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'Christmas Carol' Takes Top Spot While 'The Box' Barely Makes Top Five at Friday Box-Office
3 hours ago
Nikki Finke delivers the top six at this weekend's Friday box-office and I don't think there is any big surprises here. As a matter of fact, I will be more interested in seeing how films such as The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Fourth Kind and The Box do in their second weekends. But let's take this in order shall we?
Finke reports Disney's A Christmas Carol took in a modest $9 million on Friday, which Finke suspects will ultimately result in $35-40 million for the weekend. Laremy Legel, our Box-Office Oracle, was bullish in predicting a $44.2 million weekend and is probably kicking himself, but you can't blame him after taking theater counts and added 3-D revenue. I have heard the budget on this flick was $185 million, which is A Ton, and now that Zemeckis has gone from Warner Bros., to Paramount/DreamWorks and now to Disney, I wonder who »
- Brad Brevet
This Weekend at the Movies: November 6, 2009
6 November 2009 3:32 AM, PST
It's hard to figure Hollywood out sometimes. Last week we had nothing outside of the last minute addition, Wednesday release of the Michael Jackson doc This is It and then this week is packed, albeit with a lot of smaller stuff and a pair of thrillers, but any weekend where I am posting five reviews is a pretty big week for movie releases. Let's check 'em out shall we?
The Fourth Kind Is it real? No. Is it any good? It's not bad and will likely be better for people going in knowing wholeheartedly it is fake, but then again, the filmmaker's attempts to convince you it's real may grate on you even more under those circumstances. It's hard to figure which side the general public will come down on this one and user comments should prove entertaining reads.
This film is rated PG-13 for violent/disturbing images, some terror, »
- Brad Brevet
Movie Review: The Box (2009)
6 November 2009 2:32 AM, PST
Photo: Warner Bros. How much do you know about French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, his play "No Exit" and his ideas of free will? Well, you may want to bone up a bit if you want to have a leg up on your friends before going into Richard Kelly's The Box. This is hardly an accessible film, but it can become increasingly available if you have done a bit of homework in advance.
Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as Norma and Arthur Lewis are presented with an interesting proposition when Frank Langella playing the mysterious Arlington Steward shows up on their doorstep. His face, disfigured due to an initially unknown accident, is a source of unease as he offers the couple a button unit with the promise that should they push the button someone they don't know will die and in return they will be given one million dollars. »
- Brad Brevet
Movie Review: Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (2009)
6 November 2009 2:25 AM, PST
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Photo: Lionsgate For almost 90-percent of it's runtime Precious is so bleak and downright desperate you wouldn't need to explain yourself if you told me you didn't want to see it. However, should you go against what your instincts are telling you, you will end up seeing an eternally hopeful film that is hands-down the best drama I have seen in 2009 so far. This isn't an easy film to watch, and at times it made my stomach turn, but to somehow come through everything we bear witness to and walk away with some sense of "things are going to be better," moved me beyond measure.
Starring as the title character is Gabourey Sidibe as she opens herself up to a well of emotion unlike any I have seen all year. Living in Harlem in 1987, Precious is 16-years-old and pregnant »
- Brad Brevet
Movie Review: The Fourth Kind (2009)
6 November 2009 2:18 AM, PST
Milla Jovovich in The Fourth Kind
Photo: Universal Pictures Perhaps I am over-reacting, but the "this is real" approach to Universal's alien abduction thriller The Fourth Kind grates on me something fierce. I have no problem with filmmakers saying something is "based on" or "inspired by" true events, but to have your lead actress walk out at the opening of your film and basically say what I am about to watch includes "actual" archived footage and it is up to me to believe it or not is a sleight of hand I have a hard time respecting.
The Fourth Kind is attempting to pull-off the Blair Witch Project "is it really real?" stunt and I'm not sure how it will play with most viewers, but with me it was a distraction overused to the point of annoyance. Making use of the word "actual" along with split-screens, audio readings, Sumerian translations »
- Brad Brevet
Movie Review: A Christmas Carol (2009)
6 November 2009 2:15 AM, PST
Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures One thing's for certain with Robert Zemeckis's latest attempt at motion-capture CGI animation, kids need not apply. I have had conversations with fellow critics and the conclusion I've come to concerning children and Disney's A Christmas Carol is that while some elements may indeed frighten some kids, the overall complaint will be that it's just too boring.
If you've seen any incarnation of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" the best way to describe this latest attempt is to call it a stripped down non-inventive take on the classic Christmas story that wears on too long and is just plain dull. By the time I hit the Ghost of Christmases Yet To Come I was ready to check out, I knew what was coming and wasn't expecting any deviation. I won't say I was ever bored beyond reproach, »
- Brad Brevet
Movie Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
6 November 2009 2:11 AM, PST
George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats
Photo: Overture Films If you've seen the trailer you've seen the movie. In fact, choose any scene from the trailer, extend it, duplicate it and give it no real reason to exist and you have The Men Who Stare at Goats, a film that's got plenty of laughs but nothing holding it together.
