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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Friday Estimates by Klady – 8/2/8

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Mummy is almost exactly where it was expected to be. The question will be, is it a family movie or a teen movie… meaning, does it dip on Saturday or jump on Saturday or something in between. We’ll know tomorrow. It’s been a while since Wall-E offered real family fare, so the Mummy franchise might get the best of parents whose younger kids are bugging parents to see TDK or who are wanting to see something/anything new.
Speaking of The Bat, the drop is, amazingly enough, exactly what the studio was predicting. Hmmm… 45% for the third weekend is still quite good coming off those huge numbers.Last weekend’s Bat-trajector was a little better than three times Friday, so $40m is probably the number for the weekend. It’s hard to imagine Mummy dropping hard enough to keep it under $40m, but if the little kids aren’t going, who knows?
Swing Vote‘s marketing was completely bollixed up by Disney. The outdoor was hideous, not giving anyone any info about the movie other than that Costner was the star. The ad campaign was not innovative and took little advantage of the political season of which we are in the midst. Just all very murky. Costner did himself no favors by hiring a novice director who really didn’t know how to milk a script that was a great idea – albeit stolen from an old John Barrymore movie – but needed a spark in the making. But that shouldn’t have mattered on opening weekend anyway. Costner, who insists on control, did greenlight this movie himself, with his own money… which he more than got back from Disney with the distribution deal, which was made just after the start of production. And because the movie was so studio-inexpensive, they will get their money out after theatrical. And for the same reason – an epidemic problem for people who finance movies and then do deals with studios for distribution – Disney probably decided around May or June not to sink real marketing effort into the movie having decided it was not going to be a nine-figure hit. Small DVD Recoverable Budget + Likely Moderate Success = Moderate Return = Why Make The Effort? And so it goes.
Looking at the season

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59 Responses to “Friday Estimates by Klady – 8/2/8”

  1. the keoki says:

    Mummy will fall off today and tomorrow becuase word of mouth is miserable. TDK will see a bump today and will outscore Mummy tomorrow and BAM…TDK is #1 for the weekend again. Woo hoo. Or maybe not. Either way, it hits 400 on tuesday or wed taking only 19 or 20 days. WOW!

  2. the keoki says:

    Shrek 2 took 43 days to get there.

  3. Tofu says:

    Mummy will rise Saturday. Families come out for Mummy movies.

  4. Joe Leydon says:

    Tofu: Yeah, mummies and daddies and kids. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
    But seriously: I’m disappointed by the Swing Vote take. It’s a much better movie than its numbers might indicate. Maybe it’ll eventually benefit from the relative lack of older-skewing stuff out there?

  5. Midnight Meat Train did a whopping $94.12 per screen on 102 screens? Is that a record for low screen average for over 100 screens? Still, expect this film to attain cult status on DVD as ‘the film that Lionsgate wouldn’t let you see’ or ‘the film that was too extreme for theaters’. In Lionsgate was smart, they’d hold off the October DVD release and use the allegedly decent horror vehicle as the star attraction in their next ‘After Dark Horrorfest’ this fall (they screwed the pooch last year by advertising and then not including Frontiers).

  6. scooterzz says:

    there’s gotta be a backstory to ‘midnight meat train’….did clive barker piss off somebody at lionsgate or something?….anybody know?

  7. Re – Midnight Meat Train back story –
    http://www.nysun.com/arts/midnight-meat-train-lionsgate-nearly-butchers-its/83002/
    Oh, and at the risk of beating a dead horse, Indiana Jones did exactly what it should have been expected to do. No one should have expected Phantom Menace numbers, since the highest grossing Indiana Jones film (Raiders Of The Lost Ark – $242 million with re-releases) was still much lower than the lowest grossing Star Wars film (The Empire Strikes Back – $290 million with re-releases).
    Iron Man simply vastly surpassed expectations and turned it into a horse-race. And of course, as expected, Indiana Jones slaughtered Iron Man overseas ($800 million to $600 million). Both were popular and relatively well-liked films that were huge financial winners, and both should be credited as such.
    And, as far as Hancock, I think the expectations were higher than they should have been due to the over performance of I Am Legend. While Will Smith had a track-record unlike anyone else, it did have a ceiling. In general, his pictures made between $140 million and $180 million. Men In Black 2 was a sequel thus it made it to $190 million, but that was the general average (Bad Boys 2, I Am Robot, Pursuit Of Happyness, Shark Tale, Hitch, etc). I Am Legend was his first $200 million+ grosser since Men in Black back in 1997 (and only his third total). Hancock became his fourth $200 million+ ever. All I’m saying, don’t storm the gates with torches when Will Smith’s next picture returns to his norm of $160 million.

