It's been a rough year. With the recession ending for some people (not us!), the divisions caused by inane topics like the mosque in downtown Manhattan and the specter of doom hanging over us in the shape of the GOP's return to power, audiences have to feel pummeled by DEADLY SERIOUS ISSUES. What better time for a "Jackass" movie to come along? The opening number reflects the fact that demand probably wasn't that much higher than for previous installments - the 3D surcharge plus the huge Friday numbers that trailed off, suggest as much.
But Viacom and Paramount was very aggressive, almost desperate, in attempts to make this pre-millennial brand name relevant to today's ticket buyers. The ideal success pattern for R-rated sequels is to draw in the teens who couldn't get into the theaters but devoured the original title on DVD, and the "Jackass" movies were obvious big hits with young fans of the zombie factory known as MTV growing up. It makes sense that some of them are 18 and 19 now, and have been declared mature enough by the MPAA to see a man flung skywards from within a Porta-Potty. In 3D. The success of the movie, which may or may not be the first film in the series to cross $100 million domestic, likely doesn't mean much. These guys are getting too old for this, though a "Grumpy Old Jackass" somewhere down the line would be an amusing one-off. The other alternative is that this sequel goes supernova on the DVD marketplace, prompting these guys to start churning them out at an ungodly rate, until they pretty much destroy their bodies permanently. Either way, no real change to the moviemaking landscape, but mansions for all. Again. Bam Margera's mother must be proud.
Those numbers almost doubled the opening take of the Bruce Willis actioner "Red." You can view this pretty negatively. There's the suggestion that a $20 million superstar like Willis should be outdrawing the likes of Johnny Knoxville, or that the cast (including Oscar perennials like John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman) should bring in more than the casual audience this gross suggests. However, the opening falls in line with expectations for the toughest of genre mashups, the comedy-hyphen. It may be a comedy-actioner, or a comedy-horror film, but spiking comedy (specifically Malkovich loaded with PCP and attached to explosives) with anything (action - John Diehard has guns) is always a tough play. This is not your usual studio performer, because it's Summit, so domestically, the film should only require a $60 million gross, because the real money is in worldwide, where Summit has already sold off the rights.
"The Social Network" fell out of first but continues its minor audience loss. "Jackass" is fun, and "Red" has that opening weekend, but "The Social Network" does seem to be the movie on people's lips. With the decent opening, this is now a trek to $100 million, and nearing $65, that number remains a possibility if the weekend drops remain sub-40%. The smallest audience loss belongs to "Secretariat," which lingered right behind after dropping a shade over 25%, which makes sense given the story's appeal to non-first-weekenders. We're sure the early-bird screenings were packed to the brim. Most movies stayed afloat and approached respectability this weekend, even if they really weren't worth seeing in the first place. "Life As We Know It" is nearing $30 million in weekend two, and after a wimpy first session, the film might be leveling off at a respectable $50m, though $40m seems more plausible. Regardless, that one hurts. Speaking of hurt, another WB bomb continues to hang around in "Legend of the Guardians." The studio has to be stung that after four weeks in release, this thing hasn't even crossed $50 million. If "The Town" weren't crossing $80 million this weekend, some heads would be rolling.
There were a couple of limited release surprises that may have not gotten coverage by sites like us. Urban thriller "N-Secure," which looks a lot like "The Room" with a black cast ("The Black Room"?), opened just outside the top ten at 486 locations with $1.4 million, though we wonder exactly how those screens were acquired in the first place. The Tea Party documentary "I Want Your Money," meanwhile, opened up on 537 screens, averaging $520 per-screen, a perfectly fringe-y bomb for a fraud political movement. It barely outdistanced Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter," which pulled in $231k on only six screens, by far the weekend's highest per-screen at $38k. An expansion should follow next weekend.
The biggest indie hit of the moment continued to be "Waiting For Superman," which saw a slight uptick with an expansion, grabbing $753k at 182 engagements. The film gained some nice exposure thanks to President Obama this week, which might help it go from a $2.5 million hit into a $5 million grosser. The future may not be so bright for "Conviction," a dull crowd-pleaser inexplicably given an arthouse platform, that pulled in a decent $110k on eleven screens for a per-screen that Fox Searchlight hopes it can duplicate in coming weeks, though without critic heat that seems unlikely. Support your local indie theater, folks.
1. Rome Is Burning 3D (Paramount) - $50 million 2. Red (Summit) - $22.5 million 3. The Friendster Fanbase (Sony) - $11 million ($63 mil.) 4. Horsies! (Disney) - $9.5 million ($28 mil.) 5. Life As We Know It (Warner Bros.) - $9.2 million ($29 mil.) 6. Legend of the Gangbangers: The Owls Of Compton (Warner Bros.) - $4.2 million ($46 mil.) 7. The Town (Warner Bros.) - $4 million ($81 mil.) 8. My Soul To Take (Universal) - $3.2 million ($12 mil.) 9. Easy A (Sony) - $2.7 million ($62 mil.) 10. Wall Street: Zuul Never Sleeps (Fox) - $2.4 million ($48 mil.)
