Island crazies duke it out with cops and crazies at the national box office this weekend

Those nutty inhabitants of “Shutter Island” fended off the arrival of Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan and the remake of a George Romero film to stay atop the national box office for a second straight weekend. Overall, the movie scene was a bit on the quiet side, marking time until next weekend’s one-two punch of the annual Academy Award ceremony and the arrival of 2010’s first big event picture, Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”.


People like what they are seeing in the latest Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio pairing as “Island” stayed atop the top spot with an estimated weekend gross of $22.2 million from 3,003 screens. Off a mere 46% from its $41.1 million opener, “Island” now has a healthy ten day haul of $75 million. Given that most films in the thriller genres drop between 60-70% in their second weekends of release, “Island”s drop of less than 50% is a sign that word-of-mouth among ticket buyers has been quite positive. Depending on how well it holds over the next few weeks, “Island” could finish close to the $132 million haul of Scorsese’s biggest hit to date, 2006’s “The Departed”.

In second spot was the first of two wide releases this week, the Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan action comedy “Cop Out” with a so-so gross of $18.6 million from 3,150 screens. While the opening represents a career-high opening for director Kevin Smith, whose films are normally given small openings, the opening is another mediocre opening for star Willis following last year’s bomb “Surrogates”. Reviews were pretty savage for the buddy comedy. But then again, do films like “Cop Out” really thrive on good reviews? I didn’t think so.

In third spot was another film from a genre that normally doesn’t care or rely on reviews to do well at the box office. The remake of George Romero’s “The Crazies”, however, did have positive reviews from critics to help it scare up a solid $16.5 million from 2,477 screens (the second best in the current top ten). It will be very interesting to see where the remake goes in the next couple of weeks. Will positive word-of-mouth from viewers and critics help turn the movie into a sleeper hit or will the film go down the standard horror genre path and drop like a rock over at the box office en route to a home video afterlife? Next weekend will provide the answer.

Fourth place went to the ever-durable “Avatar”, which once again had the smallest drop of any film in the top ten (14%). Its $14 million estimated gross in its eleventh weekend brings its domestic haul to a record-setting $707 million (new global gross: $2.48 billion). With many of the 3-D and IMAX screens changing over to “Alice in Wonderland” next weekend, “Avatar” might begin to see more substantial drops in business. But since the movie has defied every single possible stumbling block it has faced since opening on December 18th of last year, those declines may not materialize (especially if the film wins tons of awards next Sunday night). Despite losing screens, “Avatar” is still looking to finish its mind-blowing run at the domestic box office in the $750 million range.

Fox’s other big-budget flick in the top ten, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” held up well in its third weekend with a $9.8 million haul (off only 36%) to bring its estimated total to $72 million. The $100 million mark may still be a possibility depending on how well the film withstands the “Alice” onslaught. One of the films that opened the same weekend as “Percy”, the star-studded “Valentine’s Day”, did join the century club this weekend thanks to a $9.5 million gross. Off 43%, “Valentine’s Day” has made an estimated $100.3 million to date.

Stabilizing a bit in seventh place was the drama “Dear John”, which was off 29% for a $7 million three-day haul and a new total of $72.6 million. Fading fast in eight spot was Universal’s “The Wolfman”, off 59% percent from last weekend for $4.1 million and a new total to-date of $57.2 million. Watch for the costly remake to finish in the neighborhood of $65 million.

Ninth and tenth spot went to two more films from Twentieth Century Fox. Family hit “The Tooth Fairy” extracted $3.45 million (off 21%) for a new total of $54 million to date. In tenth spot was Oscar-nominee “Crazy Heart” with a $2.54 million gross and a $25 million total to date. Watch for that film to receive a bit of a bump in sales in the next couple of weeks should star Jeff Bridges win Best Actor next Sunday night.

Aside from “Alice”, next weekend brings the release of the ensemble crime drama “Brooklyn’s Finest” starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. The Academy Awards will be on ABC next Sunday night starting at 8 pm EST and probably going on until the end of 2010.

