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Latest Video: FilmCrunch 067: Hairspray, Chuck & Larry, Premonition reviewed

Veronica Santiago and Neil Estep review Hairspray, Chuck & Larry, and Premonition in this episode of FilmCrunch.
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Casting Corner: Daniel Craig, Stephen Moyer and More

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, Touchstone, Universal, Adaptation, Drama, Remakes, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Casting, Celeb News, Celebrity Gossip, Upcoming Releases

Daniel CraigStephen Moyer

Here’s a quick look at some of the casting announcements made recently:

Daniel Craig: If you found out your Dream House was once the scene of a murder - what would you do? What would James Bond do? Next year, Daniel Craig will take on the Morgan Creek thriller set in a New England town. The film will be directed by Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan (In America).

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MTV Seeks Rocky Horror Remake

Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: 20th Century Fox, Classics, Horror, Music, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Casting, Filmmaking, Rumors, Scripts, Upcoming Releases

MTV plans to remake cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Yes, you unfortunately read that title correctly: MTV is seriously planning to remake the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

While I cannot deny how popular musicals have become (i.e. Mamma Mia!, High School Musical, Hairspray), are there not already tons of other musicals to tamper with other than this one? Can producers possibly more cold-hearted than I thought?

On the upside (yes, there’s actually an upside) to this, the executive producer of the original, Lou Adler, is attached to the project, along with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios. They also plan on using the original screenplay (thankfully!); however, they may incorporate songs not included in the original (what?).

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Read More | Variety

Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Raise Their Glasses to Sex and the City

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Horror, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Sex and the City Movie

Thanks to a mob of high-heeled women, the big-screen adaptation of took in nearly $57 million over the past three days. Pretty impressive considering the film was expected to land somewhere in the $25-$35 million range. But Carrie and Company did just more than score first place, their hard work put them into the record books:

  • Sex and the City had the best opening weekend for an R-rated comedy.
  • The film’s debut topped any live-action adaptation of a TV show. (The original Mission Impossible raked in $45 million.)
  • SATC‘s premiere surpassed all romantic comedies including Hitch ($43.1 million) and ($30.7 million).
  • It was the fifth best showing for any R-rated movie ever.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Raise Their Glasses to Sex and the City

Read More | Variety

Lorenzo’s Oil Subject Dies

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Universal, Drama

Lorenzo's Oil

Given that I had first seen Lorenzo’s Oil nearly 16 years ago, this bit of news came as quite a shock to me: Lorenzo Odone, the real-life person the movie was based on, died this past Friday at the age of 30. He lived over 20 years longer than the doctors had originally predicted.

The 1992 movie, starring and Nick Nolte, told the story of Augusto and Michaela Odone - the parents of Lorenzo. After their child is diagnosed with ALD (a supposedly incurable nerve disorder), the two do their own research and eventually become authorities on the topic. They later helped to create ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’, a kind of olive oil that helped stop the progression of their son’s disease.

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Read More | Daily Mail

Box Office Breakdown: Prince Caspian Crowned the Winner

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Independent, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Prince Caspian

Although it failed to reach expectations, was still mighty enough to take down Robert Downey Jr. this past weekend. The Disney sequel pulled in over $55 million dollars and earned itself a first place finish. Unfortunately, the film’s gross was slightly disappointing given the first installment’s take; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opened at $65.6 million back in 2005. 

In other adaptation news, Warner Bros.’ continued to fall behind in the race.  The colorful adventure slipped another notch into fourth, right behind What Happens in Vegas. Meanwhile, Iron Man‘s $31.8 million total pushed the film past the $200 million range.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Prince Caspian Crowned the Winner

Read More | Variety

Box Office Breakdown: Ashton Kutcher Drives Past Speed Racer

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Family, Horror, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Books, Lists, New Releases

What Happens in Vegas

Despite arresting visuals and a $120 million budget, the Wachowski brothers were unable to bring to life.  The Warner Bros. movie - which many had already predicted would fall behind Iron Man - did even worse than originally thought.  At one point, it was believed the anime adaptation would debut in 2nd place.  Unfortunately, the final box office numbers placed the PG film in third.

