Del Toro leaves "The Hobbit" over stalled MGM sale

"Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo Del Toro has given up directorial duties on the upcoming film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit", according to an official statement posted by the acclaimed director on TheOneRing.net website. Del Toro stated that his departure was due to the ongoing production delays caused solely by the sale of MGM Studios, who owns part of the film's rights. As there has been no buyer for the long-troubled studio, no productions have been greenlit to commence filming for the studio. This includes the latest James Bond adventure, which was set to begin shooting this summer under the direction of "American Beauty" helmer Sam Mendes. Del Toro will continue to work on the screenplay with "Lord of the Rings" writers Phillipa Boyens, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson, the latter who has gone on record stating that he will not replace Del Toro as director on the two "Hobbit" films.

Following the debacle that was "The Lovely Bones", I think that is a mistake. Jackson needs a sure-fire hit to get him back on track, although the upcoming "Adventures of TinTin" might do the trick for that. Still, since Jackson did such a great job with bringing the "Lord of the Rings" films to the big screen, he would be a perfect choice to continue bringing the world of Middle Earth to movie sceens. But if he is adamant about serving only as producer and co-screenwriter, then so be it. While I think he should be back, I can also see why he might opt out of it. He spent seven years on the "Rings" trilogy, and if you factor in his pre-production work on "The Hobbit" and (for argument's sake) another 3 years or so on the actual "Hobbit" production, we are talking about spending a solid decade plus toiling around Middle Earth, which is a lot of time on any type of project.

So, who would be an ideal substitute for Del Toro? There are plenty of choices. Sam Raimi is free of the reigns of "Spider-Man" (he could even work Bruce Campbell in somewhere!). I'd say Tim Burton but after blowing "Alice in Wonderland", he's not really worthy of consideration. Perhaps Tomas Alfredson, who atmospheric "Let the Right One In" was one of the best vampire films made in the past decade or so? Or maybe Neill Blomkap, the young filmmaker who already has worked with Peter Jackson on the superb sci-fi drama "District 9"?

All good candidates, but the person I really would like to see call the shots outside of Jackson would be Alfonso Cuaron, the superb Mexican filmmaker who brought us "Children of Men", "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and the true standout of the "Harry Potter" franchise, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". His unique filmmaking vision would be perfect for delivering a Middle Earth worthy of comparison to Jackson's. Of course, everything is pending on the sale of MGM, which I think is close to being placed in a Wal-Mart bargain bin. It really is a shame that a business sale has driven a talented filmmaker away from a dream project (I think he would have done a fine job with the films). Hopefully, this stalled sale won't also drive Sam Mendes away from the 007 project.

Happy Birthday, Clint Eastwood!

While we mourn the loss of one Hollywood legend this past weekend, Dennis Hopper, let us celebrate the 80th (!!) birthday of another Hollywood legend that is happily still with us: Clint Eastwood. I won't give you a half-assed version of a recap on Clint's remarkable career thus far. But I will list some of my favorite work from the acting icon who has also become one of America's most prolific directors as well.

1) Letters From Iwo Jima: a look at the battle of Iwo Jima from the viewpoint of the Japanese with nary a word of English spoken in it (just a few lines). Easily one of the best movies from the last decade and one of the best war films I have ever seen, this is also the best movie that Eastwood has directed to date.

2) Dirty Harry: my all-time favorite police thriller, Don Siegel's 1971 hit was the movie that made Eastwood a major Hollywood player and rightfully so. Bit of trivia: keep an eye out for a movie marquee at the beginning of the film. The name of the film on the marquee? "Play Misty for Me", Eastwood's first big directorial effort.

3) The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Pre-Dirty Harry, this was Clint at his coolest. Sergio Leone's big, operatic conclusion to his "Man With No Name" trilogy had Eastwood squaring off against the likes of Eli Wallach and the late Lee Van Cleef to find some Civil War Gold.

4) Unforgiven: Clint starred and directed in this 1992 Oscar-winner, the first time Eastwood won an Oscar. Dark, somber and completely engrossing, this tale of revenge and morality was to Eastwood's career what "Schindler's List" was to Steven Spielberg's: a major move forward into the realm of becoming a world-class filmmaker.

5) Million Dollar Baby: Even if the family of Hillary Swank's character was brushed in some pretty broad strokes (the only thing missing was a broken-down trailer in the background), Eastwood's 2004 Oscar winner had more heart and emotional heft to it than any of his other work (yes, even Unforgiven and Bridges of Madison County). And while I love Eastwood's acting in "Dirty Harry" and the Leone trilogy, his work as the crusty boxing trainer in this film is easily his finest hour as an actor.

6) The Outlaw Josey Wales: "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy." Clint seeks revenge on the Union soldiers who killed his wife and son in this 1976 Western classic. Eastwood took over directorial duties when "Right Stuff" director Philip Kaufmann left the production. Eastwood lists this as his personal favorite of all the films he has made (Even more than "Pink Cadillac"? Really?)

7) Mystic River: Clint's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's Boston-based novel is a remarkable piece of work, an engrossing character study that boasts a stellar ensemble cast that includes two Oscar-winning turns from Sean Penn and Tim Robbins.

8) Gran Torino: The movie might not be one of Clint's best works as a director, but as an actor it gave him the chance to command the screen once more. And some of the lines his character comes up with during the movie are hilarious (if completely un-PC).

9) The Bridges of Madison County: Gasp if you want, but Clint did the impossible with this 1995 tearjerker: he made an unreadable book into a great romantic drama, and gave a terrific performance that stood toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep's Oscar-nominated work.

10) In the Line of Fire: I'm not a huge fan of Wolfgang Petersen's 1993 assassination thriller, but Clint sure did a fine job as the Secret Service agent out to stop John Malkovich from carrying out his job. Worth watching if only to see the two square off several times...on the phone.

