Frank Miller Addresses Concerns of The Spirit
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Lionsgate, Action, Adaptation, Drama, Mystery, Noir, Filmmaking, Rumors, Trailers, Upcoming Releases
In a recent blog post, graphic novelist/director Frank Miller addressed complaints and concerns aroused by fans upon the circulation of the teaser trailer for The Spirit, which can be seen after the jump.
In Will Eisner’s comics, the Spirit’s suit and hat are printed blue. In the posters, ads, and trailer, he is seen wearing black. Miller explained that due to printing issues, the Spirit’s clothes appear blue when meant to be black (take Superman’s hair, for instance).
Similarly, the black attire and red hints a tad reminiscent of Miller’s own Sin City, but he assures readers that the teaser trailer is just that—a tease. “To drive the point home, The Spirit, despite any accidental impression left by that kickass teaser-trailer, is a full-color movie. Sin City is, visually, a playhouse for black and white,” he clarifies.
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| The Spirit Official Site
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Harry Potter’s Emma Watson Branching Out
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Drama, Period, Romance, Casting, Celeb News, Upcoming Releases
Known to most of the world as Hermione Granger, Emma Watson has signed up to co-star in the upcoming flick Napoleon and Betsy.
The movie details the love affairs between a young girl (Watson, 18) and the former emperor, Watson’s first leading film role outside the Harry Potter franchise. The movie begins in 1815, when Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena. It was during this time the former leader of France met Betsy, daughter William Balcombe (who owned the estate where Napoleon was held). The affair between the two lasted for three years.
Betsy was originally set to be played by Scarlett Johansson, but she left when it became apparent the part would call for a younger actress. Watson is currently in production on the set of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and is scheduled to begin shooting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows early next year. Sometime in-between she’ll get pinned into her big costumes for Betsy, as the film is slated for a 2009 release.
Read More | MTV
Box Office Breakdown: Horton Hears a Who Has Largest 2008 Debut
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Comedy, Sports, Box Office, Lists
Thankfully, Jim Carrey‘s embarrassing stint on American Idol wasn’t all in vain.
Horton Hears a Who earned $45 million dollars over the past weekend, trouncing the competition. Although the kid-friendly flick has had the biggest opening of 2008 so far, the film falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to Dr. Seuss adaptations. How The Grinch Stole Christmas opened with $55 million back in 2000; A Cat in the Hat took in $38.3 just three years later.
Horton‘s premiere also made a nice statement for non-Pixar related films overall. This animated movie found itself in fifth place behind other cartoon debuts. (Disney’s Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Cars and Ratatouille rank one through four.)
The only other new entries in this week’s Top Ten were the mixed-martial arts pic Never Back Down and the post-apocalyptic thriller Doomsday.
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Box Office Breakdown: Theatergoers Take a Trip to 10,000 BC
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Disney, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases
One year ago, 300 pulled in an astounding $70 million dollars. This past weekend, another period drama grossed exactly half that much. Half, schmalf—it was still enough for a win.
Warner Bros.’ 10,000 BC easily topped its futuristic competitors with a $35 million take over this last weekend. The total was leaps and bounds better than the amount produced by second place finisher, College Road Trip. The Disney flick, starring Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symone, rang up only $13.6 million.
Meanwhile, last week’s #1, Semi-Pro, was already showing signs of fatigue. The basketball comedy fell to 5th place and earned a disappointing $5.7 million. Does this mean the Will Ferrell sports era is finally over?
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Read More | Yahoo! Movies
Box Office Breakdown: Semi-Pro Scores the Win
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Romance, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases
What comes up, must eventually come down. That goes for Will Ferrell‘s sports career as well.
Even though Semi-Pro netted this weekend’s #1 spot, the basketball flick earned a measly $15 million. That gross trails far behind 2006’s Talledega Nights ($47 million) and 2007’s Blades of Glory ($33 million). Sadly, Semi‘s debut also takes a backseat to Kicking and Screaming and Bewitched. (In Ferrell’s defense, this movie was the only one of his sports films to be rated R.)