Directed by Grant Heslov, the Oscar-nominated co-writer and producer of Good Night, and Good Luck., The Men Who Stare at Goats is an adaptation of Jon Ronson's book of the same name. I have since been told it's only loosely based, which the film would also like us to believe as it opens saying, "More of this is true than you would believe." Just what part is true? Who knows? How much do I believe? Perhaps the proper question there would be How much do I want to believe? »
- Brad Brevet
Timberlake, Aykroyd and Faris Set to Voice 'Yogi Bear'
5 November 2009 7:10 PM, PST
For some reason I get these crazy thoughts in my head that some of these needless movies will just get announced in the trades and will ultimately be forgotten. Sometimes that's the case and other times... well, not so much, and not so much is the case today as Entertainment Weekly reports the animated feature film Yogi Bear is moving forward at Warner Bros. with Journey to the Center of the Earth helmer, Eric Brevig, directing. The big news today, however, is the folks that will be voicing the picnic-basket loving bear and his cohorts.
It seems Dan Aykroyd is in negotiations to voice the CG-animated Yogi while Justin Timberlake is in talks to voice Boo-Boo while Anna Faris will voice Rachel, a nature documentary filmmaker shooting Yogi and Boo-Boo for her next project.
The film is set to begin filming in Auckland, New Zealand next month from a script »
- Brad Brevet
A 'Complicated' New Poster and Trailer with Streep and Baldwin
5 November 2009 5:59 PM, PST
Photo: Entertainment Weekly / Universal Pictures Universal has just debuted a new trailer and poster for the Meryl Streep and 2010 Oscar co-hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin romantic comedy It's Complicated from writer/director Nancy Meyers. The film is described as a comedy about love, divorce and everything in between.
Jane (Streep) is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and has -- after a decade of divorce -- an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake (Baldwin). But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their son's college graduation, things start to get complicated. An innocent meal together turns into the unimaginable -- an affair. With Jake remarried to the much younger Agness (Lake Bell), Jane is now, of all things, the other woman. Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam (Martin), an architect hired to remodel Jane's kitchen. »
- Brad Brevet
Box-Office Oracle: Nov. 6 - Nov. 8, 2009
5 November 2009 3:29 PM, PST
#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week in a Row 1. A Christmas Carol First off, an apology that I wasn't here to take my beating after This is It failed so spectacularly (at least domestically). I was doing a bit of traveling and so Brad had to fill in. I'll try not to let it happen again!
Now then, there is plenty in the way of early November precedent for children's movies banking. Madagascar 2 cranked $63m last year. Chicken Little cleared $40m in 2005. Oddly, Christmas Carol isn't technically a kid's film, even though it's rated PG, but no one will know that until Monday. Plus it's getting a monstrous 3,700 theaters. And the 3-D element adds another ten percent to ticket sales. So we're going big, once again, only this time it's going to work. Estimate: $44.2 million 2. The Men Who Stare at Goats The problem, if I may be so bold, is that the »
- Laremy Legel
Has 'Prince of Persia' Nailed What It Means to be a Video Game Adaptation?
5 November 2009 1:19 PM, PST
Jake Gyllenhaal puts on his sexy face in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures I'm not much of a gamer, and that may in fact be an understatement considering in the last few years the only games I have played and finished are "Gears of War," "Burnout," "Uncharted," "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and just a couple of days ago "Uncharted 2." I don't know where that places me in the gamer revolution, but considering that's about 6 years of gaming outside of playing a little "Tiger Woods," "NBA Street" and "Hot Shots Golf" I would say I am on the outside looking in. However, I'd like to think I know enough to at least open up a discussion concerning the growing trend of adapting video games into feature films, primarily based on the recently released trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a film »
- Brad Brevet
Promo Trailer for Winterbottom's 'The Killer Inside Me'
5 November 2009 1:18 PM, PST
Thanks to The Playlist we have been made aware of a promotional trailer for Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me based on the Jim Thompson novel and starring Casey Affleck, Simon Baker, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Elias Koteas, Bill Pullman and Ned Beatty.
Thompson, as many of you may already know co-wrote Stanley Kubrick's killer heist flick The Killing, which was part of my list of top ten heist films back in early 2008. This also isn't the first time "The Killer Inside Me" has been adapted for a feature film as Burt Kennedy directed a version in 1976 starring Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrrell.
The story centers on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff's schoolteacher girlfriend. Baker plays a county attorney »
- Brad Brevet
New Pics and Trailer for Universal's Animated 'Despicable Me'
4 November 2009 5:52 PM, PST
Photo: Universal Pictures Universal has debuted the second trailer for their upcoming animated feature Despicable Me featuring a voice cast made up of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer and Julie Andrews.
The film, directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, centers on the villainous Gru and his plan for the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. Gru's plan will, however, have to survive the likes of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.
How it all works out is your best guess, but we have nine new images from the film which you can see here and the trailer, which is directly below.
Despicable Me is set to hit theaters on July 9, 2010.