Weekend Box Office: Shrek decks newcomers to win slow Memorial Day weekend

The Memorial Day weekend box office, which usually yields Hollywood with some of its biggest numbers of the year, turned out to be a bit of a sleeping giant this year. Thanks to mediocre bows by the critically-maligned pics "Sex and the City 2" and "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and merely okay holds by "Shrek Forever After" and "Iron Man 2", box office dipped 14% from last year's numbers and 13% from the same weekend in 2008.

There were two major factors contributing to this weekend's underwhelming box office: high ticket prices and a lack of enticing product. if you look at the past half decade or so, each Memorial Day weekend had a big event picture: 2005 had the final "Revenge of the Sith", 2006 presented "X-Men: The Final Stand", 2007 saw the debut of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", 2008 saw the return of a certain archeologist in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and those who loved the original "Night at the Museum" in 2006 were offered "Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian" in 2009. While I know the fans of "Sex and the City" are legion and there are millions of people who have played the "Prince of Persia" videogame series, were many desiring either of the new films? I thought not.

Please note that the estimated grosses reported in this article are based on Friday-to-Sunday ticket sales.

Benefitting from those 3-D and IMAX ticket prices and a lack of interest in other multiplex offerings, "Shrek Forever After" stayed at the top spot this weekend with an estimated gross of $43.4 million from 4,367 screens for a new ten-day total of $133.5 million to date. Off a respectable 38% from last weekend's $70 million debut (maybe families are digging it more than anyone else?), the film could finish in the $210-220 million range, which would still be the lowest of the long-running Dreamworks Animation franchise.

The film expected to take the top spot this holiday weekend, "Sex and the City 2", underperformed with a $32.1 million three-day weekend estimate 3,445 screens and an overall gross of $46.3 million since Thursday. In comparison, the original opened two years ago this weekend (a non-holiday weekend at that) on fewer screens to a huge $57 million 3-day gross. The sequel, which was all but eviscerated by the critics, was pegged to have grossed $65-75 million for its first five days.

Sequels are always expected to drop a bit over successive days as devout fans turn out en masse on opening day, but even those numbers were lower than the originals (Opening day was $14.2 for the sequel, $26.7 million for the original). The lower-than-expected box office debut for the $95 million production proves two things, the first being that perhaps not as many people liked the first one as Warner/New Line had thought. Secondly, the word-of-mouth on the new film from fans appears to be mirroring the critics. For a third film to occur (God help us all), the foreign box office is going to have to save the day.

In third place with a somewhat weak $30.1 million take from 3,646 screens was Disney's big-budget Jerry Bruckheimer production "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time". Filmed over two years ago under the direction of Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral), the delayed big screen version of the hit videogame series suffered from a lackluster ad campaign (has there been one ad that has mentioned the videogame series?), critical indifference and the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal is NOT a big box office draw (a good actor, just not a marquee name). Adding to the Prince's box office woes was the fact that the "Shrek" sequel offered families a PG-rated alternative to the PG-13 violence and intensity of "Persia". Families were a key demographic that Disney was hoping to tap into for a big holiday box office start. As with "Sex and the City 2", "Persia" will have to set its sights on the global box office to recoup its pricey production costs.

Down 39% from last weekend, was Paramount/Marvel's "Iron Man 2" landed with a $16 million weekend estimate and now has a new domestic total of $274.6 million. The film is still on track to either match or pass the original's $318 million take. In fifth place with a $10.3 million take was Universal's costly "Robin Hood". Off 45% from last weekend, the film has brought in a so-so $83.5 million in domestic ticket sales thus far. Overseas, the Ridley Scott film has found bigger success by bagging a big $155 million thus far.

In sixth place is the Amanda Seyfried film "Letters to Juliet" with an estimated take of $5.9 million in sales and a new to-date gross of $36.6 million. Seventh spot went to the NBA comedy "Just Wright" with $2.2 million and a $18.1 estimated to-date gross. In eighth place with a 40% drop was the long-running "Date Night", which added $1.75 million to its domestic total, which now stands at a winning $93.5 million.

Dropping 63.5% but somehow managing to stay in the top ten was the Universal bomb "MacGruber" with a $1.4 million take and a horrible ten-day take of $7 million. It's kind of scary to state that the movie will not recoup its $10 million production cost at the box office (remember, half of the gross is usually what is sent to the studios). Rounding out the top ten is another long-running winner from this past Spring, Dreamworks' "How to Train Your Dragon", which dropped another 46% to $1.02 million and a new domestic total of $212.6 million to date.

Next weekend, the very funny Universal comedy "Get Him to the Greek" debuts, along with the Aston Kutcher/Katherine Heigl action comedy "Killers", the horror film "Splice" starring Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley and Fox's live-action family comedy "Marmaduke", featuring the voice of Owen Wilson as the dog.

Dennis Hopper: 1936-2010

Character actor, director, photographer Dennis Hopper lost his battle to Prostate Cancer today in Los Angeles. He was 74 years of age. A true rebel in every sense of the word, Hopper got his start in the landmark 1950s drama "Rebel Without A Cause" and had roles in such films as "Cool Hand Luke", "Giant" and "Hang 'Em High" (along with dozens of television roles) prior to really making his mark writing, co-starring and directing the 1969 counterculture classic "Easy Rider". Made for a scant $350,000, the film went on to gross $40 million (in 1960s money, mind you).

It was at that point that Hopper's world, both professional and personal, began to unravel in major ways. His drug and alcohol abuse was legendary, and his behavior both on set and off made Hopper a very undesireable actor to work with (legend has it that John Wayne chased Hopper around the set with a loaded gun during the filming of "True Grit"). In fact, the only notable Hollywood film that Hopper starred during the 1970s was Francis Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", where he played the off-kilter photojournalist who resides at the Kurtz Compound in the film's third act.

