Furious on Film 04.01.10: The Aykroided Edition

Posted by Arnold Furious on 04.01.2010

Top 5 fun with Dan Aykroyd, non-news on Lara Croft, Rachel Weisz in the running for Bond villainy, Hangover 2 in the works and more!

Furious on Film 04.01.10: The Aykroided Edition

Top 5 fun with Dan Aykroyd, non-news on Lara Croft, Rachel Weisz in the running for Bond villainy, Hangover 2 in the works and more!

Furious on Film 172.

Hello and welcome to the movie news for April Fool's Day. I promise not to include any ridiculous and patently fake news and instead include something that makes me feel like an idiot. Watching Dan Aykroyd movies! I kid, I kid, he's a good guy. Here's a Top Five for Dan; films you've probably not seen him in. Some of them are good and some of them aren't. Either way you've probably not seen them.

FIVE DAN AYKROYD MOVIES YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER SEEN;



1. NEIGHBORS (1981). Directed by John Avildsen who also made Rocky and co-starring John Belushi in his final film. Belushi plays the troubled straight man who gains a new neighbour in the wacky Aykroyd. The roles are reversed from what they should be and the result is bizarre. Aykroyd's most hammy performance, which is saying something, but the combination of Aykroyd & Belushi is always worth something. Despite the much publicised death of Belushi the movie didn't do well but immediately got a wide opening to try and avoid negative word of mouth. It's actually pretty good.

2. DOCTOR DETROIT (1983). Timid college professor becomes pimp and uses his knowledge of classic literature to save a bunch of hookers from the mob. The studios didn't really know what to do with Aykroyd after he lost his comedy partner in Belushi and this was the result. Later in the year Trading Places came out and Aykroyd become better known as the straight man giving support to a more able comedic talent. The formula helped him star in Ghostbusters the following year giving Bill Murray all the funny lines.



3. THE COUCH TRIP (1988). After a string of mid-80s success stories Aykroyd was once again pushed as a leading comedy star. He did well as the straight man opposite Tom Hanks in Dragnet and opposite Chevy Chase in Spies Like Us so naturally the studios figured they'd let him go wild again and allowed him to explore some more unusual roles. Most of them are rubbish; like playing the Neighbors character again in The Great Outdoors and with Kim Basinger in My Stepmother is an Alien. The Couch Trip arrived around the same time and gets written off with the rest of the flotsam. It shouldn't be though because it's one of his better leading roles as an escaped mental patient who poses as a doctor.

4. LOOSE CANNONS (1990). I'm a sucker for the mismatched buddy cop movie. The genre has produced several classics and even wacky offbeat lesser works that deliver the goods. Loose Cannons on the other hand is somewhat of an embarrassment. Aykroyd plays a schizophrenic detective who goes nuts when put under pressure. He's partnered up with no-nonsense copper Gene Hackman. The unlikely pairing is as bad as it sounds and the film is highlighted by Aykroyd doing the world's worst Roadrunner impression to attack a man with a machine gun.

5. DIAMONDS (1999). Aykroyd stars as the son of former Polish prize fighter Kirk Douglas. They go in search of hidden treasure stashed by Douglas as a prize money for throwing a big fight. The film was specifically written to help Douglas continue his career after a stroke and he is extraordinary as ever. The film also co-stars Lauren Bacall and Jenny McCarthy as hookers. What's not to like?

NEWS!

Rachel Weisz to play Bond baddy?



Cinema Blend are reporting an unusual rumour regarding the next Bond film. Having introduced the SPECTRE-esque criminal organisation Quantum they're considering who would be in charge of such an organisation. Blofeld was a prominent figure in many early Bond films because of his links to SPECTRE now rumours are suggesting that not only will Bond have a female boss in Judi Dench but also a female nemesis in Rachel Weisz. Bond 23 is scheduled for release in 2011 and has Sam Mendes attached to direct. It would be Mendes' first real action film but that didn't seem to stop Marc Forster throwing all manner of craziness at the screen during Quantum of Solace. Weisz herself is currently working with Daniel Craig on Dream House, also due for 2011 release, which might make the producers think twice. But she has a track record in action films having starred in the first two Mummy movies. I would totally buy into Weisz as a villain but the character would need strong support to provide a more physical threat to Mr Bond. It will be Craig's third film as James Bond and the 23rd in the series overall.

