Friday Estimates by Klady – Aug 18

Not a huge surprise, really. Even my $22 million BO Hell Snakes on a Plane estimate

When Snakes Met Soft Porn

Even the pervs are in on this one…

I'm not ready to get off of this yet…

So WB was the winner in the X3/SR showdown?
And the X-Men franchise is worn out because… uh… it beat Superman Returns domestically, internationally and on opening weekend – against much stiffer competition – by almost double?
And why is anyone doing a Bryan Singer suck up story? Well, I guess they were done sucking up to JJ Abrams for the failure of Mission: Impossible III, whose final numbers will almost exactly match the numbers on Superman Returns… except it cost no less than $50 million less to make and marker.
WORLDWIDE THIS SUMMER
POTC: Dead Man’s Chest $860m (and rising)
The Da Vinci Code $750m
X-Men: The Last Stand $441m
Mission: Impossible III $392m
Cars $376m
Superman Returns $348m (with 2 major territories left)
Over the Hedge $300m
And gee… isn’t M:I3 the impetus to throw Tom Cruise – who have 5 times as many $200 million-plus worldwide grossers on his resume than Bryan “2 X-Men & A SoaperMan” Singer and 4 $400 million grossers to Singer’s 1 – off the Paramount lot?
There is a likelihood that Superman Returns will gross less than Godzilla. God-muthafuckin’-zilla.
Bryan Singer has no history as a tentpole director. He is an arthouse director. And the only reason that there was an X2 was because Bryan was “handcuffed” by Tom Rothman’s restrictive budget on X1… or that franchise would have died right there.
And where the HELL did WB dig up Cheo Hodari Coker as The Journalist for Anne Thompson to talk to and to defend Bryan Singer? Is that a joke? Did Anne dial those digits with a straight face?
I love Anne. I think she is pushing a strong, progressive agenda for journalists. But geez, girl

Box Office Hell – August 18

The Real Magic Trick

Yes, The Illusionist is coming out this weekend, but the magic trick I am most impressed with is Warner Bros’ magical ability to shove the lie of a profitable Superman Returns down the throats of two very smart, very experienced Hollywood reporters.
Claudia Eller takes the tough road… and is still sucked into the scam.
Anne Thompson is much kinder.
Superman Returns is, even by the studio spin, $170 million in the hole right now… $230 million if you count the $60 million that was thrown away before cameras rolled. (Add another big chunk for late marketing expenses to which they haven’t admitted.)
It is possible that the movie will make another $25 million in rentals in the next month or two. But that is it.
So Alan Horn is saying the movie is going to make $200 million in the after market?
I’ll make you a bet now. He’ll sell you the futures stock on that $200 million for $100 million cash today.
And this is the same gorup of reporters who keep calling the $750 million grossing The Matrix Reloaded a disaster? I guess WB learned their lesson. Spin early. Spin often. If you go on the record, people will buy this shite.
ADD – I was in a bit of a rush and forgot to include Bryan Singer’s 18 million in back end money (gross points) that will also be part of the red ink on SR.

Snakes On A M-Fing Plane

If you want to understand the complexity of the film, try snakes on pretty much every bodily part you can imagine that doesn’t excrete solid waste.
Truth is, the movie does find a clever way to turn the third act into a third act and not just more of the same. It’s not so great that I feel compelled to discuss it conceptually, but it is clever enough.
The Rest Of The Review

Lunch With David VI – Taking Responsibility

Avi Lerner = Low Budget John Lennon

You may have seen this ad that ran on a full page in the L.A. Times yesterday. It’s been touted as an effort by the celebrities to come out against the horrible conflict on the Israel/Lebanon border… as though any one cared how Hollywood celebrities felt about the issue…
View the whole ad with all the celebrity names
Still, for some reason, the actual creator and financier of the ad seems to have escaped notice…

Nu Image is, of course, the company responsible for Cyborg Cop, Human Timebomb, Diary of a Sex Addict, and of course, the class, S.S. Doomtrooper.
Behind Nu Image and Millennium Films

WeinsteinCo Release Update

THE PROTECTOR

20 Weeks Of Summer 19

Q: How will Gail Berman follow up World Trade Center?
A: Negotiations have already started for the Oliver Stone/Kevin Smith collaboration, Clerks: Iraq, a completely apolitical film set in a fast shawarma restaurant in Baghdad, Iraq circa 2005. Two American soldiers get stuck in the restaurant with two wacky wiseguys and 70 very sexy virgins who the guys try to convince are their prize for participating in a suicide bombing. Hilarity ensues when they find WMDs under the ice cream freezer!
More…
(EDIT – Misspell corrected at 1:25p, 8/17)

Video of the Day – 8/17 – Burning Safari

2 More Francis Comments

Joseph asked in another entry about Hearts of Darkness. It came up in the audience questions and Mr. Coppola explained that the reason HOD is not in this “complete” Apocalypse set is that it is a separate movie… and he still has some issues with it.
He left it by promising he would work towards a DVD release and thought he would like to do a commentary track for it to set the record straight.
ALSO (and this is kinda burying the lead) – Francis said, “No one will be shooting on celluloid in four years.”
He acknowledged that there are a few who are still sticking to cutting on a Moviola. So maybe there will be one or two holdouts. But four years… film is out. So sayeth Francis.

Whither Old Media?

After Patrick Goldstein and Anne Thompson and Roger Moore yesterday, I got to thinking…
The Los Angeles Times and New York Times see movies early for one reason