  8. scooterzz says:

    sm — asked and answered, thanks for the link…

  9. the keoki says:

    Indy’s numbers have been considered a dissapointment from the jump. Makes no sense. I thought Hancock did quite well for a movie that was fight bad buzz and lukewarm reviews. it will end up at about 215-220. That’s pretty damn good. I myself though WALL-E was going to go through the roof. I figured 300+ easy. Still can’t figure that one out.

  10. Tofu says:

    Excellent write-ups, David & Scott.
    Oh, and
    800 million to $600
    Well, $744m to $566m. I only mention this as they’re both out of momentum in all markets now.

  11. the keoki says:

    Mistake on Hancock…225-230. Thats a great number.

  12. themutilator says:

    Those 102 screens that Lionsgate chose to open Midnight Meat Train are discount and $1 theatres!!

  13. PastePotPete says:

    BTW about Midnight Meat Train, to add insult to injury, those 100 screens are all or mostly dollar theaters.
    It’s playing about 60 miles away from me so I think I’ll make the drive and check it out.

  14. PastePotPete says:

    well got beaten to it.

  15. Geoff says:

    I second the kudos to Dave and Scott’s analysis – spot-on – and I almost didn’t feel the need to chime in.
    Dead-on about Hancock, no way it underperformed. This film had such bad buzz behind it and the fact that Smith delivered the opening it needed AND the legs have been solid – I don’t think any one should be disappointed.
    Curiuous about Get Smart – wasn’t it expected to do just about this much – $100 million plus with Carell and Hathaway? Curious as to what Warners really spent on the marketing as there were posters and trailers a year in advance – they might not have made much on it.
    You guys forgot to give some credit to Wanted – it probably did about double what most were expecting. Universal deserves some real kudos for how they marketed it, but like I have said on earlier blogs, they also did it at the expense of another title of theirs – The Incredible Hulk – Dave, I’m guessing Universal stood to make more money on Wanted? Not an accident, here?
    I would say that overall, Disney has had the most disappointing summer – Caspian did HALF of what was expected and I think that Wall-E underperformed, though most won’t admit it. I saw that as a $300 million movie and it looks like it will barely beat Kung Fu Panda. Everybody is going to attribute it to a mostly silent first half and the robot, but I firmly believe it word of mouth was hurt by the humans (all overweight in the future) in the second half of the movie – I could see my audience squirming a bit during those scenes, as effective as they were. Not saying it’s right, because I think it’s a wonderful movie.

  16. Geoff says:

    One thing I am curious about, that no one is taking about: Where does Christian Bale go from here? Is he now an A-List top draw? I’m sure his asking price will go up – I mean, you can’t topline the second highest domestic grosser in history, without having some positive effect.
    Will this guy now be expected to open a movie, say a Wanted-type action film to over $30 million?
    I guess we’ll find out a lot, next summer, with Terminator and Public Enemies – I will be very curious as whether he can now share top billing with Johnny Depp. What do you guys think?

  17. Tofu – You’re right to correct me. I was rounding up on the idea that they still had some life left, but if that’s not the case than I should have gone with the actual numbers.
    Get Smart did exactly what it needed to do. It cost $80 million, but I believe that much of the marketing and some of the budget was covered by tie-ins and product plugs. As it is, it’s going to be huge on DVD as it’s the very definition of the impulse rental.
    My bias is showing. I didn’t mention Wanted because I physically detest the movie. As it is, it opened and closed identical to Jolie’s Tomb Raider seven years ago, lone saving grace being that it cost about $40 million less ($75 million vs $115 million). It’s a classic quick-kill blockbuster, and it’ll have a decent shelf life on DVD (alas).
    In my opinion, Wall-E only underperformed in comparison to the surprise success (and quality) of Kung Fu Panda. It was always a risky project and I don’t think Pixar was expecting Finding Nemo numbers. Yes, they were hoping that the film would catch on and become a movement, but I’m sure the film grossed as much as it needed to to be considered a wise decision.
    As for Caspian, it’s an example of a franchise where the first film is a smash despite being deeply flawed. Then, the studio wrongly thinks that there’s demand for a sequel, accidentally makes a better movie, then the film under performs anyway because people got burned the first time (think the Tomb Raider series).