"Alice" Exhibition Battle: Disney 1, Theater Owners 0

It appears that the Odeon and AMC theater chains have backed down on their threatened boycott of Disney's new "Alice in Wonderland" film, which opens a week from tomorrow. The theater chains will open the movie as scheduled, adhering to Disney's 12-week window between theatrical opening and home video debut.

In other "Alice" news, Variety.com has published its review of the film, and it isn't exactly a rave. The review states that while the movie does have the unique moments one would expect from Tim Burton, the film becomes increasingly ordinary as the frames tick away, leading to a big CG battle that is somewhat on the generic side.

It just occurred to me...

The big controversy over Disney shortening the theatrical window of "Alice in Wonderland" isn't exactly the first of its kind. Paramount is doing exactly the same thing with its Oscar hopeful "Up in the Air", which opened on December 4, 2009 and will debut on DVD and Blu-ray March 9th. If my math serves me correctly, that would be....gasp! THREE MONTHS (and five days)!!!!!!!!!!

Eh, come to think of it, I want a high-def copy of "Up in the Air" ASAP and aside from seeing the CG-Cheshire Cat and gawking at the actress playing Alice in 3-D, "Alice in Wonderland" doesn't look like it's going to be all that good (remember "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"? I sure do).

Another UK chain says "off with her head!" to running "Alice in Wonderland" in their cinemas

Well, it appears that AMC won't be the only ones possibly skipping "Alice in Wonderland"s theatrical run next month in the United Kingdom. According to an article on Variety.com, it appears that the UK's biggest theater chain, Odeon, is telling the Mouse House to take a hike in response to the studio's proposed move to release the film on DVD only three months after the film's theatrical debut. Ironically, the movie will have its world premiere this Thursday at Odeon's biggest theater in the UK, the Odeon Leicester Square (whose main house is easily the best theater I have ever been in).

"The Hurt Locker" continues its winning ways en route to the Oscars

The British Academy Awards, or BAFTAs, were held in London tonight. Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" dominated the ceremony, banishing James Cameron's "Avatar", expected to be it's toughest competitor for Best Film, to the secondary technical category wins of Best Visual Effects and Best Production Design. "Locker" snagged Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing and Sound.

Colin Firth snagged Best Actor for his work in "A Single Man" while Carrie Mulligan won Best Actress for her work in "An Education" (Mulligan is my personal pick for Best Actress at the Oscars). Mo'Nique continued to collect awards for her supporting turn in "Precious" while Christoph Waltz picked up another Best Supporting Actor award for "Inglourious Basterds". Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner picked up a Best Adapted Screenplay for "Up in the Air", while Pixar's "UP" won for Best Animated Feature.

While the BAFTAs are about as accurate a prediction of who will win at the Oscars as the Golden Globes are (translation: not really), the winners tonight are pretty much in line with people's guesses for the Oscars (Firth and Mulligan aside). I hope it's fairly on target. Bigelow's film deserves all the awards love it is bestowed, "UP" is one hell of a terrific animated feature (my overall pick for Best Film of 2009) and the less awards "Avatar" gets, the happier I am.

Viewers visit “Shutter Island” to the tune of $40 million

Following a delay of four months from its original October 2009 release date, Paramount’s “Shutter Island” opened to an excellent $40.2 million estimated gross at this weekend’s North American box office. The psychological thriller easily defeated last weekend’s trio of big openers, all of which saw sizeable drops from their holiday amounts.


Opening on 2,991 screens, the R-rated “Island” silenced the months of bad buzz that had built around the film online after Paramount decided to postpone the movie, citing financial reasons (who knows, maybe they were telling the truth?). The opening set a personal-best record opening for not only the film’s director, Martin Scorsese, but also for lead Leonardo DiCaprio, who teamed up for a fourth time following “Gangs of New York”, “The Aviator” and the 2006 Best Picture winner, “The Departed”. The film’s opening is also the ninth best opening for a February wide release. If word-of-mouth is good, Scorsese might be looking at his third $100 million-plus grossing film.

Fading as fast as a dozen of flowers sent to your sweetie last Sunday, the Warner Brothers ensemble comedy “Valentine’s Day” dropped by 69.5% to $17.1 million and a ten-day estimated take of $87.4 million. Considering that Valentine’s Day is a distant memory for most, a movie that centers on it was never meant to last that long at the box office. But word-of-mouth may be helping with the movie’s fast fade. Still, the movie has made quite a bit of coin in a short period of time, and should end with a domestic gross somewhere near $105-110 million.