You can also watch »
- Brad Brevet
'The Tourist' Now Looks to Team Up Jolie and Depp
4 November 2009 5:50 PM, PST
Wow, the production of The Tourist is quite the bumpy ride as recently announced director Florian von Donnersmarck and Tom Cruise replacement and Avatar star, Sam Worthington, have both left the production citing creative differences leaving Angelina Jolie all on her own... at least for a brief moment as Variety is now reporting Johnny Depp is in talks to fill in for Worthington and star alongside Jolie in the now director-less thriller.
Should things work out, Depp would play an American tourist drawn into a web of intrigue and danger by a female Interpol agent (Jolie) as she attempts to locate a criminal who was once her lover.
With the director's chair wide open, Variety's Mike Fleming reports there are names already circling the project, including Children of Men helmer Alfonso Cuaron.
At one point this was a film with Bharat Nalluri directing Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron, which then »
- Brad Brevet
Ten Things We'd Push 'The Box's Button For
4 November 2009 3:03 PM, PST
A cool ass box with a shiny red button!
Photo: Warner Bros. The picture you see above comes from this week's upcoming release of The Box and could it be any more enticing? Look at that button unit. I mean, who doesn't want to push the plunger on that bad boy to see what will happen?
Now imagine Frank Langella tells you that by pushing it you will receive $1 million! There is, of course, the one caveat, someone you don't know, somewhere in the world will die as a result of your button mashing, which could potentially open the possibility that the next person that pushes it will ultimately end up killing you and so forth...
However, if you follow that logic down the line that would mean you died without $1 million should you have decided not to push the button. This would leave you with one massive regret as you fade down the drain. »
- Brad Brevet
Official Trailer for Angelina Jolie's Actioner 'Salt' is Here
4 November 2009 11:58 AM, PST
Photo: Columbia Pictures Yesterday the Russian version of the Angelina Jolie action-thriller Salt arrived online and was promptly removed, but as expected the domestic version debuted on Yahoo today for all of you to see.
In the film directed by Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm) Jolie plays CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. She will prove loyal to these when a defector accuses her of being a Russian sleeper spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture, protect her husband, and stay one step ahead of her colleagues at the CIA.
You can 13 images from the film right here and watch the trailer directly below. Salt is due in theaters on July 23, 2010.
You can also watch it in high definition at Yahoo. »
- Brad Brevet
Is 'The Fourth Kind' Real or Another 'Blair Witch' Fake Out?
4 November 2009 11:41 AM, PST
Milla Jovovich in The Fourth Kind
Photo: Universal Pictures I saw The Fourth Kind last night and while I'm not allowed to review it until this coming Friday, I did want to talk about it a little bit beforehand and share with you what little information I know.
I hadn't watched a trailer before going into the film so my only knowledge was that it was about alien abduction in some form or another. I have since watched the trailer (watch it to the right) and the footage of Milla Jovovich explaining what you are about to watch is included at the front of the film and extended. Jovovich portrays psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler and the film includes what is said to be "actual video footage" featuring Tyler's sessions with patients she places under hypnosis to help them remember things their minds have forced them to forget.
The film is set in Nome, »
- Brad Brevet
Latest MPAA Ratings: Bulletin No: 2094
4 November 2009 11:39 AM, PST
Here are the new MPAA ratings from Bulletin No: 2094.
$5 A Day Rated PG-13 For sexual content, brief nudity and language. Bad Lieutenant Port Of Call New Orleans Rated R For drug use and language throughout, some violence and sexuality. Release Date: November 20, 2009 City Of Life And Death Rated R For wartime violence and atrocities including sexual assault, and for some sexuality and brief nudity. The Donner Party Rated R For some violence. Frozen Rated R For some disturbing images and language. Hidden Rated R For violence, disturbing images and language. The Joneses Rated R For language, some sexual content, teen drinking and drug use. Let God Be The Judge Rated PG For thematic elements, language and violence. The Lovely Bones Rated PG-13 For mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language. Release Date: December 11, 2009 Perfect Life Rated R For drug use throughout, sexuality, violence, and pervasive language. »
- Brad Brevet
Poster for 'Green Zone' Stares Back At You
4 November 2009 10:20 AM, PST
Empire has scored the poster for Universal's Green Zone starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass.
The film is due in theaters on March 12, 2010 and is set set in the early days of the Iraqi War when no one could be trusted and every decision could detonate unforeseen consequences. Damon leads a team of Army inspectors, dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Moving from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that inverts the purpose of their mission.
I have added the trailer just above and the poster just below. For more information you can click here where we have a gallery of three additional images.
Photo: Universal Pictures via Empire »
- Brad Brevet
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin Set to Co-Host the Oscars
3 November 2009 4:49 PM, PST
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin After a report from Nikki Finke earlier this morning saying Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. declined the duty of co-hosting the 2010 Oscars, the Academy made an official announcement this afternoon that It's Complicated co-stars Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have agreed to host the show.
Oscar telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman were quoted in a joint statement saying, "We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars. Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event."
This will be the first time for Baldwin on the big stage while this marks Martin's third time hosting the event after hosting in 2001 when Gladiator took home Best Picture and again in 2003 for Chicago's big win. Martin was nominated for an Emmy »
- Brad Brevet
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