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Box Office Roundup: ‘MIB 3′ Wins Weekend Weakly

Damon Houx — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:02:58 +0000

Sorry about the alliteration, but Men in Black 3 was conceived as a a blockbuster. Often when a film is a big huge thing it does near $100 million for its three day (sometimes more). Though MIB 3 may get to a near-$80 Million total by the end of the Memorial day weekend, this isn’t much of a win, which follows everything that’s come out post-Avengers.

	Film	Weekend	Per Screen	Total
1	MIB 3	$55,000,000	$12,947	$55,000,000
2	The Avengers	$36,987,000 (-33.5%)	$9,440	$513,672,000
3	Battleship	$10,800,000 (-57.7%)	$2,917	$44,300,000
4	The Dictator	$9,600,000 (-44.9%)	$3,185	$41,448,000
5	Chernobyl Diaries	$8,000,000	$3,288	$8,000,000
6	Dark Shadows	$7,515,000 (-40.3%)	$2,208	$62,998,000
7	What to Expect When You’re Expecting	$7,150,000 (-32.2%)	$2,367	$22,171,000
8	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	$6,350,000 (+96.6%)	$5,150	$16,553,000
9	The Hunger Games	$2,750,000 (-6.8%)	$1,935	$395,209,000
10	Think Like a Man	$1,400,000 (-47.2%)	$1,781	$88,272,000

The big news this weekend is that The Avengers crossed half a billion domestic, and will – without question – pass The Dark Knight on the all time list, likely at the start of next weekend. The Avengers is still a steamroller, and it should top out at $600, and I’d guess that they cross that round number just barely. But, post-holiday weekend, there’s going to be a sag at the BO, and probably a sense that it’s time to find a new shiny ball. But last I checked, tracking on Snow White was weak, so it may just be that nothing does well next weekend.

And that’s the interesting thing about this summer. If you take The Avengers out of the equation, this summer has been terrible so far. Only one film in the last three weeks has any chance of crossing $100 Million domestic, and that’s Men in Black. But there’s no silver lining to that, as the film is not going to cross $200 Million domestically, and next weekend it should fall at least 50% from this three day, which means it’s likely to do Men in Black 2 numbers, maybe a little less than that film’s $190 domestic. Which is why international is a big deal. You can’t trust the reported budget, so it’s likely the film will have to do $600 worldwide to even turn a profit. Which is possible, and with video, etc. it will likely not lose money, but it’s not Will Smith‘s triumphant return.

Right now the chart’s mostly filled with misfires and disasters. The Dictator, Battleship and Dark Shadows are all going to need international business to break even – though that’s more and more the case these days, and Chernobyl Diaries is going to struggle to do much more than $25 Million with the standard horror business drops.

The Hunger Games is going to cross $400 Million at this point, and it looks like Think Like a Man is sinking too fast to get to $100. Marigold is doing well for what it is, and outside the top ten Moonrise Kingdom did exceptionally strong on four screens. We’ll see if it expands well, at this point The Royal Tennenbaums is Wes Anderson‘s most successful film at $52 Million.

Reality Check: My predictions were close-ish. I went a little high on MIB and Battleship, and a little low on The Avengers, but not too shaby.

$1,781

New ‘Killing Them Softly’ Clip Features Brad Pitt Explaining A Kind And Gentle Way To Murder

Travis Woods — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:35:35 +0000

In Killing Them Softly, three dolts rob a card game protected by the Mob, sending the local underground economy into a tailspin. Enter Brad Pitt, who plays an enforcer sent in to track the thieves down and get back the money. Directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), it’s a movie we’re, well, dying to see in 2012. And to tide us over, there’s a new clip from the film, featuring Pitt’s characters views on how to kill someone, well, softly.

Based on the novel Cogan’s Trade by George Higgins, Killing Them Softly was also scripted by Dominik, who gives Pitt a nice bit of dialogue to chew on here. It’s a darkly funny scene, in which Pitt complains about how emotional and “touchy feely” and “embarrassing” people become right before he murders them. He then goes on to haggle a deal about the affordability of an outside contract killer. Entertaining stuff.

