The Hot Blog Archive for July, 2008
Bat Haiku
You know, I love it when a commenter has a stroke of genius… or in some cases, just a stroke.
But seriously, folks…
The idea of the BAT HAIKU came up and, heck, why not give it a try?
Nolan up to Bat
So much more than a comic
But a comic still
The Joker is cool
Makes The Batman just a mouse
Dent’s teeth feel the breeze
Your turn…
And yes, there will be a prize. (We’ll figure out what it is in time.)
More Great News For Paramount
They landed Brett Ratner… WOOO HOOO!
Take a breath….
Ratner has good taste. He can make $100 million look like the most beautiful $75 million you’ve ever seen on screen.
So what is Paramount getting itself into?
Well, the relationship seems mostly about Beverly Hills Cop IV, being written by the geniuses who “wrote” Wanted… I seem to remember a few words somewhere in that crapfest… and soon to be directed by Ratner, who will surely have the very hottest ethnic women in Hollywood in the backround of every scene of Axel Foley walking around Beverly Hills.
The biggest question about the “first look deal” is whether Ratner can deliver his first “tentpole” that’s not a 3rd X-Men or a Rush Hour film to gross over $210 milion worldwide.
Even though the last Beverly Hills Cop was 14 years ago – have you notcied that Par is now acting like MGM and teh Walking TE Corpse Of New Line, desperately trying to revive any former hit? – it is a sequel. So there is no point in comparing it to Ratner’s originals, none of which has grossed as much as $125m worldwide. But Red Dragon, at $209m ww, seems fair to worry about. And the fact that Rush Hour 3 grossed less than either of its predesessors domestically and about the same as the first film worldwide (27% off of RH2) is also a cause of concern.
A decade into his career as a director, there is no indication that Ratner is a better bet on a project than, say, Dennis Dugan or Brian Robbins. Goiod luck all around.
1 – X – Men: The Last Stand – $459.3 – 2006
2 – Rush Hour 2 – $347.3 – 2001
3 – Rush Hour 3 – $255.0 – 2007
4 – Rush Hour – $244.4 – 1998
5 – Red Dragon – $209.2 – 2002
6 – The Family Man – $124.7 – 2000
7 – After the Sunset – $61.3 – 2004
8 – Money Talks – $48.4 – 1997
Selling A Paramount Turnaround
The Variety headline reads, “Paramount films fuel Viacom – (sub-head) Revenues up 21% to $3.9 billion last quarter”
How does one take the trade seriously when they don’t offer the real facts, but the spin as a headline?
The real deal from the Paramount/Viacom press release….
Was Paramount the cause of the increase in overall revenues (not net, which is down)? Philippe Dauman leads with something else – “The advantages of our growing multiple revenue streams were evident in the quarter, as we delivered double-digit growth in both our affiliate and ancillary revenues, led by the top-selling Rock Band music
video game.”
Then, he gets into the movies.
And what are the actual numbers of the movie side?
In terms of box office, the studio had about $863 million in domestic gross box office dollars compared to $536m in the same quarter last year
Hot Button – Circles Of Lies
Oy… this is what I get for watching The View.
The ladies spent 5 minutes discussing how the Western Wall prayer that was taken out of the wall and published in Israel was, according to the paper that published the presumably private document, Ma’ariv, pre-approved for publication by Obama even before the note was stuck in the wall. The claim from an unnamed Ma’ariv editor was legitimized by publication in The Jerusalem Post as part of a story about a potential legal probe and boycott of Ma’ariv for publishing the note.
The Wall Street Journal pushed the story further by publishing a series of web attacks on Obama without bothering to do what they do best… report news.
“Maariv’s response: “Obama’s note was published in Maariv and other international publications following his authorization to make the content of the note public. Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem. Moreover, since he is not Jewish, there is no violation of privacy as there would be for a Jewish person who places a note in the wall.”
Problem is… the story was a lie.
The rest…
The Swing Vote Campaign That You Should Have Seen
BYOEarthquake
If an earthquake hits Hollywood in late July, does anyone actually feel it?
27 Comments »Hot Button – Batting Around Titanic Numbers
Is it anything less than a dereliction of duty, whether it be Horn’s choice or his editors’ choice, to not even mention the worldwide box office success of Titanic, which really is what makes the box office landmark the equal of what
80 Comments »El Mummy Tres Sucks And Sucks Hard
Just when you thought it might be safe to go back to a Rob Cohen movie
104 Comments »P-n-P Blog Factory
I was planning on holding an update on The Pete-n-Pat Blog Show for a while. After all, we
7 Comments »Hot Button Review – Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder strikes me as the ultimate example of Stars Gone Wild. Let
36 Comments »Worth 1000's Renaissance Star Wars Contest
Jabba the VIII
Other entries…