Seth Rogen, Ice Cube, Brady Noon, Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr., and Micah Abbey sat down with RT correspondent Perri Nemiroff to discuss their upcoming movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Rogen reveals how he teenage-ified the turtles, Ice Cube breaks down Superfly’s motivations in the film, the cast discuss who their favorite mutant is, and so much more.
This is the latest iteration of the classic 1980s comic book created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, centering on a quartet of anthropomorphic turtles who are also martial arts experts. Mutated by a radioactive “ooze,” then raised — and trained — in the sewers by their sensei, a rat named Splinter, the Turtles fight crime and struggle to find acceptance in the world. The film is a passion project of sorts for Rogen and frequent partner Evan Goldberg, who grew up fans of the Turtles and wanted to put a fresh spin on the story. This time, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo face off against Ice Cube’s Superfly, who leads an army against New York City and the world to put mutant-kind in charge.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) is in theaters on July 21, 2023.
On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News.
(Photo by Warner Bros. courtesy Everett Collection)
There were a handful of forgettable war-related films released in 1999: The General’s Daughter, All The King’s Men, the Robin Williams-starrer Jakob The Liar. And then there was Three Kings (Certified Fresh at 94%), part action comedy, part heist movie, and 20 years later, still holding up as one of the best — and most subversive — war films ever made.
Directed with adrenalized panache by David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle), Three Kings followed on the heels of Steven Spielberg’s heroic 1998 WWII epic Saving Private Ryan, which canonized the sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation. But Russell had no such patriotic flag to wave. Like Catch-22, Three Kings satirically probes the insanities of war; like Apocalypse Now, it revels in surreal set pieces and sharp visual juxtapositions; like M*A*S*H, it mixes black humor with moral complexity.
Its heroes are reluctant ones, soldiers who start out consumed by their own self-interest until forced by untenable circumstances to take a moral stand.
Inspired by color photos of the war that appeared in newspapers at the time, Russell and his cinematographer, Newton Thomas Siegel, devised a saturated, blown-out look for the Iraqi desert (actually Arizona) in the film. They increased the contrast and graininess and bypassed the bleaching stage of the film process, giving the desert landscape a foreboding, surreal look, which set the visual template for other films about contemporary wars that followed. The Iraqi village was designed by production designer Catherine Hardwicke, who served the same role on films like Tombstone and Tank Girl and would go on to direct the first Twilight and Lords Of Dogtown.
(Photo by Warner Bros. courtesy Everett Collection)
Russell exposes the hypocrisy of American foreign policy in the Middle East and indicts the Bush Administration for its abandonment of anti-Saddam insurgents – whom the U.S. had encouraged to rise up against the Iraqi dictator – all without pedantic speeches or heavy-handed scenes. The soldiers who steal back the Kuwaiti gold from Saddam – George Clooney, Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg, and Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze – spend the latter part of the film, at great risk to themselves, helping a group of insurgents reach the Iranian border, foreshadowing the refugee crisis of future wars to come.
What’s a good war movie without at least one hard-to-watch interrogation scene? Most of these scenes tend to follow a simple formula: someone, usually a soldier, is captured behind enemy lines and tortured for information. But the scene between Moroccan actor Saïd Taghmaoui as an Iraqi army officer and Mark Wahlberg as the captured American soldier gets up close and personal in a way few of these scenes manage to.
While the Iraqi does torture Wahlberg’s character with electric shocks, he’s no faceless sadist; our sympathies are engaged when we learn he’s lost his young son and daughter to American bombing raids. But the capper comes when Taghmaoui forces oil down Wahlberg’s throat, a searing indictment on what many felt was the real point of America’s intervention in Kuwait: to protect its oil reserves in the Middle East.
Russell was concerned about viewers being anesthetized to gun violence; his answer was to give the audience the uniquely visceral experience of how a bullet traumatizes the human body. In the scene, Clooney lectures his men: “What makes any gunshot wound bad, provided you survive the bullet, is something called sepsis. Say a bullet tears into you right now. It creates a cavity of dead tissue, the cavity fills up with bile and bacteria, and you’re f—ed.” As the soldiers listen, the camera tracks a bullet as it smashes into the body, tearing through flesh and filling the organs with bile.
While doing press for the film, Russell grew so irritated with a reporter’s questions that he made up a story about how the bullet scene was done using a real corpse. Needless to say, the studio did not find it funny.
In 1999, Clooney was still playing a doctor on NBC’s hit TV show E.R. After the disappointment of 1997’s Batman & Robin (11% on the Tomatometer), he was desperate for meatier roles in prestige projects. In particular, he wanted the role of Three Kings’ disillusioned Special Forces Major Archie Gate (it didn’t hurt that Warner Bros., who produced Three Kings, also produced E.R.), but his relationship with Russell was volatile from the start. The weather on set in Arizona was hot, and the shoot proved to be chaotic. Clooney would often show up on set only to find that Russell had completely rewritten his scenes. As recounted on Slate.com, the two famously came to blows after Clooney objected to Russell physically manhandling an extra on the set.
Nevertheless, the film helped to cement Clooney as a leading man, as he jumped to starring roles in The Perfect Storm and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Late in Three Kings, after Jonze is killed and Wahlberg is wounded by a sniper, he even gets an E.R. moment, placing a flutter valve in Wahlberg’s chest to allow air to escape from a punctured lung.
Three Kings opened on October 1, 1999.
94%
RT Senior Editor Grae Drake talked to Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Ice Cube, and Charlie Day from Fist Fight about their favorite swear words. Then, Ice Cube discusses his grudges with every other “cube.” And Charlie Day, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Christina Hendricks, and Kumail Nanjiani share their best Talent Show performances — including singing Paula Abdul on roller skates!
This week at the movies, we’ve got a wild child (The Jungle Book, starring Neel Sethi), non-stop conversation (Barbershop: The Next Cut, starring Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer), and implanted memories (Criminal, starring Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman). What do the critics have to say?
It’s really hard to equal — much less top — a beloved classic. But critics say director Jon Favreau may have done just that with his live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book, which takes the timeless tale of a child raised by wolves and elevates it with some of the best CGI every committed to film. It doesn’t hurt, of course that he’s abetted by a strong cast that includes newcomer Neel Sethi and voice performers Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and Idris Elba. The pundits say the Certified Fresh The Jungle Book is a family friendly film of a very high order.
Everything’s coming up aces for Ice Cube these days. The recently-minted Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer is back with the third entry in the Barbershop series, and critics say it’s got all the warmth, ribald humor, and insightful commentary that made the first two entries big hits at the box office. Once again, Barbershop: The Next Cut doesn’t have much of a plot, but its fine cast — which includes Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall, Anthony Anderson, Common, and Nicki Minaj — makes for terrific company.
On paper, a spy thriller starring dependable folks like Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, and Tommy Lee Jones alongside comic book heroes Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot sounds like a can’t-miss proposition. Unfortunately, critics say Criminal misses pretty badly, mostly because its story — about a violent felon whose brain is infused with the knowledge and memories of a crack CIA agent — is both preposterous and badly paced.
Outlander returns for a second addictive season of mystery and sweeping romance as Claire and Jamie take on Paris.
Catastrophe delivers a strong second season that deepens the drama while remaining spit-take funny.
The darkly fascinating (and utterly bingeworthy) The Girlfriend Experience powers past any shortcomings with a breakout performance by Riley Keough.
Fear the Walking Dead sets sail in its sophomore season with an intriguing backdrop that doesn’t always disguise its deficiencies in comparison to its predecessor.
Also Opening This Week In Limited Release
RT Senior Editor Grae Drake talked to the cast of Barbershop: The Next Cut (Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve, Common, Regina Hall, Lamorne Morris, and Anthony Anderson) about bad haircuts, why you’ll tell your barber/stylist anything, the evolution of the Barbershop movies, Common’s uncommon dance moves, and JB Smoove’s ability to stretch a joke. Check it all out!
By the time he celebrated his 20th birthday, Ice Cube had already helped found — and had departed — one of the most influential rap groups of all time. But as we soon learned, his time with N.W.A. was only the beginning: Cube quickly went on to start an acclaimed solo career, and with 1991’s Boyz N the Hood, established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the big screen. Since then, he’s amassed an eclectic filmography — one with room for action, dramas, comedies, and family-friendly fare, and plenty of critical highs and lows to match. With his latest release, Ride Along 2, appearing in theaters this weekend, we decided to take a look back at some definitive entries in Cube’s film oeuvre. It’s time for Total Recall!
He wrote the song from which the movie takes its name, so it’s only appropriate that Ice Cube’s film debut should come as part of John Singleton’s 1991 breakthrough, Boyz N the Hood. What no one could have guessed, though, was just how effective Cube would be as Darrin “Doughboy” Baker, the Crip-affiliated ex-con who chooses to remain in his violent lifestyle, no matter how profound the consequences might be. An auspicious debut for Singleton — who earned an Oscar nomination — Boyz promised great things for Cube’s acting career, and earned the respect of critics like Netflix’s James Rocchi, who called it “remarkable — a film full of political discussion and thought that also manages to involve us in the real, human lives of its characters.”
After the bloated misfire of 1990’s Another 48 Hrs., director Walter Hill needed a project that would get him back to basics, and he found it in Trespass, an urban update on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre that pitted two firefighters (Bill Paxton and William Sadler) against a gangster (Ice-T) and his bloodthirsty lieutenant (Ice Cube). Unapologetically nihilistic and gleefully violent, Trespass presaged future Hill vehicles like Last Man Standing (right down to the Ry Cooder soundtrack), with the added advantage of a cast filled with comically gifted character actors. Calling it “Claustrophobic, taut and efficient,” Chris Hicks of the Deseret News wrote, “like a streamlined car designed to simply get you there, Trespass wastes no time in setting up its premise — and then just barrels along with an in-your-face attitude and plenty of tightly wound tension.”
As he had with Boyz N the Hood — and would go on to do with Higher Learning — Ice Cube helped tackle racially charged topics in The Glass Shield, a police drama from director Charles Burnett about a rookie cop (Michael Boatman) who becomes the first black cop at an all-white station just in time to become involved in the wrongful prosecution of a murder suspect (Cube). Grossing a little over $3 million during its limited release, Shield slid under the radar, despite a cast that also included Lori Petty — but for a number of critics, it represented another solid entry in Burnett’s filmography. As Marjori Baumgarten summed it up for the Austin Chronicle, “Though The Glass Shield gets bogged down in some of its narrative byways, the journey, nonetheless, is rich and rewarding.”
