bursts into Ranbeer’s house as the self-proclaimed new nanny. And then starts the roller coaster ride of fun, emotions, magic and love. Yash Raj Films

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, toplining Mark Wahlberg, exceeded expectations in its international debut, just as it did far better domestically ($30.5 million) than predicted. Shyamalan has had a strong track record at the international B.O., with his film grossing more than $800 million.

Hulk, won the June 13-15 frame domestically and both Happening and Hulk did solid opening biz across the Euro box office, although the ongoing European soccer tournament is proving a distraction to male auds. Yet even summer tentpoles Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Sex and the City are still reeling ’em in.

In the U.K., Hulk bit off a big piece of green as it stormed to the top of the charts with $6.3 million on 484 engagements. The superhero pic toplining Ed Norton also netted the best screen average of any pic in the top 10 — $13,019.

Shyamalan’s fourth-place Happening shrugged off poor reviews to make a decent $3.2 million for Fox. Screen average of $8,151 proved a pleasant surprise.

In Italy, Happening took the numero uno spot, Pic bowed at $1.7 million on 363, proving that Shyamalan’s Italo fan base remains loyal in spite of soccer.

The German box office grew by nearly 18% despite the soccer fever gripping the nation, due in part to cooler temperatures and rain throughout much of the country. Sex remained on top in its third session with $2.8 million on its way to a $17.9 million cume, followed by The Crystal Skull, which continued to do well in its fourth lap, grossing $2.1 million toward a $24.7 million total.

Placing No. 3, Fox’s Happening was the best performing new entry in Germany, taking in $1.7 million from 550, well ahead of Shyamalan’s last pic, 2006’s Lady in the Water, which managed $452,817 on its opening weekend and went on to cume just over $1 million.

In France, Happening had a strong first five days, with many critics being far kinder than they were in the U.S. or U.K. Its Wednesday-to-Sunday run earned Fox $4.7 million.

In Spain, where Hulk has yet to bow, Happening comfortably landed the top spot with $3.4 million at 384 for Fox. Pic, which bested exhibs’ expectations, benefited from a warm reception from local critics. Copy average of $8,695 was also a weekend best.

Sources:
Variety

Movie executives at Paramount Pictures honored their promise to preview Mike Myers’ new film The Love Guru for concerned Hindu leaders in Los Angeles in an effort to ally fears of prejudice and stereotyping. But the screening has only served to bolster the religious opposition to the film, which Zed and his followers insist is disrespectful to Hindus and their beliefs.

Zed has now urged Hindus around the world to boycott the movie, claiming the picture “lampoons Hinduism and Hindu concepts and uses Hindu terms frivolously”. After attending the screening on Thursday (19Jun08), Zed rages, “The Love Guru is even more denigrating than we earlier perceived from the information gathered from trailers, websites and other sources.

“Mike Myers’ guru instigates a bar fight, repeatedly narrates penis jokes, mocks yoga – one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, wears female jewelry, mocks the concept of third eye, makes disciples drink tea passed through his nose, orders alligator soup, induces elephant copulation in front of the crowd, introduces himself as ‘His Holiness’, lives in a lavish ashram staffed with scantily clad maids, and whose goal in life seems to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show.” And the Hindu leader has suggested other religious groups should give the film a miss.

He adds, “Today it is Hinduism, tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to denigrate another religion.” “Hinduism is often misunderstood and wrongly portrayed outside India. Movies like this bring more confusion and create stereotypes in the minds of audience.”

Meanwhile Sify.com,  a website covering Bollywood and Indian cinema, said of the movie “The Love Guru, which is inspired by new age guru Deepak Chopra and pokes fun at the way the West is co-opting spirituality and not the religion or Hinduism, as some protesting Hindus believed after watching just the trailer.” 

Sify.com also quoted Myers interest in working with Bollywood saying that he would “love to be in a Bollywood film.” “If a Bollywood director wants to hire a 45-year-old Scottish-English-Canadian actor, who does comedy, I’m their man.” said Myers talking to the South Asian press.

Best-selling author and spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film, called Zed’s campaign “a cry for importance.” “It’s a sign that your faith has become a cover up for all your insecurities because you can’t even take a joke,” “As viewers will find out when the movie is released this summer, no one is more thoroughly skewered in it than I am — you could even say that I am made to seem preposterous.” Chopra further called the outcry from Zed “religious propaganda.” 

The Love Guru opened in the US Friday, June 20. No Indian release date was available.

Sources:
ENI
Sify.com
India EU Film Initiative 

Hollywood legend Stan Winston, the Oscar-winning special-effects maestro responsible for bringing the dinosaurs of Jurrasic Park and other iconic movie creatures to life, has died. He was 62. 

According to a representative from Stan Winston Studio, Winston died at his home in Malibu surrounded by family on Sunday evening after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma.

