Screen Rant » speed racer

Wolverine Shreds Box Office: $87 Million Opening Weekend

Heath McKnight — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:35:26 +0000

They call him Wolverine, and he’s the best at what he does, and what he does is shred the box office with berserker rage! Okay, enough of the Wolverine analogies, but you can’t help but be impressed with the $87 million haul of X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

What a way to start off the summer–with the 2009 box office up over last year, people are still hungry for movies, even in this economy. Fox need not fret any more about the pirated version that leaked out, hurting the box office, because the Hugh Jackman-starrer proved that people love to see movies in the theaters.

But the one thing Wolverine’s healing factor and near-indestructible adamantium-laced skeleton can’t stop, and that’s the critical drubbing it’s receiving. It stands at an awful 37% rating over at RottenTomatoes.com, though Screen ...

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2008 Razzie Award Nominees Anounced

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:58:13 +0000

The Oscars attempt (emphasis on the word, “attempt”) to recognize cinemas greatest achievements each year. The Razzies, on the other hand, recognize cinema’s greatest underachievements each year.

After seeing the nominees for this year’s Razzie Awards, I’m beginning to think that the Razzie judges need to be given jobs on the Oscar selection committee. Maybe then the Oscar noms would be a little bit more spot-on.

Here are the 2008 Razzie Award nominees for your viewing displeasure.

WORST PICTURE

Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans (Two bad movies, one tired-ass concept)
The Happening (Ouch, M. Night that’s gotta hurt!)
The Hottie and The Nottie
In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
The Love Guru (Like no one saw that one coming.)

WORST ACTOR

Larry The Cable Guy, Witless Protection
Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
Mike Myers, The Love Guru
Al Pacino, 88 Minutes & Righteous Kill (double ...

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Review: Speed Racer (IMAX)

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:27:44 +0000

Short version: Speed Racer is strictly for kids, big time nostalgia-feeling fans of the original series and perhaps video game addicts.

Considering all I’d heard about and seen via trailers and clips about Speed Racer, I was almost concerned about what it would be like to watch it on a gigantic IMAX screen. I thought perhaps it would give me a huge headache or perhaps induce some psychotic state in me, or worse – my daughter.

Ah, but 11 year olds brains are hardwired for this kind of stuff, so not to worry – she’s fine.

the film starts with a tribute to the opening of the original series which if you’re a fan I think you’ll find very cool. It then goes right into showing us a young Speed Racer (yes, ...

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Preview The First 7 Minutes of Speed Racer Right Here

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:01:36 +0000

Ok, folks… here’s your chance to get a real taste of what Speed Racer will be like before you decide whether to plunk down your hard earned money for a ticket.

I’m not going to tell you what I think until I see a few of your reactions below. BTW, I will be adding my two cents to the list of Speed Racer reviews some time this weekend. I wanted my first viewing of it to be in IMAX so I didn’t catch a pre-screening of the film.

So… fess up: are you a lover or a hater, ‘cuz there ain’t gonna be a middle ground on this one…

For higher res versions head over to ...

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How Will Iron Man And Speed Racer Do This Weekend?

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:18:49 +0000

Last week I wrote that I thought it was a ridiculous theory that the release of the Grand Theft Auto IV video game would hurt Iron Man‘s box office numbers. Instead I wondered whether the release of Speed Racer during the second weekend of the armored avenger’s run would put a dent in Tony Stark’s armor.

Well it looks like he’ll be holding up pretty well against the race car flick as well.

The word on the street is that the Matrix-creators’ nostalgia slash acid-trip version of Speed Racer will be lucky if it cracks the $30MM mark this weekend. It’s also being estimated that Iron Man will probably bring in about $45MM in it’s second weekend, which would mean about a 55% drop from it’s premiere last weekend.

Generally a drop anywhere below 60% is ...

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Forget GTA IV: Will Speed Racer Hurt Iron Man?

Vic Holtreman — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:11:45 +0000

Everyone is buzzing about how the release of Grand Theft Auto IV (do people who like that game even know how to interpret Roman numerals? Ok, ok… don’t get all mad) is going to hurt Iron Man box office in it’s second week of release. The word is that GTA 4 is set to bring in $400 million in it’s opening weekend, and that gamers will stay home to play that instead of leaving their darkened bedrooms to go see the awesome Iron Man movie (yes, I’ve seen it).

I don’t buy the logic.

The last time a movie doing poorly was blamed on the launch of a video game the same weekend was when Halo 3 was released on the same weekend as… um… some Ben Stiller movie.

Yeah, right. That’s like blaming cow farts for global ...

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Speed Racer: History of the REAL Mach 5

Bruce Simmons — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:25:02 +0000

Strangely, when I first heard about the Speed Racer movie by the Wachowskis, I was reserved in my anticipation. Then, when I heard it was going to be sporting some serious CGI, I got depressed because I didn’t think it would meet my hopes.

