Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

Inception - Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) is a thief who specializes in the art of extraction, the stealing of secrets from a target's subconscious. Though his profession cost him everything he has ever loved and has turned him into a fugitive, an offer for a final job -- one that requires him to plant an idea instead of pilfering it -- could be his chance at redemption.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Master sorcerer Balthazar Blake (Cage) recruits a seemingly everyday guy (Baruchel) in his mission to defend New York City from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Molina).

Movies coming out on DVD and Blu-ray!

The Bounty Hunter
Chloe
Greenberg
Our Family Wedding

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 Despicable Me$60.1 M

2 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $33.4 M

3 Predators $25.3 M

4 Toy Story 3 $22.0 M

5 The Last Airbender $17.1 M

6 Grown Ups $16.4 M

7 Knight and Day $7.8 M

8 The Karate Kid $5.7 M

9 The A-Team $1.8 M

10 Cyrus $1.3 M

"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" didn't have as much bite as I thought it would, falling to 2nd place in its 2nd week behind "Despicable Me," which did huge box numbers at $60.1 million. "Eclipse" is now sitting at $450 million worldwide.

Coming in third with $25.3 million is "Predators." Not a huge success for the supposed reboot of the franchise, but this film will likely make back enough money to cover its budget. Will it warrant another Predator film? We'll have to wait and see...

Congrats to "Toy Story 3" for becoming the highest grossing domestic film of the year, knocking "Finding Nemo" off its throne as Pixar's top grossing film as well. The third film in the "Toy Story" franchise has made around $340 million domesitcally (as compared to "Finding Nemo" at $339 million and "Alice in Wonderland" at $334 million).

Now it just has to go for the worldwide box office title and "Nemo" will be No. 2 in the Pixar vs. Pixar box office battle. The 3D ticket prices helped "Toy Story 3" get there, but the fact that it's also one of the best films of the year helps as well. So far it's sitting at over $550 million worldwide (while "Nemo" earned $867 million worldwide).

M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" rounded out the top 5 with $17.2 million, bringing its two-week total to $100.2 million. The movie is Shyamalan's first to break $100 million since 2004's "The Village."

The rest of the films dropped slightly as they will continue to dip in the next few weeks until they finally wind up on DVD in your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy (or any other store that sells movies).

Next weekend is a big one as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" goes up against "Inception." Disney family film vs. Nolan's science fiction tale? Who will win?

(Latino Review, USA Today)

Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

Predators - A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race.

Despicable Me - A trio of orphan girls cause the normally deplorable Gru to rethink his plan to steal the moon.

Movies coming out on DVD and Blu-ray!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
A Single Man
Brooklyn's Finest
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Jason and the Argonauts

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse$69.0 M

2 The Last Airbender$40.6 M

3 Toy Story 3 $30.1 M

4 Grown Ups$18.5 M

5 Knight and Day$10.2 M

6 The Karate Kid $8.0 M

7 The A-Team $3.0 M

8 Get Him To The Greek $1.1 M

9 Shrek Forever After $0.8 M

10 Cyrus $0.7 M

Shockeing! “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” the ongoing tale of teen angst and stupidity, won the weekend and drew an estimated $161 million out of North American theaters in its first five days of release.

Box office analysts said the gross was big enough to rank “Eclipse” third on Hollywood’s all-time list of Wednesday-opening movies, behind “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009) and “Spider-Man 2” (2004), when adjusted for inflation. Summit Entertainment, the studio behind “Eclipse,” projected that the movie would sell another $20 million on Monday for a six-day domestic total of about $181 million.

Exit polls indicate that the audience for "Eclipse" was 35 percent male. The turnout for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” was only about 20 percent male, and that was higher than the first. So does this mean more men or actually into "Twilight" or more men are dating women who are into "Twilight"?

“The Last Airbender” was greeted by an avalanche of critical hatred. Only 8 percent of the reviews gave “The Last Airbender” positive marks, according to Rotten Tomatoes (To compare, the much-maligned “Sex and the City 2” was given a score of 16 percent positive).

But “The Last Airbender” was a solid No. 2 for the weekend with about $40.7 million for a domestic total of about $53.2 million. Paramount projected that “The Last Airbender” would sell an additional $17.4 million on Monday for a five-day total of about $70.6 million.

For the weekend, “Toy Story 3” from Disney’s Pixar Animation was third with about $30.2 million for a new total of $289 million. It is projected to sell an additional $11 million on Monday.