Third spot went to “Avatar” which weathered the post-holiday drop very well, ebbing only 32% in its tenth weekend for a $16.1 million and a new estimated domestic cume of $687.8 million. Next weekend, watch for the 3-D sci-fi epic will cross the $700 million mark. With rumblings of an April 22nd home video date (honestly, what is the rush?) as well as the arrival of another big 3-D film, Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, in theaters on March 5th, where the Na’Vi movie goes after that box office-wise is anyone’s guess.

Should the current standoff between Disney and the AMC theater chain over the proposed shortened theatrical window for “Alice” continue and the chain does boycott the Burton film, “Avatar” may stay put in a lot of Digital 3-D theaters, easing the dramatic erosion that many online wags are predicting.

The second of Fox’s four films in the top ten, franchise hopeful “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, was down 51% from last weekend to land in fourth place with a $15.3 million take and a $58.7 million to-date gross. Watch for the film to end its run somewhere in the neighborhood of $85-90 million, which might not be enough to guarantee a sequel. Dropping a hairy 69% in its second weekend to fifth place was Universal’s pricey dud “The Wolfman”, howling up $9.8 million for the weekend for $50.3 million estimated total to date. Watch for the long-delayed production to end its domestic run near $65 million mark.

Teen weepie “Dear John” continued its fast fade from its big Super Bowl weekend opening, falling 55% to $7.3 million for a new total of $69 million. Seventh spot went to Fox’s durable family flick “The Tooth Fairy” with $4.5 million, off only 26% from last weekend for a new to-date $50 million gross. In eighth was Fox Searchlight’s Oscar-nominated “Crazy Heart” which sung to the tune of $3 million and a new total of $21 million.

Rounding out the top ten were two underperforming star-driven vehicles. John Travolta’s action dud “From Paris with Love” landed in ninth, down 55% from last weekend for $2.5 million and a new cume of $22 million. Enjoying its fourth and last weekend in the top ten was Mel Gibson’s thriller “Edge of Darkness” with $2.2 million and a $40.3 million gross.

Next weekend, the Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan comedy “Cop Out” arrives on the scene alongside the remake of George Romero’s 1970s horror flick “The Crazies”.

Sunday Morning Rant: A Very Unhappy Theatrical Birthday for "Alice in Wonderland"?

The new Tim Burton film "Alice in Wonderland" is easily one of, if not the, most anticipated films of the spring movie season. The big-budget 3-D family flick starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter (Burton) has been promoted endlessly on television and in theaters over the past few months, which has no doubt built quite a bit of anticipation in advance of its March 5th release date. I'm looking forward to it, but only because I think the CG version of the Cheshire Cat looks awesome. And, oh yeah, I think the Australian actress playing Alice, 21-year old Mia Wasikowska, is cute.

Anyway...

While Disney is trying as hard as possible to make "Alice" a big-screen event (especially in the more-expensive IMAX format), it appears that they are also looking to make that a brief theatrical event. According to online reports, Disney is looking to close "Alice" twelve short weeks after it opens worldwide (currently, the theatrical window is seventeen weeks). This way, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, the revenue streams from DVD/Blu-ray sales and rentals as well as other home video outlets (pay-per-view, On Demand, Redbox) can be maximized. According to Disney, the box office take is at its highest during the film's first three weeks of release (try telling that to James Cameron).

While this may prove true for "Alice in Wonderland", which will simultaneously launch worldwide on March 5th, one has to scratch their head to an extent over this move. After all, not everyone who loves to see movies on the big screen have the opportunity to rush out and see a movie right away. Some people do wait until the initial moviegoing rush quiets down, which can be anywhere from a few days (Valentine's Day) to a few months (Avatar). I, for one, hate a crowded theater thanks to morons who feel they need to talk out loud during the movie, play with their phones or kick the back of your seat. If I did not get to attend advance screenings, I would probably wait until the last minute to head to the theater to buy a ticket to see a film.

