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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: September 13, 2009

Niall Browne — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:36:51 +0000

It’s Sunday again and that means Wrap Up time.

This week:

Tyler Perry does Bad at the top of the box office; Timothy Dalton plays with Toys; Anton Yelchin gets some Beaver; Max Ryan gets involved in Sex and Eva Green and Ewan McGregor have the Last Word.

Box Office

I Can Do Bad All By Myself topped the box office with $25 million. While it’s not the best gross for a Tyler Perry opening it does show that he has an audience that shows up.

The Tim Burton-produced 9 had a better than expected debut with $15.5 million.

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds was third with another $6.5 million. With a total gross of $104 million the film has now become Tarantino’s highest grossing film – unadjusted of course.

Sandra Bullock’s All About Steve was fourth with $5.8 million. The film’s cumulative gross currently stands at $21 million.

Final Destination dropped about 55% this weekend – but with $58 million in the bank so far it looks like this franchise will continue.

Horror film Sorority Row did little business with just over $5.5 million for its debut.

Joel Silver’s Dark Castle release Whiteout starring Kate Beckinsale didn’t do well with a poor opening weekend gross of $5 million.

District 9 banked another $3,6 million. The $30 million film now has a total gross of $108 million.

Meryl Streep’s Julie & Julia managed another $3.3 million. The film has now grossed $85 million. It probably won’t hit $100 million, but it does ensure that Streep will make a few more summer comedies that are aimed at the older viewer.

Gerard Butler’s Gamer dropped a huge (but not unexpected) 65% with a weekend take of just over $3 million. With $16 million in the bank, this will need to find an audience on DVD.

Just outside the top ten was G.I Joe with a little over $2.5 million. The Stephen Sommers film now has $144 million.

Halloween 2 made just under $2.5 million. The slasher remake/sequel has a disappointing $30 million total. It was cheap so that’ll help matters but new blood is needed if they want the series to continue.

Movie News

1. Former James Bond star, Timothy Dalton, has signed on to voice a character in the forthcoming Toy Story 3. The Shakespearean actor will play Mr Pricklepants, a toy hedgehog with “thespian tendencies.”

It sounds like a suitable role for the star. It’s a shame that he hasn’t had better roles on the big screen.

Source: Empire

2. Star Trek and Terminator Salvation star Anton Yelchin has joined The Beaver.

Yelchin will play the son of Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in the dramedy about a depressed man who wears a glove puppet of the titular on his hand.

Foster directs the film that also stars Jennifer Lawrence.

Summit Entertainment recently bought the distribution rights for the film that will open in late 2010 or 2011.

Source: Variety

3. English-born Max Ryan has joined the cast of Sex and the City 2.

The actor, who will play the boyfriend of Kim Catrall’s Samantha has also starred in last years Death Race and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon also return for the sequel which opens next summer.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

4. Former Bond girl Eva Green will star opposite Ewan McGregor in Last Word.

Screen Daily reports that:

“Last Word is a story about two people who fall in love as the world begins to fall apart.”

McGregor’s Trainspotting co-star Ewan Bremner also stars alongside Stephen Dillane and Connie Nielsen in the David MacKenzie directed film.

Source: Screen Daily

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Movie News Wrap Up: April 6, 2009

Niall Browne — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:10:00 +0000

This week:

The box office is Furious; Jack Bauer leaves 24 for Joel Schumacher’s Twelve; Paul Weitz looks at Little Fockers; Rosemarie DeWitt and Chris Cooper are Company Men; Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman stare into the Rabbit Hole; we make a date for Sex and The City 2 and Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg are Prisoners.

Box office
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker raced into the number one position with Fast and Furious. The action sequel banked a massive $72 million over the weekend – showing that there is plenty of gas left in the Fast and Furious franchise. Maybe Vin Diesel will get those Riddick movies made after all.

Monster vs. Aliens dropped to second place but it still managed to gross $33 million giving the animated film a gross of over $100 million.

The Haunting in Connecticut took another $9.6 million bringing the total gross to a pretty decent $37 million.

Nicolas Cage’s hair banked another $8 million, giving Knowing a total gross of $58 million.

I Love You, Man brought its total up to $49 million while fellow comedy film Adventureland had a disappointing opening of $6 million.

Julia Roberts and Clive Owen saw Duplicity bank an additional $4 million giving the star driven thriller a $32 million total.

Movie News

1. Joel Schumacher will direct an adaptation of Nick McDonell’S novel Twelve. According to Variety:

“Story follows a high school dropout-turned-drug dealer. His lucrative life sours when the dealer’s cousin is brutally murdered on an East Harlem playground and his best friend is arrested for the crime.”