In 1980, Hopper returned to directing with the critically-acclaimed "Out of the Blue". Most of his acting work in the first half of the 1980s was in fairly forgettable movies (My Science Project, anyone?) but at least Hollywood was beginning to indicate that it wanted to work with the "enfant terrible" again. In 1986, with Hopper finally conquering his addictions, Hopper began to hit his late-career stride. With memorable roles in three movies, "Blue Velvet", "River's Edge" and his one and only Oscar-nominated turn in the basketball drama "Hoosiers", Hopper was starting to become a recognizable star again. He even directed his first movie in eight years, the 1988 controversial gang drama "Colors", which was a hit with both critics and audiences.

The 1990s and the first decade of the new millenium saw Hopper starring in films such as "Speed", "True Romance", "Waterworld", "EDtv", "Red Rock West", the first season of TV's recently-cancelled "24" and the cable-tv version of the Oscar-winning film "Crash".

Most of Hopper's roles found him playing lunatics, dangerous psychopaths, or rebels, roles which seemed to be an extension of some sort of Hopper's personality. While that certainly makes for a scary image if one was to meet Hopper, especially in the days where he reportedly downed a gallon of rum a day, it certainly helped fuel his talent. Dennis Hopper was quite the talented actor and his directing was nothing to sneeze at either (I have never seen the 1971 film that derailed him for the better part of that decade, "The Last Movie"). His Frank Booth was and is one of the scariest villians ever created for cinema, which would not have worked one-tenth as well as it did had anyone else played the character. And while his character in "True Romance" was neither a psychopath, nutjob or rebel, his ballsy send off speech to Christopher Walken and his goons was one of the highlights of the 1993 film year. I think that scene is the way that I want to remember Dennis Hopper going out: knowing that his time is up but flipping off establishment in grand style while doing so.

Rest in Peace, Easy Rider. And thanks.

Weekend Box Office: "Shrek" crushes competition, but not as strongly as anticipated; "MacGruber" DOA

Two new movies arrived at the North American box office this weekend: the fourth and reportedly final entry in the lucrative "Shrek" franchise "Shrek Forever After" and the big-screen debut of the "Saturday Night Live" skit character "MacGruber". While the Jolly Green Ogre made a decent debut, MacGruber was stillborn from day one.

With a massive screen count (4,359 venues) that included a record amount of 3-D and IMAX venues, "Shrek Forever After" was forecasted to debut somewhere between the openings of "Shrek 2" ($108 million) and "Shrek the Third" ($121 million). While an estimated $71.3 million opening weekend is nothing to sneeze at, the numbers are indicating that perhaps this series has outstayed its welcome. Friday's take was $20.8 million, lower than the $28.3 million opening Friday haul for part two (it opened on a Wednesday) and nearly 50% lower than the $38.4 million Friday debut for part three. For the new film, Saturday saw sales spike 38% to $28.8 million and Paramount was estimating a 25% drop on Sunday to $21.6 million.

Several factors can be attributed to the lower-than-expected debut of "Shrek Forever After": the reviews from critics was middling-to-negative at best and the ridiculously high prices for 3-D and IMAX screenings may have proved to be too rich for some viewers (can't say I blame them in the least). Perhaps more than anything else, many may have had more than enough of Shrek, Donkey and Fiona after three films. While it was a big hit financially, "Shrek the Third" was a weak rehash of the first two films that didn't go over well with most who saw it (that are older than six years old). The ads for the new film, which referred it as "Shrek the Final Chapter" instead of its actual title, didn't promise anything new outside of 3-D.

With no real direct competition facing Shrek over the next few weeks (Pixar's "Toy Story 3" arrives in mid-June) and with Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, the film may squeak by the $200 million mark when all is said and done, making it the lowest-grossing of the series. Dreamworks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg is no doubt breathing a sigh of relief that the studio opted to stop after four films as opposed to the six they had originally planned.

If audiences were starting to tire of Shrek, they were all but ignoring MacGruber, the "Saturday Night Live" skit character created by Will Forte. Debuting on a wide 2,551 screen count, the Universal comedy was one bomb the "MacGuyver" spoof character could not safely detonate. The sixth place, $4.1 million debut haul was outright awful, indicating once again that just because people get a chuckle or two out of a recurring character on a television show in 90-second increments doesn't necessarily mean they will go and pay $12 to watch it for 90 minutes in the theater.

In second place for the weekend was the Paramount/Marvel Studios hit "Iron Man 2", which added an additional $26.6 million to its coffers to bring its domestic total to $251.2 million. Off 49% from last weekend's haul, the film is on track to finish its domestic run close to the $318 million earned by the 2008 original. In third place was Universal's "Robin Hood" which had $18.7 million in ticket sales, bringing its ten-day estimated total to $66.1 million. Off 48% from last weekend's debut, audiences seem to be a little more receptive to the film than critics were last weekend. Depending on how well the film holds over the next few weekends, the Ridley Scott production has a good shot at ending its domestic run above or near the $100 million mark. Overseas, the film is a big hit with a foreign haul of $125 million to date, which brings its global total to $191 million.

Amanda Seyfried's romance flick "Letters to Juliet" held up quite well this weekend with an estimated $9.1 million in sales for a ten-day total of $27.4 million. Off only 32%, the film could finish somewhere in the neighborhood of $45-50 million for distributor Summit Entertainment. In fifth place was the Fox Searchlight basketball comedy "Just Wright". Off 49%, the Queen Latifah film dunked $4.225 million in sales to bring the movie's estimated domestic gross to $14.6 million. Hanging tough in seventh place was Fox's comedy hit "Date Night", which dropped a slight 26% to $2.8 million and a new total of $90.6 million to date. In eighth place was Warner/New Line's remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street", which was off 51% to $2.3 million and an overall gross of $60 million to date.