Working with such directors as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Tim Burton in a career spanning four decades, Winston is responsible for some of Tinseltown’s most famous creatures and effects including The Terminator and the Aliens. He also came up with the design of the Predator and worked on films like Edward Scissorhands and Iron Man and was a pioneer in merging real-world effects with computer imaging.

Winner of four Academy Awards, Winston was a pioneer in the field constantly pushing the envelope of movie magic to new heights. Whether it be exemplary creature effects, prosthetics work or helping to pave the way for the melding of physical and computer trickery Winston was there, leading the pack. Highly thought of in the industry, his mark of excellence was only exceeded by his gracious spirit and love for the craft.

“The entertainment industry has lost a genius, and I lost one of my best friends with the death Sunday night of Stan Winston,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “Stan’s work and four Oscars speak for themselves and will live on forever. What will live forever in my heart is the way that Stan loved everyone and treated each of his friends like they were family.”

Winston won visual effects Oscars for 1986’s Aliens, 1992’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 1993’s Jurassic Park. He also won a makeup Oscar for 1992’s Batman Returns.

Winston was nominated for his work on Heartbeeps, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and A.I.

He last worked with director Jon Favreau on Iron Man.

“He was experienced and helped guide me while never losing his childlike enthusiasm,” Favreau said in a statement. “He was the king of integrating practical effects with CGI, never losing his relevance in an ever changing industry. I am proud to have worked with him and we were looking forward to future collaborations. I knew that he was struggling, but I had no idea that he would be gone so soon. Hollywood has lost a shining star.”

At the time of his death, Winston was in the process of transforming his physical makeup and effects studio into the new Winston Effects Group with a team of senior effects supervisors. Winton’s most recent projects included Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, G.I. Joe, Shutter Island and Cameron’s Avatar.

“He ran at full throttle, in both work and play, and was a man of kindness, wisdom and great humor,” Cameron said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “He was a kid that never grew up, whose dreams were writ large on the screens of the world. I am proud to have been his friend, and I will miss him very deeply.”

As a child growing up in Virginia, Winston enjoyed drawing, puppetry and classic horror films. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville in 1968, Winston moved to Southern California to become an actor but instead worked behind the scenes and completed a three-year makeup apprenticeship program at Walt Disney Studios in 1972.

Winston passed away at his home on Sunday evening. Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren.

Sources:

Allmovie
IMDB
Yahoo!News

Friday, June 20

Get Smart: PG-13. When the headquarters of the super secret U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief, played by Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), has no choice but to promote his over-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, played by Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin), who has always dreamt of working in the field alongside Agent 23, played by Dwayne (formerly “The Rock”) Johnson (The Game Plan). Smart is instead partnered with the lovely and lethal Agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) as the two seek to thwart the plans of the evil organization KAOS and its diabolical head Siegfried, played by Terance Stamp (Elektra, Smallville). Warner Bros Pictures

The Love Guru: PG-13. Mike Myers (Austin Powers) stars as Pitka, a self-help guru who devotes his life to unknotting the romantic entanglements of troubled couples. As a young child, Pitka is abandoned at the gates of an ashram in India and taken in by kindly gurus. An American by birth, Pitka absorbs the lessons taught to him by his teachers and later returns to the United States to become a leading authority on spirituality and self-help. While Pitka’s methods are decidedly unorthodox, Toronto Maple Leafs team owner Jane Bullard, played by Jessica Alba (The Eye)and Coach Cherkov, played by Verne Troyer, hope to enlist his aid of he may be the only means of ensuring that the Toronto Maple Leafs win the coveted Stanley Cup. The Maple Leaf’s star Darren Roanoke’s, played by Romany Malco (Baby Mama, Weeds), estranged wife has recently begun dating L.A. Kings star Jacques Grande, played by Justin Timberlake (Black Snake Moan) in an effort to send her husband’s career into a tailspin. When Roanoke starts to falter on the ice, the whole team starts to suffer and its up to Pitka to save the day. Paramount Pictures

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl: G. Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) stars as Kit Kittredge, a clever and resourceful a nine-year-old girl growing up in 1934 during America’s Great Depression. Based on the popular American Girl series of books. Picturehouse

Brick Lane: PG-13. At 17 Nazneen, played by Tannishtha Chatterjee, is forced into an arranged marriage with an older man. She exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London’s East End. Pining for her home and her sister, she struggles to make sense of her existence and to do her duty to her husband, a man of inflated ideas who sorely tests her compliance. Told from birth that she must not fight her fate, Nazneen submits, devoting her life to raising her family and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until the day that Karim, a hot-headed local man, bursts into her life. Against a background of escalating racial tension, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to take control of her life. Sony Pictures Classics

The Escapist: Unrated. Frank Perry, played by Brian Cox (The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep), is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined he make peace with her before it’s too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists – misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence. Much of the action takes place within the tunnels, sewers and underground rivers of subterranean London. THINKFilm

 Sources:
Movie Web
IMDB

In January of last year it was announced that Pixar and Disney would  be taking over the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic sci-fi series John Carter of Mars for the big screen. In October of last year, Pixar confirmed that they’re planning on three John Carter of Mars films, the first arriving sometime before 2012. Now The Pixar Blog has confirmed that Andrew Stanton (of Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story and A Bug’s Life) is writing the adaptation. 