The rest of the film slowly dripple down into DVD-land. Will "Eclipse" stand tall as Twi-tards revisit the film for the seventh time or will one of the new opening films take the weekend? We'll have to wait and see...

(NY Times)

New Trailer for 'The Last Airbender'

"The Last Airbender" is without a doubt one of my most anticipated movies of 2010 and now a new trailer has been released to help fuel that fire of anticipation even further.

Based on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, the film brings things to live-action life as our main character, Aang, a young successor to a long line of “Avatars,” seeks to stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air Nations. It stars Noah Ringer (Aang), Jackson Rathbone (Sokka), Dev Patel (Zuko), Nicola Peltz (Katara), Cliff Curtis (Firelord Ozai) and Jessica Andres (Suki).



The effects and action seen in the trailer are pretty awesome and make me even more excited to see this in theaters. Though I plan on seeing it in 2D. Even though it was only announced a few days ago that "Last Airbender" was going to be converted into 3D, the people behind the trailer were able to tack on a 3D claimer at the very end - man, that was quick.

"The Last Airbender" hits theaters July 2, 2010.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: First Showing, Screen Rant

Add 'Green Hornet' and 'Last Airbender' to the 3D Craze

Sony has officially delayed the release of Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen's "Green Hornet" until January 14th, 2011, which is three weeks back from December 22nd.

The film has already been the target of rumors citing production problems, to which Sony Pictures Entertainment Vice-Chair and marketing/distribution kingpin Jeff Blake says, "We're investing more in the film to have it 3D. We've seen part of the movie. We love it. We believe in it. Whoever is spreading these rumors has not seen it."

Although some claim the film is "unreleasable," Sony's vice-chair Jeff Blake says that's all just BS. They're converting it to 3D because "We've seen part of the movie. We love it. We believe in it. Whoever is spreading these rumors has not seen it. We're going to finish 'Green Hornet' in 3D and take 9 months to do it right."

Deadline Hollywood reports that Sony is using the term "3D enhancements" because they claim that since they haven't finished any visual effects, and therefore "it's not a 3D conversion but an enhancement, and there's already 'great depth and scope' to the shots from director Michel Gondry."

I guess they really don't want us to think of this as one of those terrible 3D conversions like "Clash of the Titans."

If it has so much depth and such amazing visuals, why does it need to be in 3D? Perhaps I'm the only one wondering this and Sony really isn't spending a little bit of extra dough to go the 3D route to make 1.5 times the dollars at the box-office. Just me I guess.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount is working with Stereo D — the company used by James Cameron for "Avatar" — on the 3D conversion of "The Last Airbender," which will not be pushed back from its original release date of July 2,2010.

Shyamalan was reportedly in favor of converting "The Last Airbender" to 3D from the start, before finally convincing the studio to make the leap after 3D tests were completed. "The Last Airbender" will be the first 3D conversion released from Paramount.

It's getting to the point where the only news about 3D should be when a film isn't heading into the third dimension. Do these films really need to be in 3D? I feel there will be enough 3D this year with all the animated films (like "Shrek Forever After" and "Toy Story 3") and big blockbusters (like "Tron Legacy").

Sigh...
That's the sound I think we're going to be hearing a lot more of in the days to come when every single film that could possibly squeeze a few extra dollars out of the conversion announces their plans to go 3D.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: First Showing, Rope of Silicon, UGO Movie Blog, First Sowing, MTV News

'The Last Airbender' Full Trailer Now Online

Paramount Pictures has released the full trailer for the highly anticipated movie from M. Night Shyamalan, "The Last Airbender."

Last week we got a small tease of what was to come in the Superbowl TV Spot but now we've got the full thing and it's pretty decent. There's a little bit more of a backstory in this (for those that aren't familiar with the show) but then it gets right into the action following that.

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.

The Fire Nation is waging a ruthless, oppressive war against the other three nations. The film's hero, the reluctant young Aang (Noah Ringer), is the "Last Airbender" -- the Avatar who, according to prophecy, has the ability to manipulate all of the elements and bring all the nations together. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her bull-headed brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), Aang proceeds on a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world.

But Zuko (Dev Patel), prince of the Fire Nation, has but one goal - to destroy Aang. He is aided by his Uncle Iroh, a retired Fire Nation general. Also on the hunt for the Avatar is Commander Zhao, an ambitious and hot-tempered Fire Nation commander.

Have a look at the trailer below and let us know what you think.