Killing them Softly also stars Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Vincent Curatola. The film had its Cannes premiere on May 22, and is set to debut in the United States on September 21, 2012.

Will you be seeing Killing Them Softly?

Source: IGN

News Roundup: Andy Samberg Addresses Harvard Graduates, ‘Katy Perry: Part Of Me’ 3D Poster, And More

Laura Aguirre — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:45:10 +0000

Andy Samberg is used to being in front of an audience, but nothing could have prepared him for this. This week, Samberg gave a speech at Harvard’s graduation ceremony to a very tough crowd, and we’ve got the video for you below. We also have the new poster for the Katy Perry: Part Of Me In 3D documentary, news that FX is developing a new show involving the incredibly talented Tim Roth, and much more after the jump.

Batman Is Insane: Unreality Magazine has made a case stating that Batman is as ‘crazy town banana pants’ as The Joker. The writer argues that Batman is “as fragile and mentally unstable as the Joker.” Check that out!
Movie Bars: If only this were actually possible [sigh]. Unreality Magazine posted an article listing six movie bars that’d be cool to go to in real life. Their list includes The Coco Bongo Club from The Mask, The Winchester from Shaun of the Dead, and The Gold Room (no, not the one in Echo Park, though they do have free tacos so…) from The Shining. Check it out.
Tim Roth TV Show: Tim Roth’s Lie To Me was a show taken before its time. But, alas, Roth is returning to television with another series. FX is developing a “bank robbery family drama” with Roth as the lead. Deadline reports that the project is described as “a drama about addiction, bank robbery, and an extreme volatile family dynamic.” The show is still in development.

Poster:

Katy Perry 3D: Check out the new poster for Katy Perry: Part Of Me. Try not to laugh.

Videos:

Relax, dude!: Lastly, watch Andy Samberg give a very hilarious speech at this year’s Harvard Graduation. It’s a 20 minute video, but worth your time. He makes impressions of Mark Zuckerberg and Mark Wahlberg and even yells, “Yale Sucks Balls.” Do check it out.

That’s the end of our round-up. Keep checking back at ScreenCrave for more entertainment news and features.

What are you excited for?

‘Star Wars’ Turns 35

Damon Houx — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:08:03 +0000

To badly misquote The Beatles, it was 35 years ago today that George Lucas taught the world to play. Yes, Star Wars came out on May 25, 1977, and now we’ve been living in its shadow for three and a half decades. Though too often anniversaries are mentioned as milestones, it’s worth reflecting on what has changed since the release.

As we are now in the midst of a record-breaking summer – thanks to The Avengers – it’s impossible to look at that or the current cinematic landscape and not trace it back to Lucas and his little Flash Gordon homage. Though the story was ripped off (mostly in low budget efforts), it was the launch of Industrial Light and Magic that had more impact than the film’s use of Joseph Cambell’s Hero’s Journey as the backbone of its narrative. If you don’t believe me, watch something like Logan’s Run or even the Planet of the Apes films. Pre-Star Wars, science fiction often focused its creative energy on set design and costuming over the miniature work and stop motion that changed the face of cinema.

And it was there from those classic opening images – it was unlike anything seen before, it took Stanley Kubrick’s work from 2001: A Space Odyssey and made it propulsive. Alas, computer technology has shown us that destroying worlds can be done with a click of a button, but the idea that cinema could do anything was still ripe then, and there’s no understating the impact the film had on imaginations (including mine, I think anyone who loves the films can talk about moments of childhood bliss watching or playing make-believe in the universe).

And – let’s not forget – Star Wars wasn’t a geek or nerd thing. It was a cultural phenomenon. It’s hard to imagine a film having the same lasting impact on pop culture that the first film – and the original trilogy – had. When The Avengers is on Blu-ray and DVD in a couple months it will be seen as the big thing of the summer of 2012, but it’s unlikely that people will still feel its grasp in 2047.