The movie viewer, however, isn't really the one that is going to suffer the most should Disney's proposed shortened theatrical run actually happen. It is, of course, the movie theater owners. It's bad enough that theaters had to shell out thousands of dollars in this economy to upgrade their projection equipment in order to facilitate Hollywood's move of releasing more films in digital (and digital 3-D). But to only have a handful of weeks to make any sort of money off of the big tentpole films like "Alice In Wonderland" (don't forget, theaters have to fork over a hefty percentage of the box office to the studios as well) is just rubbing salt on the wound.

While Hollywood might think it's their way or the highway, they may face some serious blowback over this move. The first volley in this battle may have come from theater chain AMC, who has threatened not to play "Alice in Wonderland" in any of their theaters worldwide. I'm not sure if AMC is the biggest global theater chain, but I do know that the film's overall gross would be seriously affected by such a boycott. After all, AMC can still keep those 3-D Digital dollars coming in with what is currently playing: "Avatar".

When I first read about this move, my first reaction was "Why the rush?" I can understand the need to combat online piracy by releasing it worldwide simultaneously, but rushing a big ticket flick like "Alice in Wonderland" to home video after three quick months isn't going to cut down on that. The majority of bootleg copies hit the internet within the first week of the film's release, and a majority of those who want to see the movie will not want to watch some shitty copy filmed off of a movie screen. They will either see it in the theater or they will rent/buy the legit copy on home video, be it three months (dumping a big picture like this on video in the summer months is an outright idiotic move) or six.

Let the damn movie play itself out for however long it takes. Five additional weeks in the theater will only result in one thing: additional dollars in your pocket. It might not be a tremendous amount of money, but it will sure as hell beat the amount that you lose by sticking to your guns.       
     

Refuge from the holiday weekend box office selections

Well, it was a record-setting weekend at the box office, with films such as "Valentine's Day", "The Wolfman", "Percy Jackson and the Olympians", "Avatar" and "Dear John" all posting decent-to-huge numbers, appealing to all demographics. What none of them, at least to me, offer was an actual decent movie to go out and see. Yes, I know "Valentine's Day" and "Dear John" were ideal date movies for Hallmark Card Day, "Percy Jackson" isn't aimed at 41 year olds and if you don't like "Avatar", you're a supporter of Al-Qaeda. But it still doesn't change the fact that the first three films mentioned were pretty roundly trashed by critics and the latter, well, I simply didn't care for. Why no mention of "The Wolfman"? Simple: I did see it and walked away pretty disappointed. Not an outright bomb, but a film that had plenty of potential that got pissed away in a torrent of production issues.

Today is Monday, February 15th, which is President's Day. A majority of us do have the day off. And if you don't have plans and were thinking that a movie might be a good way to spend a couple of the holiday's hours, what does one choose? Seeing "Valentine's Day" is about as fresh an idea as watching "A Christmas Carol" and "Dear John" should only be a choice if you're planning some post-Valentine's Day sex with your date. "The Wolfman" you should wait for home video to see if an extended version will help the film, while if you're going to see "Percy Jackson" without kids, you might want to be careful that the ushers don't take a picture of you to send to the National Sex Offenders registry for profiling. As for "Avatar", if you haven't seen it and want to, 3-D is the only way to fly (can't wait to hear the backlash when the film hits home video in 2-D).

The following are a few alternatives you might want to consider if you were in the mood for any of the above. Since they are all on home video, they are instantly cheaper alternatives and you don't have to deal with the crowds either.

Instead of "Valentine's Day", how about...

"(500) Days of Summer" or "Love Actually": Richard Curtis' 2004 box office hit would be the ideal substitute given its large cast of British stars (and a few Americans thrown in for good measure) and focus on the joys of romance around a holiday (albeit Christmas). But if you have already seen that and want something a little more current and shorter, then check out Marc Webb's inventive and very enjoyable comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

Instead of "Dear John", how about....

"The English Patient" or "Out of Africa". I'm sure that the two Oscar winners have nothing in common with the teenage weepie aside from having a male and female lead attempting a romantic relationship despite huge obstacles (like a war). But hey, if you're going to watch a romantic tearjerker with your mate, why not make it one that won't make you cringe (as most films directed by Lasse Hallstrom do) and one that earns its tears instead of manipulating them out of you.

