The Dead Horse… Beaten

I guess leaving unwell enough alone would make sense… but I

Question Of The Day

I want to thank Drew McWeeny for inspiring this question.
After a decade of test screening reviews appearing on the web, has this break in traditional ettiquette helped make the moviemaking process better in any way?
My take is that it’s made it worse. But I’m asking the question hoping for your answers.

Did Ya Hear About The Guy Who Wore Blue Tights?

From 20 Weeks Of Summer – Week 10
“On the Shitty Summer Movie Scale, I would rate the major films that I have seen (leaving out any negative I might feel towards Cars or Over The Hedge) so far:
1. Poseidon
2. The Da Vinci Code
3. Mission: Impossible II
4. The Break-Up
5. Superman Returns
6. X-Men 3”
And
“On a much smaller scale of disappointment is Nacho Libre, which fulfills the promise of the commercials, trailers, and video confessionals for about one act

Preparing For The MPAA

This is a small view of the whole memo…

And here is the close-up, which you hopefully will be able to read…

When Harry Met Paramount

But which one is which?
Slow blogging day… insane schedule… but there will plenty of meat to chew tomorrow…

Super BIG!

We got a new image of Superman Returns IMAX today. You don’t really get the 3D feel, but we posted it here in full size because it really does give you some sense of how big the image is in the theater if you scroll around a bit.
And after you take a look, click again and try to figure out just what this guy in the lower right hand corner is trying to measure with his fingers.

Gong Li In The Dark

I’ve never seen anything quite like this standee. Besides the odd, kind of sideways reference to another NBC/Universal TV show, I have never seen a standee with one of the stars – here given third but near-equal position – is left completely in the dark.
I kind of dig it. But I’m not really sure that I’m the one they need to be selling on this movie. If paying $100 to see a new Michael Mann film was the only option, I would pay.

Lots Of Success… Too Many Sloppy Kisses

Tom Rothman & Jim Gianopulos deserve a lot of respect on a business level. Under their leadership, Fox has delivered a record (until Sony breaks it this year) six $20 million openings in one year in 2004, a powerful five $100 million movies in one year in 2005 and this year, their two $190 million-plus domestic releases so far will generate over $1 billion in theatrical revenues alone worldwide.
There is no question that they deserve a lot of praise for that success.
There is also no question that Tom Rothman has a lot of people out there who talk shit about him, much of which is reasonable. But no studio chief is liked by everyone. Many of the arguments now made about Rothman

Friday Estimates by Klady

Finding Nemo

Greetings From The Home Of Starbucks

I’m in Seattle for a bit of the film festival. I saw three somewhat dissapointing films in theaters today, so I am settling in with some DVDs of films that have come and gone in tihs 25 day long festival.
Anyway, I will try to get some box office conversation tomorrow morning and will update as things come up. Feel free to use this entry as a place for open, reader-driven conversation.

20 Weeks… Up, Up & Away

“What got me rolling into this column was not the future of this summer, but the past. For all of the endless talk about Mission:Impossible 3, the truth is, there have only been two real wide-release flops in these first six weeks of summer; Just My Luck ($16 million) and Poseidon (should top out at about $60 million domestic).
There has only been one summer with as many as three $70 million-plus openings (there have been 13 such summer openings in all movie history) and we have two already. There is little doubt that we should expect at least two more, breaking the record.”
The Rest
The Chart

Read the full article »

Best Copy Lines Of The Year?

Here are the finalists for the Key Art Awards this year. Did they miss any?
* The 40 Year-Old Virgin: “The longer you wait, the harder it gets.”
(Created by Crew Creative Advertising)
* Crash: “Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other.”
(Created by Mark Woollen & Associates)
* Saw II: “Oh yes, there will be blood.”
(Created by Lions Gate Entertainment)
* Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride: “There’s been a grave misunderstanding.”
(Created by BLT & Associates, Inc.)
* Wedding Crashers: “Life’s a party. Crash it.”
(Created by Dawn Patrol)

Is This A Topic That Interests Y'all?

PROJECT 880 (formerly Untitled James Cameron) Feature Film FOX
Director: James Cameron
Casting Director: Margery Simkin
Casting Associate: Justine Hempe
Casting Assistant: Ashley Slater
Start Date: November 2006

$12, 633, 666

How impressive is it to you?

Superman Returns… Businesswise

Well, besides coming onto tracking like a big summer bully, I’m beginning to get the gut feeling that Superman Returns