Of course, Star Wars isn’t just a movie, and there’s the cultural baggage that comes with its follow ups and prequels, its fans and its multiple altered versions, things that have reduced it into a geek thing. And the film – as it originally existed – is no longer available for screenings, and the only way to watch the original cut is through a non-anamorphic DVD or through laserdisc or VHS technology. But from that opening sequence of a big ship shooting and capturing a little ship, cinema was irrevocably changed (for better and for worse), and the dreams of a farm boy in space with a greater destiny still has the power to capture imaginations. If you can dump the baggage and find the original cut, it’s still a hell of a ride.

Are you going to watch Star Wars this weekend?

‘Maniac’ Red-Band Trailer Finds Elijah Wood Scalping Women And Loving Mannequins

Travis Woods — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:26:32 +0000

Fair warning: if you’re at work, perhaps it’s best to save this trailer until your boss is at lunch. And you may not want to be eating lunch yourself when you watch it. The trailer for Maniac finds Elijah Wood starring in a remake of the classic 1980 slasher film of the same name, starring Joe Spinell (you know, the guy contractually obligated to be in every New Hollywood film ever) and directed by B-movie king William Lustig. And the trailer for the remake, well, let’s say it leaves little to the imagination.

The Maniac revamp features Woods as a—you guessed it—maniac with some serious mommy issues and proclivity for scalping the everloving hell out of women, in order to feed his scalp fetish (yes, his scalp fetish). Things get complicated when the murderous mannequin store owner meets a woman name Anne and grows close to her, driving his need to murder and scalp to even more maniacal heights.

So it’s not your typical horror movie fare, Maniac was directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2, Wrong Turn at Tahoe) and written by Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur & C.A. Rosenberg. The film does not yet have a release date, but we’ll keep you updated as news develops. Check out the trailer below.

What do you think of the trailer?

Source: /Film

‘Thor 2′ Villain Will Be Played By Mads Mikkelsen Of ‘Casino Royale’

Bronwen Winter Phoenix — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:34:24 +0000

Marvel Studios are on a roll, having already cast not one, but three different villains for Iron Man 3 – and now they’ve announced Casino Royale baddie Mads Mikkelsen will be playing an as-yet unknown villain in Thor 2. However, fans will be happy to know Tom Hiddleston will also be back as Loki, and is said to still have a big part as the sequel’s antagonist – and there willll be plenty of tension to look forward to back at Asgard.

Mikkelsen starred as the blood-crying villain Le Chiffre alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond in the film Casino Royale, and his solid acting skills should make him a challenging adversary to the mighty Thor. Fans will also be excited to hear that Idris Elba has already confirmed that he will return as Asgard’s gatekeeper Heimdall – maybe he’ll get more involved with the action in the sequel?

As of yet, it’s not been announced which villain Mikkelsen will be playing, but fans could already be guessing at some of the possible clues… such as Mikkelsen’s Danish background, or the fact that Loki is still involved.

It seems 2013/14 is shaping up well for Marvel Studios, after struggling to keep up with their plan of two theatrical releases per year. Delays with Thor and The Avengers saw Iron Man 2 released by itself in 2010, and this year The Avengers is without a partner since Runaways was indefinitely postponed. Now it seems they’re back to two films in a year, or perhaps even more

Thor 2 is set to star Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Mads Mikkelsen, Josh Dallas and Anthony Hopkins. Production starts this summer with a November 15th, 2013 release planned.

Are you already excited about Thor 2?

Source: FirstShowing

Six New ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Banners Highlight Batman Versus Bane, Shoddy Photoshop

Travis Woods — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:38:07 +0000

Despite being one of the most anticipated action films of, well, ever, The Dark Knight Rises’ print ad campaign seems to be taking a decidedly laid back route, in terms of quality. First, we had the Wal-Mart quality photoshopped horror of the final theatrical poster, now we have six new banners that look like they were pieced together in about 10 minutes each. One would think that, with a budget of around $250 million, Christopher Nolan and Co. could have spent a little more time working out the kinks. Check out the new banners below.