Meanwhile, became the second wedding-themed entry in the recent Top Ten.  The comedy, starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, replaced Made of Honor as the go to ‘chick flick’ of the week.  The movie grossed $20.1 million, a slim $1.6 million more than Speed.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Ashton Kutcher Drives Past Speed Racer

Read More | Variety

This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: January 15, 2008

Posted by Johnny Mercedes Categories: Lionsgate, New Line, Adaptation, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Religious, Satire, Comedy, Home Entertainment, New Releases

The Ten HD DVDAlright, yes—this article should have been written yesterday. But despite my lack of punctuality, I’ve decided to go ahead and post it anyway as part of a New Year’s resolution to write more. And this is a slow time for film in general, so I think I deserve a reprieve.

To be perfectly honest, little jumps out at me this week. We have the hilarious, slightly esoteric The Ten, helmed by some The State alumni and starring, well, just about everyone. Is there anything else worth mentioning? Could Girls Gone Wild: Baby Bash—Live and Uncensored be the best Blu-ray title this week? That seems a bit sad, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, HD DVD patrons—if you were looking for some girl-on-girl action, hold out until February 12th when it releases in your format.

I can’t wait for these sluggish few weeks to pass.

Check out the full list of high-def releases after the jump.

Click to continue reading This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: January 15, 2008


Box Office Breakdown: Juno Makes An Impressive Surge

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Music, Musicals, Period, Political, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Juno

Come Wednesday morning, the box office chart saw very few changes at the top.  That’s not to say the five-day holiday weekend didn’t have any notable moments at all:

  • Strong word of mouth helped boost last week’s #10, , up five whole spaces.  The movie - already in it’s 4th week - continues to soar despite its fairly limited release.  It’s $15,788 per screen average even topped $14,232.
  • Golden Globes buzz also contributed to the success of seven-time nominee .  Although it only placed 14th overall, the romantic weeper scored a $15,764 average.
  • outmuscled last week’s #2, .  The family-friendly flick traded spots with the blockbuster thanks to its $2.5 million edge.
  • narrowly missed a place in the Top Ten despite its connection to both and .  You heard it right - the talk show host’s touch does not always mean gold.
  • followed up its disappointing debut with another out of tune performance.  The musical satire plummeted five spots all the way down to #13.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Juno Makes An Impressive Surge

Read More | Yahoo! Movies

Box Office Breakdown: Book of Secrets a National Hit

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Music, Musicals, Period, Political, Romance, Satire, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

This holiday weekend introduced a slew of big-ticket features in our cineplexes.  It also brought us a wide cast of former Oscar-winners competing for our theater dollars.  By Monday, , , , , and Oscar-nominee had all made entries into the Top Ten - but it was who wound up striking gold.

earned $45 million, an increase of $10 million over the 2004 original.  This was the second hit for Cage this year, following the critically-panned Ghost Rider.  In addition to having the weekend’s best gross, Secrets also had the best average of any movie over those three days.  Although ‘s fourth place was respectable (especially for a politically-based film these days), its $3760 per screen take clearly set it apart from this week’s champ.  In contrast, earned an $11,184 average for an impressive 10th place finish.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Book of Secrets a National Hit

Read More | Yahoo!

Box Office Breakdown: Will Smith a Legend in December

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, New Line, Warner Bros, Yari Film Group Releasing, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Romance, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

I Am Legend

You have to wonder whether is just a wee bit jealous of his friend’s success…

This weekend, not only smashed the box office debut of Cruise’s , he pounded everything in his path.  - the third adaptation of the 1954 Richard Matheson novel - nearly doubled the take of its nearest competitor while breaking the record for a December release.  Legend’s $77 million debut surpassed the bar set by Oscar-winner .  The final installment in the Lords trilogy brought in $72.6 million back in 2003.

Although was far behind in second place, its $44 million weekend was nothing to sneeze at.  The movie not only exceeded most expectations, it downright embarrassed third place finisher, .  How could anyone possibly explain freaky-looking chipmunks taking down a large polar bear?  The latter film only added another $8.8 million to its total, putting it a smidge closer to its $180 million budget.  (Granted, it has done better overseas.)

But let’s not be fooled by the large numbers at the top of the charts, the weekend’s most notable turnout was made by #11: .  The comedic charmer earned an impressive $35,686 per screen.  Meanwhile, (which opened in 3566 more theaters) averaged only $21,411.  Take that, Fresh Prince!

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Will Smith a Legend in December

Read More | Yahoo!

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