Instead of "Percy Jackson", how about...

Any of the "Harry Potter" films outside of the first two? Okay, if you're planning on taking the kids to see "Percy", you need to come to terms with two things. The first is that deciding not to take the kids to the film is probably a lesson in futility. The other is that your kids probably not only own the Potter films, they've probably seen them enough times that they can tell you how each scene was shot and edited. But if you're over 18 and planning on seeing "Percy" on your own in a theater full of kids, and are a bit nervous about being labeled a Level Three sex offender, you might want to check out the "Potter" films in the privacy of your own home. That way at least you're not wrongly in jail when "Percy" hits home video in a few months.*

Instead of "The Wolfman", how about...

"An American Werewolf In London", "The Howling" or "Wolfen". It really has been quite some time since we have had a decent werewolf movie, 29 years to be precise. All three of these films came out in 1981, and all three handily beat Joe Johnston's $110 million misfire. With a mix of horror and comedy, both John Landis' "American Werewolf" and Joe Dante's "Howling" still manage to get both an occasional scare and many laughs, helped greatly by awesome makeup effects. Michael Wadleigh's "Wolfen" isn't really a werewolf movie per se, but it is an atmospheric horror film that deals with our furry four-legged friends.

Instead of "Avatar", how about...

A blank screen? Ha ha. Just kidding.

"District 9", "Star Trek" (2009), "Wall-E" or "Dances with Wolves"?

Now, none of these films are ones that people have overlooked (and one isn't even science-fiction), but they are all far better than James Cameron's bloated money-making epic. If you're looking for a sci-fi film that actually involves the viewer on some sort of emotional level to go with the kick-ass action and effects, then "District 9" and J.J. Abrams' kick-ass reboot of "Trek" more than do the trick. If you want an involving sci-fi film with a decent eco message attached to it, then check out Pixar's 2008 animated winner. And if you want to see what is basically the same story as "Avatar" without putting on 3-D glasses or enduring Cameron's tin ear for dialogue and cardboard characters, then check out Kevin Costner's 1990 masterpiece.  

*= obviously, I am just kidding.

A Happy “Valentine’s Day” for the North American box office

The start of the Winter Olympic Games had little to no effect on the North American box office this holiday weekend according to early estimates. Not only did the new Warner Brothers romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” take advantage of the Sunday Hallmark holiday of the same name to haul in big bucks, Universal’s remake of “The Wolfman”, 20th Century Fox’s family fantasy “Percy Jackson” and Fox’s unstoppable “Avatar” all posted great weekend numbers.


With a cast whose volume rivals only the amount of negative reviews the film received, Garry Marshall’s “Valentine’s Day” smooched up a huge $52.41 million from in its first three days. The heavily-hyped comedy, featuring the demographic-pleasing likes of singer Taylor Swift, ”Twilight” hunk Taylor Lautner, Aston Kutcher, Jamie Foxx and Julia Roberts (the latter representing the ‘Where are they now?’ demographic), made sure it made the most of the twin holiday weekend by opening on a mega-wide 3,666 screen count. While the numbers were huge, so much so that the film’s opening stands as one of the biggest for a February, its real popularity and endurance tests will start on Monday, a.k.a. the day after V-Day.

In second spot was the new franchise hopeful “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” with an estimated gross of $31.1 for its first three days from 3,356 screens. Directed by “Harry Potter” helmer Chris Columbus (the first two, that is), the new family fantasy flick (based on a best-selling series of books, naturally) didn’t have a holiday to tie into like “Valentine’s Day” did, but that didn’t seem to matter much. The kids know the books; the ads make the film look like another “Potter” and having an “HP” series director as a selling point was more than enough to get the families into the multiplexes. Should the tykes like what they see and come back for seconds and thirds over the next few weekends, there will no doubt be a follow up heading our way shortly.