However since then I’ve seen the movie trailers and they’re so cool my wife has to bring me down afterwards. It looks like it’s going to be true to my memories of the show.

In the upcoming movie version of Speed Racer, the Mach 5 is built by Speed Racer’s dad, Pops Racer, and it’s got some pretty cool features like the auto jacks and tire belts, just to mention a few.

As far as specs on the Mach 5 go it’s been said to have 5,000 horsepower distributed to all four ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: Mar 30, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:21:53 +0000

Another weekend, another Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This week:

Legion starring Dennis Quaid and Paul Bettany, Tom Hanks quits Fahrenheit 451, Nic Cage hunts for more National Treasure, Battlestar Galactica producer plans to make a television adaptation of Children of Men, Surrogates with Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell and news on when we can expect to see a trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

For details on the above items, read on.

1. Dennis Quaid and Paul Bettany have joined the cast of Legion. According to Variety Paul Bettany stars as the archangel Michael:

“The only one standing between mankind and an apocalypse, after God loses faith in humanity. Man’s lone hope rests with a group of strangers who must deliver a baby they realize is Christ in his second coming.”

The film starts shooting soon and it will be directed by former FX guru Scott Stewart. Sounds like it should ...

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New Speed Racer Trailer Is Actually Pretty Cool

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:37:14 +0000

Speed Racer & Racer X in a scene from the upcoming movie

Geez, I’ve heard rumors about trailers that were supposed to be playing in front of the extremely weak 10,000 B.C. before I went to see it and since. Everything from the new Iron Man trailer, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight to this new Speed Racer trailer. I sat through the damned thing and didn’t even have the satisfaction of seeing one single new trailer for anything coming out this year.

On the bright side, at least seeing the Indiana Jones trailer on the big screen finally managed to get me fired up about that one.

In any case, here’s a brand new trailer for Speed Racer, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t actually look ...

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Speed Racer In IMAX, Of Course

Vic Holtreman — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:24:02 +0000

My buddy Alex over at First Showing shot me an email saying that he’s gotten verification that the Wachowski’s will-it-be-PG-or-won’t-it live action version of Speed Racer will have an IMAX version released along with the regular theatrical version.

If ever there was a movie that looks like it was destined for IMAX, Speed Racer is it.

But based on the trailer, I have one question:

Will IMAX theaters have people available to guide people back to their cars after what will probably be the closest thing they’ll experience to an LSD trip?

From the look of it, combining the visuals and action of Speed Racer with the ultra-high resolution and huge screen size that IMAX provides, anyone who goes to see this version should just have Ritalin handed to them on the way out as ...

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Speed Racer Not Rated G, Plus: Video Game Trailer

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:53:57 +0000

So an early review of Speed Racer has popped up on AintItCool.com. Overall despite being very rough regarding completion of visual effects and not having the actual movie music soundtrack, it was fairly positive.

As far as the announcement early on that the Wachowskis intended on making this a G-rated movie – it never really set right with me. I certainly don’t have anything against movies that are rated G, but a live action version of a story involving villains, car crashes AND made by the Wachowskis?

I never really bought it. And the review mentioned above confirms it, unless some cuts are made between this and the released version.

According to the person who sent in the review, the movie includes multiple uses of the word “ass,” at least one “sh*t,” and Speed’s younger ...

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Speed Racer Trailer = Live Action Video Game

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:47:21 +0000

I’m not quite sure what I think of this Speed Racer trailer. I don’t think one can really complain because it looks like it will be about the most faithful translation of an old cartoon series to a big screen live action movie. Earlier today we brought you a bunch of Speed Racer images and now the trailer those images are from is online.

It looks rated G. It looks really simplistic in it’s writing. And it looks more like a cartoon come to life than anything I’ve ever seen before with the super bright primary colors and effects. If nothing else it looks like the Wachowskis (who brought us The Matrix, as if you didn’t know) will once again contribute a groundbreaking film to the masses.

Trailer after the jump…

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Crazy Speed Racer Photos + Info!

Heath McKnight — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:47:21 +0000

Here are some crazy, but cool, Speed Racer photos. USA Today got the exclusive first look at the Wachowskis return to the big screen. The movie, based on the popular, and in my opinion, a bit trippy, cartoon, is a big budget adaptation, which opens next May 2008. And the movie looks to be equally trippy!

The Wachowskis have said they wanted to do a “kids” movie, so the film will likely be rated G, but maybe PG. The film stars Emile Hirsch as Speed, Matthew Fox (from Lost) as Racer X and Christina Ricci as Trixie.

The movie was shot entirely green screen, with some real props, like the Mach 5. See more photos after the jump! Yes, the kid and chimp are in it, too, and everything looks quite authentic, which is bizarre!