With "Shrek" arriving on the scene this weekend to steal away most of its 3-D screens, Dreamworks' other animated feature in the market, "How to Train Your Dragon", dropped 63% from last weekend's take to gross $1.8 million in ticket sales to bring that film's domestic total to $211 million to date, just four million dollars shy of the final gross generated by Dreamworks Animation's highest non-Shrek cartoon, 2008's "Kung Fu Panda". Rounding out the top ten this weekend is the Bollywood flick "Kites", which debuted on 208 screens for a $952,000 estimated domestic gross.

Next weekend sees the debut of the torture porn epic "Sex and the City 2" on Thursday and the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time" on Friday to duke it out with Shrek, Tony Stark and Robin Hood for your holiday weekend ticket money.

Friday Box Office Estimates: "Shrek" so-so debut, "MacGruber" Bombs

Two new films opened on Friday, one a big sequel and one a spin off of a 90-second skit character from "Saturday Night Live". Judging by the numbers generated by both films, audiences' interest ranged from moderate to downright non-existent.

Opening on a massive 4,359 screen count (apparently, they couldn't find those two screens to pass the screen count record set by "Iron Man 2") with many of those being pricey 3-D and even pricier IMAX 3-D screens, Paramount/Dreamworks' sequel "Shrek Forever After" (aka "Shrek the Final Chapter" in TV ads) opened Friday with a so-so estimated take of $20 million. The film will no doubt surge on Saturday as families will travel out en masse to see the reportedly final chapter of the giant Green Ogre and his pals, but overall the weekend take will fall quite short of the openings of the last two entries.

The 2004 sequel scored $108 million in its opening weekend and the 2007 entry pulled a huge $121 million in opening weekend sales. Keep in mind that those two films also achieved their grosses without the benefit of 3-D, IMAX, higher-priced tickets or a screen count as big as the new film. An opening weekend gross of $75 million is now expected, considerably lower than the $100 million prediction many made this past week.

Films based on "Saturday Night Live" rarely have done well at the box office, which may explain why we have seen fewer and fewer being made. That didn't stop Universal from producing the low-budget big-screen version of the "MacGuyver" spoof "MacGruber". The budget was pretty non-existent (somewhere between $10-15 million) for the comedy, which should have made it easy for the movie to recoup its costs at the box office. Well, that might not be the case. The $1.6 million taken in on Friday is pointing to a debut weekend gross of $5-6 million in sales. And unless the word-of-mouth is golden, the box office is heading only one way after this weekend: down. Maybe Will Forte should have enlisted the help of Betty White to bring viewers in.

In the holdovers department, "Iron Man 2" entered its third weekend with roughly $8 million in sales on Friday and is looking at a weekend take of $27 million. Down roughly 45%, the Paramount hit should pass the quarter-billion dollar mark by Sunday. Universal's "Robin Hood" scored an estimated $6 million on Friday, which is down 55% from the same day a week ago. For the weekend, the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe adventure flick should bring in roughly $18 million to bring its ten-day total to a respectable (if a tad underwhelming in the eyes of the studio) $65 million. Summit Entertainment's "Letters to Juliet" addressed $3 million in sales on Friday and is looking at a weekend haul of roughly $9 million to bring its ten-day total to $28 million.

Check back on Sunday for a weekend box office round up.

A Not-So-Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Not Too Far Away...

Thirty years ago today, "The Empire Strikes Back" debuted in limited release in advance to commanding the 1980 Summer Movie Season. I was a mere 11 years old when the movie debuted, and even back then I thought it was better than the 1977 original. Then again, I also thought that "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was better than the original "Star Wars", which made me a pariah of the playground in the late '70s (I still get shit for it now as well).

So, what made the second chapter of the "Star Wars" saga better than the original? Well, for starters it wasn't simply a repeat of the original. It did what all sequels should do: take the characters we knew and loved from the original and further develop them while taking them in new and occasionally unexpected directions (thanks in no small part to the excellent direction by Irvin Kershner). It also introduced a handful of characters to the mix without overcrowding the film: Yoda, Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett and The Emperor all made their first film appearances here (Boba debuted in an animated segment from the horrific 1978 "Star Wars Holiday Special").

But that wasn't the only element that made the movie a more satisfying experience. Every facet of the production seemed to be improved upon from the 1977 original (okay, nothing can top the Death Star attack of the original). John Williams' music score ranks up there with his best work, the acting by the likes of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford hit their franchise highs here, and of course, the visual effects by Industrial Light and Magic showed a major leap forward in terms of overall quality. Series creator George Lucas, Kershner and their superb cast and crew could have easily just repeated what was so successfully carried out by the original with "The Empire Strikes Back", but they didn't. Instead, they put their best foot forward and came up with the second best sequel of all time ("Godfather Part II" being the first).

Unfortunately, everyone decided to phone it in with the next installment, 1983's entertaining but ultimately uninspired conclusion, "Return of the Jedi". That film's mixed results haven't tarnished what "A New Hope" and "Empire" accomplished, but it definitely made the accomplishments of the first two chapters all the more impressive.

"Robin Hood" and the Not-So-Merry Men That Brought it to the Screen

There is a very interesting article online at New York Magazine that details the extremely troubled production that became the new "Robin Hood" movie. It's the tale of how multiple screenwriters, different approaches to the material and the clashing egos of a director and star whose careers are currently not-all-that-hot came together to make the $200 million snoozer that debuted last Friday. In fact, I have to admit that the production stories that I have read about the movie since it debuted have been far more involving than anything in the Universal Pictures' prequel.