Megan Fox rejects Lara Croft opportunity



Showbizspy.com reports that Megan Fox was offered the chance to star in the forthcoming re-boot of the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider series citing her desire to avoid comparisons to star of two previous Lara movies; Angelina Jolie. The rumours are very vague suggesting a "movie insider" has broken the story, which is typical tabloid reporting with no real basis for the information. What is true is that Megan is trying to distance herself from comparisons made by the industry to Jolie. Her suggestion is that the press are calling her the "new Angelina" because of her tattoos. She doesn't see herself as the ‘new' anyone, which is fair enough.

Anna Faris to join the army



Hollywood Reporter has Anna Faris as signed, sealed and delivered to star in a remake of Goldie Hawn vehicle Private Benjamin. ‘Benjamin' was a big career move for Goldie and helped establish her as a Hollywood A-list actress. New Line is intending to remake several key 80s comedies from Warner Brothers. Benjamin joins the slate along with Police Academy and Vacation. Faris has a solid track record although she's best known as her starring role in horror spoof series Scary Movie. Faris is fairly well known and her solo comedy work has done ok (House Bunny did well at the box office) but she needs a big break out role to make her a genuine leading lady. Hawn's success stemmed directly from latching onto that role in Private Benjamin. Faris is a good fit to mimic Goldie's approach to that film.

The Hangover 2 now officially in the works



Ever since the huge success of the summer comedy hit The Hangover Warner Brothers have been looking to sign up the talent involved and make a follow up. Zach Galifiankis, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and director Todd Phillips were looking to make substantial money from a follow up having made the studio a tonne of money with the success of the first film. According to Deadline New York it looks as if each star will pick up $5M for the sequel with director Phillips pulling down double that. Warners rather foolishly didn't sign anyone up for sequel rights, ala Marvel, because they didn't expect the movie to be such a huge hit. As a result they all had a strong bargaining position once Warners were dead set on a follow on. Not only are the cast & director getting paid up front but also get a percentage of the back end. Seems everyone is going to get rich off this sequel. Warners are not happy but did make a huge pile of money off the first film.

Two werewolf movies in the works



According to Deadline New York both David Hayter and Steve Pink are set to shoot werewolf movies shortly. Hayter was the writer on X-Men, X2 and Watchmen. He's set to make his directorial debut on Wolves. The low budget flick, pencilled in at $18M, should see him get into the black unless the studio system abandons it completely. Pink recently directed Hot Tub Time Machine. He also wrote Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity. He's set to direct a different werewolf movie called The Werewolves of Reseda. I've never been a big werewolf fan. It seems the best werewolf movies have been very tongue-in-cheek like Teenwolf and American Werewolf in London. Any attempt at something serious, even with a budget and stars like Jack Nicholson project Wolf, haven't been great. Recently Benicio del Toro found out how hard it is to make a werewolf movie when Wolfman met with a lukewarm reception from critics and audiences. It seems that the werewolf factor in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series has produced interest from the studios looking to capitalise on the success of that franchise. I'm still expecting a string of blue-coloured alien movies to come along anytime now.

TRAILERS!

Here's the latest clip from George Romero's latest zombie movie. My friend Rob pointed out yesterday that Romero was such a talented director that it confused and irritated him that Romero has gotten stuck making zombie movies over and over again. Perhaps they're the only thing he can get financing for. Ah well.



Here's the second trailer for Knight & Day. It stars the Cruiser & Cameron Diaz. The Cruiser as a deluded and psychotic rogue spy. I really like the look of the movie and it could be the Cruiser's ticket back to the A-List. Despite his wacky Scientologist leanings I do like the Cruiser as an actor and star. I think this will be a good movie. You judge.






CHART WATCH

We always get the run-down on the top 10 movies in the US. 411 does a post updating it every weekend and it's covered in other news columns at the head of the week. With Chart Watch I thought I'd take a look at how certain movies are doing on the all-time lists. Here's this week's Chart Watch;

2010 Releases;



Alice in Wonderland continues to dominate the chart with a whopping $656M worldwide. Percy Jackson, Valentine's Day and Shutter Island all have $200M global hauls but that won't be anywhere near enough to compete on this chart come the end of the summer. Green Zone is up to $59M globally and is still just outside the top ten. Way less than expected for Greengrass & Damon. In the American version of the chart How to Train Your Dragon opens at #9 already exceeding Edge of Darkness and Cop Out in one weekend. Compared to the movies of the previous 365 days, a truer indication of how well Alice is doing, it's up to #5 and is only $3M behind New Moon. Alice should take the #3 spot next weekend.

All Time!!