How many laughs can you get out of a premise that basically revolves around a pair of unemployed twentysomethings sitting on the front porch? Ask anyone who’s seen Friday. Co-written by Cube and DJ Pooh, this low-budget cult classic follows the adventures of Craig (Cube) and Smokey (Chris Tucker) as they spend a Friday scrambling to come up with $200 to pay off Big Worm, the local dealer/ice cream man. A surprise (albeit minor) hit, Friday spawned a film and TV franchise — all of them unfortunately without Tucker, whose frenetic screen presence and easy comic chemistry with Cube helped jump-start his film career. Puffing new life into the moribund stoner comedy genre, it also earned the approval of scribes like eFilmCritic’s Scott Weinberg, who called it “an energetic and genuinely funny low-budget flick” and wrote, “This is why we wade through all the really bad ones; to find the unexpected pieces of comedy gold.”
Cube reunited with Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton for 1995’s Higher Learning, an ensemble drama about racial and sexual tensions in mid ‘90s America, as seen and embodied through a diverse group of college students. As a black nationalist nicknamed Fudge, Cube gave voice to much of the movie’s political subtext, and provided a counterpoint to the unfocused rage of white supremacist Remy (Michael Rapaport). Learning’s thorny themes gave Singleton a lot to move through in a two-hour movie, and as far as most critics were concerned, he didn’t go deep enough — but others were simply happy to see a film with a message. As Todd McCarthy wrote for Variety, “Higher Learning has a great many things on its mind, which immediately places it in a rather exclusive category of American films these days.”
Say what you will about Ice Cube’s script choices in general — or about 1997’s Anaconda in particular — but when Luis Llosa was casting this B-movie spectacular and looking for someone to play Danny Rich, the baddest documentary cameraman on the Amazon, there was really only one man for the part. Who besides Ice Cube can look equally at home wielding a lens and chopping a giant anaconda to death with an axe? And sure, this is a silly flick — but at least it embraces the silliness. As Lisa Schwarzbaum put it in her review for Entertainment Weekly, “Anaconda, directed by Luis Llosa with all of the subtlety of a snake-oil salesman, is in the great tradition of cinematic cheese, as processed as Kraft Singles slices.”
Combining dark political satire with a good old-fashioned heist flick, David O. Russell’s Three Kings starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and (of course) Ice Cube as disillusioned Gulf War soldiers who plan to abscond with Kuwaiti gold in what seems like the perfect heist. Things don’t quite turn out that way, of course, but as the plan unfolds, Kings unloads some unflinching commentary on the war’s motivations and aftermath. For Ice Cube, it was a chance to prove his mettle with a solid cast, talented director, and terrific script; for critics, it offered a rare opportunity to see a gripping action movie with something to say. As Roger Ebert put it, “It has the freedom and recklessness of Oliver Stone or Robert Altman in their mad-dog days, and a visual style that hungers for impact.”
Ice Cube anchored an ensemble cast of character actors (like Keith David) and comedians (like Anthony Anderson) for this seriocomic look at a day in the life of disgruntled barbershop owner Calvin Palmer (Cube), who’s happy to sell his failing business to a local loan shark (David) — until he realizes what its disappearance will mean to his employees and the community at large. Like a number of Cube’s other efforts, Barbershop deals frankly with racial taboos, but it leavens its message with plenty of sharp laughs; it proved a potent combination at the box office, where the movie’s $77 million gross sparked a sequel, a spinoff, and a television series. It was popular with critics, too, among them Ty Burr of the Boston Globe, who called it “a broad, very funny, unexpectedly graceful comedy of character and community.”
Ice Cube hasn’t always had the best luck with family films (Are We There Yet? and Are We Done Yet? being prime examples), and when word got out that he’d be starring in an inspirational sports drama directed by Fred Durst, it seemed safe to assume that The Longshots would be more of the same. While far from successful either critically or financially, this fact-based movie — about the obstacles overcome by Jasmine Plummer (Keke Palmer) to play in the Pop Warner Super Bowl — proved a pleasant surprise for some, including Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times, who mused, “The Longshots is a likable enough Cinderella story, one whose heart is clearly in the right place, even if it winds up on its sleeve once too often.”
Every good police show needs a tough-as-nails captain barking orders back at the station, and for the majority of 21 Jump Street‘s five-season run, that role was filled by Steven Williams, whose knack for playing tough guys with a heart made him the perfect top cop for Johnny Depp and the gang. Williams left big shoes to fill when the series made its Jump to the big screen, but Ice Cube proved the perfect replacement, infusing his coarse Captain Dickson with a familiar (albeit slightly more profane) variation on his predecessor’s brand of no-nonsense menace. He reprised his role in 22 Jump Street, once again futilely attempting to rein in the madcap antics of Detectives Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum), and he’ll presumably be back again when the series makes its inevitable return with 23 Jump Street.
This week’s Ketchup covers ten headlines from the realm of film development news from the last seven days. Included in the mix this time around are stories about such movies as The LEGO Batman Movie, The Little Mermaid, Sherlock Gnomes, Toy Story 4, and the Richard Pryor biopic.
When the animated musical Gnomeo and Juliet was something of a surprise box office hit ($194 million on a budget of $36 million) in 2011, a sequel was quickly announced. Animated movies do however take a while to produce, and so we’re still a few years away from that movie’s release, which is now scheduled for January 12, 2018 (MLK weekend). This week, however, we did learn more about the sequel, which will be called Sherlock Gnomes, as the title character investigates a series of garden gnome disappearances around London. Sherlock himself will be voiced by Johnny Depp, who will make his return to animation, after last providing the voice of the lead character in another 2011 animated movie, Rango. Sherlock Gnomes will be directed by John Stevenson, who previously codirected DreamWorks’ 2008 hit Kung Fu Panda. Elton John, who provided several songs for the first Gnomeo & Juliet soundtrack, will be one of the producers of Sherlock Gnomes, though it’s unknown what his musical contributions will be. Sherlock Gnomes will be distributed by Paramount Pictures, and the studio also announced dates for some other animated movies this week. The sequel SpongeBob Squarepants 3 is now scheduled for February 8, 2019, and the original film Amusement Park is scheduled for March 22, 2019. The voice cast of Amusement Park will include Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis, John Oliver, Jeffrey Tambor, and Kenan Thompson. Details are being kept tight right now, but it’s a pretty good guess that Amusement Park probably takes place at an amusement park.
Comedian Tracy Morgan is continuing his rehabilitation and return to acting following his horrible 2014 car accident. Tracy Morgan recently hosted Saturday Night Live, and will also costar in the comedy Fist Fight with Ice Cube and Charlie Day. For his next project, Tracy Morgan is in talks to take on the role of comedy great Redd Foxx. If a deal can be made, Tracy Morgan will costar in Lee Daniels’ untitled biopic of comedian Richard Pryor as one of Pryor’s mentors, Redd Foxx. Specifically, Redd Foxx will be portrayed (pre-Sanford and Son) as “a brash comedian who owned a local comedy club and encouraged Pryor to open up in his act and embrace his culture.” Richard Pryor will be played by Mike Epps, and will be joined by Kate Hudson (as his wife, Jennifer Pryor), Oprah Winfrey (as his grandmother), Taraji P. Henson and Eddie Murphy (as his parents). It’s not yet known if Eddie Murphy, who was also a friend of Richard Pryor’s as a young comedian, will also be a character in the movie.
Following last year’s success with Boyhood, the year 2015 has seen much anticipation about which film director Richard Linklater will do as his follow-up. For a while, it had seemed like Richard Linklater would be working with Jennifer Lawrence on a romantic comedy called The Rosie Project, but then both Lawrence and Linklater left that project. It didn’t take long for Linklater to find a new job, working on an adaptation of the 2012 best seller novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by author Maria Semple. Cate Blanchett is now in talks to star as the title character, “an agoraphobic architect and mother named Bernadette Branch who goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica.” The book is narrated by her 15-year-old daughter who leads the search to find her mother.
(Photo by Ethan Miller / Staff / Getty Images)
There was something of a miscommunication online this week, leading to reports that pop singer Mariah Carey had been cast as Commissioner Jim Gordon in The LEGO Batman Movie (crazier things have happened). It turns out that Carey will indeed costar in this LEGO Movie spinoff, but it won’t be as such a famously male character. Instead, she will provide her voice as the Mayor of Gotham City, not its police commissioner; it’s not yet known if she will also be singing in the movie. Mariah Carey joins the previously cast Will Arnett (Batman), Rosario Dawson (Batgirl), Michael Cera (Robin), Zach Galifianakis (The Joker), and Ralph Fiennes (Alfred). Warner Bros has scheduled The LEGO Batman Movie for February 10, 2017.
We’ve known for a while now that Pixar and Disney had scheduled a fourth Toy Story for June 15, 2018. That initial announcement came with confirmation that Tim Allen and Tom Hanks will reprise their roles as Buzz Lightyear and Woody. And when the premise was revealed to be about a romance between Woody and Bo Beep, Annie Potts was announced as well. This week, we learned about a new character for Toy Story 4, and it’s going to be a major human character. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood, True Romance) will provide the voice of “a laid-back mom who’s described as a hippie.” Toy Story 4 will be directed by John Lasseter from a script by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.
Earlier this years, the news broke that Matthew McConaughey would be starring in an untitled animated musical from Illumination Entertainment, the company behind the Despicable Me franchise, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, and next summer’s The Secret Life of Pets. This week saw the release of character images for the musical, which will be called simply Sing, along with lots of new cast names and character descriptions. Sing will be set in a world of animals (much like Disney’s upcoming Zootopia), and follow the struggles of theater owner Buster the koala (Matthew McConaughey). In an attempt to revive his theater, Buster holds a musical competition, with five strong competitors emerging: a mouse (Seth McFarlane), an elephant (Tori Kelly), a mother pig (Reese Witherspoon), a “gangster” gorilla (Taron Egerton), and a punk rock porcupine (Scarlett Johansson). Other characters will be voiced by Beck Bennett, Leslie Jones, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Jay Pharoah, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Saunders, and Peter Serafinowicz. Sing will feature over 85 songs, and wil be directed by Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). Universal Pictures has scheduled Sing for December 21, 2016.
In addition to the live action adaptations of fairy tales that Walt Disney Pictures has been making recently, there are also similar projects at other studios. Universal Pictures released Snow White and the Huntsman in 2012, and has also been developing a live action version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. (It should be noted that Disney has not yet announced plans for their own live action version of their 1989 animated movie.) Universal and Working Title’s version of The Little Mermaid seemed to hit a major snag earlier this year when director Sofia Coppola left the project. But now we know that the movie is still in the works. Working Title has hired screenwriter Richard Curtis, who has also directed the movies Love Actually, Pirate Radio, and About Time) to work on a new adaptation draft, though he may not direct. Chloë Grace Moretz, who had been rumored for the title character when Coppola was involved, has now been confirmed for the role. (There are rumors that the casting of Moretz may have been an issue behind the departure of Coppola, who may have wanted a less famous actress.)