After reading this article, chances are pretty good that we are probably not going to see many -if any- more Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott collaborations in the future. Of course, stars and directors that work together often end to clash every once in a while. David Lean often argued with Alec Guinness when they worked together, but at least the end results were some of the best motion pictures made in the 20th Century. Considering that the five films Crowe and Scott have teamed up on (Gladiator, Body of Lies, A Good Year, American Gangster and Robin Hood) have only yielded one great (Gladiator) and one decent (American Gangster) result, perhaps it is for the best that the two not work on any more projects.

If Crowe can put a cap on his ego and temper, he should have no problem finding projects with other A-list directors. Even if he is a pain in the ass, he's still a pretty damn fine actor. As for Scott, I think he's going to keep churning out films until he's in his 90s. Case in point, Scott already has his next two projects lined up: two prequels to his 1979 sci-fi masterpiece "Alien", a project that an actor such as Crowe would be completely out of place on.    

Weekend Box Office: Bows, Arrows, love letters and basketballs are not enough to stop "Iron Man 2"

Weekend two of the 2010 Summer Movie Season found Tony Stark going up against a trio of new films and defeating all of them. The biggest challenger, Universal's $200 million "Robin Hood" opened to good but not great numbers, while Summit's "Letters to Juliet" and Fox Searchlight's "Just Wright" stumbled out of the gate. Overall, the box office was up a slight three percent from this weekend last year, when Sony's "Angels and Demons" narrowly beat out Paramount's "Star Trek" for the top spot.


Paramount/Marvel's "Iron Man 2" scored an estimated $53 million from 4,380 screens this weekend to bring its ten day domestic total to approximately $212.2 million. The film dropped an understandable 59% from last week's big $128 million opening. As we all know by now, the opening weekend is when big event films such as "IM2" bring the most viewers in so steep drop offs are expected. In comparison, the original "Iron Man" fell 48% in its sophomore session two years ago to score $51.2 million from 4,111 screens. The next few weekends will determine if the sequel will surpass the $318 million domestic total of the original or come close to it. Overseas, the movie will have no problem achieving that feat. As of May 13th, "Iron Man 2"s foreign take stood at $216, a mere $50 million behind its predecessor.

In second place was Universal's "Robin Hood", with $37.1 million in sales from 3,503 screens. The studio, which has been having nothing but bad luck at the box office this year, was hoping that they had another "Gladiator" on their hands with the fifth pairing of director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe. A number of factors dictated otherwise: "Hood" lacked the 2000 Oscar-winner's sense of adventure and solid story, the months-long ad campaign was uninspiring, reviews were largely negative and it had a lead actor who simply doesn't have the same marquee appeal he had a decade ago. On top of all that, was anyone asking for a new Robin Hood movie? Unless word-of-mouth is stellar on the film, Universal might be looking at another 2010 domestic letdown. On the plus side, Scott's film is doing much better overseas, which may save it in the long run.

Amanda Seyfried, who scored a late winter hit with her romantic drama "Dear John", attempted to see if lightning would strike twice with her latest romantic flick to deal with correspondence, "Letters to Juliet" (could "An IM to Monica" be far behind?). With $13.7 million from 2,968 screens, lightning turned out to be more like a low rumble of thunder. The audience was made up mostly of tween girls who could care less about Tony Stark or Robin Hood. Reviews were largely negative.

Scoring a technical foul in fourth place was Fox Searchlight's basketball comedy "Just Wright" with $8.5 million from 1,831 screens. The film, starring Queen Latifah and Common, might have caught the eye of those who may have been watching the NBA Playoffs on TNT and ESPN, but not many outside of that. Of the three debuts, "Just Wright" scored the highest approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But since those approval ratings were in the 40 percentile range, that is hardly news worth starting an Oscar campaign over (Robin nabbed 45%, Juliet 43% and Wright 46%).

The remainder of the top ten were holdovers from the past couple of months, once again led by Dreamworks Animation's blockbuster "How To Train Your Dragon" in fifth place with $5.1 million in estimated sales. Off only 23%, the film has now amassed $207.7 million domestically (the international gross is also sitting at $207 million). Warner/New Line's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" dropped by roughly 49% from last weekend to land in sixth place for $4.7 million and a new estimated total of $56.1 million. The film should finish between $60-65 within the next few weeks, roughly the same amount as 2009 's "Friday the 13th". Both horror films were produced by Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes company.

In seventh place with a slight 27% drop was the Fox comedy hit "Date Night" with another $4 million put in the bank to bring its total to $86.6 million. In eighth place and dropping 51% from last weekend was the Jennifer Lopez comedy "The Back Up Plan" with $2.47 million to bring its total to $34.7 million. Ninth went to the Brendan Frasier comedy "Furry Vengeance" with $2.3 million. Off 49%, the film has pulled in $16 million to date. Rounding out the top ten was Warner's hit "Clash of the Titans" with $1.3 million. Dipping 49%, the remake has grossed a solid $160.1 million thus far.

Next weekend, Dreamworks will unleash its latest 3-D animated cartoon, "Shrek Forever After" (or is it Shrek: the Final Chapter?) and Universal will debut "MacGruber", based on the Saturday Night Live character. "Shrek" should have no trouble debuting at number one, while "MacGruber" should find little trouble making back its $10 million production budget.

Now here is a film project with promise

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that filmmaker Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Say Anything) is hoping to land actor Terrence Howard for his long-gestating biopic on Marvin Gaye. Will Smith was approached to play the late singer, but he decided to pass on the subject (For the likes of a third Men In Black. Bravo, Will.). Howard hasn't agreed to star in the movie yet, but he also hasn't said no. Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. is giving the project his support, and Scott Rudin is producing the movie for Sony Pictures.

Hmmm...one of my favorite filmmakers (I forgive him for Elizabethtown) teaming up with one of the better actors in Hollywood to make a biopic on one of the best singers of the 1960s? All I can ask is when's the press screening?