Quoted from The Pixar Blog: The disclosure came at the end of the short, but extremely enjoyable, discussion (excerpts of which will be published here soon), when a writer from Suite101.com asked about Stanton’s next project, to which Stanton mentioned (not too loudly) ‘John Carter of Mars‘.

Doubting what I’m hearing, I interject, “What is that?” “John Carter of Mars“, Stanton replies. “You’re confirming John Carter? Are you serious?” At this point, I turn my tape recorder back on, “…say that on tape!”, I tell him. Stanton: “I am writing John Carter of Mars right now.” “Oh man, you just doubled my page views!“, I say. Everybody laughs.

The 11-book series centers on John Carter, a Civil War hero from Virginia who while prospecting in Apache country is transported to Mars and finds himself a captive of the savage, enormous and war-like green men from Thark. Eventually, he rises to become the greatest warrior of all time, marries the beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, raises a family and embarks on numerous adventures. 

Sources:

The Pixar Blog

Imdb

The $80 million film The Battle of Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian movie ever and it has been forced to stop production after a stuntman was killed and six people injured in an accident on set, Variety reported Tuesday. The movie by John Woo is adapted from China’s classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and tells the story of an epic battle waged in the year 280, in which thousands of ships decided the course of Chinese history. According to the report, the 23-year-old stuntman was killed when a fire broke out Monday on the set in northern Beijing after a boat rammed into the set of an ancient warship. The accident was the latest is a series of setbacks including lead actor Chow Yun-fat leaving the production.

MTV.com reports that Adam Beach has just finished production on the animated Turok movie and will now be going into production on the feature film which should lens in a couple years. “We’re about to set up meetings to develop a script and put it out there,” Beach is quoted. “I’ll have to beef up, and be a good guy, and save the world!” Turok has his origins in comic books but is perhaps more widely known today as the star of several popular video games. 1997’s Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is credited as being one of the earliest blockbuster first person shooters for the N64.

According to Variety, Leonardo DiCaprio will produce and star in the upcoming film about video game pioneer Nolan Bushnell, the man responsible for commercializing the medium with Atari in the 1970s. The movie will focus on the life of Bushnell in forming and turning Atari into the 2 billion dollar company it became at its height in 1982, before crashing two years later as video games went bankrupt in 1984. No production or release dates have been announced.

CNET reports that the Motion Picture Association of America is seeking a deal with the Federal Communications Commission which will get the latest Hollywood movies on TV much sooner after their original release. But the catch is in exchange for the faster release, the MPAA wants the FCC to change its rules to allow the industry to prevent these movies from being recorded on DVRs and viewed on some high-definition TVs. The MPAA filed its petition last week. The FCC is currently asking for comments on the proposal, and it could make a decision on the petition later this summer.

Mashable reports that Disney announced today an expansion of its media offerings on its free Xtreme Digital (XD) online network. ABC television network and Disney have introduced a staged rollout of full-length movie streams to Web viewers following their original network showing on the Wonderful World of Disney on Saturday nights. Disney XD is currently displaying Finding Nemo, with Monsters Inc., Haunted Mansion, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Princess Diaries 2, Freaky Friday, and Peter Pan to follow. While ABC networks only show movies on Saturday nights, visitors to the XD website will be given the opportunity to view weekly movies on demand the full week after they’re aired, Monday through Friday.

FirstSHowing.net reports that there is a Smurfs movie now officially in the works at Sony. J. David Stem and David Weiss, writers for the last two Shrek films, are in negotiations to write the screenplay. According to First Showing producer Jordan Kerner secured the rights in 2002 and has been developing it at Paramount, however Sony has separately decided to get it into production as a hybrid live-action feature. 

Variety reports that Millennium Films is going remake Alexandre Dumas’ tale of The Three Musketeers. The new picture will trace how swordsmen Athos, Porthos and Aramis first banded together. D’Artagnan, last member of the Musketeers, will be introduced later in the first movie or in a second installment. The Dumas novel is still in the public domain.

/Film reports that Louis Leterrier told  SOS Hollywood, the scene in the upcoming The Incredible Hulk movie in which the Captain America cameo was to occur was actually cut from finished film: “There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decide to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard for young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the internet – but I cannot tell you where or when – and the material will definitely be on the DVD.”

Sources:
Variety
MTV.com
Game Pro
CNETNews.com
Mashable
FirstShowing.net
MovieWeb
/Film