  18. the keoki says:

    i can’t wait for Depp and Bale in a big ass Mann movie. Damn shame we have to wait until next summer.

  19. the keoki says:

    maybe Bale will do the long awaited Reign of Fire sequel.

  20. the keoki says:

    caspian was a vastly superior movie.

  21. Rothchild says:

    What do you mean “extra?”
    It’s been 24 hours and I still can’t believe how terrible Mummy 3 is. It’s the worst movie of Cohen’s career. By far.

  22. sloanish says:

    What about that tag line at the end with John Hannah? I read but never saw Stealth but I feel like it has to be worse.

  23. jesse says:

    The tagline at the end of The Mummy 3 single-handedly makes it a better movie than Stealth. This is not to say that Mummy 3 isn’t the worst of the series, or that I found much to like about it at all… but Stealth is really one of the worst big special-effects movies I’ve ever seen. Cohen does have a talent for making dullness out of what should be stupid fun.

  24. LexG says:

    I am the easiest mark EVER when it comes to hugely stupid epic-scale action, I have like ALL of Cohen’s recent (post-Skulls) movies to one degree or another.
    But Mummy 3 was really, really bad; Bello’s performance is just embarassing, that “kid” looks five years younger than either parent and gives a wretched performance (sorry KCamel, he’s awful), the chase scene in Shanghai is incomprehensible and boring (not to mention looks like HUNDREDS of bystanders get killed with nary a wink), and during the expositions I kept catching myself not paying a lick of attention, then just kind of shrugging because I didn’t care.
    Though did anyone notice THE EVIL CHINESE GENERAL LOOKS EXACLY like an ASIAN VERSION OF ROB COHEN? That dude is Cohen’s brother from a Chinese mother.
    And FRASER’S HAIR looked extremely dubious. The hairline and those clumps that kept getting in his eyes looked like Travolta’s hair in Domestic Disturbance.
    Only the prologue and the last act have any energy at all… Cohen does stage some of his trademark insane mayhem, but it’s too little, too late. I guess Jet and Yeoh were OK, only because they didn’t totally embarass themselves.

  25. Hallick says:

    “One thing I am curious about, that no one is taking about: Where does Christian Bale go from here? Is he now an A-List top draw?”
    Not until he opens a film without a franchise history – like Batman and The Terminator – in a big way. Did his presence in Harsh Times or Rescue Dawn bolster their box office to a notable degree? Of all the actors in The Dark Knight, Bale was the one I’ve got the least “can’t wait to see his next one” feeling about. Which isn’t a knock on him so much as Bruce Wayne’s part in the film. The new Batcycle probably saw its star rise higher than Bale’s after this one.

  26. Lex, don’t apologise to me about Luke Ford. I’m just saying he gives (apparently) a great performance in the much smaller aussie flick The Black Balloon. I read they were going to see if this third Mummy flick was a hit and if so turn his character into a spinoff movie. Frightening, considering the very small cross section of people who have seen it from here.
    I’d be more intrigued about Bale if he hadn’t already given a couple of amazing performances. After Ledger’s perf in Brokeback Mountain, I’d say Bale’s American Psycho performance is my favourite male perf of the decade so far.
    But as we’ve seen with Johnny Depp, not even he can made blockbusters out of bullshit. Sure, something like Secret Window would’ve failed without him, but it still wasn’t exactly a big hit. But throw Bale in a recognised product like Depp did with Chocolate Factory and I’m sure we’ll see biiig numbers again.
    Which, I guess, bodes well for Terminator.

  27. Oh, and sorry for turning this into Oscar talk, but Melissa Leo is gonna need more than that if she wants an Oscar nod (*he says as if Leo has any way of getting more people into the cinema)

  28. Jack Walsh says:

    How have there been no stories about the Dark Knight box office numbers considering the impact that Ledger’s death has had? Does anyone think it would be doing the same numbers if he was still living? The first movie did $205 million in its entire run, and this movie will do close to double that number in a month, and nobody wonders why?
    Even assuming that the a lot of critics fawned over Ledger’s performance were he still with us, wouldn’t there have been a lot more Nicholson comparisons that never came out of respect? Obviously, it’s a different style and a completely different look at the character, but how many people heard that they were bringing the Joker back and thought nobody could ever top the original? Were those same opinions about TDK influenced by the death of Ledger and the critical reactions? I guess we will never know, but it is strange that nobody is talking about it.