Friday Box Office: "Iron Man 2" holds off "Robin Hood"

Paramount/Marvel's "Iron Man 2" stayed atop the North American box office on Friday, fending off Universal's costly "Robin Hood" in the process. While the Tony Stark sequel dropped sharply from its opening day haul of $52 million, the near 70% freefall to an estimated $16 million yesterday was somewhat understandable. After all, it was a big sequel that opened on a record amount of screens, so the upfront demand from audiences could easily be taken care of during its opening weekend. Still, the movie should clear roughly $51-53 million this weekend to bring its ten-day domestic total to a rock-solid $212 million.

It's been hyped for months and had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this past week, but no amount of marketing and star-studded premieres could help Universal's $200 million "Robin Hood" prequel from making a big impact at the North American box office on Friday. The film opened on 3,503 screens to an estimated $14 million on its first day, which is pretty underwhelming given the marketing push the film has been receiving from the studio. Mediocre to negative reviews didn't help matters any (I saw the film last month and now refer to it as "Robin Hood: Prince of Z's"), and stars Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett aren't exactly stars that guarantee big opening weekend box office (which is too bad since both are great actors). The overseas box office could prove to be the movie's saving grace, as it opened earlier in the week in Europe to more encouraging numbers. Depending on word-of-mouth from those who saw it on Friday, the weekend take could end up in the $35-38 million range.

Summitt Entertainment's "Letters to Juliet" opened with a small $5 million on Friday, but then again that movie didn't arrive with a $200 million price tag attached to it. The Amanda Seyfried romance film (Amanda, enough with the weepies. Do something different...maybe a film about a stripper who really loves her job.) should pull in $13-15 million for the weekend. Fox's basketball comedy "Just Wright" played on the fewest amount of screens among the openers (1,831) and pulled in the smallest haul of the debuts on Friday. It's $3.5 million take should help the movie land $9 million in sales for the weekend.

Check back on Sunday for top ten weekend estimates.       

"Inception": Awesome trailer, awesome trailer music

Movie trailers always have cool music that isn't used in the final product. For the upcoming Christopher Nolan thriller "Inception" (due July 16th), the powers that be have chosen a great little piece from someone named Zack Hemsey. Composed specifically for the new trailer, the track is named "Mind Heist" and can be listened to on its own below:



You can check out the mind-bending trailer (in HD to boot) here.

Weekend Box Office: "Iron" mines gold, Freddy's Dead

The 2010 summer movie season officially kicked off in grand style at the North American box office this weekend as the much-anticipated sequel "Iron Man 2" arrived and made 4 1/2 times more than the rest of the top ten combined. Overall, the box office was up a whopping 145% from last weekend and a healthy 23% over this time last year when "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" debuted with $85 million.

Landing on a record 4,380 screens, the Jon Faverau-directed film scored an estimated $133.6 million in sales since its opening at midnight on Thursday. Friday's total, which includes the $7.5 million from the 12:01 a.m. screenings, was $52.4 million. Saturday saw a 11% drop to $46.5 million and Sunday's take is being estimated by Paramount to be in the area of $34.85 million. Screen count aside, the big opening for the Paramount/Marvel Studios sequel didn't break any records. Friday's opening was the seventh biggest ever recorded and the opening weekend take was the fifth highest, landing right behind the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" film.

Still, I doubt anyone in their right mind would consider calling the $133.6 million opening a disappointment. In fact, the opening for "Iron Man 2" represents a major leap forward for the franchise. This weekend's take was roughly 35% higher than the 2008 original's $102 million opening. Even more impressive is the fact that the total was achieved without the benefit of having early screenings at 8pm the night before opening day.

Reviews for "IM2" were generally positive, yielding a solid 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the original snagged a 93% approval from RT) and an "A" grade from ticket buyers polled by Cinemascore. The latter should help the film stay strong throughout the month of May, with only Universal's "Robin Hood" and Disney's "Prince of Persia" providing any real sort of target audience competition. Overseas, where Tony Stark and company opened one week earlier than the U.S., the movie has already amassed $165 million.

Last weekend's champ, Warner/New Line's remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" dropped a huge 72% to $9.17 million and a ten-day total of $48.5 million. The film was always expected to take a hit due to the arrival of "Iron Man 2", but the bigger-than-expected drop is a clear sign that viewers did not like what they saw. Watch for Freddy to finish with roughly a $60 million final take, a pretty solid total for most movies but not ones that more than made half of that in its first three days.

Dreamworks' "How to Train Your Dragon" held up fairly well, dropping 36% to an estimated $6.76 million, bringing its total to the $201 million mark. The movie conclude near the $215-220 million mark. For the first time in a month, the Tina Fey/Steve Carell comedy "Date Night" moved to a new position in the top five: fourth place. Down 30% from last weekend, the Fox comedy added $5.4 million to bring its total to $80.8 million. The hit comedy should finish with roughly $88-90 million in domestic ticket sales.

Proving to be an ideal alternative for women viewers uninterested in superheroes, serial killers and dragons, the Jennifer Lopez comedy "The Back Up Plan" dropped by only 40% from last weekend. With a $4.3 million weekend take and a new estimated total of $29.4 million, the Lopez comedy has managed to stay in the top ten far longer than most expected. Depending on its drops over the next few weekends, the film might finish between $35-40 million.

Last week's other opener, the family film "Furry Vengeance" didn't drop as much as many (myself included) had anticipated. Granted, $4 million in a second weekend from over 2,200 screens is nothing to break out the champagne over, but one would have anticipated a drop akin to the one suffered by the new Freddy Krueger flick. Instead, it only dropped by 40% to bring its ten day total to $11.6 million. Facing the wrath of Stark, Warner's "Clash of the Titans" dropped by a hefty 60% to gross $2.3 million for the weekend to bring its total to $157.8 million. Eighth place went to "Death at a Funeral" (down 49%) with $2.1 million and $38.3 million to date.