It may have taken a few years, two directors, rewrites, reshoots and heavy duty reedits to reach movie screens, but Universal’s big-budget horror flick “The Wolfman” arrived this weekend to howl up a very healthy $30.6 million estimate from 3,222 screens. Overall, the reviews for the $80 film were pretty savage, but opening weekend crowds for horror films rarely pay attention to what critics have to say. Instead of staying away, horror fans and those drawn by the A-list casting of Benecio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving showed up in force for the remake of the 1941 classic. The opening wasn’t as big as the studio’s successful reboot of “The Mummy”, but then again those films had two big advantages: summertime openings and more importantly, a PG-13 rating for each entry.

Fourth spot went to the 20th Century Fox phenomenon “Avatar”, which had another huge weekend with an estimated gross of $22 million, off only four percent from last weekend’s take. The new total is $659.6 million, with the $700 million mark sure to be passed within the next two weeks.

In fifth spot was last weekend’s number one film, the teen weepie “Dear John” which dropped 50% to $15.3 million for an estimated ten-day total of $53.1 million. The film gave back the top spot to “Avatar” on Monday, which was the first sign that word-of-mouth might not be less than stellar. Dropping from first to fifth on a weekend with a love-themed holiday would be another.

“Avatar” wasn’t the only Fox film holding its own in the crowded marketplace. The studio’s family comedy “The Tooth Fairy” dropped only 15% for a weekend gross of $5.6 million to bring its total to $42 million to date. Granted, it’s no “Avatar”, but the film has been hanging tough on the weekends, surviving even the arrival of “Percy Jackson”. If this keeps up, the movie might finish with a surprising $60 domestic haul.

Seventh spot went to John Travolta’s action flick “From Paris with Love”, off 41% to $4.7 million and a 10-day haul of $15.8 million. Mel Gibson’s “Edge of Darkness” pulled in $4.6 million for a $36 million total. Ninth spot went to Oscar nominee “Crazy Heart”, which added another 120 screens to its run for an estimated $4 million gross ($16.5 million to date). Rounding out the top ten was Denzel Washington’s “The Book of Eli” with $3.28 million and an estimated total of $87.2 million.

Next week, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio return to the big screen with their fourth collaboration, the psychological thriller “Shutter Island”.

Whoo Hoo! Part Deux

I'm very happy to report that my recent review for the Criterion edition of "Paris, Texas" has made it onto the official website of that film's director, Wim Wenders.

As was the case with the posting of my review for Wenders' "Wings of Desire" late last fall, I am very honored to have one of my reviews associated with the site. My very sincere thanks to not only Wenders' site for the honor, but also for TheHDRoom for giving me the chance to write about both movies.

Weekend Box Office: Dear John, today we sent the planet Pandora packing…

Well, it was bound to happen someday.

After a near two-month stay at the top of the North American Box Office, the phenomenon that is “Avatar” is no longer the number one film in the country. This weekend, the chick flick “Dear John” arrived and wrote up a huge $32.4 million worth of love letters in the form of weekend ticket sales. If the projected sales hold, then “John” will have set a new record for the otherwise dormant Super Bowl weekend, when viewers turn their thoughts to the Big Game.

Released by Sony’s Screen Gems division, the big screen adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel exceeded all expectations, overcoming not only the Super Bowl weekend jinx, but also a major mid-Atlantic blizzard that closed many theaters in the states that got hit. Even though the film’s target demographic, teenage girls, won’t be glued to their sets watching the Colts battle the Saints, “John”s Sunday sales will no doubt see a sizeable dip from the day before. Still, I’m sure Sony isn’t too worried about that erosion. After all, next weekend is Valentine’s Day, a holiday that seems tailor-made for a film like this.

As for Cameron’s Big Blue epic, don’t start writing up its box office obituary just yet. While it may have abdicated the weekend box office throne, it is hardly down and out. Once again, “Avatar” hauled in another truckload of cash for distributor 20th Century Fox. Off only a scant 24 percent from last weekend’s $31.2 million haul, ‘Avatar’s estimated take of $23.6 million now gives the Best Picture Oscar contender a new domestic take of $630 million. Globally, the current take is hovering around the $2.12 billion dollar mark.