It’s long been something of a recurring joke that video gaming is the domain of a certain type of male (though statistics do not support that meme). The issue of gender in the video game industry took a dark turn in the last year during a series of events that has become known as “Gamergate.” It all started when the ex-boyfriend of video game developer Zoë Quinn wrote a negative blog about her, leading to Quinn being the target of harassment and threats (including rape and death). Zoë Quinn related her experiences in an upcoming memoir called “Crash Override: How to Save the Internet from Itself” (September, 2016). And now that memoir has been optioned to become a movie. Former Sony CEO Amy Pascal is the producer behind the project, and she has enlisted Lauren Schuker-Blum (the wife of Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum) to cowrite the script. Scarlett Johansson is reportedly “one of several young actresses who have their eye on the role of Quinn.”
When it was confirmed that 20th Century Fox would not be moving forward on plans for the Alien 5, it seemed like pretty bad news for South African director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie). Blomkamp had spent much of 2015 hyping his plans for a new Alien movie with Ellen Ripley, until Fox confirmed that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequel would actually be called Alien: Paradise Lost. It sounds, however, like someone at 20th Century Fox is still looking out for Blomkamp and wants to continue working with him. Fox has acquired the rights to the upcoming sci-fi novel The Gone World by author Thomas Sweterlitsch, and the studio wants Neill Blomkamp to write and direct the adaptation. The details of the book aren’t yet known, except that it’s a “sci-fi time travel procedural.” 20th Century Fox is also nearing a deal with director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) to take on their Marvel Comics movie Gambit (starring Channing Tatum), which is scheduled for October 7, 2016.
The upside to all of the live action movies that Walt Disney Pictures has been adapting that audiences and critics continue to really like most of them (Cinderella is Certified Fresh at 85 percent, for example). So, with this week’s news, which can be interpreted both ways, there is something of a “bad news” angle to the idea of one of Disney’s planned movies being scrapped. The movie in question is called Genies, which was to have been a prequel to Aladdin, showing how that particular genie ended up in the bottle. However, the news broke this week that Robin Williams’ last will and testament had a 25 year provision preventing his likeness from being used in new films until the year 2039. And that appears to include Disney’s plans for Genies, because “production on the prequel has halted.” There will still be plenty of other live action adaptations of Disney movies in the years to come, such as The Jungle Book, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Pete’s Dragon, Beauty and the Beast, Cruella, Dumbo, Mulan, Night on Bald Mountain, Pinocchio, The Sword in the Stone, and Tink, but… a corresponding movie for Aladdin probably won’t be one of them.
This week’s Ketchup brings you ten stories from the realm of film development news, covering the latest about movies that Hollywood is working on for the years to come. Included in the mix this time around are headlines about such movies as the video game adaptations Call of Duty and The Witcher, and new roles for Anne Hathaway, Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Rudd, and the comedy team of Key & Peele.
British singer Amy Winehouse had only been 20 for a few weeks when her first album was released, but her path to stardom took her to the top quickly. As the world learned in 2011, however, Winehouse’s struggles with substance abuse would eventually lead to her tragic death at the age of 27. Negotiations are now underway with Winehouse’s father Mitch Winehouse for the rights to produce a feature film biopic about the meteoric rise and fall of Amy Winehouse. The currently untitled project was written and will be directed by Kirsten Sheridan, who wrote her father’s film In America (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award), and directed the 2007 film August Rush. These plans follow the recent box office success of the documentary Amy, which Winehouse’s father has “distanced himself from.” For the lead role, the producers are negotiating with Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who has been an in-demand actress in Hollywood since she first came to attention in 2009 as the star of the three Swedish films adapting Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy “nordic noir” novels as the gothic hacker Lisbeth Salander. Sony Pictures and director David Fincher followed those films with their own English-language adaptation of the first novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig. There had been an expectation that Sony would continue the franchise with an adaptation of The Girl Who Played with Fire, but this week, we learned that the studio is skipping Larsson’s remaining novels entirely. Instead, Sony Pictures is now developing an adaptation of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, which was written by David Lagercrantz, continuing the Millennium series following Stieg Larsson’s death in 2004. Fincher, Craig, and Mara are all expected to not be involved with this film. Sony is reportedly considering another Swedish actress, Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), to take over the role originated by Noomi Rapace (but still in English instead of Swedish). British screenwriter Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Pawn Sacrifice) is now in talks to adapt The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
One of the biggest trends in film development the last several years (but especially since the success of Marvel’s The Avengers) has been the notion of the “cinematic universe,” connecting various movies and characters together in one franchise. In addition to the comic book franchises from Marvel and WB/DC (in the works), there are also cinematic universe plans for Transformers, LEGO, the Universal Monsters, Godzilla and King Kong, and the various members of the Robin Hood supporting cast. And today, at their annual BlizzCon convention, the video game company Activision Blizzard announced plans for their own such universe, namely for their popular Call of Duty first-person-shooter franchise. The plan is for the first Call of Duty movie to be released in 2018 or 2019 and to be connected to TV shows set within the same world. The company is also working on a Skylanders TV series. It’s unclear if this new studio will be actively involved with the Warcraft movie franchise that is just beginning at Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures. There were also no details as to whether the Call of Duty movies will be set in World War II or in the contemporary settings of the Modern Warfare games.
On June 10, 2016, Universal Pictures will release the video game adaptation Warcraft, which is also the third feature film from director Duncan Jones (after Moon and Source Code). In something of a “one for them, one for me,” Duncan Jones has long planned for his fourth film after Warcraft to be one of his own, a “science fiction Casablanca” futuristic drama called Mute. At one time, Jones had expected to reunite with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role, but this week, we found out that the role will instead go to Alexander Skarsgard (HBO’s True Blood). Skarsgard will play a mute bartender in the Berlin of forty years from now, who must search for his missing love in the city’s strange “underbelly.” Paul Rudd will play an American surgeon who is (or appears to be) part of the disappearance mystery. By the time Mute is released, Alexander Skarsgard will have starred in his biggest movie to date, Warner Bros’ ambitious reboot of Tarzan (7/1/16).
Now that their Comedy Central show Key & Peele has wrapped (the final episode of 53 aired on September 9, 2015), comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are continuing to expand their presence into feature films. This includes their upcoming comedy Keanu (4/22/16), and Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, the horror film Get Out. Their next big project together will unite them with director Henry Selick in a movie called Wendell & Wild. Selick is best known for his work in stop-motion animation movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline. Key and Peele will play the title characters, “scheming demon brothers who must face their arch-nemesis, the demon-dusting nun Sister Helly, and her two acolytes, the goth teens Kat and Raoul.” Wendell & Wild is just one of the projects Selick is currently working on, and given the time needed to deliver stop-motion animation, we’re probably several years from its release. A movie that we are much closer to seeing in theaters is Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, the horror thriller Get Out, which this week cast its female lead, Allison Williams (HBO’s Girls), in what is being described as her feature film debut. (Allison Williams did costar in the 2014 indie musical College Musical).
Director Shane Carruth made his debut in 2004 with the indie sci-fi time travel drama Primer (on a budget of just $7,000!), and followed it up in 2013 with Upstream Color. In addition to complex storylines, both films lacked any traditional “name stars.” That’s all set to change with Shane Carruth’s third film, The Modern Ocean. The impressive names that are now attached to star in The Modern Ocean include Anne Hathaway, Keanu Reeves, Daniel Radcliffe, Asa Butterfield, Jeff Goldblum, Chloe Grace Moretz, Abraham Attah, and Tom Holland. In other words, Shane Carruth is going from working with unknowns to casting Harry Potter, Catwoman, Neo from The Matrix, the next Spider-Man, one of the stars of Jurassic Park, and the two young stars of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (one of whom was also “Hit-Girl”). Described as a “nautical thriller,” The Modern Ocean promises to “draw audiences in to a secretive world filled with mysterious technologies and bitter rivalries.” The Modern Ocean is currently being shopped to distributors at the American Film Market (like many of the movies reported on this week).
Warner Bros’ next big DC Comics movie after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (3/25/16) and Suicide Squad (8/5/16) will be Wonder Woman (6/23/17), so it’s going to be time soon for that film to start production. We’ve known for a while that Gal Gadot and Chris Pine would star in Wonder Woman as the title character and her romantic interest Steve Trevor. This week, however, we learned that Nicole Kidman is also in talks to join the cast as “a high-ranking Amazonian warrior.” There have been a lot of Amazons among Wonder Woman’s supporting cast in the last 70+ years of her publication, but the character that has inspired the most speculation from that hint is Hippolyta. In addition to being the Queen of the Amazons of Themiscyra, Hippolyta is also the mother of Prince Diana (AKA Wonder Woman). Hippolyta has even been depicted as herself being the original Wonder Woman during her World War II adventures, though it’s unclear if that could also happen in this live action film. We don’t know yet who the villain of the Wonder Woman movie will be, and there are candidates from the realm of Greek Mythology (like Ares, but also other Amazons). When we learn more about the story, that may give us more information about Nicole Kidman’s character. Wonder Woman will be director Patty Jenkins’ second feature film after making her debut 11 years ago with 2004’s Monster.
The next movie from director Peter Landesman (Parkland, Kill the Messenger), the football injury drama Concussion (starring Will Smith) doesn’t open until December 25th, but Landesman is already lining up his next fact-based film. (Parkland was about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and Kill the Messenger was about journalist Gary Webb.) Liam Neeson is in talks to star in the biopic Felt as Watergate informant Mark Felt, who for decades was best known to the public by the codename “Deep Throat.” Diane Lane is also in talks to join Liam Neeson as Felt’s wife Audrey. During the years 1972 to 1974, Mark Felt was the Assistant Director of the FBI, and provided information to Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Filming is scheduled to start in March, 2016 on what is being described as a “spy thriller.” Felt is being backed by an impressive array of producers who include Ridley Scott, Tom Hanks, and Jay Roach. Liam Neeson also recently signed to star in another thriller called The Commuter, which will be distributed by Lionsgate.
This is indeed a big week for news about video game adaptation movies. Plans for an adaptation of the Polish fantasy RPG series The Witcher were also announced this week. Itself an adaptation of a series of fantasy novels, The Witcher (and its sequel games) follows the adventures of Gerald of Rivia, a genetically altered agent who works between and with the various factions of the fantasy world he lives in. The Witcher will be produced by the Sean Daniel Company, which has in the past worked with Universal Pictures on The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and The Best Man Holiday, and also is currently producing the Ben-Hur reboot and The Best Man Wedding for 2016. The Witcher will be directed by newcomer Polish director Tomasz Baginski, with a release target set for sometime in 2017.
Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking cowboy spoof comedy Blazing Saddles. In the decades since, the spoof comedy as a sub-genre went on to great success, and then sort of faded away again. Earlier this year, Open Road Films acquired the rights to an animated family film called Blazing Samurai, which will loosely be based on Blazing Saddles, and is now scheduled for April 14, 2017. This week, we learned about some of the actors and celebrities who will be contributing their voices to Blazing Samurai. The lead character will be a dog voiced by Michael Cera, who “longs to become a great warrior and fights to save the town of Kakamucho from becoming the litter box of a nefarious feline warlord, transforming society and himself on his quest to become a true samurai.” Samuel L. Jackson will voice “a cat who once was a great warrior who now lives life hitting the cat-nip a bit too hard” who becomes a mentor for Cera’s dog character. Ricky Gervais will provide the voice of that aforementioned feline warlord, named Ika Chu. Mel Brooks, who directed and cowrote Blazing Saddles, will also voice a character. Other voice actors will include Djimon Hounsou, Gabriel Iglesias, Aasif Mandvi, George Takei, and Michelle Yeoh. Blazing Samurai will mark the feature film directorial debuts of animators Chris Bailey and Mark Koetsier, who previously worked on such films as The Lion King (Koetsier was Scar’s animator), Pocahontas, Tarzan, and Kung Fu Panda. Blazing Samurai is being produced by Rob Minkoff, whose filmography as director includes such films as The Lion King, Stuart Little, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.
In March, 2014, 20th Century Fox acquired a comedy spec script called Vacation Friends, with the idea that the married couple team of Chris Pratt and Anna Faris would play one of the movie’s two couples. Vacation Friends is about two couples that meet while vacationing in Mexico, and the What About Bob? situation that happens when one of the pairs wants to keep being friends after they all get home. That, however, was 4 months before Guardians of the Galaxy became the #3 movie of 2014, and 15 months before Jurassic World became the #1 movie of 2015 (so far). Since then, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt have moved on to other projects. So, 20th Century Fox is now looking to retool Vacation Friends, and the way they are doing that is by having writer/director Steve Pink do a rewrite. Chris Pratt’s replacement will now be Ice Cube, and the studio is still looking for a female costar to play his wife. It’s not Ice Cube’s involvement, however, that is why we’re calling this a “Rotten Idea.” It’s because two of director Steve Pink’s three movies to date have Rotten Tomatometer scores (Accepted and Hot Tub Time Machine 2), while the only Fresh credit he has is the first Hot Tub Time Machine.
This week’s Ketchup covers ten headlines from the arena of film development news from the last seven days. Included in the mix this time around are stories about such movies as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Charlie’s Angels, an Evel Knievel biopic, War of the Planet of the Apes, and new roles for Ice Cube and Jennifer Lawrence.
As we frequently cover in the Weekly Ketchup, Walt Disney Pictures is currently in the midst of reviving many of their classic animated films as live action reboots and remakes. Not all of Disney’s hits from the middle of the 20th Century were (100 percent) animated, however, such as 1964’s Mary Poppins, based on the first novel in the series by P.L. Travers (as depicted in Saving Mr. Banks). Possibly confusing matters, some this week reported that Disney was going to “remake” Mary Poppins, but what they’re actually doing is rather more conventional (and one might guess, in keeping with Travers’ intentions). Walt Disney Pictures has started development of a new Mary Poppins musical movie which would be a sequel set 20 years after the original movie in the 1930s. This new Mary Poppins musical will be directed by Rob Marshall, whose filmography includes Chicago, Nine, and last year’s Into the Woods. For the film, the songwriting duo of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Smash) will start working on new songs that will attempt to follow up on the classics written for the first movie, like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “A Spoonful of Sugar.” There’s no word yet about who Disney might be hoping to cast as the older Mary Poppins, or any of the members of the Banks family.
One of the biopic projects that has been kicking (and jumping and rocket-cycling) around Hollywood since the 1990s has been the idea of an Evel Knievel movie. “Evel Knievel” might not be as well known a celebrity as he was in the 1970s, but during that time, Knievel was arguably one of the most famous figures in pop culture, following a series of well-publicized super stunts (some of which weren’t successful) on both motorcycles and a steam-powered rocket called the “Skycycle X-2.” In the past, stars such as Johnny Knoxville and Matthew McConaughey have been rumored or attached to star as Evel Knievel, but lately, it has been Channing Tatum who wanted to put on Knievel’s star-spangled jumpsuit. The project, which may be based on the Pure Evel biography book, is now being discussed with director Darren Aronofsky, whose filmography as director includes Black Swan, Noah, Requiem for a Dream, and possibly closest to an Evel Knievel movie, The Wrestler. In other Channing Tatum news, his superhero movie Gambit this week lost its director, Rupert Wyatt, over scheduling conflicts, as Fox is racing to get the movie made in time for an October, 2016 release.
One of the complaints movie fans sometimes have about recent DC Comics superhero movies is that they are less “fun,” or at least less “funny,” than their counterparts at Marvel Studios. This was a notion that some felt gained traction last year with a story that claimed that WB has a “no jokes” policy about their upcoming superhero scripts. Of course, that never necessarily meant that Warner Bros couldn’t change their plans, especially if they started to think that there would be a backlash over it, right? That might at least be one way to interpret the late-breaking news this week that Warner Bros is starting development of a movie focusing on the Blue & Gold team of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. Like many of DC’s characters who aren’t Batman, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are usually portrayed in the comics as being less serious and/or comedic. Blue Beetle is your typical inventor-turned-superhero (who was given a dark interpretation as Nite-Owl II in Watchmen). Booster Gold is a more unique concept, as a time traveler from the distant future who uses technology and knowledge of past events to make a name for himself in our time. Reportedly, WB is also hoping to recruit screenwriter Zak Penn, who worked on The Avengers for Marvel, to come across town to work on Blue & Gold.
With Sony’s plans for a female reboot of Ghostbusters now less than a year away from release (7/15/16), the studio is now looking at other female-centric action comedies. The latest that we’ve heard about involves rebooting a TV-show-adaptation from 2000 (and a sequel in 2003), which was the private eye comedy Charlie’s Angels. The director that Sony has recruited for their Charlie’s Angels reboot is Elizabeth Banks, who is in high demand following her successful directorial debut with this year’s Pitch Perfect 2. The reboot doesn’t yet have a screenwriter yet, so it’s probably a few years away from happening. It’s also unknown if Elizabeth Banks might also take one of the female leads (or who knows, maybe “Charlie” could be a lady this time?).
(Photo by Frazer Harrison / Staff / Getty Images)
In the arena of comic book adaptations, female spies and superheroes often have similar codenames, including Black Widow, Black Canary, and Mockingbird (from ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). That last one in particular is also similar to the last two movies in the Hunger Games franchise, which is close enough for us to call that a successful segue. 20th Century Fox is currently hoping to put together a package for a spy novel adaptation called Red Sparrow (again, with the color/bird codenames!). What Fox is trying to put together is a new film for both Jennifer Lawrence and director Francis Lawrence (the director of all of the Hunger Games movies except the first one). If Jennifer Lawrence signs on to star in Red Sparrow, she will be playing a young Russian spy and “trained seductress,” who is assigned to “operate against Nathaniel Nash, a first-tour CIA officer who handles the agency’s most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence.” Red Sparrow is an adaptation of a novel by Jason Matthews.
A few years ago, director Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men film franchise for X-Men: Days of Future Past (and next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse) after starting things off in the early 2000s with the first two X-Men films. This week, we learned that Singer has chosen his next film, and that it won’t be a fifth X-Men movie. Instead, Bryan Singer is taking on an adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the classic science fiction story about a high-tech submarine called the Nautilus. Singer’s movie is expected to be produced by 20th Century Fox (also the home of the X-Men franchise). That also means that this project is not the same as the long-in-development reboot that Walt Disney Pictures has been trying to get started, which at one point had David Fincher (Fight Club, Gone Girl) attached to direct. As for the future of the main X-Men film franchise, there have not yet been any announcements outside of spinoffs like Deadpool, Gambit, The New Mutants, X-Force, and a possible X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover. With X-Men: Apocalypse, the team’s second trilogy of films will be concluded.
Although the (movie) summer of 2015 only ended a few weeks ago, much of Hollywood’s current focus is already on the summer of 2017, given the time needed to get expensive summer movies greenlit, cast, produced, marketed, and released. One such film will be 20th Century Fox’s third film in their rebooted Apes franchise, War of the Planet of the Apes (7/14/17). Details aren’t yet known about this third film, except that following the events of 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, humanity’s future was looking quite dire, and the word “war” isn’t exactly a positive portent. For that reason, it shouldn’t be surprising that the humans will be the villains in War of the Planet of the Apes. This week, we learned that the main human villain (“The Colonel”) will be played by Woody Harrelson, who is looking for a new franchise with The Hunger Games wrapping up on November 20.
ROTTEN IDEAs OF THE WEEK
Following the success of both Ride Along and Straight Outta Compton (which was essentially an “Ice Cube biopic”), Universal Pictures is very much interested in staying in the Ice Cube business. This was manifested this week by the news that Universal Pictures has won a studio bidding war to acquire a comedy spec script for Ice Cube to star in. The comedy is called Humbug, and much like the Bill Murray comedy Scrooged, it’s a contemporary retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. If the deal comes together, Ice Cube will play “a wealthy real estate mogul shown a path to redemption by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.” Humbug will be directed by Tim Story, who previously worked with Ice Cube on Barbershop, First Sunday, Ride Along, and next year’s sequel, Ride Along 2. Story also directed the 2005 and 2007 Fantastic Four movies, which now despite having RT scores of 27 and 37 percent have the distinction of being the best reviewed Fantastic Four movies to receive theatrical releases. In similar news (insofar as the connection between Ice Cube and Straight Outta Compton goes), Universal Pictures is also reportedly considering producing another rap industry biopic in the form of an adaptation of the non-fiction book Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money + God, about the early years of Def Jam records. If Universal does proceed, an early rumor suggests that they may be considering casting Jonah Hill and Fantastic Four star Michael B. Jordan as Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, respectively.
(Photo by Larry Busacca / Staff / Getty Images)
The problem with basing the “Rotten Ideas” each week objectively on the aggregated RT Tomatometer scores of those involved, is that sometimes the numbers are misleading (there is such a thing as luck, and it’s not always good). Or sometimes people are punished by bad reviews for trying to operate outside their wheelhouse. Take for example, director Ruben Fleischer, who debuted in 2009 with the genre spoof Zombieland (90 percent on the Tomatometer), and then followed that up with three films as director or producer that have all struggled to receive RT scores above 45 percent. Then, there’s the case of Liam Neeson, who has appeared in plenty of well-received films, but partly because he’s so prolific, he’s also appeared in many (and in recent years, more) Rotten films than Fresh ones. Putting those two creatives together leads us to this week’s news that Liam Neeson has signed with Universal Pictures to star in an action comedy called The Revenger. Nothing is known about the premise, except that the title suggests that it’s possibly a spoof. There’s also the detail that the comedy pitch came from the writing team of The State/Reno 911 stars Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, who have given us such wacky comedies as Balls of Fury, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and the first two Night at the Museum movies (though as writers, their Tomatometer only has one Fresh score, Starsky & Hutch).