  29. Well, I think the opening weekend was helped by Ledger’s demise, but since then it’s all been about word of mouth and the ‘event’ of the movie itself. I may not worship the movie as much as others do, but most of the people who saw it, especially after opening weekend, are buzzing about the whole package, not just Ledger’s work.
    As for comparisons, I noticed right away that Ledger was more than a little similar to Nicholson in his quieter moments, especially with his mouth work. Ledger’s maniacal cackle is almost identical (although it’s employed much less frequently). Not saying one version was a more faithful version (they both were dead-on to the character, depending on who was writing him for a given comic book), but Ledger was not reinventing the wheel as many seemed to think, but given us a terrific interpretation of an iconic character.
    And, as I expected, much of the talk about Ledger’s performance discussed how his Joker was a groundbreaking violent sociopath, a mass murderer unlike any other version of the character. Of course they had forgotten that Nicholson’s Joker was even more murderous and more random in his pointless slaughter. Ledger’s Joker is almost sane in his premeditation for much of the picture, making specific planned choices on when to kill and when to not kill. Many of the fans and critics forgot that Burton’s Batman was an obscenely violent PG-13 crime film too, with its own homicidal Joker.
    Ironically, considering all of the silly ‘Joker = Bin Laden’ comparisons, Nicholson’s Joker was a far, far more random mass murderer, and far more what normal citizens fear. Ledger’s Joker targeted specific people, only killed when he absolutely intended to, and he almost completely targeted public officials and cops. Nicholson’s Joker practiced wholesale random slaughter purely for the fun of it (the random Smlyax poisonings, the shootings on City Hall, the gassing at the art museum, etc). And of course, despite the fact that Joker had been poisoning people for fifty years by 1989, Joker’s Smylax poisoning spree was compared to the Tylenol poisonings several years prior, and today it likely would have been compared to the ‘random’ Anthrax attacks.

  30. Hallick says:

    “The first movie did $205 million in its entire run, and this movie will do close to double that number in a month, and nobody wonders why?”
    That Katie Holmes is just box office poison baby…

  31. brack says:

    “The first movie did $205 million in its entire run, and this movie will do close to double that number in a month, and nobody wonders why?”
    No one is wondering because we already know why. Batman Begins was a terrific film, and seen by many on home video/cable/satellite. Some people were afraid to see it because of the Batman Forever/& Robin silliness. The Dark Knight looked amazing from the trailers/ads, and it actually liked up to the hype, and probably exceeded most everyone’s expectations.

  32. brack says:

    liked = lived, whoopsy.

  33. LexG says:

    You know, it sure would be fun to pop in the ’89 Batman and check out some of the interesting comparisons Scott and others are making…
    TOO BAD WB, in either the DUMBEST or MOST AWESOME move of all time, has decided to MAKE THE ’89-’97 franchise ENTIRELY OUT OF PRINT during a time when they could have sold 200 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF LIBRARY DVDs!!!!!!!!!!
    Yep, I never bought any of the Burton/Schumacher flicks, and now, like probably ALL OF AMERICA, I’m jonesing to pick them up on disc, and they’re ENTIRELY OUT OF PRINT. I’ve gone to a half dozen B&M stores and checked tons of legit store web sites, and they’re GONE unless you wanna buy secondhand or eBay.
    WHAT THE HEEEELLLLLL? Obviously that allegedly excellent box set will be somehow repackaged and spruced up for BLURAY when TDK hits disc in four months, but THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE looking to buy the older BATMAN flicks RIGHT FUCKING NOW and they are being denied.
    Oh, and, by the way, FUCK BLU-RAY.
    Making big movies look all CAMCORDERY and shit.

  34. Joe Leydon says:

    LexG: But have you watched Get Carter yet?

  35. LexG says:

    Joe… I stupidly updated the wrong thread, but see my response in BYOEarthquake.
    KCamel… that’s cool if he does good work in the Aussie flick; nothing against the guy… he wouldn’t be the first to excel in a good movie and look lost at sea in a big-budget TERRIBLE one. The problem starts with the miscasting of a guy who looks 31 as the son of an actor and actress who look 38, TOPS. Maybe that awkwardness informed the guy’s performance.
    The Asian chick who plays his love interest is apparently some deal, too, and she’s equally vapid, boring and charisma-free here.

  36. Joe Leydon says:

    Michael Caine OWNS your sorry ass, LexG. And guess what? He told me that in Get Carter he was playing “the ghost of Michael Caine” — that is, the guy he could have easily grown up to be had he gone ten minutes in the wrong direction, because he grew up with guys like that. On this blog, you read a lot of guys posing as bad boys. But trust me: Caine in his prime (and, hell, for all I know, even now) could kick major ass and not work up a sweat.