The cast of the film includes Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Curtis Jackson (or 50 Cent), Ellen Barkin and Kiefer Sutherland.

Sutherland and Schumacher have made numerous films together over the years – A Time To Kill, Lost Boys, Phone Booth and Flatliners. Schumacher also directed Emma Roberts’ aunt Julia in Flatliners and Dying Young.

Did I mention that Schumacher also directed a little film called Batman and Robin?

Source: Variety

2. Paul Weitz is in talks to direct Universal Pictures Little Fockers, the second sequel to Meet The Parents.

The director has previously helmed the first American Pie film, About A Boy and In Good Company.

The Focker flick is expected to start shooting in July.

Source: Variety

3. Rosemarie DeWitt has joined the cast of Company Men and Chris Cooper is in negotiations to sign on to the film. The corporate downsizing drama will star Kevin Costner, Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones.

How many Oscar winners can you fit into one film?

Rosemarie DeWitt will play Affleck’s wife while Cooper would play a white collar worker losing his job.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

4. Aaron Eckhart will join Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole.

“[The film is a] story of a happily married couple whose lives are disrupted after their 4-year-old son is killed in a traffic accident and the redemptive journey they must undertake to regain happiness.”

Sounds like a bundle of laughs. It’ll be interesting to see if Kidman can emote.

Source: Variety

5. Warner Bros. have set a date for Sex and the City 2. Be prepared to be carried away (again) on May 28, 2010.

The first film made a mind boggling $412.6 million worldwide.

That’s an awful lot of shoes for Sarah Jessica Parker.

Source: Variety

6. Batman and Terminator Salvation star Christian Bale may join Mark Wahlberg in Prisoners.

The plot is as follows:

“After his 6-year-old daughter and her friend are kidnapped, a small-town carpenter butts heads with a young, brash detective in charge of the investigation. The father is a Bible-reading, deer-hunting survivalist. The cop, meanwhile, can’t wait to get to the city. Feeling failed by the law, the father captures the man he believes responsible and begins to torture him in a desperate attempt to find out what he did with the girls, whom he’s convinced are still alive.”

Bryan Singer is pondering directing the film.

Nothing is set in stone yet but if Bale, Wahlberg and Singer io sign then expect a studio to snap the project up.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Men Say: No More Sex (In The City) Please!

Niall Browne — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:25:27 +0000

To some people (mostly men) the news that a Sex and the City sequel has been green-lit will be the worst news in a long time. For others (mostly women) it’ll be the most exciting thing that they write in their diaries for 2010.

So ladies and gentlemen prepared to be…ahem…Carried away again.

So just why did it take so long for a sequel to be given the go-ahead when the original grossed $415 million worldwide?

I’m going to say the reason is money.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis were all keen to make the first film after the series ended five years ago – but Cattrall held out for script approval and a salary equal to Parker’s.

Now, it took four years to reach agreement over that so nine months seems like a walk in the park. However, what is really odd is that although the film is fast tracked for a 2010 release there isn’t even a script yet!

You have to wonder what Patrick Michael King has been doing since the first film started rolling in the Benjamin’s.

Sex and the City has permeated popular culture and I honestly believe that the show (along with Ally McBeal) helped make a lot of women a little crazy. It made their lives, work and relationships seem banal by the standards of Carrie et al, and therefore created an army of shoe-loving overly talkative women ready to discuss their own private Mr Big.

I know that sounds like a huge generalization (and it probably is) – but admit it, you know at least one woman like that! Having said that there are a few good women out there who are standing firm and refusing to fall for the single girl shenanigans.

Heck, I could be wrong – but I don’t think that I am – but the film He’s Just Not That Into You (which opened wide this weekend) is a line taken directly from an episode of the Sex and the City series. Now, that shows how important the series has become to the chick flick contingent.

More news on Sex and the City if the casting gets interesting.

Source: Variety

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The Top 10 Summer 2008 Movies: It’s Been A Hell Of A Run!

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:45:16 +0000

It’s almost September and that means that the big summer movie season of 2008 is finally over – but what a summer it’s been!

2008 delivered the kind of summer that superhero and action movie geeks dream of – this is the year that brought us three bonafide superhero movies: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and what was that third one… oh yeah: The Dark Knight.

We also had the chance to see the long awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the latest Pixar flick Wall-E, Will Smith as a superhero in Hancock, Angelina Jolie as an assassin in Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. To keep us laughing we had Tropic Thunder, The Pineapple Express (which I haven’t seen) and Get Smart.

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight: Summer 2008 box office winner

The Dark Knight was this summer’s box office juggernaut, and no doubt will be the year’s biggest earner. The big surprise of the summer (and the film that kicked it all off) is Iron Man, which came in second and actually beat Indy 4 in the US! That speaks to both how great Iron Man was and how poor an addition the latest Indiana Jones movie was to the original trilogy.