The effects look great, and as a huge fan of the show I hope for this to be a successful adaptation. A few things bother me about this trailer though is that we never get to here Aang talk (is Ringer's acting any good?) and that Sokka and Katara look nothing like they did in the show. Look at the comparison image of the main actors and their animated counterparts below. Notice any differences?


Yeah, they made them white. Zuko has lighter skin than either Sokka or Katara, yet Dev Patel is darker than both Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone by a lot.

I don't mind whitewashing a lot since films are meant to be fictional. Jake Gyllenhaal isn't Persian, yet he is playing one in "Prince of Persia." This is based off a game where the prince didn't look Persian at all. So no problem there. The film is taking straight from the source material. In "The Last Airbender" the source material is getting slapped in the face a little bit.

I knew somewhere this film wasn't going to hold up to my expectations. A little thing like this only from the trailer already lowers my hopes for how epic this film might be in theaters.

What are your thoughts on the trailer? Does the whitewashing in this film disrupt your enthusiasm at all?

"The Last Airbender" is set to be released in theater on July 2.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Latino Review, First Showing

Movie News Mash 30

Fast and Furious 5
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker have signed deals to return for a fifth film in the "Fast and Furious" street-racing series.

The Universal Pictures movie - so far known as "Fast Five" - will see Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and Brian O'Conner (Walker) as fugitives being pursued by relentless lawmen.

Director Justin Lin and writer Chris Morgan will be back to direct and write "Fast Five," respectively, after working on the third and fourth movies together.

The film will begin filming later this year for a 2011 release, says Variety.

Are you a fan of the "Fast & Furious" films? Are you looking forward to a new one? Anyone have a better title for it?
(Screen Rant, The Geek Files, Live for Films)

The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown's best-seller "The Lost Symbol" - the third book in his "Da Vinci Code" series - is to be turned into a film by Columbia Pictures.

British writer Steven Knight, whose screenplay for 2002's "Dirty Pretty Things" earned him an Oscar nomination, is to adapt the book, reports Variety.

Tom Hanks is expected to reprise his role as Robert Langdon who, in this latest tale, is summoned to Washington to decode the symbols of the Freemasons.

Even if "Angels & Demons" didn’t hit the same level of financial success that "The Da Vinci Code" did ($486 million and $758 million, respectively), the studio still has high hopes for "The Lost Symbol" movie. Neither Tom Hanks
nor director Ron Howard have signed on to star and direct again, but it’s likely they will after being given a very hefty checks.
(Screen Rant, The Geek Files)

Wanted 2
Mark Millar has been talking about the sequel to one of 2008's surprise hits, "Wanted", based upon his comic miniseries with artist J.G. Jones. The film, staring James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson and Angelina Jolie as Fox, made about $340 million worldwide on a budget of $75 million, making a sequel inevitable. And according to an interview by IGN with Millar, "Wanted 2" may finally be close to going in front of the cameras.

More Wanted 2 Videos

(Screen Rant, MTV News)

Superbowl TV Ads

Some movie TV spots for the Superbowl have been put online early. One is another look at "Shutter Island" while another is a look at Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood." My favorite though is the first glimpse at the action of M. Night Shyamalan’s "The Last Airbender." Dare I say that commercial is filed with epic awsomeness (though I am biased because I love the show).

'Last Airbender' Trilogy

It's been revealed that director M. Night Shyamalan is already working on the follow-up to next year's "The Last Airbender," a live-action adaptation of the animated fantasy series.

In a world divided into four nations (Earth, Air, Fire and Water), Aang is the only person able to master all four elements and, with the help of two friends, he tries to stop Zuko and the Fire Nation's plan to enslave all the other elemental tribes.

Producer Frank Marshall has now spoken about how they are moving quickly to put together a trilogy.

He said the films would have to be written and shot separately, rather than back to back like the "Lord of the Rings" series, but they needed to proceed quickly.

Marshall told Starlog: "We're shooting them one at a time, because they're being written one at a time. Night is now working on the script for the second movie, but he hasn't had time to write the second or third ones. He's looking at the arc of all three.

"One of the things we'll be doing is using the sets, ships and elements for each different nation in this film and incorporating them into movies two and three.

"We're not waiting. There just isn't enough time. Night will finish this movie, then the script and then we'll prepare for the next one. I think it'll probably happen over six years."

Clearly, they will have to get moving on the other films as soon as possible, before the actors become too old for their roles.

