Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

Killers - Three years into their perfectly suburban marriage, Jen (Heigl) learns that her husband Spencer (Kutcher) is not only an undercover assassin -- he's also a target worth millions of dollars to a clutch of fellow assassins who have been trailing the couple in secret since they met.

Get Him to the Greek - A record company intern (Hill) is hired to accompany out-of-control British rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) to a concert at L.A.'s Greek Theater.

Marmaduke - The Winslow family moves to a new neighborhood with their large yet lovable Great Dane, who has a tendency to wreak havoc in his own oblivious way.

Splice - Two scientists fuse DNA samples to create a new organism: a human-chimera they name Dren. As the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into winged creature, her initial bond with her creators turns deadly.

Movies coming out on DVD and Blu-ray!

Alice in Wonderland
The Wolfman
The Red Baron
War of the Worlds

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 Shrek Forever After$43.3 M

2 Sex and the City 2$32.1 M

3 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time $30.1 M

4 Iron Man 2 $16.0 M

5 Robin Hood $10.3 M

6 Letters to Juliet $5.9 M

7 Just Wright $2.2 M

8 Date Night $1.7 M

9 MacGruber $1.4 M

10 How To Train Your Dragon $1.0 M

Nobody was expecting "Shrek 4" to win the weekend. Since last Memorial Day weekend "Night at the Museum 2" did the best, we should have expected this maybe.

"Sex and the City 2" probably would have been No. 1 had it not opened on Thursday with about $14 million. But adding that with its weekend numbers still shows it had a smaller oepning than the first "Sex and the City" film (which was $56.8 million). Can the film match the $152.6 million domestic total of the first film? BTW, women made up 90 percent of the audience for "Sex and the City 2." Go figure.

"Prince of Persia" pretty much bombed. A good opening for most films, but not one made on a $200 million budget. Not expecting this to become a big franchise now...

Other films slip down to DVD land with "Iron Man 2" still making some money. It is right now $35 million away from passing "Iron Man"'s total.

Next week a few new films come out. Will "Shrek 4" take the top spot again or will it fall to a new film (or one of the films that opened this past weekend)? We'll have to wait and see.

Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

The Crazies - As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton (Olyphant) tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife (Mitchell), and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.

Cop Out - A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop (Willis) whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner (Morgan) to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.

Movies coming out on Blu-ray and DVD!

The Informant!
Sorority Row
The Box
Everybody's Fine
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 Shutter Island$40.2 M

2 Valentine's Day $17.1 M

3 Avatar $16.1 M

4 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief $15.3 M

5 The Wolfman $9.8 M

6 Dear John $7.3 M

7 The Tooth Fairy $4.5 M

8 Crazy Heart$3.0 M

9 From Paris With Love $2.5 M

10 Edge of Darkness $2.2 M

"Shutter Island" had a great debut despite it being delayed from its original October release. The studio says it delayed the film for more opportunity to display advertising for the film during the Super Bowl and Olympics. Looked like that extra time paid off.

"Valentine's Day" continues to steal money from hard working individuals as it fell one notch to 2nd place. Some might say this film is doing fine since it only fell one spot. Indeed, that's an accurate statement for monetary reasons as the film's reported worldwide earnings are now up to $122 million. However, if I made a film that hit the $122 million mark and held a 17 percent rating at RottenTomatoes - I'm not sure how high I would hold my head.

James Cameron's sci-fi epic lost out to "Percy Jackson" last weekend, but came back with some extra blue aliens and 3D technology to put the fantasy film in its place - which is beneath "Avatar." And a lot has been said about "Avatar" already… so I really have nothing more to add other than to point out it is now over $2.4 billion worldwide… which is a lot of money.

"The Wolfman" dropped to 5th with $9.8 million. It has earned $97 million so far worldwide and probably won't be getting a sequel (though if you saw the film, you would understand how a sequel would be very...different).

The rest of the films continue to peter out.