Alice is up to number 35 on the all time list just barely ahead of Pixar masterpiece Up and only $400,000 behind The Sixth Sense. Having lost some 3-D sites will start to hurt Alice now as Alice hurt Avatar. Both How to Train Your Dragon and, next weekend, Clash of the Titans will affect Alice's progress up this list. Alice is a shoe-in to make the top 30 all time and could quite easily make the top 20. Watch this space. Adjusted for inflation Alice is the 164th highest grosser of all time. It's unlikely to hit the top 100 in that respect. Globally Alice is up to #40 a leap of 18 places on last week. Its now surpassed the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

March



How to Train Your Dragon debuted with a decent $43.3M. It was at the lower end of the projected figures despite strong reviews. The debut puts it in 8th place for March openings. It's just slightly behind Horton Hears a Who but above Wild Hogs. Interesting to note that last year, same weekend, Monsters Vs Aliens (also from DreamWorks) made $59M in its opening weekend. That shows that Dragon hasn't quite had the opening it would have hoped for. Especially with all the hype and positivity. As far as beating previous DreamWorks movies it's so far only passed one; Sinbad. Although it had the 8th best opening in DreamWorks history, slightly more than Shrek managed and beating lesser DreamWorks efforts like Bee Movie and Over the Hedge.

Movers and Shakers

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE $13M



If you compare this to previous John Cusack debuts it falls in near Must Love Dogs and Serendipity. Not making as much as Identity even. Considering the pitch making this the 2010 version of the Hangover that's not a particularly solid start. Given the slow start its likely to post something between $42 and $55M depending on how much it drops off next weekend. When talking time travel movies there's not a vast amount of competition but HTTM debuts at #28 on that particular list. Star Trek is the highest grossing time travel movie of all time. Back to the Future is second and then Terminator 2. Between those three franchises they have eight of the top ten. HTTM is behind The Final Countdown from 1980. Top 20 is not out of the question as it needs more than the $41.3M posted by Peggy Sue Got Married.

BOUNTY HUNTER



Solid second weekend for this one, perhaps a little unexpected but there was a lack of competition for couples. The strong hold puts Bounty Hunter at $38M. That makes it director Andy Tennant's 5th most successful movie after Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama, Fool's Gold and Ever After. Damn this guy makes a lot of chick flicks! It's also marginally behind Anna and the King but only by a million or so. It looks like being a middling hit for the director and both stars.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

Another $10M second weekend is probably a touch disappointing but given the $35M banked so far way exceeds the $15M budget and I'm sure everyone will be fine here. It stands at #34 on the children's book adaptations list and is unlikely to cause any of the higher up movies concern. It has no shot at the top 20.

MISC



Repo Men saw another dismal weekend. With just $3M take second weekend it's currently $20M short of getting its budget back. Other unfeatured movies are slipping quietly away like that one starring the guy in Twilight. Bye, bye.

Avatar Watch



$740M banked in the US, $2.68 billion worldwide. No doubt that Avatar has slowed right down in recent weeks. It needs another $5.1M to top Ben Hur on the adjusted for inflation chart. It made just $2M this past weekend and is sure to lose more screens to Clash of the Titans as well. I suspect it will move up one spot eventually but not anytime soon. Remember the DVD release isn't far off now.

Next Week

The big release is Clash of the Titans. It should swamp the 3-D locations and push How to Train Your Dragon, Alice in Wonderland and Avatar back even further. The previews seem to have captured the imagination and pundits are predicting it'll come in around $75M opening weekend. I'm not certain it'll do that well but it should top $60M and dwarf DreamWorks dragon movie. It has a little competition from The Last Song and Tyler Perry's latest movie (and he is known for getting surprise hits) but the male demographic has a tendency to appear in numbers for man-friendly epics. And they've had precious little to get excited about so far this year. The only man-centric movie of the past month was Green Zone and that didn't really get the adrenaline going like it was supposed to. I expect high attendance for this one. How to Train Your Dragon should hold on to second place with a lack of family friendly films to compete with it. If it doesn't then DreamWorks will be very disappointed. Alice should take a substantial hit from Clash opening in 3-D on top of Dragon and the majority of its money is now banked.

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My latest Series Link is up. The subject is Child's Play; the Brad Dourif series about a killer doll. I'm still undecided as to the next target for review. I've got a Jackie Chan column planned out but it's massive.

Big up to Shawn Lealos for his 3 R's of Movies, which is a fun read for those wanting an overview of the week's events.

Plus a guy nod to the Tower of Movie Knowledge that is Leonard Hayhurst. Check out his weekly Ask 411 Movies column. Always packed with usual information.

Until next time, I'm Arnold Furious and you're not.