Frickin' Eh Movie News 02.03.10: More of the Same
Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 02.03.2010
Two new trailers - the international Clash of the Titans trailer and the new trailer for The Losers, plus new rumors around the Bourne franchise from Matt Damon's mouth, the Academy Award and Razzie nominations, and plenty more!
I've been doing a bit of mulling over Apple's latest invention/product, the iPad. It's a thoroughly confusing product. At first glance it's a tablet, but it's not really a tablet. And it's not really a giant iPod Touch, either. Nor is it an eBook reader. I think it has a lot of potential as a very cool gimmick – maybe not overly productive appeal, but it's an interesting idea. As a student, I could see bringing it around with me to take quick notes, but not seriously typing on it. It's too big to lug around when you're just going out for the day, but at work or school it might be more practical. And I don't know if I'd want to hold something like that to watch a movie or listen to music. But I have to see one before I decide what I completely think of it. Off that topic, though, let's get into the news . . .
The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine
No surprises here: Avatar once again ruled the box office with yet another $31.3 million. Edge of Darkness opened in second with $17.2 million, and When in Rome opened in third with $12.4 million. Tooth Fairy stuck around at fourth with $10 million, and The Book of Eli tumbled from third to fifth with another $8.9 million. Legion fell from second to sixth and The Lovely Bones from fifth to seventh. Sherlock Holmes fell two spots to eighth and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel fell from seventh to ninth. Rounding out the top ten was It's Complicated, dropping a spot and making another $3.8 million.
Opening this weekend are two new movies. The first is Dear John, a movie about an idealistic college girl and a soldier. Hopefully it will be an interesting look at a clash of ideologies, and with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried starring, it might actually be decent. The other opening movie is From Paris With Love, what looks like a pretty solid action movie set in Paris and starring John Rhys Meyers and, more importantly, John Travolta. We'll see if anyone can start approaching Avatar this weekend.
Oscar Nominations Are Announced
Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards® were announced on Tuesday morning by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway.
James Cameron's Avatar (20th Century Fox) and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Summit) tied for the most nominations with 9 each.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Now obviously this list is pretty hefty, and since I don't like pages upon pages of meaningless lists, I'll just include the link here if you're interested. That said, it's nice to see Avatar getting so many nods. It's kind of a hard movie to ignore right now, though. If the Oscars go in the usual route, though, something like An Education or Up in the Air will beat everything else for best picture. I've heard a lot of good things about The Hurt Locker, too, so maybe that will step up. Up will obviously win animated film, and I imagine Cameron will win director. But who knows, maybe there will be some big upsets, or some actual representation of people's interest in movies. We'll have to wait until March to see.
International Clash of the Titans Trailer
IGN has posted this new international trailer for Warner Bros. Pictures' Clash of the Titans that includes some new footage from the March 26 release. Directed by Louis Leterrier, the anticipated film stars Sam Worthington (Avatar), Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Danny Huston, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Jason Flemyng, Alexa Davalos, Izabella Miko, Nicholas Hoult and Pete Postlethwaite.
I'm still very excited about this one, and this trailer is even better. It's got a lot of new footage, mostly the first half of the trailer, with a bit more of a back story revealed. Check it out, see what you think, if you haven't already decided to be a fan of this one.
The 30th Annual Razzies
The nominations for the 30th Annual Razzie Awards--the best of the worst!--have been announced:
Following a Banner Year for Bad Movies, voting members of The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation have sifted through the cinematic rubble and selected what they consider to be last year's Berry Worst "Achievements" in Film. In addition to 2009's top under-achievers, The Gala 30th Annual RAZZIE® Awards will dis-honor The Worst of the "Uh-Ohs," with special awards for the Worst Picture, Actor and Actress of the Decade in ceremonies scheduled for Hollywood's Barnsdall Gallery Theatre at 7:30pm/PST on Saturday, March 6 — the now traditional Night Before the Oscars®.
Leading the pack among this year's RAZZIE® contenders are one of the year's biggest money-makers and the year's biggest money-loser, each with seven nods. RAZZIE® Repeat Offender Michael Bay helped lead the over-loud, over-long, uber-stupid TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN to a huge box office take...and to a huge haul of RAZZIE® nominations as well. In addition to Worst Director and Worst Picture, the film is up for Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actress (Julie White as the stoned, screaming mother of Shia Le Bouf), Worst Screen Couple (Le Bouf and EITHER Megan Fox OR Any Transformer) and Worst Actress (Fox again, dually nominated for this film and JENNIFER'S BODY). Keeping up with TRANNIES, TOO in the RAZZIE® race (but decidedly not at the box office) is Last Summer's Biggest B.O. bomb, LAND OF THE LOST, also with 7 shots at taking home spray-painted gold. LOST star Will Ferrell is listed in both Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple (Ferrell & Any Co-Star, Creature or "Comic Riff") and the film itself is also nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel and Worst Supporting Actor (the screaching Jorma Taccone as the monkeylike Cha-Ka). Rounding out the Worst Picture list are the Disney dud OLD DOGS, the awful "action-figures-come-to-life" 9-Year-Old-Boy-Movie G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA and the So-Good-It-Was-Held-Back-from-Release-for-2-Years "comedy" ALL ABOUT STEVE (whose star, Worst Actress nominee Sandra Bullock, could pull off the unprecedented feat of "winning" a RAZZIE® one day before winning an Oscar®).