David Chase's untitled rock 'n' roll coming-of-age tale formerly titled "The Twilight Zones" is now beginning to take shape and gear up for a January production start next year in New York.
After searching far andwide for his leads, Chase has settled with the relatively unknown trio of John Magaro, Will Brill and Jack Huston -- grandson of John and nephew of Danny and Angelica -- who'll presumably play the leading members of a group of suburban New Jersey guys making their way in the '60s as a band called The Twilight Zones.
Early casting calls also revealed the trio to be from very different upbringings: one a high school student of Italian-American descent, one an artistic, intelligent, upper class guitarist and lastly an athletic and unpredictable small town "King Rocker." Also joining the project will be Chase's 'Sopranos' star and E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt. The actor-musician, of course, played Tony Soprano's right hand man Silvio Dante in Chase's iconic HBO series and will now reunite with the director as an executive producer and music supervisor.
"I am thrilled to be working with Steven again, especially on this particular subject," Chase said of Van Zandt, who himself grew up in the Jersey music scene and went to co-produce Springsteen's albums, The River and Born In The U.S.A. "It's not just that we both worship the same songs and bands from the era, it's that he obviously knows so much. About every aspect. He embodies a particular spirit of a particular kind of rock 'n' roll. He actually is that spirit."
Considering Chase's stellar incorporation of music on 'Sopranos,' Zandt's own musical experiences and the young up and coming cast, this project is shaping up quite nicely. Paramount Vantage will release the film which has Mark Johnson ("Rain Man") as a producer.
Speaking to the French press while promoting "Legend of the Guardians," new "Superman" director Zack Snyder may have spilled the beans on what the plot may entail. If a shaky French translation is to be trusted, we're going to be blessed with yet another origin story.
According to Snyder, "As I have already explained, the film will focus on the early days of Superman, so there will be no links with other films. This is not a remake then. Similarly, although I still cannot talk about the script—I can assure you that this new Superman will not be based on a comic book in particular.” This does defeat the theories that the new film would be based on pre-existing storylines like "Birthright," "All-Star Superman" or "That Peanut Butter Jar From Krypton Shan't Open."
So what does this tell us about the upcoming film? The most significant information has to be the suggestion of "early days," meaning yet another younger Superman, so those Jon Hamm rumors can be put to rest. We can count Brandon Routh out as well, since his version of the character was meant to be the well-traveled version of the first two films in the series. Beyond that? We dread the possibility of an origin story, one of the most tiring tropes this genre has inexplicably embraced. Do we need to know where Indiana Jones found that fedora? Where Charles Foster Kane bought that sled? How Stella originally obtained her groove before losing it, then subsequently retrieving it through the love of Taye Diggs? We do hope it's just iffy translation, and that Snyder's "vision" is able to accommodate a Superman that we haven't seen yet before, and not yet another version of a story everyone knows by heart now.
Update: James Nesbitt has reportedly been offered the role of Bofur, one of three dwarves -- along with Bifur and Bombur -- who join Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield on their quest. Oakenshield was, of course, the role being linked tothe likes of Australian veteran actor Jack Thompson and Brian Cox.
After months and months of speculation and innuendo, it's taken a mere few hours after being greenlit for word about casting to spill for Peter Jackson's much troubled, long anticipated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit."
Deadline are reporting that British television star Martin Freeman ("The Office," "Sherlock") is set to take up the iconic role of Bilbo Baggins with James Nesbitt already offered an unnamed role and Michael Fassbender and David Tennant currently begin pursued. The cast is also expected to see Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis return to their original roles as Gandalf and Gollum.
Freeman has been long linked to the role and, most recently, rued the missed opportunity to take on Baggins due to scheduling conflicts with his BBC modern reimagining of the 'Sherlock Holmes' tale. It seems like those very conflicts are being worked out however, freeing the actor up for the no doubt life changing role. Nesbitt, on the other hand, has already reportedly received an offer to join the film in an unnamed role while Tennant -- who saw rumors linking him with the part of Bilbo for years -- may eventually join the project in another role, should the reported initial interest come through. The actor is slowly finding his way across the Atlantic after playing the iconic titular character in "Doctor Who" for years, and will be seen in Craig Gillespie's "Fright Night" remake next year.
Fassbender has already been fast tracking his way to Hollywood stardom after groundbreaking roles in "Hunger," "Fish Tank" and "Inglourious Basterds" but joining "The Hobbit" would definitely take him to the next level. But like Tennant, whether the early interest follows through remains to be seen. Either way, an exciting future lies ahead for the actor, who'll soon be seen starring in Cary Fukunaga's "Jane Eyre" along side Mia Wasikowska, David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" with former Middle Earther Viggo Mortensen and Matthew Vaughn's star-studded "X-Men: First Class."