Shyamalan said: "'The Last Airbender' will be a very entertaining movie, a really fun summer film. But underneath that, it's serious and talks about genocide, balance, our connection to the planet and all those things that interest me if you've seen the other movies that I've made. It felt like an important film."

The first film, starring 12-year-old Noah Ringer as lead character Aang and "Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel as evil Prince Zuko, will hit screens on July 2, 2010.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: The Geek Files

'Last Airbender' Teaser Trailer

Sometimes trailers are so good that words cannot describe them. Being an avid fan of Nickelodeon's popular animated television show "Avatar: The Last Airbender," I am extremely excited to watch this teaser trailer for the movie based on the show.



"The Last Airbender" is directed by M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable," "Signs") The screenplay was written by M. Night Shyamalan while the story was co-written by Shyamalan and creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.
Paramount is bringing "The Last Airbender" to theaters everywhere on July 2, 2010.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

First Look At Last Airbender Characters

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" is a hit animated show from Nickelodeon that is getting the silver screen royal treatment. The show was critically acclaimed and a massive success for Nickelodeon. So, it was no surprise when they quickly went ahead and started to make a movie (or a trilogy of movies) based on the show. The film is being directed by M. Night Shyamalan because his children are big fans of the show.

"The Last Airbender" stars Noah Ringer and Dev Patel.

(USA Today)
Ringer, 12, makes his feature-film debut opposite 'Slumdog Millionaire's' Dev Patel in M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender,' a live-action version of the show that opens July 2, 2010.

Ringer didn't need to alter much to play Aang, who uses martial arts to manipulate the weather. Like Aang, Ringer keeps his head shaved and is an expert in martial arts. "It keeps me cool when I'm doing tae kwon do," says Ringer, a Texas native with a black belt who landed the role after sending a homemade DVD of him practicing the sport. "It's so cool to get the part."

Patel, too, seems suited for the film, the first of a planned trilogy. He earned his black belt in tae kwon do before he turned to acting and discovered the television show while filming Millionaire. "I started watching it in my trailer in India," says Patel, who plays the villain Zuko, a "firebender" (he manipulates flames). "I see why the fan base is so big. It's got action but a lot of moral messages."

Though they square off on the big screen, don't expect any exhibition matches between the actors. Patel, seven years older and a foot taller, says it wouldn't be close: "Noah would knock me flat on my back."



More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Last Airbender Begins Filming

According to Reading Eagle, "The movie people are alive and well and plan to begin filming M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender' in the Reading area beginning Thursday, weather permitting.

Most of the work for the Paramount picture this week will take place at the Pagoda on Mount Penn, following the company's return Monday after 15 days in Greenland.

Production designers and special-effects crews have been working for several weeks to prepare the local site for the film, which is set in a series of mythical nations - Air, Water, Earth and Fire - and is based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series of the same name."

According to Sermitsiaq, "A crew of 136 actors, producers and technicians touched down in Ilulissat today to begin filming for ‘Avatar, the Last Airbender’, a live action version of a popular children’s cartoon about about 12-year-old boy capable of saving the world.

Filming in the north-west Greenland village will take place from 23 March to 3 April, and the scenes will make up a total of six minutes in the final production, estimated to have a budget of $250 million.

The scenes are not set specifically in Greenland, but in the Arctic. Other scenes have been filmed in Vietnam."

More according to the Reading Eagle, "A director best known for surprise-twist endings and terrifying audiences with ghosts and aliens ('The Sixth Sense,' 'Unbreakable,' 'Signs'), Shyamalan, who began filming of ;The Last Airbender; on Thursday against this unsettled backdrop, appeared to be in his element — this despite the fact that his new picture, an epic tale set in a mythic world, has been the subject of a popular animated series on the Nickelodeon TV network known for catering primarily to children.

The movie’s screenplay — written by Shyamalan but based on the series — focuses on Aang (Noah Ringer), the title character, an Air nomad, who emerges from frozen hibernation in an iceberg to discover that his village has been annihilated.

The Fire nation is waging war on the other three: Air, Earth and Water.

Aang quickly discovers that he is the lone Avatar, possessing the power to manipulate all four elements and perhaps restore order to the world.

Although the TV series is no longer creating new episodes, reruns are still broadcast. And Rodriguez [the film's producer] says that just before the film opens in July 2010, Nickelodeon will repeat the entire series as a lead-in to the movie.

Shyamalan was busy Thursday setting up a shot with Oscar-winning cinematographer Andrew Lesnie ('The Lord of the Rings' trilogy) and a costumed stuntman.