Other well-known names shamed as being last year's worst include 2010 Oscar® co-host Steve Martin (Worst Actor for PINK PANTHER 2), Beyonce (Worst Actress for OBSESSED), Worst Actor of the Decade contenders Eddie Murphy (up for Worst Actor of 2009 in IMAGINE THAT) and John Travolta (Worst Actor of 2009 for OLD DOGS) as well as the twitty Dizz-Knee 'tween idols Miley Cyrus (Worst Actress for HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE) and any two or more of the Jonas Brothers, nominated jointly for Worst Actor and Worst Screen Couple — for their documentary JONAS BROS. A 3-D CONCERT EXPERIENCE. A complete list of nominees is included with this press release.
Nominees were determined by mailing ballots to 647 Foundation members in 46 U.S. states and 19 foreign countries. The RAZZIES® were created in 1980 as a logical antidote to Tinsel Town's annual glut of self-congratulatory awards by John Wilson, author of THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE and EVERYTHING I KNOW I LEARNED AT THE MOVIES. The Barnsdall Gallery Theatre is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Ah yes, the annual bashing of the year's movies. Some of you may find such an award show stupid. I find it mildly entertaining that people take the time to actually celebrate the worst of the year. Surprisingly, there's not much disagreement from me. While I'm sure there was worse in the past year (perhaps not in the mainstream, but somewhere), I wasn't overly fond of Transformers and it is entertaining to see it being bashed in almost every aspect. G.I. Joe was a little silly for my taste, too, although that was kind of the point, I think. You can check out the official list and whatnot here if you are so inclined.
Bourne May Return as a Prequel
Ever since Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum became a worldwide hit, there's been a lot of talk about whether director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon might return for another go-round. Last year, producer Frank Marshall hinted that Universal were shooting for summer 2011 for another Bourne Sequel, but over the last few months, Greengrass dropped out, and things began to look grim, because Damon only seemed interested if Greengrass returned, as we reported back in December.
While on the red carpet for the premiere of Clint Eastwood's Invictus, Matt Damon was asked by Empire magazine about whether there's been any status change since he was last asked about it, to which the actor responded:
"There'll probably be a prequel of some kind with another actor and another director before we do another one," he said, "just because I think we're probably another five years away from doing it – we've got to get a script..."
So this makes one think Damon hasn't completely ruled out doing another movie, but barring a script for a sequel, Universal is looking into the possibility of creating a stopgap while keeping the franchise going by getting another director and actor to make a prequel to The Bourne Identity.
Universal has regularly produced prequels to their biggest hits, whether it was the "Silence of the Lambs" prequel Red Dragon (which was more or less a remake of Michael Mann's Manhunter), and The Scorpion King, their prequel to the sequel of The Mummy remake. In fact, they're currently working on a prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing, so the thought of Universal putting together a prequel to Robert Ludlum's popular espionage series doesn't sound too far-fetched.
Being that Greengrass and Damon are reunited for Green Zone, which Universal is releasing on March 12, one can expect we'll be hearing more about this story in the weeks to come.
Terrible idea. Thoroughly awful. Not out of character, granted, but still bad. Very rarely do prequels work. The Scorpion King only worked, I think, because The Mummy wasn't exactly world-class entertainment, and the prequel was only related to the original in the loosest of ways. To take a franchise that has been revered for being a very intelligent action franchise and throw in a prequel, tossing out both the actor and director, and you're playing a delicate game. On top of that, half the point of the Bourne movies are that you don't know his past. If you go and make a movie on that mysterious past . . . it seems fairly stupid. But you never know. Maybe I'm way off the mark and overreacting. Or maybe Damon is just speculating and there are no such plans. We'll have to see, won't we?
Salma Hayek Ditches Faster
Deadline Hollywood reports that Salma Hayek has had to drop out of CBS Films' Faster due to a schedule conflict. The site says that Hayek exited the film a week before shooting begins on February 8th. The filmmakers will move fast to recast the role.
Scheduled for a release on November 19, the George Tillman Jr.-directed action drama stars Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Maggie Grace, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Moon Bloodgood.
Johnson will play an ex-con bent on avenging the death of his brother, murdered 10 years earlier when the two were double-crossed during a heist.
Well that's going to be a pretty big hiccup to overcome, losing your main actress. A lot of scurrying will be done in the next week if they don't want to derail the whole project. As far as the actual movie goes, I like Salma Hayek, so it's too bad to see her go, but there's still a good chance this turns out well. After all, Dwayne in an actual action role (hopefully more action than drama, fingers crossed) will be nice. And Thornton and Bloodgood should both round out the cast nicely. As long as they can find a capable actress to replace Hayek, then this should still be a pretty enjoyable movie.