Earlier this year, the news cycle was populated several times about (many, many) different writers who were recruited by Paramount Pictures to participate in a “writers room” experiment for their Transformers franchise. The concept is that for two weeks, the same soundstage where dance recitals for Glee were held was used for over a dozen high profile screenwriters to pitch and “workshop” various ideas on where the Transformers franchise should go next. This week, we learned some preliminary details about two of the first projects to emerge from this experiment. The first such film is the least surprising, which is that there will be a straight up fifth Transformers movie, and the second to feature Mark Wahlberg in the lead role after last year’s Transformers: Age of Extinction. That film will be written by Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, Insurgent), who had also been sort of leading the writers room project. Michael Bay was initially reported to be returning to direct Transformers 5, but Bay quickly replied via Twitter, “Re: directing TF5. No, it’s not official. I have not committed to any idea as of yet.” The other project announced this week comes from screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (who are described as Ant-Man writers, but they were not credited on that film). Their film will be an animated Transformers movie focusing on the history of the planet Cybertron, and how the Transformers came to be. Barrer and Ferrari are also working on a new Sabrina the Teenage Witch movie.
The stars of Straight Outta Compton (Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, and O’Shea Jackson Jr.) reveal the secret ingredient to playing a member of N.W.A., and we get a glimpse of how deep the family resemblance to Ice Cube runs. Also, F. Gary Gray discusses his inspirations in directing this film.
It’s the third-oldest American movie studio: the company that brought us Rin Tin Tin, convinced the world that the talkies were here to stay, and eventually grew into one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Yes, we’re talking about Warner Bros. — and for good reason: the WB is turning 85 this year, and they’re
celebrating by giving away gifts. Eighty-five, to be precise — they’re opening their vaults and making a great big stack of their finest films available via iTunes.
Naturally, RT took this as a perfect opportunity to revisit some of our favorite moments in Warner Bros. history,
looking closer at some movies that present a solid cross-section of the studio’s best titles — and that are Certified Fresh, to boot. It would take a much longer list to truly do
any studio justice, of course — but then again, to really do it right, you’ve got to watch the movies.
So sit down with our list, open up your iTunes account, and get ready to be entertained all over again. Happy Birthday, Warner Bros.!
 |
We love to bellyache about the constant stream of remakes coming out of Hollywood, but the fact is, some pretty great movies have been remakes — including this one, which followed the 1931 adaptation of Dashiell Hammett‘s novel onto the big screen with Humphrey Bogart taking over for the first Sam Spade, Ricardo Cortez. (See? Sometimes things are better the second time around.) Everything you know about the way hard-boiled gumshoes are supposed to act comes from this story; matter of fact, even if you’ve never seen it, you’ve most likely seen every essential plot device pop up in countless other films. As eFilmCritic‘s Scott Weinberg succinctly put it, “Best in noir, best in Bogie, one of the best ever.” |
 |
Call it the Natural Born Killers of its day: Arthur Penn‘s take on the story of the Depression’s hottest bank robber couple broke taboos, set new standards for graphic onscreen violence, and helped kickstart the New Hollywood era. It also made Warren Beatty a pretty penny: the future Dick Tracy passed up his standard producer’s fee for a 40 percent take of the gross. Once the box-office receipts started piling up, Warner Bros. wasn’t alone in wishing it had a bigger piece of the action — more than one lawsuit alleging defamation of character was filed by the heirs of Bonnie and Clyde’s compatriots and victims, and the real-life Blanche Barrow publicly complained that the movie made her look like “a screaming horse’s ass.” The critical response was far more favorable: Emanuel Levy echoed many of his peers’ sentiments when he said Bonnie and Clyde “forever changed the course of American cinema.” |
 |
By 1974, the Hollywood western — and American race relations — had seen better days. Leave it to Mel Brooks to take them both, knock their heads together, Three Stooges-style, and come up with Blazing Saddles, the one and only film to put Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, and Count Basie on the same screen. Saddles is best remembered for its filthy bits, particularly the iconic campfire scene, but like South Park 25 years later, a fairly sharp social satire lurks beneath the shockingly offensive exterior. As Mark Bourne of DVDJournal noted, “Its humor is the palliative that lets Brooks mock prejudices and, with gloves off, prejudiced people.” |
 |
Most TV-to-film adaptations are either played for laughs or acquire them through unintentional means, but Andrew Davis‘ 1993 take on the hit 1960s serial drama was a powerful, exhilarating exception — and it made a pile of money to boot. Forget all about the regrettable spinoff and just revel in the taut, pulse-pounding glory of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones playing against each other in a good old-fashioned game of cat and mouse. And we do mean old-fashioned: The Fugitive was perhaps the last man-on-the-run blockbuster that didn’t rely on high-tech gizmos and the Web to get from point A to point B. Time‘s Richard Schickel wasted no words in calling it “a first-rate thriller.” |
 more info… |
Just a few years earlier, if you had told someone that one of 1999’s best-reviewed films would star George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube, you’d have had to forgive the guffaws that would have greeted your prediction. But David O. Russell‘s Persian Gulf War saga helped restore some of the box-office luster Clooney lost with Batman & Robin, proved that Wahlberg’s revelatory starring turn in Boogie Nights was no fluke, and provided Cube with a temporary detour on the way to starring in cuddly family films. Oh, and it’s also really good, blending harrowing war action with bursts of comedy, an on-the-ground soldiers’ perspective, and a nifty heist storyline. Russell famously made few friends on the set, but whatever his methods were, they worked; the Toronto Globe and Mail‘s Rick Groen called it “perhaps the first feature of merit to come out of the Gulf War.” |
The ancient studio ritual of dumping weak product into the late August box office has begun. Four new releases, most about failures trying to redeem themselves, hit the multiplexes with only one having the strength to make a play for the number one spot. Universal launches the latest Jason Statham action pic Death Race while Fox and Sony counter with their competing teen-skewing comedies The Rocker and The House Bunny, respectively. Ice Cube also joins the mix with MGM’s family sports film The Longshots. Given the aging holdovers, lack of firepower from debuting titles, and the final weekend of the Olympics which has been keeping 30 million people at home every night, the overall marketplace is sure to slow down. Look for the top ten to slump below the $100M mark for the first time since April.
Action star Jason Statham hits the big screen once again, this time playing a driver out to win an insane reality competition where convicts race and kill each other in order to win their freedom in Death Race. The R-rated pic will play to the actor’s core audience of young men in search of mindless short-term thrills and spills. Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, and Joan Allen co-star while Paul W.S. Anderson directs. The helmer has had great luck entertaining this audience with past hits like Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil, and Alien vs. Predator. Statham himself has a good track record with action movies opening on or around Labor Day weekend. 2005’s Transporter 2 bowed to $16.5M, the following year’s Crank debuted to $10.5M, while last year his War opened softer with $9.8M. Death Race is not a Transporter film (the next one attacks on Thanksgiving weekend) so grosses should be closer to those of the others.
Summer movie audiences have had their fill of action so non-Statham fans will not be coming out in big numbers. Both Tropic Thunder and The Dark Knight will be formidable opponents playing to most of the same folks. Universal’s quartet of summer actioners has grossed a spectacular $430M so there’s just only so much more it can squeeze out of the last weeks of the season. But the star and the director both have scored in this genre so a good number of young males, especially frequent multiplex-goers, will come out and spend a little cash. Statham is no Will Smith, but he does attract a respectable number of fans each and every time. Racing into 2,400 theaters, Death Race may open to about $13M.
Fox aims to grab some biz from bored teens not yet back in school with its Rainn Wilson comedy The Rocker. The PG-13 film features The Office star playing a failed former drummer who joins a new band run by his adolescent nephew. Overall excitement is not very high and Wilson will have to prove himself here as a leading man. Fellow NBC star Andy Samberg tried anchoring his own immature comedy last August with Hot Rod which flopped with a weak $5.3M debut and dismal $2,037 average. Rocker may do better, but not by much. Most of the target audience will probably wait for the DVD here. The studio already opened the pic on Wednesday to get two extra days of summer play. Younger kids who can’t get into all the R-rated antics of Ferrell, Rogen, and Stiller will make up a big part of the audience for this one and its family-friendly packaging could prompt some parents to give it a go. But overall, the film lacks the buzz to become a standout performer. Now playing in 2,627 sites, The Rocker could take in about $8M over three days and $11M over five days.
Anna Faris takes a break from spoofing horror flicks and headlines the college comedy The House Bunny. The PG-13 film finds the actress playing a former Playboy bunny who takes a job as the leader of a sorority of misfits. Sony is gunning for teens and young adults of both genders here with a central story about young women with some sex appeal that might bring in some guys. The premise isn’t half bad so a decent showing may result. But Faris is no guaranteed draw at the box office when outside of her safe zone in the Scary Movie franchise. There’s no evidence to prove that she can sell tickets and the film lacks any other star names. Plus The Rocker will be going after many of the same folks in search of laughs. Opening in about 2,600 locations, The House Bunny might gross about $8M this weekend.
After conquering the inept-man-takes-care-of-children genre with Are We There Yet?, Ice Cube swaggers over to the equally popular inspirational-sports-coach category with The Longshots. The PG-rated pic features the star of music and film as a former football player who turns his 11-year-old niece into a local pigskin heroine. Fred Durst, rap-rock pioneer of yesteryear, directs. It would be too easy to compare the film’s title to its box office prospects. Starpower is low, marketing buzz is minimal, and the name of the film could not be more bland. Studios have failed at providing worthwhile content to families since the release of WALL•E and this entry will be forgotten just like the others. The MGM release could take in about $6M this weekend from 2,000 sites.
Rocking Sundance earlier this year and now making a stab at commercial success is Hamlet 2, the story of a high school drama teacher and his students who try to stage a raunchy sequel to Shakespeare’s classic play. Focus paid a near-record $10M to acquire worldwide rights and hopes that it has a Little Miss Sunshine on its hands. That late summer indie comedy opened to scorching numbers in limited release and went on to earn four major Oscar nominations including Best Picture and $59.9M at the box office. Hamlet 2 stars Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Elisabeth Shue, and Amy Poehler and is using its rating as a marketing tool with ads that feature an extra large bright red R telling arthouse filmgoers that they are in for some envelope-pushing humor here not meant for little kids. Opening in only 90 playdates in major markets, Hamlet 2 is set to post a muscular average before heading into national release over the Labor Day holiday frame when word-of-mouth is expected to sell it further. The abundance of R-rated studio comedies will certainly have an effect, but the void for smarthouse laughs will give Focus a big opportunity to cash in on territory usually monopolized by Fox Searchlight. For this weekend, a bow of about $1.5M could result.