Next week we start getting nuts as "The Crazies" makes its horror debut. It's going up against Kevin Smith's police comedy "Cop Out."

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Latino Review, Rope of Silicon, USA Today

Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

Shutter Island - When a psychotic killer (Mortimer) disappears from a mental institution on Shutter Island, a pair of U.S. Marshals (Ruffalo and DiCaprio) race against the clock in order to track her down.

The Ghost Writer - A ghostwriter (McGregor) hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister (Brosnan) uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

Movies coming out on Blu-ray and DVD!

Law Abiding Citizen
Coco Before Chanel
Black Dynamite
Hunger
Halo Legends

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 Valentine's Day$52.4 M

2 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief$31.1 M

3 The Wolfman $30.6 M

4 Avatar $22.0 M

5 Dear John $15.3 M

6 The Tooth Fairy $5.6 M

7 From Paris With Love $4.7 M

8 Edge of Darkness $4.5 M

9 Crazy Heart $4.0 M

10 When in Rome $3.4 M

I blame films like "Valentine's Day" for ruining relationships for people who love movies. Say a person loves films and are critical of them (and has high standards) and knows that films like "Valentine's Day" are crap and doesn't want to see them. But say that person's significant other wants to see the film because it happens to fall on a romantic holiday, but the movie lover refuses to see crap films and thus arguments ensue.

*sigh*....was not the best weekend. Especially since "Valentine's Day" won the No. 1 spot. I don't know if it was the scores of women dragging their helpless and cowardly boyfriends to the movie, or if Aston Kutcher got all of his followers on Twitter to buy a ticket, but "Valentine's Day" made huge numbers and a sequel is already in the works centering on New Years Eve.

I can't wait for a film about relationships centered around the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Martin Luther King Jr. day!

"Percy Jackson" and "Wolfman" opened to humble numbers considering they are totally different genres from each other and "Valentine's Day."

Other films keep falling, but "Avatar" continues to hang in there, surpassing films that are newer than it is.

To reiterate earlier points made...it's not that I don't appreciate "escape cinema." I do. The issue is that it's impossible to escape if you've seen it a dozen times before. When films start getting into formulas to make money, that is when I get irritated because you can clearly see story is thrown out for hopes of making money. And the formulas work. Only the movie lovers and critics can see behind the veil that are the studios. The GMA (general movie audience) fall prey so easily...

As I said...wasn't the best weekend. Excuse me for my ranting.

Next weekend, "Shutter Island" finally comes out after its long delay!

More Super Bowl Ads

[From Screen Rant]
Super Bowl XLIV‎ is over and the Saints won, but we’re not here to talk about that. It’s often said that the majority of viewers tune into the big game just for the commercials, so on that note we have some TV spots for upcoming movies for you.

We already had a chance to see the Super Bowl ads for M. Night Shyamalan’s "The Last Airbender" as well as Ridley Scott’s "Robin Hood," but now that the game has aired, we can show you the latest commercials for "The Wolfman," "Prince of Persia" and "Alice in Wonderland."

We’ll go through this in order of when the movies debut so starting us off is Joe Johnston’s remake of "The Wolfman." which stars Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving.



Next up is Tim Burton’s re-imagining of the classic tale of "Alice in Wonderland." The film utilizes Burton regulars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and stars young Mia Wasikowska as the title character.



Last but not least is the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced video game adaptation "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time." The blockbuster film is directed by Mike Newell and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character alongside Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina.



There wasn’t that many studios forking out the big bucks this year for time during the big game but out of them all, my favorite high above the rest is for "The Last Airbender," which is one of my most anticipated films of the year.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: Screen Rant

Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

The Wolfman - Nobleman Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) returns to his ancestral homeland, where his brother has gone missing and villagers are being killed by a nightmarish beast. The search reunites him with his estranged father (Hopkins) and draws him near to his brother's fiancée (Blunt), however, Talbot's lager concern is the discovery of a side to himself which he never could have imagined existed ...

Valentine's Day - Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day.

Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief - Life changes in an instant for troubled 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Lerman) when he learns his birth father is the god Poseidon and he's looped in on a cross-country mission to settle a feud between his dad, Zeus, and Hades.

Movies coming out on DVD and Blu-ray!

Couples Retreat
A Serious Man
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Stepfather
Serious Moonlight

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 Dear John$32.4 M

2 Avatar $23.6 M

3 From Paris With Love $8.1 M

4 Edge of Darkness $7.0 M

5 The Tooth Fairy $6.5 M

6 When in Rome $5.5 M

7 The Book of Eli $4.8 M

8 Crazy Heart$3.6 M

9 Legion $3.4 M

10 Sherlock Holmes $2.6 M

"Avatar" has been knocked off its box office throne after almost 8 weeks of dominating movie theaters. "Dear John" came in at No. 1 thanks to a ton of women looking to do something for Super Bowl weekend.

"The Notebook" opened at $13 M back in 2004, so I'm not sure where the precedent was for this. Could female audiences have been starved for content, and "When in Rome" wasn't doing the trick? The budget here was $25 M, which means you can expect a ton more Sparks' content in your future.

"Avatar" came in 2nd place, so obviously it's now a financial disaster, having only grossed $2.2 billion. (Whoa).

"From Paris With Love" flattened out in 3rd place. Opening a guy focused actioner on Super Bowl Sunday is either crazy insane or insane crazy. I'm not sure which one I'm leaning towards just yet.

The rest of the movies fell as expected, with only "Crazy Heart" being bumped up into the top ten once word of mouth got out on how awesome Jeff Bridges is in it (but he's just awesome in almost everything he's in).

'The Wolfman' Being Recut

Out of all the big films scheduled for release next year, the one I’m most concerned about is "The Wolfman." I'm excited to see it after watching the badass trailer, but production on "Wolfman" has been plagued from the get-go.

A change in directors, callbacks for re-designs in the creature effects and several delays… It all points to a studio trying to turn a profit from a film that it didn't think would do well otherwise.

It looks like "Wolfman" is still reeling from those problems as new info buried deep in a Variety article (found by SlashFilm) says editors Mark Goldblatt and Walter Murch have been brought in to help salvage this monster of a movie.

I'm starting to wonder how much involvement director Joe Johnston has in these decisions, and whether or not the film will be close to resembling the original vision of the film. Either way, Goldblatt and Murch will be fresh eyes on the project and their extensive editing work speaks for itself.

Goldblatt has had quite the experience in the editing chair having put together both of James Cameron's "Terminator" films, as well as putting together the frantic, abundance of dailies from director Michael Bay's films like "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor." Meanwhile, Murch has won Acaedmy Awards for sound editing on "Apocalypse Now," and film editing for "Cold Mountain," in addition to displaying stellar work as editor and sound editor of films like "The Conversation" and "The English Patient."

While this might not seem all that urgent, this is quite a big deal to rework an entire film this late in the game ("Wolfman" is scheduled for release in three months). I don’t know what kind of mess the film is in, but I am certain that Murch and Goldblatt working together will result in at least a watchable (if not entertaining) film.

What do you think about the editors brought in to recut the film? Good sign or bad?

"The Wolfman" howls into theaters on February 10, 2010.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: First Showing, Screen Rant

New 'Wolfman' Trailer

Universal has debuted a second trailer for Joe Johnston's "The Wolfman," a remake of the classic 1941 monster movie.

"The Wolfman" stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt.

Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro), a haunted nobleman, is lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. When his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Blunt), pleads for Lawrence to help find her missing love, Talbot join the search. Reunited with his estranged father (Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother and learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Weaving) has come to investigate.

Obviously it is a werewolf that is killing people and Talbot gets bitten and becomes one of the creatures himself. Do you think he will live at the end of the movie or be a sympathetic monster who gets shot down by a silver bullet?