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Movie News Grab Bag – 11/26/07

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:23:31 +0000

I’m back from being out of town last week. Although I managed to post up a couple of reviews, a lot of news didn’t get covered. Here’s a summary of last week’s highlights:

- Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire) will play Sarek, Spock’s father, in the new and currently in production Star Trek movie. (StarTrek.com) Hey! They added another old guy to the cast!

- David Twohy, director of both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick apparently wants Vin Diesel back to play Riddick again. (ComingSoon.net) I thought the first one was pretty dumb the first time I saw it, but upon repeated viewings it grew on me. I also thought that Chronicles was cool in a “guilty pleasure” sort of way.

- Bruce Willis will star the Disney/Touchstone sci-fi flick: The Surrogates. It’s about a society where ...

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Top 20 Movies Anticipated By Rabid Movie Fans

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:28:07 +0000

There’s a new list out (don’t we all just love lists?) of the 20 most anticipated movies coming out in the next 12 months.

Movietickets.com polled 2,000 active moviegoers to determine what movies they were most looking forward to. What’s an “active moviegoer” you ask? It’s someone who’s seen a lot of movies this summer. Over 50% of those polled have seen at least six films this summer, with almost 20% having seen 11 or more! So I would imagine that means that many of those polled were teenagers or in their early 20′s.

Before I get to the big list, here’s the breakdown by gender:

Top Five Films Guys Are Looking Forward To:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man
4. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
5. American Gangster

Top Five Films The Ladies ...

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Fantastic Four 2 Is Rated PG

Vic Holtreman — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:19:39 +0000

Is the pendulum finally swinging the other way? For the longest time action movies pushed the PG-13 envelope, doing razor thin trims until they just barely escaped the R-rating and slid in to theaters as PG-13 for those lucrative teen and preteen dollars.

Now I hear from /Film that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer has gotten a PG rating! I did not expect that at all… I had assumed it was a given that it would get a PG-13. Very surprising as far as I’m concerned.

I guess if you remove all foul language and any sexual innuendo, a superhero movie can actually get a PG-13 rating. My guess is that the violence in the film is of such a non-specific and ...

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Christina Ricci Cracks Me Up

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:50:22 +0000

Man, I realize it’s difficult to come up with things to say on the spot in an interview, but sometimes celebs really crack me up. There’s a video out of a press conference covering the upcoming movie Speed Racer… there’s the unveiling of the Mach 5 car plus a panel discussion with the stars of the film.

When Ricci’s turn to talk comes up she starts out great, but then…

“I’m just really excited because I think there are so many negative images for little girls out there, and she’s [Trixie, her character in the film] a very strong-willed, smart girl…”

Great! Nicely said, right? Well here’s how she concluded her statement…

Wait for it…

“…and who is super cute and has great clothes.”

Because, ya know, it’s really important that strong ...

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Screen Rant Weekly Podcast – June 2, 2007

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 19:37:30 +0000

The Screen Rant Empire continues to expand with yet another exciting podcast!

This week’s action-packed podcast includes news about The Dark Knight and IMAX, Eli (Hostel I & II) Roth’s more sensitive and artistic side, what you may NOT know about the Mach 5 from the upcoming Speed Racer movie, Iron Man related coolness, why movie trilogies are not always trilogies and how that relates to their failure or success.

Also, news on the unveiling of the ultimate Iron Man website for fans.

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The Mach 5 Race Car from Speed Racer

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:41:22 +0000

In a bit of Speed Racer news, USA Today unveiled an official image of the Mach 5 race car that will be used in the upcoming Wachowski brothers-helmed film. I thought it would be fun to compare the movie version (top image) with the version that’s been around since 1999 as a real-world, driveable car.

I actually saw the 1999 version in person (so to speak) at an Auto Show a few years ago. It’s even cooler when you’re standing next to it than it is in a photograph. It was built on a Corvette chassis with a big block V8 engine for power and if you have between $150-200K you can actually have one built for yourself. ...

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Speed Racer – Wachowski Brothers Style

Vic Holtreman — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:30:26 +0000

Emile Hirsch (pictured at left) is in final negotiations for the role of Speed Racer in the upcoming film to be produced by the Wachowski brothers. I’m not familiar with Hirsch and although that’s where the news is centered in regards to the project, I’m more curious about what a Wachowksi-helmed Speed Racer movie will be like.

They co-wrote V for Vendetta and the last thing they directed was the Matrix trilogy. Although different, these shared a dark tone that I don’t think will lend itself to Speed Racer. Of course they can always go in a completely different direction from the original animated series, but then what would be the point of calling it Speed Racer?

Although I’m usually firmly in the “anti-remake” camp, if done right this could be a ...

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