Hoping for back-to-back gold medals, Tropic Thunder will try to fend off competition from all the new releases and defend its box office title. Direct competition will come primarily from Death Race as it also is targeting adult men. The remaining newcomers will not steal away too much of Ben Stiller’s crowd. Look for the Paramount war comedy to drop by 45% to around $14M giving the R-rated pic $63M in 12 days and a solid chance at joining the century club.Warner Bros. will see another terrific hold for its runaway smash The Dark Knight which could slip by just 35%. That would give the superhero film around $10.5M which would lift the overall domestic tally to $489M. The $500M barrier should be broken by Labor Day. The studio’s animated title Star Wars: The Clone Wars will suffer a steep tumble since there is no real buzz to keep it going and hardcore fans have already made it out. Look for a 55% decline to about $6.5M pushing the ten-day tally to $26M.
LAST YEAR: With the summer movie season coming to a close and the Top 20 barely breaking $100M, none of the five new releases managed to break into the top three slots. The high school comedy Superbad remained at number one with $18M in its second weekend and was followed by threequel holdovers The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 with $12.5M and $11.7M, respectively. Debuting ahead of all the other new offerings was the family sequel Mr. Bean’s Holiday with $9.9M for Universal followed closely by Lionsgate’s Jet Li–Jason Statham actioner War with $9.8M. Final grosses reached $33.3M and $22.5M, respectively. The Nanny Diaries bowed in sixth with $7.5M finishing with $25.9M for MGM. Opening poorly outside of the top ten were Resurrecting the Champ and Illegal Tender with respective takes of $1.7M and $1.4M. The pair reached $3.2M and $3.1M.
George Clooney, the Mayor McCheese of Hollywood, leaves behind Oscar season and returns to the big screen with lighter fare with the period sports comedy Leatherheads. The PG-13 pic also stars Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski while the former Caped Crusader directs. Given the story of the origins of football in the 1920’s, turnout should come mostly from older adults although The Office star is being counted on to pull in some younger moviegoers. In Los Angeles, Clooney is a God. But the other 99% of the U.S. population doesn’t necessarily bow down to him (unless pals Brad and Matt are along for the ride). Michael Clayton, which creatively was one of the actor’s best films, only managed $10.4M in ticket sales during its first wide weekend. And it was backed by plenty of Oscar buzz and glowing reviews.
Reviews for Leatherheads have been lukewarm at best which spells bad news since the target audience will be reading up on the opinions of critics and taking their warnings. Plus Zellweger is no A-lister when it comes to drawing in paying audiences. Add in a period setting that will turn many off and you’ve got a spring film that will have to work hard for the money. To its credit, Universal has backed the title with a solid marketing push doing what it can to generate excitement and the current top five will not provide too much direct competition. But a lack of momentum in the current marketplace will also have a negative effect on all films. Rushing into 2,778 theaters, Leatherheads may take in around $15M this weekend.
Fox’s animated blockbuster Horton Hears A Who will find its competition coming from the studio’s own new Jodie Foster adventure. But the Dr. Seuss comedy has been holding up well so a 30% fall to $12.5M could result. That would up the cume to a robust $134M.
Superhero Movie stumbled out of the gate last weekend and is not likely to have legs. A 45% drop would give The Weinstein Company roughly $5M and a sum of $17M after ten days.
LAST YEAR: With Easter falling on the first weekend of April, the box office was vibrant thanks to a pair of solid sophomores and a slate of new releases. Will Ferrell‘s skating comedy Blades of Glory spent a second frame on top with $22.5M while the Disney toon Meet the Robinsons held onto second with $16.7M. Leading the newcomers was the Ice Cube sequel Are We Done Yet? with $14.3M on its way to $49.7M for Sony. Opening in fourth was the two-for-one special Grindhouse with $11.6M followed by the new supernatural thriller The Reaping which bowed to $10M. Final grosses reached $25M and $25.1M, respectively. Failing to excite family audiences was Firehouse Dog which debuted in tenth with just $3.8M leading to a weak $13.9M final.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
While the world waits with bated breath to hear if he’ll be starring as B.A. Baracus in John Singleton‘s The A-Team, Ice Cube is keeping himself busy with other projects.
Cube’s latest project, per Variety, is a comedy titled Janky Promoters. Billed as Cube’s first script since the last Friday film, Janky has attracted interest from Dimension Films, where he’s inked a partnership deal giving him a chunk of the profits. From the article:
“Janky Promoters” sets Cube and another actor as music promoters who get the chance to book a top-tier hip-hop artist into a midsized California venue. The pair are ill equipped for such a task and everything goes wrong.
The report also includes a number of quotes from Dimension chief and noted “urban niche” enthusiast Bob Weinstein, who compares the script to Uptown Saturday Night, promises an R rating, and hails Cube as a mogul in the making:
He’s producing the movie, sharing in the funding, so it’s more complicated than previous deals we’ve made with Cube. He’s a brand, like Tyler Perry, and that’s the direction he’s headed in. We’re happy to assist him in that because we believe in him.
Janky Promoters‘ production schedule will be assembled around Cube’s promotional duties for another Dimension film, the Fred Durst-directed The Long Shots.
Source: Variety
Hollywood plays the race card this weekend opening a pair of star-driven comedies, one for white moviegoers and the other for black audiences. Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson get the wider release with the romantic adventure comedy Fool’s Gold while debuting in 741 fewer theaters is Martin Lawrence‘s family reunion laughfest Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. Adding to the mix is the standup comedy concert pic Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show which will also try to tickle funnybones from coast to coast. Not all three films will get to laugh all the way to the bank.
Five years and one day after their date flick How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days became a number one hit, McConaughey and Hudson reteam for Fool’s Gold. Directed by Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama), the PG-13 picture tells of an ex-couple that must band together to find sunken treasure. The Warner Bros. release looks like a winner on paper. Take two stars with a proven track record, put them in a film that combines romantic comedy with action adventure, and hefty grosses from both genders should come rolling in. The marketing has certainly been pushing all the right aspects trying to sell this as a Romancing the Stone for today’s twentysomethings and thirtysomethings.
But the film’s poor execution will be a major liability in the long run. Reviews have been among the worst of any film in this new year. Since Fool’s Gold will play to an over-25 crowd, the thumbs down from critics could have an impact. Bad word-of-mouth will certainly kick in after this weekend and hurt future weeks. Then again, critically-panned comedies packed with big stars usually sell pretty well with the paying public. Gold will play to the same crowd that powered 10 Days to a $23.8M bow and McConaughey’s 2006 rom-com Failure to Launch to $24.4M. Both skewed female and heavily white. The actor’s latest offering could open in the same neighborhood but should suffer weaker legs. Opening in 3,125 theaters, Fool’s Gold may bow to about $23M.
Roscoe Jenkins will pull in most of its business from the African American audience. Turnout should be robust given the starpower. Sure the family reunion story has been done a hundred times, but moviegoers will want to see all the big names under one roof giving them two hours of laughs. In the right film, and when surrounded by other marquee stars, Martin Lawrence is still a big draw at the box office. His comedy sequel Big Momma’s House 2 opened to $27.7M around this time of year in 2006.
Plus with this weekend’s Top 20 set to offer no other films led by black casts, direct competition will be minimal. The Ice Cube comedy First Sunday debuted to $17.7M a month ago and Martin and gang could do better. Reviews will not be very good, but that should not matter much. The only limiting factor will be the theater count. Debuting in 2,384 locations, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins could collect around $20M this weekend.
The Eye settled for a decent second place finish over the Super Bowl frame and like most fright flicks, should not enjoy a good hold on the second weekend. The new menu of comedies won’t provide too much competition so a decline of 50% would leave Lionsgate with about $6M lifting the total to $21M after ten days.
Fox’s female-skewing comedy 27 Dresses will take a direct hit from Matt and Kate’s reunion. Look for the Katherine Heigl film to fall by 40% to $5M for a 24-day score of $64M. Playing to a slightly different audience, Rambo took a sizable blow over the Super Bowl frame and should see its drop stabilize to 50%. That would leave the ultraviolent Lionsgate sequel with $3.5M putting the overall cume at $36M.
LAST YEAR: Following soon after his first-ever Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy rocketed to number one at the box office with the powerful $34.2M debut for the comedy Norbit. The Paramount release went on to gobble up $95.7M domestically and about $160M worldwide. Opening in second with a respectable $13.1M was the thriller Hannibal Rising which went on to gross $27.7M for The Weinstein Company. The previous weekend’s top two films followed, but switched their order. Universal’s Diane Keaton comedy Because I Said So held up well and grossed $9.2M while the horror pic The Messengers fell harder and took in $7.2M for Sony. Rounding out the top five was the unstoppable holiday hit Night at the Museum with $5.8M in its eighth frame.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
For the first time in four years, the Martin Luther King holiday weekend will not be ruled by a film led by an African American cast. Instead, studios are rolling out a monster movie, a wedding flick, and a bank robbery comedy. Paramount leads the way with its much-anticipated sci-fi thriller Cloverfield, Fox goes after young women with the romantic comedy 27 Dresses, and rookie distributor Overture Films offers the lo-tech heist picture Mad Money. Some audience overlap is sure to result between the new releases but the box office still seems likely to beat out year-ago grosses for the sixth consecutive weekend.
Following a half-year of online hype and savvy marketing that continuously built up fan frenzy, the J.J. Abrams-produced (but not directed) monster movie Cloverfield finally makes its way into the multiplexes. The PG-13 film is shot from a camcorder’s perspective and chronicles the story of a group of New York City friends whose surprise party is rocked when a ferocious and seemingly unstoppable beast attacks the city. The cast is filled with mostly unknowns who do a relatively good job with the material on screen while Matt Reeves (The Pallbearer) directs. Kudos to the creative team for making an engaging and thrilling film unlike anything else out there.
In a world where most sci-fi films have every plot point revealed and every exciting action sequence made public ahead of time through trailers, Cloverfield is something new. The studio has successfully kept most of the film, and the look of the monster, under wraps. This has generated intense fan anticipation which will manifest itself this weekend at the cash registers. But expectations should be kept in check. Two summers ago Snakes on a Plane was the most talked about film on the net and although it debuted at number one, the Samuel L. Jackson actioner fizzled out to a depressing $34M domestic final. The blogs didn’t bring in the bucks.