"The Wolfman" will finally be released February 12, 2010 after being delayed several times.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Rope of Silicon, Screen Rant

'The Wolf Man' Trailer Arrives

I've been a bit behind lately due to a large amount of moving in the past two days. But now I have some free time to dedicate to the blog and I will start off with some very exciting trailers.



Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), a haunted nobleman returns to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother…and discovers that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate.

As Talbot pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love (Emily Blunt), Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself…one he never imagined existed.

"The Wolf Man" is being directed by Joe Johnston ("Jumanji") and has a slated release date of February 10, 2010.

'Wolf Man' Delayed Again

The moon won't be rising for the Universal Pictures remake of "The Wolfman" until next year, following the extensive reshoots reported earlier.

The project was first announced in 2006 and at that time was set for release on November 14, 2007.

Director Mark Romanek, whose background was in music videos, pulled out over budget constraints and then Joe Johnston stepped in and the film was slated to come out on February 13 this year.

Since then it has been moved to April 3 and then shunted again to November 6 and now Universal has announced that it won't open until February 12 next year.

The film underwent additional shooting rumoured to cost $10m-$30m, which will require further special effects work to be completed, and Shock Till You Drop says that is one of the main reasons for a delayed release.

This shift will avoid competition with Disney's "A Christmas Carol" and also a slightly later threat from "Twilight" sequel "New Moon," which will open on November 20 amid a promotional frenzy and a hysterical stampede.

But according to Variety, studio chiefs moved "The Wolfman" because films tend to fare better in the first quarter than towards the end of the year. In its new slot, "The Wolfman" will go up against New Line's romantic comedy "Valentine's Day," the Summit drama "Remember Me" starring Robert Pattinson and Disney's 3-D re-release of "Beauty and the Beast."

Universal's alien abduction drama "The Fourth Kind," which stars Milla Jovovich and previously didn't have a release date, is to take the place of "The Wolfman" this November.

Hopefully this film will come out soon and some kind of trailer will be shown by the end of this summer.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: The Geek Files

Movie News Mash 22

THE HANGOVER 2
Variety just published an article looking at what's up next for director Todd Phillips it's already sorted out. Phillips will next direct the road trip comedy "Due Date" and follow that one year later with "The Hangover 2." Stand-up comic turned actor Zach Galifianakis is already set to star in "Due Date" and will most likely return for "The Hangover 2," making him and Phillips quite good buddies.

"Due Date" is a comedy about fatherhood in which an expectant dad and his unlikely travel companion (Galifianakis) race cross-country in hopes of making it home for the birth of his first child. As for "The Hangover 2," a plot hasn't been announced for it yet, but Phillips and his writing partner Scot Armstrong are already writing the sequel. Warner Brothers gave them the go-ahead back in April, before "The Hangover" had event hit, because they were so confident it'd be a huge success. And it obviously was.
(First Showing)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
A post from GoGreenMachine.org includes details about an open casting call in Hollywood for martial arts experts to audition for "the upcoming 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movie, hitting theaters in 2011. We will select the best from the auditions to be a part of the stealth 'TMNT' nemesis, the Foot Clan."

The official TMNT25.com Web site has posted an article with details about their appearances at the San Diego Comic-Con. Their keynote presentation is a special "TMNT" panel on Friday, July 24 featuring a lot of big names - creator Kevin Eastman, Mirage Studios CEO Gary Richardson, director of the original "TMNT" movies Steve Barron, and producers Galen Walker and Scott Mednick. Listed last is John Fusco, whose title is "writer of the new 'TMNT' movie (slated for 2011)."

Looks like the Foot Clan will be returning to the franchise which finally has a writer. Fusco's past credits include "Young Guns," "Thunderheart," "Hidalgo" and "The Forbidden Kingdom."
Sources: First Showing (1,2)

THE WOLF MAN
Back in early May, it was reported the Joe Johnston's "The Wolf Man" was going back for extensive reshoots to add more action. A new report from England's The Daily Mail confirms the reshoots and claims that they were made because the dynamics of the werewolf bad been tweaked. Originally, it walked upright on its hind two legs, like a human, but now he'll be attack from all fours, like an actual wolf.