Arriving with a rather loud thud was Lionsgate’s new action comedy “From Paris with Love” with $8.1 million. There are a number of factors that could be attributed to film’s lackluster opening: its genre-shifting ad campaign, toxic reviews, an overcrowded action market with better choices for males or perhaps the simple fact that John Travolta is no longer a big box office draw. Whatever the reason, the film is dead on arrival, marking the second 2010 dud for Lionsgate following the Jackie Chan family comedy “The Spy Next Door” (remember that one, folks? I didn’t think so.)

Fading fast in fourth place was Mel Gibson’s revenge drama “Edge of Darkness”, taking in a bloodless $7 million, down 59% from its $17.1 million opening for a ten-day total of $29.2 million. While the big game and the blizzard may have sapped the Warner film a bit more than a normal second weekend might have, it’s pretty clear that audiences haven’t been overly enthralled by Mel’s big screen return. Depending on whether the film stabilizes next weekend or not, Gibbo’s comeback film might wind up on the edge of a small $40 million domestic take.

Once again, the Dwayne Johnson family comedy “The Tooth Fairy” held up better than expected with a $6.5 million gross and a new estimated total of $37 million to date. Weekend matinees, and a lack of direct competition, once again have given the comedy surprising staying power. However, next week should prove different as the heavily-hyped “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” debuts.

In sixth place was the Kristen Bell comedy “When in Rome”, which dropped close to 60% from its opening weekend with a $5.6 million gross and a new estimated total of $21 million to date. Seventh spot went to “The Book of Eli” with a $4.8 million weekend estimated take and an estimated total of $82.1 million.

In eighth spot, its first weekend of wide release, was the Jeff Bridges drama “Crazy Heart” with an estimated $3.6 million from 819 screens. Fox Searchlight has been playing successfully expanding the film since mid-December, building on the multitude of awards that Bridges has been collecting in the weeks leading up to last week’s Oscar announcements. Since this film is one of the least-seen of this year’s Oscar nominees, “Heart” stands to gain the most ticket sale-wise (“The Hurt Locker” is currently on home video and is doing solid business there). To date, “Crazy Heart” has hauled in $11.4 million and should pull at least double that amount, if not more, over the next several weeks.

Rounding out the top ten were two holdovers enjoying what may be their last weekend in the group. “Legion” fell another 52 percent to bring in $3.4 million and a new gross to date of $34.6 million, while”Sherlock Holmes” finally broke the $200 million barrier with its $2.6 million weekend take and a new cume of $201 million.

Aside from “Percy Jackson”, next weekend also sees the arrival of the Universal horror film “The Wolfman” and the ensemble romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day”.

New Review: Paris, Texas (Criterion Blu-Ray)

As if their superb edition of "Wings of Desire" wasn't enough to satisfy Wim Wenders fans, the fine folks at Criterion have seen fit to release a full-blown special edition of his 1984 drama "Paris, Texas" on DVD and Blu-ray as well. I've posted a review at The HDRoom.com. If you've never seen the film, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is easily one of the best dramatic films made during the first half of the 1980s.  

New Review: Gangs of New York (Remastered Blu-Ray Edition)

Buena Vista Home Video has reissued the blu-ray edition of Martin Scorsese's 2002 drama "Gangs of New York" this week, and my review of the revised picture and audio quality can be found here. The original blu-ray edition was, simply put, a piece of high-def shit. It looked awful and didn't sound much better. Thankfully, someone with some pull (Marty, perhaps?) got hold of that edition and talked some sense into the Mouse House. If you're a fan of the film and own a blu-ray player, you'll want to check out my review to see if it's worth your hard-earned coin.

Now if someone could only get Paramount's head out of its ass so they could see how awful their blu-ray of "Gladiator" looks...

The Oscar Nominations: More movies! Less Interest!

Well, the 2009 Oscar nominations were announced this morning and as usual, there was a mix of good, bad and some true "WTF" choices. As you know by now, the field for Best Picture has been expanded to ten movies from five. This is the first time in over six decades that there have been ten films up for the top prize, and this retro move is a desperate attempt by an ancient ceremony to pull more viewers in to the annual broadcast. That facet is cemented by several of the choices for Best Picture nominees: "The Blind Side" (which my dear friend Terry has nicknamed "Thanks, White Lady!"), "District 9", "Avatar" and "Up", a blockbuster that actually deserved its nomination. Whether this expansion pulls more viewers in on March 7th or simply makes the unbearably long show even longer has yet to be seen.