Cloverfield should do much better thanks in part to its rating which will welcome young teens. Snakes was rated R. The new monster flick is reminiscent in many ways of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project which coincidentally had to battle a new wedding-themed comedy of its own when it opened nationally against Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride. That runaway smash also used shaky handheld cameras to tell a new kind of story for a new generation of young people and used the internet to spread the buzz and build its audience. Since today’s 17-year-old was just eight or nine back then, Cloverfield will play out as the Blair Witch for today’s generation of teenagers.
Rarely does a studio ever position a hot buzzworthy action film into January. That would explain why only one movie in history has ever opened in the first month of the year to a three-day bow north of $30M. Eleven years ago, Fox smashed the January debut record with the Special Edition of Star Wars which opened to an explosive $35.9M ($50M+ at today’s ticket prices). No January pic has been able to beat it since, although Cloverfield will love to try. Business this weekend should be frontloaded with Friday seeing a potent gross and Sunday taking a hit from football playoffs.
With a reported production budget of $25M, the monster flick clocks in at under 75 minutes before the slow-moving credits roll. That will allow for more showtimes with some screens squeezing six showings into each day. But eating into some of its potential with women is Fox’s recent shifting of 27 Dresses from January 11 to this weekend. Until a few weeks ago, Cloverfield had clear sailing over this frame but now some of its female audience will instead get pulled away to the bridesmaid pic. But the films were destined to be together since 01+18+08 = 27. Nevertheless, a solid launch is assured. Crashing into over 3,200 theaters, Cloverfield might take in around $30M this weekend.
Getting in males will be tough. Cloverfield and the NFL conference championship games on Sunday will both be major distractions plus Dresses lacks the kind of leading man that can pull in guys. Romantic comedies opening in the first quarter are usually driven higher when both genders have a big star to contribute. 50 First Dates starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore bowed to $39.9M, Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker opened to $24.4M, and the Ben Stiller–Jennifer Aniston hit Along Came Polly debuted to $27.7M over the MLK holiday frame. Dresses will be a major test of Heigl’s starpower since she basically carries the whole film on her own shoulders. For Knocked Up, Seth Rogen was more prominent in the marketing and director Judd Apatow was the biggest selling point. Walking down the aisle in 3,058 venues, 27 Dresses could collect about $19M this weekend taking the bridesmaid spot on the charts.
With the action crowd and female moviegoers already having high profile new releases aimed at them, Mad Money will have intense competition to deal with. Overture will need to rely on Latifah’s pull with African Americans although fellow former rapper Ice Cube will be a direct threat with the second weekend of his hit comedy First Sunday. Reviews for Money have not been very encouraging which could affect the Keaton crowd. But some marketing tricks like having the three actresses ring the opening bell of the NASDAQ stock exchange on Wednesday morning have helped to raise awareness. Five recent comedies anchored by Keaton or Latifah have opened in the $12-13M range proving their bankability. Money will not be as wide of a release as the others and competition will be tougher, but a decent showing may still result thanks to the divide-and-conquer casting plan. Mad Money will sneak into about 2,200 theaters on Friday and could make off with roughly $9M.
Ice Cube was red hot at the box office last weekend with his latest comedy First Sunday which generated the best average of any movie in wide release. The entertainer’s laughers usually see sizable second weekend drops and this Sony release should follow. A 40% decline would give the church robbery tale approximately $10.5M over the Friday-to-Sunday span and put the film’s ten-day sum at $31M.
After missing out on Golden Globe trophies, Juno will see some of its buzz subside this weekend. A 30% drop to about $9.5M could result pushing Fox Searchlight’s total to $84M. Disney’s adventure hit National Treasure: Book of Secrets might slip 35% to $7.5M for a cume to date of $197M.
LAST YEAR: For the second straight weekend, Sony’s dance drama Stomp the Yard topped the charts grossing $12.3M in its sophomore frame. Also holding steady was megahit Night at the Museum which stayed put in second place with $12M in its fifth outing. Adding 300 theaters to its run was Dreamgirls which placed third with $8M. The weekend’s only new release was the horror remake The Hitcher which bowed in fourth with just $7.8M on its way to $16.4M for Focus. Rounding out the top five was Sony’s durable wonder The Pursuit of Happyness with $6.3M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
Okay, so maybe John Singleton isn’t completely sold on the idea of Ice Cube as B.A. Baracus in his A-Team adaptation. That’s fine. You know what? Ice Cube has his own television adaptation to do.
We’re talking, naturally, about Welcome Back, Kotter. It makes all kinds of sense — Cube’s already rocking the Gabe Kaplan ‘fro — and, as Cube tells MTV Movies, he knows just how he wants to bring the ’70s sitcom into 21st-century cineplexes:
“The names will be saved, don’t worry about it. Everybody will have the same name. To me, it’s still a comedy, but it’s real. It’s more of a ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High,’ not so much ‘Up your nose with a rubber hose.’ How could I do [the movie] remotely like the series? They’re still Sweathogs, the people that nobody wants to teach.”
Cube’s Kotter has a script in place — written by The Hot Chick‘s Tom Brady — but what with the strike and all…well, you know. Asked about the film’s current prospects, Cube tells MTV to “ask the Weinsteins” — which might not be a bad idea, seeing as how the Weinsteins are two of the only film moguls in town with the ability to hire union writers.
Oh, and don’t worry, original Kotter fans — Cube was a fan of the show. Matter of fact, he wants to reunite the original cast for old times’ sake:
“I want everybody. I want Travolta for a cameo, I want Gabe Kaplan for a cameo. I want Epstein, Horshack, Washington. If they do [make the movie], I want ’em in.”
Source: MTV Movies
Maybe Ice Cube had better hold off a bit on getting that mohawk for The A-Team. Woody Harrelson, though? He’s got a part ready for the taking.
So says director John Singleton, who found himself standing next to Collider‘s Frosty in a valet line last Friday, and was gracious enough to spend a few minutes talking about his plans for Fox’s big-screen adaptation of the ’80s television hit. While not specifically addressing rumors of Ice Cube stepping into Mr. T‘s gold chains as B.A. Baracus, Singleton did say the following:
“I don’t know who is in the cast yet, so all this…saying who is this person and who is…nobody is playing Mr. T — the character’s name is B.A. Baracus, he will have a Mohawk and there is a moment in the movie where he actually gets the Mohawk cause he’s going crazy. And I don’t know who is in the cast yet…but I do know that the only person I want right now is, that I really, really want is Woody Harrelson to play Murdock — the guy who is crazy but he’s kind of real smart, a jack of all trades. That’s the only person I really, really want.”
Harrelson as “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock. Pretty perfect, no?
Singleton also identified the writers responsible for the script’s most recent rewrite (Michael Brandt and Derek Haas), and took pains to clarify his vision for the movie’s overall tone:
It’s not a comic movie farce like Starsky and Hutch, it’s kind of in the tradition of the ’80s action pictures, the man’s movies like Die Hard, Predator, Commando, or even Lethal Weapon…The action is very serious, but there is humor. That’s what we are going for.
Finally (and unsurprisingly), anyone who signs on will need to agree to a multi-picture deal, as Singleton and the studio are eyeing The A-Team as a potential franchise. How does some sequel money sound, Woody?
Source: Collider
For the first time in three weeks, studios will pack a Friday with plenty of new releases as four films open or expand nationwide giving the box office chart a major shakeup. Leading in the polls and getting the widest release is The Bucket List starring Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Challenging Hollywood’s old guard are three younger agents of change. Ice Cube campaigns for a spot in the top five with the comedy First Sunday, Jason Statham heads up the adventure tale In the Name of the King, and some cartoon vegetables headline the kidpic The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. Hoping to play the spoiler is the indie smash Juno which once again expands into wider release. The films should each play to different audiences which will help the overall marketplace expand.
After spending the last decade directing flops, Rob Reiner hopes to score his first number one hit in over fifteen years with The Bucket List which features the Academy Award-winning actors Nicholson and Freeman on screen together for the first time. The PG-13 pic tells the story of two dying old men who set out to fulfill their last wishes before taking the big trip upstairs. Financing a major film anchored by two men who celebrated their 70th birthdays last year is not something Hollywood studios typically do. It’s usually seen as a risky endeavor. But Warner Bros. is counting on mature adults, men and women alike, to take interest and come out to see two legends on the big screen together.
Hurting Bucket‘s chances are the mixed reviews it’s been getting from critics. The target audience for this particular movie will definitely be affected by what reviewers have to say. Also, the picture has come up almost empty-handed during awards seasons so it has less marketing tools in its arsenal than the handful of acclaimed adult dramas touting their awards and nominations. In limited release, Bucket scored muscular per-theater numbers over the last two frames averaging $20,989 and $20,424 from only 16 locations. Co-star drawing power will not shoot this film up to the opening weekend levels of recent Jack flicks like The Departed or Anger Management. But even his less flashy films generate solid debut numbers due to his loyal fan following. Kicking its way into 2,911 theaters, The Bucket List could debut with about $15M.
First Sunday comes a week before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday frame which historically has been a good time for films led by black casts. Cube’s pictures usually are dependable when it comes to drawing a crowd. However his last two releases, the Sony sequels Are We Done Yet? and XXX: State of the Union, were not exactly major hits. Plus the story of stealing from church may not go down well with some folks. Breaking into roughly 2,000 theaters, First Sunday might open with around $12M.
After enjoying the second three-week box office reign of his career (the first being his other turn as Ben Gates), Nicolas Cage will see National Treasure: Book of Secrets drop down a couple of spots in the standings. The Buena Vista smash could fall by 40% to about $12M boosting the overall total to $187M which would make it one of the top ten blockbusters of 2007. Also hopping into that list will be fellow PG-rated holiday hit Alvin and the Chipmunks. Fox’s family comedy looks to slide by 35% this weekend to roughly $10M giving the singing chipmunks a robust $189M to date.
Scary movies from last weekend’s top five should witness larger declines. Will Smith‘s I Am Legend which is the highest grossing zombie movie of all-time may fall by 45% to about $8.5M for a $240M cume. The supernatural thriller One Missed Call should depreciate faster and fall 50% to around $6M giving Warner Bros. a respectable $21M after ten days.
LAST YEAR: The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend was ruled by the urban dance drama Stomp the Yard which generated a powerful $25.9M debut over the four-day extended frame. The Sony hit went on to finish with a solid $61.4M. Holdovers filled up the rest of the top five led by three-time champ Night at the Museum with $21.8M over the long weekend. Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness followed with $10.7M with Dreamgirls in fourth with $10.3M and Hilary Swank‘s Freedom Writers ranking fifth with $8.8M over four days. Three new releases opened lower on the charts. Universal’s action drama Alpha Dog bowed to $7.4M on its way to $15.2M. Debuting in more theaters but with smaller grosses were Buena Vista’s horror pic Primeval with $6M and MGM’s kidpic Arthur and the Invisibles with $5.7M. Final grosses reached $10.6M and $15.1M, respectively.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
John Singleton has officially signed on to direct the A-Team movie — and Ice Cube, for one, wholeheartedly approves.