Ok, I should try to say something nice: the banners, um, well, they sure make me look forward to an epic confrontation between Batman and Bane, so… that’s something.

Elsewhere, you’ve got Batman leading what looks like a SWAT team against Bane’s army of what appears to be The League of Shadows from Batman Begins, so there’s something that we internet speculators can froth about for the next two months. Oh, and Catwoman’s blowing some things up while riding around on a Bat-Pod, which would be neat if it weren’t airbrushed and photoshopped into oblivion.

But hey, we’re still counting down the days until we can point our greedy eyes at The Dark Knight Rises—we just wish the marketing campaign lived up to our expectations of what this final Batman film in the Nolan trilogy deserves.

What do you think of the banners?

Source: Batman News

‘The Exorcist’ is Being Remade… For TV

Damon Houx — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:24:42 +0000

When you factor for inflation, The Exorcist is one of the top ten grossing films of all time. Which may explain why there’s been so many sequels, reissues and rip-offs. Indeed, Paranormal Activity and its sequels should be paying royalty fees to William Friedkin‘s hit film. So how do you remake it without being obnoxious? Move it to television.

Vulture got the scoop, and the great news is that Sean Durkin, the director of Martha Marcy May Marlene, is attached to write and direct the ten-part TV version of the story. He’s backed by Morgan Creek and Roy Lee. They don’t have a channel yet, which could change the tone of the piece. You get it on HBO or Showtime, and it can have all the gross outs and gags of the original. If it ends up on Syfy, they’ll likely be a DVD/Blu-ray release of the unrated version.

Durkin has proved himself to massively talented, and though a ten-part adaptation may go for higher fidelity to the book than the movie – which is such an artistically uninteresting proposition – we’d bet that he will make it his own. If he can bring half of the creepiness that he brought to MMMM, this will be a must see.

Are you fan of the original Exorcist?

Fox Searchlight Acquires Homework and Martha Marcy May Marlene (0)

Box Office Predictions: Will ‘MIB3′ Dethrone ‘The Avengers’?

Damon Houx — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:05:22 +0000

The Avengers has so dominated the box office – and we’re looking at a holiday weekend – that it’s possible that Men in Black III might not put The Avengers into second place. It’s also inevitable by weekend’s end that Avengers will be over half a billion domestic. That said, it’s also possible that MIB3 could do a hundred over the four-day weekend. There are variables at play.

With Men in Black, the question is: What is success? With all of its players, and a supposedly very expensive production, we could see the film do a half a billion worldwide and still not make money. When you’re talking about big studio tentpole releases the scales and measurements are different. Currently the film has no listed budget, but we’ve heard rumors that $300 Million or more is possible (even likely) because of its long shooting schedule and multiple re-shoots.

The film could open to $100 Million over the four day, and get over $200 domestic (maybe even $300 Million) and normally that would be a big hit. But the math says that the film will have to do over $600 Million worldwide to break even if it cost as much as it was rumored to. That’s a lot of money for a film that’s mostly a trifle.

And though we may see a near-$80 Million opening, does that even mean people care or wanted this film? Or is it just the new event movie? MIB is an odd franchise that lost a lot of goodwill with its second entry, and even if the film opens big, it may not be because of the name or the star. And if it opens to weak domestic numbers, expect Sony to pimp its international business.

Chernobyl Diaries is also opening. Yeah, no one’s going to even remember this film existed in two years.

So, numbers, what do they look like (for the three day)?

MIB3 – $58.3 Million
The Avengers - $32.8 Million
Battleship – $12 Million
Chernobyl Diaries – $9 Million
The Dictator – $8.5 Million

The big surprise would be a surge from the men in black. Which is possible, but unlikely.

What are you going to see this weekend?

‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2′ New Character Posters Bring The Bland

Travis Woods — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:37:43 +0000

Not to have its thunder stolen by The Avengers’ runaway box office, Prometheus’ mysterious buzz, The Amazing Spider-Man’s inevitable Fourth of July weekend dominion, or The Dark Knight Rises’ guaranteed success (or crappy posters), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 has dropped a series of bland character posters on the world today. Featuring a trio of the blank stares we’ve all come to know and moderately tolerate, the posters are below.

Hey, we’ll give them this—at least they’re better than the “Let’s write the words ‘Twilight’ and ‘Breaking Dawn’ over a smudge and then release it” thinking that went into the original teaser poster for the upcoming film, right?

Pay close attention and you’ll note that—gasp!—Kristen Stewart’s eyes are red, which means she totes a vampire now, you guyz. Totes! OMG, it’s juuuuuuust like the books. Which, in keeping with the last book, this film will revolve around some kind of vampire army and then a 20 year old muscle-bound werewolf falls in love with a newborn vampire baby and then Stewart will look at things blankly with her mouth slightly agape and set the feminist movement back about 50 years. Something like that.

Stewart costarts with Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner in Twilight: Seriously—How Many More Punctuation Marks Can We Awkwardly Wedge Into This Title?, which is set for a November 16, 2012 release.

What do you think of the posters?

Source: Coming Soon

‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ Red-Band Trailer Features Graphic Violence And Honest Abe

Travis Woods — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:47:06 +0000

Worried that the adaptation of Seth-Grahame Smith’s novel about our 16^th president’s lifelong quest for vengeance after his mother is murdered by vampires would be toned down for the big screen? Well, worry no further, as Timur Bekmambetov’s cinematic take on the nutty Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is drenched with blood, vicious axe-play, and undead beheadings. At least, according to the 17 and up red band trailer, which you can watch below.

Like the previous trailers for the film, the red band clip features narration by none other than Honest Abe himself (Benjamin Walker), as we watch The Railsplitter launch himself into and odyssey of vengeance, bloodlust, and pre-Civil War politics as he avenges his mother’s death by facing an army of vampires who wish to have a country of their own.

Yes, it’s a wholly insane premise for the film, and one that will either work in spades, or will simply fall flat and become this decade’s version of Snakes on a Plane. That said, the red band trailer makes the film look like a lot of ridiculous fun. Check it out.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alan Tudyk, Anthony Mackie, Rufus Sewell, Erin Wasson and Dominic Cooper, and the film opens on June 22.

What did you think of the trailer?

Source: IGN

‘Ted’ Moves Into The ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ Release Date of June 29

Bronwen Winter Phoenix — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:16:36 +0000

Summer 2012 is beginning to feel like a game of “release date musical chairs.” After Paramount’s surprise move to push back action sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation from June 29th to 2013, Universal has decided to make hay while the proverbial sun shines by shuffling Seth McFarlane‘s R-rated comedy Ted as well. Ted has now been moved ahead by two weeks and has been dropped into G.I. Joe’s just-vacated June 29th slot.

Paramount announced the G.I. Joe: Retaliation push-back yesterday, stating that they wanted a whole nine months extra to convert the movie into 3D, and do a good job at it, and so some quick and clever thinking from someone at Universal certainly seems to have paid off in Ted’s favor.

After all, Ted was in danger of being overshadowed between two colossus superhero movies, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knig ht Rises, in its previous release date of July 13. Bailing the film out of those troubled waters and dropping it into the end of June may just save it at the box office.

Now Ted will have the male demographic all to itself, with only competition from People Like Us, Magic Mike and Madea’s Witness Protection. As of now, Ted’s biggest competition, at least for a few days, will be Brave and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Also, June’s Adam Sandler comedy That’s My Boy will likely have run its course by the 29th, since it opens on the 15th and will hopefully die a mercifully quick death.

So far, the Ted trailer has been doing well in theaters and across the web people seem to already be talking about it – well, it is a cursing, screwing, drinking teddy bear, so what do you expect?

Ted stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Joel McHale, Giovanni Ribisi and Seth MacFarlane as Ted, a teddy bear that came to life as a result of a childhood wish, and has stayed with his owner throughout adulthood. It’s also MacFarlane’s feature film directorial debut.

Are you excited about Ted?

Source: /Film

ScreenCrave.com » News

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