"The Wolf was on its heels and it looked daft," an actor explained. While director Joe Johnston did work on some of the new scenes, most of it was shot by Vic Armstong, a veteran stuntman who also does work as a second unit director. "Vic came up with a great confrontation between the Wolf Man and the Werewolf. They really go after each other and it's dramatic and exciting, whereas the stuff they shot first time round was limp." Word is that these new scenes involved Benicio Del Toro, who plays the lead character Lawrence Talbot, as well as Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins, who plays Del Toro's father, Sir John Talbot.

Universal did also confirm the reshoots. "The full articulation of the transformational lead character will be realized when the film is completed and we are excited to share this incredible look with the world in the upcoming trailer." Hopefully that trailer will be coming out later this month or in August because "The Wolf Man" hits theaters November 6.
(First Showing)

The Wolf Man: Fighting Werewolves?

Vic Armstrong, the legendary stuntman, stunt coordinator and second unit director of everything from James Bond to Indiana Jones, appeared this past Saturday at the British Film Institute's BFI Bond Weekender event celebrating the late 007 franchise producer Cubby Brocolli's 100th birthday.

Dark Horizons was there to hear him talk about some work he has been doing on the upcoming remake of "The Wolf Man."

"He was mostly talking his work with the Bond franchise but he mentioned he'd just come from the set of 'The Wolf Man' at Pinewood Studios shooting some new action scene that was being added to the film.

He was very vague, he didn't say what capacity (if any?) he was serving on the project but did say the crew were working six day weeks on this sequence.

He described the scene as a fight scene between two werewolves involving a fair amount of CG with them going up the walls and other bits of business, and that they had to marry it up to scenes shot earlier.

He didn't mention whether [director] Joe Johnston was there or not, he did mention Benicio [del Toro]'s name but wasn't specific about whether he was involved or not in this shoot."

"The Wolf Man" was originally scheduled for release this Spring, but was then pushed back to a November 6 release. The delay at the time was cited as being due to marketing reasons for the $85 million feature.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Universal Movie Shuffle

Universal has shuffled its slate of movies around so that some come earlier, some come later and others are pushed to the next year.

From Latino Review (which I think just got it from Variety),"Marking major changes to next year's slate, Universal Pictures has pushed back the release of horror franchise hopeful 'The Wolfman' from April 3 to Nov. 6 and taken Ridley Scott's 'Nottingham' out of 2009 entirely.

Also, Universal's 'The Fast and the Furious 4' will now open on April 3, instead of June 12.

'Nottingham,' toplining Russell Crowe, will open in 2010, but Universal did not set a specific date.

Universal said the reshuffling was the sensible thing to do, considering that "Fast 4" is completed, while the Brian Grazer-produced "Nottingham" won't start lensing until February or March.

And moving 'Wolfman' -- a reboot toplining Benicio Del Toro -- to Nov. 6 gives the film more of a high-profile release, as well as ample time for post-production. Pic is directed by Joe Johnston."

What do you think of these release changes?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Wolfman Possibly Delayed

Fangoria reported some disturbing news about the upcoming "The Wolfman" remake.

"Fango just heard through the grapevine that we may have to wait a little longer to see Benicio Del Toro get hairy. Word is that Universal is delaying 'The Wolfman' from its previously announced April 3 debut to sometime next fall.

Directed by Joe ('Jurassic Park III') Johnston from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self, the remake of Universal’s 1941 classic 'The Wolf Man' stars Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, who in this scenario is an actor who returns to his ancestral home and falls victim to the lycanthropic curse. Oscar-winning monster maker Rick Baker created Talbot’s beastly side and the carnage (which we’re told will be R-rated) he creates. We’ll try to sniff out specific new release-date news to bring to you; our magazine coverage of 'The Wolfman' begins in Fango #279, on sale in December."