  37. IOIOIOI says:

    Hal: I may be alone in this, but I am a huge Bale fan. I would pay to watch the dude read a phone book. He’s that awesome among being one of the better actours alive today.
    He also opened those movies after a 200M+ Batman film not a 500M, So I am wagering that there are more people out there who dig him in this flick, and will come out in droves to see him in Terminator Salvation. Mark it now in order to not be surprised when I am right about something else next year.
    Lex: Warners are obviously going to put out a SUPERMAN-ESQUE BATMAN collection later this year. It’s the only possible reason to explain why those films all went out of print right before TDK.
    I at least hope this is there strategy, because everything else is getting a freakin new SPECIAL/DELUXE edition from them in the next two quarters. So it would not surprise me to see a pre-order page for an ULTIMATE BATMAN COLLECTION to pop up on Amazon any day now. Tofu may know if this is the case, because he knows things.
    Finally, Scott, the Joker is an agent of chaos. While JackJoker was a plot device for a Cure fan. After watching this film again. It becomes apparent how bigger and badder the Joker will go. If he ever deals with the Bat again.
    This time he was making a point and trying to take over a town. While JackJoker was just a douche. I really am not responding to your point Scott, but I felt like throwing something out there anyway.

  38. movieman says:

    Now that we’ve gotten to the bottom of Lions Gate’s dumping of “Midnight Meat Train,” does anybody know the real reason LG
    pulled their Latino little league movie “The Perfect Game” from its August 8th release date…literally at the eleventh hour? A Cleveland promo scheduled for Monday nite was cancelled late last week with a little note explaining that the film’s release was now “TBD.”
    It seems to me that if you’re not going to open a kid-friendly-looking movie about little league during, uh, little league/baseball season, you might as well cut your losses and head straight to dvd.
    Or is LG secretly planning a token/contractual 100-print break in buck houses, just like the one they gave “MMT”?
    I know that “The Perfect Game” is probably a film of little (if any) consequence. But LG’s weird, almost pathological behavior is a helluva lot more interesting than any of their recent movies.
    And I hope that “HSM3” kicks “Saw V”‘s ass if only to put the final nail in the whole torture-porn genre.

  39. IOIOIOI says:

    Movie: you are making a lot of sense to me today. May the average sized guys and their average sized girls beat the unholy shit out of Jigsaw. DOWN WITH THE TORTURE PORN!

  40. movieman says:

    Amen, IO.
    I’d rather watch a continuous loop of February’s Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert flick for 24 hours straight than have to suffer through the abasement of yet another soulless, degraded and degrading chapter in the “Saw” annals.
    It would be so frigging sweet if squeaky-clean “HSM3” demolishes Jigsaw and his bastard minions the weekend of October 24th.
    Say your prayers. I know that I am.

  41. Chicago48 says:

    The real winner is Will smith & hancock – who would have thunk after the critics reports? Will wins again.

  42. the keoki says:

    YUP! TDK beats Mummy at the end of the weekend! Woo hoo. Do i hear four weekends in a row? Pinapple Express opens on wed so that should effect its weekend number. 4 in a row baby! Dave when will we see your Pineapple review?

  43. Tofu says:

    Early estimates for HSM3’s opening weekend alone are in the mid-70’s, so yeah, Saw will no longer be #1 for its opening weekend. Although, aren’t we just replacing one torture porn for another? ;D
    Regarding the Batman DVDs, 20th Century Fox still remains as a roadblock for the release of the Adam West series, but extras and commentary are currently in production. The Dark Knight is slated for December 9th, and Warner Brothers LOVE releasing properties together. Hell, Birds of Prey The Complete Series was released day and date with the Begins Blu-Ray & Gotham Knight.
    Another Anthology release isn’t off the table, but don’t expect the Nolan films to be included in the set. WB is still unwilling to have them associated so closely.

  44. Scott, about the Ledger issue, I would guess that his death brought about a lot of extra coverage for the movie, yes. I can’t really talk for America, but down here it was mentioned on the news anytime was a new trailer or a new poster featuring Ledger. It was kinda crazy.

  45. Airstrike says:

    Early estimates have The Dark Knight at $43.8 mil. for the weekend beating The Mummy 2 2/3 – nice come from behind win. This should ensure the bat to fly over the $400 mil. mark tomorrow!