So wholeheartedly, in fact, that he’s contemplating a turn as team mechanic B.A. Baracus, the role originally played to glowering perfection by the show’s breakout star, Mr. T. Responding to a Variety report about Cube being under consideration for the part, Blackfilm took the opportunity to ask him about A-Team during a press junket in support of his latest film, First Sunday.
Asked if he’d consider playing Baracus, Cube responded “Hell yeah, especially with John Singleton directing,” going on to say that as a fan of the show, the role would be “not a dream come true, but…definitely a good thing to do.” And here’s the answer to the question everyone’s asking:
I wouldn’t try to duplicate what Mr. T did, but I will have the same impact on you when you were little watching the TV show. I’m going to bring my own flavor to it and I am going to do the mohawk.
As long as it keeps him from making another sequel to Are We There Yet?, pretty much anything Ice Cube does is all right by us. The mohawk is just a bonus.
Source: Blackfilm
Source: Slashfilm
After two weeks of rule by Jodie and Milla, the boys come charging back in what could be a fierce fight for the number one spot. Jamie Foxx heads up the Middle East political thriller The Kingdom while The Rock targets a kinder and gentler audience with his family comedy The Game Plan. With little to no overlap in customers, both films should have room to breathe. Also debuting but in a moderate national release is the Morgan Freeman pic Feast of Love.
After scoring four consecutive $100M grossers this summer, Universal aims for another trip to the number one spot with its new military drama The Kingdom. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx leads the cast playing an agent with the FBI that assembles a talented team of experts to go to Saudi Arabia against government orders to investigate a suicide bomber’s attack against Americans. Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, and Jeremy Piven co-star in the R-rated pic. The studio is hoping to reconnect with the same audience that powered its 2005 Iraq War drama Jarhead to a strong $27.7M bow. It’s even used Kanye West‘s music in its advertising just as it did two years ago.
The Kingdom is part of a handful of fall flicks to deal with political issues in the Middle East. As one of the first ones out of the gate, it may not suffer from the backlash against this genre that may eventually be created. Marketed as a revenge picture featuring Americans fighting back against those who wronged us, the Peter Berg-directed film should tap into a certain segment of the audience that will find comfort in this type of fare. But competition for adults will be a factor especially considering how seven of the top eight films last weekend were rated R. Reviews have been mixed, however starpower is ample which should compensate. Infiltrating more than 2,700 theaters, The Kingdom might open with approximately $19M this weekend.
Of course Diesel, Ice Cube, and other macho men have been showing their softer side in kidpics lately so the idea is not totally new. The studio’s sneak previews last weekend helped to get more buzz out there with the target demo and with the lack of direct competition, Game Plan should have smooth sailing with parents and children. The marketing push has been effective as Disney has proven with films like Wild Hogs that it can sell just about any type of star-driven comedy to the public. Charging into about 2,800 locations, The Game Plan could grab around $17M this weekend.
The Dane Cook–Jessica Alba comedy Good Luck Chuck is also following up on a solid debut. Most of the fans of the actors probably came out upfront so a 50% fall to around $7M seems likely. That would give Lionsgate a ten-day cume of $24M.
LAST YEAR Sony topped the charts with its animated offering Open Season which debuted to an impressive $23.6M on its way to $85.1M. Ashton Kutcher voiced the number one film and starred on-screen opposite Kevin Costner in the second place pic The Guardian which opened to $18M. the Buena Vista release went on to collect $55M. Jackass: Number Two fell two spots to third with $14.6M losing half of it audience. Launching in fourth was the Billy Bob Thornton comedy School for Scoundrels with $8.6M for MGM on its way to $17.8M. Jet Li‘s Fearless rounded out the top five with $5M for Focus.
It’s a story that reads like a sign of the Apocalypse, or perhaps a horrible, long-lost B-side from the Judgment Night soundtrack, but the sad reality is that it’s just another day in Hollywood: Variety is reporting that Ice Cube and Fred Durst are collaborating on a film.
The project, titled Comeback and described in the article as “an inspirational sports drama,” will be based on the true story of Jasmine Plummer, the 11-year-old quarterback who became the first female player in the history of Pop Warner football. (And a good one, too — she led her team to the Pop Warner tournament in 2003.) Mr. Cube will produce and star as Jasmine’s uncle, who was a star on his high school football squad, and helps her learn the game. The script was written by Nick Santora and Doug Atchison.
And how does Fred Durst fit into all this? He’s going to direct, of course. This will be the first major film project for Durst, who made the jump from off-key screaming to movies a couple of years ago, and premiered his directorial debut, The Education of Charlie Banks, at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Production on Comeback is slated to begin November 26.
Source: Variety
John Travolta has blessed Ice Cube‘s planned remake of Welcome Back Kotter, the TV series that launched Travolta’s career. Cube’s plan to update the series in a movie with current racial dynamics sounds like a plan to the original Barbarino.
“I can’t wait to see it,” said Travolta. “I think that’ll be fun. I think it’s a good idea and I think it’s so much smarter that he does it with another perspective than what we did so it’s new.”
Of course it would be a major coup to get Travolta in there as a cameo, but he’s not so sure about that. “I don’t know. I’ve been approached on it but I’d have to see what it was and how it was and what the real thing was.”
This weekend Hollywood just doesn’t know its limits. Six new releases will jam into an already crowded marketplace on Friday trying to connect with spring moviegoers.
That makes for a whopping 20 new films over a four-week ultracompetitive period. This weekend’s ticket buyers will not have enough time or money to see them all, especially in a relatively weak playing period like mid-April. Friday the 13th may indeed be a terrifying day for the accountants behind some of these freshman flicks.
Call it "Catwoman" vs. "Hudson Hawk." Sony unleashes its latest star-driven thriller "Perfect Stranger" which finds Halle Berry playing an investigative reporter following an ad mogul (Bruce Willis) who may have killed her friend. The R-rated pic boasts the most star wattage of any new film this weekend and that will mean something at the cash registers. The actor combo is unique, appealing, and diverse enough to bring in two different audiences which is always good for business. Poor reviews probably won’t mean too much to the box office. Sony’s marketing push has been commendable and with Spartans, Ninja Turtles, and figure skaters ruling the charts over the last five weeks, many moviegoers will be ready to shift over to this type of film. "Perfect Stranger" invades 2,661 theaters and stands a chance of hitting number one with around $15M.
"At least ‘Hudson Hawk’ didn’t make RT’s ‘Worst of the Worst’ list."
Paramount counters with its own thriller this Friday the 13th with "Disturbia." With a more teen-friendly PG-13 rating, the pic tells the tale of a young man under house arrest who suspects that his neighbor is a serial killer. Shia LaBeouf, Carrie-Anne Moss, and David Morse make up the cast so clearly the film is not being sold on its starpower. "Perfect Stranger" will provide some healthy competition as those looking for a scare, and are 17 or older, will find Berry and Willis worth paying money for. But young teens that have already skated with Will Ferrell may look here for their weekly escape to the movies. Entering about 2,500 theaters, "Disturbia" could scare up around $10M over the weekend.
Yet another Shia LaBeouf movie.
Rookie distributor Chicago Releasing drives into theaters with its maiden film "Redline," an action drama about bored rich kids who drag race for fun. The PG-13 film is being aimed at teenage boys and young men with action-packed commercials and trailers full of hot cars and hotter babes. Eddie Griffin is the only major star in this vehicle so only those who really crave another "Fast and the Furious" flick will make it out. But in a weekend when most new films have been slapped with an R, this one could carve out a small audience of teens. Racing into about 2,000 theaters, "Redline" might finish with roughly $7M this weekend.
No word yet how many expensive cars Eddie Griffin wrecks in "Redline."
With all the films thrown into theaters this year, nobody has offered up a handy dandy Viking flick. That changes this weekend with the action-adventure "Pathfinder," an R-rated pic that looks at a young man’s battle against Norse invaders in North America centuries ago. Following the runaway success of "300," it’s no surprise that Fox is marketing "Pathfinder" as a historical war epic based on a graphic novel. But this new film has nothing on Leonidas and pals. The Viking subject matter is not interesting, the marketing push has been weak, and lead actor Karl Urban is no commercial draw. Attacking 1,720 theaters, "Pathfinder" might find only $5M on opening weekend.
Just one of many decapitations in "Pathfinder."
Lionsgate goes after an adult audience with its new crime drama "Slow Burn" which stars Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, and Taye Diggs. The R-rated film about a district attorney whose colleague gets tied up in a murder case will go out in a moderate wide release with only a mild marketing push behind it. The starpower is not strong enough to attract a sizable crowd and there is little buzz among movie fans. Opening in 1,163 locations, "Slow Burn" could die a quick death at the multiplexes with a $4M bow.
"Slow Burn": Expected to experience a quick death.
In a world overstuffed with animated films, First Look Pictures turns the tables and aims at adults with the R-rated toon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters." Based on the animated series on Cartoon Network, the pic is trying to follow in the footsteps of "Borat" by taking a TV property with a cult following and making a long-titled feature film that pushes the envelope. Even the term ‘Movie Film’ seems taken from the Kazakh journalist. "Aqua Teen" scored some extra publicity with its marketing debacle in Boston several weeks ago, however that will not give the film more mainstream appeal. Only the die hard "Aqua" fans are likely to come out here. Competition is stiff this weekend and with the fewest theaters of the six pack of new flicks, this one could get left behind. Landing in over 800 locations, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" may collect approximately $4M over three days.
"Only 23 more installments of $59.95 to go!"
After back to back wins atop the box office charts, "Blades of Glory" will face a fierce challenge this weekend from the new releases. Few have the starpower that the Will Ferrell comedy packs and last weekend’s strong hold suggests that crowds are being pleased. A 35% fall would give "Blades" $14M for the weekend and $89M in 17 days.
"Meet the Robinsons" and "Are We Done Yet?" have no new competition for the family audience so respectable holds are likely here as well. A 35% drop would give the Disney toon about $11M for a 17-day tally of $70M while a 40% decline for the Ice Cube sequel would give Sony around $9M for the sophomore frame and $33M after 12 days.
LAST YEAR Easter weekend saw the arrival of "Scary Movie 4" which commanded a powerful opening grossing $40.2M in its debut. It was the second largest opening in the spoof comedy series and went on to capture $90.7M for The Weinstein Co. The animated blockbuster "Ice Age: The Meltdown" dropped to second place with a still-potent $20M in its third frame followed by the sports comedy "The Benchwarmers" with $9.9M. Disney saw a disappointing debut in fourth with the animated film "The Wild" which took in just $9.7M on its way to $37.4M. "Take the Lead" rounded out the top five with $6.8M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
