Theater and Acting

I knew Alice in Wonderland was going to do well but I seriously underestimated just how well. Alice had the biggest March opening ever, as well as the strongest opening for a 3D movie and had the best opening in history for a non-sequel. Here’s the top five:

1. Alice in Wonderland: $116.1 million
2. Brooklyn’s Finest: $13.4 million
3. Shutter Island: $13.2 million
4. Cop Out: $9.2 million
5. Avatar: $8.1 million

We’ve got a whopping four new releases this week:

The Green Zone
What’s It All About: Based on a novel by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, this one is about a U.S. soldier’s hunt for weapon’s of mass destruction in Iraq during which he learns that factions on both sides of the issue are spinning the truth for their own ends.
Why It Might Do Well: Matt Damon stars, United 93’s Paul Greengrass is directing and the film is getting a 71% Fresh rating over at Rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: There are still enough strong movies in release to keep this one from climbing too high.
Number of Theaters: 2,900
Prediction: $16

Our Family Wedding
What’s It All About: When a young couple announces their plans to wed, their respective fathers (Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia) immediately lock horns.
Why It Might Do Well: America Ferrera stars as the bride and despite Ugly Betty’s recent cancellation I always liked her.
Why It Might Not Do Well: WIth or without the ethnic spin, the “families-butt-heads-before-the-wedding” story has been done to death. Also, I so can’t stand Carlos Mencia.
Number of Theaters: 1,500
Prediction: $6 million

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Box Office Predictions

Continue reading Box Office: The Green League Rembers Our Wedding

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Did the Academy Awards sap your movie love? Reduce you to bitter rantings? Make you want to bask in old, beloved favorites? While Hollywood was getting their glitz on, our movie clubs are still going strong.

Over at SciFi Squad, Peter Hall has picked Right at Your Door – a film that delves into a post-bombed Los Angeles, without the usual disaster wasteland. Chris Gorak’s 2006 film stars Mary McCormack and Rory Cochrane as a “dirty bomb” goes off in the city, releasing a toxic cloud. Check out the discussion right here.

Meanwhile, Horror Squad’s Brad McHargue dug into Ils (Them), “pure, unbridled tension” surrounding a couple terrorized in their isolated country house. It’s one McHargue feels was “overshadowed by what I felt was the utterly predictable The Strangers.” You can read his commentary on the film right here.

Finally, I dug into the lascivious interludes between Benjamin Braddock and Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols’ classic, The Graduate, choosing to focus on the unseemly story made epic and classic by its stars, music, and look. You can join in on the discussion right here.

The Squads will offer their next picks this Friday, and meanwhile, you can join me and watch Cinematical’s next pick, The Deer Hunter, as I livetweet it this Wednesday, 10 P.M. Eastern time. You can follow me @MBartyzel, and join in on the discussion using both #cinemovieclub and #thedeerhunter.

Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment

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I say it year after year, but I think I’m finally done with the Oscars. I know, it’ll never really happen. Not only because I write about movies professionally and the Academy Awards are a necessary part of this job but also for the same reason that I’ll never quit messing with that scab on my arm or slowing down to stare at highway accidents. I may be a film cynic, but I’m also a film masochist, and some of why I keep watching the Oscars is just part of my addiction to the pain of being a cinephile in the 21st century.

Of course, it’s also part of the tradition. Like all of you, I grew up an Oscar zealot. I tuned in annually as if it were a yearly religious event, like midnight mass at Christmas or something. And I can’t pull on the perspective cloak or go back in time to determine if the ceremony has truly gotten worse or if I’m simply less tolerant of decisions made by both the Academy and the telecast’s producers in my old age. But I will say this much: to me, at this moment in my life, I do believe the marginalization of the deceased who didn’t receive a lengthy tribute as did John Hughes is far more despicable than Rob Lowe grinding with Snow White 21 years ago.