So, what was I happy about this morning's nomination news? Considering how shitty 2009 was overall for American cinema, a surprising amount.

BEST PICTURE:

Pixar's "Up" is the first animated film since "Beauty and the Beast" to be up for Best Picture, and it's certainly worthy of that nomination. Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air", the British drama "An Education" and Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" are also worthy of a nod, but it is the nomination for Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" that I am truly excited about. After Bigelow won the DGA award last week and the film won the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture, it looks like that the little indie that could might go all the way.

As for the other nominees, I'm a bit befuddled by the nomination for the very overrated Coen Brothers comedy "A Serious Man", which is only up for Best Picture because the Academy couldn't see fit to nominate "Star Trek" (one sci-fi flick too many?). I really enjoyed Neill Blomkamp's "District 9", but I would rather of had "Trek" be the second sci-fi film in the running for Best Picture. "Avatar" and "The Blind Side" are nominees earned only by their runaway box office successes, while "Precious" is the other little indie film that could, although the enthusiasm for that film peaked far too soon for its own good.

BEST DIRECTOR

The nominees played out exactly as I expected: James Cameron (Avatar), Lee Daniels (Precious), Quentin Tarantino (Basterds), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker). Glad to see Reitman, Tarantino and Bigelow in the running, could care less about Cameron's nod (I haven't seen "Precious" yet so I can't comment on Daniels' work). In the end, my money is on Bigelow, and it will be a truly great moment to see the first woman deservedly win Best Director.

BEST ACTOR

Also known as "The 2009 Jeff Bridges Award". It's great to see Bridges finally get some awards love, this time for his performance as an alcoholic Country singer in "Crazy Heart". George Clooney also got a nomination for his terrific work in "Up in the Air". Morgan Freeman got a respective nomination for his turn as Nelson Mandella in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" while Jeremy Renner was bestowed his first nomination for his career-making turn in "The Hurt Locker". Colin Firth rounded out the category with his celebrated turn in "A Single Man".

BEST ACTRESS

I was very happy to see Carey Mulligan nab a nomination for her terrific performance in "An Education" as well as Meryl Streep for his great work as Julia Childs in last summer's "Julie and Julia". As mentioned earlier, I haven't seen "Precious" but I'm more than certain that Gabourey Sidibe's work in the film is more than worthy of a nomination. I also haven't seen "The Last Station", but is there any doubt about Helen Mirren's performance? Didn't think so.

That leaves Sandra Bullock and her work in the sleeper smash "The Blind Side". She won a Golden Globe award and the Screen Actors Guild award, so there is a pretty good chance she will be winning the Best Actress award as well. Come on, Academy. Give it to Carey Mulligan. After all, she didn't star in the likes of "Speed 2" or "All About Steve". That has to count for something.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/ACTRESS

Since the only performances that I saw in the Best Supporting Actress category were the ones from "Up in the Air", I'd have to say that I was happy to see both Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga get nominations. I doubt either will win, though. I think Mo'Nique will win for her work in "Precious", but you never know.

In the Supporting Actor category, I was very happy to see Christoph Waltz get nominated for his work in "Inglourious Basterds" (That is a bingo!) and will be even happier when he wins the award on March 7th. What I can't fathom are the nominations for Stanley Tucci in the atrocious "The Lovely Bones" and Matt Damon for his work in "Invictus". If Tucci was to be nominated for a performance, it should have been for his solid supporting turn in "Julie and Julia" and instead of Damon, Anthony Mackie should have been nominated for his excellent turn in "The Hurt Locker". Hell, for his final scene alone he deserved a nomination.

At the very least, at least the Academy saw fit not to bestow "Avatar" with nominations for its acting (do you nominate a computer program or the actor beneath the animation?) or writing. I'm still reeling from the notion that Cameron got a Writer's Guild of America nomination for Best Original Screenplay (define 'original', people).