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Read More | Variety
In Theaters this Leap Year Weekend (2/29)
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: IFC Films, Miramax, New Line, Sony, Adaptation, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Foreign, Independent, Period, Political, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Lists, New Releases
Here are some possible suggestions for your upcoming weekend:
- The Other Boleyn Girl (PG-13): starring Eric Bana, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson (directed by Justin Chadwick)
- Penelope (PG): starring Christina Ricci, Reese Witherspoon, Catherine O’Hara (directed by Mark Palansky)
- Semi-Pro (R): starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin (directed by Kent Alterman)
- Bonneville* (NR): starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen (directed by Christopher N. Rowley)
- Chicago 10* (R): starring Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, Nick Nolte (directed by Brett Morgen)
- City of Men* (R): starring Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha, Jonathan Haagensen (directed by Paulo Morelli)
- The Unforeseen* (NR): starring Wendell Berry, Gary Bradley, William Greider (directed by Laura Dunn)
*limited and/or gradual release
Box Office Breakdown: Yuma Ropes Up The Win
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: FOCUS, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Foreign, Horror, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Box Office, Lists, New Releases
Audiences went old-school this weekend helping 3:10 to Yuma corral the box office crown. The well-received film, starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, marked the second week in a row a classic movie remake landed at #1. (Previous winner, Halloween slid down a notch this week).
Question now is: Will the success of Yuma spur an onslaught of Westerns? Given the lack of any real competition this weekend, it still may be too soon to say. But any speculation will probably be confirmed when Brad Pitt‘s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford opens on September 21.
A trend that probably won’t be coming back anytime soon? Brothers-desperately-trying-to-make-a-baby-to-make-their-father-happy-before-he-dies films. The Brothers Solomon delivered a pathetic $525,000 in its debut weekend. Granted, it didn’t show in many theaters (only 700)—but I’m guessing there was a reason for that.
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Box Office Breakdown: Holiday Comes Early For Halloween
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, MGM, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Weinstein Company, Action, Drama, Family, Horror, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases
Rob Zombie’s remake of the classic film, Halloween, scared up over $30 million this weekend smashing Transporter 2‘s 2005 achievement ($20 million). Additionally, the horror film’s record gross capped off a successful summer for films overall. With fifteen movies over the $100 million mark, the movie industry soared past $4 billion domestically.
Unfortunately, Jason Statham’s War did very little to contribute to this landmark achievement. While he may have been a record-setter two years ago, his latest outing is slowly dropping off the charts. Meanwhile, the weekend’s other two major openings—Balls of Fury and Death Sentence—fared decently enough to at least make a showing.
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Read More | Variety
Box Office Breakdown: Geeks Fight Off Statham, Jet Li
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Foreign, Horror, Music, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases
No, you are correct. Superbad is one of the few movies that has managed to stay at #1 for more than one week this summer. The movie that only cost $20 million to make now shares the Two-Timers title with Spider-Man 3 and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End. (And I’m guessing those movies cost a bit more to produce).
Not only did the high-schoolers hold back the action-packed War (starring Jason Statham and Jet Li), but so did the aging Bourne Ultimatum and British goof Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean’s Holiday).
Unfortunately, the Top 5 was so testosterone-laden that it didn’t leave any room for the film adaptation of The Nanny Diaries. I’m wondering if more women were eager to see that hunky Statham than be reminded of their bratty kids waiting at home…
1. Superbad, Sony, $18,044,369
2. The Bourne Ultimatum, Universal, $12,472,215
3. Rush Hour 3, New Line, $11,706,643
4. Mr. Bean’s Holiday, Universal, $9,889,780
5. War, Lionsgate, $9,820,089
6. The Nanny Diaries, Weinstein Co., $7,480,927
7. The Simpsons Movie, Fox, $4,317,689
8. Stardust, Paramount, $3,872,560
9. Hairspray, New Line, $3,265,384
10. The Invasion, Warner Bros, $3,093,428
FilmCrunch 004: Josh Hartnett, The Black Dahlia, Lucky Number Slevin Reviews
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Universal, Noir, Comedy, Thrillers, DVD Reviews, Full Episodes, Theatrical Reviews, Videocasts
This week we focus on a couple of recent Josh Hartnett films. Why? Because we can. Here is what we have in this episode:
Commentary: The Goal of FilmCrunch
Theatrical Review: The Black Dahlia
DVD Review: Lucky Number Slevin (Compare Prices)
Now we want to hear from you - hit the forums and let us know what you think, what you want us to watch next, and any other recommendations you have for the show.
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