A large crane for specific camera shots hovered in the background, while set decorators and painters put the finishing touches on the scorched village, covered in debris, artificial vegetation and simulated human bones.

Ironically, the Pagoda itself may not be seen in its current state in the film. It will be digitally transformed to appear as a ruined ancient temple. Moreover, all modern background objects will be digitally erased."

A lot of filming is getting done and Shyamalan is trying to make the movie look as much as possible as the cartoon. This makes me excited since I am a big fan of the show (my cousin and uncle got me into it) and I really hope it does well so they make the entire trilogy.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Last Airbender Adds More Cast Members

According to Screen Rant, "Well today we get four more people being added to the cast list: Aasif Mendvi, Shaun Toub, Cliff Curtis and Keong Sim. Don’t recognize those names? No worries: we’ve got the info you need to know about the actors and their roles in 'The Last Airbender.'

Mandvi, who some may know from films and TV shows like 'Ghost Town,' 'CSI' and 'Jericho' (to name but a few), will play the role of Commander Zhao, a character described as 'an ambitious and hot-tempered Fire Nation commander.'

Shaun Toub, who we saw most recently helping Tony Stark build his first suit in 'Iron Man,' is set to play Uncle Iroh, the 'retired Fire Nation general who is the devoted surrogate parent to Dev Patel’s character, Zuko.'

Cliff Curtis, who some may know from the likes of 'Sunshine,' 'Live Free or Die Hard' and 'Training Day' (amongst many others - he’s a busy man), will play the 'ruthless ruler Fire Lord Ozai.'

And Sim, who’s only appeared as mainly extras in a handful of TV shows, has been cast as the character of Earthbending Father.



These four will join previously announced cast members Noah Ringer (who plays the title role), Nicola Peltz (Waterbender Katara), Jackson Rathbone (Katara’s brother Sokka), and Dev Patel (playing the Prince Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation)."

I am a big fan of the show "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and I think it is truly one of the most inventive animated shows made in the past decade. A film is definitely deserved and can be extremely well made if done right. Hopefully M. Night Shyamalan will do the show justice will this first film in a supposed trilogy.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!

The Last Airebender News

According to Variety, "'Slumdog Millionaire' star Dev Patel has joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender,' the Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films live-actioner based on a Nick TV series.

Patel will be featured alongside newcomer Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Jessica Jade Andres. Production begins in mid-March in Greenland.

In casting Patel and Ringer, a director accustomed to delivering plot twists to audiences got some surprises of his own. Ringer is a complete unknown who was tapped for the title role off an Internet audition. Patel, meanwhile, steps into a role that Jesse McCartney had all but locked up until the actor's second career as a musician got in the way."

According to Rope of Silicon, "The film is based on the Nick TV series and 12-year-old Ringer will play Aang, the film’s lead, who is the last of a race of people who can manipulate the elements of air. Patel will play Zuko, a member of the Fire Nation. Peltz plays the Water Tribe rep Katara, while Andres is the Earth Kingdom’s representative, Suki."
Jackson Rathbone (Jasper from "Twilight") will play Sokka, brother of Katara.

I happen to have watched all three seasons of the "Airbender" cartoon on Nick and loved every moment of it. A live-action film will be amazing if done right, and I still doubt Shyamalan since he isn't really an action director. He plans on making this a trilogy, one film for each season. But it all depends on how well the first one does.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender, based on Nickelodeon's animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender, is set to be released July 2010. M. Night Shyamalan will direct the film.

“It is gonna be really cool (Laughs). I’m at the stage where we have pre-vized the last act of the movie. Because my normal approach to filmmaking is almost like making an animated movie, you take out every shot and analyze everything, it kind of lays out really nicely for a big CGI movie. That is such a helpful thing in the process with all the pre-viz. I feel like I’m making the movie right now. I’m editing it and stuff because doing the pre-viz, if you were here, I could show you the last 30 minutes of The Last Airbender in animatic form. It’s an amazing and emotional experience, just to watch that. This is so exciting. It’s such a different kind of movie that I’m used to making, but yet, we were all kind of born out of Star Wars, and somewhere in there is a desire to return to fantasy, on that level.”

The film was going to be called Avatar, but James Cameron's Avatar movie will be coming out and there was a legal dispute in the name similarity.
The animated show Avatar is very entertaining and I'm hoping the movie doesn't stray too far from its original source.