Filed under: Awards, Obits, Fan Rant

Continue reading Fan Rant: I’m Done with the Oscars

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Cinematical is live-blogging the Academy Awards! Follow along down below, and don’t forget to keep refreshing this page. Head over to Moviefone for additional Oscar coverage, and check out the most recent red carpet photos right here.

Click here for a full list of Academy Award winners updated in real time

9:12 PM – Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. (hilariously) pair up for Best Original and Adapted Screenplays: The Hurt Locker (first of many tonight, I suspect) and something else TBA momentarily.

9:06 PM – Monika wanted to know why nobody brought any “fookin’ prawns.” Got a big laugh here.

9:05 PM – Having Chris Pine of Star Trek fame explain how District 9 essentially took their populist genre nod seems fitting.

9:01 PM – Hey, Amanda Seyfried and Miley Cyrus of this year’s Nicolas Sparks adaptations are reading off Best Original Song, which is… deservedly “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart.

Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Oscar Watch

Continue reading Oscars Live Blog — First Hour

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Every year we think we all have it figured out. Even before the votes have been cast we figure to know where the waters have shifted and must sit back idly waiting for the inevitable to occur. Those on the Oscar beat writing about it day-in and day-out find ways to invent stories and controversies. Some even suck up to powerful studio heads and jump on the bandwagon of an underdog despite evidence that they are doing nothing but printing the ramblings of a one-man hype machine. Shame on them and may they all lose their Oscar pool to the Grim Reaper.

There are locks though and then there are LOCKS. And this year looks more than ever to be full of the latter. We probably said the same thing last year too while we see-sawed on Mickey Rourke over Sean Penn or bought into the suggestion that Viola Davis was going to steal the award in a now Winslet-less category. We don’t know in what order the non-surprises will be revealed on Sunday, so we might as well just go down the list in order of confidence. Of my own prognostication prowess that is. But we will finish with Best Picture anyway, even if such confidence would rank it much higher on this particular inventory.

Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch

Continue reading Movieman’s Final Predictions For The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

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Growing up Freddy wasn’t cheap, but the allure of his sinister voice and pizza face kept us coming back for more. Throughout the years there were some cuckoo products and marketing strategies to promote the five-fingered fiend, some of which you can check out after the jump. Until we can determine if Samuel Bayer’s Nightmare on Elm Street remake is a complete disaster or not, enjoy this little stroll down Elm Street.

Filed under: Horror, Fandom, Movie Marketing

Continue reading Freddy Krueger’s Greatest Marketing Moments

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Yes sir, things have changed and it’s a new day in Hollywood. Gone are the $20 million pay-days and even the top of the A-list are taking the hit (unless you’re Angelina Jolie). In an article in the NYT, they took a look at the declining paychecks of Hollywood’s biggest stars and the new financial model that has swept the movie factory: CB zero (which stands for cash-break zero). It’s a departure from the previous set up which had stars taking a reduced paycheck for “a percentage of …first-dollar gross receipts; that is, they began sharing in the profits from the first ticket sale, not waiting until the studio turned a profit.” But the new deal is a little different because, now, stars won’t see a dime beyond their paycheck until the film breaks even.

According to experts (who remained anonymous), the reason for the change is that a big name just doesn’t pull in the crowds like it used to. Plus, the all important 18-34 demographic just isn’t that interested in the Hollywood A-list anymore. When you take a look at most of this years’ Oscar nominations, smaller films and previously unheard of actors like Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker (who both worked for at or near guild minimums: $65,000, with negotiable overtime with some food and mandatory breaks) are competing alongside big names like George Clooney and Meryl Streep, who also took pay cuts, because according to the NYT, “[when] the estimated salaries of all 10 of the top acting nominees are combined, the total is only a little larger than the $20 million.”

After the jump: the future of Hollywood’s A-Listers…

Filed under: Awards, Celebrities and Controversy, Oscar Watch

Continue reading Will 2010 Mark the End of Hollywood’s A-List?