News of the casting developments came almost immediately after the project finally earned the greenlight from the studio (via a deal between Warner Bros. and MGM), firming February 2011 as the start date with Peter Jackson officially at the helm and gunning for a Christmas 2012 and 2013 3D release date. And despite the recent production troubles Jackson has faced with the New Zealand unions over working conditions, a resolution is expected in the next week or two, with Warner Bros. already making plans to move the production if required. Any significant plan change like that, though, will likely throw another curveball at the already troubled production; hopefully Jackson and New Zealand film authorities can settle their differences.
Missed Bruce McDonald's "This Movie Is Broken" — his quasi Broken Social Scene concert doc cum narrative drama — when it blipped into U.S. theaters for a second in early September?
While Canadians got a deeper shot at seeing the film earlier this summer, non-Canucks and the rest of the globe will have a second shot at seeing the film next year.
FilmBuff has picked up worldwide (minus Canada) digital, Video On Demand and TV rights for the film and are aiming to release it on all digital platforms starting March 2011. Here's the film's synopsis:
Unbelievable! Bruno (Greg Calderone) wakes up in bed next to Caroline (Georgina Reilly, who starred in McDonald's zombie film, "Pontypool"), his long time crush. But tomorrow she's off for school in France, and maybe she only granted this miracle as a parting gift for her long time friend. So tonight -- tonight is Bruno's last chance. And tonight, as it happens, Broken Social Scene, her favourite band, is throwing a big outdoor bash. Maybe if Bruno, with the help of his best pal Blake (Kerr Hewitt), can score tickets and give Caroline a night to remember, he can keep this miracle alive.
We praised the unique film in our SXSW review, calling it "marvelously chaotic" and featuring a love story that moves "from conventional to unconventional at unexpected moments." Having seen it too, this writer will tell you it's really imbued with a drunken exhilaration and the BSS performances captured are top notch.
The perennially busy McDonald just released the trailer for his new documentary, "Music From The Big House," and saw his latest feature, "Trigger," debut at the Toronto Film Festival. That's essentially three films released in one year, not bad. McDonald recently directed "My Babysitter's A Vampire," a made-for-TV family film that he says "takes the piss out of the Twilight thing.” Last, but not least, the filmmaker also has an untitled "Hardcore Logo" sequel already in the can and last we heard was getting ready to shoot the women's prison martial arts film, "Lucky Ho."
Kevin Smith has done pretty admirably so far in keeping things mum surrounding his upcoming horror flick "Red State." But we suppose it was only a matter of time before he hit Twitter to answer questions about the film as well as answer a world of questions recently about his "Christploitation" flick.
The director revealed that the film will come in at a very succinct "80 or 85 mins, when all's said & done." He's been shooting the film more or less in chronological order saying, "We're at around 52 minutes right now, with 8 days left to shoot." He hopes to show the film to the entire cast and crew at the wrap party, and it looks like he wants it out there making the festival rounds quickly. The film is without a distributor for now but will head to "Sundance in January, if possible. From there, we'll see the lay of the land." As for the actual film itself, Smith says "Act 2 is all about self-sufficiency: relying solely on one's own abilities to achieve & satisfy. No more intermediates; no more middle-men." Sounds like a Diddy tweet. He also adds, "In the 70's, they made exploitation flicks about devil worship. We flip it on RED STATE - so it's an exploitation flick about angel worship."
You know what? This might be the first Kevin Smith film we're actually curious about in years. It definitely sounds like an intriguing project, and one that finds him finally stepping out of the tired comfort zone of bathroom rumor he's been rutted in for the last little while.Kevin Pollack, Michael Parks, Kyle Gallner, Melissa Leo, Michael Angarano, Steven Root and John Goodman star in the film that will most likely hit theaters sometime next year. [JoBlo]
During our lengthy interview, he discussed the now-dead collaboration with Guillermo del Toro, a remake of "The Orphanage" that he has since departed. The issues? Evidently the same struggles scores of filmmakers point to when working on remakes.
"I eventually went to LA, we sat down and hashed out the script, then I went off and wrote it. I took his notes, Warner Bros. notes, New Line’s notes. It was a really good script. I was very excited about it. I was going to do it as a New England Gothic, truly shot in New England, and it didn’t pan out. WB wanted to shoot it in South Africa or something nutty. I mean, why do you remake a foreign film in another foreign land? I don’t understand the logic sometimes." But apparently there were bigger launchblockers than locations. "But that’s not why we parted ways. Basically, they felt that they couldn’t cast the kind of A-List star they were looking for with my indie reputation. But it was great, Guillermo has always been supportive, he reaches out to me, we might do something else possibly."
A future del Toro-Fessenden pairing? Sign us up. Stay tuned for the full interview, where Fessenden discusses low-budget filmmaking, the world of modern horror, and his ill-fated desire to adapt "Werewolf By Night."
It's been a rough year. With the recession ending for some people (not us!), the divisions caused by inane topics like the mosque in downtown Manhattan and the specter of doom hanging over us in the shape of the GOP's return to power, audiences have to feel pummeled by DEADLY SERIOUS ISSUES. What better time for a "Jackass" movie to come along? The opening number reflects the fact that demand probably wasn't that much higher than for previous installments - the 3D surcharge plus the huge Friday numbers that trailed off, suggest as much.
