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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: October 19, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:33:44 +0000

Sunday again and that means that it is time for the Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This week:

We see who is top of the box office; Kevin Smith ups his budget and goes into space; Brad Pitt goes on an Odyssey and plays an Unfair Game; Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci do Life and Ronin zooms to the small screen.

Box Office

Marky Mark Wahlberg is the box office champion with Max Payne. The film should manage about $20 million over the weekend giving 20^th Century Fox their first solid hit in months.

Oliver Stone’s W bucked the political movie trend by making a solid bit of cash. Grossing around $12MM for the weekend the film should be a modest hit. Considering the current political overkill going on in the press this is a considerable coup.

The Secret Life of Bees had a modest opening too, and should match the gross of the Bush film.

Meanwhile Sex Drive stiffed it on its opening with around $3.5 million. Could it be the death of the teen sex comedy?

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is showing legs with about another $11 million barked up by Monday morning. Meanwhile Ridley Scott’s costly Body Of Lies should manage another $7 million, the same as Eagle Eye.

Movie News

1. Kevin Smith will write direct and no doubt cameo in a $50 million space comedy. The Weinstein Company has read part of the script and seems interested in forking out the cash.

Smith has this to say:

“The moment someone steps out of the spaceship, it’s going to cost a little more.
All the relationships in the flicks I’ve done have been done before, have been either a guy falling for a girl or two dudes hanging out in a ‘bromantic’ comedy. I wanted to explore a father and son.”

The film won’t be made until after Smith’s Red State.

Expect at least one Uranus joke.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. Speaking of space – Brad Pitt will star in a futuristic retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey which will be directed by George Miller.

Pitt previously starred in an adaptation of Homer’s The Iliad, which became Troy.

Expect no Uranus jokes in this one.

Source: Variety

3. Speaking of Brad Pitt – the star may appear in Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The film is set to be directed by David Frankel. According to Variety:

“The Book’s subject is Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players.”

Source: Variety

4. Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci will star in After. Life (yes, the “.” supposed to be there).

Neeson will play a funeral director who is contacted by a woman (Ricci) who is caught between life and death (much like her career following Speed Racer). Agnieszka Vosloo will helm the film.

Source: Variety

5. The 1998 Robert De Niro film Ronin is coming to the small screen. The film which will likely be shot in Europe (like the film) will be co-financed by the BBC. The original film was helmed by John Frankenheimer and it played a bit like a middle-age Mission: Impossible, so a show should (or could) be interesting.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for this week – see you at the movies!

Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Really.

Niall Browne — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:53:46 +0000

Hollywood is filled with glitz and glamor – we all know that. Oscars, adoration and $20 million paychecks are the everyday norm for some A-Listers.

Have you ever thought about the little people, the journeymen directors, the “past it” actors and actresses who must pay those mortgages on the million dollar mansions that they bought when they were “hot”?

Well if your haven’t felt a tear in your eye, then now is the time.

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you:

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Seriously.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is directed by “family film auteur” Raja Gosnell, and is starring Hollywood A-listers: Jamie Lee Curtis , Salma Hayek, Drew Barrymore, Edward James Olmos, Piper Perabo, Andy Garcia and comic legend Cheech Marin.

According to IMDB:

“While on vacation in Mexico, Chloe, a ritzy Beverly Hills chihuahua, finds herself lost and in need of assistance in order to get back home.”

Okay, so it’s a slow news day (week, month, year) but you really have to feel sorry for these people. If you make films then you obviously love films. Well, at least I’d like to think so.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the horrific poster for this already horrifically titled film:

Apparently, the chihuahuas will rise.

I’m pretty sure Raja Gosnell loves movies. After spending his time serving as Chris Columbus’ editor, the guy must have thought that he’d served enough time to go out and direct his own films. I’d bet money that Raja (I feel that I can call him Raja) directed Home Alone 3 because he knew the franchise and hey – it was his foot in the studio door.

Never Been Kissed probably seemed like a step up the ladder, but after ten years I’m guessing that when Raja looks over his filmography, he must be a little bit depressed:

Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Yours, Mine and Ours
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Scooby-Doo
Big Momma’s House.

Where’s the Oscar, the awards, the critical acclaim?

Down the toilet – that’s where!

Are those the films that you want to make, do they make you spring out of bed in the middle of the night to do a night shoot?

Yeah… I didn’t think so.

He probably looks at these films and cries, he probably stands on set and wonders “what am I doing making a film called Beverly Hills Chihuahua?”

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t blame Raja. If somebody rang me up tomorrow to direct (God forbid) Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2: Look at those puppies – I’d be there in a shot.

I blame the people behind the ideas, the writers and more importantly the studio executives who want these films made. How many actors, writers, directors and even fans have quality passion projects that they would like to make?

I don’t know, but there must be quite a few. Then why can’t they make them?

Money!! They won’t turn a buck.

All that said, Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a children’s film and if you don’t want to see it then you don’t have to.

Just remember those poor souls who have to sign up to participate in such films. They have mortgages too, they have families and bank managers who depend on them.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua opens September 26, 2008

Source: www.iwatchstuff.com