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Shutter Island held strong, hanging onto the top spot in its second week with last weeks two new releases Cop Out and The Crazies hanging pretty close to one another in second and third. Here’s the top five:

1. Shutter Island: $22.7 million
2. Cop Out: $18.2 million
3. The Crazies: $16 Million
4. Avatar: $13.6 million
5. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief: $9.5 million

Alice in Wonderland
What’s It All About: 3D adaptation of the Lewis Carroll fantasy.
Why It Might Do Well: Director Tim Burton may not have a perfect track record (Planet of the Apes, anyone?) but he’s the go-to guy for weird. With Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, this trip down the rabbit hole should be one to remember.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Might this be too creepy for the kids?
Number of Theaters: 3,400
Prediction: $64 million

Brooklyn’s Finest
What’s It All About: A crime drama focusing on three Brooklyn police officers over the course of a single week.
Why It Might Do Well: Looks like a compelling story and having the likes of Richard Gere and Don Cheadle in the cast can’t hurt.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Some of the potential audience for this may be drawn away by Shutter Island, and Brooklyn’s Finest so far has a mere 31% at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 1,800
Prediction: $8 million

Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Box Office Predictions

Continue reading Box Office: Alice in Brooklyn

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Late last year, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sarah Polley made a 2-minute short film called The Heart, for The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s healthy living campaign. Starring Sarah Manninen and Jean-Michel Le Gal, the film follows a “woman through phases of her life” as she “explores the chambers of her heart.” Now that the short is just a few days away from release — slated to air on the Canadian station CTV during the Academy Award ceremony — The Globe and Mail reports that Polley is removing her name from the title credits after the discovery that it’s being used to promote Becel margarine.

It is not clear what, if any, knowledge Polley had about Becel’s ties to the foundation (the Globe says they commissioned the film), but according to her press release, she “… was thrilled, as I was proud to be associated with the work of this incredible organization.” “However, I have since learned that my film is also being used to promote a product. Regretfully, I am forced to remove my name from the film and disassociate myself from it.” Polley explained that she “never actively promoted any corporate brand, and cannot do so now.”

Considering just how many moviegoers and fans get irked by product placement, and the ever-increasing ties between product marketing and moviemaking, it’s pretty cool to see a filmmaker put principles over complacency. Then again, this is not a surprise. This is the girl who, as a pre-teen, stood up to Disney when they were against their Road to Avonlea star wearing a peace sign to protest the first Gulf War.

Filed under: Shorts, Celebrities and Controversy, Politics

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It may not seem a stretch to combine two films about Neo-Nazi skinheads, but there is enough of a difference between American History X and The Believer for them to meet as today’s pitch. And I wasn’t sure of any other relative films that didn’t ignore the Judaic aspect of this story. Maybe you’ve seen the article from the New York Times over the weekend about the Polish man who went from being a Neo-Nazi to an Orthodox Jew. He even got circumcised at the age of 24.

This is the opposite of Ryan Gosling’s character in The Believer. He begins a student of the Torah and transitions to self-hating anti-Semite. As for Ed Norton in American History X, he starts as a Neo-Nazi and becomes reformed after a stint in prison, but that character is not Jewish. Of course, we can throw in mention of other films involving racist skinheads, such as This Is England, but still the Times piece includes an interesting plot point I don’t think we’ve seen before: the former truck-driving skinhead didn’t know his true heritage.

According to the report, which more generally looks at the Jewish revival in Poland, this now 33-year-old man had been baptized and raised Catholic and joined an anti-Semitic group while a kid in 1980s Warsaw. At 18, he married another skinhead, who ultimately discovered both she and him had Jewish grandparents. His ancestry had been masked due to his grandmother escaping the Holocaust by living in a monastery. Eventually he decided to become ultra-Orthodox.

And that’s about all the short article says. I’d love to know more about the man’s story, though, so I hope that someone will buy the movie rights to his life. Anyone else think his positive change would make a good movie, or do you feel American History X already went there adequately? Personally, i don’t think there’s ever too many films that promote tolerance.

Filed under: Drama

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