Iron Man: Surprise hit of the 2008 Summer movie season

Here are the top ten movies this summer based on US box office:

The Dark Knight – $493.7MM
Iron Man – $317.6MM
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – $315.3MM
Hancock – $226.5MM
Wall-E – $216.8MM
Kung Fu Panda – $213MM
Sex and the City (yeah, I know) – $152.4MM
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – $141.6MM
The Incredible Hulk – $134.4MM
Wanted – $133.8MM

One big suprise in the above list is Pixar’s Wall-E: I’m really shocked that the R-rating-pushing, PG-13 and mediocre (according to most critics) Hancock actually beat the family friendly Pixar film. Also surprising is that Kung Fu Panda made almost as much as the Wall-E. It looks like despite the universally rave reviews for Wall-E, that the overly message-heavy plot of the movie wasn’t as much of a winner with families as other of their films like The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. Heck, even Cars (considered by many to be Pixar’s weakest film) made more money than Wall-E at the box office.

Wall-E: Below Summer box office expectations?

I’ll take a moment to toot my own horn and point out that I was one of the lone voices pointing out the fact that Wall-E was too heavy handed with its messages.

Also, despite the “cool factor,” Wanted didn’t manage to beat underdog summer flick The Incredible Hulk. I guess more people thought it was ridiculous (as I did) than thought it was “awesome, dude!”. However superhero movie fans across the land can weep in unison at the fact that Hulk was not able to defeat three hip, New York City powershopping babes on the prowl for true love.

Summer 2008: The Incredible Hulk did not go down without a fight

How the heck Sex in the City made into that list is beyond me.

Movies worth noting that are missing from that top 10 list include The Happening (huge stinker for Shyamalan), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (couldn’t bring myself to watch it), 10,000 B.C. (do I even need to comment on this one?), Speed Racer (LSD trip for kids), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (too niche, I suppose).

In the “bombed at the box office” category I guess I’d add X-Files: I Want to Believe ($20.7MM) and at only $27MM since opening, for a Star Wars movie, I’d say The Clone Wars didn’t do too well.

All in all I’d say it’s been a pretty damned awesome summer for movie fans, and it’ll be a tough one to top in 2009.

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Holy Cow… Sex & The City Ticket Pre-Sales Are HUGE!

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:49:53 +0000

I’m sure our regular readers may have noticed that there has been no coverage of the theatrical release of the Sex and the City movie here at Screen Rant.

That’s no accident.

I could not be less interested in a movie than I am in this one, but there’s some news that bears mentioning. According to the online movie ticket site (appropriately named) MovieTickets.com, pre-sales of tickets for the film are absolutely on fire, if you can believe it.

You’ve probably heard of the HBO Television series the movie is based on, about a group of attractive women living in New York City on a quest to find the perfect guy (or, as far as I know, any guy that’s hunky and will give them attention). I’ve never seen an episode of the show, and feel free to accuse me of judging it without viewing it. Here’s my advanced reply: Whatever.

Anyway you won’t believe where Sex and the City falls on the following list of all-time top ticket pre-sales for highly anticipated movies…

MovieTickets.com’s Top 20 Pre-Sale List of All-Time

1. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

4. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour

5. The Matrix Reloaded

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

8. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

9. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers

10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

11. Spider-Man 3

12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

14. The Passion of The Christ

15. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

16. Sex and the City: The Movie

17. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

18. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

19. Transformers

20. X-Men: The Last Stand

My brain is stuttering from the knowledge that this movie is pre-selling more tickets than the first Lord of the Rings movie, the latest Indiana Jones and even freaking Transformers!

I can only conclude that this must be the ultimate “chick flick” and that women will be rushing in droves to see it. No doubt in “packs” because I can’t imagine what tiny percentage of guys will be dragged to this, and then only under the promise of extreme sex afterwards.

A couple of my online movie buddies have seen it and actually said it was pretty good… Over at RottenTomatoes.com it just dipped into “rotten” territory with a 59% positive rating. The average star rating right now is 3/5.

While I don’t plan on seeing it, knowing myself I imagine that my opinion would most likely jive with reviewer Jeffrey Wells:

“The film is another Taliban recruitment film — a grotesque and putrid valentine to the insipid ‘me, my lifestyle, my accessories and I’ chick culture of the early 21st Century. Guys everywhere — if you’re in a brand-new relationship, take her to see this thing. If she even half-likes it, dump her and walk away cold. Save yourself!”

Great, huh?

Sex and the City: The Movie opens tomorrow.

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