Release Dates Get Shuffled
It's the release date shuffle today as a couple anticipated movies grab new dates as well as the announcement of a couple new Universal summer releases.
Universal has announced an update to their 2010 line-up including the move of their comedy threequel Little Fockers, being pushed back from its original July 30 release to come out instead on December 22, in order to take full advantage of the holidays much like the previous installment, Meet the Fockers. Already scheduled for a Dec. 22 release were The Green Hornet, Gulliver's Travels and Life As We Know It.
Meanwhile, Edgar Wright's anticipated follow-up to Hot Fuzz, the movie version of Brian Lee O'Malley's graphic novel Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, starring Michael Cera, has finally settled on its summer release date of August 13. It faces the Lionsgate action-thriller The Expendables and Julia Roberts' romantic drama Eat, Pray, Love.
Filling in the gap for the "Fockers" move is George Nolfi's The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon, which will open on July 30 against CBS Films' Beastly and Warner Bros.' family sequel Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
We're still waiting for confirmation that Warner Bros' remake of Clash of the Titans has indeed been pushed back to Easter weekend to give some extra time for its 3D conversion as we reported earlier. According to Exhibitor Relations, MGM aren't waiting for that announcement, quickly moving their R-rated comedy Hot Tub Time Machine back a week to March 26 to take advantage of the potential opening for the young male audience if "Clash" has indeed moved back a week.
Well, this is nothing too exciting, although some interesting moves. Putting Fockers forward into the holiday season is a smart move – why they didn't do it originally is beyond me, since it seems to have been tradition before that. However, it faces some pretty steep competition. I don't think the audience for any of the others will be too drawn away by the move, but we'll have to see how they all stack up. The only other thing worth mentioning seems to be the preemptive move of Hot Tub Time Machine. Either there is a very strong rumour going around or else somebody feels lucky – and that's a big gamble. I have to wonder if the push back is actually going to happen after the international trailer – after all, why put a date if you're about to change it? Maybe that's just me. Let's just wait and see.
Olivia Wilde Joins Craig in Cowboys & Aliens
Olivia Wilde (upcoming Tron Legacy) is in negotiations to star opposite Daniel Craig in the graphic novel adaptation Cowboys & Aliens, to be directed by Jon Favreau for DreamWorks.
Based on the Platinum Studios title written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, the sci-fi Western explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies -- cowboys and Native Americans -- found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona.
Wilde will play a character named Ella who joins up with the mysterious gunslinger (Craig).
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are producing and wrote the script with "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof. Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are also producing along with Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Favreau and Denis Stewart are serving as executive producers.
Wow, what a step down, from Robert Downey Jr. to Daniel Craig. Do I see Daniel Craig as a cowboy? Not really. But I have faith in Craig's acting, he's impressed me before (not as Bond, of course; mostly in Layer Cake) and maybe he will be good in this, if the movie can escape it's silly idea. As far as Wilde goes, she should fit in very well and add a pretty face to the mix.
Sgt. Rock In the Works
Producer Joel Silver revealed to the Los Angeles Times that comic book adaptation Sgt. Rock has found new life at Warner Bros. Pictures, but that the film won't take place in WWII. Instead, the plan is for Sgt. Rock to serve his country in the not-too-distant future.
"It's a little bit in the future," Silver said. "As a war movie, it's not going to be 'where it's been,' it's going to be 'where it's going.' We didn't want to do Iraq, we didn't want to do a contemporary war. We wanted to do a sort of futuristic war. It's pretty strong. Chad St. John wrote the script and we've got Francis Lawrence involved in developing it with us. It's not a 'go' movie yet but I'm feeling good about it."
As far as the status, Silver added that they just received a new draft of the script this week.
Yet another comic book adaptation. I seriously didn't know there were this many comic books out there. Anyway, the idea doesn't sound too bad. I am particularly interested and happy about the choice to go into the future. While I think World War II would have been a suitable setting (although a lot of work, and maybe not so relevant anymore), I am very glad they're not going into Iraq. It's too close to the present and everyone's doing it. But if you go ahead into the future, that's an unlimited world of possibilities. I'm actually excited to see where this one goes.
Trailer for The Losers
Warner Bros. Pictures has debuted the trailer for director Sylvain White's The Losers, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Holt McCallany, Oscar Jaenada, Jason Patric and Peter Macdissi. The action-thriller opens in theaters on April 9.
Based on the DC Comics title, the film centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team--Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar--find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.
You know, when I first heard about this movie and read the description, I was pretty indifferent. Just another comic book adaptation and action movie (not that there's anything wrong with either of those, they are my bread and butter after all). But after watching this trailer, I'm pretty convinced this is going to be awesome. It looks like it's got a couple strong elements, including a really good sense of humour, lots of action, and a group dynamic that I always like. Elba, Evans, Morgan, and Saldana all look amazing as well. Check out the trailer, see what you think.
Closing Time . . .
Moving and painting continues to be a hassle, not helped by the fact that I'm in the thick of midterms and assignments. Luckily, reading week isn't far off. But anyway, until next week . . .