Warner's action comedy "The Losers" also took a serious hit from the "Iron Man 2" juggernaut, off 70% from last weekend to add $1.8 million to its total and land in ninth place. It's total now stands at $21.5 million. Rounding out the top ten was the Focus documentary "Babies", which grossed an estimated $1.57 million in its debut on 576 screens.

Next weekend, a trio of films will debut to give the Starkster a run for his money: the aforementioned "Robin Hood" starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, Amanda Seyfried's latest romantic flick "Letters to Juliet" and the romantic sports comedy "Just Wright" starring Queen Latifah and Common. Even if it drops by half, watch for "Iron Man 2" to easily retake the top spot for a second weekend in a row.

Friday box office: "Iron" brings in the box office gold in its first day

Paramount's summer opener "Iron Man 2" landed loudly at the North American box office on Friday with a huge $52.4 million in ticket sales. This amount includes the $7.5 million the sequel grabbed in early showings on Thursday night. Playing on an ultra-wide 4,380 screens (a new record), the movie easily bested the opening day of the 2008 original by approximately $14 million while doing so only only 280 more screens. The well-received film should find its way to roughly the $130-140 million mark for the weekend. Overseas, where the film opened one week earlier, the movie has taken in $140 million so far.

Last week's champ, the remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fell sharply by 80% from its opening day total of $15 million to $3.2 million and a possible weekend haul of $9.5 million, a far cry from its opening weekend take of $32.4 million. Warner Brothers may wish to put those sequel plans on ice until after the weekend.

Come back on Sunday for the weekend box office report.

Seriously!?!?!

This is an actual DVD release...from Fox Home Video this June. Here is the description found on DVDActive.com:

"Filled with gut-busting laughs and crass humor, the ridiculously funny film follows Andy (Callen), who needs to hook up with a hottie, pronto, because he hasn't had sex in... well, forever — and his luck isn’t the only thing that’s hard. His equally horny teenage roommates also need it superbad, and with the help of their nerdy pal, McAnalovin’ and his fake I.D., they may tap more than just a keg."

Un-freakin-real, man.

The new "Sex and the City 2" poster: Seabiscuit and the gang look....odd

Well, two of them anyway. Dark Horizons had an amusing article up today in regards to some airbrushing gone wrong on the latest one-sheet for "Sex and the City 2" (Opening May 28th). Now, it's commonplace to pretty up actors and actresses for magazine photos, movies and of course, one-sheets selling a particular film. But something has horribly gone awry with the touch-up work on two of the "City" gals, Sarah-Jessica Parker and Kim Catrall. Look at the poster below. While Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon look somewhat normal, Parker and Catrall look....well....

Yeah...ghastly. I never have found Sarah-Jessica Parker to be attractive, but her she looks like she is either undergoing a procedure to become Asian, or...um, well, I don't know what she might be suffering from. Bottom line: she looks downright scary here. As for Catrall, who was pretty hot back in 1981 when she starred in "Porky's", now looks like she has had her airbrushed head transplanted onto the body of someone at least a half-century younger than she actually is. Whether the above image is an error on Warner's behalf or it's simply a misfired request on behalf of the movie's two top stars to make them look as young and sexy as possible is anyone's guess. One thing is for certain: if they make a third film, watch for Catrall's head to be placed on a Zygote and Parker to appear as the Invisible Woman on the poster (Parker would be the one on the left):

And not to ruin anyone's anticipation for the upcoming film, but apparently the four ladies have been threatened with a hefty fine should any of them give up plot details prior to release. That's not the part that might make fans uneasy. It is what Parker, who also produced the film, said in an interview: "the film would fail at the box office if the public got a whiff of the plot". 

Hardly a ringing endorsement from Seabiscuit.  

Weekend Box Office: Lots of money found on "Elm Street". Elsewhere? Not so much.

Horror fans welcomed back Freddy Krueger to the big screen this weekend as the remake of the 1984 genre classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street" slashed its way to a dreamy $32.2 million in ticket sales at the North American box office. The only other new release, the Brendan Frasier family comedy "Furry Vengeance", was dead on arrival. The Fredster aside, the movie scene was marking time until the much-anticipated Friday release of "Iron Man 2".


Produced by Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company, the $27 million remake of the Wes Craven thriller took advantage of the pre-summer movie season slump by debuting on a huge 3,332 screen count with product that is know by practically everyone. Reviews were horrific, which is only of note since the original "Elm Street" actually received strong notices when it opened 26 years ago. What is more eye-raising is the drop that occurred on Saturday, which was approximately 33%. The estimated drop by the studio for Sunday from Saturday is even worse: 45%.

True, horror films tend to bring out most of its audience on opening day (the film pulled in approximately $17 million in its first day, which includes the $1.6 million from 12:01 am screenings on Friday morning), so a sizeable Saturday drop was to be expected. But considering the toxic word-of-mouth audience members, not critics, are leaving on internet forums, Freddy's return may be very short-lived. Whether it becomes a distant memory or not by next weekend, Warner wasted no time in announcing that a 3-D sequel is already in the works.

In second place was Dreamworks' box office hit "How to Train Your Dragon", with another $10.8 million in estimated sales to bring its total up to $192 million. "Dragon" should pass the $198 million grossed by the studio's "Monsters Vs. Aliens" last spring within the next week or so. Depending on how the film withstands the first wave of big summer films over the next few weeks, "Dragon" could also wind up surpassing the $215 million domestic haul of 2008's "Kung Fu Panda" to become the studio's biggest animated hit outside of the "Shrek" franchise, which returns to screens in approximately three weeks.

It seems that Steve Carell and Tina Fey are comfortable being in third place. The network they have their television shows on seems to be permanently stuck there, and their theatrical hit "Date Night" has occupied the third spot in the top ten for three weeks now. The Fox comedy added an estimated $7.6 million in sales (off only 27%) this weekend to help bring the overall domestic haul to the $74 million mark. The film still has a chance to finish near the $85-90 million mark.

The head-scratcher of the weekend has to be the acceptable (41%) drop experienced by the other horror film in the market, Jennifer Lopez's "The Back-Up Plan", which placed fourth for the weekend. The film brought in an estimated $7.6 million in sales, bringing its ten-day total to the $23 million mark. If you know of family members or friends that are planning on seeing this film in the theater, you may wish to stage an intervention.

I would say another intervention-worthy film would be Summit Entertainment's "Furry Vengeance", which stars two actors who obviously were blackmailed into starring in this: Brendan Frasier and Brooke Shields. But since the movie only pulled in an estimated $6.5 million from a wide 2,997 screens, I'm thinking that there is no need to. The less that is said about this film, the better. After the box-office failure of January's "Extraordinary Measures" and now this, you have to wonder how long it will be before Frasier goes begging the studios for another "Mummy"...or "Encino Man"...film to be made.

Two Warner action flicks commandeered spots six and seven. The word-of-mouth from those who did make it to "The Losers" last weekend was solid as the movie had a decent hold from last weekend's soft opening. Off only 36%, the Joel Silver production added $6 million to its coffers to bring its ten-day total to the $18 million mark. The studio's "Clash of the Titans" added another $5.8 million to its total, which now stands at $155 million.

Continuing its fast fade in eight place was Lionsgate's comic-book comedy "Kick Ass", which once again dropped 53% to bring in an estimated $4.45 million to bring its total to the $42 million mark. Overseas, Hit Girl and Big Daddy have brought in an additional $30 million in sales. In ninth spot was another fast fader, Screen Gems' "Death at a Funeral", down by half to $4 million to bring its overall total near the $35 million mark. Closing out the top ten while dropping a steep 57% from last weekend was Disney Nature's "Oceans" with $2.5 million and a new total of $13.4 million.

Next week, the summer movie season begins in a big way with "Iron Man 2", which should be playing on any conceivable surface an image can be projected on. Don't be surprised if Mr. Stark & company gross twice as much as the remainder of the top ten combined.

The (Not So) Great Water Crisis of Eastern Massachusetts

It was an absolutely beautiful day here in the Boston area today. May 1st brought beautiful sunshine, warm but not humid temps and, oh yeah, a major water pipe break that affected over 30 communities including Boston. Mind you, the fact that a less-than-ten years old pipe bursting is enough for me to roll my eyes. Knowing the geniuses that are the Massachusetts government, the powers that be at the time no doubt bought the cheapest piece of crap they could find in an effort to take some of that budget to line their pockets with. In fact, it wouldn't shock me to find out that the pipes were bought from the same paisans that sold us the shit material that created that quagmire known as The Big Dig. But what really made me shake my head about all this nonsense today was what occured after the pipe burst.

First of all, the media short-stroked this puppy for all it was worth, making the situation seem like a dirty bomb exploded in the middle of Boston and EVERYTHING stopped dead in its tracks. "Catastrophic"! "The Worst Event I Have Ever Seen!" "I declare a State of Emergency!". Come on people, I know Saturday is usually a slow news day and this is a big story, but it's not 9/11. Hell, it's not even as bad as the recent slew of rainstorms that hit the area this past March. But in order to snag ratings, the media made damn sure that it was worse than either of those true catastrophic events.

This, of course, led to the next eye-rolling event: the public freakout. People were buying crate upon crate of bottled water, storming grocery stores and even getting into physical fights to nab that last bottle of Poland Spring. Dogs and cats, living together, MASS HYSTERIA!

Had any of these paranoid dipshits, known as my fellow citizens, actually stopped and listened to what the government was saying, they would have realized that the only water you should be worried about is the water you consume, be it drinking, cooking or cleaning food or just simply brushing your teeth. You can bathe with it, flush your toilet with it and wash your clothes with it. And hey, all you have to do to the water in order to consume it is...wait for it...stick it on the stove and bring it to a boil. For one to two minutes (I tend to do four to five minutes of a boil). Let it cool, and enjoy! Unless you drink water like you're fucking Aquaman, it really isn't a big deal to boil a pot of water, is it? And hey, you avoid crowded parking lots, mass hysteria and possibly a slugfest in aisle two.

Can't wait to see tomorrow's fun. In fact, I think I might pull up a chair across the street from the supermarket at the bottom of the hill near my house. Watching these people act like they are starring in a dinner theater production of "The Stand" might be a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Friday Box Office: One, Two, Freddy's coming for you (well, your ticket money anyway)

Based on early estimates, the latest "remake" from Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company, "A Nightmare on Elm Street", had an expectedly strong bow on Friday, amassing an estimated $15 million from over 3,000 screens. Add in the $1.6 million from midnight screenings on Thursday, the film has collected a healthy $16.6 in its first 24 hours. But that momentum might be short lived. Reviews were outright savage on the fillm (keep in mind that a majority of the original series was well-receieved by critics), with fanboy reaction on the forums such as Ain't It Cool News not being any better. Horror films tend to dip on the second and third days of their opening weekend, so Freddy's reign of terror atop the national box office might not be as terrifying as Friday's opening may indicate. Watch for the Warner reboot to finish with $30-35 million for the weekend.

The week's other opener, Summit's "Furry Vengeance" landed with a thud in fifth place with $2 million on Friday and is looking for $6 million for the weekend.

Weekend estimates will be announced tomorrow morning. Check back on Sunday afternoon for coverage on the weekend top ten.