  46. Tofu says:

    … In 18 days of release, compared to the previous record of 43 days set by Shrek 2.
    If it maintains above Mummy, then it has a chance of also reaching the $45 million mark in actuals to take down Spider-Man’s third weekend record (impressive in itself, since that was the same weekend as Attack of the Clones opening). Not counting on it, but fun to watch.

  47. The Pope says:

    Can someone explain to me what is going on with the Foreign Box-Office stats with Mojo? According to their pages, TDK has taken $128m, while the stats listed only add up to less than $90m. And according again to the list, it has yet to be released in most foreign territories.
    As for Mamma Mia! that is even more puzzling. It claims that it has taken $140m, when the only territory listed is Greece and that amounts to $1.6m.
    I know first hand that it is raking in the cash in the UK and Ireland (it beat Wall-E when they opened on the same weekend).
    But what is happening (or not happening) over at Mojo lessens my trust in what they give.

  48. Re – the 80s/90s Batman series. They were released on wonderful two-disc DVD sets to coincide with Batman Begins coming out on DVD back in October of 2005. According to several DVD websites, Warner is releasing those collections on BluRay to coincide with The Dark Knight’s DVD/BluRay release.
    I just checked Amazon and they’re available used for about $20.00 a piece. Blockbuster does carry both discs of each two-disc set. If you’re even a casual fan of the series, the films, or the character, I can’t recommend them enough. The first film alone has 3.5 hours of quality documentary content plus a commentary, all of it honest and retrospective and everyone participates (yes, present-tense Nicholson shows up quite a bit). The other three films have commentaries and about 2 hours of content each, most of it newly created. Especially interesting is the Batman & Robin disc, where Joel Schumacher basically falls on the sword in the commentary and retrospective documentary (basically, the studio strongly requested him to make a toy-friendly film, but he was the adult who said yes and did it).

  49. the keoki says:

    wow, it’s like i had a crystal ball! see very first post. i want some dap!

  50. jeffmcm says:

    I’m on record as loathing the last 3 Saw movies, but Lionsgate as already annnounced there will be no fewer than 7 films.
    PS: denouncing ‘torture porn’ is so 2007.

  51. IOIOIOI says:

    Tofu and Scott: thanks for sharing.

  52. Hallick says:

    “He also opened those movies after a 200M+ Batman film not a 500M, So I am wagering that there are more people out there who dig him in this flick, and will come out in droves to see him in Terminator Salvation. Mark it now in order to not be surprised when I am right about something else next year.”
    To put Bale on the A list of actors, he name needs to open a movie that doesn’t have a built-in audience like, say, a Terminator sequel! He will bring some interest in the movie that’s specifically tied to his being in the movie, but I don’t think it’s a major league-sized interest. I love his movies, but he’s just not an A lister yet. Not like that. I don’t think he’s even looking to be that.
    Whether that matters much when you’re getting cast in movies like The Dark Knight and Terminator Salvation is another discussion altogether.

  53. ployp says:

    I just watched The Mummy 3 yesterday. Why oh why was Maria Bello cast as Evelyn? She can’t even do a British accent!
    I’m with movieman and IO. Hope this Saw will be the last. Here’s the end to torture porn!!

  54. scooterzz says:

    so, if lionsgate bailed on the clive barker movie because of content, what’re they doing holding on to the ‘saw’ franchise for seven chapters?
    just wondering…

  55. Pope, Box Office Mojo’s international section hasn’t been updated in weeks, although on movies’ individual pages it seems to have correct international numbers.

  56. jeffmcm says:

    Scooter, clearly they are liars. The last three Saw movies have been miserable, but highly profitable, so…
    Oh, and the reason the Burton and Schumacher Batman movies aren’t available right now is a little thing Warner Bros. learned from Disney about home video double (or triple) dipping.

  57. IOIOIOI says:

    Jeff: I am also going with the ULTIMATE BATMAN COLLECTION thing. If they put Superman Returns in the same box as Superman IV: the Quest for Peace and Overly Ridiculous Goofiness!

  58. IOIOIOI says:

    They can put the two Best Batman films in a box with the other four Batman films. I mean, really, Warners own that BOX DESIGN they used for the Ultimate Superman Collection and the Forbidden Planet COLLECTOR’S EDITION. So they can afford to use it again for the BAT! Sorry for the double post.

  59. frankbooth says:

    How about a box set of just the two Burton films?
    I mean, what would you do with other two if they were included — wear them as earrings? Use them for coasters? Hang them on your Christmas tree?
    It’s a waste of plastic and aluminum.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon